What stages did China's ancient military thought go through?

China's ancient military thought is a valuable part of China's traditional culture. Among the ancient military theorists, Sun Wu is the most dazzling. He is known as "the teacher of many battles" and "the originator of eastern military science".

Sun Wu (about 545 BC-about 470 BC), whose real name was Changqing, was born in Le 'an (now northern Shandong Province) in the State of Qi at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period? . China was a famous strategist and politician in the Spring and Autumn Period. Being honored as a soldier saint or grandson (Sun Wuzi) is also called "the most holy strategist".

Sun Tzu's life experience is quite legendary. He was born into a hereditary aristocratic family who was proficient in military affairs. He was young and wrote The Art of War (a once-in-a-thousand-year genius) without a war. Wu recommended him to the king of Wu seven times. The king of Wu tried to train the maids. Sun Tzu ruled the army with the art of war, and his punishment was strict. He killed two princes who disobeyed orders. Although he made the princes eat badly and couldn't sleep, he trained the weak and unruly maids into a teacher who could go through fire and water, and let the princes see his talent. So the king of Wu used Sun Wu as his general.

In 506 BC (14th week), when the war began, Sun Wu led 30,000 people to attack Wu Jun and went deep into the great powers. Five wars and five wins, which went straight to the capital of Chu, almost destroyed Chu, created a miracle of winning more with less in China's military history, and made great achievements for Wu. After defeating Qi Weijin, Wu replaced Jin as the temporary overlord.

Sun Tzu's life experience in his later years is controversial. One theory is that after his success, he retired, floated high, lived in seclusion, and didn't know where to go (I hope so). His life experience has also become an eternal mystery in history.

1. Germination and formation period (Xia, Shang and Western Zhou)

From the 2nd/kloc-0th century BC to the 8th century BC, China successively established three slave dynasties: Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty and Western Zhou Dynasty. This is the whole historical stage of China's slave society from its establishment and development to its peak, and it is also the initial formation period of China's ancient military thought. There are a lot of records about military activities in bronze inscriptions of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Military works such as military records and military affairs appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Although it has long been lost, it is an important symbol of the formation of China's ancient military thought. Due to the limitation of understanding the objective laws of war, war is greatly influenced by superstition. Countries often decide their war actions through divination and stargazing, resulting in the guiding ideology of war centered on the concept of destiny. Governing the army is based on "ceremony" and "punishment". "Rites" are mainly applicable to upper-class nobles and officers, and pay attention to rank and order. The management of subordinates and soldiers mainly depends on harsh criminal laws.

2. Mature and prosperous period (Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period)

The period from the beginning of the 8th century BC to the end of the 3rd century BC, that is, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, was the transition period from slavery to feudalism in China. This is a historical stage of China's ancient political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological development, and also a period of ancient military development. With the deepening of class contradictions, wars continue, the scale of wars expands, and wars are frequent and diverse.

Many military strategists and military books representing the emerging landlord class are constantly emerging, which comprehensively laid the foundation of China's ancient military thought from the aspects of war debate, the theory of using troops and the methodology of studying war, marking the basic maturity of China's ancient military thought.

The Art of War written by Sun Wu at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period is the earliest and most influential book in existence. It is the foundation work of the military theory of the emerging landlord class, which marks the maturity of the military thought of the feudal class and becomes a model of military literature in later generations. Other influential military books include Woods, Sima Fa, Sun Bin's Art of War, Wei Liaozi and Tamia Liu.

3. Enrichment and perfection period (Qin to Five Dynasties)

From the beginning of 3rd century BC to the middle of10th century, it was the rising stage of the development of feudal society in China. During this period, it mainly experienced several great dynasties: Qin, Han, Jin, Sui and Tang. Among them, the Han and Tang Dynasties were the heyday of China's feudal society, and military thoughts were further enriched and developed. After the Qin dynasty, it entered an era dominated by iron weapons. Cavalry has become the protagonist of the war force, and the naval division and navy have participated in more wars, which requires that the operational command must strengthen the coordination of stepping, riding and water army.

From the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, there were many large-scale coordinated operations of large groups with multiple arms, such as Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Feishui. In these wars, the combination of political struggle and military struggle, the application of strategy and decision-making, and the art of operational command have all reached a fairly high level.

With the development of war, the application of strategy and tactics and the art of command have been highly developed, and the strategic thinking has become more and more mature. Zhuge Liang's Longzhong pair became the representative of strategic decision-making at that time. During this period, there were many military books summarizing the experience of military struggle, among which Three Views, which appeared in the early Han Dynasty, and Li Zhiwen, which appeared later, were important works handed down from generation to generation.

4. Period of system perfection (from early Song Dynasty to Qing Dynasty)

From 960 to 1840, the feudal society in China has entered its later stage after four dynasties: Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing. With the gradual and widespread use of firearms, the war has entered an era of using both cold weapons and hot weapons. From the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Song Dynasty faced the situation of expanding ethnic contradictions, intensifying class contradictions and intensifying contradictions within the ruling class. In order to maintain the rule, the rulers established the orthodox position of military literature in society, and Wushu began to be included in the national education system.

In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, we began to attach importance to military affairs, set up martial arts, set up martial arts and develop military education. In order to teach civil servants and military commanders to be familiar with military affairs, the rulers ordered others to compile the General Outline of the Art of War, summarizing the ancient and modern art of war and the general outline of dynasties, and promulgated the questions and answers of Sun Tzu, Sima Fa, Liu Tao, Zi, San Lue and Li as "Seven Books of the Art of War", which was officially designated as a martial arts textbook. The establishment of martial arts, the establishment of martial arts, and the spread of martial arts classics have cultivated a large number of military talents and prospered military art. This period is the period when China's ancient military thoughts became systematic after long-term enrichment and development, and became the period with the largest number of ancient military books in China.

Its main performance is that there are a large number of military books with complete categories; Sun Tzu's Art of War has a strong generality and a self-contained system. According to the statistics of the General Catalogue of Military Books in China, there are 18 15 kinds of military books in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (excluding modern times), accounting for more than 3/4 of the total number of ancient military books in China, which are rich in content and summarize all aspects of military thought in different categories, forming a relatively complete system with strong logic.

Sun Tzu's Art of War: "The whole country is the best, followed by breaking the country;" The whole army is the best, followed by Pojun; The whole brigade is the best, followed by the broken brigade; The whole army is the best, followed by broken soldiers; All Wu is the best, followed by breaking Wu. Therefore, it is victory, and the good are not good; Defeat the enemy's soldiers without fighting, and the good ones are also good. "

China people have been belligerent since ancient times, but they are not good at fighting. This kind of "conquering the enemy without fighting" is the highest realm of Sun Tzu's thought of total victory. It is also the highest realm pursued by China's successive strategists and military thoughts.