Before the "Records of the Historians", there were only two types of Chinese history books, one was the chronicle style, which was to record history according to the chronology, the most famous of which were like "Spring and Autumn" and "Zuo Chuan", which was chronicle; The other type is national history, which records history according to the country, such as "Chinese" and "Warring States Policy". There is no general history of the chronicles. The so-called chronicle is to narrate history according to the character, and the "Historical Records" is the first general history of China. This point had a great impact on later generations, so since the "Historical Records", all the official histories of China, that is, the 24 histories we often say, are in the form of chronicles. However, the "Historical Records" is a general history of the biography, and the other histories are the dynastic history of the biography, that is, the history of one dynasty after another.
Although the "Records of the Historians" and other historical books are all 24 histories, there are big differences.
The first point is that "The Records of the Historians" is full of love and hatred, which is not found in other history books. Originally, a historian's account of history only required an objective and fair account, and did not require the expression of feelings. However, when the characters are described in the "Historical Records", they often carry the author's own strong feelings of love and hatred. He especially wrote about some tragic figures, such as Xiang Yu in "Xiang Yu Benji" and Li Guang in "The Biography of General Li".
The second feature of the "Historical Records" is that the description of the characters incorporates a lot of literary techniques. For example, "Hongmen Banquet", "Hongmen Banquet" has been selected as the traditional textbook of our high school Chinese textbooks for more than half a century. "Hongmen Banquet" is simply a novel.
Third, the "Records of the Historians" has also filled in the gaps in the history of many figures in the history of the Chinese nation. In other words, if it were not for the "Records of the Historians," we would not know about many great men of the Chinese nation today. For example, Confucius, the author of the Analects, Sima Qian wrote a "Confucius Family" in the middle of the "Historical Records", which for the first time completely outlined Confucius's life. This is the first and most authoritative biography of Confucius to date. "Historical Records" also incorporates the author's criticism of feudal emperors, which is even more difficult. We can cite two examples, Sima Qian's most acute criticism in the middle of the "Historical Records" is two people, one is Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the second is Emperor Wu of Han, the contemporary emperor of Sima Qian's life. It is remarkable that a historian dares to criticize the founding emperor and his immediate superior. Sima Qian not only wrote about Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who recruited talents and eventually achieved great achievements, but also wrote that Liu Bang was narrow-minded, killed heroes, and had vulgar language, and wrote many bad records about him. As for the revelation of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it is even more abundant, this is the spirit of the "Historical Records", the spirit of criticism, such a great work of historiography, who completed it, it is Sima Qian.
Sima Qian's life experience is actually nothing special, he is a family of historians, has traveled thousands of miles, read thousands of books, and studied under some famous teachers at that time, which are all possessed by some ordinary historians at that time. So what happened to make Sima Qian complete a great change, from an ordinary historian to a great historian? It's fate.
Voiceover: In 145 BC, Sima Qian was born into a family of ordinary historians, and his father, Sima Tan, was a historian during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian succeeded his father and continued to serve as a historian in the Han Wu Dynasty. Under these circumstances, Sima Qian read a large number of court books, which prepared the writing of the Historical Records. However, it is not surprising that such a historian with such family learning, such experience, and such conditions is in Chinese feudal society. At best, Sima Qian was just an ordinary historian. So, what happened to Sima Qian to complete the transformation from an ordinary historian to a great historian?
In 99 BC, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, because of the failure of diplomacy, the relationship between the Han and the Xiongnu became tense again, and the war between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu reopened, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent his favorite concubine Li Guangli, the elder brother of Mrs. Li, to lead the army to crusade against the Xiongnu, but it was this war with the Xiongnu that triggered the change in the fate of Sima Qian, so in the battle with the Xiongnu, what events changed the trajectory of Sima Qian's fate? This incident occurred in the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that is, in 99 BC, in this year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a general named Li Guangli, who was the eldest brother of Lady Li, one of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's favorite concubine, and the elder brother of his favorite concubine, Lady Li, to let Li Guangli lead the army to attack the Xiongnu. Of course, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's subjective purpose was to let Li Guangli become a marquis through military exploits. At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth entry of Li Guangli into the army, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked a famous general at that time to be named Li Ling, and asked Li Ling to do logistics support for Li Guangli. But Li Ling was unwilling to do so, and Li Ling openly proposed that he would take his 5,000 infantry on a separate expedition to disperse the military pressure of the Xiongnu on Li Guangli. This incident made Emperor Wu of Han very dissatisfied. Emperor Wu felt that Li Ling was too faceless, so he told Li Ling, I don't have any extra cavalry for you. The implication is that if you want to go on an expedition, you will take your 5,000 infantry with you. Under these circumstances, Li Ling went out with his five thousand infantry. Of course, the beginning of Li Ling's expedition was very smooth, and he did not encounter any resistance, and Li Ling immediately sent people back, drew a map, and came back to report to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the march was going well, and Emperor Wu was also very happy.
But then the situation changed dramatically, because Li Ling's 5,000 infantry met the main force of 30,000 Xiongnu led by Xiongnu Dadanyu. Li Ling was indeed very capable of fighting, and Li Ling's 5,000 infantry killed thousands of Da Danyu's 30,000 troops. Although Da Shan Yu's strength is six times that of Li Ling, he can't take advantage, so Shan Yu of the Huns felt that Li Ling's infantry was too simple, and he was angry, because he felt that my 30,000 people couldn't defeat your 5,000 people, and he couldn't get over it. In an emergency, he transferred 80,000 troops from the left and right Xianwang, plus Da Danyu's army, a total of 110,000 cavalry, to deal with Li Ling's 5,000 infantry. Li Ling fought and retreated in this situation, and the more he fought, the more courageous he became, and finally he felt that this battle could not be fought when he hit the Xiongnu. Da Shan Yu was ready to withdraw his troops, but at this time, an unexpected incident occurred, that is, Li Ling had a subordinate who was insulted by his superiors, and this person was angry, went to take refuge in Shan Yu, who was the Huns, defected, and then, he reported two important top-secret military information of Li Ling's army. First, Li Ling has no backup troops, you can fight with confidence, he has no backup. Second, the reason why Li Ling's infantry was able to fight mainly relied on the fact that he had a bow and arrow that could fire continuously, called a crossbow machine. It is an upgraded version of a bow and arrow, which is fired from a machine and can be fired in bursts, saying that the arrows of his crossbow machine are running out. In this way, Shan Yu, the Xiongnu, felt that there was hope, and did not withdraw his troops, and then concentrated his army to launch a general attack on Li Ling. Moreover, Li Ling's army was marching in the valley at that time, and this Shan Yu's army, the Xiongnu's army, was on the mountains on both sides, throwing this big stone into this valley, so Li Ling's remaining 3,000 soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and this battle could not be fought, and the arrows were gone, so in this case, Li Ling felt that he could not fight, so he scattered and broke through. When he broke through, only 400 of his 3,000 soldiers escaped. Li Ling's deputy was killed, and Li Ling was captured and surrendered, which is the very famous Li Ling incident in history.
When the news of Li Ling's defeat and surrender reached the ears of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious and very angry, and the ministers saw that the emperor was angry, and public opinion was one-sided, and the ministers demanded that Li Ling be severely punished. It was at this time that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty saw Sima Qian beside him, because he was going to participate in Sima Qian's meeting as the Taishi Ling, and he asked Sima Qian what he thought. Sima Qian was very angry when he saw Emperor Wu, and in order to widen the heart of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian said three points: First, Li Ling is a national scholar. A national scholar is the best talent in a country, and Li Ling is a national soldier, and what he wants to serve the country wholeheartedly is the first point. The second point is that Li Ling fought with the Xiongnu for more than ten days with 5,000 infantry, and retreated, and the enemy he killed far exceeded the number of his 5,000 infantry, and his merits were enough to comfort the world. Third, Sima Qian believes that Sima Qian is not a true surrender, but a false surrender. If Li Ling has the opportunity in the future, he will definitely find an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty.
Originally, Sima Qian said these words to ease the heart of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and at the same time to excuse Li Ling a little, but he never expected that this sentence had just landed, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious, and immediately put Sima Qian in prison and condemned him as a false accusation, that is, to frame the emperor. This is a very serious crime, the decision to deal with the crime, the death penalty. Sima Qian was put on death row at once because of Li Ling's disaster and sentenced to death.
According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, a person sentenced to death had three options: first, to be punished by the law, that is, to wait for execution; second, to redeem one's life with money, that is, to hand over five hundred thousand yuan, you can avoid death; Third, accept the palace punishment, which is the castration of a man's reproductive organs, which is called palace punishment. Sima Qian had already started writing the "Historical Records" for a period of time at this time, and if he accepted the death penalty at this time, the "Historical Records" would be finished, and the "Historical Records" would not be written. In this case, Sima Qian could not accept the death penalty, so there were only two ways left if he could not accept the death penalty. First, take the money, and second, accept the palace punishment. Sima Qian, the official, although he is Taishi Ling, is often by the emperor's side, but he belongs to the middle and low income, Sima Qian's family has no money, and he can't afford 500,000 yuan, so there is only one way left. You don't want to die, and you don't have any money, so there's only one way left - palace punishment. Therefore, Sima Qian finally accepted the palace punishment in order to complete the "Historical Records". This incident is what we call the biggest event that affected Sima Qian and changed Sima Qian's life - the Li Ling incident. Voiceover: The disaster of Li Ling was undoubtedly a major blow to Sima Qian, who chose to be punished in desperation. Palace punishment is not only a cruel corporal punishment, but also a gross trampling on spirit and dignity. During the Western Han Dynasty, many people were willing to die rather than accept palace punishment. So what does choosing palace punishment mean for Sima Qian? How will his life change? The Li Ling incident had a great impact on Sima Qian.
First of all, the identity is alternative. Sima Qian's original identity was originally an official of the central government, but after accepting the palace punishment, he became a eunuch who was not a eunuch, which was too big a blow to Sima Qian, because his identity changed. First of all, he became an alternative to a man, he was not a man. Second, he became an alternative to the scholar, and he could not be accepted by the scholarly class. Third, he became an alternative to a cultural person, that is to say, Sima Qian was originally a cultural person, a scholar, and a scholar. But now, the group to which he belonged expelled him, not recognizing him as a man, not recognizing him as a man of culture, not recognizing him as a scholar. This is a very big blow to Sima Qian, this is the first point.
The second point is lifelong humiliation. When Sima Qian talked about the pain of accepting the palace punishment, he said a few very painful words. He said that there is no ugliness in the first act of humiliation, and there is no greater criticism than the palace punishment. It is said that the biggest wrong thing you have done in the world is to insult your ancestors. When it comes to living in society, the biggest mistake you are accused of is that you have accepted the palace punishment. Therefore, Sima Qian later talked about his pain after accepting the palace punishment in a very famous letter called "The Book of Bao Ren An", also known as "The Book of Bao Ren Shaoqing". He said that it was "nine times a day", saying that the intestines did not know how many times a day they had to turn. "If you live in a flash, if you die, you don't know where to go," he said, when he sat at home, he was in a trance, and after he went out, he didn't know where to go. As soon as he thought of the pain of accepting the palace punishment, the cold sweat on his back immediately seeped out, soaking his clothes and the clothes on his back. Therefore, he felt that after accepting the palace punishment, this shame was accompanied by his life. So Sima Qian felt that this shame was too great, and this was the second point.
The third point is that fate is contrary to fate. Sima Qian was a very talented person, but the fate of Li Ling's disaster caused his talent to have a sharp conflict with his own life. So he said that he himself, even if he is easy-going, if he is good-going, that is, I have the talent of being like Heshi Bi, like Sui Hou Zhu, even if I am like the ancient sage Xu You and Boyi, so noble and noble, but what do others think of me? Treat me as worthless. "You can't be proud of it." This reason is very simple, because man is a social animal, and human sociality is a fundamental difference between man and animals. As a social person, he must be recognized by society. After Sima Qian accepted the palace punishment, the biggest thing was that he was not recognized by this society. Therefore, the price of Sima Qian's preservation of his life was to pay the dignity of being a human being, which is a tragic price. Therefore, after accepting the palace punishment, Sima Qian, who was a man, died, and Sima Qian, who was a feudal scholar, also died, but the Taishi Gong, who was agitated in the middle of the "Historical Records", was reborn. This is a historic change for Sima Qian.
Voiceover: During the Western Han Dynasty, palace punishment was a cruel mental and physical punishment, and the tortured person was humiliated for life, and life was worse than death. It can be imagined what a cruel punishment the palace punishment is. Sima Qian, who accepted the palace punishment, is already forty-seven years old, and the writing of "Historical Records" has been going on for a period of time, so after accepting the double torture of mental and physical, Sima Qian, who is about to enter the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, what kind of understanding does he have about life and society?
After accepting the palace punishment, Sima Qian was forced to look at people, life, and history from the social identity at the bottom of the society that people looked down upon, so his evaluation of historical figures and his evaluation of characters before he accepted the palace punishment and other historians of the 24th History underwent a fundamental change. So this change, we can talk about it from several aspects.
First of all, it changed Sima Qian's view of life and death. We all know that Sima Qian said a few very famous words, saying that "people are inherently dead, and death is heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." Sima Qian's view of life and death underwent a fundamental change before and after the Li Ling disaster. For example, if we look at the "Historical Records", there is an article in the middle of the "Historical Records" called "The Biography of Ji Bulie", and it is written that a general under Xiang Yu is called Ji Bu. This person is a fierce general under Xiang Yu and has defeated Liu Bang many times, so Liu Bang hates him very much. After Xiang Yu committed suicide, Liu Bang has been wanted by Ji Bu, and ordered that whoever wants to harbor Ji Bu will raze the three clans. Ji Bu had no choice but to take refuge in a family first, and later this family sold him to the family of a hero at that time, the Guo family (should be the Zhu family). The Guo family knew that the slave they bought was Ji Bu, and then the Guo family (Zhu family) went to the capital to personally find Liu Bang's most trusted servant, who was Xiahou Ying and Teng Gong, who were the coachmen who drove the car for Liu Bang. Then he said something to Teng Gong, saying that after you Liu Bang became the monarch, can you kill all the courtiers under Xiang Yu? It's impossible, and you just got the king, so you have to kill Ji Bu in order to repay your own personal grudges. If you really force Ji Bu to be in a hurry, then either he flees north to the Xiongnu, or he runs south to South Vietnam, don't you take a strong man to finance your enemies? After saying this, Teng Gong believed it very much, believed the words of the Guo family (Zhu family), and he used this word to persuade Liu Bang, and Liu Bang later pardoned Ji Bu after listening to this advice. Ji Bu became a Langzhong in Liu Bang's dynasty, and when he arrived in the Hui Emperor Dynasty, Ji Bu became a Zhongxuan general, and in the Wen Emperor Dynasty, Ji Bu became a Taishou. Ji Bu later became a famous minister of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty. Sima Qian was very emotional when he talked about Ji Bu at the end, Ji Bu was such a general when Xiang Yu was alive, he was able to endure humiliation and be a slave to others in the end, he didn't feel ashamed to be a slave, he was just because he felt that he was talented, and this talent could not be wasted in vain, so he endured humiliation and survived. We look at Sima Qian's understanding of Ji Bu and his evaluation of Ji Bu, in fact, he only knew Ji Bu after he experienced the disaster of Li Ling, and he was able to correctly evaluate Ji Bu. Therefore, we read history books, we read "Historical Records", and if we want to truly understand "Historical Records", we must understand life and society. The more deeply we understand life and society, the more we can comprehend the "Historical Records".
Again, there is a very important reason why Sima Qian accepted the palace punishment is that the family has no money, if he has money, why would Sima Qian suffer such a great humiliation. Therefore, after the Li Ling incident, Sima Qian had a new view of money. Therefore, Sima Qian felt that it is human nature for people to pursue wealth, and there is no fault in it, as long as they take it in the right way. Therefore, Sima Qian wrote a special article called "The Biography of the Goods and Colonies" in the middle of the "Historical Records", in which he fully affirmed the legitimacy of people's pursuit of wealth. Therefore, Sima Qian gave many examples, the most famous of which is this passage, he said, "The world is bustling, all for profit; The world is crowded, all for profit. "Say that the people of the world are bustling and running around, for what? It's all for a "profit". He said that from the princes and kings to the common people, people are pursuing profit, and the pursuit of profit itself is not wrong, what is wrong is only the improper means of your pursuit of profit. And this point of view was also summed up by Sima Qian from his own painful lesson. Therefore, more than 2,000 years ago, Sima Qian realized that the legitimacy of people's pursuit of material interests is very remarkable. We should be grateful to Sima Qian, and we should be grateful to the "Historical Records".
In addition, the disaster of Li Ling also completely changed Sima Qian's evaluation of historical figures. Therefore, the evaluation of many characters in the "Historical Records" is particularly sharp and profound, we can give an example, there is an article in the "Historical Records" called "Xiao Xiangguo's Family", which writes that an important minister under Liu Bang is called Xiao He. Xiao He was Liu Bang's most trusted minister, but when Han Gaozu rebelled in the tenth year of Chen Feng's rebellion, Empress Lu said that Han Xin colluded with Chen Feng's rebellion and killed Han Xin. When Liu Bang learned that Empress Lu had killed Han Xin, Liu Bang immediately sealed Xiao He, added 5,000 households to Xiao He, and sent 500 soldiers to Xiao He. Xiao He was very happy and invited hundreds of civil and military officials. But at this time, there was a person, this person was called Zhaoping, and he went to Xiao He's banquet to beat him up and mourn him. said that the emperor was out to quell the rebellion, and you didn't make any special contributions, and the reason why you were sealed was because the emperor didn't trust you because of Han Xin's incident. After this sealing, once the emperor comes back, he will definitely clean you up, Xiao He stopped drinking wine after hearing it, and drove all the guests away, and couldn't find a way. This man helped him think of a way, and said what should you do? If you want to defuse this crisis, then you have to do nothing, you donate all your family property. This Xiao He had no choice, so he reluctantly donated all his family wealth to Liu Bang as military expenses. When Xiao He sent all his family wealth to Liu Bang, Sima Qian wrote five words: "Emperor Gao is very happy". Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was very happy after seeing Xiao He's recital, these five words were not easy to come by, and these five very profoundly exposed the suspicion of a founding emperor to the founding hero. Liu Bang can suspect anyone, but Liu Bang should not suspect Xiao He. Xiao He and Liu Bang were in the same county back then, and when Xiao He was a deputy county-level cadre, Liu Bang was still a Surabaya pavilion chief, and Xiao He took good care of him at that time. After Liu Bang raised his troops, Xiao He followed Liu Bang. And Xiao He is not alone, he is leading the whole clan to follow Liu Bang to fight the world. Therefore, after Liu Bang fought the world, he wanted to reward his merits, and the ministers all advocated that Cao Shen's merits should be the first, and Cao Shen should be sealed first. Liu Bang said that it was not right, Xiao He should be sealed first. Liu Bang also gave a very famous example at that time, he said, did you see the hunter? When hunting, there are hunters, and there are hunting dogs, and that hunting dogs are chasing prey. All of you generals who are outside attacking cities and plundering land must not be the hunting dogs, so you are called gong dogs. And that Xiao He is the hunter who directs the hound to chase the prey, he is called Gongren. Liu Bang put forward such a theory, saying that Xiao He is a meritorious person, and Cao Shen and these people are all meritorious dogs, so who has more credit compared to dogs and people? Of course, the credit of people is great. So Xiao He is the first, and Cao Shen is the second. Such a Xiao He, Liu Bang was suspicious of him in his later years, and Sima Qian exposed this Liu Bang's suspicion of heroes. After reading through the twenty-four years, no historian has been able to analyze the secrets of the founding emperor's heart so clearly and profoundly as Sima Qian. One of the very important reasons is because after the Li Ling incident, Sima Qian had a new understanding of the emperor's autocracy and cruelty to the emperor. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took advantage of the Li Ling incident to kill Sima Qian, and he also changed the trajectory of Sima Qian's life. At the same time, the actions of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also created a great historian and a great historiographical work "Historical Records". (Wang Liqun)
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