Zhōngmù jí 忠穆集
Loyal-and-Solemn Collection by 呂頤浩 (撰)
About the work
Zhōngmù jí 忠穆集 in 8 juǎn (Sìkù Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction; originally 15 juǎn per Chén Zhènsūn 陳振孫 KR3h0011 and the Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì) is the literary collection of Lǚ Yíhào 呂頤浩 (1071–1139), twice prime minister under Gāozōng. The title is Lǚ’s posthumous canonisation Zhōngmù 忠穆 (Loyal-and-Solemn). The collection’s surviving content is heavily weighted toward administrative and strategic prose — zòushū memorials, jiāzǐ on military mobilisation and economy, and the YānWèi zájì 燕魏雜記 (Yan-and-Wei miscellany, originally 3 juǎn; 29 items survive). The work is a primary documentary source for Lǚ’s role in suppressing the 1129 Jiànyán mutiny and for early-Southern-Sòng strategic debate.
Tiyao
Zhōngmù jí in 8 juǎn, by Lǚ Yíhào of the Sòng. Yíhào, zì Yuánzhí, ancestral-seat Lèlíng, moved to Qízhōu. Jìnshì; under Huīzōng promoted to Héběi dūzhuǎnyùnshǐ. Gāozōng’s southward-crossing — recalled to be Prefect of Yángzhōu; twice entered government as Tóng zhōngshū ménxià píngzhāngshì. Later as Shàofù, Lǐquánguān shǐ retired-with-honour. Died, posthumously honoured Tàishī, Qínguógōng, shì Zhōngmù. Career in Sòng shǐ biography.
Yíhào’s collection of 15 juǎn — appearing in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí and the Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì — both records concur. The old version long-perished; only today the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn contains many surviving pieces scattered. Gathering and ordering them, we still obtain 137 pieces of prose, 58 pieces of poetry-and-cí. Today we reorder and arrange them into 8 juǎn.
While Yíhào held the prime-ministership, he was zhuānsì zìyòng (autocratic-self-willed); strongly squeezed-out Lǐ Gāng 李綱 and Lǐ Guāng and others. He created the yuèzhuāngqián (month-stake-money) — bequeathed-misery to the Southeast — deeply not-approved-of by public-opinion. But during the Xuānhé invasion-of-Yān (1122), Yíhào in his zhuǎnyùn memorials reported the urgent-and-dangerous five-affairs of Yānshān and Héběi, requesting deliberation on the chángjiǔ zhī cè (long-term plan) — at-the-time praised for his qièzhí (incisiveness-and-uprightness).
When during Jiànyán, Miáo Fǔ and Liú Zhèngyàn rebelled, Yíhào with Zhāng Jùn raised loyalist-troops; finally pacified the internal disturbance. Furthermore, having grown-up on the northwestern-and-northeastern borders, he was rather familiar with military-affairs. His responses-to-decree on the war-and-defence policies — recorded in Xú Mèngxīn’s 徐夢莘 Sāncháo běiméng huìbiān KR2c0009 — generally all said héyì zhī bì bù kě chéng (peace-discussion certainly cannot succeed) and counselled Gāozōng on a plan of chéngjī jìnqǔ (seizing-the-occasion-and-advancing). His division-of-troops-and-policies-of-response, the planning, was rather well-prepared. Although as Dūdū JiāngHuái he never accomplished a recovery-achievement, and could not fully repay what he proposed — yet compared to Zhāng Jùn’s yūdàn guǎmóu (impractical-and-pretentious, lacking-strategy), jièjí wùguó (jealous-and-misleading the state), the Fùpíng and other campaigns liúdú cāngshēng (poisoning the masses) — there is solid distance between them.
Within the collection, the Shàng shízhèng one-letter — composed in Jìngkāng first-year — was-able to predict the certainty of Jīn-troop arrival; zhūnzhūn yǐ qiānbì wéi shuō (urgently advocating relocation-and-avoidance) — also possessing foresight. But the běnzhuàn uniquely does-not mention this affair — this also is enough to bǔ shǐquē (supplement the lacuna in the standard history).
The Shūlù jiětí further says: the last 3 juǎn of the collection are all YānWèi zájì — surely composed by Yíhào during his Héběi tenure. Today there only-survive 29 entries — for ancient-monuments rather yǒu diǎnjù (with classical-evidence). Further: this collection, in Xiàozōng’s reign, was once placed-with the LiǎngZhè cáosī (Two-Zhejiang transit-bureau) for lòubǎn (carving-blocks) — visible in his son [Lǚ] Jìn 搢’s xièbiǎo. Now together with Yíhào’s pèixiǎng shěngjiā (memorial-temple offering decree) one piece appended at the end for jīhé (cross-checking). Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 3rd month.
Abstract
The 8-juǎn WYG Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstitution recovers approximately 195 of Lǚ’s writings (137 prose + 58 poetry/cí), against the 15-juǎn original recorded in Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí KR3h0011 and the Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì. The Sìkù editors’ political-historical evaluation is unusually full: they catalogue Lǚ’s negative legacy (the yuèzhuāngqián fiscal levy, the suppression of the Yuányòu faction, the autocratic chancellery-style) but elevate three positive assessments — (a) his 1122 Xuānhé memorials predicting the strategic disaster on the Yānshān / Héběi front; (b) his loyalist intervention in the 1129 MiáoLiú mutiny; (c) his 1126 Jìngkāng memorial Shàng shízhèng predicting the Jīn invasion and counselling relocation, which the Sòng shǐ biography fails to record (a documentary lacuna the Sìkù tíyào explicitly identifies as suppliable from the Zhōngmù jí). The favourable comparison with Zhāng Jùn 張浚 is pointed: where Zhāng is faulted for Fùpíng zhī yì (the disastrous 1130 Fùpíng campaign), Lǚ is credited with realistic strategic counsel.
The YānWèi zájì (originally 3 juǎn, now 29 fragmentary entries) is a topographic-and-antiquarian record of Lǚ’s Héběi service and is independently valuable.
CBDB id 1310 confirms 1071–1139.
Translations and research
- Sòng shǐ j. 362 — Lǚ Yí-hào biography.
- 徐夢莘 Sān-cháo běi-méng huì-biān KR2c0009 — preserves Lǚ’s strategic memorials.
- No dedicated Western-language study located.
Other points of interest
- The Zhōngmù jí is a key source for the early-Southern-Sòng zhàn / hé (war-or-peace) debate; readers should consult it alongside the documentary record in KR2c0009 and Lǐ Gāng’s 李綱 writings (KR4d series). Lǚ and Lǐ Gāng disagreed sharply, and Lǚ’s role in displacing Lǐ should be read with each side’s documentary record consulted.