Between Historiography and Military Strategy: The Historical Logic of SHANG Yang's Military Image Formation

XUN zi pointed out that SHANG Yang was good at military affairs in the perspective of secular world just like SUN Wu and WU Qi, however, those who were militarily supervised by him could only be ranked as "thieve soldiers", for their "treacherous and utilitarian" behavious. According to the Records of the Grand Historian(史记), SHANG Yang led his army to defeat Wei(魏) and Chu(楚) more than once, but in the Biography of SHANG Jun(商君列传) there was only one fragment that SHANG Yang defeated the Wei' s army through cheating. These are all influenced by the moral views of history. Since the 20th century, many scholars have called SHANG Yang a "military strategist". However, in the specific historical narrative, the fact that SHANG Yang was good at military affairs has not been systematically explained, and the situation of replacing historical writing with moral criticism still exists. According to the connotation of "being good at military affairs" in SUN Zi's Art of War(孙子兵法), the recognition of SHANG Yang as a master strategist in traditional military philosophy is indisputable, given both his reforms and the ideological principles articulated in The Book of Lord Shang(商君书), alongside his proven battlefield successes in leading troops to decisive victories. The moral criticism on some of SHANG Yang's system design and on his fraud in military operations and the recognition that he was good at military affairs which contribute to the development of the world can both be regarded as true. They do not constitute a logical contradiction.