Wuqi (? -38 1 year ago)
Famous political reformer, outstanding strategist, commander-in-chief, military theorist and military reformer in the early Warring States period. Zuo (now Dingtao, Shandong, called the northeast of Cao County) people. Later generations called him and his grandson "Sun Wu" and wrote Woods. Together with Sun Zi, they were called "Sun Wu's Art of War", which played an important role in China's ancient military classics.
Wuqi likes fighting and is bent on getting ahead. He studied under Zeng Shen, a disciple of Confucius, and became a minister in Lu. In the 14th year of Zhou Weilie (4 12 BC), the state of Qi attacked the state of Lu, and the king of Lu wanted to use Wu Qi as a general, but because Wu Qi's wife was from Qi, she became suspicious of him. Wu Qi, eager to become a general and achieve fame, resolutely killed his wife, saying that he was not partial to Qi. This is known as killing his wife to seek generals. Lu Jun finally appointed him as a general and led the army against Qi. Wu Qi was strict with self-discipline, lenient with others, and shared weal and woe with the foot soldiers, so all the foot soldiers were efficient and obedient. Wu Qi led Lu Jun to the front line, did not immediately go to war with Qi Jun, and expressed his willingness to negotiate with Qi Jun.. He first showed weakness to the other side, stationed the China army with the weak soldiers, and gave the other side the illusion of "weakness" and "timidity" to paralyze the Qi soldiers, arrogant and unprepared, and then suddenly stormed the Qi army with a capable army. The Qi army took the lead and collapsed at the first touch, with more than half of the casualties, and the Lu army won a total victory.
Wuqi's rise in power caused criticism from Lu ministers, and rumors spread everywhere for a while. Someone in Lu slandered Wu Qi in front of King Lu, saying, "Wu Qi is a heartless person. When he was a child, his family was very rich. He wanted to be an official, but his lobbying failed, which led to the bankruptcy of his family. Neighbors laughed at him, and Wuqi killed more than 30 detractors. Escape from the country and go east. When he said goodbye to his mother, he bit his arm and scolded,' If you don't take care of your mother, you won't take precautions'. Since then, I have studied under Zeng Shen. Not long after, his mother died and he didn't go home. Zeng Shen despised him for this and broke off relations with him. Wu played an important role in studying the art of war and serving Lu Jun. Lu Jun became suspicious of him, so he killed his wife and became a general. Lu is a small country, and once it has a reputation for victory, it will cause countries to plot against Lu. Moreover, Lu and Wei are brother countries. Lu Jun used Wuqi to abandon the country. " Lu Jun was suspicious and dismissed Wu Qi.
After Wu Qi left Lu, he heard that he was very clever and wanted to learn from him. Hou Wen asked Minister Li Kui, "What is Wuqi like?" Li Ke said: "Wu Qi is greedy for fame and lust, but he can't fight Sima Yi." In this way, Wei Wenhou appointed him as a general, led an army to attack the State of Qin, and conquered five cities.
Wei Wenhou, who was good at fighting, honest and clean, and won the support of foot soldiers, appointed him as the garrison commander of Xihe (now Yeung Yi, Shaanxi) to resist Qin and Korea. In 409 BC, King Wei Lie of Zhou captured Linjin (now Dali East, Shaanxi Province) and Yuanli (now south of the city) in the west of Qin River, and built these two cities. The following year, we attacked Qin to Zheng (now Huaxian County), built (now Dali South) and Heyang (now Heyang Southeast), occupied the land west of Qin (now between the Yellow River and the south section of Beiluo River) (see the battle of Wei attacking Qin Hexi), and set Xihe County as the county magistrate of Xihe. During this period, "I fought 76 times with the princes and won 64 times" and "pushed the soil on all sides and expanded thousands of miles". Especially in the battle of Yin and Jin in the 13th year (389 BC), Wuqi defeated Qin Jun, who was ten times bigger than himself, with 50,000 Wei Jun, which became a famous battle in the history of China War and made Wei a powerful vassal state in the early Warring States period.
During the period when Wuqi was guarding the Xihe River, he emphasized "rule" with few soldiers, and initiated the method of selecting foot soldiers: anyone who can wear full armor should hold a crossbow 12 stone (the tension of 12 stone refers to a crossbow, which is about 30 kilograms today), 50 arrows, three-day rations with swords, and half-day running 100. Wu Qi ruled the army, advocating severe punishment and clear reward, and teaching precepts first. He believes that if the law is unclear and rewards and punishments are not believed, then a million-strong army is useless. He beheaded people who attacked the enemy without orders to show that the law was clear.
When Wu Qi was a general, he shared his clothes and food with the foot soldiers at the bottom. Sleep without mats, March without horses, carry dry food in person, and work hard with foot soldiers. One of the foot soldiers had a sore, and Wu Qi sucked pus for him with his mouth. The mother of the foot soldiers burst into tears when she learned about it. Others said, "Your son is a foot soldier, and the general himself sucks pus from the sore. Why are you crying? " Mother said, "That's not true. A few years ago, Wu Gong sucked pus from his father's sore, and his father went all out to fight, so he died. Now martial arts is sucking pus for my son's sore again. I don't know where he will die again, so I cried. "
After Wei Wenhou's death, Wuqi continued to work for his son Wei Wuhou. Wuhou once sailed down the Xihe River with Wuqi, and the boat went to the middle stream. Wu Hou said, "Beauty is as solid as mountains and rivers, and it is the treasure of Wei!" Wu Qi said to him: "The most precious thing in a country is the virtue of the monarch, not the danger of the terrain. In the past, there was Dongting Lake (now Dongting Lake in Hunan) on the left of Sanmiaojia, and Li Penghu (now Poyang Lake in Jiangxi) on the right, but they didn't pay attention to morality and were eliminated by Yu Xia. Where Xia Jie is located, there are Yellow River and Jishui on the left, Taihua Mountain on the right, Yi Que in the south (also known as Longmen Mountain, south of Luoyang, Henan Province), and narrow intestines in the north (northwest of Jinyang, Shanxi Province), so the administration is heartless. Tang Wang of Shang Dynasty exiled him. In Yin Guodong, there are Mengmen (the name of the ancient pass, in the west of Huixian County, Henan Province), Taihang Mountain and Changshan Mountain (namely Hengshan Mountain, in the east of Yangyuan County, Shanxi Province) in the west, and the Yellow River flows in the south. The terrain is also very dangerous, but the government is immoral. Zhou Wuwang killed him. It can be seen that the way to govern the country lies in the virtue of the monarch, not in the danger of the terrain. If you don't talk about virtue, even a boat of people will become enemies. " Wu Hou said, "You are quite right." Wuqi advocated "rule" without more troops, and once strictly selected infantry to build a standing army with combat effectiveness.
Wuqi was appointed commander of Xihe River with high prestige. When Wei elected Wuqi as prime minister, many people thought highly of him, but in the end he chose (Wei Guiqi) as prime minister. Wu Qi is very unhappy. He said to Tian Wen, "Would you please compare your advantages with mine?" Tian Wen said, "Yes." Wu Qi said, "How can you be better than me?" Tian Wen said, "I am not as good as you." Wu Qi said: "You are in charge of officials at all levels, attached to the people, and rich in money and food. How can you be better than me?" Tian Wen said, "I am not as good as you." Wu Qi said: "Defending the Xihe area has made Qin Jun afraid to expand eastward. Both Korea and Zhao respect us. How can you be better than me? " Tian Wen said, "I am not as good as you." Wu Qi said, "In these three aspects, you are inferior to me, and your position is higher than mine. Why? " Tian Wen said: "The monarch is young, the whole country is worried, the minister is not attached, and the people still don't trust him. Is it appropriate for you to be appointed at this time? " Or should I be the right person? Wu Qi was silent for a long time and then said, "This matter should be decided by you." Tian Wen said, "This is why my position is higher than yours." Wu Qicai knows that he is not as good as Tian Wen.
After Tian Wen's death, Gong Shu became prime minister, and his wife was the princess of Wei. Uncle is jealous of Wuqi and wants to harm Wuqi. One of his servants said to him, "Wuqi is easy to get rid of." Uncle said, "What should I do?" The servant said, "Wu Qi is an upright and upright person who values his reputation very much. You can say to Wuhou first:' Wuqi is a wise man, and our state of Wei belongs to a small country of Hou level, bordering on. In my opinion, I'm afraid Wuqi doesn't want to stay in Wei for long. Wu Hou will ask:' what should I do?' You said to Wuhou on the agricultural machinery:' Hou Jun can marry a princess to Wuqi, and she will accept it gladly if she stays in Wei, but she will politely decline if she stays in Wei. So that we can detect his thoughts. "Then you invite Wuqi to your home again, so that the princess will be angry and deliberately look down on you. Wu Qi saw that the princess treated you so lightly and thought that she would be treated lightly, too. " In this way, according to the plan, Wuqi really saw the light of the princess. Wei Xiang politely declined the marquis of Wu. Wu Hou was suspicious of Wu and didn't trust him. Wu Qi was afraid that the marquis of Wu would be punished, so he left Wei for Chu.
The king of Chu heard that Wuqi was very capable and appointed Wuqi as the prime minister as soon as he arrived in Chu. He strictly enforced laws and regulations, replaced officials who were not in urgent need, abolished alienated people and used the money and food saved to support soldiers. The main purpose is to strengthen the army and get rid of lobbying. So the south pacified Baiyue; The north annexed Cai of Chen Guohe and repelled the expansion of Korea, Zhao and Wei. Therefore, governors are afraid of the power of Chu. It turns out that all the nobles in Chu wanted to murder Wuqi. After the death of King Chu, Gong Zu instructed his ministers to rebel and attack Wuqi. Wuqi ran to lie down next to the body of the king of Chu, in order to make the insurgents have scruples. If the insurgents were reckless, they shot me and defeated the king, which naturally exposed them as rebellious sinners. However, the Chu nobles who pursued Wuqi still hit Wuqi, and the arrow also hit the mourning king. This year is 38 BC1. After Ai Wang was buried, the Prince (King Su of Chu) ascended the throne and sent Yin (the highest military and political official in Chu) to kill all the people who shot and stabbed Ai Wang's body at the same time. Because of the assassination of Wuqi, more than 70 clans were eliminated.
Wu Qi has accumulated rich experience in politics and commanding wars, and deepened it into military theory. History of Literature and Art records 48 articles of Wuqi, which has been lost. Today, there are six "Woods" (painting the country, guarding against the enemy, managing troops, discussing generals, changing, and inspiring), which are entrusted by future generations. Its main strategic idea is: "Xiu De is in the interior, and the military is prepared from outside." On the one hand, he stressed that the use of foreign troops should be coordinated and unified within the country and the army, and proposed that if the country has "four disharmonies", it cannot send troops to fight; On the other hand, it emphasizes strengthening the country's military strength.