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Zhang Cong-zheng authored a fifteen-volume work, completed in 1228, with another version consisting of fourteen volumes (as included in the Complete Collection of Orthodox Medical Classics from Ancient and Modern Times). The first three volumes were personally written by Zhang Cong-zheng, while the remaining volumes were dictated by Zhang and recorded and compiled by Ma Zhiji and Chang Zhongming to complete the book. The main existing versions include a woodblock print from the third month of the Xinchou year of the Jiajing era in the Ming Dynasty and the Complete Collection of Orthodox Medical Classics from Ancient and Modern Times edition.

The entire work is a compilation of various essays, with each volume containing several discussions in forms such as explanations, debates, records, interpretations, admonitions, annotations, commentaries, formulas, judgments, theories, expositions, narratives, expansions, and formulas. It includes sections such as "Serving Parents," methods for treating various diseases, ten forms and three treatments, miscellaneous notes in nine categories, essential diagrams, key points of a hundred methods, three methods and six categories, "Treatise on Three Consumptions" (Liu Wansu), Bian Que and Hua Tuo's methods for determining life and death by observing sounds and colors, and widely transmitted miraculous prescriptions.

The book emphasizes the theory that pathogenic factors are the root of diseases and advocates the use of three purgative methods to treat various illnesses. It categorizes the causes of diseases into six pathogenic factors and treats them with three methods, termed "Six Categories and Three Methods," which is the main idea of the "Theory of Expelling Pathogens" established in this book.

In the specific application of the three methods of sweating, vomiting, and purging, the author systematically elaborates on the scope of treatment, indications, and contraindications, significantly expanding on previous understandings. Each method has specific applications, precautions, contraindications, and a wide range of uses, with rich content. The drugs used follow Wansu's preference for cold and cool properties, showing considerable insight.

At the same time, the book offers unique insights into the use of tonification, arguing that tonification should only be considered after pathogens are expelled, emphasizing nourishment through the five grains, vegetables, fruits, meats, and vegetables, and criticizing the contemporary trend of over-reliance on tonification.

Later generations have fully affirmed the book's prominent theory of expelling pathogens. However, because the book leans heavily towards expelling pathogens in treatment, it has also been criticized by some physicians such as Zhu Danxi.