The Great Wei Empire in the Warring States Period

The Huai and Si regions have all been taken over by Chu. Jing She is writing the laws of Chu in the military camp, which will be implemented in the entire Huai and Si regions soon.

While Jing She was writing, a soldier came in and said, "Grand Marshal, the king's envoy has arrived!" Jing She hurriedly said, "Please invite the king's envoy in!" - Yes!

The envoy came in and said anxiously, "Grand Marshal, Yue State took advantage of the fact that all the elite troops of Chu State were abroad and sent troops to attack our country. Five cities have been broken. Your Majesty, I hope that the Grand Marshal will come back to help!" Jing She frowned after hearing this and asked, "Envoy, how many troops did Yue State send?" The envoy thought for a while and said, "About 80,000." Jing She bowed and said, "I will lead the army to help. Please confirm that the envoy is waiting in the tent."

After Jing She and the envoy left, he said to the messenger beside him, "Order all the generals to come to my tent to discuss matters!" - Yes!

After all the generals arrived at the camp, Jing She said: "Everyone, Yue sent 80,000 troops to attack Chu and has broken five cities in a row. The king ordered us to move our troops back to the country immediately. However, in order to prevent the Qi army from attacking our Huai and Si areas, what can you do?"

Jing Hong said: "Grand Marshal, the Yue army is only 80,000, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops in the country. Why not send them to resist? And our Chu still has 200,000 soldiers."

Jing She sighed and said: "Of the 200,000 soldiers, how many do you think are left except for the soldiers who defend the capital and the border? And the other troops are only the troops of the feudal lords. , and this time Yue attacked our Chu with almost all its elite troops. If we don't hurry to help, it will threaten Yingdu!"

Jing Xiu said: "Grand Sima, if the army goes back, we should leave some people here. I think we should leave heavy troops in Jucheng. As long as Jucheng is defended, the Qi army will not be able to recapture the Huai and Si areas!"

Jing She nodded and said: "Okay, Qu Yong, you take 10,000 people to guard Jucheng, Jing Xiu, you take 5,000 people to guard Tancheng, so that you can support each other! The rest of you follow me to help!" ——Yes!

In Tian Ji's mansion, Tian Ji walked into the study room excitedly with a bamboo slip in his hand, and saw Sun Bin reading a book. Tian Ji handed the bamboo slip to Sun Bin and said, "Mr. Sun Bin, the Chu army has retreated, and only about 15,000 people are left. Now is a good time. Should we go and recapture Huai and Si?"

After reading the bamboo slip, Sun Bin said, "Brother Tian Ji, we can send troops!"

In the military camp, Sun Bin sat in a wheelchair and pointed to the map on the wall and said, "Everyone, according to the spies, the Chu army is in Ten thousand and five thousand people were left in Jucheng and Tancheng respectively. The garrison commander of Jucheng was Qu Yong, and the garrison commander of Tancheng was Jing Xiu. Our army only had 50,000 people. What do you think? " Tian Pan said: "Qu Yong is from the Qu family of Chu. He is good at archery and driving. He is a young general of Chu. He led the Chu army to fight against Ba three times, winning two and losing one, and capturing two cities. Jing Xiu is from the Jing family of Chu, and is also a young general of Chu. He was known as the Jing family's Thousand Miles Horse in Yingdu. He often followed his uncle JingShe has fought everywhere and has rich combat experience. Combat should be about defeating the weak first, then defeating the strong. I think we should defeat Qu Yong first. Jucheng is one of the five capitals of Qi State, and we must take it back. Although the enemy has a large number of troops, Qu Yong is not good at strategy and battle formations. He only knows military tactics and military formations. Although Qu Yong has many soldiers, he can only command more than 5,000 people at most. It is difficult for him to command more than 10,000 troops. So I think we should first send an army to block the Chu army coming to support Tancheng to prevent Jing Xiu from coming to support. On the other hand, we will lead a large army to attack Jucheng, and we will surely break it! "Sun Bin nodded and said, "That's right, Tian Pan. Combat is about defeating the weak enemy first, and then finding a way to defeat the strong enemy through strategy. Combat is about defeating the stupid enemy first, then dealing with the smart enemy and finally finding an opportunity to defeat him. You already know these two points. But your method may not be correct, because Jing Xiu may not only go by land. You should know that Chu attacked Huai and Si by land and water. I guess Jing Xiu must have left some warships, so it is difficult to intercept. Didn't you just say that Qu Yong is not good at strategy and battle formation? So we have to pretend to attack far away to confuse the enemy, so we have to attack Tancheng!" Tian Ji asked puzzledly: "Why did Mr. Sun Bin attack Tancheng? Jucheng governs 21 cities and has a larger area, while Tancheng governs only 7 cities, and Jucheng is one of the five capitals of Qi! We must take it back! And didn't you also say that only part of the territory can be taken back, so why attack Tancheng? Moreover, Tancheng is behind Jucheng, and the journey is far away. Even if it is captured, it will be an enclave! ”

Sun Bin explained: "The Art of War says: If you want to attack nearby, you must show the enemy that you want to attack far away. If you want to attack far away, you must show the enemy that you want to attack nearby. Therefore, we must confuse the enemy and make them think that we want to attack Tancheng, but in fact we want to attack Jucheng."

Tian Ji nodded thoughtfully, and Tian Pan asked quickly: "Then Mr. Sun Bin, we surrounded Tancheng, and since we have confused the enemy, how can we capture Jucheng? ”

Sun Bin said again: "We should send a large army to encircle Tancheng by taking a small road, but not attack it. We should send a small army to attack Jucheng, and we should only defeat them and not win them. We should also let the enemy know that our main force has encircled Tancheng by taking a small road. Our Qi army has just been defeated by Qu Yong, which will surely make people arrogant and think that our army's combat effectiveness is very weak. Then the enemy will know that our main force has encircled Tancheng, and Qu Yong will definitely lead a large army to support us. And our army will send another army to ambush in Zhongtiao Mountain to ambush the enemy! We will send another army to continue to take a small road and seize Jucheng when its troops are empty! This is to make a feint to the east and attack the west, attack what the enemy must rescue, and annihilate the main force of the Chu army in Huaisi and achieve the purpose of this expedition. ”

After listening to Sun Bin's strategy, Tian Ji and others bowed and said: "Mr. Sun Bin is really a god in using troops! ”

Tancheng

Jing Xiu patrols the city wall on time every day.On the tower, Jing Xiu looked into the distance and asked the deputy general beside him: "Did the scouts bring any news?" The deputy general shook his head and said: "General, the scouts did not find anything, and the scouts in Jucheng did not find the movement of the Qi army."

Jing Xiu patted the parapet and said: "I have not been able to sleep well these days. I always feel that something bad is going to happen."

The deputy general smiled and said: "General, what is there to worry about? Qi was beaten by the Wei-Han coalition army and was almost on its last legs. How could it have time to fight us?"

Jing Xiu waved his hand and said: "What you said makes sense, but the people I have not faced are not ordinary people. If it was just Tian Ji, there would be no need to worry, but next to him was Sun Bin, a disciple of Guiguzi. Sun Bin's military ability was better than Pang Juan's. We couldn't even beat Pang Juan, so how could we beat Sun Bin? Although the Grand Marshal discussed with us and agreed that the Qi army would definitely try every means to recapture Jucheng, and left warships for better support, I felt that Sun Bin's military skills were unpredictable! Who knows what tricks he would come up with? "The deputy general nodded after hearing this and said, "General, what do you think the Qi army will think of to recapture Jucheng?"

Jing Xiu thought for a while and said, "Hurry up and bring a map over, I want to deduce it!"

"——Yes!

The deputy general brought a map, Jing Xiu took it and put it on the ground and looked at it carefully, and the deputy general also squatted aside and watched with Jing Xiu.

Jing Xiu murmured, "Jucheng has 10,000 soldiers, and Tancheng has 5,000 soldiers. Jucheng is one of the five capitals of Qi, and has jurisdiction over 21 cities, while Tancheng only has jurisdiction over seven cities. Jucheng is a big advantage, while Tancheng is only a small advantage. Moreover, even if the Qi army attacks Tancheng by detour, even if they get Tancheng, it will only be an enclave. Even if they capture it, they may be attacked from both sides by the defenders of Jucheng and Xiapi. No matter how you look at it, the other side is only attacking Jucheng."

One The deputy general beside him also agreed: "General, what you said is very true. Sun Bin is a very skilled military commander. It is impossible that he does not know this basic knowledge. The Art of War says: Do not go deep into the enemy's territory alone. Capturing enclaves is useless. Moreover, if you go deep into the enemy's territory, you will be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy! You can't attack Tancheng."

Jing Xiu stood up and said to the deputy general: "Although the Qi army is unlikely to attack Tancheng, our army must also be prepared for battle and can support Jucheng at any time!"——Yes!

A few days later, Jing Xiu was reading a book in the tent. Suddenly, a soldier rushed in and said hurriedly: "General, it's bad. The Qi army is coming!" Jing Xiu hurriedly stood up and asked: "You said the Qi army is coming! Come with me to the tower!"——Yes!

Jing Xiu stood on the tower, looking at the dense Qi army below, and was shocked: I didn't expect that after all the calculations, the Qi army really had to take a detour to attack Tancheng!

The Qi army had already set up camp not far away. Sun Bin was sitting in a wheelchair and looking at Tancheng. Tian Ji said, "Mr. Sun Bin, now the first step is completed. What should we do next?"

Sun Bin smiled and said: "Since we are here, we can't just surround the city without attacking! Use catapults to attack the city! Suppress the arrogance of the Chu army first."

Jing Xiu watched the Qi army push out more than ten catapults from the camp, and hurriedly said to the deputy general: "Order the whole army to prepare for defense, and quickly build a wall!" - Yes!

Under the command of the generals, the Chu army quickly built a wall on the city wall. Not far away, Sun Bin saw that the Chu army reacted so quickly and built a wall, and couldn't help but sigh: "This Chu army general is not bad. Facing a powerful enemy, he can remain calm and quickly prepare to defend against catapult attacks. This wall seems to be very reasonably laid out."

After more than ten catapults were ready, Tian Ji drew his sword and shouted: "Fire!"

More than ten catapults threw stones, but did not cause any damage to the Chu army, and were blocked by the wall. Jing Xiu stood on the tower and said with a smile: "If you want to break this wall, you have to use the crossbow. Fortunately, I have read "Mozi's Art of War", otherwise I might be caught off guard."

The deputy general on the side also hurriedly echoed: "General, I didn't expect that the wall you built would be so useful! It blocked all the stone bullets of the Qi army!"

Jing Xiu smiled and said: "Okay, stop flattering, and go to supervise the battle!" - Yes!

Tian Ji saw that the attack of the catapult was blocked by the wall. He had never seen this defensive structure before, so he hurriedly asked Sun Bin beside him: "Mr. Sun Bin, what is this called?"

Sun Bin replied: "This is the wall, which is used for defense in "Mozi's Art of War". "Mozi's Art of War" says: The wall is built on the city to prevent throwing stones and arrows. The wall should be built with more than two feet of wood. The two sides of the finished wall should be smeared with mud to slow down the enemy's fire attack. In addition, the wall should have holes for arrows. If you want to break the wall, you have to use a crossbow bed! It seems that this Chu general has also read "Mozi's Art of War."

"Tian Ji asked: "Mr. Sun Bin, what should we do if we don't have a bed crossbow?"

Sun Bin smiled and said: "Since there is no way to suppress the enemy's arrogance, then implement it according to the plan!"…………