Wei Yuan (1794— 1857), formerly known as Yuan Da, was born in Shaoyang, Hunan Province in the Qing Dynasty, and was a military thinker and strategist.
After China suffered a crushing defeat in the Opium War, many patriots began to seek ways to make Qiang Bing rich. Wei Yuan is one of the representatives. Through careful study of capitalist powers, he first put forward the strategic thought of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners" and put forward many insights on how to strengthen army building and implement strategic defense. He was not only a famous patriot, but also a military thinker and strategist who had a great influence on the development and changes of China's military in modern times.
1794 (59th year of Qianlong), Wei Yuan was born in a landlord family in Shaoyang, Hunan. I went to private school at the age of seven. /kloc-at the age of 0/0, the home suffered a serious famine and was in ruins. Since then, there has been a shortage of rice and firewood. He liked reading history books since he was a child and paid attention to the experience and lessons of the rise and fall of dynasties. 15 years old, admitted as a scholar. 18 14 (15th year of Jiaqing) came to Beijing with his father, made a living by teaching, and studied under Liu, a master of contemporary literature. At this time, he met Gong Zizhen, a progressive thinker, and soon became close friends because of similar interests. They abandoned the style of study of tedious textual research, bravely faced the reality, learned from the theory of "applying what they have learned", talked generously about the disadvantages of the times, explored ways to save the decadent feudal rule, and realized the good law of Qiang Bing, a rich country, in order to break through the dreary situation of "all horses return to the same place". Two years later, Wei Yuan returned to the south and taught in Changsha and other places. 1822 (the second year of Daoguang), Shuntian went to Beijing and was admitted to Juren. The following year, Yang Fang, the magistrate of Zhili in Gubeikou, started to study ancient and modern frontier defense and northwest geography, and was concerned about the safety of the frontier. 1825, at the invitation of He Changling, Jiangsu Buzheng, he edited the Classic Collection of Emperors and collected political, social and ideological papers since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. This book carries out the idea of practical use and has a great influence on later generations. In Dai and Changling's Compilation of the Imperial Classics, he expressed his thoughts and historical evolution views of opposing retro, advocating emphasizing reality and changing the old. Because he despised the feudal scholars' long-popular style of study, which was divorced from reality, tedious and empty, and his thoughts were more radical, he went to Beijing to take the Jinshi exam three times after 1826, and all of them fell in Sun Shan. Because he could not enter the feudal officialdom, he served as the chief of staff of the local governor for a long time, engaged in academic writings and worked as a salt merchant.
1829, Wei Yuan donated a cabinet secretary in Beijing, that is, a small official who wrote confidential documents in the cabinet. Taking advantage of his work, he eagerly read the official books and private works of the literati hidden in the secret cabinet of the history museum, which created conditions for him to write books and make statements in the future. 1830, he went to Jiayuguan with Yang Fang to inspect the geography and frontier defense of the northwest, and he was more concerned about the defense of the northwest. 183 1 year, he moved to Nanjing shortly after his father lost to the south, and successively assisted Tao Shu, the governor of Liangjiang, and Lin Zexu, the governor of Jiangsu, in planning reforms such as grain transportation, salt policy and water conservancy. It is emphasized that there are countless laws in the world that have been harmful for hundreds of years, and the old system must be reformed in order to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages. At that time, opium smuggling became more and more serious. Like Lin Zexu, he insisted on prohibition of alcohol. In the poem "Poison in the South of the Yangtze River" written by 183 1, the serious harm of opium is deeply exposed, and it is pointed out that if it is not strictly prohibited, the coast will sink and the wealth will be exhausted. 1837, moved to Yangzhou for profit from selling salt.
1840, Britain flagrantly launched the opium war against China. Wei Yuan resolutely took it as its duty to revitalize the national prestige and stabilize the frontier, and devoted itself to the national self-defense war. In June+10 of the same year, when he heard that British artillery captain Antude was captured by local people while surveying and mapping a map near Dinghai, Zhejiang, he immediately rushed to the magistrate's office in Ningbo to interrogate prisoners of war. According to Antoinette's confession and referring to other books, he wrote "184 1 English Story", which introduced the history, geography, politics, economy, military and its intention to invade China, exposed Britain's greedy and cunning nature, and reminded people to pay attention to studying Britain's national conditions and military situation and treat the invaders seriously. When he learned that the Qing army was defeated at the front line in Guangdong, he wrote poems; Rage Qishan, Yishan and others for their incompetence, fear the enemy like a tiger, clear the way for thieves, and kneel down for peace. And with the poem "We are United as an enemy, but we are United as one, and Hohhot will hear a hundred thousand divisions", we warmly praise the heroic feat of the people in Sanyuanli and show a clear attitude of love and hate. This year, he devoted himself to Yu Qian, the imperial envoy in charge of Zhejiang military affairs, participated in planning the anti-British struggle in Zhejiang front, went to Dinghai front to inspect and defend, and put forward the strategy of luring the enemy into the inland river to panic in. Because this proposal was not adopted, the Qing court and the war were undecided, the compromise group made stupid mistakes, and Lin Zexu and other resistance groups wronged him, which made him deeply dissatisfied. He resigned in a rage and returned to his hometown in Yangzhou, where he used a pen instead of a spear to write a book and explore a good strategy to resist the enemy and protect Mei.
184 1 In August, Wei Yuan heard that Lin Zexu, who was sent by Daoguang Emperor to expel Ili, passed through Zhenjiang and immediately rushed to meet him. Close friends meet, have a long talk, and discuss plans to save the country. Lin Zexu gave Wei Yuan the annals of four continents edited by him in Guangzhou, hoping that he would collect information extensively and compile the annals of the sea country, so that Chinese people could understand the feelings of foreigners and formulate a good strategy to defend the enemy against aggression. Wei Yuan readily agreed, saying that he would never live up to Lin Zexu's expectations. From then on, he concentrated on writing and forgot to eat and sleep. 1842 in August, when the Qing government signed the treaty of nanking, Wei Yuan sorted out the accumulated data in the past and wrote Wu Shengji with about 400,000 words. Later, it was revised twice in 1844 and 1846, which enriched the whole book. Wu Shengji * * is divided into 14 volumes. The former 10 volume narrates the civil and foreign wars from the rise of Ai Xinjue Roche to Daoguang years with historical examples, in an attempt to carry forward the martial arts in the early Qing Dynasty, praise national unity, inspire the ruling class and the vast number of patriots to enhance national self-esteem and self-confidence, revitalize military equipment and resist foreign aggression. At the end of each volume, he also expressed his views and opinions on politics and military affairs in the form of Chen. The last four volumes focus on his military thoughts in the form of special topics, accompanied by narration and discussion.
He was deeply impressed by the corruption and backwardness of the Qing army. In the book Shengwu, he put forward many constructive suggestions on strengthening army building. In view of the fact that the Qing army is too old and weak, and the salary of Dachuan is too low, he suggested that the redundant staff should be greatly reduced, the false report and impersonator should be put an end to, the life of soldiers should be improved appropriately, and the combat effectiveness of the troops should be effectively improved through selection, cultivation and diligent training. He inherited the thoughts of ancient military strategists, and suggested that all provinces compile and train a "front-fighting" force composed of 4,000 to 6,000 people as an example for other armies to stimulate their military strength. He dialectically explained the relationship between the quantity and quality of the army with the famous saying that "redundant soldiers are reduced by 100 thousand, and elite soldiers are increased by 100 thousand", and brilliantly expounded the idea of "soldiers are more expensive than fine".
He hated the corruption and incompetence of the generals of the Qing army, emphasizing that "there is no difference between strong and weak soldiers." With a general with both wisdom and courage, "one person can learn, a hundred people can learn, and a thousand people can learn" (Biography of the Holy Warrior, page 544) drives the whole army. He opposed those arrogant, mediocre, incompetent and frivolous children to be generals of the whole army, and advocated selecting those who are brave and law-abiding, good at running the army and know how to use military tactics as junior, middle and senior commanders respectively from the army to improve the combat effectiveness of the army. He advocated that generals should read more military books and made a new explanation of "on paper". He said: people always laugh at people who study the art of war as "an armchair strategist", but they don't know that armchair strategist has different degrees of efforts. If we can master the essentials of learning, grasp the spiritual essence of previous military tactics, achieve mastery through a comprehensive study and apply them flexibly in war, so that the achievements on paper can become "immediate" achievements.
There are also many suggestions for improving military training. He creatively proposed that the navy should ensure the transportation of grain at sea, combine training with escort, and constantly improve the quality of warships and the combat skills of officers and men through the test of dangerous waves. He highly praised Qi Jiguang's thought of strictly administering the army and expounded that discipline is an important guarantee to win the war. He criticized the Qing government for not severely punishing the generals who fled without fighting in the Opium War, so that soldiers did not have to die. It is believed that if the army does not have strict discipline, even if it has a strong ship and a strong gun, it cannot defeat the enemy because it cannot be banned.
As for how to carry out the war of anti-aggression, the book Hallows also puts forward some opinions worthy of attention. He stressed the need to study the enemy and understand the enemy's situation; Buy foreign naval guns to change the backward situation of Qing army weapons and equipment; We will carry out the strategy and tactics of defending as the battle, retreating as the progress, and combining the odd with the positive, and strive to annihilate the enemies of inland rivers. Regarding urban defensive operations, he pointed out with a simple dialectical point of view: "The law of guarding the city lies in attacking the city, so if you want to be good at defending, you must be clear and good at attacking." ("Wu Shengji" Volume II, page 525) means that only by being familiar with the enemy's methods of siege warfare can we effectively do a good job in urban defense. He emphasized the implementation of national defense and unified command, and proposed to divide troops outside the city to contain the enemy, send rangers to cut off the enemy's grain routes, send ambush teams to kill the enemy halfway, and implement the strategy of clearing the field, which caused various difficulties for the enemy to fight for a long time. Although these views did not deviate from the traditional military thought, they had practical guiding significance for the Qing army, which was not good at city defense operations.
In addition, he also exposed Tsar Ding's ambition to invade China, reminding people not only to pay attention to coastal defense construction, but also to border defense construction. He advocated allowing mainland residents to bring their families to the frontier to reclaim land, develop production, build strong castles, protect production in peacetime and defend against the enemy in wartime. At the same time, it is emphasized that one of the keys to consolidate border and coastal defense lies in the correct use of personnel.
At that time, Wei Yuan's thoughts on building the army and fighting were really brilliant. Of course, there are also biased or even wrong views. For example, he advocated that the army should be decentralized rather than centralized, because decentralization is easy to control and centralization is prone to riots. For another example, on the one hand, it emphasizes strict discipline in the army, on the other hand, it claims that looting can sometimes be allowed to boost morale. In addition, it also preaches that "the teacher of the emperor always helps others." (Wu Shengji, Volume II, pages 523 and 5 10) and "Generals are God-given by experience" (Wu Shengji, Volume II, pages 523 and 5 10). These are all dross that should be denied. Although Wu Sheng Ji also has some shortcomings and mistakes, it is not enough to cover up its shortcomings. In the process of writing, because many people asked to read it, he wrote a part and published a part, which had a great influence on the society at that time.
From June 65438 to1October 65438, 0843, he supplemented a lot of materials on the basis of the annals of four continents compiled by Lin Zexu, and completed 50 volumes of the annals of the sea country with the core idea of learning from foreigners, learning from foreigners and revitalizing military equipment. The book not only introduces the history, geography, politics, economy, military, culture, science and technology of dozens of countries on five continents, but also seriously summarizes the experience and lessons of the Opium War and expounds his military thoughts in a deeper and more systematic way.
According to the strong capitalist nature of "mercenary" and "afraid of power" in the Qing court, he reminded the Qing court not to think that signing a peace treaty with the invaders would be all right, but to focus on making great efforts to govern the country and rectify the army and the military. He said that after the Opium War, foreign invaders saw clearly the weak nature of China, so they would launch a new war of aggression unscrupulously. Therefore, only by strengthening their combat readiness can they be frightened and dare not use force rashly.
So, how to strengthen combat readiness? Through careful study of foreign countries, he found that Britain, France, the United States and other countries are good at manufacturing all kinds of exquisite machines, guns and warships, but China has fallen behind in this respect, so he sprouted the idea of learning from the West and boldly put forward the strategic thought of "learning from foreigners and mastering their skills to control foreigners" (A Record of National Maps). He stressed that only by being good at learning from foreign countries can foreign aggression be stopped, otherwise it will be subdued by foreign countries. He focused on the "long skills" of foreign countries in military technology and tactics: one warship, two firearms and three training methods. The specific suggestions are to establish shipyards and firearms bureaus in Shajiao and Dajiao, Guangdong Province, hire technicians and craftsmen from France and the United States to help manufacture warships and artillery, and hire "helmsman" to teach navigation and show artillery methods; Guangdong and Fujian craftsmen were selected to learn from foreign technicians how to manufacture naval guns, and elite soldiers were selected to learn from foreign helmsman how to drive and attack naval guns, so as to acquire foreign advanced technology and Science of Tactics. At the same time, continue to buy advanced warships and artillery from foreign countries. He believes that in this way, a new water army can be formed in a relatively short time. This water army usually patrols the sea to catch pirates and cigarette dealers. If the tide is not smooth in wartime, they will avoid the bay and wait for an opportunity to kill the enemy. The tide went down the river and immediately sailed to foreign oceans to monitor the movements of enemy ships, or cooperated with coastal defense forces against the enemy, or attacked enemy ships alone, thus forming a favorable situation of "winning the enemy with the main" and avoiding the situation that the Qing navy was passively beaten everywhere because it could not compete with the invading fleet during the Opium War. He also pointed out that with the shipyard and artillery bureau, not only warships and artillery can be manufactured and repaired, but also ordnance needed by marine divisions, as well as civilian products such as steamboats, wind saws, dragon-tailed cars and sky rulers.
While advocating learning advanced western technology and manufacturing new weapons, he also emphasized the role of entry in war, clearly pointing out that "weapons are not as good as human harmony", and an army will have strong combat effectiveness only if it is "courageous and resourceful". He asserted that there is no invincible weapon, and the key lies in proper choice and flexible command. These words correctly clarify the relationship between man and weapons.
At that time, many die-hards regarded the western machine as "strange skill and cunning" and "the end of form" Wei Yuan justifiably retorted: "It is strange skill that is useful, not cunning" (Guo Hai Tu Zhi, Volume II, 18). Not only can we not oppose it, but we should vigorously advocate it and study hard. This brilliant idea is undoubtedly a great impact on the traditional concept that feudal rulers have always attached importance to Taoism and neglected weapons and regarded science and technology as a small skill. He traced back the long history of the Chinese nation and the brilliant achievements in science and technology, fully affirmed the intelligence and wisdom of the people of China, and confidently pointed out that as long as he has the spirit of striving for strength and earnestly studying foreign advanced technology, the atmosphere will be more prosperous and wisdom will rise, making backward China an oriental power that keeps pace with western countries, thus effectively resisting foreign invaders. His forceful words inspired people to make unremitting efforts for Qiang Bing, a rich country, with confidence.
Strategic defense plays an important role in Wei Yuan's military thought. * * *, there are four articles, two of which are about national defense. He believes that only by making full preparations for defensive operations can we fight with defense, wait for merit, and repel the invading enemy. How to implement strategic defense? He believes that the British invaders are good at fighting in foreign countries, and once they enter the inland river, they lose their advantage. Therefore, he put forward that "it is better to defend the estuary than to defend the sea, and it is better to defend the estuary than to defend the inland river" (the first volume of Ocean Atlas, 1 page) to lure the enemy fleet into inland river operations and give full play to the advantages of our land-water cooperative operations. He vividly described the specific tactics of luring the enemy into depth: first, engage the battle with weak soldiers, pretend to be defeated, and lure the enemy into depth. Once the enemy ships enter the inland river, they can only follow each other and cannot disperse the ship. At this time, our army first sank a boat in the shallow and narrow part of the river to stop it from moving forward, then planted a raft in the lower reaches of the river to contain its back road, and then sailed the boat to attack its head and tail. At the same time, the artillery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait bombarded the enemy ship violently, making it unable to dodge. If the enemy dares to land and take our back road, then they will block their progress with pre-dug underground trenches, and the mines buried layer by layer will take away their souls. The enemy ships fled in panic, and our warships immediately fired rockets and nozzles, burning the sails, and the spray jumped on the enemy ships to fight with the white blade. The infantry on the shore attacked the ships behind them with guns, or the windward emitted poisonous smoke to confuse the enemy's eyes. He vividly compared this tactic to "setting a trap to kill a tiger and setting a trap to fish". (Page 3, Volume 1 of Oceanographic Atlas)
As for how to strengthen the coastal defense forces, like Lin Zexu, he opposed the temporary deployment of "guest soldiers" from the mainland and rushed to the coast to fight, pointing out that "it is better to train local soldiers than to deploy them" and advocated local recruitment and training of coastal defense forces. Because the temporary recruitment of "guest soldiers" has many disadvantages: First, the time is changeable and it is easy to delay the fighters and toss them back and forth; Second, the coastal defense forces should be familiar with the water, but most of the mainland troops transferred do not understand the characteristics of coastal defense operations, and use short to control long and short to attack long; Third, the supply of support along the way, the official tired the people, hurt the money and harm the people, and the "soldiers" recruited locally not only adapt to the local climate. Especially the fishermen and eggheads along the coast are not only familiar with water, but also have strong personalities. If they are selected into the army or organized into groups, they will be trained to be brave soldiers. He pointed out in a very positive tone: as long as people are well-trained and properly commanded, they can rely on the elite soldiers of this province to defend the neighboring soil of this province. Even if the invaders concentrate their forces on attacking our province, they can cope with it only by dispatching troops from neighboring provinces, and there is no need to dispatch troops from mainland provinces to avoid a passive situation in which the police and the people are nervous. His idea is based on the idea that people's power can be used. He called the coastal people in Fujian and Guangdong "just people" and "brave people", fully affirming their role in defending the frontier of the motherland. For a feudal scholar-bureaucrat, this is commendable, which is in sharp contrast with the capitulators who implemented the reactionary policy of "protecting the people more than protecting bandits".
After the publication of the Atlas of Sea Countries, it spread to Japan from 185 1 to 1854, which immediately attracted great attention of Japanese people in the ruling and opposition circles, translated and printed one after another, and circulated one after another. It was thought that the book was of great inspiration and help for them to understand the situation of various countries in the world, learn advanced western science and technology, and strengthen coastal defense construction, and was even called "the coastal defense" They don't remember the lessons of the failure of the Opium War. They just muddle along, don't think about changing course, do their best to rectify the army, and the result can only be beaten again.
1844, Wei Yuan, who was over 500 years old, was admitted to the Jinshi Examination and was appointed as the magistrate of Dongtai County, Jiangsu Province the following year. 1846 resigned and went home because of his mother's funeral. He continued to revise Wu Sheng Ji and Guo Hai Tu Zhi, and enriched Guo Hai Tu Zhi into 60 volumes in 1847. In the same year, he served as an adjutant in the yamen of Lu Jianying, the governor of Jiangsu Province. He traveled to southeast provinces, and personally went to Hong Kong and Macao to collect information extensively, in order to prepare for continuing to enrich the Atlas of Seas. 1849 served as Xinghua county magistrate. 1850, promoted to Gaoyou satrap. During this period, he continued to make contributions in planning shipping, building water conservancy and reforming salt administration. Especially in 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng), he completed a 100-volume masterpiece "Atlas of Sea Countries". In the supplementary part, he used almost one-fifth of the book to illustrate and explain the development and improvement of warships, artillery, shotguns, gunpowder and mines. Praised by local officials and weapons experts, this reflects his ardent expectations for improving military weapons and equipment. 1853, the Taiping Army captured Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou and Gaoyou with devastating force, and farmers also revolted in response. Wei Yuan led the county magistrate to kill the peasant leaders of the uprising against the peasant rebels. Soon, Yang Yizeng, who supervised the Qing army's suppression of Jiangbei, was dismissed by the Qing court for playing Wei Yuan's "Delay Post". 1854 at noon, he was reinstated on bail, because he had realized that the decadent Qing dynasty had no hope of revival. He said that "the world is too difficult to be an official" (Wei Qi: The Military Strategy of Shaoyang Weifu) refused to work for the Qing court again. Desperate, he fled into an empty door and moved to Xinghua West Temple to study Buddhism and sort out his life writings. 1856, visiting Hangzhou, staying at a monk's house, sitting in meditation, refusing to see any visitors. 1in the spring of 857, he died in Hangzhou with melancholy feelings at the age of 64.
Wei Yuan is knowledgeable and has written more than 50 books in his life, which recorded his achievements in philosophy, politics, economy, military affairs, history and literature. Many of these works are full of ardent patriotism, and the map of the sea has the greatest influence on China. Although this book was once neglected by the ruling class, it eventually became the forerunner of all classes and strata in modern China to learn western "long skills". Zuo, one of the leaders of the Westernization School, publicly stated that he built warships in Fuzhou Construction Bureau and guns in Gansu, in order to inherit Wei Yuan's idea of "learning from foreigners and mastering foreign skills" put forward in the Chart Records. Wei Yuan's enterprising spirit of being backward but unwilling to lag behind, looking around the world, and actively seeking a good strategy to enrich the people and strengthen the province and revitalize China, is worth carrying forward.