Wu Qi

Wu Qi

Wuqi (440-381 BC), surnamed Jiang, surnamed Wu, surnamed Qi, was born in the state of Wei, Zuoshi (now Cao County, Shandong Province). In the early Warring States period, he was a strategist, statesman, reformer and representative of strategists.

Wu Qi lived in the Three Kingdoms of Lu, Wei and Chu. He was well versed in the thoughts of militarists, Legalists and Confucianists. He made great achievements in both internal and military affairs. In the state of Wei, he commanded the Wei army to defeat the state of Qin repeatedly, occupied the land of Xihe, and served as the governor of Xihe. In the state of Chu, Wu Qi was appointed as Ling Yin to assist Chu mourning king to carry out political reform, enhance national strength and expand the territory of Chu. In 381 B.C., after the death of Chu mourning king, Wu Qi was killed because he offended the old-fashioned nobles because of the reform.

His works include the art of war of Wu Zi, which was handed down to the world. Together with Sun Wu, the military sage, he was called "Sun Wu". During the reign of emperor suzong of the Tang Dynasty, he was listed in the temple of King Wucheng and became one of the ten sages in the temple. When Huizong of Song Dynasty was in power, he became one of the 72 generals of wumiao.

(inside picture: the portrait of Wu Qi painted by the people of Ming Dynasty)

Life of the characters

Abandon Confucianism and learn soldiers

Wu Qi was born in a wealthy family in the state of Wei. In order to achieve political development, he ran around looking for a way, spent a lot of money, and lost his family and property, but also did not get a job, which was ridiculed and slandered by the villagers. Wu Qi was angry about this, but killed more than 30 people who slandered him. When he was about to flee, he swore to his mother, "if you are not a minister, you will never come back." Wu Qixian went to study Confucianism under Zeng Shen, the son of Confucius disciple Zeng Shen.

After his mother died, Wu Qi did not follow the Confucian doctrine of loyalty and filial piety to go home for mourning. Zeng Shen thought that he was unfilial and unfit to be a disciple of Confucianism. He broke off the teacher-student relationship with Wu Qi. After that, Wu Qi abandoned Confucianism and studied as a soldier.

Serve Lu Jun

In 412 BC, Duke Xuan of Qi sent troops to attack the state of Lu. Lu Yuangong wanted to appoint Wu Qi, but Wu Qi's wife was from the state of Qi. Wu Qi longed for success and fame, so he killed his wife and said he did not favor the state of Qi. The Duke of Yuan appointed Wu Qi as general and led the army to defeat the Qi army. Later, the Duke of Yuan became suspicious of Wu Qi and removed him from his official post. The Duke of Wuqi, Ji sun's family, was also killed because of his slackness. After persuasion, Wuqi left the state of Lu and defected to the state of Wei.

Defeat the Qin Army

In the 38th year of Wei Wenhou (409 BC), he appointed Wu Qi as the main general to conquer Linjin and Yuanli in Hexi area of Qin State and build the city. The next year (408 BC), Wu Qi led the army to attack the state of Qin again, all the way to Zheng county. However, the state of Qin could only retreat to Luoshui and build fortifications along the river. During the war with the Qin army, Wu Qi never considered himself superior to the ordinary soldiers. At night, he slept on the uneven ridge and covered his body with leaves to avoid the invasion of frost and dew. In addition, in the 35th year of Wei Wenhou (412 BC), fanpang (now Southeast of Hancheng, Shaanxi Province) was attacked and occupied by his son. The state of Wei occupied the Hexi area originally belonging to the state of Qin, and Xihe county was set up here. Recommended by Zhai Huang, Wu Qi was the first sheriff.

When Wu Qi was the governor of Xihe, he learned Confucianism from Zixia, reformed the military system of Wei, and founded the military system. During his tenure as Xihe sheriff, Wuqi built Wucheng (now southwest of Xiaoyi, Shanxi Province) to resist the attack of Qin state.

In the seventh year of marquis Wu of Wei (389 BC), Duke Huigong of Qin sent 500000 troops to attack Yinjin of Wei. Wu Qi personally led 50000 of them who had never made military contributions, plus 500 chariots and 3000 cavalry, which defeated the Qin Army (see the battle of yin and Jin).

In the ninth year of the reign of marquis Wu of Wei (387 BC), marquis Wu Qi led the army to attack the state of Qi to Lingqiu (now Tengxian County, Shandong Province).

Wu Qi reform

Around the ninth year of marquis Wu of Wei (387 BC), Wu Qi was slandered, so he left the state of Wei and went south to Chu. The Chu mourning king appointed Wu Qi as the governor of Wancheng, and was promoted to Ling Yin one year later. Wu Qi, the empress of Ling Yin, carried out drastic reform in the state of Chu

After the Wuqi reform, Chu was powerful and attacked Baiyue southward, extending its territory to Dongting Lake and Cangwu county. In 381 BC, the state of Chu sent troops to assist the state of Zhao, who was attacked by the state of Wei, and fought against the Wei army in the west of Zhou (now to the west of the southwest of Wuzhi County, Henan Province). Chu troops crossed liangmen (located in the northwest of Daliang), stationed in the forest (located in the north of liangmen), drank horses in the Yellow River, and cut off the connection between Hanoi County of Wei state and Anyi (now Xiaxian County of Shanxi Province). With the help of Chu's offensive, Zhao attacked Jipu (now the south of Weixian County in Hebei Province), conquered Huangcheng (now Guanxian County in Shandong Province), and Chu and Zhao defeated Wei army. All the princes were afraid of the power of Chu, which was the great victory of Wu Qi after the Chu political reform. However, Wu Qi's political reform led to the resentment of the Chu nobles, and also buried the disaster of his own death.

He was killed

In the 21st year of mourning king of Chu (381 BC), when the Chu army won, the king died. When Wu Qi went to the funeral place, he was wounded by the dissatisfied nobles of Chu with arrows. Wu Qi pulled out his arrow and fled to the morgue of Chu mourning king. He put his arrow on the corpse of Chu mourning king and cried out: "the officials rebelled and murdered our king." When the nobles shot Wu Qi, they also shot the body of Chu mourning king. According to the law of the state of Chu, "those who fight against the corpse of the king" will be killed. According to this rule, the newly enthroned King Su of Chu ordered Yin to put to death all the people who shot the dead body of the king of Chu when Wu Qi was killed. More than 70 families were involved in the extermination. The author of "Lu's spring and Autumn Annals: noble death" thinks: "Wu Qi's wisdom can be said to be swift." Wu Qi's body was also sentenced to dismemberment. After Wu Qi's death, his reform in the state of Chu failed.

In the 19th year of Kaiyuan (731) of Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong set up a martial arts temple to honor and offer sacrifices to the famous generals of the past dynasties. It was mainly dedicated to the prime minister and military adviser of the Zhou Dynasty, LV Shang (i.e. Jiang Ziya), with the Han Dynasty's remaining Marquis Zhang Liang as its share. Ten famous generals followed it. "Yue Yi", king of Chang state of Yan, was one of them. At the same time, only Yue Yi and Bai Qi were included in the "ten sages of martial arts Temple". In 1123, the Song Dynasty set up temples for the famous generals according to the practice of the Tang Dynasty. Among the 72 famous generals, Wu Qi was also included. Wu Qi is also one of the 17 histories and 100 generals in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Main impact

Politics

In the state of Chu, Wu Qi, as the Prime Minister of Chu, helped Chu mourn the king to carry out the political reform, strengthen the national strength and expand the territory of Chu.

military

Wu Qi's military thoughts mainly focus on the art of war. In Wu Zi's art of war, Wu Qi advocated the combination of politics and military, the cultivation of culture and morality at home and the preparation for war at abroad. On the premise of paying equal attention to politics and military affairs, Wu Qi paid more attention to political education, governing the army and the people with morality, righteousness, propriety and benevolence. Wu Qi also divided the war into righteous, strong, rigid, violent and rebellious from the causes of war. He advocated that we should take a cautious attitude towards war and oppose militarism.

Historical evaluation

Li Zhen: he was greedy and lustful, but he couldn't make it with his army.

Linwu Jun: those who are valued by men and soldiers are snobbish; those who are superior to them are attacked by changing the axis. He who makes good use of it is not sure where it comes from. Sun Wu uses it and is invincible in the world.

Lu Zhonglian: cannibalism, no anti North heart, is Sun Bin, Wu Qi's soldiers.

Mencius: good at fighting, such as the disciples of Sun Bin and Wu Qi. Connect with the princes, such as Su Qin, Zhang Yi and so on.

Fan Ju: Wu Qi mourns for the king, so that death does not harm justice, slander does not cover loyalty, words do not agree with each other, deeds do not agree with each other, deeds do not intend to discredit, there must be a great power, do not say goodbye to misfortune.

Cai Ze: Wu Qi mourns for Chu's incompetence, abolishes the useless and damages the officials who are not in a hurry. The request of secluding the private door was the custom of Chu state. It attacked Yang Yue in the South and Chen and CAI in the north. It broke the rules and made the scholars have nothing to say.

Han Fei: Chu didn't use Wu Qi to cut chaos, and Qin was rich and strong when he was a businessman. (Han Feizi: asking about Tian)

Wei Liaozi: who is the one who mentions one hundred thousand people and is not worthy of the world? It's called Duke Huan. Who is the one who mentions 70000 people but is not worthy of the world? It is also called "Wuqi". Who is the one who mentions 30000 people but is not worthy of the world? It's called Wuzi.

Wuzi · Tuguo: fighting with the princes 76, winning 64, Yu Zejun's explanation. He has made great achievements in opening up the earth on all sides and building up the land for thousands of miles.

Jia Yi: Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po and Zhao she were responsible for their troops.

Sima Qian: 1. In the secular world, the division and brigade are all in the way of Sun Tzu's thirteen chapters. The art of war in Wu Dynasty is abundant in the world. The saying goes, "those who can do it may not be able to speak, and those who can speak may not be able to do it." Sun Tzu's plan for Pang Juan is clear, but he can't save the suffering from being punished. Wu Qi said that Marquis Wu was not as virtuous as he was in the situation. However, he acted in Chu and killed him with violence and kindness. Sad husband! ② If you don't believe in honesty, benevolence and bravery, you can't pass on the sword. It's in line with the Tao. You can govern your body internally and respond externally. A gentleman is more virtuous than a gentleman.

Liu Xiang: he died in Su Qin, Shang Yang, Sun Bin, Wu Qi and Li Si to destroy his body, and the princes and Qin used it to destroy his country.

Ban Gu: at that time, Wu had Sun Wu, Qi had Sun Bin, Wei had Wu Qi, and Qin had Shang Yang. They all captured the enemy and won. ② They are snobbish and deceitful. When they are used in a country full of violence and confusion, the monarch and his officials are separated from each other, and their political plans are not good. Therefore, they can be deceitful. They are eager to kill people in the city and fight for land. The disciples of sun, Wu, Shang and Bai were all killed in the front, but the country was destroyed later. The trend of retribution is different from each other.

Cao Cao: Wu Qi was a greedy general. He was confident in killing his wife. He scattered money to seek an official. His mother died and did not return. However, in Wei, the people of Qin did not dare to go east, while in Chu, the people of Shanxi did not dare to go south.

Cao Pi: misfortune to Wu Qi. have too little wisdom to undertake great things. He Jian, Xihe. What's worse than lying dead.

Ge Hong: Sun Wu, Han Bai, the sage of military.

Sima Zhen: Wei was the Prime Minister of Wu Qi, and Xihe was called virtuous. When he was miserable, he was in charge of Chu and left power after death.

Zhang said: Light Product learning and good strategy, seeking the ancients, Wu Qi

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