200 B.C., Location: Central Plains, China
War is brutal and complex, it can create heroes, but it can also destroy countless dreams. In ancient Chinese history, there were many highly acclaimed generals, such as Han Xin, Zhao Kuo, and Ma Tan.
Their fates are very different, Han Xin has been hanging all the way to glory, while Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian have lived as tragedies. This article will explore the reasons behind this, revealing the difference between Han Xin's superior art of war and Zhao Kuo's and Ma Tan's leadership failures.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu competed for the world.
Liu Bang took a fancy to Han Xin, who had been honed under Xiang Yu for many years, and he sent Han Xin as a general to lead a very understaffed army to face a powerful enemy army. Han Shin, a wise and brave general, showed outstanding military talent.
First of all, Han Shin is good at trickery. He used his magic on the battlefield. In the Battle of Julu, Han Xin's fire attack strategy successfully broke the enemy, causing Liu Bang to defeat Xiang Yu. And in the battle of Qixia, he turned fake defeat into real victory, confused the enemy, and finally destroyed the enemy army.
Secondly, Han Xin's excellent ability to deploy troops is also an important reason for his thousands of miles away. He innovatively implemented the strategy of defending one side and attacking the other.
He took advantage of his superiority and raided the important cities of the counter-attacking troops, creating a dilemma in the rear of the enemy army. This tactic allowed Han Shin to quickly take the lead in the war.
In contrast, the fate of Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian can be described as tragic. During the Three Kingdoms period, the mistakes of Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, against the two generals who admired him in battle, led to their final defeat.
Zhao Kuo was a Shu Han general who was praised for his resourcefulness and courage. However, in the Battle of Chibi, he failed to gain insight into the enemy's tactics at critical moments, and was gullible in the feigned surrender of Eastern Wu, which led to heavy losses for the Shu army.
Zhao Kuo was obviously overconfident and underestimated the enemy, and failed to surpass Zhuge Liang in terms of wisdom, which became the reason why he eventually went to tragedy.
Ma Tan was the brother-in-law of Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, and he was entrusted with important military and political duties. However, in the campaign against Cao Wei, he made serious leadership mistakes.
Ma Tan did not heed the advice of the front-line generals, insisted on the attack, and finally fell into an ambush of the enemy. This miscalculation led to the death of thousands of soldiers and the loss of an important strategic position for Shu Han.
The reason why Han Xin was able to go all the way, while Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian fell into tragedy, was because there were huge differences in their war art and leadership skills.
First of all, Han Shin was able to strategize and design strategies and tactics with superb war wisdom to achieve continuous victory.
In contrast, Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian had relatively limited resourcefulness and strategic vision, and they often committed cognitive biases and were unable to perceive the movements and intentions of the enemy army.
Secondly, Han Shin possessed excellent military talents and leadership skills, and he was good at organizing, commanding, and dispatching troops. He can quickly react and adjust according to the battlefield situation, regulate and control the troops, and give full play to his combat strength.
On the contrary, Zhao Kuo and Ma Jian had limited leadership skills, and they lacked practical experience in warfare and the ability to respond to unexpected situations.
In the silhouettes of wars in history, there are always heroes like Han Xin and tragedies like Zhao Kuo and Ma Tan. Han Shin led the army to victory in the war, which stemmed from his excellent art of war and excellent leadership skills.
And Zhao Kuo and Ma Tan fell into a tragic fate because of leadership mistakes. Victory in a war depends not only on the bravery and resourcefulness of the generals, but also on all-round military talent and keen analytical thinking.
Only with Han Shin's outstanding ability and wisdom can we reduce misjudgment and leadership mistakes and move towards the other side of victory.