Qi Jiguang was a famous military figure of the Ming Dynasty, he formed the Qi Family Army, resisted the Wu and made meritorious contributions, his military ideas and military theories were passed down to future generations, and their influence was great, which was a milestone figure in China's military history.
However, I am afraid that many people do not know that the source of Qi Jiguang's strategic and tactical ideas is related to an ancient Chinese philosophical work, which is "Zhou Yi".
"Zhou Yi" is a divination book philosophy book based on the gua xiang jiao, it seems to have no direct relationship with the military, Qi Jiguang as a professional soldier, why would he draw nutrition from "Zhou Yi"?
Today we will talk about the relationship between Qi Jiguang and "Zhou Yi".
The reason why Qi Jiguang is different is that he himself summed up his experience according to practice and created a set of military theories that were advanced in ancient times.
He has made concrete and effective summaries of various aspects of military selection and recruitment, military training, deployment, command, and specific techniques and tactics, and has written two classic works, "New Book of Ji Effect" and "Record of Military Training."
Throughout his life, Qi Jiguang swept away the Wokou and guarded the northern border, with outstanding military achievements and prestige, and conducted many studies on his military ideology and military theory.
In Qi Jiguang's theory of thought, we can see the influence of Zhou Yi on him.
Qi Jiguang once compiled his own poets into a book called "The Collection of Zhizhitang". Why is it called that? It turned out that the Zhizhi Hall was the name of the three study rooms where Qi Jiguang worked.
So, why did Qi Jiguang name his study office "Zhi Zhi Tang"?
In fact, this name is from "Zhou Yi", Zhou Yi "big animal gua" on the Gong xia qian,
There is the meaning of "stop", the so-called stop is to stop, stop and stop, can stop and stop, all related to this gua.
Qi Jiguang's cessation of the hall is to warn himself to remain modest and vigilant at all times, and at the same time, he also has the meaning of admonishing his subordinates to clean themselves and abide by the law and discipline.
This is the meaning of Qi Jiguang's "Stop And Stop", he can use the theory of "Zhou Yi" for himself, which shows that Qi Jiguang is a figure who is proficient in easy reason.
Qi Jiguang's tactical thinking has deep traces of easy to learn, he created sticks, formations and frontal tactics, mostly based on the five elements of bagua as a paradigm, for evolution, from the root, this is from the "Zhou Yi".
Qi Jiguang, like another famous anti-Wu general, Yu Dayu, is an all-rounder of literature and martial arts, Yu Dayu realized the extraordinary sword techniques and tactics from "Zhou Yi", which was deeply praised by Qi Jiguang, and the two often exchanged views and discussed with each other, it is conceivable that Qi Jiguang must have drawn nourishment from Yu Dayu's military theory, and the idea of "Zhou Yi" must have also influenced him.
As a philosophical work of the cornerstone nature of ancient China, "Zhou Yi" is a book that must be studied and mastered by celebrities of all dynasties, and Yixue Theory is one of the most important theoretical tools for ancient Chinese to explain the universe, whether it is politicians, military experts or martial artists, medical scientists, and writers.
In fact, the integration of Yixue theory into the military, Qi Jiguang is not the first case, as early as the Tang Dynasty, there were military works with the sign of Yixue, And Qi Jiguang was just a successor.
However, Qi Jiguang relied on his outstanding talents and meticulous research to carry forward this theory and integrate it more closely with reality.