Author: Our special guest author Nine Fish Pavilion
The victory or defeat of war and the rise and fall of political power are not directly related to the art of war, because there are many factors that determine its success or failure, such as the comprehensive strength of the country, such as the combat effectiveness of the army, such as the policy of the core level of the country, and so on.
Is the art of war useless? There are many martial arts handed down in ancient China, such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Sun Zhen's Art of War", "Wuzi's Art of War", "Liutao" and so on. There were countless famous generals in ancient times, Bai Qi, Han Xin, Wei Qing, Li Jing, and so on, all of whom were experts in war. Talent aside, they always have to learn the military strategies of the previous generation.
It can be seen that the art of war is not useless, and it plays a great role in war. So why did the Southern Song Dynasty die in the Mongolian Yuan, the Ming Dynasty die in the Later Jin, and those Han regimes that were well versed in the art of war died one after another to the nomads?
First, the gap in strength
The combat strength of the Mongolian army, in the era of cold weapons, reached an unprecedented height, conquering Asia and Europe in the west, destroying the gold and destroying the summer, going south to the Central Plains, the Mongolian iron hooves running across the Eurasian continent, rarely defeated, and countless lands and populations fell under the jurisdiction of the Mongols.
The basis for the Mongol Empire's achievement was its strong strength. In foreign operations, the Mongolian army does not count the gains and losses of one city and one pool, but aims to annihilate the enemy's resistance forces, often slaughtering the city and exterminating the clan, even if this method is extremely inhumane, but the effect is obvious.
War horses are an important material for war, and Mongolian horses are different from the war horses in the Central Plains, Mongolian horses are not tall, but they are very endurance and can travel long distances. The Mongolian army generally adopted rapid mobile combat, using the rapid movement ability of cavalry to penetrate deep behind the enemy, quickly capture its capital and other important cities, and boldly carry out roundabout encirclement.
In the battle against the enemy, the strength of the Mongolian army is not too much, but they can concentrate superior forces to quickly destroy the enemy army, which can also reflect the tactics of many Han people, such as luring the enemy to go deeper, such as encircling the point to help, under the command of the top generals, the Mongol army attacked the city like a flowing cloud, crushing the enemy army one by one under the iron hoof.
In the process of the Mongolian army's overthrow of other countries, it is also constantly absorbing a large number of experience and talents, in the campaign against Huarazimo Yulong Jiechi, a large number of fire attacks, water attacks, artillery attacks, and a large number of heavy siege equipment, in a word, the Mongolian army learns from the war, and constantly updates and iterations, the strength is getting stronger and stronger.
During Kublai Khan's reign, the Mongols began to heavily reuse Han Generals and equip their troops with firearms. Kublai Khan revered the Han culture of the Central Plains, he was also the most Sinicized Mongol ruler, in the process of dealing with the Southern Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan changed the previous tactics of slaughtering the city and exterminating the clan, and dealt with the Southern Song Dynasty with a relatively gentle strategy.
As an emerging regime, the Mongols were vigorous, energetic, and orderly, and found a great sense of achievement in the process of attacking the city and pulling down the wall, while the Southern Song Dynasty at that time was far from the strength of the Mongolian Yuan.
In the first year of Duanping (1234 AD), after the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty, a large area of Henan was in a vacuum, and the Southern Song Dynasty wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Mongols were unstable and take advantage of the opportunity to retake Kaifeng, Luoyang and other places.
Historical records record that "100,000 teachers were rejuvenated, the daily cost was thousands of gold, thousands of miles of grain were fed, and the soldiers were hungry." As for the tired months, the tired months are endless, and as for the tired years, I don't know how many thousands of gold can be paid for. ”
The Song Dynasty dispatched about 60,000 troops in this war, and finally ended in a fiasco, and the most depressing thing is that this battle is not due to the Mongols, but because the Song Dynasty people have no food and grass, without grain, how can they win?
It can be seen from this that the national strength of the Southern Song Dynasty was not as good as before, when it was the early stage of the Song and Mongolian wars, the Mongols were full of ambition, while the Song Dynasty's officials were corrupt, politically dark, exploited harshly, and the money and food were not good. Even if the Southern Song Dynasty had a strong military technique, in the face of absolute strength, it could only lose the battle.
Second, the prosperity and decline, the surplus is the loss
As the saying goes, there are clouds, the general trend of the world, long will be united, long time will be divided. Individuals, organizations, and even groups and regimes all have a life cycle, and the same is true of a system.
Zhao Kuangyin founded the Great Song Dynasty, in order to avoid the occurrence of military divisions, wantonly restrained military generals and reused civilian subjects, although it played a vital role in the stability of the country, but also greatly weakened the military strength of the Song Dynasty.
The Southern Song Dynasty continued to follow the system of emphasizing literature over martial arts, but it was changed during the song gaozong period, and the power of these generals such as Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, and Liu Kun increased greatly, which was forced by Emperor Gaozong to do so, and when the situation eased slightly, the Song court would weaken the power of the military generals again.
From the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, the national strength gradually declined, and with the passage of time, the Southern Song Dynasty became a chaotic situation of rampant corruption and power, and under the internal and external troubles, the final outcome could only be destruction. If there is a beginning, there will be an end, and even without the Mongolian Yuan, the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty is a matter of time.
Prosperity and decline, things will be reversed, this is the inevitable law of the development of things, no one can stop.
Third, the issue of employing personnel
The Battle of Salhu was the decisive battle between Daming and Houjin, and it was also a turning point in the conversion of attack and defense between the two sides, in 1619, Houjin, the strength was not very strong, the strength was also very limited, the Ming army sent 200,000 troops, and a number of brave and good generals, the result was a crushing defeat of the Ming army, and the Later Jin army won a great victory.
There were many reasons for the failure of the Ming Army, one of the important problems was the improper employment of personnel.
Historical records record that "it was a service, a conspiracy for many years, pouring all its strength into the sea, uniting with the people of Korea and the country, abandoning it in one fell swoop, and hating the DPRK." Pickaxe ran, and Guigui ran to Gyeongju, fearing that thieves would take advantage of the attack, and withdrew his troops to return to Wang Jing, and made a quick announcement with the governor Jiu. The battalions were registered in the army, the soldiers died 20,000, the pickaxe was furious, the screen did not play, and more than a hundred people were stopped. ”
In the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar, under the command of Yang Hao, the Ming army was defeated by Wu Kou, Yang Hao fled in a daze, and the Ming army died 20,000 people, while Yang Hao falsely reported to the imperial court that only more than a hundred people had died. From this, we can see that Yang Ho's level of command is very average.
Although Yang Hao had lost battles, in the forty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar, Yang Hao still became the Economic Strategy of Liaodong, on the one hand, Yang Hao did have some political achievements, on the other hand, the imperial court was really useless.
The Battle of Salhu thus began, the Ming army divided into four roads, but before the war began, the Ming army's offensive route was learned by Nurhaci, so Hunuhaci concentrated superior forces and killed the Ming army all the way. After the defeat of the Ming army, Yuan Qi was seriously injured, and it was no longer possible to organize a large-scale attack on Houjin.
The question of the selection of commanders is an important factor in determining the victory or defeat of the war, especially in such an important battle, the use of Yang Ho may not be forced by the imperial court, but it is precisely because of the improper use of personnel that it has caused a tragic defeat.
In other words, the art of war is dead, people are alive, flexible use is the king's way, combined with the rapidly changing battlefield situation, can accurately judge the timing of the attack, and make adjustments at any time, perhaps to become a real famous general.
Yang Ho was not a qualified commander and also made a mess of the most important war. Details can determine success or failure, and if the Ming army wins the Battle of Salhu, it may really be able to survive for Daming.
As an emperor, the most important quality is to recognize people and use people improperly, which is also an important reason for the decline of the dynasty.
References: Song Shi Liechuan 176, Ming Shi Liechuan 147