I will also learn from it

Wei Yuan (1794-1857), whose original name was Yuanda and whose courtesy name was Mo Shen, was a military thinker and strategist of the Qing Dynasty in Shaoyang, Hunan.

After China suffered a disastrous defeat in the Opium War, many patriots began to seek a path to reform, enrich the country and strengthen the army. Wei Yuan is one of the representatives. Through careful research on the capitalist powers, he put forward the strategic idea of ??"learning from the foreigners' strengths to control the foreigners" for the first time. He also put forward many insights on how to strengthen military construction and implement strategic defense. He was not only a famous patriot, but also a military thinker and strategist who had a significant influence on the development and changes of modern China's military.

In 1794 (the fifty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign), Wei Yuan was born into a landlord family in Shaoyang, Hunan. At the age of 7, he went to private school. When he was 10 years old, his family home was destroyed by a severe famine, and he lived a life of lack of rice and firewood. He has been fond of reading history books since he was a child, and pays attention to studying the experiences and lessons of the rise and fall of dynasties in the past. At the age of 15, he was admitted as a scholar. In 1814 (the 15th year of Jiaqing), he came to the capital with his father and made a living by teaching. He studied Gongyang Studies from Liu Fenglu and other modern literary masters. At this time, he met the progressive thinker Gong Zizhen, and they quickly became close friends because of his similar interests. They abandoned the cumbersome and textual style of study, had the courage to face the reality, discussed the knowledge of "managing the world and applying it", generously discussed the current ills, explored ways to save the corrupt feudal rule, and realized the good method of enriching the country and strengthening the army, so as to break the dull situation of "thousands of horses standing silently". Two years later, Wei Yuan returned to the south and taught in Changsha and other places. In 1822 (the second year of Daoguang), he went to Beijing to take the Shuntian Township Examination and passed the examination. The following year, he worked as a teacher at the home of Yang Fang, the governor of Zhili, who was stationed in Gubeikou. He began to study ancient and modern frontier defense and northwest geography, and was concerned about the safety of the frontier. In 1825, at the invitation of He Changling, the chief envoy of Jiangsu Province, he edited the "Dynasty Classics", which compiled political, social and ideological papers since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. This work implemented the idea of ??managing the world and applying it, and had a great influence on future generations. In the "Compilation of Dynasty Classics" written by Dai He Changling, he stated that he opposed the restoration of ancient times and advocated attaching importance to reality and reforming the old system, as well as his views on historical evolution. Because he despised the unrealistic, cumbersome and empty style of study that had long been popular among feudal literati and bureaucrats, and his thoughts were relatively radical, he went to Beijing to take the imperial examination three times after 1826, but failed in all of them. Because he could not enter the feudal officialdom, he served as the staff of the local governor for a long time, engaged in academic writings, and also worked as a salt merchant.

In 1829, Wei Yuan donated money to a cabinet secretary in Beijing, that is, a small official who wrote confidential documents in the cabinet. He took advantage of the convenience of his work and devoured the Secret Library of the History Museum. The collection of official letters and private works of scholar-bureaucrats created conditions for him to write books and establish theories in the future. In 1830, he followed Yang Fang to Jiayuguan to inspect the geography and border defense situation in the northwest, and became more concerned about the defense of the northwest. In 1831, he returned to the south due to the death of his father, and soon moved to Nanjing. He successively assisted Tao Shu, the governor of Liangjiang, and Lin Zexu, the governor of Jiangsu, in planning water transportation, salt administration, water conservancy and other reforms. He emphasized that the old system must be reformed to achieve benefits and eliminate disadvantages. At that time, opium smuggling was becoming increasingly serious, and he, like Lin Zexu, firmly advocated strict prohibition. In the poem "Jiangnan Ling" written in 1831, he profoundly exposed the serious harm of opium and pointed out that if strict prohibition was not implemented, there would be a serious situation of loss of maritime borders and depletion of wealth. In 1837, he moved to Yangzhou to make profits from selling salt.

In 1840, Britain brazenly launched the Opium War to invade China. Wei Yuan resolutely took it as his duty to strengthen the country's prestige and secure the frontier, and devoted himself to the national self-defense war. In October of the same year, when he heard the news that British artillery captain Antud was captured by local people while surveying and mapping near Dinghai, Zhejiang, he immediately rushed to the Ningbo Prefecture Yamen to interrogate the prisoners of war. Based on Antud's confession and referring to other books, he wrote the article "British Notes" in 1841, which introduced Britain's history, geography, politics, economy, military and other general information and its intention to invade China, and exposed Britain's greed and cunning. Its nature reminds people to pay attention to studying Britain's national conditions and military conditions, and to seriously deal with the invaders.

When he learned the news of the Qing army's defeat on the Guangdong front, he wrote poems angrily denounced the shameful behavior of Hong Qishan, Yishan and others for being ignorant and incompetent, fearing the enemy like a tiger, opening doors to thieves, and asking for peace at their knees. He also used the poem "We share the same hatred of the enemy and the soldiers are united, and Hohhot and Russia have heard of one hundred thousand divisions" to passionately praise the heroic feats of the people of Sanyuanli in resisting the enemy, showing a clear attitude of love and hate. In this year, he joined the shogunate of Yuqian, the imperial minister in charge of military affairs in Zhejiang. He participated in planning the anti-British struggle on the Zhejiang front. He went to the Dinghai front to inspect the defenses and proposed the policy of luring the enemy deep into the inland river to encircle and annihilate them. Because this suggestion was not adopted, and the Qing court was uncertain about peace and war, the compromisers were foolish and harmed the country, and the resistance factions such as Lin Zexu were wronged, which made him deeply dissatisfied. He resigned angrily and returned to his home in Yangzhou to use his pen instead of his spear. Work hard to write books and explore good strategies to resist the enemy and defend plum blossoms.

In August 1841, Wei Yuan heard that Lin Zexu, who had been sent to Ili by Emperor Daoguang, was passing by Zhenjiang, and he immediately rushed to greet him. Close friends met and had long conversations about plans to save the country. Lin Zexu gave Wei Yuan the "Four Continents" he edited in Guangzhou, hoping that he would collect extensive information and compile the "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" so that the people of the country could understand the "barbarian sentiment" and formulate good strategies to resist enemies and insults. Wei Yuan readily agreed, saying that he would never let down Lin Zexu's expectations. From then on, he concentrated on writing, forgetting sleep and food. In August 1842, when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Nanjing, which was humiliating and humiliating the country, Wei Yuan compiled and compiled the information accumulated in the past and wrote the "Shengwu Ji" of about 400,000 words. Later, two more revisions were made in 1844 and 1846 to enrich the content of the book. "Shengwu Ji" is divided into 14 volumes. The first 10 volumes use a chronicle to narrate the rise of the Aixinjueluo family to the internal and external wars during the Daoguang period. It attempts to promote the martial arts of the early Qing Dynasty and praise the unity of the country. , to inspire the ruling class and the broad masses of patriots to enhance national self-esteem and self-confidence, revitalize armaments, and resist foreign aggression. He also used the form of "Chen Yuan said" at the end of each volume to express his thoughts and opinions on politics, military and other aspects. The last four volumes use thematic form, with narratives and discussions, to elucidate his military thoughts in a relatively concentrated manner.

He was deeply touched by the corruption and backwardness of the Qing army. In "Shengwu Ji", he put forward many constructive suggestions on strengthening the military construction. In view of the current situation that the Qing army has too many old and weak people, too many empty quotas and too low salaries, he suggested that the redundant personnel should be drastically reduced, put an end to false claims and false claims, appropriately improve the lives of soldiers, and effectively improve the quality of the troops through selection, good care, and diligent training. combat effectiveness. Inheriting the ideas of ancient military strategists, he suggested that each province formulate a "selected front" force consisting of 4,000 to 6,000 people capable of charging into battle, as a model for other armies to boost military prestige. He made a dialectical explanation of the relationship between the quantity and quality of the army by using the famous saying "Redundant troops will be reduced by one hundred thousand, while elite troops will be secretly increased by one hundred thousand." Thought.

He was deeply disgusted with the corruption and incompetence of the Qing army generals, and emphasized that "there is no strength in the soldiers, the strength lies in the generals." With generals who are both wise and brave, "one person can learn to fight, and teach hundreds of people, and hundreds of people can fight." Learn to fight and teach thousands of people" ("Shengwu Ji", Volume 2, page 544) to mobilize the entire army. He opposed those arrogant, incompetent and slippery playboys to serve as generals, and advocated the selection of those who are skilled, courageous, law-abiding, good at managing troops, and know how to use military strategies from the army to serve as junior, intermediate and senior commanders respectively. officers to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. He advocated that generals should read more military books and gave a new interpretation of "talking about war on paper". He said: People often laugh at people who study military books as "talking about military affairs on paper", but they don't know that the skill on paper has depth and shallowness. If you can master the learning methods, understand the spiritual essence of the military tactics of the predecessors, and achieve a comprehensive understanding, then you will be able to defeat the enemy when encountering them. When it comes to war, you will use it flexibly to turn "paper" achievements into "immediate" achievements.

He also put forward many suggestions for improvements in troop training; in view of the shortcomings of the Qing Navy's patrol patrols, he creatively proposed that the navy protect the maritime grain transportation and combine training with escort. The test of dangerous winds and waves constantly improves the quality of warships and enhances the combat skills of officers and soldiers.

He highly praised Qi Jiguang's idea of ??strict military management and explained that discipline is an important guarantee for victory in the war. He criticized the Qing government for not severely punishing generals who fled without fighting during the Opium War, resulting in the loss of lives. It is believed that if the army does not have strict discipline, even if it has strong ships and guns, it will not be able to defeat the enemy because it cannot enforce orders and prohibitions.

Regarding how to conduct anti-aggression war, "Shengwu Ji" also puts forward some opinions worthy of attention. He emphasized the need to study the enemy and understand the enemy's situation; purchase foreign ship artillery to change the backwardness of the Qing army's weapons and equipment; and implement the strategy and tactics of defending as war, holding back and holding back, and combining the odd and the right. Strive to annihilate the enemy in the inland river. Regarding city defense operations, he pointed out with a simple dialectical point of view: "The method of defending a city comes from attacking the city. Therefore, if you want to be good at defending, you must know how to attack well." ("Shengwu Ji" Volume 2, page 525) This means that only by knowing well The enemy's siege tactics can effectively carry out city defense work. He emphasized the implementation of all-people defense and unified command, and proposed that troops should be divided up in key areas outside the city to contain the enemy, send out cavalry to cut off the enemy's food routes, send out ambushes to attack the enemy halfway across the border, and implement strong walls to clear the country, causing all kinds of difficulties for the enemy in order to facilitate a protracted battle. Although these insights did not break away from traditional military thinking, they had practical guiding significance for the Qing army, which was not good at urban defense operations.

In addition, he also exposed Ding Tsarist Russia's ambition to invade China, reminding people that they should not only pay attention to coastal defense construction, but also pay attention to border defense construction. He advocated allowing inland residents to bring their families to the frontiers to reclaim wasteland, develop production, and build strong forts to protect production in peacetime and defend the forts against enemies in wartime. At the same time, it was emphasized that one of the keys to the consolidation of border and coastal defense lies in the proper employment of personnel.

Wei Yuan put forward the above-mentioned ideas for building an army and fighting. At the time, they were indeed wise ideas that met the current shortcomings. Of course, there are also biased and even wrong views. For example, he advocated that troops should be dispersed rather than concentrated, because dispersion is easy to control, while concentration is prone to riots. For another example, on the one hand, they emphasized that the army should have strict discipline, but on the other hand, they claimed that plundering could sometimes be allowed in order to boost morale. In addition, it also preached that "the emperor's teacher always has heaven's help." ("Shengwu Ji", Volume 2, pp. 523, 510) and "General talents are half taught by experience and half from heaven" ("Shengwu Ji", volume 2, pp. 523, 510) and other idealistic views of history. These are all dregs that should be denied. Although "Shengwu Ji" has some shortcomings and mistakes, the flaws cannot hide the flaws. During the writing process, because many people asked to read it, he wrote part of it and printed part of it, which had a considerable impact on society at that time.

In January 1843, based on the "Four Continents" compiled by Lin Zexu, he added a large amount of information and completed the "Haiguotu" with the core ideas of learning about foreigners, learning from foreigners, and revitalizing military preparations. Chronicles, 50 volumes. This book not only introduces the history, geography, politics, economy, military, culture and technology of dozens of countries on five continents, but also carefully summarizes the experiences and lessons of the Opium War, and elucidates his military thoughts more deeply and systematically.

Based on the strong "profit-seeking" and "power-based and fear-seeking" nature of capitalism, he reminded the Qing government not to think that everything would be safe after signing a peace treaty with the invaders. The focus should be on making every effort to govern the country and reorganize the army and improve military operations. He said: After the Opium War, foreign invaders have clearly seen the weak nature of China, and will launch new aggressive wars without any scruples. Therefore, only by effectively strengthening war preparations can they be fearful and dare not use force rashly.

So, how to strengthen war readiness? Through careful study of foreign situations, he found that Britain, France, the United States and other countries are good at manufacturing various exquisite machines, guns and warships, and China has already mastered this aspect. It was greatly lagging behind, so the idea of ??learning from the West sprouted, and the strategic idea of ??"learning from the skills of the foreigners to control the foreigners" ("Hai Guo Tu Zhi Xu") was boldly put forward. He emphasized that only by being good at learning from foreign countries can we stop foreign aggression, otherwise we will inevitably be subdued by foreign countries. He focused on learning foreign "expert skills" in military technology and tactics: first, battleships, second, firearms, and third, methods of raising and training troops.

The specific suggestions are to establish shipyards and firearms bureaus in Shajiao and Dajiao, Guangdong, hire technicians and craftsmen from France and the United States to help build warships and artillery, and hire "helmsmen" to teach ship driving and artillery drills; Fujian selected craftsmen to learn how to manufacture ship cannons from foreign technicians, and selected elite soldiers to learn how to drive and attack ship cannons from foreign helmsmen, mastering advanced foreign technologies and tactics. At the same time, it continues to purchase advanced warships and artillery from foreign countries. He believes that by adopting this approach, a new naval force can be established in a relatively short period of time. This naval force usually patrols overseas to hunt down pirates and cigarette dealers. During wartime, if the tide is not favorable, it will take refuge in the bay and wait to kill the enemy. When the tide is favorable, it will immediately sail overseas to monitor the actions of enemy ships. Either cooperate with the coastal defense forces to fight against the enemy, or attack enemy ships alone, forming a favorable situation of "defeating the guest" and avoiding a situation like the Opium War where the Qing navy was unable to compete with the invading fleet and was therefore passively beaten everywhere. He also pointed out that with shipyards and artillery bureaus, not only warships and artillery can be manufactured and repaired, but also ordnance required by the army division, as well as steamships, wind saws, dragon tail carts, measuring rulers and other civilian products.

While advocating learning from Western advanced technology and manufacturing new weapons, he also emphasized the role of soldiers in war, clearly stating that "weapons are not as good as people", and an army can only have "bold souls and sophisticated skills." Only with "mechanical power" can you have strong combat effectiveness. He asserted that there is no weapon that cannot be defeated, and the key lies in proper selection of generals and flexible command. These remarks relatively correctly illustrate the relationship between man and weapons.

At that time, many die-hards regarded Western machines as "wonderful skills and ingenuity" and "the end of form". Wei Yuan retorted confidently: "Useful things are miraculous skills rather than ingenuity." "Qiao" ("Hai Guo Tu Zhi" Volume 2, page 18) not only cannot oppose it, but also vigorously promote it and study it seriously. This glorious thought was undoubtedly a huge impact on the traditional concept of feudal rulers who always valued morality over weapons and regarded science and technology as trivial. He traced the long history of the Chinese nation and the brilliant achievements of science and technology, fully affirmed the ingenuity of the Chinese people, and pointed out with confidence that as long as we have the spirit of hard work and earnestly study advanced foreign technologies, we will become more popular and wiser. Turn backward China into an Eastern power that can keep pace with Western countries, thereby effectively resisting foreign invaders. These sonorous and powerful words of his inspired people to carry out unremitting struggles with confidence to enrich the country and strengthen the army.

The issue of strategic defense occupies an important position in Wei Yuan's military thought. The "Sea Control Chapter", which is regarded as the general outline of "Hai Guo Tu Zhi", has four chapters, two of which are devoted to defense issues. He believes that only by being fully prepared for defensive operations can we defend in order to fight, wait for work at leisure, and repel the invading enemy. How to implement strategic defense? He believed that the British invading army was good at fighting overseas, but once it entered inland rivers, it would lose its advantages. Therefore, he proposed that "it is better to defend the seaport than to defend the seaport, and it is better to defend the inland river than to defend the seaport." ("Hai Guo Tu Zhi" Vol. 1, page 1) Lure the enemy fleet into the inland river to fight, giving full play to our advantages in coordinated water and land operations. He vividly described the specific tactics used to lure the enemy deep into the enemy's territory: first engage the enemy with a weak force, pretend to be defeated and retreat, and lure the enemy deeper into the enemy's territory. Once the enemy ships enter the inland river, they can only move in a file and cannot spread the ships in all directions. At this time, our army first sank the ship and built rafts in the shallow and narrow part of the river to block its progress, then built rafts on tree stumps in the lower reaches of the river to block its retreat, and then drove small boats to attack its head and tail. At the same time, artillery fire from both sides of the river was fired at The enemy ships bombarded them fiercely, making them beaten from all sides and unable to dodge. If the enemy dares to land and take our retreat, then we will use pre-dug trenches to block their advance, and lay mines layer by layer to steal their souls. When the enemy ship fled suddenly, our warships immediately launched rockets and spray cannons to burn the sails. Shui Yong jumped on the enemy ship and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The infantry on the shore used cannons to bombard the ships behind them, or took advantage of the wind. Casts poisonous smoke to blind the enemy's eyes. He vividly compared this strategy to "setting a trap to wait for the tiger, and setting up a bamboo basket to wait for the fish."

" (Volume 1 of "Hai Guo Tu Zhi", page 3)

As for how to strengthen the coastal defense forces, he, like Lin Zexu, opposed the temporary transfer of "guest soldiers" from the mainland to the coast to rush to the coast, pointing out "Training local troops is worse than recruiting guest troops." It is advocated to recruit and train coastal defense forces on the spot because there are many disadvantages in temporarily recruiting "guest troops": first, they are transferred and withdrawn at times, and the back and forth is easy to delay the fighter aircraft; second, the coastal defense troops are affected. They should be familiar with water properties, but most of the inland troops mobilized do not understand the characteristics of coastal defense operations, so they use shortcomings to attack the long-term. Third, they provide support along the way, which burdens officials, hurts money, and harms the people, and they are recruited on the spot. The "local soldiers" are not only adapted to the local climate, water and soil, familiar with the terrain and roads, but also can fight bravely to defend their hometown. Especially the fishermen and egg farmers on the coast are not only familiar with the water, but also have strong personalities. They are selected into the army or organized into If you train in a group, you will definitely be able to train yourself to become a brave and capable soldier. He pointed out in a very positive tone: As long as the recruitment and training are done properly and the people are commanded, we can completely rely on the elite troops of our province to defend our neighboring territories, even if the invaders concentrate their forces to attack our province. , and only need to mobilize troops from neighboring provinces for support, instead of deploying troops from inland provinces, avoiding the passive situation of having police in one place and causing tension across the country. His idea is based on the idea that civilian power is available. . He called the people along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong "righteous people" and "righteous brave people", and fully affirmed their role in defending the motherland's borders. This was commendable for a feudal scholar-bureaucrat and was in line with the principle of "defending the people more than defending the country." This is in stark contrast to the capitulationists who followed the reactionary policies of the Japanese invaders.

After the publication of "Hai Guo Tu Zhi", it was successively spread to Japan from 1851 to 1854. It immediately aroused great attention from the Japanese government and opposition parties and translated them one after another. It was published and widely circulated. They believed that the book was of great inspiration and help to them in understanding the conditions of various countries in the world, learning advanced Western science and technology, and strengthening coastal defense construction. It was even praised as a "treasure guide to coastal defense" and a "must-read book for warriors all over the world". "Book". However, the experience of the book in China was completely opposite. Although some people specifically recommended it to the Qing court, the highest rulers of the Qing Dynasty actually shelved it and remained indifferent. They did not remember the lessons of the failure of the Opium War and just lived in peace. He did not think about changing his ways, working hard to improve the army, but he could only be beaten again.

In 1844, Wei Yuancai, who was over fifty years old, passed the Jinshi examination and was appointed as the magistrate of Dongtai County, Jiangsu Province in 1846. In 1847, he resigned from office and returned home due to his mother's death. He continued to revise "Shengwu Ji" and "Hai Guo Tu Zhi", and in 1847 he enriched "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" into a 60-volume edition. In the same year, he inspected Lu Jianying's Yamen in Jiangsu. He served as a staff member in the Department. He traveled to various southeastern provinces and personally went to Hong Kong and Macau to collect information in order to continue to enrich the "Hai Guo Tu Zhi". In 1849, he was appointed as the magistrate of Xinghua County. In 1850, he was promoted to the magistrate of Gaoyou Prefecture. During this period, he continued to make contributions in planning maritime transportation, building water conservancy, and reforming salt administration. In particular, he completed the 100-volume "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" in 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng). In the supplementary part, almost one-fifth of the book is used to introduce with pictures and texts the careful development and improvement of warships, artillery, shotguns, gunpowder, landmines, and water mines by officials, gentry and weapons experts from all over the country, which reflects his deep understanding of improvement. Eager expectations for military weapons and equipment. In 1853, the Taiping Army captured Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou with overwhelming force, and the farmers in Gaoyou also revolted in response. Wei Yuan led the county officials to arrest and kill the rebel peasant leaders and confront the peasant rebel army. Soon, Yang Yizeng, who was supervising the anti-suppression affairs in Jiangbei in the Qing Dynasty, impeached Wei Yuan for "delaying the post report" and was dismissed by the Qing government. In the afternoon of 1854, someone recommended that he be reinstated. Because he had realized that the decadent Qing Dynasty had no hope of revitalizing, he said that "the world was in chaos and he had no intention of becoming an official" (Wei Qi: "Shaoyang Wei Mansion Junshi") Refuse to serve the Qing court again. Disheartened, he fled into Buddhism and moved to Xinghua West Temple to devote himself to studying Buddhism and sorting out his life writings. In 1856, he traveled to Hangzhou, stayed in a monk's house, sat in meditation, and refused to see any visitors. In the spring of 1857, he died of illness in Hangzhou at the age of 64 with melancholy.

Wei Yuan was knowledgeable and wrote more than 50 books in his life, recording his achievements in philosophy, politics, economics, military, history and literature. Many of these works sparkle with the brilliance of ardent patriotism, and the one that has had the greatest impact on China is "Hai Guo Tu Zhi". Although this book was once ignored by the ruling class, it finally became a guide for all classes and strata in modern China to learn from the West. The leader of "long-term skills". Zuo Zongtang, one of the leaders of the Westernization Movement, publicly stated that he built warships in the Fujian Construction Bureau and set up factories in Gansu to build guns, which was to inherit Wei Yuan's idea in "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" of "learning from the skills of the barbarians to control the war." "barbarians" thought. Wei Yuan's enterprising spirit of acknowledging backwardness but not being willing to lag behind, looking at the world, actively seeking good strategies to enrich the country and strengthen the army, and striving to revitalize China is worthy of carrying forward.