Video Clip: Opening Inventory of the Ten Emperors

Chapter 177 Great Prosperity, Great Humiliation, Great Wu Qi

"Wu Qi?"

"This man is complicated."

Datang.

Li Shimin's right-hand man Fang Xuanling saw Wu Qi's inventory video, shook his head, and sighed.

"I think that evaluating a historical figure should be viewed in two parts."

"No one is perfect, so it's better to look at it objectively."

"Speaking of Wu Qi, almost everyone knows him. Wu Qi is indeed a very famous person, but at the same time, he is also a person who is difficult to comment on."

"As a person, in terms of general morality, no matter what, he has had serious moral misdemeanors. After becoming an official, he is impeccable in terms of official virtue."

"If you say people like Wu Qi, they should belong to the kind whose talent is greater than virtue?"

Fang Xuanling looked at the sky.

He seemed to have seen Wu Qi's past and present.

No one is close to perfect.

Everyone has flaws.

For seniors like Wu Qi, he first respects them.

The premise of evaluating him must be objective.

"As Sima Guang said when he commented on talent and virtue, people who say that secular people don't know how to distinguish talent and virtue, mix the two together, and call them virtuous."

"In fact, it is the assistant of virtue, and virtue is the commander of talent. A person who has both ability and virtue is a sage, and a person who lacks both is a fool. A person whose virtue is greater than talent is a gentleman, and a person whose talent is greater than virtue is a villain."

"If you put it that way, Wu Qi seems to be a villain."

"But in my Fang Xuanling's mind, Sun Wu, two famous military strategists in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States, is better than Wu in writing, and Wu is better than Sun in martial arts."

"Historians and generals of later generations often respect Sun Wu and despise Wu Qi, because they not only love talent, but also value virtue."

"Looking at thousands of years of experience in commanding the army, it is generally recognized in the military circles that the combination of benevolence, trust, wisdom, courage, and strictness is what makes a famous general."

"Although China has an argument that "those who plan big things don't care about small details", "filial piety" and "virtue" never belong to "small details". This is also a consensus."

"To be a general, if you want to convince others, you still need to pay attention to personal integrity, and you must cultivate good qualities in an all-round way."

"So, to a certain extent, although Wu Qi has left his martial arts in the annals of China for future generations to admire, his unscrupulous actions in the pursuit of utilitarianism should be regarded as dross in the legacy of ancient military strategists."

"Of course, this is just my opinion, nothing to mention."

Fang Xuanling shook his head and continued to do his own thing.

…………

In another time and space, Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty saw Wu Qi's inventory video, and Fang Xuanling's point of view was different.

"This person can be described as a hero."

"Although some aspects are wrong, overall, he is successful."

"His theories, his thoughts, are also worth learning for us future generations."

"There shouldn't be such a big prejudice against Wu Qi."

…………

How good is Wu Qi?

In [-] BC, Wu Qi led his army to capture the Hexi area of ​​Qin State, and established Xihe County on the spot, and Wu Qi served as the governor of Xihe County.

During this period, Wu Qi reformed the military system of Wei State and founded Wei Wuzu.

It is stipulated that anyone who can wear full armor, hold a twelve-stone crossbow, carry fifty arrows on his back, carry a sword on his back, carry a three-day ration, and run a hundred miles within half a day can be selected as a Wei soldier.

Such harsh conditions select only one in a million talents, so the treatment of Wei Wuzu is naturally different from that of ordinary soldiers. Once selected, the whole family will be exempted from taxes and can be allocated houses and fields. Therefore, anyone who is capable They all want to join Wei Wuzu.

After Wu Qi's strict training, Wei Wuzu became the elite teacher of Wei State. During Wu Qi's tenure as the governor of Xihe County, he fought 76 rounds, winning 64 rounds, and the rest were tied.

Wu Qi's leadership is particularly good at motivating the advanced and boosting morale.

Every time he held a celebration banquet for victory, Wu Qi arranged for the person with the greatest contribution to sit in the front row, eating beef and mutton, and using silver tableware.

Every year, the families of the soldiers who died in battle would send people to condolences. In this way, the soldiers of the State of Wei worked hard and fought for meritorious service with all their might when they went to the battlefield.

In 380 BC, the Qin army gathered 50 troops and vowed to take back the land of Hexi.

When the news of the Qin army's attack came, the soldiers of the state of Wei put on their armor and demanded to fight without waiting for the order. Wu Qi selected [-] elite soldiers to fight.

On the eve of the battle, Wu Qi gathered his troops and said: "If the chariot soldiers cannot capture the chariots, the cavalry cannot capture the horses, and the infantry cannot capture prisoners, then it is not a meritorious service."

The morale of the Wei army was high. As a result, Wei Guo defeated the Qin army's 50 troops with [-] troops.

We have to remain skeptical about the authenticity of the data from the Battle of Yin and Jin.

Because at that time, could Qin State gather 50 troops?
We must know that in the Battle of Changping, both Qin and Zhao almost wiped out their capital, and barely reached 50. The Battle of Yin and Jin took place in 380 BC. Compared with wartime, the 50 Qin army may be the result of misrecording or bluffing.

Regardless of whether the data is true or not, the battle between Yin and Jin is enough to prove Wu Qi's military talent.

…………

"That's right, Wu Qi almost wiped out the entire Qin army."

"This person is really powerful."

The first emperor Yingzheng couldn't help but praise Wu Qi.

You must know that during the Warring States Period, Qin State's strength was not weak.

The combat effectiveness of the Qin army is not weak.

It is also very successful for Wu Qi to defeat the Qin army and achieve such a record.

…………

"Wu Qi? From our point of view, he is considered a generation's pride in the Warring States Period."

"The God of Soldiers, all kinds of military strategies are also at the top level at that time."

"Wu Qi is an outstanding military strategist!"

"But it's a pity that if the brilliance is too bright, it will be coveted by villains. Wang Cuo, the doctor of Wei State, slandered Wei Wuhou, which made Wei Wuhou jealous of Wu Qi, so he recalled Wu Qi. Soon after, Wu Qi was forced to flee from Wei State and defected to Chu State. The weakness of the national military has laid hidden dangers."

"Wei Guo can be regarded as doing it himself."

"Sometimes, people really can't be too good, otherwise they will be easily envied."

"It is the sorrow of Wu Qi and the sorrow of the times that Wu Qi can't win the fame of Wu Qi in life and death despite the affairs of the king and the world."

"Warring States, Warring States..."

Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang drank a glass of fine wine and said with emotion.

…………

Wu Qi's life can be summed up as: great glory and great humiliation, great nothing but great success, great ups and downs.

During the Warring States period, there were several schools of thought that could be named, and he alone occupied three schools-Confucianism, Bing, and Law.

On Confucianism, his teacher is Zeng Zi—a status no less than that of Confucius and Mencius, and he can be regarded as a great master of a generation.

In terms of military strategists, Wu Qi fought 76 times in his life without a single defeat, and almost wiped out the Qin State. The only one who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods is the later God of War Bai Qi.

As far as legalists are concerned, Wu Qi's status in the history of Chinese legal studies can be compared with Li Kui, Shang Yang, Han Feizi and other big figures.

The reason why Wu Qi is said to be a great honor and a great humiliation is that Wu Qi has been burdened with too many criticisms and misunderstandings in his life.

And the root cause is probably related to his experience in Lu country.

Wu Qi was born in a wealthy family in Weiguo. The family was rich but not noble, and he had money but no connections.

In terms of background, Wu Qi was far inferior to Mei Changsu, who was the emperor's nephew.

But this kind of family gave him the opportunity to get a better learning environment than ordinary children. At the same time, he watched his parents manage the family business every day, and he could better understand that what is needed for personal struggle is tenacity.

This kind of spiritual quality is very helpful in Wu Qi's pursuit of the road of life.

But children from this kind of family, compared with those children of nobles and high-ranking cadres, in the words of later generations of film and television dramas, naturally lack political resources, that is, connections.

In addition, their understanding of "power" and "strategy" compared with the children of nobles, first lost at the starting line.

The existence of this problem probably determined Wu Qi's later ending.

Weiguo is a descendant of the Shang Dynasty, and the folk customs are rich in business spirit. The people's minds are generally more active, and the country is also very wealthy, so it is easier to produce talents.

But from a political point of view, this country is nothing more than a small country where the upper class has long been corrupted. The stratum is solidified, the ruler has no aggressive intentions, and has no influence in the "international" world. It cannot provide talent with room for development.

With Wu Qi's background, there must be no way to become an official in this environment.

But the young Wu Qi was unwilling to be a rich man, but determined to enter politics.

In the process of seeking an official, Wu Qi spent all his family's money, but got nothing. Once, he encountered "school violence" and was blocked in the middle of the way by more than a dozen villainous classmates.

This kind of fight is the most likely to kill people. Wu Qi lost his life, so he could only run to the nearby country of Lu.

This escape unexpectedly made Wu Qi a blessing in disguise. He first worshiped as a disciple of Zeng Zi, and later married the daughter of Tian He, a doctor of the Qi State, as his wife.

Zengzi is a master of Confucianism, and Confucianism is very strict on morality. From this point alone, we can believe that Wu Qi will not have those legendary moral stains when he was in Weiguo.

As a result, the good times didn't last long, and Wu Qi soon had a falling out with his teacher. Judging from his attainments in military and legalism later, the root cause of the falling out was likely to be academic differences.

But Zeng Zi gave the reason that Wu Qi's mother died but did not go back to the funeral.

Wu Qi escaped because he killed someone, can he go back?
After Wu Qi stayed in the state of Lu for a few more days, the army of the state of Qi was ready to attack the state of Lu.

At that time, the situation in the State of Lu was actually not much better than that in the State of Wei. They were both small and harmless to humans and animals, and their internal politics were far from clear.

And Qi State was a superpower at that time, so this war was a disaster for Lu State.

For rotten, ossified systems, a crisis is the only thing that can bring them back to normal.

Those noble children who came up through nepotism were unwilling to lead the army to resist, because they could not bear the responsibility of defeat.

This gave Wu Qi the opportunity to become the leading general of Lu State.

From this, we can also understand how difficult it is to "grassroots counterattack". Wu Qi can only be regarded as a quasi-grassroots at best.

Your ability must be far beyond ordinary people, and your chances are likely to be "junk stocks" that those meat eaters are unwilling to touch.

And even then, you're only "maybe" successful -- so don't take that motivational chicken soup too seriously.

Wu Qi led an army of [-] and miraculously defeated Qi's [-] army, and became famous for a while.

In the end, what was waiting for him was not a reward, but a collective criticism from the upper echelons of the Lu State, and these criticisms were all based on morality without exception.

Is this fair?

Not fair at all.

There are no rewards for victories, but punishments.

From ancient times to the present, whether it is a country or a family, there should always be an iron rule in life, that is, virtue requires self-discipline, not others.

Because morality cannot be quantified at all, and even a unified conclusion cannot be drawn, so the various debates about morality that have emerged in later generations should be clear.

Conversely, if you talk about morality, it is very likely that everything is justified.

Only talking about morality often means that the other party can't find fault at the level of actual interests or law, and this has not considered the possibility of spreading rumors.

The most interesting thing is that all the records about Wu Qi's moral taint come from the state of Lu.

Then the question arises, Wu Qi was doing well in Wei State before, and there was no scandal in Wei State and Chu State, but in Lu State, a country of gentlemen, he is completely a "scumbag". Is this logical?
Not at all.

If you are in a place where internal moral hooligans are rampant, and high-level executives are not pragmatic all day long, then as long as you don't have to worry about food, you don't need to stay in such a place.

The sons and daughters of Huaxia should try their best to avoid forming excessive moral "cleanliness" in their lives.

For leaders, if someone around you "accuses" others with personal moral issues that have nothing to do with business, the first thing you need to be alert to is not the person being reported, but the whistleblower.

Wu Qi went to Wei State in a fit of anger.

At that time, people transferred from one country to another, which was essentially the same as job-hopping, not to mention that Wu Qi was a commoner, and he was not even a relative of the monarch.

At that time, the monarch of Wei State was Wei Wenhou, the hero of a generation.

Under the command of Marquis Wen of Wei, Wu Qi first served as the prefect of Hexi County.

Relying on the 20 Wei army alone, the Qin State, which had [-] troops at the time, was tossed to death, and it was almost declared bankrupt.

Later, Wu Qi became the general of the Wei State, carried out a thorough reform of the Wei State army, and established Wei Wuzu, the earliest professional army in China.

In later generations, there were only tens of thousands of professional Spartan warriors who could really fight, and Wu Qi formed a total of 5 Wei soldiers. They fought 72 times and won 64 out of [-]. The rest ended in a draw.

Wu Qi also wrote "Wu Qi's Art of War" whose actual value exceeds "Sun Tzu's Art of War".

"Wu Qi's Art of War" does not mainly talk about philosophical ideas, nor strategic skills, but the system construction and guarantee of the army.

Any competition, in the final analysis, is a competition of strength. Wei was a superpower at the time, and its size and strength were already large enough. At this time, the most important thing is how to ensure that you do not make mistakes. As long as you do not make mistakes, then you can Overwhelm all competitors with strength advantages.

Looking at "Wu Qi's Art of War" may be more practical than looking at "Sun Tzu's Art of War" that can be seen everywhere.

(End of this chapter)