1. Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period (770 BC - 221 BC)

1. Sun Wu (approximately 535 BC -?), the grandson who is known as the "Art of War" handed down to the world. "Sage of War", when talking about the military influence of famous generals in the past dynasties, Sun Wu is undoubtedly the first to be mentioned. Not only has he influenced Chinese people for more than two thousand years, but his thoughts have transcended the military field and become a precious spiritual wealth in the world.

2. Wu Qi (approximately 440 BC - 381 BC), a Weiguo man during the Warring States Period, wrote the book "Wu Zi", which together with "Sun Tzu" were called "Sun Wu Art of War" by later generations. . Wu Qi successively assisted the Lu State in resisting the Qi State, and led the Wei State army to defeat the Qin Army with a small number, but was ostracized in both cases. In the end, he had no choice but to come to the state of Chu and was appointed prime minister by King Chu Mou, which made the state of Chu strong again. But after King Chu Mourning died, Wu Qi was shot dead by random arrows on the body of King Chu Mourning.

3. Cao GUI (year of birth and death unknown), a native of the Lu state in the Spring and Autumn Period, became famous because of "Cao GUI's Discussion of War" in "Zuo Zhuan". This is the origin of the allusion of "one drum makes the energy strong, two drums weaken the energy, and three drums weaken the energy" Here it is.

4. Sun Bin (? - 316 BC), a military strategist of Qi State, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you will not be in danger in a hundred battles; if you don't know the enemy and know yourself, you will win and lose in one battle; if you don't know the enemy and yourself, you will be in danger in every battle." This famous saying came from his mouth. In addition, the stories of "Tian Ji's horse racing" and "Surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao" are famous at home and abroad. In 354 BC and 341 BC, in the battle with Wei general Pang Juan, he won the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling respectively, which made Wei, the superpower in the early Warring States Period, no longer prosperous.

5. Lian Po (327 BC - 243 BC), one of the "Four Famous Generals" in the Warring States Period. "" and other allusions are all high praises for the veteran Lian Po. It is said that in his life's battles, he almost won every battle and had high prestige among various countries.

6. Li Mu (? - 229 BC), one of the "Four Famous Generals" of the Warring States Period. He guarded the northern border of Zhao State and became famous for fighting against the Huns. During the war between Qin and Zhao, the Zhao state was destroyed due to a conspiracy between the Chinese and foreign forces. Li Mu was killed.

7. Wang Jian (date of birth and death unknown), one of the "Four Famous Generals" of the Warring States Period. He was another famous general of the Qin State after Bai Qi. During the successive campaigns of Qin Shihuang to unify the six kingdoms, the five kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, Chu, Qi, and Yan were all destroyed by the troops led by his father and son. The most famous battle in the battles commanded by Wang Jian was the battle to destroy Chu.

8. Meng Tian (? - 210 BC), Meng Tian participated in the Qin Dynasty's war to unify the six countries, and was a famous general who resisted the Xiongnu. It is said that he was also the inventor of the writing brush.

2. Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 BC)

Xiang Yu (232 BC - 202 BC), "a hero in life and a ghost in death" became the eulogist of Xiang Yu What a heroic figure, what an amazing achievement it was to overthrow the brutal rule of Qin Dynasty, but in an instant he was defeated by the inferior Liu Bang in the "Chu-Han War for Hegemony".

Han Xin (228 BC - 196 BC), Han Xin was well versed in the art of war and could be said to be the most adept at flexible use of troops in the history of Chinese wars. His method of using troops was highly praised by military strategists of all ages. He built a plank road openly, crossed Chencang secretly, built a camp with his back to the water, was surrounded by enemies on all sides, and was ambushed on all sides, etc. These are all famous military allusions he left for future generations. In 196 BC, he was tricked and killed by Empress Lu and Xiao He, and the three tribes were exterminated.

Zhou Yafu (199 BC - 143 BC) was the second son of Zhou Bo, a famous general in the early Han Dynasty. He was the leading general in the Han Dynasty during the Wenjing period. He made great contributions to resisting the Xiongnu attack and putting down the "Rebellion of the Seven Kings". , until he was relied on by Emperor Jing as a minister, but his upright temper offended the emperor, the queen mother and others. In the end, he was imprisoned because his servant accused him of treason, so he went on a hunger strike and died. Legend has it that as early as when he was a prince and had not yet become an extremely popular minister, a fortune-telling old lady declared that he would be honored as a prince and would end his life by starving to death. It is really a strange story.

Li Guang (? - 119 BC) "Flying General" Li Guang was truly a hero, with a good arrow that could shoot through a stone tiger. More than a thousand years later, Hua Rong's nickname was given in "Water Margin" As "Xiao Li Guang". He fought on the front line against the Xiongnu for a long time throughout his life, which frightened the Xiongnu soldiers. Unfortunately, they were defeated in the end and committed suicide.

Wei Qing (? - 105 BC), no matter what criteria are used to select the top ten famous generals in China, Wei Qing will never be missing.

Huo Qubing (140 BC - 1117 BC), as one of the generals in the Western Han Dynasty's campaign against the Xiongnu, achieved brilliant results, and his reputation was not inferior to Wei Qing at all, but it was a pity that he died young.

Liu Xiu (6 years ago - 57 years ago), in the "Battle of Kunyang" in 23 AD, Liu Xiu commanded the Green Forest Army to defeat Wang Mang's main force. He was famous for defeating the many with less and the weak with the strong. war examples. The military generals who realized the resurgence of the Eastern Han Dynasty included the "Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai", but in fact Liu Xiucai was the military commander.

Ban Chao (32-102) guarded the Western Regions for the Eastern Han Dynasty for many years. He was famous for "If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can't catch the tiger's cubs." His siblings Ban Gu and Ban Zhao are also very famous, rare in history.

3. The Three Kingdoms Period (late Han Dynasty - 280 AD)

Zhou Yu's (175-210) "Battle of Chibi" established the situation of the separation of the Three Kingdoms, and Zhou Yu was the commander-in-chief of this battle.

Due to the misleading of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", most people mistakenly believe that Zhuge Liang was greater than Zhou Yu in the Battle of Chibi. In fact, Zhou Yu was the real commander of this battle.

Guan Yu (? 160-220), as a general of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, although he lost Jingzhou and became a prisoner and was beheaded by Sun Quan, he became the embodiment of loyalty for more than a thousand years and rose to the rank of " The status of "Martial Saint" was worshiped, and Guandi temples were built all over the country, only Confucius's Confucian temple could compare.

Cao Cao (155-220) There is no doubt that Cao Cao was the most outstanding military strategist in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but most people ignore this. It was Cao Cao who eliminated many separatist forces and unified the north. The "Battle of Guandu" is a classic battle. If it were not for the defeat in the Battle of Chibi, he would probably be the hero who unified China.

Zhuge Liang (181-234) is often regarded as a famous prime minister by his descendants throughout the ages, but he did the "Seven Captures of Meng Huo" and "Six Expeditions from Qishan" personally. Stories such as "Arrow" and "Empty City Strategy" show his wisdom, but the achievements of military strategists should be greater than actual military exploits.

Although Sima Yi (179-251) is not as famous as Zhuge Liang, it is Sima Yi who should have the last laugh in becoming famous. Zhuge Liang encountered obstacles in his six expeditions to Qishan because of Sima Yi. Sima Yi laid a good foundation. Finally, the Sima family established a unified Western Jin Dynasty.