The Chinese nation has always been warless but not afraid of war, war has never been our first choice, and the ancients regarded "soldiers who surrender without fighting" as the supreme realm for resolving conflicts.
Perhaps that's why we invented gunpowder, but never thought of turning it into a **.
This is also the reason why "there are not many works on the history of Chinese affairs written in Western languages", military historian David Graff bluntly said"To Western sinologists, traditional China seems to be a long-term loser, with little to Xi learn from the victors in military art. ”His book, Wars in Medieval China: 300-900, is intended to fill this gap.
The book vividly recounts the history of military warfare from the disintegration of the Western Jin Dynasty to the fall of the Tang Dynasty, and delves into the profound impact of military system, military concept, and tactical changes on society and the country, trying to "interpret Chinese history with military history".
"How to maintain military power to defend the frontier and suppress internal rebellions without allowing this power to pose a threat to the throne. ”
The author's summary is to the point. Not only does the book deal with this period, but throughout the period of imperial China, isn't this the most troublesome problem for all rulers - they don't have enough power for fear of instability on the throne, and too strong for fear of being replaced.
History probably repeats itself when the rulers kept trying new solutions and then suffered backlash.
Just like after the Jin Dynasty ended the era of the Three Kingdoms strife, the army was divided into "inner army" (garrison Beijing division) and "outer army" (garrison prefecture and county), not to mention, but also let the heavy army firmly in the hands of the kings of the clan - the facts soon proved that "their own people" were even more terrible if they were unreliable, and a "rebellion of the eight kings", the world soon changed hands.
The later Song Dynasty adopted the method of strictly controlling the army with civilian control and military force, and indeed never suffered such a large-scale military rebellion as the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty, but the cost was also obvious - the border problem was always a headache, and finally fell under the Mongol iron cavalry.
Compared with some easy-to-understand "history" books on the market, "Wars in Medieval China: 300-900" may not read as friendly, neither as "pretty" as power struggles, nor as "exciting" as harem secrets.
To read such a book, you must at least calm down, face the author's narrative with a serious attitude, and face the author's thinking with a rational standpoint.
Only in this way can you find the joy of reading.
For example, in our previous impression, the "Anshi Rebellion" was a completely bad thing - it displaced hundreds of people, it made our beloved Datang decline step by step, and it made "Song of Long Hatred" sigh to this day.
But the author pointed out the other side: "The Anshi Rebellion weakened the authority of the Tang Dynasty and caused the Tang Empire to fall into a serious **." This situation led to the more vigorous development of the market economy, the emergence of private ownership of land, and the rapid rise of a new bureaucratic landlord elite from different backgrounds. ”
Whether you agree or not, at least start to understand the same thing from different angles.
This is precisely the original intention of the publication of the "Huazhang Great History" series to which it belongs - to bring readers the ability to think critically.
"Our readers are a group with a certain amount of reading accumulation, and for this group, what needs to be done is professional history, serious history, and in-depth research. is different from joking about history and writing history at the grassroots level, and it is not simply collecting and sorting out historical materials and compiling them into a book. ”
It is also worth mentioning that the "Huazhang Great History" series is also exquisite in design and binding.
In this case, the cover, back cover, spine and mouth of the cover form a whole, and in addition to the usual information such as the title of the book, several white figures appear prominently in different positions, which is quite interesting - except for the two generals who are clustered around the two civil officials, the other generals have "crossed the border" to varying degrees.
The back of the shield was not ignored by the designer, and the mace, moon knife, and plain wood gun ......All kinds of weapons that have never been heard of are presented in front of you intuitively.
The inner cover picture is "full of war clouds": the city with the city gate closed, the faint roof inside the city, and the dense blades outside the city are all shrouded in thick clouds, which makes people inexplicably think of the cruelty and sadness of war - because no one can be seen.
Open the book, ring lining, clamp lining, front title, title page, each item is a lot, the lining and the title page respectively selected "Xiao Qin Wang arrow shooting Yin Di" and "Xue Rengui beheaded the meritorious service" embroidered image, which is still highly related to the content of the book.
From the cover to here, before entering the text, it is already full of "atmosphere".
The designer is Pan Zhenyu, a well-known teacher in the publishing industry, "In addition to the cover and inner cover of the book, he has to design the layout - including the opening page, title page, chapter page, end page, etc. He designs from the order in which the reader opens the book, presenting it little by little, and is a craftsman. ”
The enthusiasm of the writer and the ingenuity of the writer are worthy of the reader's attention.