As an authoritative historical book, the "Chronicle of History" has been valued by historians. But you may not know that it is such a historical classic, which also has flaws and errors, and all of this has to start from the excavation of bamboo roots. What's going on here? What earth-shattering content will these mysterious bamboo janes record? If you want to know, let Xiaobian reveal the secret for you:
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In 1975, in the Yunmeng County area of Hubei Province, archaeologists found an ancient tomb from the Warring States period, and they then launched a protective excavation, the tomb was a Tomb of the Qin People in the Warring States Period, the owner of the tomb was named "Xi", which was an ordinary official in the official and political system of the Qin State at that time, because the tomb was located in yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land, so it was also known as "Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Tomb".
As a low-ranking official of the Qin Dynasty, "Xi" did not have the luxury of the tomb structure of the emperor and the general, but a large number of Qin Dynasty bamboo Janes were unearthed in the tombs, which were called "Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Jian" by archaeologists. At this time, the question arises, why is there a large number of bamboo janes in the tomb of "Xi"? Could it be that he is a collector of collectors? In fact, this is not the case, most of the Qin Jian excavated from the Tomb of the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin is almost written by "Xi" alone.
As a small official in the county town of the Qin Dynasty, "Xi"'s job before his death was to engage in legal activities and copy legal documents, so he also buried all the works he did before his death, which also laid the groundwork for the earth-shattering discoveries of archaeologists in later generations.
At this time, a question arose, what exactly was the content of the bamboo in the tomb of the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin? Archaeologists have made a detailed interpretation of this, judging from the text on the bamboo book, the style used is the Qin Dynasty Lishu, which not only confirms the fact that the Lishu used in the Qin Dynasty, but also records the transformation of the seal book to the Lishu. From the content point of view, the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Jian involved many contents such as law, medicine, and historical events in the Qin Dynasty, providing extremely detailed information for future generations to study Chinese calligraphy and the politics, law, economy, and culture of the Qin Dynasty.
For a long time, the definition of the Qin Dynasty in later generations has been very clear, and there are many words to describe the Qin Empire, including "violent Qin", "the country of tigers and wolves", "severe punishment and harsh law", etc. To put it bluntly, the reputation of the Qin Dynasty in history is mainly negative. The root cause of this is that the administrative measures of the two generations of emperors of the Qin State, starting from the unification of the Six Kingdoms, whether it is the reform of the Qin State or the construction of huge buildings, all of them are carried out by relying on the escort of powerful force, this measure is undoubtedly contrary to the Confucian "benevolence", so there are many criticisms of it in subsequent generations.
Most of the sources of the "blackening" of the Qin Dynasty come from a history book, which is the "History of History", a huge work that condenses Sima Qian's life's painstaking efforts. Many people think that the "History of History" is a history book that does not mix any views and has a more objective and fair stance, but this is not the case, the history books are all from human hands, and everyone also has their own likes and dislikes, and the same is true of the great Sima Qian. I have to admit that Sima Qian is a big person, but at the same time he is also a "hardcore black fan" of Qin Shi Huang, and it is precisely because of his sincere dislike of Qin Shi Huang that he has created Qin Shi Huang's own reputation in history. It is reasonable for the editor to say this, because in the "Records of History", the cause of a famous and unrealistic story has been recorded, which is the "Dazexiang Uprising".
The Dazexiang Uprising was the first peasant uprising in China's history, and it can be said that he opened the prelude to the joint struggle against Qin. The "Chronicle of History" describes this uprising as follows: "In July of the first year of the second century, Fa Lu Left Who Shu Yuyang, 900 people Tun Daze Township. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were both subordinates and were tun chiefs. It will rain heavily, the road will not pass, and the degree has been lost. Lost time, the law is cut. Chen Sheng and Wu Guangnai conspired: "If you die now, you will die, and if you want to die, you will die? ...... Rise up, take and kill the lieutenant. Chen Shengzuozhi and killed two lieutenants. Summoning the disciples, they said: "When it rains, all of them have lost their time, and they should be cut off when they are out of date." By the first decree there is no beheading, and the dead are fixed in sixteen or seventeen. And the strong man is not dead, and when he dies, he raises a big name, and the prince will have a kind of Xiangning! All the disciples said, "Honor." ””。
The text records that Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and others went to Xianyang to serve, but when the road encountered heavy rain, the people could not advance. According to the laws of the Qin Dynasty at that time, no matter what the reason, as long as one day late, he would be sentenced to capital punishment, and if he ran away because of fear of criminal law, he would one day be caught and killed. It was in this dilemma that Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and others decided to fight with the Qin Dynasty to the death.
This record in the "Records of History" not only describes the rebellious spirit of Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and other heroes, but also expresses deep sympathy for their suffering, but in the sleeping tiger Qin Jian, archaeologists have found an unexpected text. The book records the laws of the Qin Dynasty as follows:
"Three to five days of the lost period, slander; six days to ten, a shield; ten days, a shield of credit; a ten days, a shield of credit... Water and rain, except for excitement", the meaning of this passage is obvious, that is, when the imperial court conscripted troops, if there is no special reason, and those who are late for 3-5 days should be reprimanded, those who are 6-10 days will be punished with a shield, and those who exceed 10 days will be punished with a pair of armor. If you encounter rain, heavy snow and other reasons of manpower majeure during the trip, you will not be punished. Judging from this passage, the laws of the Qin Dynasty were not as harsh as Sima Qian described, on the contrary, even in the eyes of today's people, they themselves have a high degree of humanity.
At this time, some readers will question it, claiming that this legal record in the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Jian is actually a legal clause for conscription, rather than a clause for hard labor. However, we can carefully analyze that the Qin state has always been a country that attaches great importance to military battles, with the title of "the country of tigers and wolves", compared with the construction of large buildings, military service seems to be more formal and important, so even if Chen Sheng Wuguang is blocked by heavy rain, his punishment will not be too heavy, and even exempt from punishment.
In view of the appearance of this passage in the "Records of History", historians believe that there are two possibilities, the first is that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, out of some ulterior secret, deceived the public with rumors and forced the labor workers to raise matters with themselves. The second is that Sima Qian's own record is wrong, after all, a hundred years have passed from the Qin Dynasty to the Western Han Wudi period, whether it is contained in the history books or folklore, there are inevitable deviations, which also provides the possibility of Sima Qian's misprinting.
When we look at the records in the Sleeping Tiger Land Qin Jane, we have to lament the greatness of archaeology, if there is no excavation of the Sleeping Tiger Ground Qin Jane, it is difficult for future generations to understand the truth of that year. From this point of view, we cannot look at anything by relying on the words of a family, and only through a large number of data confirmation and objective and clear judgment can we find the final truth of history!