Chapter 17 The fifth chapter runs through the ancient and modern times and casts a chronological general history of hundreds of schools——"Zi Zhi Tong Jian"
Sima Guang, courtesy name Junshi, was born in Susu (Su Su), a village in Xia County, Shanzhou (now Xia County, Shanxi).Born in the third year of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty (AD 1019) and died in the first year of Song Zhezong Yuanyou (AD 1086) at the age of 68.When he died, he was posthumously named "Wen Guogong" and posthumously named "Wenzheng", so later generations of scholars called him "Sima Wengong" or "Sima Wenzhenggong".He was born in a family of bureaucratic landlords and was a Jinshi at the age of 20.Later, he held many important official positions in the imperial court.During Song Shenzong's reign, Wang Anshi presided over the reform, and conservative bureaucrats expressed their opposition one after another. Sima Guang was a representative of the conservative party who opposed the reform.Because of political differences, he was squeezed out, and later retired to Luoyang to concentrate on writing.After Song Shenzong's death, Sima Guang was called to Beijing to serve as prime minister and preside over political affairs. In just a few months, he abolished all Wang Anshi's new laws.He himself died of illness in September of that year.He wrote many works in his life, including "Ji Gu Lu", "Su Shui Ji Wen", "Biography of Family", etc., among which the most famous one is "Ji Gu Lu".
Sima Guang has been fond of history since he was a child, and he has never stopped studying history since he became an official.It was very difficult to read at that time, and many historical books were hard to find among the people.Moreover, the history of our country developed to the Song Dynasty, and there were already a large number of works. The "official history" in the biographical style alone was as many as 1,500 volumes.It is difficult for ordinary scholars to finish reading such a large history book in their lifetime, let alone master it.Facing the increasingly severe social crisis in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, Sima Guang hoped to provide concise historical references for feudal rulers by compiling history, "deleting the length and citing the key points".
As early as the Jiayou period (1056-1063 A.D.), Sima Guang once said to Liu Shu: "Yu Yutuo began when King Weilie of Zhou ordered Han, Wei, and Zhao to be princes, and it lasted for five generations. Because of the style of Qiu Ming's chronology, Imitate Xun Yue's brief essays, gather all opinions, and form a family opinion." (Quoted from Liu Shu's "Tongjian Waiji Houxu") In the third year of Zhiping (1066 AD), Sima Guang wrote an eight-volume edition by himself. Song Yingzong admired it very much and ordered Sima Guang to continue editing the deeds of the monarchs and ministers of the past dynasties, and agreed to choose his own assistants and set up a bookstore. He was allowed to borrow the royal collection, and was also rewarded with pens, inks and silks.Song Shenzong came to the throne (AD 1067), and Sima Guang entered the "Tongzhi". Song Shenzong personally wrote a preface for this book because he "in view of the past, has the resources to govern the way", and changed the title of the book to encourage him. Continue to finish this book.With the attention and support of the emperor, it entered a new stage of collective editing.
