In the later period of the State of Wei, there were not many famous generals who could strategize on the battlefield, but Wang Ji should be regarded as an outstanding one, and what is particularly rare is that he was also deeply insightful in the political activities of the country, and belonged to the kind of outstanding figures who had both culture and martial arts and talents and military and political skills.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, The Biography of Wang Ji and its quotations record Wang Ji's lifelong career journey and his important contributions to the development of Cao Wei's cause, introduce his effective fresh plans in many military activities and profound insights into state affairs activities, and can also see Sima Shi's emphasis on this talented man, his envelopment, and the change of his own political stance.
Wang Ji (王基), courtesy name Boyu, was a native of Eastern Laiqu City (東 Laiqu City, in modern Laizhou, Shandong). Orphaned as a teenager, he lived with his uncle Wang Weng. Wang Weng was carefully raised, and Wang Ji was also known for his filial piety. He had a good start at the beginning of his life. It was a good start at the beginning of life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" resign after > take office</h1>
When Wang Ji was seventeen years old, Donglai Commandery (東莱郡, in modern Longkou, Shandong) recruited him as an official, but being an official was not to his liking, so he resigned and left to study in Langxian County (琅邪郡, in present-day Linyi, Shandong).
As an official, Wang Ji seems to have extraordinary ambitions, he is not willing to spend his life in the position of an ordinary official, hoping to exert his greater potential in an important position, because of the lack of the necessary social background, so he chose the path of studying and studying in order to further enhance his knowledge and fame, which belongs to the re-planning of his own life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > state capitals and imperial courts competed for his appointment</h1>
During the reign of Cao Pi, Wang Jicha was appointed as Langzhong (郎中). At that time, Qingzhou (青州, in modern Linzi, Shandong) had just been pacified, and Wang Ling of the Assassin Shi specially submitted a table to the imperial court, requesting that Wang Ji be appointed as the other driver of Qingzhou to assist the Assassin In handling external affairs. Soon the imperial court recruited Wang Ji as secretary Lang, and ordered his subordinates to be in charge of the 400 stones and six pins of the state's collection of scriptures. Wang Ling again requested that he be allowed to return to Qingzhou. Soon, the imperial court Situ Wang Lang recruited Wang Ji to prepare for the appointment, and Wang Ling did not let go.
Wang Lang then wrote to impeach Wang Ling, saying: "In the past, all the outstanding courtiers were promoted to public assistants; if the public ministers were outstanding, they entered the palace to do things. Therefore, in ancient times, local bohou had a ritual system of recommending talents to the Son of Heaven. At present, the prefecture and county have obtained the minister of su wei, so they stay as the official of the secret cabinet and do not pay tribute, and I have really never heard of it. This is a criticism and accusation of Wang Ling's approach, but Wang Ling still does not let Wang Ji go. Wang Ling's governance of Qingzhou was praised by the locals, thanks to Wang Ji's assistance and cooperation.
The history books do not introduce the specific deeds of Wang Ji's administrative activities, but judging from the fact that the state capital and the imperial court competed for his appointment and impeachment incidents occurred for this purpose, as well as the effect of Qingzhou's governance, his administrative ability should be good. Later, the imperial general Sima Yi recruited Wang Ji, and before he arrived, he was promoted to Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎), which was the official position of Wupin (五品官) in charge of drafting the edict at the imperial court, and Wang Ji entered the imperial court ruled by Cao Rui.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > advice to Cao Rui's extravagant style</h1>
At that time, the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui built a palace, and the people were tired and tired, and Wang Jishangshu said: "I heard that the ancients used water as a metaphor for the people, saying that 'water can carry boats, and it can also overturn boats.'" It can be seen that when the people are comfortable, it is easy to govern the country, and when the people work hard, it is difficult to govern the country, so the first king's residence pursues simplicity and frugality, hoping that there will be no disasters. He also made more explanatory arguments for this. Wang Ji had just entered the imperial government, and according to Cao Rui's deeds, he saw the hidden dangers of the country's future, showed a very discerning and foresight, and frankly showed his insights to the monarch, but unfortunately the advice did not play much role.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" > disagree with Wang Su's classical views</h1>
At that time, Wang Su, who was serving as a regular attendant on a loose horse, wrote several Confucian classic interpretations, and expounded and formulated court etiquette, which was different from the views of zheng xuan, a general confucian earlier, and Wang Ji often argued with Wang Su based on Zheng Xuan's arguments. Wang Su was Sima Zhao's father-in-law, and his classic commentaries were widely disseminated in the Wei scholarly circles ruled by Sima Zhao, and Emperor Cao Xian, who liked to discuss scriptures, insisted on Zheng Xuan's classic commentaries in his Taixue lectures, showing a clear tendency to respect Zheng Xuan and suppress Wang Su, and the academic disputes here reflected the actual political disputes in a certain sense. Wang Ji used his own intellectual insights to confront the views of the scholar Wang Su, which reflected his deep understanding of the classics, showed his honesty and frankness in doing things for people, and seemed to be able to detect his political attitude at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > became a subordinate of cao shuang, the ruler</h1>
Wang Ji was soon promoted to Taishou of Anping Commandery (安平郡, in modern Ji County, Hebei), but resigned on official business. At that time, the Young Emperor Cao Fang was already on the throne, and the auxiliary general Cao Shuang asked Wang Ji to be engaged in Zhonglang, which was set up in the Three Dukes and the General's Palace to be responsible for staff deliberations, and was a thousand stone and six pin officials under Changshi and Sima Wangji became a close official around Cao Shuang.
Later, he left the capital as Anfeng (安丰; present-day Huoqiu, Anhui, 20 kilometers southwest of Present-day Huoqiu), Taishou. The county was connected to the State of Wu, and Wang Ji's governance was clean and strict, with both power and favor in the county, coupled with strict defenses, the Wu army did not dare to attack easily. The imperial court made him a general of the Court. Wang Ji actually served as Cao Shuang's subordinate official for a short time before he left The Capital as a county sheriff, but this experience defined his political position at that time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > analysis and prediction of Sun Quan's military public opinion</h1>
In 247, Wu Guo gathered a large army in Jianye, Kyoto, claiming to attack Yangzhou, and the Yangzhou Assassin Shi Zhuge Asked Wang Ji to make a plan, and Wang Ji said:
"In the past, Sun Quan repeatedly invaded Hefei, once invaded Jiangxia, and after that, Quan Chun attacked Lujiang, and Zhu Ran attacked Xiangyang, all of which were fruitless. Now that Lu Xun and other veteran generals are dead, Sun Quan is also old, there is no excellent heir, and there is a lack of planners in the army. Sun Quan wanted to personally lead the troops to attack, but he was afraid that the internal disasters would suddenly break out and fester like carbuncles; if he wanted to send generals to lead the troops, the veteran generals were all dead, and the new generals did not trust them. He just wants to use this act to arrange cronies, which is only a means of self-protection. ”
Later, Sun Quan did not send troops after all. Wang Ji objectively and clearly analyzed the difficulties facing Sun Quan internally, as well as the problems he wanted to solve urgently, and thus came to the conclusion that Wu Jun would not rush to send troops, and his prediction was also proved by later facts.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > deliberately enveloped by Sima Yi after being deposed</h1>
At that time, the imperial court Cao Shuang was dictatorial and the political atmosphere was corrupt. Wang Ji wrote the Treatise on the Essentials of Time to expound on current events. He soon returned to the capital due to illness and was appointed as Yin of Henan, but before he could take up his post, Cao Shuang was killed after the Gaopingling Incident in early 249. Because Wang Ji had been a close subordinate of Cao Shuang, he was deposed as usual, which should have been in line with the custom at that time.
However, in this year, after Sima Yi came to power, Wang Ji was appointed Shangshu, and the following year he was appointed as the general of Jingzhou Thorn History, Jia YangLie, and the position was promoted from county sheriff to assassin history. This should be Sima Yi's trust in his talents, of course, there is no lack of admiration for him. In the early years, Wang Ji was transferred from Qingzhou to the post of Zhongshu Shilang in the imperial court, thanks to Sima Yi's arrangement, Sima Yi was well aware of Wang Ji's talents, and when he began to plot Sima Shi's political interests, he preferred to take the initiative to make a friendly gesture to Wang Ji, who was wandering in a political misdirection, and included him in his own political camp.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > the enemy's planning on the front lines of war</h1>
Wang Ji followed the Southern General Wang Chang in his campaign against the State of Wu, and he led a group of soldiers and horses to attack the Wu general Bu Xie at Yiling (夷陵, southeast of present-day Yichang, Hubei), which closed the city gates tightly and held it. Wang Ji put on the appearance of attacking, but in fact divided his troops to attack the granary of Xiongfu (originally located in the northwest of present-day Yichang, Hubei), captured more than 300,000 pieces of rice grain, captured the Anbei general Tan Zheng, accepted thousands of surrendered people, and resettled these surrendered people in Yiling County. After the war, Wang Yangong was given the title of Marquis of Guannei.
After the victory of the battle, Wang Ji built the city of Guo at Shangchang (上昶, northwest of present-day Anlu, Hubei) as the seat of Jiangxia, and forced Xiakou (夏口, in present-day Wuchang, Hubei) to flow into the Yangtze River in the north of snake mountain, so that the Wu army did not dare to cross the river easily. This is a longer-term plan in the defense of the border. Wang Ji affirmed the internal system of the military, rectified the army and agriculture, and restored school teaching, which was praised by the people in the south.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="44" > strategic vision for the surrender of wu</h1>
At that time, the imperial court was discussing the preparation of a large-scale attack on Wu, and the next edict asked Wang Ji to propose a plan for marching. Wang Ji said: "If you send troops and cannot win, you will not only lose your prestige externally, but also spend money internally, so you must first have a certainty of victory before you can send troops." If the river channel is not opened, grain is amassed, and warships are built, even if Chen Bing is on the bank of the river, there will be no certainty of crossing the river to win.
Nowadays, Jiangling has depressed water (source from Hanzhong Fangling east into the Yangtze River), Zhangshui (source from the southeast of Shanxi and southeast into the Wei River), irrigating thousands of acres of fertile land. There are also fertile fields around Anlu (in present-day Yunmeng, Hubei). If the land and water troops carried out cultivation at the same time, they would reserve sufficient military resources, and then lead a large army to march into Jiangling (five kilometers northwest of present-day Shashi, Hubei Province) and Yiling, occupyIng Xiakou respectively, and transporting grain by means of depressed water and Zhangshui. When the enemy knows that our army has reserves for long-term combat, those who resist the crusade of the imperial court will lose confidence, and more and more people will return to the dynasty.
Then we joined forces with the barbarians in Jiangnan to attack the interior of the State of Wu, and the elite troops of the imperial court attacked from the outside, then all parts above Xiakou would certainly be able to attack, while the enemy troops in the prefectures and counties outside the Yangtze River would be difficult to defend. As a result, the transportation between Wu and Shu was cut off, the two countries could not support, and the State of Wu would be able to capture it. If this were not the case, all the gains after the dispatch of troops would not be inevitable. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > Conclusion:</h1>
Wang Ji's plan was based on the principle of "winning first and then seeking war" ("Sun Tzu's Art of War: Xingxing"), advocating that the conditions for strategic victory should be created first, and after having an absolute grasp of victory, the opposition forces within the State of Wu should be united, and in coordination with the large-scale attack of the State of Wei, so as to truly achieve a stable victory and surrender the enemy in World War I. Later, the imperial court abandoned the plan to send troops, indicating that the new ruling group still agreed with his idea.