In the Twenty-Six Histories of Huanghuang (including the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the History of the New Yuan), there are several parts that are not highly evaluated.
For example, the history book "History of Liao", which records the Liao Dynasty built by the Khitans, is simply a Yelü family biography, and the "History of Yuan" is hastily created, the penmanship is rough, and the record is relatively chaotic. But the problems of these history books are only a problem of writing techniques, and there is a canonical history, which is satirized as the worst history book in the history of the past, which is simply smelly, this is the "Book of Wei".
When it comes to the Wei Dynasty, there is one difference. Usually, people will refer to the Wei established by Cao Cao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty as Cao Wei, and historians also have many "Wei Shu", and the first part of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the "Book of Wei". However, for the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang historians were more likely to be called Later Wei to distinguish them from the Former Wei (Cao Wei). The Northern Wei Dynasty, founded in 386 AD, was founded by Tuoba Jue. After hundreds of years of fighting at the junction of Mongolia, Jin, and Hebei, as well as the chaos within the Southern Dynasty, the Northern Wei became a powerful northern power for generations. At its peak, the Northern Wei Dynasty reached the northern line to the junction of Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, east to western Liaoning, west to Ganqing, south to the Huai River (over Shouchun and Hefei), and southwest to Control Hanzhong, posing a huge strategic pressure on the Southern Dynasty.
The Northern Wei Dynasty passed down to Emperor Xiaowen Yuanhong, who did not hesitate to break with the conservative elements and completed the great cause of Sinicization and capital relocation. Although the "uprising" of the six towns blocked the historical process of the Northern Wei, it did not stop the historical process of the Sui and Tang Dynasties becoming the "Second Golden Empire". As for the two Wei rivalries, Qi Zhou and Xiong, from the perspective of history, it is more of a historical impulsive reaction.
In 534, the Northern Wei Dynasty was officially divided, and the powerful minister Gao Huan controlled the Eastern Wei, east of the Yellow River (north-south direction) and north of the Huai River. Yuwen Tai then controlled Western Wei, west of the Yellow River and north of the Qin Mountains. In 550, Gao Huan's son Gao Yang replaced Eastern Wei to establish Northern Qi, and Northern Zhou was founded in 577 AD. The author of the Book of Wei, Wei Shuo, compiled the Book of Wei in the northern Qi ruling area.
There has been a tradition of revision of history throughout the ages, and the genre is relatively complete, but this is also a dangerous livelihood for begging for food on the knife edge. If it is not written as the monarch, it may face a terrible disaster. Cui Hao, the first strategist in the early Northern Wei Dynasty, died tragically in the famous national history case. Therefore, when making history, historians will have some protection or praise the ancestors of those in power, which is also the common sentiment of people.
In the second year of Tianbao (551 CE) of Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, Lang Wei began to compile the Book of Wei on the orders of the emperor. The compilation of the Book of Wei was a major event for Northern Qi to promote its orthodox status. Of course, Wei Shuo understood Gao Yang's meaning, and the last era of the Book of Wei was the Eastern Wei Xiaojing Emperor Yuan Shanjian under Gao's control. Therefore, when the Book of Wei records contemporary history (the dispute between the two Weis), it is negative to Western Wei, and Yuwen Tai, a powerful minister of Western Wei, also directly calls his nickname Black Otter. The Book of Wei consists of 131 volumes, but nominally 124 volumes (some of which are divided into upper and lower volumes), including 12 volumes of Benji, 92 volumes of Liechuan, and 20 volumes of Zhi, completed in the fifth year of Tianbao (554 AD).
Wei Shuo was a madman, self-absorbed, looking down on this, not looking down on that. Regarding the revision of history, it is actually the family heirloom of those in power, who want to add gold to the faces of their ancestors. The so-called "ancestors and in-laws of the cultivators have many records, decorated with beautiful words." Wei Shuo did not understand this unspoken rule, but he had an impatient personality and could not be reconciled to this. Whoever had a grudge with him, his ancestors would not want to gain benefits from Wei's pen. Wei Shuo even threatened everywhere, "What a boy! Also together Wei harvest color. Lift it up to heaven, and press it to make it go down to earth! ”
Wei Wei brought all his grievances in life into the compilation of the history of the country. Yang Gu served as a Beiping Taishou in Northern Wei, was greedy and had a bad reputation. Yang Xiuzhi, the son of Ke Yanggu, once helped Wei Shu, and Wei Shu felt his virtue and said to Yang Xiuzhi, "I have nothing to repay you, so I will write a good biography to your father." Under Wei Shuo's pen, Yang Gu became a righteous gentleman, "brave in the army, leisurely and elegant, and without fear." "Cloud cloud. When Peiping was too punctual, he was very honest and had a lot of protection.
Also, the Northern Qi Gao clan originated from the Erzhu clan, so the Erzhu clan entered the Northern Qi clan, and Wei Harvest was also a trumpet blowing in the sky.
Those who had offended Wei Were miserable, either smearing a cloud of mud on the faces of their ancestors ("vain and not destroying"), or not writing at all. "Left behind (leaking) family positions." As mentioned earlier, whether the ancestors can enter the history of the previous dynasty is related to the status of the descendants in the dynasty at that time, as well as the status of their descendants, which is an extremely important event. If Wei Hui did not give these people accession, it was equivalent to digging up the graves of these people and cutting off the back roads of these people. More than a hundred descendants of the nobles of the first dynasty wrote to Gao Yang and denounced Wei for the unfairness of the history. For example, the Lu clan of the Fanyang clan, Lu Fei's father Lu Tong, was a famous courtier in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty. But because Lu Tong and Wei Shuo did not have any friendship, Wei Shuo did not give Lu Tong a biography. Lu Fei was furious and strongly protested against Wei's unfair history. Wei Shuo was a high official of the dynasty, and the official worshiped Zhongshu Ling, so naturally he could not swallow this breath, and slandered Lu Fei and others in front of Gao Yang, intending that Gao Yang kill Fei. Gao Yang was furious and summoned Fei to accountability, and Lu Fei complained bitterly on the spot about Wei's injustice. It is said that those who have achievements and no friendship will not be included in the transmission; those who have no achievements but have friendships are even relatives of Wei Collection, and Wei Will be included in the transmission.
Wei Zhao also defended himself that although some people (his relative Cui Qi) did not have a high official position, their personal feelings were worth capitalizing, so they were included in the biography. Gao Yang was a cruel man, but he was a noh, and he naturally knew the Tao. He said to Wei Shuo, "Are you writing articles everywhere and calling people good all real?" Wei couldn't answer, and he was speechless.
Because this Book of Wei had offended too many people, and the crowd was noisy, Gao Yang also had to consider the impact and decided to suspend the publication of the Book of Wei. The Book of Wei was reviled as a filthy history and had a bad reputation. After all, Wei Shu was only a Northern Qi shichen, and the Northern Qi emperor had to consider his interests comprehensively, so the Book of Wei was overhauled twice before it was finally published.
Northern Qi was destroyed by Northern Zhou, and the Sui Dynasty was directly born from Northern Zhou. Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui was very dissatisfied with the Book of Wei's respect for Eastern Wei and the depreciation of Western Wei, and decided to re-compile the History of Northern Wei into 92 volumes, compiled by Wei Huan, Yan Zhitui and others.
This history of Wei belittled Eastern Wei, and the Xiaojing Emperor Yuan Shanjian was disqualified as emperor and included in the biography, while the Western Wei emperor was included in the Wei Shu Benji. This edition of the book actually does not care about any obscene history, only because the Western Wei Dynasty did not get the orthodox status and affected the rule of the Sui Dynasty. During the Reign of the Sui Dynasty, he again compiled the History of Northern Wei, but it was not written in the end. The Tang Dynasty replaced the Sui Dynasty, and naturally it was natural to honor the Western Wei. We all know that Tang Taizong's edict to revise the history of the five dynasties, that is, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Southern Dynasty Liang, Southern Dynasty Chen, is actually the history of the Six Dynasties, as well as the history of Northern Wei. However, for various reasons, the new Wei history was not compiled, and the "Book of Wei", which is still known as the history of obscenity, is still popular in the world.
Sima Guangxiu of the Northern Song Dynasty," in order to maintain the legal system of the Northern Song Dynasty, honored Western Wei and degraded Eastern Wei, which was considered to have given an account to the Wuchuan clique (Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang). As for the Tang Dynasty historian Liu Zhiji's attack on the Book of Wei for touting Northern Qi, belittling Western Wei, and calling the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties islands, this is just a normal reaction of people under high pressure.
The Southern Dynasty Shen Yue's "Book of Song" has a biography of Suo Yu, and Xiao Zixian's "Book of Southern Qi" also has a biography of Wei Yu, all of which are human feelings, which is not surprising.