Chapter 25 The third section takes the method of "Tong Dian" and "Wen Wen Tong Kao"

"General Kao" 348 volumes.Its preface says: the texts quoted in the book are called ancient scriptures, histories, conferences, and biographies of a hundred schools of thought, and the references are called offerings by ministers and bureaucrats, and the discussions of Confucianism, so the book is called "Tong Kao of Documents". The author Ma Duanlin (about 1254-1323 AD), styled Guiyu, was born in Leping, Raozhou (now Leping County, Jiangxi) in the Southern Song Dynasty.Because neither "Song History" nor "Yuan History" gave him a biography, his life and deeds are unknown.Only from the sporadic materials preserved in "Song Yuan Xue An", "Tong Kao" ("Wen Wen Tong Kao" referred to as "Tong Kao"), "Jin Shu Biao", "Chao Bai" and "Leping County Chronicles", we can know that he is a Southern Song Dynasty scholar. The second son of Ma Tingluan, the prime minister in the later period, was Cheng Shilang, and won the first place in the water examination in the ninth year of Duzong Xianchun (AD 1273).In the same year, Ma Tingluan was forced to resign because he refused to join forces with Jia Sidao, and returned to his home in Leping. Ma Duanlin also returned to his hometown with his father.Ma Tingluan was a historian of the Song Dynasty, and his family has a rich collection of books.Ma Duanlin studied hard under the guidance of his father. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, he devoted himself to sorting out the classics to relieve his political distress.Under the influence of his father, he began to compile "Tongkao" at the age of 30, and it was completed after more than 20 years of hard work.His father died in the twenty-sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (AD 1289). After that, Ma Duanlin served as the head and professor of Cihu Academy and Keshan Academy for a short period of time, and trained many talents. It is written in "Leping County Chronicles" that he lectures endlessly, "speech like a spring", so that the listeners get something every time.It can be seen that he is knowledgeable and talented.He spent most of his life living in seclusion and writing books, and wrote "Tongkao" in his 50s.Later, a Taoist priest Wang Shouyan visited this book and played it in the court.

"Tongkao" is divided into 24 sections, five of which are "Jingji", "Dixie", "Feudalism", "Xiangwei" and "Wuyi", and the other 19 are old ones from "Tongdian".The content starts from ancient times and ends in the Jiading period of Ningzong in the Southern Song Dynasty.The whole book can be said to be the expansion and sequel of "Tong Dian".Before the mid-Tang Dynasty, most of the historical materials for writing books were based on the "Tong Dian" and made some appropriate supplements. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, Ma Duanlin personally collected and collected masterpieces, especially the collection of historical materials in the Song Dynasty. , Confucianism, and his father Ma Tingluan's views on some issues are all collected in the book, many of which are not in "Song History".At that time, "Song History" had not yet been written, and later "Song History·Zhi" was mostly compiled based on "Tong Kao".Therefore, "Tong Kao" is better than "Song History" in terms of historical materials. "Tong Kao" has developed and improved on the basis of "Tong Dian". "Tongkao" also put "Shihuo" first, followed by politics and culture. The "Rituals" of "Tongdian" accounts for 1/2 of the whole book, and the part of "Tongkao" is less than 1/5. The proportion and layout of various categories are more reasonable than "Tongdian". "Bing Kao" in "Tong Kao" narrates in detail the evolution of ancient and modern military systems, and corrects the bias of "Bing Dian" which only describes the art of war. "Tongkao" is arranged in an orderly manner. First, historical facts are cited, then supplementary materials, and then Confucian arguments. Ma Duanlin's argument is marked with the word "Yan" to show the difference, and some also have small notes.The organization is very clear, and it is easier to consult than the "Tongdian".

"Tongkao" is based on "Tongdian", but it re-analyzes the categories, adjusts the layout, supplements historical materials, and examines right from wrong.At the same time, it also draws on the strengths of "Twenty Strategies of General Annals" and adds the content of cultural history. "Tong Kao" combines the strengths of "Tong Dian" and "Tong Zhi", making the history books created by Du You reach the degree of perfection that its own form can accommodate. Wang Qi (qi Qi) of the Ming Dynasty edited the "Continued Literature Tongkao", which has six more categories than "Tongkao", and the historical materials are also very rich, especially the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty.Because there are records related to the Qing Dynasty in the book, it was listed as a banned book by the Qing Dynasty and was not allowed to be circulated.The official revisions of the Qing Dynasty included "Tong Kao of Continued Documents" and "Tong Kao of Qing Documents" (formerly known as "Tong Kao of Imperial Documents").At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Liu Jinzao compiled "Tongkao of Xuwen of the Qing Dynasty" (formerly known as "Tongkao of Xuwen of the Dynasty"), which was recorded until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The "Tong Dian" written by Du You in the Tang Dynasty, the "Tong Zhi" written by Zheng Qiao in the Song Dynasty, and the "Wen Tong Kao" written by Ma Duanlin in the Yuan Dynasty are collectively known as the "Three Tongs".In addition to the "Xu Tong Dian", "Xu Tong Zhi", "Continued Documents Tong Kao", "Qing Dynasty Tong Dian", "Qing Dynasty Tong Zhi", "Qing Dynasty Documents Tong Kao" compiled by the Qing Dynasty, it is also called "Nine Tongs". .Together with Liu Jinzao's "Tong Kao of Continuing Documents of the Qing Dynasty", it is the so-called "Ten Tong".This "Ten Tong" is a very important historical book in the political book category, with a total of 2,600 volumes, with extensive content and difficult access.The Commercial Press compiled the "Ten Tong Index", which has two retrieval methods of "four-corner number" and "classification", which provides convenience for us to look up the "Ten Tong".