Analysis:

A hundred schools of thought contend, with Confucianism, Taoism and law as the leading factors.

Confucianism is the most influential school in ancient China. Confucianism, as the embodiment of China's inherent value system, is not an academic or school in the usual sense. Generally speaking, especially in the pre-Qin period, although Confucianism is the most influential school, it is only one of the philosophers, and there is no master-slave relationship like other philosophers. Confucianism tends to manage the country with benevolent policies, and politicians use this as a basis to limit the excessive concentration of land and establish a sound moral system.

The characteristics of Confucianism—

First, regard Confucius as a teacher and an ideological leader;

Second, take Zhouyi, Shangshu, Shijing, Book of Rites, Zuozhuan and other books as classics;

Thirdly, a tension structure of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and righteousness has been formed ideologically;

Fourthly, from the inner sage to the outer king, we can learn from the achievements of the outer king through inner body and mind;

Fifth, paying special attention to the ethical relationship between people and applying it to political practice has become a guiding principle.

Mo Zhai is the founder of Mohism, one of the pre-Qin philosophers, who is known as Mozi in the world. This is the origin of the name of Mohism.

The ideal personality of Mohist school pays attention to "Ren Xia" and "there are many warriors under Mozi" (Xin Yu Si Wu by Lu Jia), which shows that the ideal personality of Mohist school is chivalrous and martial, while "Mozi can serve 180 people and make them go through fire and water without hesitation" (Xun of Huai Nan Zi Mao) shows that the ideal personality of Mohist school is chivalrous and fearless.

"A Brief Introduction to Huainan Zi" states: "Mozi learned Confucian techniques and was influenced by Confucius." Visible Mozi is divorced from Confucianism. Mozi also criticized and reformed Confucianism, thus establishing his own banner and becoming a striking "outstanding scholar" who competed with Confucianism during the Warring States Period. "Confucianism and Mohism are outstanding in the world" (Han Fei's Blood Donation). However, after Dong Zhongshu "ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone" in the Han Dynasty, Mohism gradually changed from a prominent school to a unique one.

Taoism is the most influential school of philosophy in ancient times. "History of Han Dynasty, Art and Literature" says: Taoism flows, because of historians, and records success or failure, survival, happiness, ancient and modern ways, and then knows that it is necessary to consolidate the foundation, empty it to be self-sustaining, humble and weak to be self-sustaining, and this gentleman is also skilled in the south. After the death of the founder Laozi, Taoism continued to develop along two routes. One is the political science of "inaction", which prevailed in the Huang-Lao school in the Warring States and the early Western Han Dynasty. This school advocates "governing by doing nothing" and the other school is a philosophy of life of "letting nature take its course", which has a far-reaching impact on future generations. Taoist thought occupies a very important position in Chinese traditional culture.

The origin of Laozi's thought is not very clear, and there are no ancient documents and no evidence in underground archaeology. However, judging from Lao Zi's work, Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, the thought of Tao did not begin with Lao Zi.

Legalists-

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the feudal lords became more and more powerful, and the aristocratic patriarchal clan system based on clan blood began to disintegrate, and the rites and music that maintained the hierarchical order of patriarchal society gradually lost their ruling power. Although the Zhou royal family is nominally the king of the world, but the princes are divided and want to be the contemporary hegemon, so this rich country has become the main theme of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Legalism is an influential school among the pre-Qin philosophers. If Confucianism and Mohism were the "outstanding people" in ideological and academic research during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, then Legalism was the outstanding one in politics at that time.

Modern scholars describe the characteristics of traditional politics from several aspects: Confucian expression, Confucianism and Taoism complement each other. This shows the great influence of Legalists on dynasties. Sima Tan listed it as one of the six schools in the preface to Historical Records, Taishi Gong, and Liu Xin listed it as one of the nine schools in Hanshu Yiwenzhi.

Military strategist

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Because of the frequent wars in ancient China and the need of governing the country and keeping the country safe, the military strategists' thoughts matured very early. Not to mention countless military works, even in classics, history, books and collections, there are also various examples of war history, ways of seeking and using soldiers, and various novels about war, unofficial history. In this way, in the long history, strategists' strategic wisdom has always been an independent cultural style juxtaposed with skills, religion, art and philosophy, and even in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, this strategic culture has always occupied an axis position. This cultural style has never been interrupted in the subsequent historical development. Until the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and even modern times, the strategists' strategic culture was still in the trend of practical application.