Yīlěi yuánróng 醫壘元戎
The Imperial Battle-Captain of the Medical Camp by 王好古 (Wáng Hǎogǔ, zì Jìnzhī, hào Hǎicáng, fl. 1308, 元)
About the work
A major Yuán-period systematic clinical treatise, in 12 juan, originally composed by Wáng Hǎogǔ in 1231 (Jīn Zhèngdà 8 / xīnmǎo) but lost during the JīnYuán transition; reconstructed by Wáng from memory in 1237 (Yuán Tàizōng 9 / dīngyǒu). The reconstruction recovered seven-or-eight tenths of the original. The work is structured around the twelve channels (十二經) as the major framework, with each channel’s discussion opening with cold-damage (Shānghán) symptom-treatment and continuing with miscellaneous-disease symptom-treatment. The doctrinal foundation is Zhāng Jī’s Chángshā tradition (Zhòngjǐng’s discussions of Chángshā), supplemented by Lǐ Gǎo’s Spleen-and-Stomach school (the Dōngyuán Yìshuǐ method) and selectively from the Héjì jú fāng tradition. The title — “The Imperial Battle-Captain of the Medical Camp” — derives from Wáng’s preface analogizing the wise physician’s prescription-strategy to a military commander’s battle-strategy. An interesting philological note: while the Cǐshì nánzhī (KR3e0055) preface declares Wáng a disciple of Lǐ Gǎo, this work’s annotations refer to Lǐ Gǎo as “the Master, Lǐ Míngzhī” (杲為東垣李明之先生) and to Zhāng Yuánsù as “the Old Man, my late teacher” (先師潔古老人) — so Wáng’s actual teacher-line was Zhāng Yuánsù, with subsequent further study under Lǐ Gǎo.
Tiyao
Yīlěi yuánróng, 12 juan, by Wáng Hǎogǔ of the Yuán. Hǎogǔ, zì Jìnzhī, was a man of Zhàozhōu, holding the office of Education-Officer (jiàoshòu) of his home prefecture. According to Hǎogǔ’s preface to the Cǐshì nánzhī, his learning derives from Lǐ Gǎo. But this book — under the Hǎicáng huángqí tāng 海藏黃耆湯 entry — refers to Gǎo as “Mr Dōngyuán Lǐ Míngzhī”; while under the Yìlǎo dà qiānghuó tāng 易老大羌活湯 entry it refers to “the Old Man, my late teacher Jiégǔ” (Zhāng Yuánsù). So Hǎogǔ in fact apprenticed with Zhāng Yuánsù — perhaps as Zhào Kuāng 趙匡 and Lù Chún 陸淳 both received the Chūnqiū learning from Dàn Zhù 啖助 [Tang-period figure], with Lù Chún further consulting Zhào Kuāng on points of doubt.
The work’s self-postface says: “The book was originally completed in xīnmǎo (Jīn Āizōng Zhèngdà 8 = 1231); by the spring of dīngyǒu (Yuán Tàizōng 9 = 1237 — the fourth year after the Yuán’s destruction of Jīn) it had been silently taken by someone, and the original draft was completely gone — no other copy. I held the office of Prefectural Education-Officer; closing my door and nursing my dullness, in the leisure of pickled-vegetables-and-salt I had nothing else to occupy my mind. I tried to recall what I could from beginning to end, recovering seven-or-eight tenths; gradually trying out the book first-and-last, I finally restored its completeness.” At the head is a self-preface also dated dīngyǒu — so the work was first composed at the end of the Jīn and re-edited at the beginning of the Yuán.
The book takes the twelve channels as the principal framework, each opening with cold-damage and continuing with miscellaneous-symptom material. The doctrinal lineage takes Chángshā (Zhòngjǐng = Zhāng Jī)‘s thread of discussion as the basis, mixed with the methods of Dōngyuán (Lǐ Gǎo) and Yìshuǐ (Zhāng Yuánsù), with quite a bit drawn from the Héjì jú fāng — the path differs slightly from Dānxī (Zhū Zhènhēng). However, under entries such as Bànliú wán 半硫丸, the note says “This pill was used in ancient times; the seasonal-qì is now thinner, and it is no longer used” — so the careful adjustment-and-flexibility is fully evident.
The title “Yīlěi yuánróng” (Imperial Battle-Captain of the Medical Camp): the self-preface says “the good physician’s use of medicine is like the battle-commander’s use of soldiers.”
This base copy is the Jiājìng guǐmǎo (1543) Liáodōng Xúnfǔ Yòu Dūyùshǐ Yúyáo Gù Suì 顧遂’s print, with a Wànlì guǐsì (1593) Liǎnghuái Yányùn Tóngzhī Yínxiàn Tú Běnjùn 屠本畯 reprint; the editorial conventions vary considerably. The “book-cloth-bag” 書帕 print-line tends to alter the original conventions. Without access to the original, we follow Tú Běnjùn’s reprint here.
(Respectfully verified, 5th month of Qiánlóng 46 [1781]. Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.)
Abstract
Composition window: 1231 (initial Jīn-period composition) to 1237 (Yuán-period reconstruction). The catalog dynasty 元 reflects the reconstruction date.
The work’s significance:
(a) The twelve-channel structural plan: Wáng Hǎogǔ’s organizational choice — using the twelve channels as the principal categorical framework rather than syndromic categories — is one of the more distinctive structural plans in the Yuán-period clinical-medical literature. Each channel’s discussion proceeds from cold-damage to miscellaneous-disease, integrating Shānghán and Zábìng under a unified channel-grounded scheme.
(b) The Zhāng Yuánsù transmission line: the work corrects the common impression (per the Cǐshì nánzhī preface) that Wáng Hǎogǔ was simply a disciple of Lǐ Gǎo. Wáng’s actual teacher-line was Zhāng Yuánsù → Wáng (with further study under Lǐ Gǎo) — making him heir to two of the foundational figures of the Yìshuǐ school.
(c) The JīnYuán reconstructive textual history: Wáng’s lost-and-recovered reconstruction is a useful witness to the textual disruptions of the JīnYuán transition. The 1231 → 1237 lost-and-rebuilt sequence is one of the more dramatic Chinese medical-textual histories.
(d) The military-strategic prescriptive metaphor: the title’s analogy of medicine to military strategy is a recurring SòngYuán Chinese medical metaphor (cf. Zhāng Jièbīn’s later Bīngfǎ metaphors), reflecting the integration of strategic-tactical reasoning into Chinese medical thought.
The Míng commercial-print history (Jiājìng 1543 → Wànlì 1593) and the shūpà běn (book-cloth-bag print, a Míng commercial-print convention) editorial history is documented in the tíyào — a useful piece of book-historical information.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western translation of this specific work.
- See KR3e0055 for the principal references on Wáng Hǎogǔ and the Zhāng Yuánsù → Lǐ Gǎo → Wáng Hǎogǔ transmission.
- Mǎ Jìxīng 馬繼興, Zhōng-yī wénxiàn xué 中醫文獻學, Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi Kēxué Jìshù Chūbǎnshè, 1990 (entry on the Yī-lěi yuán-róng).
Other points of interest
The “book taken” 為人陰取 episode in the postface is one of the more candid Chinese medical-history accounts of intellectual property theft. Wáng’s reconstruction-from-memory effort is impressive; the recovery of seven-or-eight tenths of a 12-juan work over a 6-year period demonstrates both Wáng’s intellectual command of his material and the sociology of Yuán-period medical-knowledge transmission, where memorization and master-disciple verbal transmission complemented written texts.
The “Bànliú wán” annotation on outdated prescription-applicability — “the seasonal-qì is now thinner, and it is no longer used” — is a useful witness to Wáng’s clinical sophistication in adapting prescriptions to contemporary climatic-and-constitutional conditions, in line with the yùnqì doctrine.