Chapter 29 Section 22 Mr. Wanxi Gu Zuyu and his masterpiece "Reading History and Fangyu Minutes"

Gu Zuyu was a historical geographer in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. His "Reading History and Fangyu Minutes" is not only a great work of historical geography with detailed content, but also has obvious military characteristics, so it is considered a great work of military geography. It can be called "a unique work through the ages", "the tortoise mirror of ancient and modern times, and the medicine stone for peace", and has been valued by Chinese and foreign scholars. Gu Zuyu, courtesy name Ruiwu and nickname Jingfan, was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu.In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631 A.D.), he was born in Changshu (now Jiangsu), and he was born in Changshu.Later, he moved to Wanxi in the east of Wuxi, so scholars and literati gave him the nickname "Mr. Wanxi".Gu Zuyu inherited his family education and was familiar with classics and history. He is a well-learned person.After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he lived in seclusion instead of being an official. With the idea of ​​​​anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty, on the basis of his predecessors' research on frontier defense and military geography, he collected the official histories of the past dynasties and local chronicles of prefectures and counties. Trekking through mountains and rivers, inspecting mountains, rivers, and topography everywhere, from the age of 29 to the last 30 years before his death, he devoted himself to the study of geography in the past dynasties, and finally wrote a book named "Minutes of Reading History and Fangyu".In the thirty-first year of Kangxi (AD 1692), Gu Zuyu passed away.

After the completion of "Reading History and Fangyu Minutes" (hereinafter referred to as "Minutes"), "the school of the Tibetan family, the one who waits for the future" ("General Preface" III) was first handed down in manuscript, and this copy is now in the Shanghai Library In the seventeenth year of Jiaqing (AD 1812), this manuscript was published and popular.In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (AD 1900), it was republished by Guangya Bookstore.The Qing version changed Gu Zuyu's anti-Qing and Ming-ming tone in the book, and deleted all the disrespectful words of the Qing Dynasty.During the period of the Republic of China, the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company also issued typesetting editions.Existing publications include 134 volumes, more than 2.8 million characters, 36 map maps and 35 history tables.When Gu Zuyu wrote this book, he used the method of combining history and geography, describing the evolution of history with the evolution of ancient and modern geography, and explaining the evolution of geography with the evolution of ancient and modern history, that is, history is the guide to understand the evolution of geography, and geography is the map to annotate the evolution of history.The part of the state situation in the past dynasties in the book summarizes the position and situation of the states and counties in the previous Ming Dynasty, as well as the relationship with the success or failure of the use of troops and the success or failure of the rise and fall.The Fang Yu part, according to the administrative divisions in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, records the divisions, situation and historical evolution of 15 provincial capitals, prefectures, and counties, as well as the wars that occurred in various places in the past dynasties.The part of Chuandu describes the history of mountains and rivers, the situation of rivers and rivers, and the transportation of Caohe and sea.In the division part, the astronomical star field is described to make it match the geography.The map overview part is actually the most complete military map of the Ming Dynasty. It consists of three parts: overview, map, and table. Information on food and salaries of soldiers; the maps listed include the general map of Yudi, the map of the capital, the map of each province, the map of nine borders, the map of river and sea water transportation, and the map of deserts; The history, orientation, division, wealth, Dingcha, people's sentiments, etc.The style of the whole book is complete and the key points are prominent.Taking the geographical situation, history, and division of the past dynasties formed in the first and second parts as the main body, it is integrated with the war history and constitutes the focus of the whole book.

The core content of the whole book is the military value of geographical situation.When explaining the dangers and dangers of mountains and rivers, it must discuss the use of troops, battle defense, attack and capture, rise and fall, success and failure in ancient and modern times, and present the military situation of more than 4,000 years in front of readers.The content of the book reflects Gu Zuyu's military geography thought from beginning to end.He believes that geographical factors play an important role in the victory or defeat of a war. The use of geographical advantages is the foundation of marching and combat. Only by knowing the geographical advantages can you be "invincible"; Pang Juan died; Han Xin was good at using the geographical advantage, so he was able to defeat the Zhao army in the battle of Jingxing (now east of Jingxing, Hebei) ("Minutes General Description III").He asked the generals to study geography and understand the location in peacetime, so that they can have a well-thought-out plan, and then they can win battles with the help of guides.However, he also warned the leading generals that "geography cannot be relied on for victory", that is, relying solely on geographical advantages cannot win, and only generals who make full use of geography to win and set up dangerous offenses and defenses can succeed.For example, he said that Hangu Pass and Jiange are well-known dangerous places in the world. Qin Shihuang "used the pass to cover more than six countries", and when Qin perished, he couldn't even defend it; Qinlong (that is, Shaanxi and Gansu), "Liu Chan has a Jiange, but Chengdu cannot protect it" ("Minutes General Narrative II").It can be seen that without strong generals and elite soldiers, strong passes will be as useless as small soil bags; with strong generals and elite soldiers, even dead trees and rotten plants will be difficult for the enemy to break through.At the same time, it is pointed out that the method of using geographical conditions must change at any time, so that "the unchanging body can be used for the ultimate change" ("Summary · General Narrative II"), that is, only in this way can the victory of the war be won.These expositions of Gu Zuyu are unique in ancient Chinese military geography.