Wei Xiaokuan ,whose real name was Shuyu (叔裕), was a native of Jingzhao Duling (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), and a famous military figure of the Northern Zhou Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In 508, Wei Xiaokuan was born in a family of generals, and his father Wei Xu was a Northern Wei right general and a southern Wei prefecture assassin. Since childhood, he liked to dabble in the history of scriptures, especially the reading of military books. As soon as he reached adulthood, he took the initiative to join the army to participate in the battle against Xiao Baocheng, and because of his service to Dr. Guozi, he performed the affairs of Huashan County, and later promoted to general Xuanwei and Junshou of Jieyang County. During the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, he successively served as Hongnong Commandery Shou, Jinzhou Assassin History, Hun Horse General, Yongzhou Laishi, Shangshu Right Servant Shooting, Xiao Situ, Great Sikong, Yanzhou Governor, Xiangzhou Governor, and Marching Marshal, and was posthumously awarded the title of Taifu.
The stories of those clever spies to defeat the enemy in ancient China left a deep impression on Wei Xiaokuan, who loved to read historical books. After he commanded the army as a general, he also liked to use this method of fighting against the enemy at the lowest cost in exchange for the greatest benefit.
In 537, Gao Huan, the Great Chancellor of Eastern Wei, took advantage of the great disaster in Guanzhong and led an army of 100,000 to attack Western Wei. According to the situation at that time, Yuwen Tai, the Grand Chancellor of Western Wei, decided to take various policies to meet the enemy army. He led Wei Xiaokuan and other troops to sneak to Tongguan and secretly attacked the Western Wei general Dou Tai. Dou Tai was unexpectedly attacked by the Western Wei army and committed suicide. Wei Xiaokuan was appointed as the commander of Hongnong County for his merits, and was also in charge of the defense of the Yiyang area.
Shortly thereafter, the Eastern Wei general Duan Chen regained Yiyang and ordered Yangzhou to incite the border people to attack Hongnong. In order to fight the enemy, Wei Xiaokuan first sent spies to steal into Eastern Wei to obtain a copy of Niu Daoheng's handwriting, and then asked people who were good at imitating other people's handwriting to forge a letter written by Niu Daoheng to Wei Xiaokuan, which talked about Niu Daoheng's intention to surrender to Western Wei. In order to disguise it without revealing traces, he also deliberately burned some unimportant parts with fire, as if the letter had been burned but not burned. When he was ready, Wei Xiaokuan sent spies to infiltrate Eastern Wei and leave the false letter near Duan Chen's military camp. When Duan Chen learned of the letter, he became suspicious of Niu Daoheng and raised his vigilance, but None of Niu Daoheng's suggestions were adopted. Taking advantage of Duan Niu's mutual suspicions, Wei Xiaokuan and his troops suddenly attacked and captured Duan Chen and Niu Daoheng in one fell swoop, thus relieving Eastern Wei of the threat to the Hongnong region.
The use of the divisive meter can destroy the internal unity of the enemy, and if the enemy is not united internally, then the divisive meter is more likely to receive the effect of killing people with a knife.
In 572, Wei Xiaokuan, who served as the Assassin of Xunzhou, discovered the discord between the Northern Qi chancellor Zu Jue and the general Huo Luguang, and his heart was overjoyed. Huo Luguang was able to fight good battles and was an important pillar of the Northern Qi regime. In order to get rid of this strong opponent, Wei Xiaokuan first asked Qu Yan, a member of the army, to compose a song saying: "A hundred liters fly into the sky, and the bright moon shines on Chang'an"; "The mountain does not push itself to collapse, and the mistletoe does not support itself."
Literally, the liter refers to the capacity unit, the moon refers to a celestial body, and the mistletoe refers to a tree, in fact, the hundred liters, the bright moon, and the quercus wood allude to huo luguang; because the Northern Qi emperor's surname is Gao, and the mountain is an allusion to the Northern Qi emperor. Later, Wei Xiaokuan assigned spies to distribute leaflets with these songs to the Northern Qi capital of Yecheng. As a result, the children of Yecheng sang this song everywhere. After Zu Jue learned of these songs, he thought that he had a chance to get rid of Huo Luguang, and he was busy asking his wife and brother Zheng Daogai to report to The Northern Qi Emperor Gao Wei. Gao Wei asked Zu Jue about this, and Zu Jue first explained the literal and innuendo of the song, and then summed it up that the meaning of these two ballads implied that Huo Luguang wanted to become emperor and the Northern Qi court was about to collapse. Gao Wei was timid by nature, and he had long doubts about Huo Luguang's power, and now that he knew about this song, his heart was even more uneasy.
Shortly thereafter, Zu Hu provided Gao Wei with false information, saying that Huo Luguang was dispatching troops to the capital. Therefore, Gao Wei was convinced that Huo Luguang was plotting a rebellion, so in the name of You Dongshan, he passed Huo Luguang into the palace, and then ordered the samurai to strangle him with a bowstring. After Huo Luguang's death, the Northern Qi dynasty became more chaotic, and the Northern Zhou dynasty and the opposition applauded Huo Luguang's death.
Wei Xiaokuan was good at using rooms, and he also paid attention to the comfort and care of spies, so whether it was the spies he himself cultivated or the spies he bought from Northern Qi with heavy money, he was willing to work hard for him. In this way, he can know the movements at home and abroad, and he knows it well.
Wei Xiaokuan had a general named Xu Peng, who was very much appreciated by him, so he sent Xu Peng to defend a small border defense city alone. He did not want Xu Peng, but secretly communicated with Northern Qi and tried to defect. Before he could act, Wei Xiaokuan learned of the news and immediately sent spies to retrieve his head. Therefore, people praised Wei Xiaokuan for using the world as a god, and the world could not compare.
In 542, Wei Xiaokuan was transferred to the JinZhou Assassin History and was ordered to guard Yubi. Yubi was a newly built border defense town in the Western Wei Dynasty, and its geographical location was very important at the mouth of the Yellow River. After Wei Xiaokuan took office, in addition to vigorously improving the defense facilities, he also paid great attention to the local social order problems. It turned out that the ethnic minorities in the mountains of Jinzhou often plundered everywhere, and Wei Xiaokuan and Enwei were used at the same time, and soon made the "state border solemn" at the same time.
In 546, Gao Huan, the Grand Chancellor of Eastern Wei, attacked Western Wei by pouring his men into Shandong. In September of that year, Gao Huan's army entered Yubi, formed a siege against Wei Xiaokuan, and tried every means to provoke him to send troops to a decisive battle. However, Wei Xiaokuan, who was scheming and calculating, was not deceived, and decided to adopt the policy of relying on the city to defend instead of attacking, in order to exhaust the enemy and wait for the opportunity to counterattack, to avoid desperate bets, and to carry out an unfavorable decisive battle. Gao Huan saw that Wei Xiaokuan was resolute and began to attack Yubi in October.
Gao Huan first piled up tushan in the south of the city in an attempt to invade the city through tushan. Wei Xiaokuan then commanded the soldiers and civilians in the city to build wooden frames above the city walls, making them higher than tushan, and preparing war tools for defense. Gao Huan saw that the mound of earth was not working, and ordered the excavation of tunnels in the south of the city. Wei Xiaokuan sent troops to cut off the tunnels, and ambushed the soldiers at the cutoffs, killing the enemy soldiers who entered the city through the tunnels, or putting the lit firewood into the truncations, and then blowing the wind and blowing the fire, injecting smoke into the tunnels, so that the Eastern Wei soldiers could not survive in the tunnels. The Eastern Wei army also created a huge crash and prepared to crash the city. When Wei Xiaokuan found out, he sent someone to make a cloth curtain and hang it in the air, so that the enemy could not destroy the city wall when he crashed. Therefore, Gao Huan had people tie pine wool on long wooden poles and fill them with grease to burn the cloth curtains hanging in the city. Wei Xiaokuan made long-handled iron hooks in order to hook Gao Huan's long-handled torches and protect the cloth curtain, because the above methods were unsuccessful, Gao Huan ordered his troops to dig 21 tunnels from all sides, first supporting them with wooden pillars in the tunnels, and then setting fire to the wooden pillars, so that the pillars collapsed. Wei Xiaokuan immediately erected a wooden fence at the collapse, and the enemy still could not attack. At the same time, it also organized forces to seize tushan in the south of the city, and from time to time carried out small-scale counterattacks against Eastern Wei.
Gao Huan was unable to invade the city, and using psychological tactics, the general sent a message to Wei Xiaokuan: "Defending the lonely city, there is no reinforcement, why not surrender early?" Wei Xiaokuan replied, "My city is strong, there is more than enough food, and the soldiers can take turns to rest without waiting for reinforcements." And you have been besieging the city for more than a month, exhausted, but I am afraid that you are in danger of being buried under the city. Gao Huan saw that the persuasion was ineffective, so he shot a letter into the city with an arrow, and the letter said: "Those who can behead Wei Xiaokuan to surrender, worship the lieutenant, seal the duke of the kaiguo county, and reward the ten thousand households and ten thousand horses." The defenders of the city presented the letter to Wei Xiaokuan, who wrote on the back of the letter with a pen: "If there are those who behead high and happy, they will be rewarded accordingly", and then shot back into the Eastern Wei camp. Gao Huan also had one of Wei Xiaokuan's nephews who lived in Eastern Wei locked under the city, with a steel knife on his neck, and declared that if he did not surrender, he would be killed. Wei Xiaokuan was enthusiastic and slightly careless, and his subordinates were touched to see this, and everyone had the heart of death. Gao Huan did everything in his power, killing more than 70,000 people in battle, while Wei Xiaokuan's jade bi still stood like a mountain.
In the case of intellectual difficulties, Gao Huan was forced to order the withdrawal of his troops. Wei Xiaokuan took the opportunity to pursue and kill, and there were great gains. When Emperor Wen of Western Wei heard the news, he sent Shangshu in the palace to the Yubi Lao army, and awarded Wei Xiaokuan the title of Grand General of the Horse, Kaifu Yi TongsanSi, and the Duke of Jianzhong County.
In 579, Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou died, and due to the young age of the new lord, he was assisted by Yang Jian, the grand chancellor. Yang Jian was worried that the prestigious Xiangzhou governor Wei ChiYi would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so he sent Wei Chiyi's son Wei Chiyi (尉惇), the son of Wei Chiyi, to enter the dynasty with an edict in the name of being buried. He then ordered Wei Xiaokuan to replace Wei Chiyi as the governor of Xiangzhou, and ordered the long fork to be the assassin of Xiangzhou, and now the long fork of the long fork went to Yecheng first, and Wei Xiaokuan continued to advance. Wei Chiyi believed that Yang Jian was plotting to usurp the power of Northern Zhou, and he had long wanted to start an army and officially raised the banner of rebellion.
Wei Xiaokuan traveled to Chaoge, met he Langui, the governor of most of the capitals sent by Wei Chiyi, and found that the signs were not right in his speech, so he falsely claimed that he was ill and suspended his advance, and at the same time sent people to Yecheng to conduct reconnaissance in the name of seeking medical treatment and buying medicine. The emissary traveled to Tangyin, where he encountered Wei Yi, the nephew of Wei Xiaokuan, who had fled back from Yecheng, and learned that Wei Chiyi had rebelled, so he hurried to return to Wei Xiaokuan. When Wei Xiaokuan heard the news, he immediately withdrew, and the bridges he passed through were all ordered to be demolished, and the stagecoaches of each station were also taken away, and at the same time told the stations that the people sent by Wei Chiyi should be served with good wine and good food when they arrived. As Wei Xiaokuan expected, Wei Chiyi did indeed send his troops to liang Zikang to lead hundreds of horses to hunt down Wei Xiaokuan. Liang Zikang and his party were greedy for the rich wine and food of each station, and as a result, they delayed a lot of time and failed to catch up with Wei Xiaokuan, so they had to return empty-handed.
In June of the same year, Yang Jian ordered Wei Xiaokuan to be the marshal of the march and led the Guanzhong forces to attack Wei Chiyi. When the army advanced through Heyang to Yongqiao City in Huai County, it was found that the city had been occupied by Wei Chiyi's preemptive troops. Wei Xiaokuan's generals thought that the city was smaller and blocked the road, and suggested that it be taken first. Wei Xiaokuan, who was good at planning, disagreed, saying: "Although this is a small city, it is very strong, and if it is attacked and not pulled, it will damage our military might." As long as Wei Chiyi's main force was eliminated, what else could this small city do. This is what the art of war says, the city is not attacked. "The generals will listen and express their deep admiration. Therefore, Wei Xiaokuan led a large army around the city and continued to advance.
In July of that year, the army advanced to Wuzhi and found that Wei Chiyi had sent his son Wei Chi to lead 100,000 people to defend the east bank of Qinshui. At this time, the river rose and could not be crossed, so the two armies held each other across the water. By August, the water had receded slightly, and Wei Xiaokuan ordered a wooden bridge to be erected over the river to prepare for an attack. Wei Chi set fire to the Zhou army upstream to delay the Zhou army in building a bridge, and at the same time ordered his troops to retreat, hoping to wait for Wei Xiaokuan's troops to attack them halfway through. When Wei Xiaokuan found that the enemy army was retreating, he immediately sounded a drum to attack, while Wei Chikuan's troops were unknown and confused, Wei Xiaokuan took the opportunity to fight with his troops and broke the enemy army, and Wei Chixuan fled back to Yecheng on a single horse. Wei Xiaokuan led his troops to follow up and came to the outskirts of Yecheng.
Yang Jian was worried that Wei Chi would be difficult to subdue, so he sent the generals Gao Ying and Li Qian to help in the battle. Wei Chiyi faced a powerful opponent without any fear. He ordered his troops of more than 130,000 troops to be deployed in the south of the city, and led his elite troops into a team of 10,000 to take on the assault mission. In the first engagement, Wei Xiaokuan was unfavorable and retreated slightly. At that time, the men and women of Yecheng came to watch the battle. Gao Ying and Li inquired about the situation, so they led their troops to attack the people watching the battle. Frightened, the people fled for their lives, and disrupted Wei Chi's position. Wei Xiaokuan took the opportunity to counterattack, and Wei Chi was defeated and withdrew to Yecheng. In September, Yecheng fell, and Wei Chiyi was forced to commit suicide. In October, Kwantung Xiping and Wei Xiaokuan Zhen returned to Beijing.
Wei Xiaokuan's era was an era of frequent wars. He has been a warrior all his life, experienced hundreds of battles, and has performed well in the military field. He was not only able to command troops in battle and slash the flag, but he was also very good at using spies to cooperate with military struggles; he was good at fighting offensive warfare, especially defensive warfare; he was proficient in both specific campaign command and temple calculations. He was a military commander and military strategist with multifaceted talents in the history of our country.