The author believes that the Wheel Gate Edict is not the "Edict of Sin oneself" that is rumored in later generations.
We must understand what is the "Luntai Edict" and what is the "Luntai Sin Self-Edict", which was issued by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the fourth year of Zhenghe (89 BC), and this edict is found in the "Book of Han and the Biography of the Western Regions", "Since Emperor Wu first passed through the Western Regions, he set up a lieutenant and ploughed the Tuntian Canal." When the army brigade came out, the division traveled for thirty-two years, and the sea was wasted... The upper is the lower edict, and the regret of the past is deeply expressed..." This paragraph is the earliest record of the Luntai edict.
In short, in this edict to reply to Sanghong Yang's letter on the matter of Luntai Tuntian, Emperor Wudi of Han both rejected Sanghong Yang Tuntian's proposal and expressed regret for sending the second general Li Guangli to attack the Xiongnu. However, in the original text of the edict, although the words "repentance of the expedition" and "deep regret of the past" are used to express the remorse for the conquest, if we look at these records, it is actually difficult for us to draw the feeling of the so-called "sin of one's own commandment". And the occurrence of this misunderstanding is actually related to the record of Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian" of the Song Dynasty.
In the Zizhi Tongjian Han Ji XIV, there is a very evocative and subjective depiction of this event: "In March, Shang ploughed in Juding. Also, fortunately Tarzan, repaired. Gengyin, enshrined in the Ming Hall. 癸巳, Zen Shilu, see the Qunchen, Shang Nai said: "Since the beginning of the throne, what he has done has made the world miserable and unrepentant. From now on, if there is harm to the people, those who have wasted money on the whole world will be stopped." In this account, the Luntai Edict became a political turning point for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to keep the text and dismiss Wu, and it was also an indiscriminate pursuit of "Zhaoxuan Zhongxing". But this is not necessarily the truth of the Wheel Commandment. Next, we will analyze it through the Book of Han and the Zizhi Tongjian.
I. The record of the alchemist in the Zizhi Tongjian of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty"
The theory of Fang Shi's rebellion in the "Zizhi Tongjian" originated from the death of Prince Wu of Han in his later years, and because of his deep belief in Fang Shi in his later years, Jiang Chong and other villains were able to advance, while Liu Zhao, the prince of Wei, was falsely accused of treason by Jiang Chong, Han Shu and others in the scourge of witchcraft, and finally refused to be arrested and humiliated and committed suicide. This incident dealt an extremely great blow to Emperor Wu of Han, and in Sima Guang's pen, this also became the most splendid passage in the edict of Luntai's own crime: "Tian Qianqiu said: "Fang Shiyan is very numerous and immortals, and there is no obvious merit, so please dismiss and dismiss them." Shang: "The Great Hongzhi is also." Therefore, the fangshi were dismissed from the gods and men. It was each pair of courtiers who sighed to themselves: "Foolish to the times, deceived by the alchemist." There are immortals in the world, and all the demons are delusional! Dieting and taking medicine, poor can be less sick. ”
However, from an objective point of view, such a record is most likely not actual, and first, the phrase "foolish to the times and deceived by the alchemist", even in the name of "sinning oneself", is outrageously rare in the world. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yi Peishen had a very profound evaluation of this: "Self-proclaimed rebellion, self-proclaimed foolishness, the king of eternity, rarely blames himself."
If such self-reproach is said to be the scourge of Emperor Wu's concubine's death, so that this powerful emperor cannot help but be born sad, it seems to be explainable. However, if we draw a side picture from the historical data of the time, we will find that such an explanation is not common sense.
Sima Guang's account of the reincarnation incident occurred in the fourth year of Zhenghe. However, the interesting situation is that in the same year after the sin of self-edict, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty carried out the unprecedented Taishan Sealing Zen. The place where Mount Taishan is sealed this time, located in Shi Lu under Mount Tai, in the Book of Han and the Chronicle of Emperor Wu, also has a record of this event: "Fortunately, Mount Tai, repair the seal." Gengyin, enshrined in the Ming Hall. 癸巳, Zen Shi Lu "Shi Lu" (石闾者, in the south of the site of Mount Tai, Fang Shi said much about this immortal Lu Ye, so he went up to Zen Yan".
In the process of sealing Mount Taishan this time, the alchemists said that "this immortal Lu Ye" was an important reason for his sealing, and it was not long after the sealing of Zen that Emperor Wudi of Han said, "There are immortals in the world, and all the demons are delusional!" Such an assertion of utter contempt for the Immortals? From this point of view, the statement in the Edict of sin that rebukes the alchemist is not enough to believe.
II. The record of the "repentant expedition" in the Book of Han
Unlike the record of "rebuking the alchemists" of the Luntai Sin Self-Commandment, the record of the "Repentance Expedition" in the Book of Han is indeed true, and this has become an important basis for some people to define the Luntai Sin Self-Commandment. This is the part mentioned in the introduction at the beginning of this article.
The "Book of Han and The Biography of the Western Regions" has clouds: "Since Emperor Wu first passed through the Western Regions, he set up a lieutenant and ploughed the Tuntian Canal." It was when the army and brigade were company out, the division traveled for thirty-two years, and the sea was wasted. During the conquest, the general Li Guangli of the Second Division surrendered to the Xiongnu with an army... The upper is the next edict, deeply chen regrets of the past, said: "Before there was a si song, wanting to benefit the people to give thirty help to the side, is a heavy difficulty, the old and the weak are lonely also ... Sending livestock to meet the Han army, and spontaneously sending troops, tens of thousands of people, the king will be his own general, surround the car division, and surrender his king. The soldiers of the various countries will stop, and their strength will not be able to return to the Dao Dao Han Army..."
From these records, we can see that the Luntai Edict issued by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and "deeply regretted the past" was not the case of poor soldiers and martial arts, but the surrender of the Xiongnu by the general Li Guangli of the Second Division, and the fact that Mang Tong's troops were tired because of the long distance, and further criticized the infeasability of the courtiers' "request to send out the Tian Luntai" on this basis. During this period, there were no adjustments to military and political policies outside the Western Regions.
In fact, such a adjustment of foreign policy is not so much a fine-tuning of the policy toward the Western Regions as it is a fine-tuning of the Policy of the Western Regions. Such adjustments were not the first to occur during the period of Emperor Wu of Han, for example, in the first year of Yuan Shuo, Emperor Wu of Han , at the suggestion of his father Yan and Yan An and others , "trunce the army outside, stop the conquest, and strike and lose", but only in the second year, Emperor Wu of Han once again sent troops to the Xiongnu, Wei Qing and others at this time made the unworldly achievement of "taking the land of Henan, placing Shuofang and Wuyuan County", and the reason why in the first year of Yuan Shuo would choose to put an end to the drum was because the Guandong region of the Han Dynasty at that time was in a situation of "no grain, no years to recover, and many poor people". As a last resort. How can such a policy change be called "keeping the letter and suppressing the military"?
A detail by Ban Gu, the author of the Book of Han, is also enough to prove that this luntai edict is nothing more than a change in the government of one place. It should be known that the Book of Han, as a great work of broken history, most of the important historical records about Emperor Wu of Han were written in the Book of Han and the Chronicle of Emperor Wu of Han, but the so-called "Luntai Sin Self-Commandment" was not recorded in such political documents, on the contrary, it was recorded as a supplement in the "Hanshu Xiyu Biography" and "Hanshu • Food And Goods". In terms of importance, it seems that it is not taken seriously by the author.
On the contrary, the "Book of Han and the Chronicle of Emperor Wu of Han", which records the deeds of Emperor Wu of Han, instead made a comment at the end of the article on this king who had a far-reaching influence on China, saying: "As Emperor Wu's great talent is great, he does not change the courtesy and frugality of Wen Jing to Help the people, although the "Poems" and "Books" say, how can there be a jiayan!" It can be seen that for this king who is brilliant but has no intention of helping the people, even if Ban Gu praises the merits of the other party, he also believes that he has never repented in his life in terms of exhausting military force.
III. Speculation on the origin of the theory of the self-commandment of the Luntai sin in the Zizhi Tongjian
We must admit that Sima Guang, as the great Confucian of the time, was not a person who was prone to credulous belief in historical materials or arbitrarily deleting and altering documents, but his selective excerpts of the relevant records of the Luntai Edict were an important reason for the widespread circulation of the saying that "the Luntai Sin Himself" was widely circulated. Later generations of literati had a similar evaluation of this: the Southern Song Dynasty scholar Hu Yin said that "Sima Shi's historiography is particularly refined, and the Tongjian goes to take those who are difficult to describe"; and the great Confucian Zhu Xi even bluntly said, "Wen Gongshu, those who do not agree with their own intentions, that is, they go away, and they do not know that the meaning of others is not so." The General Book of Passages is so much... Where Wen Gong likes and dislikes, he is based on his own facts and makes a clear argument, how can he praise or disparage him?" The Wen Gong here is None other than Sima Guang.
If it is said that the evaluation of others is still debatable, then his own words should be able to become a major feature of our understanding of the selection of historical materials in the "Zizhi Tongjian", and when he wrote the book "Shi Jie", he once lamented that "foolishly looking at the history of past lives, there are those who exist as inferior to their deceased." It can be seen that the history books he wrote, such historical materials that were "killed" by his own hands, are not isolated cases.
However, Sima Guang still quoted the contents of this book, and the reference to the sentence "Hongjia Three Years on the WeiXing Yang's Main Family" in the commentary on volume 1 of the Zizhi Tong Jian Kao Yi mentioned the "Zhao Hou Wai Biography" made by Ling Xuan, who was the author of the "Zhao Feiyan Wai Biography", from which it can be judged that the so-called "Zhao Hou Wai Biography" is "Zhao Feiyan Wai Biography". Although these quotations do not involve vulgar words, they are enough to surprise later generations of literati, "Its writing is not similar to the Western Han style, and its affairs cannot be for outsiders." It is a common thing to quote it in the scribes' exhibition, but Sima Gong's reversal of quoting his most elaborate words to enter the historical record is very untested"!
So, on what basis did this Mr. Sima recount the matter of "sinning against himself"? Nowadays, we have no way of knowing, but we can also see one or two from the historical selection of the "change of the witch" in the "Zizhi Tongjian".
The occurrence of the change of wujiao was the most tragic disaster in the late han wudi period, and the death of liu zhao, the prince of Wu, was too extensive and too sensitive, and there were not many historical materials that could really be used for a look, in the Book of Han, it only contains "In the autumn and July, the emissary Jiang Chong dug up the palace of the maharaja." The crown prince was cut off and sent troops to fight with the chancellor Liu Quyi, defeated, and ran away." However, in the Zizhi Tongjian, the records of the scourge of witchcraft in the "Tales of Han Wu" are directly followed:
"At that time, the alchemists and the gods and witches gathered together to deceive the people... Witches come and go to the palace, teach beauties to do evil, and bury wooden people in each house to sacrifice; Because of jealousy, they even cursed each other, thinking that it was a blessing. The upper heart is suspicious... Because it is uneven... The prince said, 'My son, Anderson! It is better to be thankful, fortunately innocent. The prince will go to the sweet spring, and Jiang Chong is in a hurry to hold the prince. The prince did not know what to do, so he counted from Shi De. Su Wen burst away and returned to Ganquan, saying that the prince was formless. The Lord said: 'The prince will be afraid, and he will be angry, so there is this change.' 'But the messenger summoned the prince.' The messenger did not dare to enter, but returned to the clouds: 'The prince has already succeeded, and he wants to behead his subjects, and the subjects flee and return.' 'On fury'.
These records were cited by Sima Qian almost verbatim, but in fact, the book "The Story of Han Wu" was neither a book written by the Han Dynasty nor an official work, but a novel with a strange theme that did not predate the Jin Dynasty. Later scholars said that it was "mostly different from the "Records of History" and the "Book of Han", and mixed with demonic language." However, some of the anecdotes of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that we are familiar with today are from them, such as "Golden House Hidden Jiao" and "Similar theory of Endowment" and so on.
A Zhiwei novel with almost no authenticity to speak of was actually quoted by Sima Qian. Even if we do not consider the nature of this book, only with the common theory, compared with the record of just a few crosses in the "Book of Han", how many of the passages of the article with thousands of words are supplemented by the brains of posterity can be imagined.
IV. Conclusion
Objectively speaking, the situation in which the history of the wild history in the Zizhi Tongjian is mixed is not unique to Sima Guang, and Ouyang Xiu, one of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, compiled the "New Book of Tang" and the "New History of the Five Dynasties" also have such a problem, and the reason why the wild history is often adopted in these history books is not that the authors of these books themselves are not knowledgeable enough, on the contrary, they actually have to use some documents that are not recognized by historians as the basis for examination.
However, we do not have to be too harsh on the ancients, especially Sima Guang, the great Confucian, in addition to the literati attributes, Sima Guang himself was also the leading figure in the old party during the Song Shenzong period, and had a fierce debate with Wang Anshi, who presided over the change of law, over the dispute between the old and new parties. The Zizhi Tongjian was written by him from the fourth year of Xi Ning. In the fourth year of Xi Ning, his friend Fan Zhen dismissed Wang Anshi from his post because he bluntly said that Wang Anshi "entered the strategy of refusing advice" and "used the technique of cruel people". And he himself, unable to save the situation, had to live in Luoyang and follow himself with the bookstore.
Against this background, his "Zizhi Tongjian" is not so much a history book as a work that records and expresses his personal political views, and the preface to it states that "cut lengthy, pick up opportunities, focus on the prosperity and decline of the country, tie the hearts of the people, good can be the law, evil can be a precept, and as a chronicle, so that there is a good order, and the essence is not complicated" is the true vision in Sima Guang's heart.
Such political tendencies are often reflected in books, for example, when recording the beginning and end of the Sui Emperor's move to the capital Luoyang, Sima Qian, in order to express his disparagement of the Sui Emperor, not only completely avoided and ignored the more credible historical records in the two books "Sui Shu Ji Ji" and "Yuanhe County Tuzhi", but instead adopted the "Miscellaneous Records of The Great Cause" written by the Tang Dynasty, and did not believe in the history of the right history and partially recorded the history of barnyard officials and wilds.
In terms of the author's personal opinion, the so-called reincarnation of the crime is probably attached to later generations, and the record of "repentance expedition" is more likely to be that Emperor Wu of Han had to restrain his previous government of exhaustion because of his national strength. Such speculation can be seen from the several ministers identified by Emperor Wu of Han as Huo Guang, Sang Hongyang, Shangguan Jie, and Che Qianqiu, all of whom were strong Han ministers who advocated expansion, and even after Emperor Wu's death, the governing philosophy of these people did not really change. From this point of view, the so-called theory of keeping the text and suppressing the martial arts has no basis.
In fact, neither the Book of Han, the Records of History, nor the Treatise on Salt and Iron, which records the salt and iron conferences during the time of Emperor Zhao of han, have no records related to the theory of the Luntai Sin Self-Commandment in the Zizhi Tongjian, but the trust of later historians in Sima Guang's remarks that "there is no sign or disbelief, and if there is a difference, it is clear that there is a difference" has gradually alienated such ethereal theories as the Luntai Sin Self-Commandment. From this point of view, it is really insufficient for him to choose historical materials with his own will in the political needs of capital and caution