Chapter 7 The fourth section is based on the unified and concise narrative of "Southern History" and "Northern History"

"Southern History" has 80 volumes, including 10 volumes of this Ji, 70 volumes of biographies, Wuzhi and Biao.From the first year of Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties (AD 420) to the third year of Chen Houzhu Zhenming (AD 589), it records the history of the four feudal regimes of Liu Song, Nan Qi, Liang, and Chen in the Southern Dynasties for a total of 170 years. . "Northern History" (Figure 12) has 100 volumes, including 12 volumes of this Ji, 88 volumes of biographies, no records and tables.From the first year of Emperor Daowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386) to the second year of Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty Yining (AD 618), it records the six feudal regimes of the Northern Dynasties, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui for a total of 233 years History.

Both "Southern History" and "Northern History" were written by Tang Li Yanshou.Li Yanshou was born in a large family in Longxi, the date of birth and death is unknown, and he was an official up to Fu Xilang who also studied national history.In the era of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, he participated in the compilation of "Sui Shu", "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" and "Jin Shu".He also participated in the compilation of the national history of the Tang Dynasty, and wrote "Taizong Zhengdian".His father, Master Li, wanted to imitate the "Wuyue Spring and Autumn" and use the chronological style to write a new book that comprehensively records the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, so as to correct the errors and inaccuracies caused by the division of the North and the South and the mutual hostility of the old history. The book died before it was completed.It took Li Yanshou 16 years to switch to the biography style of "Historical Records", summarizing and deleting the eight books of Song, Nanqi, Liang, Chen, Wei, Northern Qi, Zhou, and Sui, and adding some historical materials to correct the split. The political prejudice caused by the separatist regime broke the boundaries of dynasties, and narrated the history of the northern and southern dynasties, and wrote "Southern History" and "Northern History".In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozong Xianqing (AD 659), these two privately written histories were approved and circulated by the Tang government, and gained the same status as the official revised history.Tang Gaozong once wrote a preface for it, but this preface was lost after the Song Dynasty.

The compilation of "Southern History" and "Northern History" adapted to the historical development trend of national unification and national integration in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The separatist regimes denounce each other as "sorps" and "island barbarians" and other misconceptions, and describe history with a more objective and realistic attitude, which reflects the author's historical vision higher than the old ones.He cut the complicated and simplified, adjusted and adapted, and condensed the original eight books with 566 volumes into 180 volumes. The number of volumes is less than 1/3 of the total number of original books, and the length is about 1/2 of the total number of original books.Most of the abridged ones belong to the annals and edicts in this chapter, and mostly memorials and poems in the biographies.After cutting out the messy and bloated parts, the narration of historical events is relatively coherent and prominent, and it is clear and eye-catching to read.In addition to the eight books, Li Yanshou added many historical facts by referring to more than 1,000 volumes of miscellaneous histories.For example, "Southern History" added the biographies of Wang Lin, Zhang Biao and others, "Guo Zuchen Biography" supplemented the fact that Emperor Wu of Liang's remnant people worshiped Buddha, and "Ru Fa Liang Biography" preserved Tang (宀下羽) [yu As for the relevant historical materials of Yu Zhi's uprising, "Fan Zhen's Biography" added a wonderful dialogue in which he refused to "sell the theory to get an official". "Northern History" takes the Western Wei and Northern Zhou as the orthodoxy, and adds a lot to the historical materials of the Western Wei Dynasty. In addition to supplementing the biography of the three emperors of the Western Wei Dynasty and the biographies of the concubines, it also supplemented the biographies of Liang Lan and Lei Shao.After the biographies of Li Bi, Yu Wengui and others, they made more detailed records of the military systems of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty. "Su Wei Biography" supplements the historical facts of the anti-Sui struggle of the people in the south of the Yangtze River.These historical materials are all about the political economy and class struggle at that time, so they are very precious.Many of the historical materials added by Li have a strong storyline and mostly use oral materials, so the images are vivid and can better reflect the historical reality at that time.At the same time, due to the lack of strict selection, some trifling incidents of catastrophic auspiciousness, miracles, humor and jokes are also recorded, which has become one of the shortcomings of the Second History.

A notable feature in the compilation of "Southern History" and "Northern History" is to highlight the status of aristocratic families.It uses the form of family biography, according to the lineage rather than the time, and the characters of the same family are gathered together, and all descendants are attached to the handed down of the father and grandfather, which actually becomes the genealogy of the great family.Compiled in this way, although the genealogy can be checked, it is difficult to distinguish the dynasty, which cannot but be said to be a major shortcoming.However, the era of Southern and Northern Dynasties was the era of aristocratic clans, and aristocratic families relied on their ancestors' political status and clan in-laws to monopolize various political and economic privileges.The form of family biography only reflects and affirms the social reality at that time.Although the Second Histories are famous for their concise writing and concise narrative, there are also some inappropriate handling of the abridgement and adjustment of the Eight Books. For example, Li Anshi’s memorabilia on Juntian in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Fan Zhen’s famous debate on the destruction of gods in the Liang Dynasty are all related to class relations at that time. Important historical materials on the economic system and ideology, the former were discarded and the latter were deleted, which is obviously an important shortcoming in the compilation and revision.There are also historical errors and writing errors caused by haste and sloppiness in the abridgement.In addition, the related historical events of the Southern Dynasties and the Northern Dynasties, because Li Yanshou basically cataloged them according to the original books, it is inevitable that there will be fragmentation, misplacement and contradictions and repetitions.For example, Mrs. Xian of Qiao State, who was the leader of South Vietnam in the world, lived through the two generations of Liang and Chen, so she should be biographyed in "Southern History".Because he died in the Sui Dynasty, the original biography was in "Sui Shu Biography of Lie Nv", so Li Yanshou mistakenly included it in "Northern History".Another example is Liu Chang, Xiao Baoyin, etc., Linyi, and Zhuzhu countries, all of which have biographies in "Southern History", and "Northern History" is also a biography, so there is no need to repeat them.

After "Southern History" and "Northern History" came out, because of their clear organization and concise narrative, they were more valued by people, so there were fewer errors in transmission, but they were occasionally incomplete.For example, the entire chapter of "Northern History·Benji of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty" was lost, but the current version was supplemented by later generations with "Sui Shu". "Wei Xiaowen's Biography of the Six Kings", "Li Chong's Biography", "Wei Shou's Biography", etc., also have off-text.Now there are Zhonghua Book Company's school editions available for reading.

Compared with the Eight Books, the second history is based on the idea of ​​national unity, the world is one family, and the historical viewpoint is more advanced, coupled with clear organization and concise narrative.Beginners to learn the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties can start by reading "Southern History" and "Northern History" in order to grasp the main points and clarify the clues of historical development.In terms of historical materials, although the Second History has some important additions, which can complement each other with the Eight Books, but after all, due to too many deletions, it is not as detailed and complete as the Eight Books. The main point of the book.Therefore, in-depth study of the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties requires a comprehensive study of the Eight Books and Two Histories, with reference and comparison, to integrate and synthesize them.