Chapter 7 Sima Qianyi

For today's Chinese, which is greater, the Great Wall or "Historical Records"?I think it's the latter.If there is no "Historical Records" written by Sima Qian, then there will be a crisis of "identity" for the more than one billion descendants of the Yellow Emperor all over the world.Where did five thousand years of civilization come from?Moved from Sima.It was he who wielded a huge pen to write history as far back as BC, and traced the Chinese civilization back three thousand years.Before him, there were various records and folklore by historians, but they were not systematic and did not form a source. It was he who first created the general history of biography.Many emperors in his works, from ancient times to the Warring States period, can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor without exception.Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor has become the common ancestor of the Chinese nation today, without Sima Qian it is unimaginable.Sima Qian's achievements cannot be overstated.A large group of emperors will add up, and the weight is not as good as him.Scientists today have explored the source of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River again and again, while Sima Qian more than 2,000 years ago, with his extraordinary insight and unimaginable willpower, explored the source of Chinese civilization.

As we all know, he is a great man with an incomplete body. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished his genitals because of Li Ling's injustice.The tragedy happened when he was forty-seven years old, and since then, he has called himself "a survivor of punishment".He accomplished his great deed in insult and anger.People today may look at his tragedy solely from the perspective of loss of sexual ability, but in Sima Qian, insult comes first.He divides people into ten classes, and the last class is people like him who have been castrated.After being tortured, he never went to visit his parents' graves again, and he had no face to face his parents' spirits in heaven.Reading his "Bao Ren An Shu", every word is full of blood.After reading such articles, we will understand why a book is more important than life.When Li Ling was framed, he stepped forward, but a few years later in the Ren An incident, he knew the inside story but kept silent.For "Historical Records", life takes a backseat.He could have been spared the palace sentence, but he was poor and couldn't afford the amount of ransom stipulated by the court, so he had to let the executioner show his sharp knife.After he was released from prison, he went to work with Emperor Wu, just like an eunuch.He wrote all kinds of people into "Historical Records", including the lucky man who was the emperor of Israel, but he did not write the biographies of the eunuchs. It can be seen that the wound in his heart cannot be touched, and the blood bleeds when he touches it.

All these things will be discussed later. It is said in history that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was very talented and general, fought wars and expanded his territory.But this person has more desires than kindness, and he has done almost all the bad things the emperor can do.This article does not want to comment on his merits and demerits, but because Sima Qian has to involve him, including his generals, such as the general Wei Qing who killed the parachutist Li Guang. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished Sima Qian's genitals and didn't like "Historical Records", but this emperor who thought he could see the Eternal Dynasty was helpless to the weak scholar under his nose.Twenty years after his death, "Historical Records" emerged from the folk and was born out of nowhere.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the underworld will find out that it is his turn to be tortured.

Sima Qian didn't insult him, but just presented historical facts to make sense. Based on this alone, this "man who survived punishment" is more noble than the king of ten thousand chariots. Sima Qian and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che disappeared almost at the same time. He disappeared among the people with his great book.When the emperor's "dragon body" decayed, the "Historical Records", a masterpiece of history and literature, exuded dazzling and eternal brilliance. Sima Qian's death is a mystery.Probably in order to preserve the "Historical Records", he sneaked away from the court and sneaked into the folk.Today, we hope that he is smiling and smiling. He lived to be seventy years old and died of old age.Some people think that he died at the hands of Liu Che.The emperor took his life easily, and destroyed his lower body like a pig and dog, but the book in his hand had already been hidden in a famous mountain.

"Men are inherently mortal, or they are heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather." Sima Qian's death is heavier than Mount Tai. Sima Qian's hometown is the southwest of Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province.His father, Sima Tan, served as Taishi Ling in Chang'an, Kyoto, with a small salary, and was generally looked down upon by officials.The official historian, named Tianguan, recorded and commented on the words and deeds of the emperor, but in fact no one took them seriously.The emperor used to "advocate the best and save them", and it was fun to raise them. When he had a whim, he listened to them tell stories and talk about interesting things.In the Yellow Land in the Northwest, the people of Qin became hegemony because of it, Qin destroyed Han and prospered, but it was only more than 60 years.Han Ting was wary of the Qin people.The most typical example is Li Guang, a native of Longxi, who made countless achievements in the battlefield, but was never able to become a marquis, and committed suicide with a sword in anger.His son Li Gan was assassinated, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty blocked the news.Li Guang's grandson, Li Ling, was even more miserable. He worked for the emperor, but was wiped out of the three clans.

Tough guys come out of the loess.The harsh natural conditions honed his rough nature.The influence of regional culture on people is obvious, from appearance to character, and character determines behavior.If you compare Jiangnan people and Northwest people, it is not difficult to find that their skin, pronunciation, living habits and psychological characteristics are very different. Sima Qian also read while herding cattle. He read on the back of the cattle and talked while lying down.He was an only child and may have had siblings who did not survive.He is the apple of his eye for his parents, but he still has to herd cattle and sheep.My father has little money but many books, similar to scholars of past dynasties.A group of illiterate cowherd boys surrounded the literate cowherd boy, listening to him talk about books and Chang'an he heard.While the cows are grazing, the wind is blowing, and on the opposite mountainside, there is a man singing Xintianyou at the top of his voice.

They also went to see the Yellow River and marveled at its magnificence, which flowed thousands of miles. When he was about ten years old, Sima Qian moved to Chang'an Maoling with his parents.This is a major move by Sima Tan: to bring his son to the center of political culture.The young emperor built a tomb for himself in Maoling, and drove the world's rich and powerful there.The scale of this mausoleum is huge, and the budget will cost one-third of the country's total finances.Sima Tan took the initiative to go, but many wealthy people were forced to go, such as a man named Guo Xie, who was famous in the world and known as Guo Daxia.Guo Xie entrusted General Wei Qing to intercede for him in front of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, saying that his family was poor and should not have been included in the emigration, but someone had trouble with him and wrote his name on the emigration register.Emperor Wu thought for a while, and said to Wei Qing: "This hero named Guo, if he can ask you to intercede, it shows that he is not poor."

So Guo Xie also went to Maoling.Soon, the person in his hometown who had trouble with him was killed.Sima Qian was shocked when he heard his father tell this story.As a historian, his father not only read a lot of books in the government-run library, but also paid attention to various folk rumors, which also affected his son.Sima Qian often listened to stories, and his childhood life was full of mystery. Sima Tan had a forthright temperament and made some friends in the capital, mainly scholars.It is relatively easy for scholars to pay scholars.A man named Kong Anguo became Sima Qian's teacher. This person is said to be a descendant of Confucius.Sima Qian also listened to the lectures of the great Confucianist Dong Zhongshu.Emperor Wu of Han respected Confucianism exclusively in order to unify his thinking, and both Kong and Dong became popular.Why did Sima Tan choose such a teacher for his son?He himself admired Taoism.He wrote "The Essentials of the Six Classics", which is almost full of praise for Taoism.Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing before Emperor Wu governed the country according to Taoist theory, governed by doing nothing, tried not to disturb the people as much as possible, and let the people recuperate. The "Government of Wenjing" prospered for more than half a century.When Emperor Wu of the Han came to power, a big turning point came. He killed the enemy externally and internally, causing countless unjust and bloody cases.History calls him a great talent, but also says that he is very successful. I don't know which word is more appropriate for him.All I can tell is this: There is no reason for the two words to be placed on the same person.

At the same time, I really don't understand why Confucianism should be respected exclusively?Confucianism is not equal to Confucianism, it has quickly become a ruling art.It is not good to contend among a hundred schools of thought, and the situation of free competition of various ideas should be broken. Even the Huang-Lao theory, which has been proven to be very effective in governing the country, has to be sidelined. Confucianism dominates the world and is very domineering. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism, which had a profound impact on Chinese society. Sima Tan asked his son to worship Confucianism as his teacher, which was also due to the atmosphere at the time, and it was appropriate to consider his official career for his son.To use an analogy that may not be appropriate, it is said that exam-oriented education is not good, but parents want their children to get high marks in the exam.Situation is stronger than people, this is the same principle in ancient and modern times.However, Sima Tan did not say to his son: Now Taoism is no longer popular, throw it away and learn Confucianism instead!

Sima Tan is not a fashionable speculator, nor is Sima Qian.The father and son are similar in nature, both are men from the Northwest, intellectuals with backbone.They are not disgusted with Confucianism.Later, after the training of Kong Anguo and Dong Zhongshu, Sima Qian respected Confucius.