Soon, a merchant from the Qi Kingdom came to Wu to purchase goods, and the merchant was an old acquaintance with Wu Zixu, so he visited him in his spare time. Wu Zixu asked about the situation in the Qi Kingdom, and the merchant said: "The situation between the Chen and Bao clans is not good, the Gao, Guo, Dongguo and Liangqiu clans have always been against the two clans, and the Chen clan is not in harmony within; All sides are co-opting their henchmen to gain strength. I heard that Sun Wu refused to be persuaded by all sides and went into hiding in the border town. Sun Wu has a unique set of theories of warfare, and I have heard him teach the art of war, which is really refreshing and unheard of. Sun Wu's talent is by no means under any famous general in the world, if the master wants to use capable people, Sun Wu is worthy of the great responsibility. ”

Sun Wu was born from the Chen family, and his grandfather Chen Shu was named Sun by Qi Jinggong because of his meritorious service to the war.

Wu Zixu was overjoyed, and he went to the Qi National Examination to inspect Sun Wu. After a few days of communication, he believed that Sun Wu was indeed a great talent, and then took him back to Wu to meet Helu. Sun Wu presented the thirteen articles of "The Art of War" he compiled to He Lu, and He Lu was shocked after reading it: "Is the battle still fought like this? ”

It turned out that He Lu had received Ji Zha's Chinese-style education since he was a child, and the historical and military classics he read were all from China (of course, the concept of killing the monarch may also have been inspired by the Chinese princes). There are many rules and regulations for the Chinese war ceremony, including not cutting down the country that has suffered a natural disaster, not harming prisoners of war and civilians, and not exterminating the enemy country (the release of Xu Zi is a good example) and so on.

The basis for the design of this kind of war salute is the political system of "family and the world", and the blood characteristics of the war salute are remarkable. The designers believed that the royal family and the princes of the world, including the princes, were either brothers (with the same surname) or uncles and nephews (there was a marital relationship), and each monarch had the blood of the same ancestors flowing in the body of the monarch of the belligerent countries. Therefore, the contradiction between countries is actually a contradiction within the relatives, of course, you can't kill the other party's whole family and then hurry up, otherwise you will be sorry for the ancestors and God. The spirits of the ancestors in heaven will send down great sins.

Later, with the rebellion of Rong Di and the rise of the Chu state, particularly anachronistic clauses in the war salute were abandoned (such as "no drums, no columns", "no serious injuries", etc.), but the basic principles were still strictly observed.

Sun Wu, on the other hand, wrote The Art of War without the interference of the blood system, but only with victory as the sole purpose (i.e., the "one" of the art of war), around which various principles were calculated. In order to achieve the goal, it is necessary to use unscrupulous means, so Sun Tzu put forward the idea of "soldiers acting tricky" (Lao Tzu also has the same thought, he said: "Govern the country with righteousness, and use soldiers with oddity.") ”）。 It is necessary to comprehensively investigate the time of day and terrain, collect all information about the enemy country and the army, and know oneself and the enemy; It is necessary to strictly abide by the military order: move like a rabbit all over the mountains, and be as quiet as a virgin all over the mountains; According to the actual situation, we must attack the enemy's shortcomings with our own strengths; To deceive, to deceive, to be merciless like a fire burning the prairies; Do whatever it takes to win.

Based on this, Sun Wu proposed that generals should have five characteristics: "wisdom, faith, strictness, courage and benevolence". He put wisdom in the first place and mercy at the end, so as to show that war is a contest of wisdom, a confrontation between "strange" and "treacherous"; Compassion for life should be in moderation.

Sun Tzu, with his keen foresight, made his theories transcend the kinship system and far beyond his time.

In fact, "etiquette and happiness" is not only reflected in the current situation in the world, but also in people's thoughts, and in "The Art of War". As Sun Wu revealed the cruel nature of war, the princes, who recognized the essence, abandoned the war salute and began to wash the ground with blood. So much so that later Mencius said bitterly: "The battle for land is a killing man; Fight for the city, kill the city. This so-called cannibalism of the land is a sin that does not allow death! ”

But Mencius's so-called "sin" may not be counted on the head of Sun Tzu; If it is insisted on counting, then the creatures who were saved from the devastation of war because of "fighting and plotting" should be grateful to him.

He spent the next period of time with Sun Wu, learning the theory of the art of war from him, studying the tactics of attacking Chu, and taking the lead in applying the theory to the unlucky Chu people.

In the autumn of the 31st year of Lu Zhaogong, the people of Wu sent out an army to attack Yicheng (city father, near present-day Bozhou, Anhui) of Chu State. The reason why Yicheng was targeted was because Xu Zi was placed there by King Chu Zhao, and He Lu wanted to experience the feeling of "destroying the country and destroying the heir". However, when the Wu army was marching on the good road, the flooding Huai River blocked the way for the army to advance. He Lu was unwilling to return in vain, so he divided his troops and marched to Qiancheng (southwest of present-day Huoshan, Anhui) and Liucheng (near present-day Lu'an, Anhui).

As mentioned earlier, Qiancheng is the east gate of Huo Mountain, the eastern vein of Dabie Mountain. From the west of Qiancheng to travel more than 200 miles, you will arrive at the west gate of Dabie Mountain, Baiju (now northwest of Macheng, Hubei); Guo Baiju entered the hinterland of Chu State. Therefore, Qiancheng has become the most fiercely contested city between Wu and Chu.

Chu Shen Yin Shuai Division rescued Qian and Liu, and Wu Jun took the initiative to retreat. Shen Yinxu pounced, very annoyed in his heart. Later, he learned that the Wu army attacking Qiancheng was huge, but it was only a bluff, and there were not many of them, so he vaguely guessed the tactics of the Wu people (four divisions and three armies).

At that time, the distance between Din and Six was about 150 miles, and the road from Nangang (the midpoint of the two cities) to Din was very difficult. Shen Yinxu felt that the two cities were too far apart, and once one city was attacked, the other city was powerless to rescue. After obtaining the consent of King Chu Zhao, Shen Yinxu built a new city in Nangang and moved the population of Qiancheng there.

Soon after, another Wu army besieged Xiancheng (northwest of present-day Guangshan, Henan, on the south bank of the Huai River), and King Zhao of Chu had to send troops to the rescue, but the Wu army withdrew when the reinforcements were about to reach their destination.

Twice a year, the state of Chu mobilized the people but had no results, and the people began to become impetuous; However, the people of Wu carried out various invasion operations in an orderly manner. Each offensive objective is not chosen at random, and each plan of action is carefully crafted; Wu Guoren collected military intelligence through operations, analyzed the tactical style of enemy generals, made various attempts, and formulated military plans for the future.

There was a solar eclipse on the first day of December of this year, and that night Zhao Ying dreamed of a naked boy singing and dancing. When he woke up, he told the diviner Shi Mo the content of the strange dream, and asked him to interpret the message of the strange dream.

Shi Mo said: "Six years later, this month, I'm afraid that the Wu army will capture Yingdu!" But Wu's army could not maintain its victory. ”

The people of Chu were unwilling to be led by the nose by the Wu State, and decided to use the Yue State to counter the Wu State. In the spring of the thirty-second year of Lu Zhaogong, King Zhao of Chu sent the great Sima Zixi to envoy Yueguo.

Yue and Chu were traditional allies, and Yue Jun Yunchang was a staunch anti-Wu, and the two sides successfully signed the "Anti-Vietnam Alliance Treaty". In the spring of that year, the Wu army invaded the state of Chu again; Yun often saw that when the time came, he led the Vietnamese army to cross the Qiantang River and besiege the two border towns of Yu'er and Shencheng. Seeing that the situation was not good, He Lu immediately terminated the original plan and turned to meet the Vietnamese army. But the Vietnamese army did not engage the Wu army, but quickly withdrew to Jiangnan.

He Lu was annoyed in his heart, he didn't plan to let Yue Ren go. He mobilized 100 troop transports, crossed the Qiantang River by boat, and sacked several border towns of the enemy country. Shi Mo observed the celestial phenomena at night and found that Jupiter was in the "Star Age" range of the twelfth field. The Star Age belonged to the Wu and Yue divisions, and Jupiter had already entered the Yue region at that time. He said to Zhao Ying the next day: "The Yue Kingdom has the star of the year and the Wu State attacks, and within forty years, the Yue State will destroy the Wu State." ”

Zhao Ying asked, "Why forty years?" ”

Shi Mo replied: "Those who commit the year star (commit the Tai Sui) and die are generally around the age of three (thirty-six years). ”