Chapter 24 Section 2 "Common Annals·Twenty Strategies" Invented by Guangbo Huitong and Dodo Institute

"General History", formerly known as "General History".There are 200 volumes in total.The author Zheng Qiao (AD 1104-1162), courtesy name Yuzhong, was known as Mr. Jiaji because he studied and wrote in Jiaji (jiji) Mountain for a long time.A native of Xinghua County (now Putian County, Fujian Province), Fujian Road Xinghua Army in the Southern Song Dynasty.The ancestors have been officials for generations.Zheng Qiao loved reading since he was a child, and compared himself to Liu Xiang and Yang Xiong in terms of talent and knowledge.From the age of 16, he studied hard behind closed doors in his hometown Jiaji Mountain, studied hard, and then went out to travel to famous mountains and rivers, visiting ancient times and searching for strange things.He determined to "collect the books of the world into one book", and after 30 years of hard work, he finally wrote "Tong Zhi".He wrote a lot in his life, and now besides "Tongzhi", there are more than 50 kinds of "Jiaji Posthumous Manuscripts", "Erya Notes" and so on.When the Song Dynasty moved south, Zheng Qiao wrote a letter of self-recommendation with the heart of serving the country, but was not appointed. After the "Tong Zhi" was completed, it was dedicated to the emperor and was reserved for editing by the Privy Council.He never served as a senior official in his life, and died at the age of 59.

Zheng Qiao advocated general history, opposed dating, praised Sima Qian, and belittled Ban Gu.Put forward the theory that historiography should be extensive and well-understood. "Tong Zhi" is written from the Three Emperors to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it is a general history that synthesizes historical materials of all dynasties.The style imitates "Historical Records", which is divided into four parts: Benji, Biographies (including Records), Chronicles and Briefings. "Chronology" is equivalent to the "Table" of each history, and "Lue" is equivalent to the "Zhi" of each history.For the biography part, the historical materials come from the official histories of various dynasties. He opened up the biography and biography of each history, arranged them in chronological order, deleted the comments and repeated content of each history, added some places, and rearranged them into a book.Comments on Zheng Qiao's approach have always been mixed.Some people think that it is of little value to delete a large number of old histories and compile them into books.Some people think that Zheng Qiao's ingenuity, which connects ancient and modern times, is another general history after "Historical Records". Although it cannot be compared with "Historical Records", it is also a family statement.Moreover, he did not simply copy old history, but also had selections, deletions, supplements, and researches, which cannot be completely denied. Although "Tong Zhi" is a general history, the Ji, Zhuan and Pu parts have always been seldom read.

"Tong Zhi·Twenty Strategies" is Zheng Qiao's most devoted and proud work in his life, and it is also the essence of "Tong Zhi". In "Twenty Strategies", rites, music, official positions, elections, criminal law, food and goods, etc. are mostly derived from "Tong Dian";Wei Clan, Liushu, Qiyin, Metropolis, Insects, Plants, etc. were not found in previous history books, and were created by Zheng Qiao.For example, "Clan Briefing" distinguishes the origin of surnames and divides them into 32 categories; "Insect Plants and Trees" is divided into eight categories, detailing the types of grass, vegetables, rice fruits, tree fruits, insects, fish, birds, and animals. traits, uses, origin, etc. The Liushu, Qiyin, Yiwen, Xiaoyu, Jinshi, Atlas, Insects, Plants, etc. in "Twenty Lue" are important materials related to academic and cultural history, which are much richer than "Tong Dian". Zheng Qiao paid more attention to these aspects than Du You, and had special research and expertise.He paid attention to practice and was strict with textual research. He corrected many mistakes in past classics when writing astronomy, geography, car and clothing, insects and vegetation, and official positions.

Although "Tong Zhi" is rich in content and voluminous, it advocates "communication", but it only writes about the Tang Dynasty and avoids the Song Dynasty.In the book, he did not dare to express his views as Du You did, pointing out the pros and cons.Therefore, the predecessors said that "Tong Zhi" was "erudite but few essentials" (the original biography of "Song History"), and it was inferior to "Tong Dian" and "Tong Kao" in the "Three Links".This is related to the fact that Zheng Qiao lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests all his life, studied behind closed doors, and was divorced from social reality.Although there are many incisive points in the book, most of them are obtained from the study of book knowledge, and it is impossible to raise or solve problems from a macro perspective.However, "Tong Zhi" is still a masterpiece of history in terms of laws and regulations.

According to the style of "Tong Zhi" in the Qing Dynasty, there were "Continued Tong Zhi" and "Qing Dynasty Tong Zhi" (formerly known as "Huangchao Tong Zhi").In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "Twenty Lue" was also printed in a single engraving, which was called "Tong Zhi Lue".