Mencius made a famous conclusion about the long-term merger war since the Spring and Autumn Period. Mencius said, "There is no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn Period. If he is good at this, he will have it. The levy, the upper cut, the enemy does not levy. "
(Chapter 2 of With All My Heart) (Mencius said: "There was no just war in the Spring and Autumn Period. Which monarch is better than this one, there is such a situation. The meaning of the levy is that the emperor crusades against the princes, and the equivalent vassal States cannot conquer each other. " ) "Unjust War in the Spring and Autumn Period" is Mencius' concise summary of the vassal annexation war, revealing the unjust nature of the vassal war for more than 2 years. Next, it is said that the vassals launched wars in the name of "crusade", citing the sins of the conquered monarch and then sending troops. Mencius said that a monarch was better than this monarch, which is possible, but it should be "the conquest of rites and music came from the son of heaven". Only the son of heaven has the right to crusade against the vassal countries, and the merger war between vassals is not polite and righteous. So he said; Mencius said, "Five tyrants are sinners of three kings; Today's princes are sinners of the five tyrants; Today's doctors are also sinners of today's princes. ..... "
(Chapter 7 of Gaozi Xia) (Mencius said:" Five tyrants are sinners of three kings; Today's princes are sinners of the five tyrants; Now the warlord's doctor is now the warlord's sinner. ..... ") This passage has a long explanation below, to the effect that Qi Huangong, Jin Wengong, Qin Mugong, Chu Zhuangwang, Song Xianggong (or prince He Lv) were the hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period, and they violated the principles of the Three Kings (Xia Yu, Shang Tang, Zhou Wenwang) to crusade against other vassal states and set up their hegemony by war, so they were the sinners of the Three Kings. After all, these five tyrants still maintained the existence of the king of Zhou. For example, Qi Huangong called for "respecting the king and resisting foreigners" and allied with the princes to seek world stability under his hegemony; Today's governors, who perished the Zhou Dynasty, each claimed the title of king, attacked each other, stood on their own feet, and expanded their troops to prepare for the war, which made the war more frequent and fierce, so they were also "sinners of the five tyrants." Doctors from various vassal States pandered to support the war of attacking other countries, and some regicide usurped power to launch rebel wars, so they are now sinners of princes. The central argument of Mencius' passage can be summarized in one sentence: from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, all those who waged unjust wars were sinners. He even reprimanded Liang Huiwang; Mencius said, "It's heartless, so is Liang Huiwang! The benevolent is what he loves and what he doesn't love, and the unkind is what he doesn't love and what he loves. " ..... "King Hui of Liang fought against his people because of his land. If you are defeated, you will recover, and you may not be able to win. Therefore, to drive the children you love to die is to say that you love what you don't love and what you love. "
(chapter 1 of "with all my heart") (Mencius said: "Liang Huiwang is really heartless! A benevolent person loves his relatives and pushes his love to those who are not close, and an unkind person harms those who are not close and harms their relatives. " ..... "In order to compete for land, King Hui of Liang made people's bones rot on the battlefield. I'm afraid I can't defeat the battle and prepare for another battle, and I drive my beloved children to die, so he added the harm to the people to his relatives. " ) This chapter takes Qi as an example. Qi Wei campaign, Wei was defeated, and the prince was captured; The battle of Qin and Wei was fought again, and it was defeated again, and seventeen counties were ceded; Go to war with Chu again and lose again. Although Mencius was treated as a distinguished guest by King Hui of Liang and was well supplied, he still criticized him. Based on Confucius' thought of "caring for the people by kissing", he explained that caring people should love their relatives, others and ordinary people, while war is to drive the people to die and let their relatives die, which is neither "caring for the people" nor "kissing". Liang Huiwang is the most heartless person. Looking back at the history of thousands of years of war, which relatives of the defeated have good results? Launching a war does harm to both people and themselves. He added; If you can't be benevolent and get rich, you will abandon Confucius. How can you fight for it? Fight for land, kill people, and be wild; Fighting for the city, killing people to gain the city, this so-called rate of land and eating human flesh, the crime can not be allowed to die. Therefore, those who are good at fighting are punished, followed by those who are even governors, and those who are willing to dig grass and land are again.
(Chapter 14 of Li Lou I) (Confucius spurned the monarch for amassing wealth instead of benevolent government, let alone devoting himself to waging war. Fighting for land, killing people everywhere; Fighting for the city and killing people all over the city is eating human flesh for the land, and death is not enough to atone for his sins. Therefore, people who are belligerent should be given the heaviest punishment, those who lobby the vassals for war should be given the second-class punishment, and those who reclaim land without permission should be given the second-class punishment. ) "Militants are punished" is Mencius' famous saying against unjust wars, because they are the most brutal cannibals because they kill people to seize territory. Mencius's "even vassals" refers to a class of scholars in the Warring States period, called strategists, who either advocated "uniting" the six countries to resist Qin, such as Su Qin; Or advocate "Lian Heng" to divide the six countries, such as Zhang Yi. They lobbied governors to make strategic suggestions, and Mencius believed that such people were also war criminals. As for the individual's private land reclamation, the crime is of course lighter than that of the last two kinds of people. Mencius believes that among all kinds of crimes and punishments, the crime that war criminals deserve should be the heaviest. For two thousand years, this has been the knowledge of all mankind, and it has been established as public international law to seriously try war criminals, and the crimes against humanity committed by war criminals who launched unjust wars should be severely punished.