Someone said, "As you said, a tour guide is too important for the right place. If so, can your book be discarded? "

I said, "How could it be abandoned? Sun Tzu said that people who don't need a guide can't get the right place. But without my book, it is impossible to use the guide. This is easy to understand. Those who want to go south are not allowed to drive north, and those who want to row east are not allowed to row west. There are many mountains in the northwest, no swamps, many rivers and lakes in the southeast, and no steep land. This is easy to understand, not easy to understand.

Besides, a finger in front of you, even Mount Tai will be invisible; Change lanes without taking a few steps, and you can't even figure out the direction. If you can't make up your mind when marching or fighting, you will unconsciously fall into swamps and deep valleys, so you want to catch passers-by and ask him to be a guide. Can you trust such a guide? Why is this? The tour guide only uses him when something happens, but the correct place should be familiar at ordinary times.

At ordinary times, he has never determined the basic situation of places in the world and places with superior terrain and remembered their order, but he wants to get the real situation from the temporary guide. How can such a person not be fooled by the enemy? Therefore, Sun Bin can only decide to attack Wei on the basis of knowing the sinister terrain of Maling in advance; Only by knowing the narrow interests of Jingxing Pass in advance can Han Xin decide the plan to defeat Zhao.

Otherwise, no matter how clever Cao Cao is, he will be tourist trap in Yangpingguan; Even Kong Ming's wisdom lies in the stagnation of the midday valley. If you don't understand this truth and say that you can seek a suitable place from the guide temporarily, then you don't have to seek a suitable place in peacetime. Is this a wise argument?

Therefore, the road must pass and the city must attack. This should be known at ordinary times. Those who want to send troops from this road instead of directly from this road are good at sending troops from this road; Those who want to attack this city but don't attack it at once are the ones who are good at attacking this city.

This is usually well known, but it must be temporarily assisted by a guide. If you want to attack, attack where the enemy can't defend, and if you want to defend where the enemy can't attack; Identify the key points and examine the urgent key points; Special cases and positive cases of fighting can be decided in the chest, and survival can be changed in the palm of your hand, which can be compared according to position. These are the duties of a general, not a guide.

Where should I use a large force or a small force, divide my troops or combine them, what is real and what is imaginary have been clearly understood, and then I can solicit information from the guides extensively, listen to their credible words, and discard their suspicious words, so as to make my role in the geographical position more perfect. How can I let my audio-visual be influenced by others in vain? That's why my books can't be thrown away.

"In addition, this is not just a fight. The son of heaven wanted to appease the vassal States at home and inspect the minority regimes in the Quartet abroad. It is necessary to know the strength gap between the local and central governments and the position of the frontier and the mainland. The Prime Minister's assistance to the Emperor in governing the country cannot ignore the interests of the frontier defense, nor can he ignore how the army should be properly arranged.

The government that manages all kinds of affairs manages all things for the people in an all-round way, so it is necessary to know where the tax on goods and goods comes from and what kind of funding is used for military affairs. Magistrates, county magistrates and other local officials are entrusted by the emperor and the people, so the boundaries between administrative regions are complicated, where mountains and rivers are rich in products and where evil things grow, as well as the role of farming, sericulture and water sources, and people's feelings and customs are unknown.

As for the exchanges between scholars, industry and commerce, we can't help but know the actual situation where land and water pass, where we can run and where we need to avoid the dangerous and flat terrain. Social chaos is based on these to help the emperor defeat the enemy and eradicate rape; When the times are clear and peaceful, we can govern the country and the people according to these: all these will be inspired by my book. "

Someone said, "In that case, is Sun Tzu's statement unacceptable?"

I said, "No, in Sun Tzu's words, he thinks that geographical position is the basis of leading troops to fight, and guide is the auxiliary condition for obtaining geographical position. Only by knowing the correct position first can we fight with the soldiers. Fight according to the geographical conditions and get the help of the guide, so as to achieve no chance of winning. Generally speaking, the purpose of writing this book is precisely to hope that the world can know the geographical location in advance.

Not knowing the geographical location in advance, but using people who are at a loss to do world affairs in times of crisis is tantamount to taking out important things of the country and giving them to others at the end. This is why my father died of grief.

I accepted my father's will, interviewed past rumors, collected other records, and confirmed them with official history, gradually forming a family statement. This book is divided into eighteen volumes. I hid it in a summer mat at home, waiting for someone who could understand me in the future. "

Features:

1. Appropriate choice of materials and novel genres. The selected materials in Reading Notes on History and Geography are different from ordinary local chronicles. It focuses on the relationship between the rise and fall of major events in past dynasties, the victory and defeat of wars and the geographical situation, while most of the poems about sightseeing are "eliminated". The first nine volumes describe the national situation in past dynasties. Then, taking 1 14 as the unit, and taking 13 bureaus, envoys and their subordinate counties in Ming Dynasty as the key link, the contents of their four to eight arrivals, organizational evolution, orientation, historical sites, mountains and rivers, towns, passes and post stations are described respectively.

Important historical facts related to various geographical entities are attached to various place names and features. And often points out the reasons for the naming of geographical entities in the narrative. Subsequently, six volumes are used to describe the similarities and differences between Chuandu and Jiuzhou Zhao. The last volume is the traditional theory of "dividing line", which corresponds to heaven and earth and means "looking down".

The national conditions of past dynasties take dynasties as classics and geography as latitude; Later, with the division of administrative regions by provinces as the key link and dynasties as the key link, the whole book is criss-crossed, with clear outline, self-evident, vivid narrative and rigorous structure, which makes it interesting to read.

2. It has a strong military geographical color. Since one of the main purposes of Gu Zuyu's Notes on Reading History and Geography is to meet the needs of anti-Qing and regaining sight, he certainly attaches great importance to the description of the army. In view of the fact that the Ming rulers did not take advantage of the dangerous situation of mountains and rivers, did not remember the lessons of success or failure in using troops in ancient and modern times, and finally suffered from the history of national subjugation, he cited historical events and inferred success or failure from the national conditions, dangerous mountains and rivers, and the offensive and defensive of fortresses. "Based on the history of ancient and modern times, quality is based on the square."

The relationship between the rise and fall of past dynasties and the geographical environment is recorded in detail, while the records of scenic spots and historical sites are relatively simple. Not only did the first nine volumes specifically discuss the national situation of past dynasties, but all provinces and capitals started with the gains and losses of territory, mountains and rivers and situations. The situation of each province and its military importance are discussed in the general introduction. Almost every article of State Situation in Past Dynasties and General Situation of Mountains and Rivers in Provinces is a valuable military geography paper.

Moreover, every time a geographical entity is described, the source of its military status and value should be traced back. Gu Zuyu believes that geographical location is the basis of marching. Terrain is as important to military strategists as people need food to survive and travelers need boats and cars. The prophet can only March in the right position. With the help of the "township guide", "the husband can be invincible."

This is his original intention of focusing on the relationship between geographical environment and the success or failure of war in the summary of Reading Historical Records. No wonder Zhang Zhidong thinks that "this book is written for the military, not for geographical research." Liang Qichao also believes that "Fan Jingshu is indeed a very unique military geography".

3, pay attention to the dialectical thinking of the relationship between man and land. The summary of Reading History and Geography focuses on natural disasters and geographical advantages, which always runs through the fact that natural disasters and geographical advantages are only subordinate conditions for success or failure, and the decisive factor lies in the correct thinking of society and personnel. Because "yin and yang are impermanent, cold and summer are impermanent, and risks are impermanent." Although it's the reason of "Jincheng Tang Chi", it's worse than "the hill of repair" and "the overflowing water" if there is no guardian. If you choose the right person, even "dead wood and rotten grass can be enemies."

In other words, the geographical situation is of course an important factor in determining the outcome of the war, but the generals with troops play a greater role. Gu Zuyu, when discussing the changes of the capitals of past dynasties and their reasons, thinks that it is determined by many factors, not by the dangerous terrain.

First of all, the choice of the capital is related to the situation at that time. Where the capital can be established at this time, it may not be suitable for it at that time. Secondly, whether it is suitable to build a capital depends not only on whether the terrain is dangerous and solid, but also on whether it is beneficial to attack and defense, convenient transportation, developed production and the struggle against the enemy. Because the various factors of building the capital are constantly changing, we can't just consider mountains and rivers. His view is basically consistent with that of historical materialism.

4. Pay attention to practical application, especially on issues related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Gu Zuyu believes that the Geography Book should not only record the evolution of the territory and political areas in the past dynasties, but also include the contents of historical natural geography and historical economic geography such as canals, food, wasteland reclamation, horse administration, salt and iron, and official tribute. When he started writing, he really attached great importance to it, but later, due to various reasons, the manuscript was lost and "sick" and he couldn't help repairing it, but his rough ideas may also be "mistaken in the article"

However, when discussing the geographical situation of various places, he tried his best to prove it with geographical conditions, making history a guide to geography and geography an atlas of history, which were closely combined. The book focuses more on the national economy and people's livelihood, less on irrelevant matters and details of people, which is also the difference between reading historical records and other geographical works.

Because the Yellow River has been suffering for a long time, it has a direct negative impact on the national economy and people's livelihood. Therefore, Gu Zuyu compiled a large number of predecessors' opinions on water control in the Minutes of Reading Historical Records for future generations to learn from. He highly appreciates Pan Jixun's policy of river management. It is considered that "tying water with dikes and attacking sand with water is a good way to control water with water, which is absolutely necessary but not easy." (Reading Historical Records 126) Pan Jixun's thoughts are mentioned in many places in the book.

In addition, the book also attaches great importance to the record of water transport. Gu Zuyu thinks that water transportation is very important, because "the great life of the world depends on it". However, he opposed the view that people's lives and property along the canal were ignored for water transportation. In Similarities and Differences between Sichuan and Capital, he devoted a whole volume to water and sea transportation, and recorded in detail the gates, dams, dikes, springs, etc. of the canals under the relevant counties.

In addition, Susong area, where the agricultural economy developed rapidly in the Ming Dynasty, and towns such as Yangzhou and Huai 'an, which turned to grass, are all recorded in the book. At the same time, The Outline of Reading History records the rise and fall of farmland water conservancy, the changes of traffic routes and the rise and fall of towns in detail. It can be seen that the summary of reading history and geography is very important not only in military geography and evolutionary geography, but also in economic geography.