《漢丞相諸葛忠武侯集》

When I was young, my father showed me the collected works of Zhuge Liang (the Loyal Martial Marquis) that had been hand-copied by my grandfather, the Chief Historian, and my uncle, the Grand Traveler. At the end of the bamboo scrolls, my grandfather had inscribed: "These scattered writings that survived the chaos of war—I had intended to compile them into a proper collection but never completed the task."

In the Ren Shen year of Chongzhen (1632), while I was stationed at Linyu, my younger brother Zhuo brought over a dozen crates of books from Nanjing, among which was a compilation of Zhuge Liang's works edited by Yang Qushe of Maoyuan. Moved with emotion, I said to my brother: "What our grandfather and uncle wished to accomplish but could not, and what our father entrusted to us—now is the time for us to complete it together."

Yang Qushe's edition included a chronological biography, historical accounts, records of the alliance with Wu against Wei, and other materials, claiming to have referenced the version by Wang Jiongbo of Loudong. Comparing it with our family's manuscript, we found each version had its own additions and omissions. Yang believed that the political writings of Zhuge Liang recorded in Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, as well as the excerpts cited in Pei Songzhi's annotations, were already lost by his time—even Su Dongpo and Ye Shi had lamented never seeing the complete collection. He had excised later forgeries like The Book of the Mind, The General's Garden, Liangfu Yin, and Record of the Yellow Ox Temple.

Our newly compiled edition retained Yang's chronological biography but primarily followed the main biography in Records of the Three Kingdoms, supplementing it with excerpts from other historical accounts. The work was divided into sections: surviving writings, historical events, battle formations, and historical sites. What had been lost was beyond recovery, but we included all extant materials. From Jin and Tang dynasty poetry to contemporary essays, eulogies, and stele inscriptions—anything related to Zhuge Liang, regardless of perspective, was incorporated, with occasional omissions to be filled later.

The complete work spanned twenty volumes, totaling over 363,600 characters. My brother Zhuo devoted himself day and night to researching texts and meticulously collating them, while I contributed editorial work during breaks from official duties. We specially commissioned skilled artisans from Suzhou for the woodblock printing, striving for thoroughness and precision. Compilers like Yang Qushe and Wang Jiongbo had sought to honor sages and promote loyalty and filial piety—how much more should we, their successors, do the same. Upon completion, we appended biographies of our Song dynasty ancestors: the Junior Guardian and the Chief Historian—for our family descended from Shu Han, with an ancestor named An during the Shaoxi era (1190-1194) of the Southern Song.

This passage documents the lineage of Zhuge Liang (posthumously titled Marquis Zhongwu). Zhuge Tingrui, the Fiscal Commissioner of Fujian (a Song Dynasty official overseeing regional finance and transportation), was the twenty-second generation descendant of Zhuge Liang. Twelve generations later came Zhuge Yingke (the title "Chief Secretary" refers to an ancient administrative role equivalent to a chief of staff). This family enjoyed prominence across generations, with detailed genealogical records. However, these two figures are singled out for their biographies precisely because they embodied the virtue of transmitting the Dao of loyalty and filial piety through the ages.

The author, Zhuge Xi (a thirty-sixth-generation descendant), composed this preface in the eleventh month of the Renshen year of the Chongzhen era (1632) at the official office in Linyu (present-day Dayu County, Jiangxi). He believed that those who study history and revere ancient traditions should take this as inspiration for later generations—how much more so for descendants like themselves, who can trace their heritage back to the virtuous influence of their ancestor Zhuge Liang (referred to metaphorically as "the bow-forger," alluding to his invention of the repeating crossbow). Holding the family genealogy with deep emotion, he expressed hope that future descendants would encourage one another, never abandoning the ancestral virtues nor betraying the family's teachings.