History has a temperature, life has an attitude, and cognition has depth
Today, when we talk about a war, we can understand the necessity of strategy more deeply, that is, during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the Battle of Chengpu between the Jin and Chu states, and it was this war that allowed Jin Wengong to dominate the princes and become one of the famous Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes fought against each other, wars were frequent, in 634 BC, the Chu state was strong, wanted to dominate the Central Plains, and tried to go north, the Jin state gradually recovered its strength since the Jin Wengong ascended to the throne, and after the Jin Wengong learned of the Chu State's plot, he took the initiative to attack first.
In 632 BC, the Jin and Chu countries fought the first major battle for hegemony in the Weiguo Chengpu area, the Chu army attacked lightly, was annihilated by the Jin army on both wings, and the Jin state won a great victory and dominated the princes in one fell swoop.
How to see the importance of strategy from the Battle of Chengpu?
In this war, the famous Jin general Xianxun showed a very high strategic vision. The cause of the Battle of Chengpu was actually that the Chu state wanted to attack the Song state in the Central Plains. And why did the King of Chu fight the Song Kingdom? In fact, there was no strategic purpose, but the King of Chu looked at the Song Kingdom unfavorably and insisted on attacking. After the Song kingdom was beaten, he asked for help from the Jin state, the great power of the Central Plains at that time.
Jin Wengong, also known as Gongzi Zhong'er, had been exiled in his early years because of power struggles, and when he passed through the Song Kingdom, the Song Monarch treated him very well, so morally, Jin Wengong wanted to lend a helping hand to the Song Kingdom.
But on the other hand, in the past, when Duke Wen of Jin fled to the State of Chu, the King of Chu had also been very kind to him; and the State of Chu was very powerful, and Duke Wen of Jin could not make up his mind to offend the State of Chu, so he summoned the generals to discuss the matter.
Xianxun pointed out that the Song state wanted to be saved, and this was a good time for the Jin state to defeat the Chu state and dominate the princes. At that time, Jin Wengong was more than 60 years old, and he needed to seize the time to complete the hegemony, and Xianxun's proposition was also in line with his vision. As for how to save the Song state without offending the chu state, this is exquisite, and it is necessary to formulate a detailed strategy. First of all, the State of Jin decided to attack the allies of the State of Chu, Cao Guo and Wei Guo, so that the State of Chu would divide its troops to save its two younger brothers. Then, the Jin state wanted to unite the Qin state and the state of Qi on its side, because it did not have the certainty of victory in facing the state of Chu alone. In the end, it was only at the right time to defeat the Chu state for hegemony.
The next step is the implementation of the strategy. On the one hand, the State of Jin sent news to the State of Song to let them die, and on the other hand, it quickly captured the State of Cao and the State of Wei. When the King of Chu saw that the Jin state's soldiers were in full swing, he wanted to avoid the battle, because he did not want to fight hard with the Jin state, so that if he failed, he would achieve the hegemony of the Jin state.
At this time, the King of Chu actually had a very realistic strategic goal, that is, to maintain their respective territories. However, at that time, the chu king's chancellor Zi Yu was proud of his talents, strong and competitive, and must defeat the Jin state, unwilling to retreat.
In fact, as far as the strategic goal of the King of Chu was concerned, it was not necessary to win the Jin Dynasty. The King of Chu ordered Ziyu to withdraw his army, but Ziyu was in charge of power at that time and insisted on fighting, and the King of Chu had to obey.
If Ziyu wanted to make a contribution, he stepped up his attack on the State of Song, and the State of Song once again sent someone to bring gifts to the State of Jin. At this time, the Jin state was not yet fully sure to directly attack the state of Chu, and needed to pull the other two great powers, the State of Qin and the State of Qi, to its side, and these two countries wanted to be neutral at that time.
At this time, Xianxun came up with another idea, forwarding the gifts sent by the Song State to the Qin State and the State of Qi, and asking the State of Qin and the State of Qi to persuade the State of Chu to retreat. If the State of Chu refused to retreat and refuted the face of the State of Qin and the State of Qi, then these two great powers would have sided with the State of Jin. Jin Wengong was worried, so if Ziyu accepted the proposal and withdrew from the army like this, wouldn't this battle not be fought?
Xianxun said, it doesn't matter, let's give the land of Cao Guo and Wei Guo that we have fought down to the Song Kingdom, so that Zi Yu must hate the Song Kingdom and will not talk about peace. Sure enough, Zi Yu took the path of Xianxun and drove away the envoys of the Qin and Qi states, which pushed these two great powers to the side of the Jin state. It can be seen that every step of the Xianxun is to bring the Chu state closer to war, and at the same time, to increase its own allies and weaken the power of the Chu state.
Ziyu's Song dynasty was not going well, and his subordinates gave him an idea, that is, to make a condition with the Jin army, saying that as long as they released the previously destroyed Cao state and the Wei state, the Chu army would withdraw from the Song state, so that the Chu army could also withdraw with dignity. So Ziyu sent someone to negotiate with the Jin state, but Xianxun immediately saw through the intentions of the Chu army.
First of all, Cao Wei and the two countries have been destroyed by me, they belong to me, the Song Kingdom you have not yet conquered, it is my ally, how can you trade my things with me?
The envoys of the Chu state returned without success. Xianxun continued to provoke Ziyu, and he brought in the captured Cao Guo and Wei Guojun and promised to restore them, provided that they broke off diplomatic relations with the Chu state and befriended the Jin state. The two monarchs knew that their country was occupied by the Jin state, and obviously relied on the Jin state to be more realistic, so they ran to Ziyu and the Chu state to break off diplomatic relations.
This completely angered Ziyu, so Ziyu led his army north and started a war at Chengpu and the Jin State. At this time, the Qin state and the state of Qi were all on the side of the Jin state, and the Jin state itself at that time was also like a cloud, and the outcome of this war had no suspense. Duke Wen of Jin achieved his strategic goal and dominated the princes in World War I.
In this battle, because the Jin state had a clear strategic goal, whenever the development process deviated from this strategic goal, Xianxun tried to pull each country back to its own strategic track.
Chu Guo did not have a strategy at first, and later the King of Chu actually had a realistic strategic goal, that is, to avoid war, but Ziyu did not realize this, and was led by the nose of Jin Guo, stepping on the watermelon peel, and sliding to wherever it was. In contrast, the outcome of the war is already predestined.
The first element of strategy is to be clear about one's position and goals, or rather, to know what to do and what not to do.
The second element of strategy is knowing when to do it, where to do it, in Minzberg's words, how the strategy unfolds.
The same thing, done at different times and places, the results will be much worse.
The third element of strategy is to clarify your vision after reaching the goal, that is, to know what your long-term path is and what you want to do next.
Many people work hard to reach the goal in half a day, and then there is no follow-up, and the strategy without follow-up is not a good strategy.
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