Cuiwei beizheng lu 翠微北征錄

Cuiwei beizheng lu 翠微北征錄, also called Hua Yue Cuiwei xiansheng beizheng lu 華岳翠微先生北征錄, is a book on the war of the Southern Song 南宋 (1127-1279) against the Jurchen Jin state in northern China. The book with a length of 12 juan 金 (1115-1234) was written by Hua Yue 華岳 (d. 1221), courtesy name Zixi 子西, style Cuiwei 翠微.

It consists basically of two parts, namely Pingrong shi ce 平戎十策 "Ten strategies to pacify the barbarians", and Zhi'an yaoshi 治安藥石 "Remedies to bring peace". The book aimed to demonstrate that there were other strategies to cope with the Jurchen threat than the strategy of the war party of constantly deploying new troops or the appeasement party. Instead, he urged the state to use a delay tactic while secretly strengthening Song China's army and collecting suggestions from competent officials. Simultaneously, the minds of the officialdom and the people's hearts were to be fastened to create a unified and robut "national" force against the enemy.

A particular threat were the iron-clad cavalry and their fighting tactic. Hua proposed the revival of combined chariot-cavalry tactics and the intensified use of infantry crossbows against the Jurchen cavalry.

Hua's memorials to the throne, collected in the shape of the book, were not adopted by the Song court and disappeared for many centuries before they were rediscovered during the Qing period 清 (1644-1911).

The most widespread edition is that of the series Tangshiyi congshu 唐石簃叢書 (Liushi Tangshiyi 劉氏唐石簃) of Liu Shiheng 劉世珩 (1875-1926) which reproduces a print from 1902. It is included in Liu's collection Qiupu shuangzhong lu 秋浦雙忠錄, together with Hua's strategical book Cuiwei nanzheng lu 翠微南征錄 (11 juan; also found in the series Sibu congkan 四部叢刊) and Wu Yingji's 吳應箕 (1594-1645) texts Qi-Zhen liangchao bofu lu 啟禎兩朝剝復錄, Liudu jianwen lu 留都見聞錄, and Dushu zhiguan lu 讀書止觀錄.