Discuss Shang Yang’s Military Law Thinking In Relation To The Battle Of Changping

Shang Yang’s Reform is critical to the rise of Qin, whereas histhought has more far-reaching impact on the state than his reform. ShangYang’s military law thinking counts the most crucial of his thought.Given a context where Qin is one of the Warring States and concerns itselfin the entire country, Shang Yang’s military law thinking is essentialto the consolidation and survival of the state. Based on historicalrecords of the Battle of Changping, by analysing and expounding ShangYang’s military law thinking, the thesis aims to dissect and exposit itsimpact on the rise and fall of Qin.The thesis consists five parts:The introduction starting with the environment of the period ofWarring States where Qin exists states the purpose of the thesis and setsforth the significance and value of its research.The first part discusses an idea of agriculture and war,‘the successof war merely depends on political success’, which is the core of ShangYang’s military thinking. Through analysing the reason of Qin’s successin the Battle of Changping, it elaborates that ‘agriculture’ and ‘war’can either work as a whole, or function as separate means on their own.The second part deals with Shang Yang’s reform in Qin’s militarysystem. Via the analysis of Qin’s major general Bai Qi’s destiny, itfocuses on that “system of power is exclusively decided at the discretionof the monarch”, another important component of Shang Yang’s militarylaw thinking.The third part takes into consideration the description of Qin army’slogistics in historical records, analysing Shang Yang’s idea that implement ruling according to law should be done prior to launching amilitary attack and expounding respectively his ‘system of punishmentfor ten or five’, systems for recruitment and auxiliary, and systems formilitary training and check-up.The forth part analyses Qin army’s combat effectiveness，discussesShang Yang’s administration of army according to law and its specificdetails, and concluded that Shang Yang’s military law thinking is aneffective instrument for the accomplishment of Qin’s unification of thecountry, although is a fatal flaw that slows down Qin’s pace ofunification and accelerate its downfall.