A practical example of "a letter is better than no book"

Zhao Kuo, an armchair strategist, harms others and harms himself: The Book of Jin was written by Sima Zhong Da during the Three Kingdoms period. As we all know, Sima Yi and Zhu Gekongming fought in Qishan for decades. Although he did not replace Wei before his death, he was named emperor by his grandson, just like Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and named his father. In the Book of Jin. Emperor Xuandi of the Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty recorded this: "Emperor Chad of Wei Wu was ambitious, and he heard that wolves were taking care of him, so he wanted to test him. That is, call before and call after, and face forward without moving. I also dreamed that Sanma ate the same food, which was very evil. Because Prince Pi said, "Sima Yi is not a minister, he will predict your family affairs. The prince and emperor are good, and each side is blessed, so they are free. "This passage means that Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, noticed that Sima Yi was ambitious and heard that he looked back at people like wolves, so he wanted to verify it. Sima Yi was once summoned to take a few steps forward, and was suddenly turned away. He saw Sima Yi's face turned away, but his body did not move, and his ambition was obvious. On another occasion, Cao Cao dreamed that three horses were eating in a trough. He thought that the three Sima families were eating the same Cao, and he was very unhappy. So he said to Prince Xelloss, "You must pay attention. Sima Yi is not a person who has lived for a long time. We should prevent him from stealing classes and seizing power. "But xelloss and sima yi have a good personal relationship, and didn't take his father's words to heart. In the end, Sima Yi was allowed to take Cao Cao's land. This is naturally another story.

Book of Jin There is also a record in Zhong Zongyuan, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "In the early Xuan Shi picture, a cow followed a horse. Xuan Di was deeply jealous of the cow family, so he took two bites and * * * to store wine. The emperor drank the best first, and then angered the Taurus with poisoned wine. And Princess Xiahou Gong was born of a young official cow, and she also had a blessing. " Emperor Zhong Zongyuan was the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the Western Jin Dynasty, which experienced the "Eight Kings Rebellion", was dying. Si Marui was able to turn the tide. According to Jiangdong, he became the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and was also considered as a more successful emperor. This record is that at the beginning, the map of Xuan Shi (a tool for divination) had the words "Cows follow horses", and Sima Yi suspected that cows were trying to seize the power of their Sima family, especially for cows. At that time, one of his generals was called Jinniu, which also contributed a lot to him. Sima Yi prepared a special hip flask, which was separated by an organ. He put good wine and poisonous wine at the same time, and poured them out of one mouth. He secretly pulled the trigger when drinking by himself and drank good wine. When Taurus drinks, he pulls the trigger and makes Taurus drink the poisoned wine. This is how Taurus was poisoned. Who knows that after many years, this sentence was actually on the Jin and Yuan emperors. Why? Because Jin Yuan Emperor was born because of his mother Xiahou's adultery with a small official Niu. These two records are from the official history, which obviously has an unquestionable taste, but when you think about it carefully, it doesn't make sense. It is unreasonable to say that Sima Yi has the appearance of a wolf. Maybe there are some similarities in some aspects, but it is also unreasonable to say that he turns his head, unless he has any special functions. In addition, it is not uncommon to dream that Sanma was at the same low point in ancient times. It is far-fetched to say that Sima Shi wants to compete with Cao Jia for the world, which is obviously the postscript of future generations. Emperor Jin Yuan was born after his mother had an affair with a small official of the Niu family. This may be a fact, so there is nothing to make a fuss about. Even Confucius is an illegitimate child. Do you want to find the reason from the above generations? Is this to cover up the emperor?

Informal writing in official history is often very interesting, but don't take it seriously. Like the above example, in addition to excusing the emperor from whitewashing, there are also reasons why the ancients attached importance to some phenomena that they could not explain. These things can be seen everywhere in ancient books of feudal society. Therefore, if we don't learn from the past and accept it completely, we can only pass it on. Comparatively speaking, Tai Shigong's brushwork is objective and fair, and there are few such dross. Even for the founding emperor like Liu Bang, we can objectively point out its advantages and disadvantages and make a basic evaluation. This is a quality that later historians are increasingly lacking. In the end, they all turned into red-sun carols. How dare you write any shortcomings? This is the opposite of an upright historian.