A Study On Q&A Between Tang And Li And Its Military Thoughts

Q&A between Tang and Li, a famous piece of military works of the ancient China, occupies an important position in the academic history of Chinese strategics. The works, which adopts the form of Q&A, includes three volumes with a total number of over ten thousand and three hundred words. According to the Book of Tang Dynasty (both old and new editions), Li Jing produced over ten pieces of military works including Mirror of Six Armed Forces, Manuscript of Duke of Wei, etc., but most of them were lost. It is natural that learners have the exclamation that"there's no complete piece of works by Li Jing in the world". Only part of his works remains in A History of Institutions and Customs by Du You of Tang Dynasty. As a result, that Q&A between Tang and Li was originally written by Li Jing has been questioned by scholars, so has been the date of writing. There have been different views since Shen Zong of Song Dynasty, with the view of"being really written by Ruan Yi who borrowed Li Jing's mouth in his works"occupying the dominant place. However, opposite views, which question the content and military value of the works and claim that it was produced by those ill-informed persons in village schools, exist against the dominant view mentioned above. There's no well recognized idea on the author and date of the works so far. Therefore, it is academically significant to figure out the real author and date of the works and study its military thoughts as well as the history of the ancient military thoughts. Based on the fruit of previous studies, the present study tries to figure out the real writing date of the works. Besides, the author of the present study conducts an overall and systematic research into its military thoughts, digging out their value and attaching great importance to the guidance for modern wars.Chapter 1 is the introductory part: firstly, it introduces the fundamental elements of Q&A between Tang and Li, and the brief information on Tai Zong of Tang Dynasty and Duke of Wei. It is also pointed out that there's no well recognized view on the production of the works, which serves as a basis for the following study of the author and the date of the works. Secondly, the author reviews the fruit of previous studies and points out that although these scholars have not reached an agreement on the production of the works, they all highly approve of rich military thoughts in the works. This provides sufficient and detailed theories for our further study. Thirdly, the weakness of the present study is pointed out, which provides a direction for the future study.Chapter 2 serves as the part of distinguishing wrong. The author firstly does a literature review of scholars'ideas on whether Q&A between Tang and Li is real or not. On the basis of previous studies, the present study reaches the following conclusion in terms of the originality of the Q&A between Tang and Li: The view of"being really written by Ruan Yi who borrowed Li Jing's mouth in his works"is a misrepresentation; the view of"being proofread and created by Xi Ning"is a misunderstanding; it is not written by Li Jing himself; it is a collection of talks on strategics between Li Shiming and Li Jing by other people of Tang Dynasty.Chapter 3 attaches importance to the military thoughts of Q&A between Tang and Li. The present study lists the contribution of the works to military theories from three aspects of thoughts, including the guidance for campaigning, the military training and the construction of the armed forces. The present study puts forward the military value of the works, and at the same time further elaborates on the application of the military thoughts in modern wars, giving prominence to their significance of guidance for modern times.Chapter 4 is the conclusion, pointing out the significance of the present study. Although Q&A between Tang and Li is a piece of military works produced in the cold weapon era, it is endowed with new contents in the new era, with rich military thoughts serving as an important guidance for modern wars.