Introduction: Why there are so many erroneous expositions and incorrect evaluations in history, from the factors of people's subjective feelings, the influence of Confucianism, the views of classic historical books, the excessive deduction and reasoning of historical novels
Those who are familiar with history should be very clear that the history we can see now is incomplete and not completely correct, and that there are many errors in the records of the historical materials that we can access, and even many historical views are contradictory. Although ancient Chinese history is hailed as the only uninterrupted history in the entire world culture, this does not indicate that there are no recorded gaps in the development of history, and these gaps also make it impossible for people to peek into the whole picture of history.
Moreover, in many history books, the evaluation of some people is not objective enough, not three-dimensional enough, and even overturns a person's original image. So why are there so many erroneous statements in the development of ancient history? In some of the official historical records of our official certification, why are there many records contradictory? Why are later generations' evaluations of some historical figures not correct enough?
Let's take a serious look at these questions today, to see what exactly influenced the understanding of history in later generations, and what factors prevented us from peeking into the real history? Unfortunately, however, the causes of this problem are manifold and largely beyond human control.
Historical materials are influenced by the subjective feelings of the narrator (subjective factors)
The first point is the influence of the subjective feelings of the narrators of our officially recognized historical sources. At this point, we should understand that "Shi Ji" was once evaluated by Lu Xun as "the ultimate song of historians, the departure of rhyme", and it is a classic work of rare historical records in China's ancient history, and some of the history it records has great value and role for us to study ancient times, but even if such a classic work, some of its records or evaluations of some historical events, there is no way to get rid of the influence of the author's subjective feelings. We can understand this with two examples.
Sima Qian, because of his admiration for Li Guang, exaggerated his account
The first is the incident about Li Guang, mentioning Li Guang, probably the first impression of most people is "Feng Tang Yi Lao, Li Guang is difficult to seal", Li Guang has not been able to be crowned marquis in this life, which also makes Li Guang always bow down to Wei Qing and Huo to get sick, and in Sima Qian's records, he will express such regrets to the fullest. Sima Qian himself was very fond of and respected Li Guang, so there are records about this history, he gave most of his pen and ink to Li Guang, it can be said that the portrayal of Li Guang as a character is very full, and for Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi, these two people are understated.
We can see that in the records of this history, Sima Qian was indignant about such an incident as Li Guangfeng' difficulty, but in fact? Is it really a pity that Li Guang was not given the title of Marquis? Not really. If we really study that period of history, we will find that the merits created by Li Guang have not yet reached the point of being crowned marquis.
Some people say that the reason why Li Guang was not able to create more credit was because Emperor Wudi of han reused Wei Qing and Huo to get sick more, and did not give him more room for development, of course, we do not deny the error of this view.
First of all, for Emperor Wudi of Han, his biggest goal or fundamental purpose is to ensure the stability of the country, that is, to be able to expel the Xiongnu from the borders of the Han Dynasty, and who can better achieve this goal for him, then who is naturally the first person he appoints, so for Emperor Wudi of Han, whether to choose Wei Qing, Huo to go ill, or choose Li Guang, in fact, there is not much subjective influence.
Secondly, Li Guang's military ability was really inferior to that of Wei Qing and Huo. Li Guang preferred to go alone, and in the process of fighting, he rarely paid attention to his own troops, so because he had many times of going deep alone, the troops were defeated, and even led to his own being captured alive. Nature is not allowed.
Third, Li Guang's character is problematic. In many historical records, Li Guang once delayed his return to the city after a drunken drink, and was stopped by the Baling guards who were guarding the city, and since then, he has held a grudge in his heart, and after his promotion, he has found a reason to kill the Baling guards who once intercepted him! Li Guang will be a guard who performs his duties, because of a personal vendetta, he will kill himself, which naturally betrays Li Guang's character.
Therefore, from the perspective of the above three aspects, purely from the perspective of military ability, he was invincible to Wei Qing and Huo Qi, and naturally the merits he created were inferior to the previous two people; moreover, he had problems with his character, in fact, it was difficult for such a minister to be appointed.
In the course of the development of ancient history, many emperors could tolerate their shortcomings, but he would never entrust the heavy responsibility of the state to a courtier whose shortcomings were very obvious, which was the reality of ancient historical society. Therefore, Li Guang was not able to be made a marquis, not because his merits had reached but he had less regrets about being a marquis, but because he himself did not have the qualifications to be a marquis, so in this matter, Sima Qian's merits to Li Guang were exaggerated.
Sima Qian set the gold edge for JingKe
The second incident was Jing Ke's assassination of Qin, Sima Qian himself, as a courtier of the Great Han, naturally scorned the former dynasty, so first of all he had an instinctive admiration for Jing Ke who wanted to subvert the rule of the Qin state; secondly, he exaggerated Jing Ke's skill, and we can see his admiration in the account of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin, and at the same time he instinctively appreciated such assassin behavior, but in fact, Jing Ke's practice was harmful and unhelpful.
Let's not say that reunification is the trend of historical development, and the idea of wanting to change the situation in the world by relying only on one person and one dagger is very naïve, but Tai Shi Gong still set a golden edge for JingKe through his subjective feelings.
Therefore, through the above two things, we can see that in fact, many historical accounts in the main history are influenced by the subjective feelings of the author, so that later people will be blinded when reading history.
Historical records are influenced by Confucianism (objective factors)
The second and most important reason is the need for thought. We all know that since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed the Hundred Families and exalted Confucianism, the ancient Chinese historical society was respected by Confucianism, and Confucian thought has become the mainstream of social development, but under the control of Confucianism, many past events have been distorted, especially people's hostility to the Qin Dynasty.
In fact, the Qin Dynasty is the orthodox origin of the entire Chinese historical society, without this dynasty, there would be no later Han Dynasty, no Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, but under the guidance of Confucianism, especially under the influence of Qin Shi Huang's burning of books, many Confucian disciples were very keen to denigrate the Qin Dynasty, so that in the development process of later generations, people had instinctive discrimination against this historical dynasty.
And this point is also vividly expressed in many later arguments, in fact, we have no way to control this, because if a society wants to develop steadily, it must need a kind of thinking to guide, we cannot deny the role of Confucianism in promoting the historical process, let alone its role in maintaining social stability, but every doctrine has advantages and disadvantages, and if we want to enjoy its advantages, we must bear its drawbacks.
Therefore, under the guidance of this ideological need, people are more inclined to the kind of monarchy and vassal relationship it describes, especially after Confucianism was later developed into science, the imprisonment and bondage of the whole society became more and more serious, and under such a state of mind, many historical events were distorted even more seriously.
The views of the classic historical texts have had an impact on future generations
The influence of the views shown in some classic historical books on future generations. In view of this, let's take a look at the more distinctive "Afang Palace Fu", many people after reading Du Mu's "Afang Palace Fu", for the Qin Dynasty this dynasty is more scornful, for its tyrannical and extravagant life is more critical, but in fact, the Afang Palace was not built.
Du Mu's main purpose in writing the Afang GongFu was to advise Tang Xuanzong
Du Mu's statement that "Lishan Mountain is built in the north and folded to the west, covering more than three hundred miles" is just his own imagination, and the reason why Du Mu wrote a "Afang Gongfu" is not to argue what the root cause of the fall of the Qin Dynasty is, but to persuade Tang Xuanzong through such an article.
Because in the historical time period in which Du Mu was located, Tang Xuanzong was obsessed with Yang Guifei, and did not hesitate to build the Huaqing Palace for Yang Guifei, and it was precisely because of this that there was a later "riding a dusty concubine laughing, no one knew that it was a lychee coming", but Tang Xuanzong was originally a turning point in the tang dynasty's transformation from prosperity to decline, but he did not realize that the shortcomings and potential dangers of this dynasty were still daxing civil engineering, just for Bo Hongyan to smile, such a practice can be said to be despised by a literati like Du Mu.
Therefore, in order to advise Tang Xuanzong, in order to let him understand the disadvantages of obsessing over a woman, Du Mu referred to Huaqing Palace with the analogy of Afang Palace, and wrote "Afang Palace Endowment" to advise, but in fact, Apangong is just a word that exists in fantasy.
However, Du Mu did not declare this, so that many later generations regarded the Apang Palace as a really built palace, coupled with some records of the previous historians for Xiang Yu's burning of Xianyang, it made people feel that the Apan Palace had been destroyed in the fire, and even more for the grandeur of the Afang Palace, so there were many accusations from later generations.
Historical materials are influenced by historical novels taken out of context and over-deduced
There is also a reason for the out-of-context or over-deduction of some historical novels. Among them, the most famous should be Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", we have no way to deny the literary value of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", can be listed as one of the four famous works in ancient China, naturally can highlight its status in the literary world.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" stands from the perspective of pro-Liu and Cao
However, in terms of history, it is not worth studying, because many records of the Three Kingdoms are wrong, and Lu Xun once said that in this book, "Liu Beizhiren is almost false, and Zhuge Zhizhi is almost demon", excessively expanding Zhuge Liang's wisdom and at the same time excessively treacherous Cao Cao, and he also distorts the real image of Zhou Yu in history.
Moreover, the author is standing in the pro-Liu and Cao situation to write such a novel, the subjective emotional color of the individual is extremely obvious, coupled with this novel is a well-known literary work, so most of the later people's understanding of the history of the Three Kingdoms comes from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and the real development process of the natural history can only be deduced in the minds of a few people.
Therefore, the influence of such historical novels on the true face of history is also very powerful. If we compare the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we will find many loopholes, such as the Three Gu Maolu, which is depicted with a lot of ink in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, only five words are used to summarize it as "where the three directions are, it is seen".
And in the records of many other historical materials, we have not found a specific portrayal of the Three Gu Maolu, so we have reason to believe that the Three Gu Maolu is not a historical event worthy of being pushed by future generations. However, in historical novels, it can become a story that adds color to the work, so later people are happy to talk about the three Gu Maolu.
Another example is Zhou Yu, Su Shi once said that he was "majestic and heroic, lupine scarf, talking and laughing between the trees and ashes", which is actually a more appropriate description of Zhou Yu, many historians regard Zhou Yu as the first Confucian general in ancient China, not as narrow-minded as described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, the advent of historical novels also has a certain impact on real history.
Review
The author believes that the truth of history will actually be affected by many factors, and what really happened in history will never be 100% restored by our descendants.
In fact, to explore the truth of history does not have much meaning and value, as long as we can harvest our own insights from history, it is enough, after all, history is a thing used to inspire future generations, not a story that makes people chew words, the greatest meaning and value of its existence is to let people avoid the mistakes made by predecessors, that is, to let everyone in the future be able to find their own shadow from such historical events and harvest their own feelings.
Therefore, excessively delving into the truth of history does not have much practical value. Even so, we must not forget history or spread rumors about history, because history is both confused and serious, and it needs to be respected by future generations.
If a civilization or a country loses its development history, it will lose the basic inheritance on which people depend for its survival and development, so that countries without historical background cannot exist in the development process of the world for a long time, because they have no cultural cohesion and no historical control. And what do you do to restrain your own people? Therefore, modern people should not only excessively investigate the specific truth of history, but also respect history, develop history, and inherit history.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, History, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zizhi Tongjian, Theory of Passing the Qin, etc