Chapter 11 Sima Qianwu

In addition to fighting the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was busy being a god.The supreme being in the world is not addicted anymore, aging and death make him sleepless and restless anyway.How good it would be to ascend to heaven, but if you fail to ascend to heaven, immortality is not bad.He raised a large number of alchemists, that is, Taoist priests. Some people said that they had seen gods with their own eyes, and some people proved that they had lived hundreds of years through various methods.The most powerful one was a man named Li Shaojun, who proved that he lived to be more than 800 years old.Emperor Wu's eyes would light up when he listened to him, and he obeyed him. He built a bronze pillar with a size of seven circumference and a height of thirty feet, with a statue of an immortal on it, holding a dew plate in his hand.Emperor Wu ate dew and swallowed it with jade chips every day, which made him have diarrhea.Li Shaojun died, and Emperor Wu believed that he was not going to see a ghost, but to see the immortal An Qisheng.There were a lot of Taoist priests, and at this time another Shandong native named Gongsun Qing appeared. Under his instigation, Emperor Wu made a huge plan to go to Fengchan Taishan.This was originally an ancient ceremony of the emperor, climbing Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to the heaven and the earth, and to pray for the well-being of the people.But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had other ideas and wanted to be a god.The emperor is known as the son of heaven, and it cannot be justified if the emperor does not ascend to heaven.Or take a step back: Li Shaojun can live to be 800 years old, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty should live at least a thousand years old, right?He ordered literati to write poems and fus, and literati like Sima Xiangru were very active. This person wrote "Changlin Fu", praising the royal hunting grounds that cost people and money.Sima Qian also received the decree to sing praises, but collected some irrelevant materials and submitted them to talk about responsibilities. Emperor Wu was not happy, but he forgot to forget about this young man.

Before Emperor Wu of the Han conferred Zen on Mount Tai, he first went to Mount Kongtong (now west of Pingliang County, Gansu Province) to visit the places where the Yellow Emperor once visited.This is also the idea of ​​the Taoist priests, to learn from the Yellow Emperor and not to learn anything else, but to learn from the Yellow Emperor to become immortals.Sima Qian also went, took the opportunity to visit the elderly, inquired about the legend of the Yellow Emperor, and confirmed it with the "Shangshu" he had studied.As an ancient historical document, "Shangshu" is incomplete and needs to be supplemented with many materials, including folklore.Sima Qian's job is to make bold assumptions and carefully verify them.

In a blink of an eye, Sima Qian was thirty-four years old (112 BC). He traveled around with Emperor Wu and gained a lot of knowledge.Maybe it was really God's arrangement, not to make Emperor Wu a god, but to let Sima Qian become a historian to record the progress of Chinese civilization. The following year, he was ordered to go to the Southwest to appease the disobedient rulers of the Southwest countries. He took notes along the way and collected various materials kept by the government. He stayed for several days in Dujiangyan, where Li Bing controlled the water.The trip lasted nearly a year, which laid the foundation for him to write "Biography of Southwestern Yi".In this year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty officially held the ceremony of enshrining Zen. A mighty team of 180,000 people marched towards Mount Tai, with Taoists at the front and Confucian scholars at the back.Sima Qian regretted not being able to go, because his professional impulse made him attach great importance to this matter.But his father was in the team and could witness this grand ceremony.

However, the Fengchan Brigade found the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in central Shaanxi, and Emperor Wu was nervous: Didn't it mean that the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven?How could there be a grave?Gongsunqing explained: Of course the Yellow Emperor became immortal, and here is just a tomb of clothes.Emperor Wu turned worry into joy, waved his hand, and continued to move forward. When we arrived in Luoyang, one thing happened: Tai Shi Ling Sima Tan fell ill.Confucian scholars and Taoist priests held a meeting together to discuss the details of enshrining Zen. Sima Tan, who had been cautious all his life, finally couldn't help it, and had a few different opinions, saying that this way of enshrining Zen was not in line with ancient etiquette.He was soon informed that Emperor Wu, who was very excited, was very annoyed and ordered him to leave the team.For a historian, this is tantamount to a thunderstorm, and Sima Tan falls ill in Luoyang.

Sima Qian came, just in time for his father's deathbed. Sima Tan let go, but he went with his eyes closed. His only son, Sima Qian, knelt by the bed and wept and swore that he would inherit his legacy.For ancient historians, it was common for sons to inherit their father's career.Sima Qian established this ambition when he was a child, and traveled tens of thousands of miles when he was twenty, which strengthened his will.Sima Tan left his posthumous work "The Essentials of the Six Classics" and a large pile of unorganized historical notes. Sima Qian hastily arranged for his father's funeral, and hurriedly chased after Emperor Wu.Father's eyes can't see anything, and he must see all the details of the Fengchan Grand Ceremony.He rushed to Mount Tai, but was blocked at the foot of the mountain and was not allowed to go to the top of Mount Tai.The so-called Feng Chan, worshiping the sky on the top of the mountain is called Feng, and offering sacrifices to the ground at the foot of the mountain is Zen.There are more than 100,000 people in the mountains and plains, and there are countless flags and flags, which is really spectacular.Sima Qian did everything possible to inquire about the situation on the top of the mountain. He heard that the situation was not good. Just after the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, Huo Qubing's son Huo Shan got a strange disease and died within a few days.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very disappointed and frightened. He did not dare to go to the East China Sea to see the gods as planned. Instead, he made a detour to the north and made a big circle.The entire journey was eighteen thousand miles, and the emperor was full of majesty, but he didn't see any gods.Sima Qian benefited a lot, and inspected many things he needed along the way.

A major achievement of this trip is the "Book of Fengchan", which was written later, with more than 13,000 words, which is almost the longest in "Historical Records", and Mr. Xia Songliang's annotations today amount to tens of thousands of words.This article records the sacrificial activities of the emperors for more than 3,000 years from Yu Shun to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, providing extremely important materials for future generations to study ancient history.His historical writing has always been well-founded, informative and vivid, with a broad vision and a very individual language.

The "Book of Fengchan" is so long, but the "Benji of Xiaowu", which tells about Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, is so short. It involves Emperor Wu's life and achievements, only about 60 characters, and the other pages are all selected from "Book of Fengchan".I don't know if Sima Qian has other deep meanings. Of the 130 chapters in "Historical Records", this one is the strangest.Maybe there are many things that are hard to say about the current emperor, including the emperor's great achievements.Sima Qian's style is to talk about all aspects, such as Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty.For Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, since he couldn't speak in his usual style, he simply didn't speak.In fact, not speaking is also a kind of speaking, just as silence is often a kind of expression.Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records", with 520,000 characters. If it is compared to a traditional Chinese painting, then it leaves a lot of blank space.All omissions are meaningful.This is closely related to his long-term study of "Spring and Autumn".The so-called spring and autumn brushwork is known to most people.Scholars of past dynasties have been arguing endlessly over whether "The Book of Xiaowu" was written by Tai Shigong.

Two or three years later, shortly after the end of the Fengchan parade, the thirty-eight-year-old Sima Qian succeeded Taishiling. He could stay in the imperial library all day, reading various books and touching dusty files.Emperor Wu didn't pay much attention to the work of the historian, but left room for him.Otherwise, those files will be encrypted and sealed, and they will be opened to officials of different levels in a limited manner, and time slots will have to be allocated.He brushed away the dust with his hand, allowing the history to be presented clearly, including many palace secrets, such as Emperor Han Jing's ascension to the throne was based on luck, and he was a little ashamed to see others.Writing history is not revealing secrets, but it also reveals some unknown things. Among these things, sometimes the hidden historical truth is hidden.

For ordinary historians, it is very valuable to be able to write down the truth, but after Sima Qian tells the truth, he still needs to evaluate it. At the end of each article, there is "Tai Shi Gong's statement", and his position is very clear.If you read "Historical Records" carefully, you will understand who is a great historian, and behind knowledge is courage.The so-called wise reading of history is only half of the story. Great historians are wise and brave. In the few years since he became Tai Shiling, it seems that he has not yet married, and his physical body has been handed over to the maze of spiritual exploration.There are quite a few outstanding figures of mankind like him. Both Kant and Nietzsche were celibate all their lives, although the latter had a sensational love affair.If the mind is too concentrated, the body may be forgotten.Sima Qian plunged into the library, sometimes thinking that the faint morning light was dusk.He often has a dumbfounded look, his clothes are old and disheveled, and it is possible that he will not be able to meet each other.In short, the more the tentacles of the spirit extend, the sharper the sharpness of the body becomes duller, unlike some people, such as Gu Hongming in China and Sartre in France, where the two things go hand in hand.It was also very difficult for Sima Qian to save money. He paid for books and inspections by himself.Emperor Wu gave him a little salary, but did not allocate him research funds to set up a writing team for him.He had to deal with the voluminous historical materials alone, he had to get in and type out even more.His way of managing history is unprecedented, both original and pioneering.History is in his hands, it is a living history, and a thousand years is like yesterday's history.He recorded densely, screened cautiously and boldly, and thought about it day and night. He knew that his responsibility was great, and a brush was extremely important.For a man who has been in this state of tension for a long time, it is normal to ignore his body.Only on the day when the body was cut and no longer whole did he turn around and pay close attention to the body, but it was too late.

Has the young Sima Qian ever slept with a woman? This question seems not serious enough, but many people have thought of this question, because the intensity of "Bao Ren An Shu" and the few words he mentioned about himself will make people make such guesses.People think of it but can't say it, why? In Sima Qian's writing, there is no such taboo.At that time, the sole respect for Confucianism had not yet reached his head. He himself was undoubtedly the product of a hundred schools of thought contending since the Spring and Autumn Period, not a good boy under the rule of art.

These academic issues should not be plate-shaped, they urgently need "careful thinking". ——This is what the German philosopher Heidegger said. I have been reading him for several years, and I have been thinking about it almost all the time: Why does Heidegger separate history and history?Historicity is the premise of all historiography, and the history of literature will become the history of problems, and historiography without this premise is just a pile of old papers.Heidegger's knowledge spans from ancient to modern times, and his lessons are aimed at inspiring thinking. His infinitely rich knowledge all point to something higher than knowledge.The same is true for the disciples of Confucius, who focus on preaching.Confucius even said: "If you hear the Tao in the morning, you can die in the evening!" Sima Qian has been Taishi Ling for exactly ten years, which is really hard work.He probably married late, had a daughter in his forties, and later married a man surnamed Yang.He would have had several children with his wife, and one of the boys would have succeeded him in his business.He didn't do it, so he was heartbroken and deeply insulted his ancestors.Knowing that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would deprive him of his reproductive rights, he would marry early anyway and give birth to a bunch of boys and girls. During this period, he had already started writing, and the great project was carried out in a small apartment in an orderly manner, and he had a taste of doing underground work.Someone once stole some of his drafts and presented them to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.Emperor Wu looked at it and shook his head, disapproving.However, the emperor's contempt for historians played a role again, he did not pursue further, did not send people to burn those bamboo slips, in his opinion, the Jade Girl Sutra and the technique of immortality are much more important. Sima Qian learned his lesson and became more like an underground worker than before.In the dead of night, under the lonely lamp, his thin figure coughed a few times from time to time, and the magnificent history was written calmly with a beautiful hand in Han Li.