Recently, "China in the Classics" reproduced the legendary story of Sun Wu in the form of drama and triggered a discussion about "Sun Tzu's Art of War". For a long time, there has been a lot of controversy about the true identity of "Sun Tzu", some people believe that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was not written by Sun Wu, and many people cannot distinguish the relationship between Sun Wu and Sun Zhi.
Sun Wu and Sun Zhen, who is the "Grandson"? The Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qilie in the Chronicle of History is the earliest biography of Sun Wu and Sun Zhen. It is said that Sun Wu was a native of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, who was born in the State of Wu and wrote the Art of War of Sun Tzu; Sun Zhi was his descendant, born in the Warring States period, and also from the State of Qi, and authored the Art of War of Sun Zhi. However, there is no record of Sun Wu in the previous documents of the "Records of History", and the "Art of War of Sun Zhi" has not been circulated in the world. Therefore, some people suspect that Sun Wu is Sun Bing, and "Sun Zi's Art of War" is "Sun Bing's Art of War". So, is there any truth to this view?
Portrait of Sun Wu
Portrait of Sun Bin
Ming Dynasty Min Yuchen compilation of "Sun Tzu Santong"
Cao's operation note made the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" famous
About 1 km south of the old city of Linyi, Shandong, there are two small hills facing each other from east to west, the east side is called Jinque Mountain, and the west side is called Yinque Mountain. In April 1972, archaeologists excavated a large number of burial utensils such as bamboo jane, bamboo jane and lacquered wood, pottery, bronze, and coins in two Han tombs on Yinque Mountain. According to research, the burial time of these two tombs should be in the middle of the Han Wudi period between 134 BC and 118 BC, and the owner of the tomb is probably the same as the Taishi company Ma Qian.
The bamboo briefs of Tomb No. 1 are relatively rich in content, including a large number of pre-Qin classics such as "Sun Tzu", "Liutao", "Wei Miaozi", "Guan Zi", "Mozi", "Yanzi Spring and Autumn" and so on. However, the protagonists in "Sun Tzu" are all "Sun Tzu", and there is no title of "Sun Wu" and "Sun Zhen". In addition to being able to correspond to the thirteen articles of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", there are also "Wu Qing", "Four Changes", "Yellow Emperor Fa Chi Emperor", "Terrain II", "Cheng Bing", and "See wu wang", which roughly belong to the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", of which "See Wu Wang" and "Sun Zi Wu Qi Lie Biography" Have similar content.
As for the other "Sun Tzu" chapters, there are about sixteen or so, of which the protagonists of four of them are undoubtedly Sun Zhen, namely "Capture Pang Juan", "See the King of Wei", "Wei Wang Qing", "Chen Ji Qing Lei", all of which occurred in the era of the Warring States Qi Wei King, and can correspond to the era and characters of Sun Bing in "The Biography of Sun Zi Wu Qilie". As for the other twelve, the protagonist "Sun Tzu" is not sure who it is, but the style is very different from the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", so the compilers also included them in the "Art of War of Sun Zhen".
So, can it be determined that Sun Wu is the author of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", and That Sun Bin is the author of the "Art of War of Sun Bing", that Sun Wu and Sun Bin are two people, and that "The Art of War of Sun Tzu" and "The Art of War of Sun Bin" are two books? In fact, the problem is not so simple.
Scholars believe that the pre-Qin, Qin, and Han dynasties basically did not come from one person at a time, but underwent a long-term compilation process. The main content of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" is still considered to be a product of the Warring States, not written by Sun Wu himself, and many details of the "Art of War of Sun Bing" also reveal that this book is not from Sun Zhi himself. However, they all more or less reflect the military ideas of Sun Wu and Sun Zhen himself. Just as the Analects were not written by Confucius himself, they are also important works for the study of Confucius's thought.
In the Book of Han and Yiwen Zhi, the bibliography "Wu Sun Zi" is listed in eighty-two articles, nine volumes of Figures, and eighty-nine articles and four volumes of "Qi Sun Zi". Judging from the title of the book, the "Wu Sun Zi" of the "Yiwen Zhi" is obviously the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", and the "Qi Sun Zi" is obviously the "Art of War of Sun Yuan". So, why did the reputation of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" greatly overshadow the "Sun Zhi Art of War" later? Because later Cao Cao annotated the thirteen articles of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", and compiled the rest as the "Art of War of Continuing Sun Tzu". This led to two results, on the one hand, the fame of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was great, and on the other hand, the "Art of War of Sun Zhen" was gradually lost. The various versions of Sun Tzu's Art of War that have been handed down today are all versions of Cao Cao's notes.
The discovery of Han Jian of Yinque Mountain gives us a glimpse of these lost works. So, what exactly does Yinqueshan Hanjian's "Art of War of Sun Tzu" and "Art of War of Sun Bing" really talk about?
"Wu Qing": Sun Wu predicted the fate of the six secretaries of the Jin Dynasty
In Yinqueshan Hanjian's "Sun Tzu's Art of War", the more eye-catching is a "Wu Qing".
The Wu Question records a discussion between King Wu and Sun Wu about the situation in the Jin Dynasty. At that time, the old overlords were the Jin state in the north and the Chu state in the south. In 506 BC, with the assistance of Sun Wu, Lu Lu won a major victory at the Battle of Wu ChuBaiju and briefly occupied the chu capital of Yingdu. As for the situation in the Jin Dynasty, he was naturally quite concerned. At that time, the Jin state was in power by six major families, and their chiefs served as the six consuls of the Jin state, collectively known as the "six secretaries of the Jin state".
According to JianWen, Lu Lu asked Sun Wu: "Now, the land of the Jin State is divided between the Six Qings, and who of their six major families will perish first?" Who can be strong? Sun Wu said, "Among the Six Qings, the Fan clan and the Zhongxing clan perished first. Lu Lu asked again, "Then who is the second?" Sun Wu said, "Followed by the Zhi clan, then the Han clan and the Wei clan, the Jin kingdom will belong to the Zhao clan!" ”
He then asked, "Why do you say that?" Sun Wu said: "Because among the six secretaries, the Fan clan and the Zhongxing clan have the smallest mu system, they only have one hundred and sixty steps per mu of land, and the people have little land, so naturally they are poor, but they have a lot of troops and officials, so they say that they will perish first." As for the Zhi clan, they had one hundred and eighty steps per acre of land, and Han and Wei had two hundred steps, so the situation was better. Only one acre of land of the Zhao clan is two hundred and forty steps, although their fields are large, but according to the original tax, the people are the richest and the officers and soldiers are the least, so the Jin state will belong to the Zhao clan! After listening to Sun Wu's analysis, Yan Lu sighed, "Yes! The way of kings lies in loving the people! ”
Of course, the final result we know is that the Jin kingdom was actually divided by The Three Families of Han, Zhao, and Wei. Therefore, some scholars believe that this article should be written between the fall of the Zhi clan and the three branches of the Jin Dynasty, that is, from 453 BC to 403 BC. Especially when the Zhi clan had just perished, the Zhao clan was the strongest of the three families. On the whole, this article may not be the work of Sun Wu himself, but it is also written by people in the early years of the Warring States, which reflects the field tax system of the Six Qings of the Late Spring and Autumn Period of the Jin Dynasty, which should be a true and credible record, which can supplement the deficiencies of historical materials.
In Yinqueshan Hanjian's "Sun Tzu's Art of War", the "Yellow Emperor Fa Chi Emperor" section is also worth mentioning. In the text, Sun Tzu mentions the legends of the Yellow Emperor's Southern Expedition to the Red Emperor, the Eastern Expedition to the Qing Emperor, the Northern Expedition Black Emperor, and the Western Expedition to the White Emperor, which coincides with the content of the "Yellow Emperor Victory and four emperors" in the "Sun Tzu Art of War and March". It can be seen that this "grandson" is also Sun Wu. In "Mozi", there is also a legend that "the emperor killed the green dragon in the east with A and B, killed the red dragon in the south with Propylene, killed the white dragon in the west with Gengxin, and killed the black dragon in the north with nongxi", which can also correspond to it. In the "History of the Five Emperors", only one thing was recorded about the Yellow Emperor Vayan Emperor. The Yan Emperor is the Red Emperor, and it can be seen that there are many more legendary records lost.
"Capture Pang Juan" chapter: Pang Juan died when "Wei Wei saved Zhao"?
In Yinqueshan Hanjian's "Sun Zhen's Art of War", the "Capture of Pang Juan" section records the story of Sun Zhen's capture of Pang Juan at the Battle of Guiling. The story of Sun Bing and Pang Juan, which is now known, stems from the "Biography of Sun Zi Wu Qilie"—Sun Bing and Pang Juan were originally brothers, and Pang Juan first defected to King Hui of Wei and served as a general; but he was jealous of Sun Bing's ability and designed to cut off Sun Bing's kneecap, and Sun Zhen returned to the State of Qi with the help of emissaries from the State of Qi to serve the general Tian Ji. At that time, the King of Qi Wei and the King of Wei Hui were fighting for hegemony, and Sun Bin was able to show his skills.
The brief text of "Catching Pang Juan" also records the story of Sun Zhen's capture of Pang Juan. King Hui of Wei prepared to attack the capital of the Zhao state, Handan, and sent the general Pang Juan to lead an army of 80,000 and stationed at Stubble Hill. The King of Qi Wei also sent the general Tian Ji to lead an army of 80,000 to the border between Qi and Wei to prepare to rescue the State of Zhao. Sun Bin accompanied him as an aide. At this time, Pang Juan attacked the Wei capital Diqiu again. Tian Ji wanted to drive straight into the Zhao Kingdom and rescue Zhao and Wei, but Sun Zhi did not agree. Sun Zhi believed that it was contrary to military orders to rescue Wei Guo, and it was better to attack the Wei state of Pingling in the south. Pingling's troops were relatively strong and not easy to capture, and the Qi army's supply line was easy to cut. Sun Bing wanted to confuse Pang Juan with this, making him think that Tian Ji did not understand the art of war and despised the enemy. Tian Ji agreed with him and attacked Pingling to the south. Sun Bin also asked Tian Ji to order Qi Cheng, who did not understand military affairs, and Gao Tang's second doctor to attack Pingling, while the main force was not dispersed. These two forces attacked in two ways, not only did not capture Pingling, but also were attacked by the two garrisons of the State of Wei, and the Qi army was greatly defeated.
However, this is exactly the result that Sun Bin needs. Sun Bin then advised Tian Ji to send light chariots to quickly advance westward to the outskirts of the Wei capital Daliang to provoke Pang Juan, while using a small number of soldiers to disperse the movement and show Pang Juan weakness. Pang Juan was really deceived, he left the army and weight, and rushed back day and night. At this time, Tian Ji also stopped and quickly marched, defeating the Wei army at the Battle of Guiling and capturing Pang Juan in one fell swoop.
The Biography of Sun Tzu Wu QiLie also records the Battle of Guiling. The State of Wei attacked the State of Zhao, and the State of Zhao asked for help from Qi. Tian Ji wanted to lead troops to save Zhao, but Sun Zhen believed that if he wanted to untangle the chaotic silk, he could not pull hard and pull hard, and if he wanted to open a fight, he could not fight indiscriminately, and now that Zhao and Wei were attacking each other, the Wei state must be empty, so it was better to lead the army to attack the capital city beams, occupy the main road of communication, and attack the weak place, and the Wei state would definitely give up the Zhao state to save itself. In this way, he not only saved the Zhao State, but also won the Wei State. In the end, the Qi army defeated the Wei army at Guiling. This is the "Thirty-Six Plans" of "Encircling Wei and Saving Zhao".
"The Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qilie" also tells the follow-up story - the Battle of Maling. Thirteen years later, the State of Wei joined forces with the State of Zhao to attack Korea, and The State of Korea called for help from Qi. Tian Ji once again led troops to attack Da liang, and Pang Juan led his troops to rescue him. Sun Bing suggested that Tian Ji retreat in disguise, and use the strategy of reducing the stove to confuse Pang Juan, making Pang Juan think that the Qi army had fled all the way. So Pang Juan gave up the infantry and pursued the Qi army lightly. So Sun Bing set up an ambush at Maling and wrote "Pang Juan died under this tree" on the tree, agreeing to shoot ten thousand arrows when he saw the fire. Pang Juan arrived here that night, and was indeed shot dead by Qi Jun. The Qi army took advantage of the victory to pursue, defeated the Wei army, and captured the Wei prince Shen and returned to China. This time, Sun Bin not only defeated Pang Juan, but also took his life.
Comparing "Capture Pang Juan" with "The Biography of Sun Zi Wu QiLie", it will be found that in the Battle of Guiling, Pang Juan had already been captured once. However, Jian Wen did not record the Battle of Maling, and the record of the Battle of Maling in the heirloom literature was too dramatic, and Pang Juan's two consecutive deceptions were also questionable.
"Capture" in the literature can represent both life and death. Therefore, some scholars have inferred from various evidences that Pang Juan actually did not die in the Battle of Maling, but died in the Battle of Guiling. The commander of the Battle of Guiling was Pang Juan, and the commander of the Battle of Maling was Prince Shen. Tai Shi Gong divided the Battle of Guiling in two, plus some folklore, to write the story of the Battle of Maling.
Original title: Yinqueshan Hanjian cracked the mystery of "Sun Tzu's Art of War"
Text/Hayashi House Boy
Source/Beijing Evening News