The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Six years after Emperor Wen, the Xiongnu invaded the border.

So Liu Li, the chief of the clan, was appointed as the general, stationed at Bashang; Xu Li, the Marquis of Zhuzi, was appointed as the general, stationed at Jimen; Yafu, the governor of Henei, was appointed as the general, stationed at Xiliu: to prepare for the Hu.

The emperor went to visit the troops.

When he arrived at Bashang and Jimen, he rushed in, and the generals and the others rode to greet him."

In the Wenhua Palace in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde and the young Emperor Wanli sat facing each other. The book was opened in front of the young emperor. Wei Guangde was teaching today's course according to the "Illustrated Explanation of the Emperor's Mirror" compiled by Zhang Juzheng.

And the passage being talked about now is the Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty visiting the troops at Xiliu Camp.

After all, Zhang Juzheng was a military official, so he did not regard military affairs as something that only crude warriors did like other civil officials, so some ancient military allusions were also compiled into the book to teach the young Emperor Wanli.

It should be admitted that the victory of the three major expeditions of Wanli was inseparable from Zhang Juzheng's education of him, that is, once it is confirmed that war is inevitable, one must do everything possible to win, no matter how much investment is made.

As long as victory is achieved, all problems can be easily solved.

"When arriving at the camp, General Yafu held his weapon and bowed, saying: "A soldier in armor does not bow, please greet him with military salute."

The emperor was moved and changed his expression and prepared the car.

He sent someone to thank him: "The emperor respectfully labors the general."

He left after the ceremony."

Wei Guangde was still reciting this passage from "Records of the Grand Historian" in a rhythmic manner, and the book in front of Zhu Yijun was exactly this excerpt.

When lecturing on a book, one must first read the book in its entirety. After all, ancient learning focused on "reading" and "interpreting words". Without a teacher, it is really difficult to judge how to interpret the words.

After all, in those days, the Ming Dynasty did not have punctuation marks.

The punctuation marks that are familiar to Chinese people in later generations originated in the West. In 1919, Hu Shi and others proposed the "Proposal to Issue New Punctuation Marks", which was passed at the first meeting of the National Language Unification Preparatory Committee.

On February 2, 1920, the Ministry of Education of the Beiyang Government officially issued new punctuation marks, marking the birth of China's first set of legal new punctuation marks.

Since then, new punctuation marks have gradually been widely used in China and have become an indispensable part of modern Chinese writing.

However, it is wrong to think that there were no punctuation marks in ancient China, and the development is definitely not late, and it is not slow.

Of course, this development process did not continue after the Qing Dynasty, because in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, China had already come into contact with Western punctuation marks. Some scholars thought it was very useful and introduced it, and also annotated ancient books in detail.

The proposal of Hu Shi and others was just to formalize it and make it part of official documents.

Chinese characters are written symbols for recording Chinese, but there are no punctuation marks in ancient written materials.

Without punctuation, people would have different understandings of the same paragraph, and even the opposite results would appear. Due to the need of language expression, some special marks gradually emerged, which can be understood as the predecessor of punctuation.

In the Han Dynasty, some people used the method of "leaving the classics" to break the text.

Leaving the classics means writing one or two words between two sentences, or using vertical lines, short horizontal lines, etc. to mark the end of a sentence, but it is not widely used.

The Book of Rites compiled by Dai Sheng in the Western Han Dynasty said, "Enter school at the same age, take exams in the middle age, and look at the classics and distinguish the will in one year", and Zheng Xuan's note said: "Leaving the classics means breaking the sentence."

At that time, people often drew "し" beside the sentence as a reading aid, which was the embryo of punctuation.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two symbols for sentence reading: "↓" and "、".

In the "Shuowen Jiezi" written by Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "↓" is explained as "hook mark, Juyueqie", and "、" is "somewhere to stop, and know it, Zhuyuqie".

That is to say, "↓" is used to mark the end of the text where it can stop, and "、" is used to mark the place where the text can be read, which is roughly equivalent to today's period and comma.

If we take into account that there has been a departure from the classics, "、" can actually be regarded as very similar to modern writing.

In the Song Dynasty, the hook mark became a circle, and the mark shape was like "○", which was divided into large, medium and small. People used circles and dots to mark the text.

In fact, the mark "○" was already quite common in ancient books of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and it can even be seen in every chapter, but most people in later generations did not understand its meaning.

When Zhu Xi wrote "Annotations to the Four Books", he used a large "○" before each chapter and "." after each sentence.

This is called punctuation, that is, at the end of a sentence, a "、" is drawn to mark the end, which is similar to the current comma. At the end of the sentence, a "." is drawn, which has the same function as the current period.

During this period, paragraph marks also appeared, represented by "∨" or "∧", drawn at the lower right corner of the last word of each paragraph, and even "..." "..." and other dense circles and dots were added to the right side of the word to emphasize the wonderful part of the sentence.

This usage was still in use until the 1920s.

In the Ming Dynasty, with the emergence of printed novels, two more special marks were added, namely, a single straight line "│" was drawn next to the name of a person, and two straight lines "‖" were added next to the place name.

The book in front of Emperor Wanli naturally had the above marks, which was also to prevent the little emperor from making mistakes when reading books in the harem.

"In the sixth year of Emperor Wen's reign, the Xiongnu invaded. The Han army gathered to fight. Zhou Yafu led his troops to station at Xiuliu. Emperor Wen went to visit him. Unexpectedly, the gate captain of the barracks did not open the gate. Emperor Wen did not blame Zhou Yafu for this, but praised him as a "real general."

After the ancient text was finished, Wei Guangde briefly narrated the story in vernacular, which helped Zhu Yijun understand the whole story.

According to Zhang Juzheng's original intention, this paragraph was included to firstly give the little emperor a preliminary understanding of military affairs, and also to let the little emperor understand the value of righteousness, knowing people and responsibilities, and understanding the value of institutional belief.

This was still very important for the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty. After all, in the era when imperial power was supreme, civil servants exercised the imperial power granted by the emperor. Without the emperor's trust, civil servants would not be far from becoming officials.

"Zhou Yafu was able to strictly abide by military discipline, even when facing the emperor, which reflects the importance of discipline and rules in maintaining military order and ensuring the completion of tasks.

Emperor Hanwen recognized Zhou Yafu's talent and loyalty through this incident, which shows that leaders should be good at discovering and appointing talented people, even if it means facing some challenges.

At the same time, this also reminds superiors to respect and understand their subordinates' working methods and rules when communicating with subordinates in order to establish a good working relationship.

Zhou Yafu’s behavior also reflects his loyalty to the court and the emperor, and superiors should encourage their subordinates to cultivate this kind of loyalty and sense of responsibility."

After further explanation, the little emperor was able to understand the hidden meaning behind this story.

If it hadn't been said by the generals, the young emperor might not have been able to think of it even if he had to wait a few years.

But now through the Sutra Banquet, the little emperor can easily understand the truth through the story. This is the original meaning of "preaching, imparting knowledge and solving doubts".

After the classwork was finished, Wei Guangde asked the little emperor to go back and write an article about his feelings, and then copy "The Labor Force at the Willow Camp" three times. This is today's homework.

After speaking, Wei Guangde picked up the tea cup and took a big sip. The feeling of dryness in his mouth was greatly relieved.

"Teacher, I remember that Zhou Yafu didn't end well?"

During the next chat, the little emperor spoke.

Wei Guangde nodded. There was nothing to say about this. Zhou Yafu was suspected of treason and eventually died on a hunger strike.

"Then your Majesty thinks that if you were Emperor Jing, how would you treat him?"

Wei Guangde asked calmly with a smile on his face.

"Imprisoned in the mansion, he retains his dignity. After all, he did make great contributions during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion."

The little emperor thought about it and said.

"Your Majesty thinks Zhou Yafu is guilty?"

Wei Guangde asked with a smile.

"Although I also believe that Zhou Yafu's armor may really be used for burial, but so what, the imperial court has expressly prohibited the private possession of armor.

As the prime minister, of course he knew that this was a law, but he still kept it in the palace, so he was naturally guilty. "

The little emperor Zhu Yijun said with a serious face.

Wei Guangde stared at Zhu Yijun for a long time, which made the little emperor feel a little embarrassed, but it was probably because he felt that he had said the wrong thing that Wei Guangde burst into laughter.

"Your Majesty is indeed right. Zhou Yafu is indeed guilty according to the law for hiding the armor. Even if he claimed that his son was in charge of it, he did not know about it."

In fact, in ancient times, armor had always been regarded as strategic equipment and was absolutely not allowed to be collected in private homes.

Even the military households of the Ming Dynasty could only keep the armor left by their ancestors in their homes, that is, the mandarin duck war jacket or the armor they had used as a souvenir.

In this case, even the military commander's family would not be able to retain much armor, just a few sets.

This is of course nothing to the Ming Dynasty. After all, the armor coverage rate of the Ming Dynasty soldiers is the highest in history.

Yes, even the worst guard posts in the Ming Dynasty had an armor coverage rate of close to 50%, while the armor coverage rate of elite frontier troops could be as high as over 80%.

Don't think that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty used cotton armor in large numbers. Only generals used iron armor. Is it because the defensive power of cotton armor is not good? In fact, the defensive power of cotton armor is quite excellent.

Of course, this refers to the kind that maintains quality and quantity, not cutting corners.

In the War to Aid Korea more than ten years later, tens of thousands of Ming troops were able to repel hundreds of thousands of Japanese pirates. It was not only the excellent firearms of the Ming army, but also the high armor rate of the elite frontier troops of the Ming army that allowed the Ming army to defeat them. One against a hundred.

In fact, during the Sino-Japanese War at that time, the Ming army had an advantage with artillery, while the Japanese army had a numerical advantage with iron artillery.

However, the iron cannon that the Japanese army relied on during the Warring States Period was greatly reduced in power when faced with the armored soldiers of the Ming Army. In Japanese words, "bullets and arrows cannot break it." It is even recorded that "an arrow cannot stand up. Even a knife can’t cut it.”

Not only were Japanese swords unable to penetrate the armor of the Ming army, but also the more powerful bamboo spears could not penetrate. This was not made up by later generations of jokers. This was recorded in some Japanese private notes.

Of course, you can just look at the official Japanese historical materials, such as "Volume 15 of "Taiheki", "Tachibana Battle Record", "Kato Family Chronicles", "Miscellaneous Stories of Kyukoku": The Great Victory of Bito, defeating hundreds of Ming armies. Thousands, more than 38,000 were beheaded.”

Well, it means that all the Ming troops aiding the DPRK were killed in this battle.

In fact, the Wanli War to Aid Korea was fought twice. The first time the Ming Dynasty sent 40,000 troops, and the second time it sent nearly 100,000 troops, for a total of about 140,000 troops.

Japan sent 150,000 troops for the first time, and increased its troops to 300,000 for the second time. Toyotomi Hideyoshi invested 100,000 reserve troops and 60,000 guards.

As for the most famous battle of "Bitiguan", more than 5,000 Ming troops participated in the battle and were besieged by 30,000 to 40,000 Japanese troops. After the war, the Ming army suffered more than 2,000 casualties, of which more than 200 were killed on the spot, and the Japanese suffered 5 casualties. More than a thousand were killed in battle but it is unknown.

The most obvious thing about this battle is that the Japanese weapons have limited lethality against the Ming army, and the Ming army can directly attack the numerically superior Japanese army and win.

It can be seen that the value of armor on ancient battlefields was very great.

Zhou Yafu was punished for wearing armor, but it was not unfair, even if he had his own explanation.

But during their subsequent chat, Wei Guangde began to bring in private information.

"The ancients said: "Although the world is safe, if you forget to fight, you will be in danger. "

Nowadays, the world has been at peace for a long time, the military equipment has been weakened, and the generals are controlled by the civil servants, no more than slaves.

If you can't maintain your sharpness on a daily basis, why should you blame your courage in facing the enemy?

From now on, I hope that the emperor will pay attention to military preparations. If the generals are loyal and brave, they must use a little authority to spread them. When the common people are facing the enemy, they will give strict orders and the soldiers will obey their orders. "

Wei Guangde spoke eloquently: "Today's knowledgeable scholars and officials all say: 'The world that our ancestors won with the tip of the knife has been destroyed by the tip of the pen. And using both civil and military forces is a long-lasting technique.'

That is to say, as the saying goes, "Civil officials can bring peace to the world with their pens, and military generals can bring peace to the world." ’”

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, the little emperor still nodded seriously, as if he understood.

"Teacher, does this mean we should be good at discovering capable generals?"

After a while, the little emperor asked, "It's like you recommended Ma Fang, who was still a guerrilla general, and then you chose Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, and now you try to use Li Chengliang."

Hearing this, Wei Guangde nodded and said with a smile: "Ma Fang has gradually been promoted from a small soldier through military exploits. He has proven his ability, but he is not sure what the upper limit is, so he can try to use it.

Yu Dayou was different. He performed meritorious service as a hundred households and was promoted to be the commander-in-chief. Qi Jiguang also performed extraordinary feats on the battlefield of suppressing Japanese invaders. Li Chengliang was similar.

The difference is that both Yu and Qi have actual combat achievements in the north and south to prove their abilities, while Li Chengliang only has achievements in Liaodong, so this trip to the southwest is also a test of his ability.

What I want to tell your Majesty is to find available generals from the Ministry of War documents and try to use them to give them a chance to perform.

Once it is confirmed that it is available, His Majesty will protect the person.

After all, the court must have generals who can lead troops into battle at all times in order to ensure long-term peace and order. Civil servants alone are not enough. "

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was not without military generals. Even during the Chongzhen period, there were bright generals, but they were not taken seriously. They withered one after another, and finally fell to the fate of subjugation, leaving the Han people to accept the enslavement of foreign races for three hundred years.

Of course Emperor Wanli understood the meaning of Wei Guangde's reminder. "Protect people well", wasn't it just for civil servants?

However, he still didn't understand. After Wei Guangde returned to the cabinet, he asked his ministers: "Master Wei, do you mean that in order to strengthen the rule of law, we should use literature as well as force?"

"My husband is also a civil servant, but he does not protect his own shortcomings. He wants to protect the generals and improve their military equipment for the imperial court. He can be said to be a man of public loyalty and service to the country."

Chen Ju, who was on duty today, immediately smiled and said. (End of chapter)