Chapter 5 Section 2 The Four Books of the Southern Dynasties: "Song Shu", "Nan Qi Shu", "Liang Shu", "Chen Shu"

Among the twenty-four histories, there are 10 books that record the historical events of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. They are "Song Shu", "Nan Qi Shu", "Liang Shu", "Chen Shu", "Wei Shu", "Northern Qi Shu", "Book of Zhou", "Sui Shu", "Southern History" and "Northern History".The "eight books" and "two histories" are closely related and intricately complementary to each other. "Book of Songs", written by Liang Shenyue in the Southern Dynasty.There are 10 volumes of Benji, 30 volumes of Zhi, and 60 volumes of biographies, a total of 100 volumes.From the first year of Yixi, Emperor An of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 405), to the third year of Emperor Song Shun's ascension to Ming Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty (AD 479), it records the history of the Liu Song Dynasty.

Shen Yue served in the Song, Qi, and Liang dynasties in the Southern Dynasties. He was an official up to Liang Shangshuling, and he was customarily called a Liangren.Famous for literature.In the spring of the fifth year of Yongming in the Southern Qi Dynasty (AD 487), Shen Yue was ordered to write the "Book of Songs". The biographies of 13 people in this book continued to write the historical events of more than 10 years after Yongguang (AD 465), and the biographies will be compiled into Zou Shang in February of the second year.Because most of the old manuscripts of Xu Yuan and others were used, and there were not many self-written ones, the book was completed so quickly.The part of the annals was written in the follow-up, and there is no clear history when it will be completed.However, based on the analysis of its avoidance of the taboos of Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan, Liang Wu Emperor Xiao Yan, and Yan Fu Xiao Shunzhi, it can be presumed that it was completed successively from the end of Qi Dynasty to the beginning of Liang Tianjian.

"Book of Songs" contains a lot of various documents such as edicts, memorials, letters and articles at that time, and it preserves rich historical materials.In the biographies, he pioneered the narrative method, that is, in the process of narrating the important events of the biographer, he inserted a paragraph of the life history of the secondary characters involved in the historical events.This style of writing faithfully reflects the guest-host relationship between historical figures, and it can be said that the outline is clear and economical.For example, "Liu Daogui Biography" contains Liu Zun, "Wang Yizhen Biography" contains Duan Hong, "Xie Lingyun Biography" contains Xun Yong, etc.Occasionally, there are too many narrations, and there are also losses of distracting guests.In addition, some biographies are too complicated. In addition to the main biography, the ancestors are traced upwards, the descendants are recorded downwards, and the brothers and relatives are mentioned next to each other. The content is empty.This reflects the reality that since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, powerful landlords have been in power, the social atmosphere advocates family status, and attaches importance to the study of family genealogy.And Shen Yue's self-titled "Biography of En Xing" focuses on the records of bureaucrats who were born in a poor family and were favored by the emperor.The authors deliberately demeaned them, often writing them as villains trying to curry favor with the emperor, reflecting the internal contradictions of the ruling class and the prejudices of the aristocratic families. "Suo Lu Biography" records the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is not only called by ugly names, but also records many rumors that are not true. It is not an objective attitude of historians. It is worth noting that it contains materials that are not in the history books of the Northern Dynasty written by Beiren.

The annals of "Song Shu" is less than half of Ji Zhuan's in number of volumes, but almost equal in length and weight. It not only records the laws and regulations of the Liu and Song Dynasties, but also goes back three generations, especially in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and shows the origin of the laws and regulations. From the beginning to the end, it makes up for the gaps in history.Among them, "Lü Li Zhi" and "Astronomical History" are accurate and detailed, and the full text is recorded in Yang Wei's "Jingchu Calendar", He Chengtian's "Yuanjia Calendar", and Zu Chongzhi's "Daming Calendar", which can reflect the level of natural science research at that time and is very precious. "Yue Zhi" describes musical instruments in detail and records the movements. It not only preserves rich materials of temple music and dances and folk songs and dances from the Han Dynasty to the Liu Song Dynasty, but also provides magnificent poems for the history of ancient literature. , local customs and customs, all of which are all inclusive, and have a good influence on the history books of later generations.During the Jin and Song Dynasties, states and counties were changed and overseas Chinese were located, and household registrations changed. The situation was very complicated. "Zhou County Chronicles" has been reviewed and detailed, and it is an important material for studying the geographical evolution and population changes in southern my country.Because there are no more than a hundred prefecture records that Shen Yue relied on in those days, the value of the data in "Zhou County Chronicles" is naturally very precious. "Baiguan Zhi" is detailed in the Eastern Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties.The Song-Jin system did not change much, so there are not many people who only remember the Liu-Song official system.This record is quite concise and clear.Tang Xiu's "Book of Jin", many of his annals copied from "Song Shu" but could not go beyond its scope, the importance of the "Song Shu" can be seen from this. "Book of Songs" does not have "Shihuozhi" and "Yiwenzhi", which forms a blank in reflecting economic development and academic culture. The world deceives the people, and the influence is very bad.

"Song Shu" was slightly incomplete when it was handed down to the Northern Song Dynasty. Later generations supplemented it with Li Yanshou's "Southern History" and other books, and still kept the original volume unchanged.Now there are Zhonghua Book Company's school editions available for reading. "Book of Southern Qi" (Figure 10), written by Liang Xiaozixian in the Southern Dynasty.It was originally named "Book of Qi" or "History of Qi", and the character "South" was added in the Northern Song Dynasty to distinguish it from "Book of Northern Qi" written by Li Baiyao.The book has 60 volumes, including eight volumes of Benji, 11 volumes of Chronicles, 40 volumes of biographies, and one volume of prefaces. The prefaces have been lost, and 59 volumes actually exist.From the first year of Jianyuan (479 A.D.) of Emperor Gao of Qi to the second year of Zhongxing (502 A.D.) of Emperor He of Qi, it records the 24-year history of the Southern Qi Dynasty.

Xiao Zixian is the grandson of Xiao Daocheng, emperor Gao of Qi, and the eighth son of Xiao Yi, king of Yuzhang.After Qi died in Liang Xing, he still maintained his status as an aristocratic family. He was an official in Liang, from the Minister of the Ministry of Officials to the prefect of Wu Xing.The brothers were all famous for their literary talents in the Liang Dynasty.Xiao Zixian please write his own history of Qi.In the past, the emperors and princes and grandchildren compiled the history books of the previous dynasty, which is the only one in the official history.It is also unique in history books to use descendants as their fathers and ancestors to write biography, and to call themselves "Shichen Yue".Because of this, the "Book of Nanqi" either hides the embellishments or exaggerates the royal family's struggle for power and killing.

Based on the old manuscripts of national history written by historians of the Qi Dynasty, and referring to the old works of his predecessors, he compiled a complete history book of the Southern Qi Dynasty in the form of biography.The names of its biographies are roughly based on the "Book of Songs" and have been slightly changed. For example, good officials are changed to Liangzheng, hermits are changed to Gaoyi, Enxing is changed to Xingchen, and Suolu is changed to Weilu.He created his own "Literature Biography", which is not included in "Song Shu". There are 10 people in total, and the famous scientist Zu Chongzhi is among them.In the biographies, the author uses both Ban Gu's classifiable narration method and Shen Yue's narration method, so that the biography is not many but the characters are detailed, avoiding the cumbersome and inappropriate biography of each person regardless of the importance. The records of "Book of Southern Qi" are more preferable, and its "Baiguan Zhi" is very concise.Those who read the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties often suffer from the confusion of official positions. You can get an overview of it by reading "Book of Southern Qi·Haiguan Zhi" first. "Zhou Zhi" records the history of geographical establishment in detail, and each state briefly describes its customs and customs, which is of high historical value.As most of the ancient works on the history of Nanqi have been lost, "Book of Nanqi" has become an indispensable historical book for the study of this period of ancient history.

"Liang Shu" and "Chen Shu", written by Tang Yao Silian (Figure 11). "Liang Shu" has 56 volumes, including six volumes of this Ji and 50 volumes of biographies, without tables and records.From the first year of Tianjian (502 A.D.) of Emperor Wu of Liang to the second year of Taiping (557 A.D.) of Emperor Jing, it records the 56-year history of Liang Dynasty. "Chen Shu" has 36 volumes, including six volumes of this Ji, and 30 volumes of biographies, without tables and records.From the first year of Emperor Wu of Chen Yongding (557 A.D.) to the third year of Zhenming (589 A.D.) after Chen Houzhu, it records the history of the Chen Dynasty for 33 years.Among the twenty-four histories, only this book has the least volume.

Although the second book was written by Yao Silian, the author was only named Yao Silian, but actually it was written by Yao Cha, Yao Silian and his son successively.Yao Cha is a famous historian of the Liang, Chen and Sui dynasties.Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty once praised "Yao Cha's learning and practice are incomparable today".As early as the early years of the Chen Dynasty, Yao Cha had compiled the history of Liang.After entering the Sui Dynasty, he wrote the two histories of Liang and Chen according to the imperial edict, but died without completion.Before he died, "still admonished Zi Silian in the same way, and wrote a continuation of blogging".Yao Silian was an official in Chen, Sui and Tang dynasties. At the beginning of Tang Dynasty, he was a writer and a bachelor of Hongwenguan, and later he was a regular servant of Sanqi.At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, he began to make supplements.After the death of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered Yao Silian and Wei Zheng to write the two histories of Liang and Chen in the third year of Zhenguan (629 AD), and the book was completed about ten years before Zhenguan (636 AD).Wei Zheng only served as the director and repair officer. He wrote a general commentary at the end of the second book and after "Chen Shu · Concubine Biography".The actual compilation and revision work was written by Yao Silian.There are 26 articles at the end of the volume of "Liang Shu" with the general topic "Chen Libu Shangshu Yao Cha said", and there are two articles with this title in "Chen Shu". These articles obviously directly adopted Yao Cha's old manuscripts, and the rest are It is the continuation of Yao Silian.

About half of Liang and Chen's fathers and sons experienced it personally, and most of the historical materials based on it came from the hands of current historians, and many precious original materials are preserved in the book.The text is concise and the narrative is concise, which is the place where it is better than other histories at the same time.In the Song Dynasty, Sima Guang wrote a lot of his articles.Comparing the two books, "Liang Shu" is more substantial in content and more vivid and clear in writing.For example, in the era of Emperor Wu of Liang when Buddhism was prevalent, Fan Zhen tried his best to reject all opinions and held the theory of God's Extinction alone. "Liang Shu" set up a biography for him, objectively recorded the events, and recorded the full text of "On the Extinction of God" in detail, which is very commendable of.Another example is Ruan Xiaoxu, a scholar who insisted on not being an official and compiled "Qi Lu", Shen Yue, a writer and historian, Zhong Rong, who wrote "Poetry", and Liu Xie [xie Xie], who wrote "Liang Shu". The biography, which introduces his deeds in detail.There are as many as 25 people in his "Literature Biography" in two volumes, reflecting the prosperity of literature in the Liang Dynasty.In addition, the writing style of the Six Dynasties advocated parallelism and superficiality, which was still followed in the early Tang Dynasty, but Yao and his son wrote history in simple and concise prose.

Due to the closeness of the times, the historians were full of scruples. Both "Liang Shu" and "Chen Shu" had many words that were concealed or exaggerated by the rulers and relatives. degree of airtightness.For the descendants of the Chen family, no matter the virtuous or the foolish, everyone has a biography, which makes "Chen Shu" almost become a genealogy.And because there is no actual achievement to record, we have to collect more imperial edicts and sparse tables to fill the space, and the result is bloated and empty, which is boring.The biography of the second book has a cliché, the first is about the order of history and officials, the second is about important historical facts, and the third is the end of the book. No matter who it is, it usually ends with praise.Such a stereotyped form, there must be beauty in the book, and evil in the book, and finally lead to the confusion of right and wrong, which is actually not acceptable for good history.The two books are both official history books in the early Tang Dynasty, with Wei Zheng as the chief editor.Although Wei Zheng wrote a few general articles for the second book, he commented on history from the perspective of a politician, and his insight is far better than that of Yao and his son.