Grasp the new essence of protracted war ■ Hu Youcai introduction Lasting or quick decision is always a proposition to test the commander's decision-making ability. In May 1938, Mao Zedong published "on protracted war" in Yan'an, which systematically answered the core question of "why the war of resistance against Japan is a protracted war and how to carry out a protracted war", and put forward the general strategic policy of protracted war "strategic protracted war and quick decision of campaign tactics", which pointed out the direction for all military and people to win the victory of the war of resistance against Japan. Today, reviewing this military classic still shines with the light of truth. In the face of the evolution of information and intelligent war forms, winning the war requires us to re recognize and grasp the new essence of protracted war. Objective inevitability of strategic choice Protracted war is an important guiding principle of war, which transforms power through time and space, and then defeats the strong with the weak. In the information age, although the time shift is different, the possibility of future crisis conflict and local war escalating to full-scale war still exists. In the face of strong enemies, the overall strategic situation of resisting the strong with the weak and the inferior against the superior has not fundamentally changed. Focusing on the strategic consideration of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, the intensity, breadth and difficulty of war are different from those of previous wars. In such a war in which the weak resists the strong, "Haste makes waste", and the "quick victory theory" of winning a war in which the weak resists the strong with a "quick decision" is impractical. Without a certain "durability", it is impossible to reverse the battlefield situation or even drag the war out for a longer time. As Mao Zedong pointed out: "without certain conditions, quick victory only exists in the mind. Objectively, it does not exist. It is just fantasy and false truth." Therefore, in the future war, persisting in protracted war is still a strategic choice to give full play to the overall war advantages, turn passivity into initiative, and win the strong with the weak and the superior with the inferior. This requires that we must establish a bottom line thinking in the guidance of war, base ourselves on the most complex and difficult situations, make good use of the heirloom of the people's war, make long-term plans, use "persistence" to "quick decision", develop strengths and avoid weaknesses, lead the war into a track that is good for ourselves and beneficial to ourselves, make continuous efforts and long-term achievements, offset the enemy's technical advantages with strategic protracted war, make it weak and weak, and turn passivity into initiative, Win a future war in which the weak resist the strong. Sustained support of war capability In the traditional sense, protracted war is more manifested as a "protracted" war cycle. When the strength is insufficient to defeat the opponent, it lengthens the war process, and finally turns the strong into the weak to defeat the opponent. In the future strategic game, the strong enemy may be more inclined to rely on its advantages in technology and weapons and equipment. It is possible to fight a high-end war of "quick battle and quick decision" in the new space field, and even carry out strategic raids to "confuse" the other party instantaneously. It also emphasizes full-time continuous attack, and implement comprehensive suppression and continuous attacks without time gap, time restricted area and non-stop time to "paralyze" the other party in an all-round way, Trap the other party in great passivity. In the face of new challenges, today's protracted war emphasizes the guiding concept of war capacity-building and the "tenacity", "persistence" and "richness" of war capacity. It requires not only the ability to deal with crises and conflicts, the ability to resist one or more strong attacks and short-term counter attack, but also the ability to deeply mobilize the military and people through national defense construction and military struggle preparation to form a sustained and durable war capacity, This capability is a solid national integration strategic capability that integrates political, economic, military, scientific and technological, diplomatic, cultural and other forces. It is a powerful war capability that "leads without sending out". It is a systematic war capability that integrates strategic early warning, strategic command, strategic mobility, strategic attack, strategic protection and strategic support, It is a kind of thick and long "Endurance", "anti attack" and "counterattack" that can not be broken or dragged down, and it is an ability to continuously resist and fight against the enemy for a long time. Obviously, this capability often has the strategic deterrent effect of deterring war. The relative persistence of the war process The traditional protracted war emphasizes "exchanging space for time". By adjusting the deployment of troops, mobilizing reserve forces, and using the strategic depth of the vast territory to slow down the consumption of opponents, the release of war capability is a slow process, and the war duration is often years and months. With the development of weapons and equipment, "winning a small war" has become the goal of war. Protracted war is avoided by any country as far as possible. Therefore, from the perspective of the concept of time, today's protracted war does not pursue the mode of war of attrition that lasted for several or more years in the traditional war. Of course, in view of the complexity and hardship of the struggle situation in the future war and in the face of the technical and equipment advantages of powerful opponents, today's protracted war can not present the "second kill" mode of one hit, just like the "operation Babylon" and "golden Canyon". It is attempted to solve the problem and achieve the purpose of the war through one or two comprehensive defense and one or two short attacks. Today's protracted war is a relatively prolonged war process and war time, and a relatively protracted war that gradually changes the balance of strength between the enemy and ourselves. Its end time is measured by defeating the enemy's strategic attempt and achieving overall victory in the war. Moreover, due to the complexity of the operation system of information war, the diversity of participating services and arms, and the huge consumption of materials, it is necessary to carefully design the war, build the battlefield, reserve materials and organize training. Therefore, the "durability" of today's protracted war is more manifested in the long-term and sustainability of peacetime war preparation. Comprehensive diversity of war forms One of the key points of protracted war in the traditional sense is to use the form of people's war, mainly "guerrilla war" and "mobile war" to consume opponents, "accumulate small victories into big victories", and finally win the war. The protracted war in the information age should also implement the people's war thought and give full play to the great power of the people's war, but its forms are more diverse and comprehensive. This requires that armed struggle and unarmed struggle should be closely combined, that mobilization should be comprehensively carried out in the economic, financial, scientific and technological, industrial and other fields, that political and public opinion struggles should be fully carried out, that comprehensive national strength should be transformed into war strength, and that sustained efforts, continuous operations and comprehensive confrontation should be made in the political, economic, diplomatic, public opinion, military and other fields, so as to continuously divide, isolate, shake and deter opponents. In particular, at the level of military operations, we should make comprehensive use of the forces of various services and arms, such as land, sea, air and space, as well as the methods and means of firepower assault, network and electric attack, special operations, force capture and control, so as to carry out comprehensive attack and comprehensive reaction against the enemy; Combine the first battle with the successive battle, deter the opponent through the first battle, create a favorable situation, and continuously invest in mobile forces, reserve forces and cutting-edge forces; The combination of frontal confrontation and the use of strange soldiers and tactics will continue to prevent and resist the opponent's comprehensive attack, continuous counterattack and successive attacks, continuously expand the war results, frustrate the opponent's attempt to continue the war, destroy its continuous combat ability, make it from strong to weak, resolutely and completely defeat the enemy in military, and win the initiative for political and diplomatic struggle. Integration of attack and defense in war operations The traditional protracted war is guided by the active defense strategy. In the war process, it is mainly reflected in the stages of strategic defense, strategic stalemate and strategic counterattack. Especially in the strategic defense stage, defense is the main combat action. The protracted war in the information age is more manifested in the war action of integrating attack and defense in the whole process, which requires active action in the whole process of confrontation, active defense, active attack, combination of attack and defense and continuous operation under the guidance of the strategic thought of active defense. Relying on the strategic and technological advantages of the other side, it is possible to carry out in-depth raids on the other side's territory and cities in the future. It is not only possible to rely on the other side's strategic and technological advantages, but also possible to carry out in-depth raids on the other side's territory and cities in the future. Therefore, the inferior party should take the initiative to defend and resist, rely on the depth of its territory and strategic internal lines, comprehensively use air defense means, combine pre fortification with mobile resistance, and combine camouflage and protection, so as to ensure security in all fields, protect important targets, especially war potential targets, and ensure the continuous generation of war capabilities. At the same time, we should take the initiative to defeat the enemy, attack the enemy's source and cut off the enemy's backup. "You hit you, I hit me", use asymmetric means, actively carry out offensive operations on the outer line, seize every "time window", make full use of and give priority to the use of elite combat forces and new quality combat forces, quickly concentrate superior forces, instantly release optimization efficiency, and support the key nodes of the generation and exertion of the opponent's combat ability High tech weapons and equipment and targets that affect the morale of the people will be resolutely, actively and forcefully attacked. With "quick decision" at every point and every campaign tactical offensive action, the opponent will continue to shake the opponent's war will, weaken its continuous combat ability, turn it from strong to weak, and then defeat the opponent. Forward looking preparations for war It is better to be prepared than to fight, than to fight unprepared; It is better to prepare for a small war than a small war. Winning a protracted war in the information age is not a passive "protracted" after the arrival of the war, but a forward-looking plan based on the future war, which is to win first and then seek war. Therefore, we should vigorously strengthen the overall war capability construction, deeply promote military civilian cooperation, realize the overall planning and overall promotion of economic construction and national defense construction, and form a solid national overall strength and overall war capability. We should focus on the needs of military struggle preparation, preset solid and complete military bases, facilities and sites in relevant areas, pay attention to far-reaching strategies, establish strategic fulcrums for military forces to go forward and increase material reserves in war areas, so as to facilitate the delivery of forces and the implementation of combat operations in wartime. Strengthen the reserve mobilization of reserve forces, so as to cultivate less troops in peacetime and send more troops in wartime. Through a perfect military force construction system, train and reserve the human resources needed in wartime, especially increase the reserve of high-tech talents, so as to ensure the continuous mobilization of troops in wartime and maintain the continuous combat ability. Pay attention to the independent research and development of high-precision and cutting-edge technologies, especially core technologies, and establish a complete and independent weapon and equipment production line to ensure that the "continuous line" of weapon and equipment support in wartime will not be "stuck" by strong enemies and fall into a "stretched" situation, so as to meet the needs of sustained combat. (outlook new era)