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Treating disease is like a general campaigning against an enemy. In the place of battle and attack, those who employ troops certainly have the heart to seek victory; yet once they deploy the "back-to-the-river" formation (a desperate tactical arrangement), onlookers are astounded. Without Han Xin (Marquis of Huaiyin) to analyze and deduce it, who would know that this stems from military strategy? This shows that armies cannot exist without theory; how much more so can medicine exist without theory?

My fellow townsman Zhang Gao, courtesy name Jiming, had his great-uncle Zichong become renowned for his medical skills in the Jing-Luo region. Zichong learned medicine from Fan Zhongyan (Posthumous Title: Zhongxuan). Zichong's father (Zhang Gao's grandfather) also studied under his elder uncle and gained insights. By the time of his father and Jiming, the lineage continued, with deep roots and long flow, truly representing three generations of hereditary physicians. Jiming was adept at reading books; whenever he encountered texts mentioning medicine, he recorded them, naming the collection *Yi Shuo* (Medical Sayings). Upon first seeing something, he would say, "I have obtained several matters." Upon seeing more, he would say, "Recently I have obtained several more matters." His intention was to accumulate one thousand such matters to pass on to others. I reflect that medical books are based on *Suwen* (Basic Questions) and *Lingshu* (Spiritual Pivot), expanded by *Nanjing* (Classic of Difficult Issues) and *Maijue* (Pulse Aphorisms); the roles of Jun-Chen-Zuo-Shi (Sovereign-Minister-Assistant-Courier) of herbs are all gathered in *Bencao* (Materia Medica). The world therefore does not go beyond these to practice medicine. Now, if someone produces a unique approach to rescue people from severe illness, people will surely be amazed and consider it unprecedented by predecessors. From my perspective, is this not similar to the "back-to-the-river" formation? Thus, I know this book is beneficial.

In the winter of the Jiyou year, Jiming brought the manuscript to visit me and said, "Although the book is unfinished, please allow me to have it printed first, as a means of encouragement for my efforts, which I could not achieve alone." At that time, I was occupied with official duties in Yan-Ying, extremely busy. However, considering Jiming's sincere request and his dedication to his profession, ensuring the selection must be precise, I did not have time to write a comprehensive preface. I only sighed that he wrote this book in his prime yet was willing to share it with others; his mindset is worthy of great praise. Is it not because he served his grandfather and heard many extraordinary stories, so he did not treat acquired knowledge as private property? This is why I value Jiming even more. Therefore, I wrote this to serve as the preface to *Yi Shuo*. On the sixth day of the tenth month of the Jiyou year, Lu Xu, Chao-Fu Da-Fu (Counselor) and Acting Prefect of Yingzhou, wrote the preface.

Taihao Fuxi ruled the world with Wood Virtue, surname Feng. Also known as Paoxi or Taihao. He had a snake's head and a human body, born with sage virtue. His mother was named Huaxu. He established his capital at Chen. He created the se (zither) with thirty-six strings. To govern the world, he looked up to observe images in the heavens and looked down to observe laws on earth; he examined the patterns of birds and beasts and the suitability of the land. Taking near references from his own body and far references from all things, he invented written characters (shuqie) to replace the politics of knot-tying. He drew the Eight Trigrams (Bagua) to understand the virtue of spirits and categorize the nature of all things. Thus, the Six Qi (Energies), Six Fu (Hollow Organs), Five Zang (Solid Organs), Five Elements (Wu Xing), Yin-Yang, Water-Fire, and Ascension-Descent were given form, and the principles of a hundred diseases could be inferred by analogy. Yan and Huang (the Yellow Emperor and Shennong) thereby tasted hundreds of medicinal herbs and crafted the Nine Needles to save those from premature death and wrongful demise. (From *Diwang Shiji* / Chronicle of Emperors and Kings)