Chapter 4 The first climax of the third section of the writing of military books - the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

In the first year of King Ping of Zhou (770 BC), King You was killed by the dog army at the foot of Mount Li, and the Western Zhou Dynasty fell.King Ping moved east to Luoyi (now Luoyang, Henan) and established the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.At that time, the royal family declined, the well field system began to disintegrate, and the vassal states were in dispute. The original "rites and music conquests come from the emperor" evolved into "from the princes."All the vassal states supported their own troops one after another, took the emperor to command the princes, and competed with each other for supremacy, and successively formed the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC) and the five tyrants (Qi, Jin, Chu, Wu, and Yue; one said Qi, Song, Jin, Qin, Chu) and the Warring States (475-221 BC) Qixiong (Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi, Qin, Chu, Yan) situation.In order to expand their strength and achieve the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the military, they have gradually reformed the land system, tax system, and military system since the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, expanded the source of troops and military taxes, abolished the hereditary military leadership system, concentrated military power on the monarch, and dispatched troops with tiger charms and seals. To send generals, implement the military merit system of dividing positions between generals and ministers and rewarding them according to military merit.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, bronze weapons had developed to a mature stage.In the late Warring States period, due to the improvement of iron and steel smelting technology, copper and iron weapons had been manufactured in large quantities and equipped with the army in an organized manner.The improved strong bows and crossbows seriously threatened the safety of tall and heavy chariots. Infantry, cavalry, and infantry and cavalry warfare began to replace chariot soldiers and chariot combat.The development of warship construction in Wu, Yue, Qi, Chu and other countries created conditions for the formation and training of naval forces and the development of boat divisions.The capitals of all the vassal states have been erected on high walls, surrounded by soup pools; the development of attack and defense equipment has improved the means of attack and defense city warfare.Military reforms and the development of military technology made wars more frequent. According to incomplete statistics, there were as many as 438 military operations during the Spring and Autumn Period, of which 376 were large-scale ones.During the Warring States period, wars could not be stopped for a day. "When fighting for a city, kill people to fill the city; fight for land, kill people to fill the field", the number is beyond counting.

The era of war ruled the roost, breaking through the old sayings such as "there is no fighting when you hear the mourning" and "you can't stand without drums". A group of military strategists and politicians who adapt to the needs of the new era, such as Wu Zixu, Sun Wu, Wu Qi, Fan Li, etc. Write books and set up theories, study the art of war, lobby the princes, and encourage the adoption of new theories.In order to carry out wars for hegemony, the princes and kings are also thirsty for talents, recruiting talents in the art of war, encouraging the creation of new studies, and seeking good ways to teach martial arts and use soldiers, so that they can be invincible.The two are like mortise and tenon, and they fit together at once.Therefore, the strategists who wrote military books had a broad stage to display their talents in the trend of the times of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contending";It was during this era that the first climax of our country's military writings was formed.

In an academic atmosphere where a hundred schools of thought contend, writers of military books freely express their viewpoints on military science, and write military books with their own strengths.It is said that when Zhang Liang and Han Xin in the early Han Dynasty were sorting out military books, they got the works of 182 writers in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods.Only the classics of military science that have been handed down to the present include Sun Wu's "Sun Tzu's Art of War", Wu Qi's "Wu Zi", Sima Rang [rang 胡] Ju [ju Ju]'s "Sima Law", Sun Bin's "Sun Bin's Art of War", Wei Liao's There are six kinds of "Wei Liao Zi" (see Figure 2), "Six Secret Teachings" named after Jiang Wang, and lost military books such as "Fan Li's Art of War" and "Wu Zixu's Art of War" that are often mentioned and quoted.With the purpose of enriching the country, strengthening the army and unifying the world, they take war and military affairs as the research objects, discuss many aspects of it in depth, elaborate and rigorous, discuss magnificently, have clear context, and are well-organized. Experience, in practice, guided the war and military construction at that time, and some became military laws, which were respected by later generations of military strategists and became the foundation of my country's military science.

After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, in order to prevent the restoration of Confucian scholars and the rebellion of the people, he took the measures of burning books and melting weapons. No one dared to risk the crime of rebellion and decapitation to write military books. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, there were not many military books written. The more famous ones are only "Three Strategies of Huangshi Gong", Sima Biao's "Strategy" (see Figure 3), "Wo Qi Jing", "Li Weigong's Art of War", "Li Weigong Questions and Answers" (See Figure 4), Li Quan's "Taibai Yin Jing" and "Huwai Chunqiu", etc.At the same time, commentaries on military books were popular, including Xu Shen's "Notes on the Six Secret Teachings", Shen You's "Sun Tzu's Art of War Notes", Cao Cao's "Notes on Sun Tzu", etc.Although the military books written at this time are not as groundbreaking as the famous military books of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, they still have many innovations.The "Shen Mechanism Enemy Taibai Yin Jing" written by Li Quan, in the chapter on offensive and defensive war equipment, discusses various aspects of military technology development that were seldom mentioned in the past, and was absorbed by the "Wu Jing Zong Yao" in the Northern Song Dynasty.Among the annotated ancient military books, Cao Cao (see Figure 5)'s "Notes on Sunzi" can be regarded as a treasure.In more than 300 annotations, he not only expounded the essence of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", but also supplemented and developed it with his actual combat experience. .