On the 29th day of June in the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC) (the day when there was no moonlight at the end of the month), in order to take advantage of the cover of the dark night before the wee hours of the morning and the fog generated by the water vapor on the surface in the early morning due to the increase in temperature, the king of Chu Gong who led his army to confront the Jin army at Yanling in the state of Zheng ignored it. The taboo of not using soldiers in obscure days, issued an order to send troops to attack the Jin army before dawn, ordered the Chu army to jointly assist in the battle Zheng Guo army all dispatched, combined troops to drive directly to the Jin army camp, hoping to take advantage of the Jin army did not have time to react, break through the fortress set up by the Jin army, defeat the main force of the Jin army, so that the state of Chu in the Jin-Chu hegemony war to achieve another dominant position, and relieve the military threat of the Jin army to the Zheng state, and maintain the stability of the Chu-Zheng alliance.
When the Chu army made a big move in the early morning, the Jin army was also waiting under the leadership of Jin Ligong, ready to send troops to counterattack the Chu army; At that time, the Jin army barracks were full of swamps, which was not conducive to the attack of troop vehicles, so the initial order given by Luan Shu, the general of the Jin Central Army, to the whole army was to consolidate the stronghold and form a formation to take advantage of the enemy, so that the Chu army had no opportunity to take advantage of, and could only automatically retire after consuming physical strength; The Jin army then attacked from the strong stronghold, followed the retreating Chu army to attack, and defeated the Chu army in a battle.
Luan Shu's prudent battle plan was strongly opposed by the dedicated Jin New Army Zuo Yizhi, who believed that he could not show weakness in front of the Chu army, which would seriously blow the morale of the Jin army, and the army's will to fight would also be impacted; Under such circumstances, the Jin army that retreated to the stronghold was likely to be taken advantage of by the menacing Chu army to break the defensive line and suffer a heavy defeat.
In front of the main general Luan Shu and the monarch Jin Ligong, Hao Zhi confidently analyzed and explained in detail the weaknesses of the Chu army's troop dispatch, pointing out that the Chu army's battle this time not only violated the will of God, but also had serious defects in the central command, and also committed a taboo in the formation of troops, which were all obvious disadvantages of the Chu army and inevitable battlefield hidden dangers.
Therefore, Hao Zhi believed that the Jin army could not strictly defend itself, gave up the initiative on the battlefield, and seized the opportunity to be the first to attack, do its best to fight against the Chu army, and work together from top to bottom, and the monarch and the courtiers would definitely be able to defeat the Chu army in the middle of the foreign power and achieve another strategic victory over the Chu state.
Just when the confident Yi Zhi generously pleaded to the ruling secretaries such as Duke Li of Jin and Luan Shu, and strongly requested to take the initiative, Zuo Shixie, who had not originally recommended sending troops to fight, but used 'peace discussion' as a means of solving the problem, had not yet spoken, and his eldest son, Shi Kuang, who was still young at this time, (the future ruling and the fourteenth general of the Jin state; Because of the reason of accompanying his father on the expedition and serving as a doctor of the Chinese army, Shi Kuang was in the Jin army camp at this time, and he served with his father Shixie before the Jin Li Gong driving) but he could not hold back and was eager to try.
Regarding his father Shixie's previous opinion of "temporarily retiring from peace and preserving strength" (see the previous article - "Only the saint can be free from trouble, and release Chu as an external fear - the war and peace dispute before the Jin-Chu War"), Shi Kuo was quite unimpressed in his heart, thinking that his father was old and his thinking was too conservative, which would lose the sharpness of his youth, and all thoughts were aimed at stabilizing his own safety, which was the work of the brave warriors of the Jin Kingdom!
(Shixie's good intentions of 'making peace and alleviating domestic strife' could not be understood by Shi Kuang, who is still young and vigorous; it was not until twenty years later, when Shi Kuang became a general in the Jin state, that he understood his father's worries at that time and in that position.) Unfortunately, Shixie, who was dedicated to serving the country, died long ago at this time, and it was too late for the young Shixie to regret and apologize to his father.)
Therefore, when Shi Kuo listened to Hao Zhi's analysis and explanation of the strength of the Chu army and his speech strongly requesting to send troops to face the battle, he immediately couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and without the consent of his father Shixie, who was standing beside him, he took the initiative to stand up, ask Jin Ligong and Luan Shu to fight, and offered a plan:
"The swampy mud in front of our barracks is not convenient for the troops to launch positions and attack operations, so I propose to ask the monarch to order that the wells in the barracks be filled and the stoves also be leveled, so as to expand the combat area of our troop vehicles when they attack; Then we set up a formation in the barracks, evacuate the front row of troops, and leave a distance for the subsequent troops, if this is implemented, the horizontal and deep layout of our army's formation during combat will be completely sufficient. We, the Jin Kingdom, like the Chu State, are all dignified and upright powers favored by Haotian, and there is no need to retreat and fear the Chu army! ”
(The later idiom 'Seijing Yi Stove' comes from Shi Kuo's words; more than three hundred years later, the idiom of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, 'broke the cauldron and sinks the boat', and its meaning is roughly the same as 'Seijing Yi Zao').
After Shi Kuang's excited words, before Jin Ligong and Luan Shu and others could react, they came forward to answer, and their father Shixie was already thunderous - originally, because his (correct) opinion could not be supported by the monarch and other secretaries, Shixie was already worried and sighed, but now even his own son couldn't help jumping out, not only supporting the initiative to send troops to fight the Chu army head-on, but also making his own plans to the monarch and pointing fingers, which made Shixie even more annoyed and angry.
Shixie was angry because he was worried that his son, who had no more affairs and no city, would be so clever and showy in front of the monarch and the courtiers, and that he would make his own claim to participate in such an important and serious military decision; If some people with ulterior motives are allowed to take advantage of this to cause trouble and deliberately dig a pit, it will not only be Shikuo but also the entire Fan family (that is, the Shi family) that may eventually be affected.
(Specifically, if Shikuo's 'Seijing Yizao' plan succeeds and thus defeats the Chu army, it will be the result of the monarch's decisive decision and the doctors' proper command; but if Shikuo's 'Seijing Yizao' strategy is not successful and self-defeating leads to the defeat of the Jin army, then the responsibility for this defeat will all be blamed on Shikuo, who made the messy idea, and the Fan family behind him will also carry the black pot; After the disastrous defeat of the 'Battle of Qi', the then Zhongjunzuo Xianhu was arrested by the monarch and the secretaries as the "culprit of defeat" because of his pre-war 'disobedience', wartime 'inaction', post-war 'chaos' and other actions, and finally Xianyu and the Xian family were ordered to destroy the whole family by the Duke of Jinjing. The politically experienced and experienced Shixie did not want his own Fan to suffer such a tragic end.)
In order to avoid the unfathomable calamity brought to the family by the ignorant Shikuan, but also to show a clear attitude to the monarch and other generals, and even more so that the young and frivolous Shikuo could learn a profound lesson, so that he would not do such a clever stupid thing in the future, the sophisticated Shixie immediately made a decision and began to attack.
When Shi Kuo triumphantly told the monarch and the secretaries this "wise plan" that he thought was infallible, and was still waiting for the monarch's praise and praise, Shi Xie suddenly burst out from the seat, and then made a 'furious' appearance, and conveniently copied the ceremonial instrument copper Ge that was standing in the big tent next to him as a ceremonial guard for the monarch's travel, turned it upside down, and used a wooden pole to beat his son Shi Kuo, who was still standing in the center of the big tent and was excited, and scolded Shi Kuo while whipping:
"The rise and fall of the country and the success or failure of the society all come from Haotian's decision; The strategy of the army's advance and retreat is also determined by the king and the doctors, where to get your turn a milky little king bastard (of course, there was no such title at that time, in order to let everyone deeply appreciate Shixie's mood, here is directly using the word 'little king bastard' in later generations to describe) here nonsense, don't get out of me right away! ”
Under Shixie's sudden outburst of beatings and severe rebukes, although Shixie, who was inexplicably beaten, was very aggrieved in his heart, he did not dare to resist his father's scolding, so he had to hold his head and flee from the big account of the discussion in embarrassment, and did not dare to say another word. And Shixie, who beat his son away, was also persuaded by the kind words of Jin Ligong and other Qingshi who reacted, put down the copper Ge in his hand, and slowly recovered his calm look.
After his previous peace proposal was unceremoniously rejected by the monarch and other secretaries, Shixie finally found a place to vent; In addition, after Shixie's trouble, Shikuo was invisibly 'exonerated' - even if the Jin army later suffered defeat in the battle against the Chu army, the king and other Qingshi could not blame all the blame for the defeat on the young Shikuo and the Fan family; This is the superb skill and political wisdom of the old and heavy Shixie, and the stunned Shixie still needs to study well.
Although Shixie used the method of publicly degrading, scolding Shi Kuo and damaging his face, trying his best to exonerate and relieve his son, so as to avoid making him the target of everyone and (perhaps) scapegoat, Jin Ligong, who presided over the military conference, still thought that this plan was feasible after listening to Shi Kuang's plan of 'plugging the well and destroying the stove'; after discussing with other secretaries and soldiers, Jin Ligong decided to adopt the strategy of Shi Kuang, and ordered that the wells, stoves and other low-lying places in the camp be filled with earth and rocks, the obstacles in the camp were cleared, and the troop vehicles were lined up on the spot. The front and rear are densely packed and measured, and the formation is in the camp; In this way, the Jin army's military vehicles not only got rid of the dilemma of not being able to go out of the camp and deploy the formation, but also made the deployment of the army formation more concealed, so that the Chu army had no opportunity to take advantage of.
After completing the formation, Duke Li of Jin again ordered people to inform the whole army of the results of the "six defeats of the Chu army" analyzed by Hao Zhi before, so as to boost the morale and combat effectiveness of the Jin soldiers and smash the surprise attack plan of the Chu army in person.
Things came to this point, and Shixie, who originally disagreed with the war, had no choice but to do his best to lead the army into battle, and together with other ministers and generals, assisted the monarch in winning this battle; This is not Shixie changed his mind, in fact, if this battle is lost, just now in front of everyone to show off his knowledge and show the limelight, Shixie who offered his plan to the monarch will definitely not be able to run away from a 'defeated culprit', and the Fan family will also have to suffer a lot of involvement.
When the Duke of Jin Li ordered the Jin soldiers to follow Shi Kuo's suggestion to "plug the well and raze the stove" and complete the formation of the chariot army in his own large camp, the opposite Chu army had also been killed - June 29, the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC), when the sky was dim, riding on the hazy fog, the king of Chu commanded the Chu army and the affiliated Zheng army and slowly drove to the camp where the Jin army was waiting for it, and the third field battle between the two hegemonic powers of Jin and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Battle of Yanling, was about to begin.
After arriving outside the Jin army camp, seeing that the Jin army on the opposite side did not have the slightest panic, but was already in a strict position, the king of Chu thought that his 'surprise attack plan while the fog' might be difficult to complete, and could only launch a strong attack; therefore, the king of Chu took the opportunity to board the nest car (watchcar) and observe the movements in the Jin army camp from a high place to make corresponding command orders.
In order to better assist the monarch in making correct battlefield judgments, the state of Chu ordered Yin Zizhong, the former Jin state doctor, who fled from the Jin state to Chu, and the current state of Chu Dazai Bozhou Li (son of Jin Dafu Bozong, as for why Bozhou Li fled to the Chu state, this will be discussed in detail in our subsequent articles) to step forward, board the nest car with him, and stand behind the king of Chu, so as to receive advice from the king of Chu and answer questions for him at any time.
The king of Chu on the nest car carefully observed the movements in the Jin army camp, and constantly asked Bozhou Li about the various military arrangements in the Jin army formation——————
The king of the Chu communist asked: "The chariots of the Jin army are galloping back and forth in the camp, what is this for?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "This is the Marquis of Jin or the generals of the Jin State summoning the military officials to the big tent for a military meeting." ”
The king of the Chu Communist Party asked: "They have all gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army, so what next?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "It should be a joint discussion to discuss the next battle plan." ”
The king of Chu asked: "Now that the Jin army has begun to set up a tabernacle in the camp, what does it mean?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "That is the Marquis of Jin to divinate in front of the gods and lords of the ancestors of the Jin Kingdom, and ask the auspicious murderer of this battle." ”
The king of Chu looked at it for a while, and then asked: "Why was the tabernacle just established for a while, and then it was removed?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "This is because the divination of the Marquis of Jin has ended, and he may issue the order for battle next." ”
The king of the Chu communist asked: "The people in the camp of the Jin army are shouting horses, they are very noisy, and dust is flying everywhere, what are they doing?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "This means that the Jin army has accepted the order of the Jin Marquis, filled the wells and earthen stoves in their camp, set up the position of fighting with troops, lined up the marching team, and the military officials were maintaining the military discipline before the war, so it was very noisy." ”
The king of the Chu Communist Party looked at it again and asked: "The generals of the Jin army all boarded their respective chariots, but soon they got off with weapons in their hands with the right side of the car, what are you going to do?" ”
Bozhou Li replied: "This is the general of the Jin army who will officially issue the order to start war against the soldiers." ”
The king of Chu asked again: "Does this indicate that the Jin army is preparing for war?" ”
Bozhou Li answered honestly: "The situation of the war is changing rapidly, and this minister does not dare to draw conclusions, please watch carefully to make a decision." ”
Just when Bozhou Li explained in detail every move in the Jin military camp for the king of Chu, in the camp of the Jin army, there was also a courtier who defected from the state of Chu to the state of Jin, providing information about the Chu army for the king of Jinligong; This person is the son of Yin Douyue Jiao, the former Commander of the State of Chu, Emperor Miao.
Miao Bianhuang, formerly known as Dou Bianhuang, his father Douyue Jiao was the head of the Ruo Ao clan of the State of Chu and served as the Commander of the State of Chu. At the beginning, in order to seize the military and political power of the Chu state, Douyue Jiao led Ruo Ao's private army to launch a rebellion, intending to overthrow the king of Chu and seize the power of the king of Chu; However, Douyue Jiao's rebellion was soon put down by King Zhuang of Chu, and he himself was killed by the Chu army, and the Chu state Ruo Ao clan was almost destroyed by the clan (described in the previous article).
After the collapse of the family, the young Emperor Dou took advantage of the chaos to flee the State of Chu and took refuge in the State of Jin; Out of the intention of dealing with the great enemies of the State of Chu, the Duke of Jin Jing took in Emperor Dou Bian, entrusted him with a heavy task, and gave him the fief 'Miao Yi'; therefore, after Emperor Dou arrived in the State of Jin, he changed his name to Emperor Miao Bian.
Miao Bianhuang was born in the royal family of the State of Chu (Ruo Ao clan, also known as the Dou clan, is a descendant of Ruo Ao the King of Chu, the same lineage as the King of Chu), trained by the family and father (Douyue Pepper) since childhood, often in the army, familiar with the combat characteristics of the Chu army and the habit of using troops, at this time it was used by the Duke of Jin Li, with his experience and consciousness to advise the Jin army for the next battles.
At the same time, because of the family's blood and sea feud, Emperor Miao was already at odds with the mother country of Chu and was like a feud; In order to achieve the long-awaited desire for revenge and comfort the underground ancestor of the Dou clan, when he was summoned to come to explain and analyze the movements of the Chu army on the opposite side for the Duke of Jin, Miao Bianhuang explained the arrangement of the Chu army's military formation, the strength of the soldiers, and the reality of the three armies according to the results he observed, and also told the Duke of Jin Li the situation of the Chu communist king's personal observation of the Jin army's camp on the nest car, pointing out the position of the guards and attendants around the king of Chu (that is, to give the Jin army the opportunity to attack the Chu communist king himself, focus on the attack, and defeat in one fell swoop, Even wounded the king of Chu and won the battle).
At that time, many of Jin Ligong's close associates persuaded the monarch: "Around Chu Jun's car, there are many outstanding talents of the country serving him; Moreover, the Chinese army formation where Chu Jun is located is very thick, the soldiers are elite, it is difficult to resist, it is better to be careful. It means that it does not approve of the Jin army directly attacking the location of the Prince of Chu's personal soldiers (that is, where the King of Chu himself is).
Emperor Miao resolutely opposed this self-discouraged statement, and once again suggested to Duke Li of Jin:
"The elite of the Chu army are all in their middle army, and most of their soldiers are from the Chu royal family, so they serve the Chu monarch without hesitation, fighting tenacious and brave; And the Chu left and right Second Army and the attached Zheng Army were weak in combat effectiveness and were not enough to worry about our army; Our army can use the elite troops of one army to contain and attack the left and right armies of the Chu army and the Zheng army, and concentrate the superior forces of the other three armies to besiege the position of the king of the Chu army; As long as it can cause a threat to the Chu monarch and repel it (or even injure it), it will definitely shake the will of the Chu Chinese army to fight, break the connection between the second army and the Chinese army on the left and right of Chu, and completely crush the Chu army. ”
After listening to Emperor Miao's analysis and suggestions on the prospects of fighting the Chu army, Duke Li of Jin felt that the feasibility of this strategy was very high, but he was not very sure that he would be able to defeat the Chu army; Therefore, Duke Li of Jin asked Tai Shizhan, who accompanied the army, to come to Bu Xiao to ask how the murderer of this battle was.
Tai Shi was ordered by the Duke of Jin Li to immediately throw yarrow grass to start a trigram, and after some calculation, he obtained the trigrams of 'Fu Trigram' and 'Daji', and his words were:
"Nanguo Qi, shoot its Yuan King Zhong Mu."
Tai Shi reported the results of this divination to Jin Li Gong:
"Bu Gua Ji Li, got the "Fu" trigram; The rhetoric shows that the countries of the south will shrink in their territory, and the monarch will be wounded in war and shot in the eye. 'The country is cramped and the king is wounded' is a sign that our army will inflict defeat on the enemy; if you do not go to war according to the results of the Zhanxi and cause the enemy to suffer a crushing defeat, how long will you wait? ”
After listening to Tai Shi's explanation, Jin Ligong believed that the heavens had foreshadowed the final victory of the Jin State in this battle, so he had no worries in his heart, so he safely adopted the strategy offered by Emperor Miao Bian, ordered the main force of the Jin army to detour out of the camp, avoid the swampy mud in front of the Jin army's camp, and launched an attack from the flank direction to the left and right armies of the Chu state and the affiliated Zheng army, intending to drag down the second army and the Zheng army on the left and right of the Chu army, so that the remaining upper, lower, and new armies of the Jin army could besiege the Chu army Wang Jun where the king of the Chu communist was located and defeat the main force of the Chu army.
When the Jin Zhong army was ordered to leave the camp and start a battle against the Chu army in the direction of the two wings of the battlefield, the king of Chu quickly discovered that the Jin army had begun to attack the direction of the two wings of his own army formation, and the position of the Jinzhong army camp where Jin Ligong himself was located was relatively weak (this may be deliberately done by Jin Ligong to lead the main force of the Chu army to attack); Therefore, the king of Chu also personally led the king of the Chu army to attack and advance to the position of the Jinzhong army camp where the Duke of Jin Li was located, in an attempt to seize the opportunity and defeat the Jinzhong army and seize the initiative on the battlefield before the Jin army attacked the two wings of the Chu army.
With the Duke of Jin Li and the King of Chu leading their armies to battle, the Jin-Chu 'Battle of Yanling', which decided the new ownership of the hegemony of the princes, officially began.