Chapter 30 Section 23 Wei Yuan, the Advocate of Learning from the Barbarians and Controlling the Barbarians, and His "Illustrations of the Sea Country"

Wei Yuan was a progressive thinker, historian, and writer in the late Qing Dynasty, and an advocate of the strategy of "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians". In the late Qing Dynasty, it was an ideological weapon to promote the national policy of military self-strengthening. Wei Yuan, formerly known as Wei Yuanda, with the alias Moshen, also alias Hanshi, was born in Shaoyang, Hunan.Born in the fifty-ninth year of Qianlong (AD 1794).Daoguang twenty-four years (AD 1844) Jinshi.He once acted as an agent for Dongtai and Xinghua counties, and was granted the prefect of Gaoyou.He and Gong Zizhen both belonged to the modern literature school that advocated "understanding the classics and applying them", and he carefully understood the conditions of various countries in the world.During the Opium War, he participated in the anti-British struggle in eastern Zhejiang in the shogunate of Liangjiang Governor Yuqian, and fully supported Lin Zexu's anti-smoking anti-British action.After the defeat of the Qing army in the first Opium War, Wei Yuan was extremely worried and indignant. He planned a way to resist barbarians for the country and the nation, devoted himself to research and explored good strategies to resist foreign aggression, and wrote "Sheng Wu Ji" and "Daoguang Foreign Vessel Conquest". , "Haiguo Tuzhi", "Yuan History New Edition" and other books, and assisted He Changling, the governor of Jiangsu Province, to compile "Huangchao Jingshiwenbian". "Pictures of Sea Country" is his representative work.

"Haiguo Tuzhi" has three editions. The first edition was published in December of the 22nd year of Daoguang (AD 1842). It has 50 volumes, 570,000 characters, 23 maps, and eight pages of western artillery diagrams. It is written by Wei Yuan in " On the basis of "Sizhou Zhi", it has been supplemented.After the book was published, it was widely circulated throughout the country. Wei Yuan added it to 60 volumes in order to meet the needs of the society. In the 27th year of Daoguang (AD 1847), he published the second edition in Yangzhou. The book added steamers, landmines, Methods of making and using mines, telescopes, etc.Afterwards, he went to Hong Kong and Macao to investigate in person. After more than five years of hard work, he returned to the second year of Xianfeng (AD 1852), and published the third edition in Gaoyou. The book has 100 volumes, about 880,000 words, and 75 drawings. Ship gun map page 75.There are 50 volumes of Guweitang Juzhen Edition in the 24th year of Daoguang (1844 A.D.), 60 volumes republished by Guweitang in the 29th year of Daoguang (1849 A.D.), Gaoyou edition in the second year of Xianfeng (1852 A.D.) There are 100 volumes, including the Chenzhou reprint in the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867 A.D.), the reissue of Wei Guangtao Pingjing Gudao Office in the second year of Guangxu (1876 A.D.), and more than 10 editions, including the Shaoyang version in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880 A.D.).

"Learning skills from barbarians to control barbarians" is the theme of "Haiguo Tuzhi".In the book, Wei Yuan started by introducing the barbarians' feelings, used the method of teaching the barbarians, and finally achieved the goal of controlling the barbarians.He believes that there are three skills in the West: one is warships, the other is firearms, and the third is the method of training and raising troops.To revitalize the country's armed forces, it is necessary to understand and learn from Western methods of building warships, making firearms, and selecting and training troops.To this end, Wei Yuan put forward the following propositions.

First, build shipyards and firearms bureaus in Dajiao and Shajiao in the Humen fortress area, and invite American and French craftsmen to come to Guangdong to manufacture gunships and ships.At the same time, smart craftsmen and strong soldiers were sent to learn from American and French craftsmen how to make and use European and American ship guns.In this way, after a few years, the long skills of the West will become my long skills.Wei Yuan’s idea is to build Dajiao and Shajiao through the establishment of shipyards and firearms bureaus, and to build up Dajiao and Shajiao, and to form mutual horns with Hong Kong and Macao, to restrict Britain with the United States and law, and to break the control of the British army on the South my country Sea ("Chi Hai") Part Three Discussion Wars").It can be seen that his choice of the shipyard and the location of the firearms bureau is based on the strategy of controlling barbarians, and coordinates the construction of military industry and coastal defense bases. This is Wei Yuan's superiority.

Secondly, part of the old navy was abolished, some small and medium-sized warships were purchased, and a new fleet capable of fighting the enemy in the open sea was formed.He demanded that those who can build warships and build flying guns and mines be regarded as those who were born in Kejia; those who are good at controlling hurricanes, familiar with wind, cloud, sand line and shooting techniques should be regarded as those who were born in the army; if they are strictly selected, they will be sent to the coast. Sailors teach skills; all naval officers must be selected from shipyards and firearms bureaus, or be helmsmen, sailors, and gunners.If the country can improve the status of these people, it will create a new type of military personnel who are familiar with building ships and guns ("Chihai Chapter 3. Discussion War").

Third, the construction of shipyards and gun factories should be combined with the establishment of civilian industries.The reason is that shipyards can not only build warships, but also build merchant ships for transporting goods; the Firearms Bureau can manufacture measuring rulers, telescopes, steam turbines, and weighing scales, etc. .At the same time, if the coastal merchants voluntarily set up factories and bureaus to manufacture guns and ships, they can let them do as they please ("Chihai Chapter 3. Discussion War").In the late Qing Dynasty, Wei Yuan was the first to put forward the idea of ​​the parallel development of military technology and industrial technology, military industry and civilian industry.

Fourth, "It is better to guard the sea than to guard the sea", "It is better to guard the inland river than to guard the sea" ("Chou Hai Chapter 1 Discussion on Guarding").This "defense as war" coastal defense idea was put forward out of the advantage of avoiding the barbarians' strong ships and guns and maritime operations.Wei Yuan advocated choosing favorable terrain to guard the inland river, fortifying the walls and clearing the fields, selecting and training strong soldiers, ambush surprise soldiers, prepare fire attacks, lure the enemy to go deep, and then use "soldiers, artillery and mines, ambushes by water and land" to attack barbarians.Using this method of warfare, we can use our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses, just like "setting a trap to wait for the tiger, and setting a trap [zeng] to wait for the fish" ("Chihai Chapter 1. Discussion"), put the enemy to death. .

Fifth, establish a translation agency.Translate and disseminate European and American books, so that Chinese people can understand the situation in European and American countries, and receive the expected learning effect.For this reason, Wei Yuan collected the research results of famous domestic military technicians at that time, especially the preliminary research on Western gunships, sea mines and landmines . After the publication of "Pictures of the Sea Country", it had a strong influence on the patriotic officers, soldiers and literati at that time, making them start building strong ships, making sharp guns, and training elite soldiers, in order to maintain the independence and survival of the Chinese nation. After traveling east to Japan, "Pictures of Sea Country" was welcomed by the Japanese reformers and became one of the ideological weapons to launch the Meiji Restoration.