Today, the history encyclopedia editor has prepared the story of Xu Dong for everyone. Interested friends, come and take a look!
The Song Dynasty in Chinese history was a very special dynasty, which produced many famous people and anecdotes. We are familiar with Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, and so on, all of whom come from this era.
Of course, these are all well-known individuals. In fact, there are also some people who, although not well-known, are very talented and have left behind many stories. For example, Xu Dong.
We may not be familiar with Xu Dong, but we are definitely familiar with another person, who is Shen Kuo. We should be familiar with Shen Kuo, the great scientist of the Northern Song Dynasty. Xu Dong is Shen Kuo’s uncle and second uncle.
What are the characteristics of Xu Dong? Although he passed the imperial examination, he never found a decent official in his entire life. Always just a judge, similar to the role of a court judge today.
He was a literary figure who never went to the battlefield or participated in major military operations throughout his life. However, relying solely on his love for reading and thinking, he wrote a military treatise that would influence future generations for hundreds of years, called the “Tiger Seal Classic”.
Xu Dong spent four years writing the “Tiger Seal Classic”, consisting of 20 volumes and 210 articles, discussing 210 issues.
The ‘Tiger’ is the ‘Tiger Talisman’, also known as the ‘Military Talisman’, and the ‘Seal’ is the ‘Lock Key’. The ‘Tiger Seal Classic’ is the book used to unlock the Military Talisman Lock Key, which should be prepared by those in charge of military power.
The Tiger Seal Sutra absorbs the essence of Sun Tzu and Taibai Yin Sutra, making it more accessible; Based on the changes in time and personnel, it can be inferred from both the ancestors and the author’s perspective.
The essence of The Seal of the Tiger includes:
The first one is the “proactive thinking”, which means being prepared for the future. To plan for the use of troops, first plan for the safety of the people; To plan an attack on the enemy, first plan to supply food; To plan a sparse formation, first seek geographical advantages; To achieve victory over the enemy, first seek harmony with others; To secure a foothold, first seek savings; To plan for a strong army, first plan for rewards and punishments. This is similar to the later saying of ‘widely accumulating grain, building high walls, and slowly proclaiming oneself king’.
The second is to guide according to the situation. Despite the auspicious and inauspicious times, the treacherous terrain, and the advantageous and disadvantageous situations in battle, if one can see misfortune in good fortune and good fortune in misfortune; Easy to see danger, easy to see danger; Seeing harm in the midst of benefits, seeing benefits in the midst of harm, one can use military force to make the most of their changes. To respond to the enemy with emptiness, inclusiveness, and transformation.
Thirdly, in actual combat, we should be good at “seizing power”, including seizing air, seizing passes, seizing courage, etc., that is, creating favorable conditions to overwhelm the enemy.
Finally, it is advocated that the principles of military strategy should not be seen as rigid dogmas, in order to achieve unexpected results.
The book also records mystical things such as “Six Ren Dunjia”, “Fengyun Climate”, and “Stars, Sun, and Moon”.
In short, this is a book that summarizes the thoughts of predecessors, but unfortunately, Xu Dong did not apply it to practical situations.
There’s nothing we can do about it. The Northern Song Dynasty had a strong emphasis on literature over martial arts, so even if Xu Dong had great military talent, it would be of no use and he could only talk about military affairs on paper.
In a dynasty dominated by literati, warriors can only sleep with their heads covered, with only the ambition to serve the country but no place for heroes.
So, Xu Dong, who has ambitions, can only rely on wine and bamboo. Alcohol can intoxicate and forget troubles; Bamboo is one of the Four Gentlemen, representing one’s own refined character.
Xu Dong loves to drink whenever he has nothing to do. He drinks until he’s completely drunk, getting drunk every three days and every five days. In his dreams, the sun and moon are short, but the world in the pot is long.
After returning to Wuzhong for several years, I devoted myself to drinking heavily every day
The question is, where does Xu Dong get the money for drinking day and night? Although the salary of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty was high, Xu Dong was just a junior official, not as good as Bao Qingtian. His annual salary was equivalent to several million yuan today.
Xu Dong, as a juror, his salary must not be so high. That salary is definitely not enough to buy alcohol. So, he can only offer credit for the wine.
As a result, Xu Dong had been owing a lot of wine money to the restaurant for a long time, which made the restaurant a little unhappy. When Xu Dong came to lend wine again, he directly said, “Mr. Xu, you have already owed a lot. Can you repay what you owed before
Xu Dong was a little unhappy when he saw that the shopkeeper was asking for money. It was just a few dollars, right? Come on, bring some ink and brush over. Subsequently, Xu Dong began to brush his brush on the walls of the shop, with his brush running smoothly and his poems and verses dripping with ink filling the walls.
Xu Dong’s actions attracted a crowd, and everyone praised the writing as good and wonderful, with cheers echoing one after another. Finally, Xu Dong waved his big hand and said, “A petty person is not talented. They have a good life of drinking, but they don’t have enough money to drink. If everyone thinks it’s well written, they can make a fortune
As soon as the words fell, the onlookers threw copper coins one after another. In the end, they calculated that not only did they pay back the money they owed for the wine before, but they also had a lot of money left for buying wine in the future.
This is a cultural person, cultural people are different.
People only know that Banqiao loves bamboo, but they don’t know that Xudong also likes bamboo. Every time Xudong lives, he plants a bamboo plant to show his independent and proud behavior. Jiangnan people call it “a bamboo pole in front of Xudong’s door”.
What a hole, it’s really interesting.
Although Xu Dong did not become a high-ranking official or fully utilize his military talents throughout his life, he achieved great success and dominated the world.
I think Xu Dongsheng was born in the Tang Dynasty and may have been a hero of his generation. He made great achievements, fought on the battlefield, and commanded with great determination. Of course, history cannot be assumed.
But Xu Dong finally left behind a military book that influenced future generations, which is also considered good.
