The nature of ancient wars in China and how to classify and define the nature of wars.

In the ancient history of China, there were not only contradictions among ethnic groups, but also frequent wars. Such as between Qin, Han and Xiongnu; Between the Western Jin Dynasty and Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Bian and Qiang; Between Tang and Turkic; Between Song Dynasty and Khitan, Nuzhen, Xixia and Mongolia; Between Ming and Walla; There was a national war between the Qing Dynasty and Junggar. Some wars took place between the Han nationality and ethnic minorities, while others took place between ethnic minorities. National wars are all fought in the name of a certain regime. In the ancient history of China, the ruling classes of many ethnic groups used to take themselves as the main body, or established state power or regional and local power within the scope of a large multi-ethnic country. Although there was a period of division, they all existed in a multi-ethnic feudal country and should not be called "foreign countries". These regimes either use the titles of the central dynasty to expand their power, or use the titles of the central dynasty as the legal basis for exercising sovereignty. They were politically subordinate to the central king and paid tribute and exchanged markets economically. In the ancient history of China, the war between various ethnic regimes and ruling groups, like the relationship between ethnic groups, is a problem within a country, not between countries. These national wars are all civil wars, which took place within the scope of a multi-ethnic feudal regime. Although the warring parties call each other enemies and friends, "aggression" and "anti-aggression" should not be used when judging right and wrong.

On the basis of the above understanding, we should make further analysis. Although the national war in the ancient history of China was a civil war, there was no difference between the warring parties, but the war should be divided into right and wrong, that is, the war should be divided into justice and injustice, progress and reaction. The criterion for judging the nature of national wars in ancient China history is that anything that goes against the fundamental interests of the people and hinders historical progress is an unjust reactionary war, and on the contrary, it is a just progressive war.

The wars against Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty, Jin in the Southern Song Dynasty, Mongolian ruling clique in the late Yuan Dynasty and Junggar in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty were all just and progressive wars. Judging from the war against Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty, Xiongnu nobles often led cavalry to plunder the northern border counties in the early Western Han Dynasty. In this case, how to counter the attack of Xiongnu nobles and defend the stability and production development of the people in the western Han dynasty has become an urgent task of the western Han dynasty. Therefore, it is in line with the interests of the broad masses of people and the requirements of social development that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used troops to deal with the Huns, and it is a just and progressive war. Take the Anti-Gold War in the Southern Song Dynasty as an example. Jurchen nobles carried out the policy of national oppression, which caused great loss of life and property to the people of the Central Plains and severely damaged social production. The War of Resistance Against Gold accords with the requirements of the broad masses of the people to resist the plunder of the Jurchen nobles, so it is a just war. The war between the sixteen countries, Liao and Jin belong to the melee between the ruling groups of all ethnic groups, and both warring parties are unjust and reactionary.

When judging the nature of national war, we should pay attention to avoiding several wrong views. In China's long feudal society, the Han nationality had a large population and ruled for a long time, and imposed a system of national oppression on ethnic minorities. However, it cannot be said that all ethnic minorities' wars against Han rule are just and progressive. Nor can it be said that the Han people's wars against some ethnic minorities are unjust and reactionary. Similarly, the economy and culture of all ethnic groups are advanced and backward, so it cannot be said that all wars waged by advanced ethnic groups are just and progressive; The war waged by backward countries is unjust and reactionary. Isolated machines are divided by race size, advanced and backward, attack and defense, etc. We cannot correctly judge the nature and right and wrong of war, and we should not equate right and wrong with advanced and backward, defense and attack.