During the Han Dynasty, Han Xin led an army to attack the Zhao state.
Han Xin actually violated the taboo of soldiers in this battle, and the risk was extremely great: First, the enemy was outnumbered, and the army of zhao guo at that time was claimed to be 200,000, and Han Xin's army was said to be 10,000; second, the Han army was rushing thousands of miles to attack, and the Zhao army was waiting for work in its own country. Zhao Jun is the home team, and Han Jun is the away team. Moreover, Han Xin's group of soldiers was untrained and were "city people" who had been temporarily assembled. All the situations were very unfavorable for Han Xin.
Chen Yu, the marshal of the State of Zhao, believed that Han Xin's army was claimed to be ten thousand, but in fact it was only a few thousand, and that the Zhao army was dozens of times larger than the Han army, and there would be no reason for defeat, so he did not heed Li Zuoche's suggestion of cutting a small road around the rear of the Han army to cut off its grain and grass, but only set up a strict position and waited.
Han Xin sent troops from a very dangerous pass in the Taihang Mountains, all the way to the border of the Zhao state, and ordered the camp to be set up. In the middle of the night, Han Xin passed on the order: "After attacking the Zhao army tomorrow morning, we will be eating lunch." The generals couldn't believe that they could defeat the Zhao army so quickly, thinking that it was a fantasy.
Han Xin sent his army with his back to the river to take a position, and pretended to be defeated to lure the Zhao army to attack. Since there was no way back, all the Han generals fought desperately, bravely killed the enemy, and were unstoppable, defeating the Zhao army. Earlier, Han Xin also sent two thousand light cavalry to detour and ambush on the side of the Zhao camp, and when the Zhao soldiers rushed out to attack the Han army, they rushed into the Zhao army camp to pull out all the flags of the Zhao army, replaced them with the banners of the Han army, and then shouted loudly: This place belongs to the Han army! The Zhao army could not defeat the Han army that was fighting backwaters, and at this time it found that the base camp was occupied, so the army was confused and scattered like birds and beasts. The Han army won a complete victory, beheading the Marshal of the State of Zhao, Chen Yu, and capturing the King of Zhao.
After the battle, the generals reported the results of the battle to Han Xin and asked Han Xin: "According to the art of war, the platoon should be on the right and back of the mountain (it is very difficult for the enemy to turn over from the right and back hills to sneak up on us), and the front and left sides should rely on the water (it is very difficult for the enemy to wade into the water to attack us), and generally the camp arranged like this is safe." And this time, the general instead let us line up behind our backs, which was completely opposite to the art of war, and said that it was incredible to defeat the Zhao army and then meet again, but in the end, we fought a big victory so quickly, what is this tactic? I still can't figure it out. ”
Han Xin said: "My tactics are actually in the art of war. The generals said they had never seen anything in the art of war. Han Xin said: "Didn't the art of war say ' put in the place of death and then live, put in the place of death and then survive'? In a situation where the enemy is outnumbered and our army is undertrained, if the army is not arranged to die, then when the Zhao army comes, everyone scatters and flees, then we can only be caught by the Zhao army, how can we capture the King of Zhao alive? When the generals heard this, they all admired it from the bottom of their hearts, and admired Han Xin's strategy, which they could not match.
I think that in fact, their understanding is inferior to That of Han Xin. In the same martial art, Han Xin knew how to use "putting death in the ground and being born later", while the other generals ignored it all.
(Author: Flywind)
(Feng Guowei excerpted from Wenzhou Metropolis Daily)