disciples as defensive experts to states under attack. While the primary skill
they offered was in defensive siege craft, their martial capabilities likely
included close combat as well. The Moist disciples were also highly mili-
tarized in their obedience to command hierarchy and willingness to die in
the pursuit of their ideals.
With the collapse of lineage ties for warriors and expansion in the
number of people involved infighting, questions of loyalty became prom-
inent. It was no longer clear to whom one owed one’s loyalty, under what
circumstances it should be pledged, or under what circumstances revoked.
This was particularly problematic for the knightly class who had hitherto
stood on the lowest rung of aristocratic society. Chariot warfare had
drawn more members of the elite, including the knights, into warfare
during the Spring and Autumn period, diluting to some extent the distinc-
tion offighting from a chariot. Of even greater significance, however, was
the shift toward specialization in skills among the elite. Exactly when and
why this began is unclear, but by the Warring States period, more profes-
sional generals and administrators were working for the various states in
roles formerlyfilled by favored nobles or family members of the court. In
general, these specialized professionals came from the knightly class.
Skills became more important, or were more salable, in the Warring
States period. Confucius’remark that“The gentleman is not a vessel,”^5 or
what we would currently understand as“an instrument,”was a rejection
of the notion that a man should be employed for his specific skills alone
and not for his moral qualities. But of course his rejection of this practice
arose because that was precisely what was happening. Confucius argued
that rulers should hire moral men who had cultivated themselves through
study. These good men would be better able to run a government and assist
a ruler than men whose only qualification was skill in a particular job. A
good ruler would employ good men, and the positive effects of this con-
figuration of leadership would spread throughout society to its great
benefit.
Most rulers of individual states seemed more concerned with pragmatic
survival or expansion in a very competitive environment and less with moral
development. That effectively meant developing a strong military and a
strong domestic economy. In this environment, men with martial skills
couldfind a place at a lord’s court as a retainer. Rulers as a whole also
took pains to take control of the legitimate use of force. The political
authorities no longer accepted violence as a marker of class; violence now
had to serve the political purposes of a state. An aristocrat was not supposed
simply to start afight to prove that he was a legitimate aristocrat. He should
34 The Warring States Period