Sun Kai's joke about "The Strategy of the Tips" caused a series of ripples in Zhao Bing's heart, causing him to fall into deep thought. First, this "Tip" actually existed in ancient command operations, and was not unique to Zhuge Liang. At least Cao Cao of his contemporary era used it. At that time, Sun Quan led his army to attack Hefei. Before, when Cao Cao went to Zhang Lu, he sent someone to send a letter to Hefei, which said "The thief will be sent even if he is sent." So the defending generals Zhang Liao and others opened Cao Cao's letter, and it was written in it, "Sun Quan arrived, Zhang Liao, Li Dian went to fight, and he was happy to enter the city." The generals acted accordingly and really defeated Sun Quan.

From a military perspective, the so-called "trick plan" is actually various combat plans. As the staff system becomes more and more sound, combat plans have become more and more common, and even more so in modern times. So, are the ancient "trick plan" or combat plans really as useful as in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?

In Zhao Bing's opinion, it may not be necessary. First of all, it is impossible to use the "tip trick" to accurately control each step of combat operations. Commanding operations must be as timely, fully and accurately grasp the front-line information as possible. In ancient times, there were very few means of obtaining intelligence on battlefields. Except for reporting step by step, the rest rely on scouts, that is, scouts. The speed of scouts is very limited. Once the battlefield distance is wider, the scouts cannot send back the intelligence as soon as possible.

In the battle between the East and West Wei River Bridge, the Western Wei Prime Minister Yuwen Tai led the main force to fight the decisive battle with the Eastern Wei main force. The battle formations of the two sides were lined along the Mangshan and the Yellow River, and the east and west were about 10 to 20 miles apart. The scouts were inconvenient between the Western Wei formations, and the information reporting was severely delayed. The left, middle and right armies of the Western Wei army could not grasp the battle situation of friendly forces, so that when the battle reached the most critical moment, the commander of the left army mistakenly thought that the central army had been defeated and retreated, which triggered the collapse of the entire Western Wei army. The commander was on the front line and could not ensure accurate grasp of the situation, let alone when the commander was away from the front line.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, when the Tang army defeated the Turks, the famous general Li Jing advanced lightly and captured Turkic scouts along the way. When the army arrived at Yinshan, "When he met his (Turkish) scouts, they were all captured to follow the army." This move caused Jie Li Khan to completely lose control of the front line, so that Li Jing's army advanced fifteen miles to Khan's tent, and Jie Li was shocked to realize that the enemy was coming. This also shows that we cannot generalize that all scouts cannot provide accurate information. However, at critical moments, the scouts were often unreliable, which made the commander dare not give accurate orders to the front-line generals will willfully. If the situation is not accurate, wouldn't it harm the front-line army?

Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of the Southern Dynasty, was such a commander. As the emperor, he commanded wars, and he often prefabricated strategies and remotely controlled commands, ordering the generals to strictly follow the plans, and some orders even specifically how to attack each city. During the northern expedition of Jia several times, the generals were very troubled by Emperor Wen's "tricks and tricks", but they did not dare not act according to the orders. The Song army and the Wei army failed repeatedly, and Emperor Wen's blind command was to blame.

Secondly, the "tip plan" in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" may not be really effective. Most of the tips described in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are used for surprise victory. Whether the tricks of surprise victory in actual combat are useful is between the two possibilities. If the number of winners and losses of both sides at the battle level has been determined, no matter how many wonderful ideas at the tactical level are, it is not enough to turn disadvantages into advantages.

When Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou defeated Qi, he also played a "tip plan". After the Northern Zhou army captured Jinzhou, the important northern Qi town, the first phase of the battle ended. Emperor Wu considered the fatigue of the army, ordered the main force to retreat to Guanzhong for a temporary rest, and stayed in Jinzhou with the general Liang Shiyan. Before retreating, Emperor Wu of Zhou gave it to him with a plan, saying that Northern Qi would definitely use heavy troops to counterattack Jinzhou. At that time, Liang Shiyan must stick to the city to consume the vitality of the Northern Qi army.

Later, as Emperor Wu expected, the Northern Qi besieged Jinzhou City with more than 100,000 troops. However, the expected situation of consuming the enemy's live power did not appear. Instead, Liang Shiyan could hardly withstand the Northern Qi attack and almost lost Jinzhou. At the critical moment, Emperor Wu had to give up his established "trick plan" and urgently dispatched the main force to provide assistance to barely stabilize the situation. The reason why Emperor Wu almost got rid of the situation was because he had mistakenly estimated the battlefield situation and had too high expectations for the tactical measures he had formulated.

Finally, the real "tip plan" can only appear at the strategic battle level. Take the two most famous tip plan as an example. For example, Cao Cao's letter in the Battle of Hefei is quite similar to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". However, looking at the situation of the Battle of Xiaoyaojin, Cao Cao and Zhang Liao had reached a consensus at the battle level before the war, that is, to stick to the city and first mobilize the enemy.

Judging from the reactions of Zhang Liao, Li Dian, Le Jin and others after opening the letter, Cao Cao's orders did not exceed their expectations. From this perspective, the main purpose of Cao Cao's irrelevant "tip" was to suppress the conflicts between Zhang Liao and Li Dian and others, and to once again strengthen the battle consensus between the commander and the front-line generals.

In the eighth year of Yijin, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu, the Grand Marshal Liu Yu sent troops to pacify Shu and sent a secret letter to the frontline generals. Because the Jin army failed to attack Shu five years ago, the senior leaders of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had a dispute over the route of advance. There are three optional routes. The first is the nearest route to the north along the inner water along the Dianjiang River, but five years ago, the Jin army attacked by the Shu army. The second is the moderate route to the north along the Zhongshui River from Anle, and the third is the most far-reaching from Jianwei along the outer water. Liu Yu made a decision in advance that the main force detoured the outer water, and suspected that the troops would go out of the inner water and the middle water to restrain them.

But Liu Yu was afraid that the news would be revealed, and the Shu army would be on guard in advance, so he set up a secret letter to Zhu Lingshi, the commander-in-chief of Shu, which contained the final version of the route of the march, and wrote the letter "It will be opened to the Baidi Emperor". The Jin army did not know how to advance, and the Shu army could not defend in a targeted manner, so he had to focus on guarding the direction of the inner water. Zhu Lingshi arrived at Baidi City to tear the books and saw that Liu Yu still ordered an attack from the outside water. The army advanced according to law and finally won victory. In essence, the essence of Liu Yu's "tip" was nothing more than a smokescreen...

"I care and it will be in chaos!" Zhao Bing realized that his participation in formulating specific combat plans was not only a suspicion of interference in command, and this approach was harmful but not profitable, just as the previous life queen Wu Xi said that he was not correcting his identity.

Thinking about it, I was no longer the time when I was defending a corner of Qiongzhou. At that time, I had only one mansion and less than one million people. I was called an emperor, but in fact, I was just a prefect who was a prefect. I was just a small warlord who was separating the land with a belly. I was involved in everything and even said that it was just a "personal expedition". But now I have occupied most of the areas south of the Yangtze River and managed tens of millions of people. I can be considered an emperor in moderation.

However, he continued his previous management methods, and wanted to interfere with big and small matters one by one. To put it nicely, it was all about everything, but to put it ugly, it wasn't that he didn't want to delegate power and wanted to be a dictator. This not only made Zhao Bing feel very tired and annoyed, but also often felt weak. The Queen Mother had advised him to hand over some things to the people below, and the Queen even held a "critical meeting" for him. However, although he agreed, he was dissatisfied and still the same.

It was not until Sun Kai's unintentional joke that Zhao Bing suddenly woke up. He understood that "tips" were mostly things that the drunkard meant not wine, and that they could play a role in the end, which was inseparable from the correct predictions at the strategic and combat level. In fact, they all played the role of deciding victory or defeat before the battle. However, under ancient conditions, this prediction was rough, directional, and combat-level, and did not involve the arrangement of specific combat operations, which played a positive role.

The "tip plan" that commands everything in every detail has actually surpassed the current technical capabilities and is the brains of people who do not understand military affairs. A wise commander or general generally does not interfere with front-line combat, but after formulating the general direction, he authorizes the front-line general to command on the spot. "The general will not accept the orders outside the kings" is exactly the embodiment of the personal experience of the emperors of all dynasties.

Similarly, it is the same for handling government affairs. The political and people's conditions in different places are different. Zhao Bing, who is a hundred miles away, is naturally unable to fully understand the details of each incident and make targeted solutions. If he handles it based solely on his past experience, it may be effective and may be counterproductive. However, local officials are different. They can face the incident directly and understand the whole story, so as to make timely and properly deal with the incident according to the evolution of the incident.

Zhao Bing realized that his working methods were wrong and he was sweating profusely. If this continues, he would have embarked on the old path of blind command by the general who went to war and the emperor gave the "Formation Map". So he decisively withdrew from the meeting and Han Zhen presided over the meeting, but the content only involved strategic directions and policies, and formulated corresponding plans for possible strategic issues. As for the specific combat plan, Zhao Bing authorized Zhao Mengjin to formulate and implement tactical issues, and he would only have the result.

The Jiangdong combat conference was soon ended. After granting the military talisman, the generals returned to their garrisons and started in full swing. Zhao Bing quickly shouted for his previous decision. During the Western Expedition, he participated in the formulation of the combat plan, but at the same time he also granted Wen Tianxiang the right to adjust and change the combat plan without asking for instructions at all levels, resulting in delaying the opportunity to fight.

The first pass to march into Sichuan and Sichuan is to break through the natural dangers of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are located in the middle of the Yangtze River and at the intersection of the lower reaches, with Yangtze River waterways in the east, and you can go down to the Jingzhou Plain, Jianghan Plain and Jiangnan Land. In the northeast, there are Wu and Ba Mountains. In the west, there are Chuan River, Jialing River, and the wealth of Chengdu Plain. In the north, there is Hanzhong, which can connect to the Central Plains and enter Guanzhong. At the same time, due to the high mountains and dangerous waters, deep river valleys and crowded passes, the Three Gorges have the conditions of blocking and closing the outside world, and are a must-fight for military strategists in all dynasties to defend and break through and attack.

Three Gorges are the general name of the three sections of Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge. It starts from the west from Baidi City in Fengjie County, Chongqing City in the west, and goes to Nanjin Pass in Yichang City, Hubei Province in the east, and crosses the five counties and cities of Fengjie, Wushan, Badong, Zigui, and Yichang. The total length is about 400 miles. The mountains here are majestic and steep, the rivers are rushing and turbulent, the reefs and beaches in the gorge area are one after another, and the peaks of the shore are inserted into the sky. It is a famous tourist destination. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "Qutang is so majestic, Wu Gorge is so beautiful, and Xiling is dangerous."

The natural geographical location of the Three Gorges area determines that this area usually adopts the war mode of water and mountain warfare, and determines that the natural weapons and fortifications such as boats, bows and crossbows, floating bridges, forts, passes, and passes are usually used in its area. It also determines that the strategic pattern of the occupiers of the Three Gorges area can only be defense-oriented. The offensive battle to be carried out in the Three Gorges area is to destroy the military fortifications of the Three Gorges and break through the natural dangers of the Three Gorges.

Since the Three Gorges has a prominent military status, it will inevitably set up defenses. Many fortresses were built on both sides of the canyon in the past dynasties, and cities were built in dangerous places and heavy troops were arranged to defend. However, after the Mongolian Yuan successively pacified Sichuan and Shu and Jiangnan, these military fortresses lost their military value. Moreover, the Mongolian Yuan was not good at attacking difficulties, and they were worried that resistance would use these fortresses to form separatist rule, so they demolished them, and only a small part of them were left as post stations.

The destruction of martial arts by the Mongolian Yuan was a blessing for the Song Dynasty's Western Expedition. However, after the Song Dynasty recovered Jiangnan, especially after capturing Yiling and Jiangling and other cities outside the gorge, the Mongolian Yuan also realized that the Song army might go up the river and conquer Sichuan. So he tried to restore the military fortress in the canyon, but it was easy to demolish but difficult to rebuild. Therefore, he could only adopt a key defense strategy and use the passes in the canyon to block the enemy's advance westward.

The first gorge in the Three Gorges is called Qutang Gorge, also known as Kui Gorge. The Yangtze River suddenly becomes narrower here, and the narrowest place is only more than 30 feet long. The cliffs on both sides are standing, the mountains are steep, the rolling river water pours into the canyon, the waves roll, and the roaring roar. The mouth of the gorge is called Kui Gorge, which is known as "Kui Gorge is the mighty world". It means that the most majestic place in the world is Kui Gorge, but it is also the most steepest place in the Three Gorges, with rivers and rivers fast. The total length of Qutang Gorge is only ten miles long. If it goes smoothly, people can just smoke two cigarettes on the boat, and it will take several days to go up the fastest.

The Baidi City, which we are familiar with, is built at the mouth of Qutang Gorge. The terrain here is dangerous and difficult to attack and easy to defend. The Mongol rebuilt the city and stationed heavy troops again. This place is not a city, but a complete set of defensive facilities. The soldiers and villages use the steep mountains and built them against the mountains and stones, forming their own one. Each military camp is like a castle, with a gate in front of the village, multiple layers of military roads and trenches under the village, a gate in the village, a stone house in the village, a shooting hole, a lookout hole, an arrow tower, and a passage around the village. Points are used to lead lines, military roads are connected, and a lookout hole is connected to each other to form a complete defense system.
Chapter completed!