"Take the knife in your hand, undress, straighten your chest, wipe your abdomen with your left hand, hold the knife in your right hand, make a loud noise, cut open the skin of your abdomen, and there will be a bunch of hearts rolling out of the skull and bones."
Who can simply write such a heartfelt word?
He is Sima Qian, the Han Dynasty Taishi Sima Qian, who was praised by Lu Xun as "the great singing of historians and the "Departure from Sorrow" without rhyme".
Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, was the Taishi Gong of the Han Dynasty, and he believed that only by making a name for himself in the future generations and showing his parents was the greatest filial piety.
The ambitious Sima Tan wanted to do something unprecedented—to write history systematically and thoughtfully— and there was no such literary history at that time, so he began to collect and read historical materials in preparation for the revision of the history. When he got up, he sadly found that he might not be able to finish the job.
To string together all the things that have happened before this, involving politics, economics, military, philosophy and too many other aspects, many classics must be verified and implemented, and he may not be able to complete it in his lifetime.
But it doesn't matter, he has a son, and Sima Tan thinks that the idea of the son inheriting his father's business is good.
Sima Qian was born in Longmen, farming and grazing between rivers and mountains, influenced by family learning since childhood, his performance has been different, he loves to read books and tell stories, he is like a storyteller in the heart of his childhood partner, astronomical history, can tell the head of the Tao.
Inevitably, he also developed the "talking" problem of loving to point fingers and point out the country.
Under the expectations of his father, Sima Qian began a 7-year journey after the age of 20, reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles, and Sima Qian, who had a goal, conducted a national field investigation, obtained a lot of first-hand information, and gained a lot.
At that time, he even made a detailed examination of where the Yellow Emperor was born, died, and buried, and the inscription in front of the "Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum" is still reprinted from the original text of his "History".
This national field research endorsed the authenticity and scientific nature of the later "History".
When the flying general Li Guang committed suicide, the people cried a lot, who has not been young? At that time, Sima Qian's sense of justice was bursting and he was eager to try, but he was beaten by his father, reminding him that he wanted to record historical events with a fair and rational attitude, not to have too many of his own views and feelings, and to have a sense of the overall situation.
His anger and nagging were all vented to his father, and then Sima Tan asked him to rot these troublesome nonsense in his stomach.
Emperor Wu of Han relied heavily on Wei Qing, which was the need of the situation, not to mention that Wei Qing could fight, and Wei Qing's nephew Huo Fuyi was also a famous general.
It wasn't until Sima Qian personally saw Huo go ill and shoot Li Guang's son Li Gan, but Emperor Wu of Han was not worried, calling Li Gan a deer and dying, that he truly realized the cruelty and ugliness of politics.
On the way to Mount Tai fengchan by Emperor Wu, Sima Tan, who had always been cautious and self-righteous, made the mistake of speaking bluntly, only because he said a few different opinions to Fengchan, he was ordered by Emperor Wu to leave the team, and he fell ill in Luoyang after being depressed.
In this way, love to speak bluntly is a common disease of their father and son, family inheritance, and no one should say who.
In 110 BC, Sima Tan died of illness, and before he died, he instructed Sima Qian: "After I die, you must remember to talk less, live to take over the Taishi Order for me, and complete a general history for me!"
In this way, the 38-year-old Sima Qian took over Sima Tan's class to do taishi ling, he went headlong into the royal academy, dense history of the former dynasty, not only can not miss the detailed historical record but also drastically screen out the nonsense similar to the myth, he is very busy, busy there is no time to take care of himself.
Ordinary historians, it is not easy to write down the truth, but he has to comment on one or two points after each historical event record, and add "Taishi Gongyue" at the end of each article.
In this book, he explicitly said that it was "on the occasion of the heavens and man, through the changes of ancient and modern times, into the words of a family." "It's to make the words in your heart happy."
Sima Qian's "family words" are not the personal views we think of now, Sima Qian is well versed in astrology, geography, and more macroscopic and far-sighted political and economic vision, and his views are directly to the point.
In the political environment at that time, he could not say what he wanted to say, he had to make sure that he was alive before he could speak, so his creation could only be carried out secretly, like an underground worker.
Because the secrecy work was not in place at the beginning, some of the drafts were stolen and presented to Emperor Wu of Han, fortunately, the early "Records of History" was relatively mild, and Emperor Wu felt that it was insignificant and did not pay attention to it.
This change frightened Sima Qian to be more cautious and more hidden in his creation, and he did not want to go first without his ambition.
Busyness and poverty caused him to have no time to marry and have children, and his daughter was only born after he was 40 years old, and if he had known that he would be subjected to "palace punishment", he would have had several more children in advance.
Soon the "Li Ling Case" appeared, Li Guang's grandson Li Ling fought with 80,000 Xiongnu with 5,000 troops, did not wait for reinforcements, and finally Li Ling surrendered, leaving only 400 people to flee back to the border, emperor Wu was angry.
This original state of life has always been like an old monk chanting the scriptures when he went to work, and when he returned home, he wrote a curse to Sima Qian. Hearing those foul language insulting the heroes of the bloody battlefield, this time he could not wait for the end of work, the bloodiness of the Northwestern people came up, and he subconsciously raised his legs to the line, indicating that he had something to say.
Sima Qian stood up and felt that he was impulsive, how to express his understanding without causing trouble, he had not yet thought about it.
Emperor Wu looked at him above and could not go back, his heart was crossed, or he stuttered and said that Li Ling had fewer enemies and more enemies, and there was no reinforcement when he ran out of ammunition, and the emperor could not give him a chance to atone for his sins.
Here Emperor Wu's face was as heavy as water, and his words also slipped smoothly: When Li Ling made military achievements, he all went to flattery, and now that the soldiers were defeated, the people who flattered him were afraid of spitting, and this change was not too big!
By saying this, not only offended the emperor and the ministers who had just spoken, but also offended.
Emperor Wu of Han waved a large hand and charged him with "frustrated division", which meant attacking Emperor Wu of Han's beloved general Li Guangli of the second division, and beheading him according to Khan's law.
Sima Qian, who was imprisoned in a big prison, did not die nor suffer less, and was interrogated, tortured, and frightened.
Emperor Wu suddenly remembered what he said one day and felt that what he said was also reasonable, so he sent someone to the Xiongnu territory to inquire about the situation, but he got the news that Li Ling was busy training soldiers and horses for the Xiongnu.
So hundreds of Li Ling's fathers, mothers, and wives were beaten to death after cutting their noses and fingers, and the bodies of the people were chopped into meat sauce, and they got accurate information that it was not Li Ling but a man named Li Xu who helped the Xiongnu train soldiers and horses, but unfortunately the news was too late, the people were killed, and the emperor could not go to Confess His mistake to Li Ling, and Li Ling, who learned of this matter, surrendered to the Xiongnu from there and married Shan Yu's daughter.
Sima Qian, who is still in prison, has added more "false accusations" to deceive the king out of nowhere, and no matter how you look at it, it is a dead end.
Sima Qian regretted it, the book began to be written, the son has not yet, and the ancient past and present that have been holding his stomach must be buried in the soil.
Even if Sima Qian's life should not be extinguished, Emperor Wu did not know what happy things he encountered, and ordered a general amnesty for the world, but he was not happy, I don't know if it was because of the shortage of the national treasury, he came up with this trick, it takes 500,000 yuan to go out completely, and there is not enough money to make up enough money, and the "palace punishment" is served.
500,000 yuan is too difficult for Sima Qian's family, and the family looks everywhere at the cold face and eats the closed door soup, and still can't get the money.
At that time, the social currents, people with strong and fierce temperament would rather choose to die than choose "palace punishment" to become eunuchs.
First, the humiliation of the ancestors, the faceless face of the world, and then the level of surgery at that time plus the health situation in prison, this inhuman punishment is similar to the death penalty, and it is also the resignation of death.
Later, Sima Qian said the famous saying throughout the ages in the "Book of Reporting to Shaoqing": "Man is inherently dead, or heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than Hong Mao." ”
He chose to live, fortunately, his "palace punishment" did not have major infection flaws.
After Sima Qian was released from prison, he was actually promoted, and Emperor Wu made him a Zhongshu Ling, equivalent to a personal secretary, and was forbidden to enter and leave the palace, and now the emperor was simply too relieved about him.
Sima Qian had always despised eunuchs, and now felt that he was not even as good as a eunuch, and in the Book of Baoren An, he said part of his mood: "It is nine times a day with the intestines, and if you live suddenly, if you die suddenly, you don't know what to do." Every time I think of shame, sweat does not taste the back of the clothes also. ”
He lived to finish writing, he poured all the fire in his heart into the language, and the "History" that had been written for 7 or 8 years has changed suddenly since then, no longer gentle and generous, but the sword and light sword shadow, sharp and sharp.
His works are both impartial and combative, with a silent surface and lava rushing underneath.
Sima Qian ostensibly lived a quiet life, and because of the good disguise, Emperor Wu did not pay attention to him.
How bold he was, just under the eyes of Emperor Wu of Han, to make a biography for Xiang Yu, the enemy of the Han Dynasty, "Xiang Yu Benji", the style of ancient history compilation, only the emperor used "Ji" instead of "transmission"
He felt that Xiang Yu should be equivalent to the emperor writing like this, regardless of what posterity would think. He wants to express his attitude and say what he wants to say!
Everyone praised Wei Qing and Huo Tou, and he added them to the "Biography of Yu Xinglie".
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suppressed the merchants, so he wrote a "Biography of Cargo Colonization" The pen in Sima Qian's hand was the arrow he waved out, tearing apart the history that had been whitewashed by the world.
When Sima Qian's writing was in full swing, the imperial court had a major event of the rebellion of the prince, and the imperial city was full of swords for 5 days and 5 nights, and the outside was dark and bloody, and Sima Qian was busy making records at home.
His confidant friend Ren An, who insisted on neutrality and did not bring troops to participate, Emperor Wu later discovered that the prince was designed by someone, and was angry that Ren An did not save the prince, and Ren An was thrown to death row.
In prison, Ren An asked Sima Qian, who was "in an important position", for help, and Sima Qian thought for a long time and refused Ren An's request.
At the beginning, he was willing to speak out for the sake of Li Ling, who had never interacted with him, but now he stood idly by with his friends, was he afraid?
Of course not, because the book that was more important than his life had not yet been written, and he did not dare to risk his life again.
Later, Ren An was released again, and he was finally killed for this reason a few years later.
According to orthodox standards, the "Chronicle of History" is not qualified, because he not only writes about emperors and major events of the country, but also writes all kinds of people into history.
He used his own set of value systems and right and wrong standards to inject a distinct personal emotion into the "History", and he did not have to be afraid of anyone, the emperor generals, the rangers and cool officials, the good and bad were written down.
Sima Qian is the founder of the typicalization of character image creation, as long as Sima Qian is mentioned, people will think of a series of heroic characters such as Qu Yuan, Wei Gongzi, Lian Po, Lin Xiangru, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Li Guang, Jing Kun, Nie Zheng and so on.
Sima Qian directly influenced the creation of novels and plays in later generations. Chinese novels have a strong storytelling nature, and the drama emphasizes the conflict of characters, all of which originate from the techniques of "History".
In 90 BC, Sima Qian disappeared after completing the "Records of History" at the age of 56, there is no more record of him in the historical records, his disappearance has become a mystery, some people say that the books he wrote were discovered by the emperor and lost his life, some people say that he disappeared with the book in the famous mountains and rivers.
Unfortunate fate, cast a great merit, insist on doing what he wants to do, complete the wish, he "brushed away" life and death has long been unconcerned.
The full ship of bright moon has gone since then, and ben is a lonely person in the jianghu.