Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 637: Light Up

[To put it in the current terms, the first tower can be given up, the second tower can be given up, the small dragon can be given up, the big dragon can be given up, the high ground has been given up, the ancient dragon has been given up, and finally even the home has been given up.

Always in operation, always getting beaten, always making no loss, always failing.

In the Song Dynasty, the government compiled the "Seven Military Classics" which pioneered military theory. It can be said that the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty read the most military books, but when it came to the operational level, their knowledge was the most naive.

Zhao Er’s stupid operation certainly contributed to this, but the literati’s mentality of having high expectations but low skills was equally indispensable.

In a trance, they all felt that they were blessed by Zhao Er's battle formation and the experience of reading the "Seven Military Classics". Everyone felt that they were the reincarnation of Han Xin, and everyone was like Zhuge Liang reincarnated, and destroying the enemy was just a matter of talking and laughing.

But actually, when it comes to fighting a war, do you think you are the only smart one?

One of our founding marshals once said that his reputation as a victorious general did not depend on any special talent, but on doing just one thing right:

Never mess up the opportunity to win a battle. This opportunity must not be missed, because once the opportunity is lost, it will never come back.

This most simple and intuitive understanding of war is exactly what the literati of the Song Dynasty lacked.

As for what the same marshal said, "The most important tactic of all tactics is to fight to the death. Fight until all your enemies are killed, and you are doomed if you are defeated," I am afraid that it is even more difficult for the literati to understand.

Looking back at the famous generals of the Song Dynasty who made people admire them, they were the ones who understood this way of using troops the best.

Han Shizhong led only fifty cavalrymen to charge at two thousand cavalrymen on the Hutuo River, causing a great defeat for the Jin army. After escaping, he was still not satisfied and pursued the larger force with his smaller force for dozens of miles.

Among Yue Fei's generals, Yue Yun fought against Jin Wushu's 50,000 elite troops in Yingchang with nearly 20,000 troops. They charged back and forth dozens of times, with blood on men and blood on horses. They fought from morning to night and finally defeated the Jin army.

Yang Zaixing led 300 elite cavalrymen and encountered 20,000 Jin soldiers. After sending someone to report the news, he led his troops into the battle without hesitation. All 300 of them died, and he killed 2,000 enemies, because Yang Zaixing knew that he could not outrun the Jin army, and the only choice was to fight and die.

Similar examples can be found from Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to Li Shimin and Li Jing, Yue Fei and Cao Youwen, as well as Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty.

There are no unbreakable tactics, only unbreakable wills.

From the founding to the demise of the Song Dynasty, border frictions almost never stopped, so the military commanders who grew up fighting on the front lines are the ones who can best understand the truth of what we now say, "Every inch of land is worth an inch of blood."

But the scholars and emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty... Well said, I choose to negotiate peace! Become a vassal! Call me uncle!
The classical military tactics of the feudal era were first built with a framework by great men such as Jiang Shang, Tian Rangju, Sun Wu, Wu Qi, Sun Bin, and Wei Liao, and later revised by generations of military strategists such as Han Xin, Li Jing, and Liu Bowen. The content had long been close to perfection. Almost all the problems encountered on the battlefield at that time could be found in the book, which was also the confidence of the literati in leading the troops.

But Sun Wu said at the beginning that a general should be wise, trustworthy, benevolent, brave and strict, and the courage to "not care about death when anger comes, and to be brave enough to burst one's eyes and gallbladder" can never be learned from books.

In this respect, the East and the West are connected.

During the Battle of Gallipoli in World War I, Ottoman Colonel Kemal made a declaration to his soldiers:

I am not ordering you to attack, I am ordering you to die.

In the end, he led a thousand men, at the cost of nearly the entire army being annihilated, to resist the attack of 20,000 British and Australian coalition forces under the cover of battleship bombing, and held out until the arrival of reinforcements, allowing the aging Ottoman Empire to preserve its dignity before its death.

Although he said that he would wait for Luo Guanzhong and Liu Sanwu to arrive before confronting them to test their authenticity.

But from what Queen Ma saw at this time, her husband was quite honest. Just like now, he was busy praising the words of the leader.

"We like to hear this. Once the fighting opportunity is gone, it will never come back. Just like what Xin Qiji said, ideas should be put forward together, but orders should be given arbitrarily. A group of people are indecisive and before they can make up their minds, the central army was ambushed."

Empress Ma sat quietly and peacefully on the bed, leaning on the small table that had been brought up earlier and writing and drawing, trying to write down as concisely as possible some of the completely new and strange words and expressions uttered by the young man. Then she looked sideways at her husband who was jumping up and down close to the screen, as if he wanted to get in and pull out those military books and maps.

Emperor Ming seemed to sense this gaze, so he quickly calmed down and turned his attention to the queen:

"What did the girl remember? Let us fill in the gaps."

"Hmm... Since there are dragons of different sizes, it seems that there really are dragons! But what about the first and second pagodas... Did people believe in Buddhism at that time?"

After rolling her eyes at her husband, Empress Ma pushed Emperor Ming away:

"If you like it, watch it more. You never know, it might go out in the next moment and you'll never see it again."

"But..." Seeing her husband retreating obediently, Queen Ma asked curiously:
"The Marshal's words about lighting up the battlefield don't seem to be what the general said. Isn't it said that the most important thing for a general to avoid is being impatient?"

Speaking of military affairs, Emperor Ming became more proud and shook his head, saying:
"Wei Liaozi said that if we can kill half of them, we will be powerful enough to conquer the whole country. How can it be so easy to kill them all?"

"Just as the Marquis of Huaiyin was able to defeat the enemy with his back to the river, others who blindly follow this principle will be courting death. Blindly believing in this principle will lead to death."

"This general can say this, which means he has already completed all the military training and preparations. Once the war starts, he will fight to the death when he gets the chance."

"Just like Cao Youwen, his brother lured the enemy, and his men marched in the rain. The pincer attack was already in place. If the battle lasted a long time, the Mongols would surely be defeated. Who would have thought that Wang Shixian would wander here and become a reinforcement?"

However, these words were a bit complicated after all. When Zhu Yuanzhang looked up and suddenly saw the names of Liu Bowen and Chang Yuchun, he suddenly lost interest and said hastily:

"The key to employing troops is training them. The key to making decisions on the battlefield is to stick to the right path and be surprising. The scholars and officials of the Song Dynasty could not even train their troops, let alone do anything else."

Fortunately, the changes in the content on the light screen also directly attracted Queen Ma's attention.

A pointed object that was much larger than an arm was stuffed into a chamber. With a shout in the foreign language, the object quickly moved along the corridor and flew up. After drawing a thrilling arc in the sky, the object landed in a valley and exploded earth-shatteringly, scattering dirt like rain.

As the smoke and dust floated up into the sky, a scene that was unimaginable even in dreams appeared in the eyes of the couple in Kunning Palace.

Floating on the ocean dyed red by fire were huge iron ships that were still roaring. Sharp objects like the ones seen before were continuously launched into the air, crashed into the land and exploded.

On the coastline, there was an army marching inland in a strange manner, and inside, a group of soldiers could be vaguely seen scattered around with determined faces.

The artillery fire ignited the ocean, black smoke filled the sky, and the flying dirt and rubble were scattered all over the place, vaguely mixed with broken limbs.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty frowned and said in a bitter voice:

"This... is also a battlefield?"

(End of this chapter)