In the early stage of Spring and Autumn , although various wars were fierce, we seem to have never heard of the names of military strategists.
However, from Wu Yue to to Seven Heroes , there were military strategists such as Sun Wu , Sun Bin , and Wu Qi. Later, there was a saying that " The Four Famous Generals of the Warring States Period " was mentioned.
Why is this?
According to traditional historical books, etiquette was very important in the early Spring and Autumn Period, so everyone paid attention to "staying at the front line of life", and the level of fighting was not fully reflected.
, and in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period and , the war of tragic annexation war started, and everyone did not talk about etiquette, but only interests. The requirements for military talents were greatly increased, so a large number of military strategists appeared.
I think this statement makes sense.
In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the so-called world was actually some areas of Shanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Shandong. It seemed that there were five or six provinces, but if calculated by territory, it was the size of the three provinces today.
In this relatively limited environment, whether it is Zhou Emperor or the overlord, you can respond with one call, and there is nothing strange.
More importantly, the number of princes at that time must have been over a thousand. After all, when King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou, it was already claimed that eight hundred princes followed him. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou also enfeoffed .
Think about it, the territory of three provinces and thousands of princes. The so-called princes are probably the same as village chiefs and village chiefs.
In other words, the neighbors are all neighbors, and they will be a little worried when fighting, so everyone’s unspoken rule is not to take action.
In the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, as more and more territories were developed, the demand for professional soldiers became more and more; with more professional soldiers, the requirements for military commanders naturally became higher.
Traditional historical books classify all this as "human hearts are not old", and the reality is obviously that with the development of productivity, there are more new areas without control, so everyone has begun to engage in mergers.
If you want to say that the biggest difference between amateur soldiers and professional soldiers is actually the degree of patience with life and death.
Although amateur soldiers have also seen death, everyone knows that after reaching a certain level, both sides will definitely cease to fight, and killing prisoners usually does not happen.
But the professional soldier didn't know what the consequences of surrender were.
If a professional soldier meets a professional soldier, there is nothing to say. The brave will win when they meet on a narrow road, and the failed party can only wait for death because they know that they have no way to survive.
But when professional soldiers meet amateur soldiers, their fighting will tend to be stronger and their will to fight in adversity is stronger.
With this difference, if we look at the two military commander choices, we will naturally understand the difference.
The commander of an amateur soldier must be an excellent orator, who can inspire a wave of chicken blood and call on everyone to rush over and kill the enemy.
As for what to do after falling into adversity, the orator actually doesn’t have many ideas. Anyway, most of the time they are captured, and the probability of death is not high.
The commander of a professional soldier must be an excellent tactician, preferably an excellent strategist, who can lead everyone to win continuously.
For professional soldiers, failure basically means death, so they will be particularly picky about their superiors.
If you can't lead us to victory, then you are not worthy of leading us - this is the voice of professional soldiers.
But for amateur soldiers, if the commander has a high status, we are willing to follow him. As for whether he will win, it is not very important.
After understanding this difference, we can certainly understand that military strategists will appear in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because of such market demand, corresponding talents will be born.
On the battlefield, famous generals and military strategists are very amazing people, but later generations have seen very obvious deviations in their understanding of this "magnificent".
For example, Sun Wu, everyone says that he is Soldier , and his book " Sun Tzu's Art of War " is simply a masterpiece that can shock the world and the earth.
gives people the feeling that if anyone can study "The Art of War" thoroughly, he will definitely become a military strategist.
Is this true? I'm afraid it may not be.
I often say: "If there were no Sun Yat-sen, there would inevitably be Li Zhongshan or Wang Zhongshan to lead the 11 Revolution , because the time node of the change has arrived, and no one can stop the incident."
Specifically for Sun Wu and "The Art of War", it is actually the same.
When the group of military strategists enters the historical stage, some works will inevitably appear to summarize their successes and failures.
Suppose a reporter interviewed Sun Wu at that time and asked him why he could lead the Wu army to break through the capital of Chu State . What would you guess Sun Wu say?
Can he say that there is any contribution to Jin State to restrain the Northern Army of Chu State? Can he say, is there any contribution from the small country guide here?
obviously won’t, because those factors are political factors and cannot be mixed with by him, a person who leads troops to fight.
What Sun Wu can say is what strategies I used when facing the enemy, what effects I achieved, and what experience I summarized after the war.
"The Art of War" is actually Sun Wu's private diary. It does contain the principle of leading troops to fight, but please think about it. Although the products of the early days of the birth of a military strategist are very important, they are obviously not magical.
Just like when we learn mathematics, in addition to learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, we also need to recite the multiplication formula table .
We must admit that the table of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and multiplication formulas is the basis for learning mathematics and is very important.
But if you only know the formula table of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, then let alone the calculus of college, you will find it difficult to pass the math test in junior high school.
They are all important foundations, but they are just foundations. To become a real mathematician is not something to learn from these pediatrics.
If you don’t believe it yet, then let’s use cases to deduce it.
Suppose you are a commander, familiar with "The Art of War" and are preparing to lead the army to fight, but the logistics official tells you: the food and grass have not arrived yet.
Can "The Art of War" help you create food? cannot. "The Art of War" will only tell you the importance of food and grass.
If you ensure the safety of food and grass, how to ensure the integrity of equipment, these specific practical tasks are the most important basis for evaluating a person's military talent.
The upper limit is Zhao Kuo . How to convert the content in the book into reality requires a person to spend his whole life studying.
On this track, no one dares to say that they "can do anything". After all, there is no permanent general in this world, because the outcome of a war is often affected by factors outside of the war.
No matter what, the appearance of Sun Wu and others can be regarded as a breakthrough from "from 0 to 1" in Chinese military history, or a breakthrough from "from 0.5 to 1".
After all, before Sun Wu and others appeared, the so-called war on the land of China, both in scale and in tragic extent, were actually quite limited.
