Note ① Enemy country: refers to countries with equal status. "Enemy" doesn't mean "hostile" here.
Mencius said, "There is no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn Period. That country may be a little better than this, there is such a situation. The so-called levy means that countries of the same level cannot crusade against each other under crusade. "
Reading The War of Meaninglessness in the Spring and Autumn Period not only expresses Mencius' historical view, but also reflects his political view.
Because according to Confucianism, "Rites and music conquered the emperor" was just right, while in the Spring and Autumn Period, "Rites and music collapsed" and "Rites and music conquered the princes", so there was no just right war. In fact, Mencius' thought still comes from Confucius. Confucius in The Analects of Confucius? It has been said in Ji's book: "If there is a way in the world, rites and music will be conquered from the son of heaven;" If there is no way in the world, the rites and music will be conquered by the princes. " Rites and music were conquered in the Western Zhou Dynasty and in the Spring and Autumn Period. War is indeed closely linked with politics, so there are indeed just wars and unjust wars. But in our view today, the standard to measure a just war and an unjust war is mainly to see what the purpose of the people who started the war is, not who will start the war. At this point, our views are different from what Mencius said here. Therefore, although the "war of nonsense in the Spring and Autumn Period" has become a well-known saying, it is necessary for us to understand the connotation of Mencius' so-called "nonsense". After defining the connotation, we know that from our point of view today, it seems that we can't think that this is a "meaningless Spring and Autumn War", but we need to analyze the specific situation.