The following are the oldest Chinese treatises on war, after Sun Tzǔ . The notes on each have been drawn principally from the 西庫全書簡明目錄 Ssǔ kʽu chʽüan shu chien ming mu lu , ch. 9, fol. 22 sqq.
吳子 Wu Tzǔ , in 1 chüan or 6 篇 chapters. By 吳起 Wu Chʽi ( d. 381 BC ). A genuine work. See Shih Chi , ch. 65. 司馬法 Ssǔ-ma Fa , in 1 chüan or 5 chapters. Wrongly attributed to 司馬穰苴 Ssǔ-ma Jang-chü of the 6th century BC . Its date, however, must be early, as the customs of the three ancient dynasties are constantly to be met within its pages. See Shih Chi , ch. 64. The Ssǔ Kʽu Chʽüan Shu ( ch. 99, f. 1) remarks that the oldest three treatises on war, Sun Tzǔ , Wu Tzǔ and Ssǔ-ma Fa , are, generally speaking, only concerned with things strictly military—the art of producing, collecting, training and drilling troops, and the correct theory with regard to measures of expediency, laying plans, transport of goods and the handling of soldiers —in strong contrast to later works, in which the science of war is usually blended with metaphysics, divination and magical arts in general. 六韜 Liu Tʽao , in 6 chüan , or 60 chapters. Attributed to 呂望 Lü Wang (or Lü 尚 Shang , also known as 太公 Tʽai Kung ) of the 12th century BC . But its style does not belong to the era of the Three Dynasties. 陸德明 Lu Tê-ming (550–625 AD ) mentions the work, and enumerates the headings of the six sections, 文 , 武 , 虎 , 豹 , 龍 and 犬 , so that the forgery cannot have been later than Sui dynasty. 尉繚子 Wei Liao Tzǔ , in 5 chüan . Attributed to Wei Liao (4th cent. BC ), who studied under the famous 鬼谷子 Kuei-ku Tzǔ . The 漢志 , under 兵家 , mentions a book of Wei Liao in 31