Yu Dayou was a famous anti-Japanese general in the Jiajing Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty. He was named Zhifu, Xunyao and Xujiang. Yu Dayou's greatest and most well-known achievement in his life was his fight against Japanese pirates. Many people know him from his deeds in fighting against Japanese pirates, but in fact Yu Dayou is not only successful in fighting against Japanese pirates. It is true that Yu Dayou's greatest achievement was fighting against Japanese pirates, but he also had certain achievements in military and literary aspects. He was a strategist, martial artist, poet, and a famous national hero.
As far as we know now, Qi Jiguang's reputation is greater than that of Yu Dayou. The two were obviously two equally famous anti-Japanese generals in the Ming Dynasty, but there was a gap in their reputation in later generations. When faced with the question of why there was a gap between the two, some people gave this answer: Qi Jiguang was extremely talented in military affairs and wrote military books, while Yu Dayou himself was just a martial artist and was naturally not as good as Qi Jiguang. For such an answer, I just want to silently roll my eyes. I don’t know how many people think this way, and I don’t know where they got the courage to give such an answer. What I know is that it is too hasty to give an answer based on one's own subjective imagination without understanding Yu Dayou himself. Yu Dayou was by no means just a warrior, and it is not unfounded to say that he was a military strategist.
Yu Dayou gained a lot of valuable experience in many battles. Relying on his decades of combat experience, he has successively written "A Brief Introduction to the Art of War", "Recent Affairs of Washing the Sea", "Draft for the Suppression of Fujian", "Guangxi's Selection of Leading Soldiers", etc., and edited his teacher Zhao Benxue's " "Taoling Internal and External Chapters" and so on are "Sustained Martial Arts General Essentials". It has made great contributions to the development of our country's military. In addition, he also created an original method of using wheelbarrows to deal with cavalry. This method achieved great success in actual combat, and the imperial court began to set up military vehicle battalions from then on.
Not only in military matters, Yu Dayou was also a martial arts master. He and Qi Jiguang were called Yu Long Qi Hu. Qi Jiguang is good at spears, while Yu Dayou is good at sticks and two-handed sword skills. The most outstanding one is Yu Dayou's one-handed stick skills. Yu Dayou learned the stick technique from the Shaolin Temple, a major martial arts school. The world's martial arts originated from Shaolin. Yu Dayou learned the extremely advanced Shaolin stick technique at the Shaolin Temple. Sweep it away with a stick, and the tiger will become windy, which is extremely majestic.
He also wrote the book "Sword Classic". Although it is called "Sword Classic", it actually talks about the use of sticks and long weapons. The content includes the three methods of sword (stick), shooting and formation. Yu Dayou believes that the stick is the leader among arts.
Emphasis on the changes that arise from the odd and the right at any time, and the stopping by stillness. Emphasis: just before his strength, softly taking advantage of his strength, he is busy and I wait quietly, knowing how to shoot and letting you fight. Qi Jiguang once praised the book "The Book of Swords", saying: "The secrets of the ages are all here, and the recent use of this method to teach spears has achieved great results!" Excellent!
Don’t think that Yu Dayou, who has extremely high martial arts and military achievements, is just a martial artist who knows nothing. In fact, Yu Dayou covered a wide range of areas, not only making great achievements in martial arts, but also in literature. He is obviously an iron-blooded military general, but he is also very interested in literature. Yu Dayou created many poems in his life. He did not write them casually, but most of them were inspired by his feelings.
Poetry expresses aspirations and emotions. In his poems, Yu Dayou expresses his thoughts and feelings of concern for the country and the people, and expresses his desire to repay the country. He wrote numerous poems throughout his life, among which the more famous ones include "Poetry of Peony", "Testing the Sword Stone", "Mountain Journey in Autumn", "Two Thousand Mile Horses Trial on the Corridor", "The Boat Master", "Yuzhan Tui Mansion", etc. , later generations also compiled Yu Dayou's poems into a collection, compiled into "Zhengqitang Collection".
The historical evaluation of Yu Dayou is extremely high. Zheng Guanying once praised him: He was a general in ancient times, who was knowledgeable in literature, martial arts, and both resourceful and courageous; he could win people, know people, love people, and control people; Saving the opportunities of weather and timing, observing the key points of geography, being attuned to people's emotions, and observing the trends of safety and danger. All the gains and losses in ancient and modern times, the control of chaos, the meticulous changes in formations, the true and false of military strategists, the finesse, roughness and clumsiness of weapons are all insightful. For example, Sun Wu and Li Mu in the Spring and Autumn Period, Han Xin, Ma Yuan, Ban Chao, and Zhuge Liang in the Han Dynasty, Li Jing, Guo Ziyi, and Li Guangbi in the Tang Dynasty, Zongze and Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, Qi Jiguang, and Yu Dayou in the Ming Dynasty, and other famous generals. , fine equipment, no different from those in today's countries in Europe and the West who emphasize general talents.
Zhang Tingyu said about Yu Dayou: Dayou is an honest general, and he is kind to his subordinates. He made great achievements several times and became famous throughout the country. The great beast bears strange festivals and looks forward to the ancient sages and heroes. When using troops, he plans first and then fights, and is not greedy for quick results. Loyal to Xu Guo, old and loyal, with great honors wherever he goes.
"History of the Ming Dynasty·Yu Dayou's Biography" says: Dayou carried a strange book, was loyal to his country, old and faithful.