kuo

kuo

Shen Kuo (1031-1095), a Han nationality, was born in Qiantang County of Hangzhou (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province), an official and scientist of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Shen Kuo was born in an official family and traveled with his father when he was young. In 1063, he joined the Imperial College in Yangzhou. During the reign of emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, he participated in the Xining political reform and was highly valued by Wang Anshi. He served as crown prince zhongyun, censor of Zhongshu's criminal chamber, promoted to the post of Si Tianjian, reviewed by the historical museum, and three secretaries. In the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), he went out to know Yanzhou and concurrently served as a pacifier for the managyan road. He stationed at the border to resist the Xixia. Later, he was demoted because of the war of Yongle city. In his later years, he moved to Runzhou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province) and lived in seclusion in Mengxi garden. Shaosheng two years (1095), died of illness, at the age of 65.

Shen Kuo devoted all his life to scientific research, and had profound attainments and outstanding achievements in many disciplines. He was known as "the most outstanding person in the whole history of Science in China". His representative work "Mengxi Bi Tan" is rich in content, which integrates the achievements of the previous generation of science. It has an important position in the history of world culture and is known as "a milestone in the history of Chinese science".

Life of the characters

Early experience

In 1031, Shen Kuo was born into the Shen family in Qiantang, Hangzhou (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). His grandfather, Shen Zengqing, was once the Prime Minister of Dali temple. His father, Shen Zhou, and his uncle, Shen Tong, were both Jinshi.

Shen Kuo was diligent and studious when he was young. At the age of 14, he finished his family's book collection. He traveled to Quanzhou, Runzhou, Jianzhou, Bianjing and other places with his father. He came into contact with the society, increased his knowledge, and showed a strong interest in nature and keen observation.

Shen Kuo has been weak since childhood, and he studies very hard, so he often needs to take Chinese medicine to recuperate. Shen family in Qiantang has made great achievements in medicine and pharmacy. He has a family medicine book "Bo Ji Fang". Influenced by his family, Shen Kuo began to study medicine from collecting medical prescriptions.

In the second year of emperor you's reign (1050), Shen Zhouzhi lived in Mingzhou (today's Ningbo, Zhejiang Province). Shen Kuo borrowed his home from his mother's uncle in Suzhou and benefited a lot from his Uncle Xu Dong's books and collections. He began to have a strong interest in military affairs.

Stepping into official career

In the third year of Huangyou (1051), his father Shen Zhou died. In the first year of he (1054), Shen Kuo became an official with his father's shadow and served as the chief of Shuyang County in Haizhou. Therefore, he managed SHUSHUI and developed farmland, which made great achievements. After the completion of the project, Shen Kuo resigned and went to Ningguo County, where his brother Shen PI was in office, to prepare for the imperial examination.

In 1061, Shen PI presided over the wanchunwei project in Wuhu. Shen Kuo had experience in water control, so he made suggestions and detailed records.

In the eighth year of Jiayou (1063), Shen Kuo became a Jinshi and was elected according to the system because he was outside the top six. The next year, when Shen Kuo's election period expired, he granted Yangzhou manager the right to join the army and take charge of the prison in one state.

In the second year of Zhiping (1065), Shen Kuo was recommended by Zhang Peng, a transport envoy on Huainan road. Shen Kuo was transferred to the capital to edit the books of Zhaowen library, participate in the detailed ordering of armillary sphere, and study astronomy and calendar in his spare time.

In the first year of Xining reign (1068), Shen Kuo was promoted to the post of collation in the library. He had the opportunity to contact the Royal Collection and further enrich his knowledge. In August, when his mother died of illness, Shen Kuo resigned and escorted the coffin back to Qiantang.

Participating in the reform

In the fourth year of Xining (1071), Shen Kuo went to Beijing to report his work after his funeral. He was respected by Shenzong and Wang Anshi, and was appointed as the official of Zhongshu prison.

In 1072, Shen Kuo was ordered to take charge of the dredging project of Bianhe river. In July, he was appointed to the Museum of history to review the project. According to the custom, the emperor went to Yuanqiu every three years to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, and the officials often used it to build gardens and seek personal interests. Shen Kuo investigated the historical evolution of Nanjiao Dali, wrote Nanjiao style, and was appointed to take charge of Jiaosi affairs. Shen Kuo followed the new etiquette and saved tens of thousands of expenses. Shenzong was very satisfied.

In August, when there was a famine in Huainan, Shen Kuo was ordered to patrol, distribute money and grain, dredge rivers and canals, repair and control wasteland, and achieved remarkable results. He was promoted to Jixian school manager to patrol farmland and water conservancy in Zhejiang and Zhejiang provinces. The scale of water conservancy projects in Zhejiang Province is huge. Shen Kuo proposed to hire hungry people to build water conservancy projects, which was approved by Shenzong. In September, Shen Kuo was promoted to the post of Prince zhongyun and promoted to the post of Tianjian. At that time, the Japanese officials were all mediocre people, almost totally ignorant of astronomy. Shen Kuo reformed his organization, improved his instruments, called on Wei Pu to build a new calendar, and collected books on astronomical observation from all over the country.

In November, the imperial court registered private vehicles, and Shiyi company planned to seal up private wells to prevent Sichuan from peddling well salt. Shen Kuo said: the people are all peace cars, which is not conducive to mobile operations; there are many small salt wells, so it is necessary to strengthen vigilance to fill and seal private wells, and the gain is not worth the loss. Shenzong agreed. The next day, Shen Kuo was promoted to zhizhigao, Tongjin and Yintai.

In August of 1074, Shen Kuo was transferred to Hebei West Road Inspection envoy to promote the volunteer and Baojia official affairs of Hebei West Road. Hebei West Road is located in Northern Xinjiang. After Shen Kuo took office, his work focused on the reform of military and political affairs and the consolidation of national defense.

In February of 1075, Shen Kuo returned to Beijing, and Shangshu put forward 31 rectification suggestions, most of which were confirmed and adopted by Shenzong. In September, Shen Kuo also served as the commander in charge of the casting and storage of weapons. Shen Kuo had a deep research on bow, put forward the view that "bow has six virtues", and proposed to manufacture "divine arm bow" in large quantities. By May of the next year, when the ordnance supervisor reported it to the imperial court, the output of weapons had increased by more than ten times.

In February of 1075, Shen Kuo was ordered to revise the "nine army tactics". The nine armies were divided into nine battalions, each of which was an array with its back and back, facing each other face to face, flexible and changeable. It was called "Bian Zhou array". In September, he compiled the French style of building the fortress and barracks.

Mission to Liao

In March of the eighth year of Xining (1075), there was a border conflict between Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty. Liao envoy Xiao Xi went to Bianjing, accusing the Song court of dishonesty in negotiation, delaying and refusing to leave. Shen Kuo went to the Privy Council to check the previous archives and found that the agreement agreed by song and Liao dynasties in the past was to take the ancient Great Wall as the boundary, while Huangwei mountain was to the south of the ancient Great Wall, which was 30 li away, so he submitted it to the imperial court. Shenzong rewarded Shen Kuo with 1000 taels of platinum and asked him to send an envoy to Liao as a thanking envoy.

In the middle of April, when Shen Kuo set out from Bianjing, he found out dozens of relevant correspondence files in advance for his staff and officials to memorize. Whenever Khitan Prime Minister Yang Yijie asked questions, Shen Kuo asked his officials to list the file provisions to answer. When the talks were held six times, Yang Yijie had nothing to say. He threatened to say that it was not conducive to peace if the two countries could be separated from each other within a few miles. Shen Kuo declared that he would not yield to any land on the grounds of the morality of the country and the foundation of the people. With the efforts of Shen Kuo and his party, the Liao court finally gave way, and the tense relationship between song and Liao was temporarily eased.

In July, Shen Kuo set out to return to China. According to the geographical situation, customs and people's feelings along the way, he wrote a picture of Shi Qidan for the imperial court. Due to his meritorious service as an envoy, Shen Kuo was promoted as a military pacifier in Huainan and liangzhezhou. In October, he was authorized to send three envoys. In October of the next year, he became Hanlin bachelor and Quan San Si Shi.

Be demoted by impeachment

In October 1076, Wang Anshi dismissed his prime minister, and Wu Chong succeeded him. Shen Kuo reports to the prime minister's office. Wu Chong asks about the exemption law. Shen Kuo suggests reducing the service money for the poor. Wu Chong agrees and reports to Shenzong. In November, Shen Kuo wrote a letter again demanding that the next household's service money be reduced or remitted, and suggested that the imperial court should organically combine the old law on official duties with the current law on exemption from official duties, and implement "parallel employment of official duties". Shen Kuo's view was put forward only after Wang Anshi's resignation. There was a subtle change in his attitude towards the exemption law, which provided a solid excuse for those who opposed him.

In 1077, the censor Cai que impeached Shen Kuo on the grounds of attaching himself to the minister (Wu Chong), overstepping his power to say things (the exemption law belongs to the Si Nong Temple), and different attitudes. In July, Shen Kuo was dismissed as an envoy of the third secretary and a scholar of the Imperial Academy. He was demoted as a living person, a Bachelor of Jixian academy and a scholar of zhixuanzhou.

In the first year of Yuanfeng (1078), Shenzong intended to use Shen Kuo as zhizhigao and zhitanzhou. Cai que wrote again, accusing Shen Kuo of "being capricious and attached to the Council, being demoted for less than a year and not suitable for promotion", and the edict was withdrawn.

In July of the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), Shen Kuo was reinstated to the LongTuge court.

Garrison Xixia

In the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), Shen Kuo changed his knowledge of Yanzhou and concurrently served as a pacifier of Minyan road to resist the Xixia. When he arrived in Yanzhou, Shen Kuo bought wine with the money given by the imperial court, called on the children of the border people to carry out horse riding and archery activities, and toasted the winner personally. The border people were enthusiastic. The campaign lasted for one year, from which Shen Kuo selected elite soldiers to enrich the frontier defense forces. Yanzhou's military was far more powerful than other state capitals.

In October of the fourth year of Yuanfeng (1081), tens of thousands of Tibetan troops attacked shunning village, the frontier fortress. Shen Kuo sent major generals Jing Siyi and Qu Li to attack the Tibetan army with 3000 troops. Then he ordered Li Da to lead thousands of troops to attack, carrying 100000 troops' grain, and declared that Shen Kuo, the commander-in-chief of Bingyan Road, would personally lead the army to supervise the war. The Tibetan soldiers didn't know the truth, and their morale was lax. The song army took advantage of the situation to attack the Moya village, with 10000 men and women and 30000 cattle and sheep.

In November, the twelve generals of the Hedong army, who were ordered to fight in the west, led the army to return to the East. After the delay, Shen Kuo seized the opportunity and ordered the Ministry to show off its force in Suide city. He claimed that the Song court had appointed Shen Kuo to lead the twelve generals of the Hedong army and would fight in the West impromptu. The garrison of Xixia army came to inquire after the news, and found that a large group of people gathered and believed it. They abandoned the city overnight and fled. Shen Kuo took futu, Wubao and Yihe with no blood.

In February of the fifth year of Yuanfeng (1082), Shen Kuo was promoted to the Bachelor of LongTuge with the title of "defending the border and making contributions to the vice border affairs". In April, Xixia planned to take Jintang city as its stronghold

Chinese PinYin : Shen Kuo