History books refer to books that specialize in recording history in ancient books, and among the four libraries are the history department. Early history books existed in the form of chronicles, and the Bamboo Book Chronicles unearthed by Kizuka during the Taikang period of the Jin Dynasty were also chronicled. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xun Yue wrote the "Han Ji", which created a chronicle of the broken dynasty. It can be said that there are three main types of history books about Yue Fei in Chinese history: official history, family history, and wild history.
The so-called official history refers to the history books compiled under the auspices of successive imperial courts. In the form of chronicles and chronicles, historical books that record the achievements of emperors, dynastic histories, and the transmission of characters and the economic, military, cultural, geographical, and other aspects of the situation are called zhengshi.
The so-called family history refers to the book "Chronicle of the Practice of Ewang Xingshi" written by Yue Fei's grandson Yue Ke. Ke was the grandson of Yue Fei and compiled this book to record the life deeds of his ancestors. Its original manuscript was commissioned by Yue Ke's father, Yue Lin, to write by Dr. Gu Qi of Guozi, and when it was compiled, it was also "considered by smell and visited by the widow".
The so-called wild history refers to the private writings of the common people, and most of the contents recorded are based on some rumors or folk rumors, which are the history compiled by the people as opposed to the main history, some of which are true, and some of which need to be examined.
If you ask, which of these three types of books has the greatest influence on future generations? Well, it must be family history.
Why?
Don't worry, today, let's leave the history of the wild aside for the time being, and only talk about official history and family history to explore in detail.
First, let's talk about official history.
The imperial court presided over the compilation of history books, which is an excellent tradition of the Chinese nation, which also enables our culture to be passed down from generation to generation. Since ancient times, successive dynasties have had a tradition of official officials writing history books, and the Southern Song Dynasty court is no exception. As we all know, Yue Fei is a national hero who resists Jin. However, in the official history of the Southern Song Dynasty, most of them are derogatory words for Yue Fei.
Seeing this, you may have some questions: Isn't Yue Fei a big hero? Why did the official history accuse him so much?
Don't worry, and listen to me slowly.
It is said that in the eleventh year of Shaoxing, the Southern Song Dynasty was repeatedly invaded by foreign tribes. At that time, Qin Ju advocated surrendering to foreign races, betraying the country for glory, and stealing his life. Yue Fei, on the other hand, believed that the foreigners who invaded the country should be killed to defend the country. Because the two had different political views, Qin Ju colluded with Zhao Zhao to murder Yue Fei.
In order to avoid the crimes he committed being recorded in the annals of history and notoriety, Qin Ju participated in the compilation of the annals of history as the prime minister during his time as prime minister. Whenever the historian wanted to write a word, he had to get his consent first. In addition, he also placed his confidants in the history museum in order to revise the annals of history.
Therefore, although Yue Fei had made great contributions many times, Qin Ju just did not record the deeds he had done in the history books, or although he recorded them in the history books, he hid the names of the meritorious people and downplayed their meritorious names. Not only that, Qin Juniper sometimes reversed the facts and made things up.
For example, in the ten years of Shaoxing, Yue Fei led troops to fight in areas such as Haocheng and Yingchang, and he defeated the Yuan army several times and guarded the city, but Qin Ju forced Yue Fei to "set up a class division". However, he reversed the facts in the history books: "At that time, Yue Fei was fighting in Haocheng, the enemy army attacked in a big way, and the generals asked Ban Shi to return to the dynasty. Yue Fei thought that this place could not stay for long, so he sent an order to return to the Dynasty. The soldiers heard the order to retreat and fled south. It can be seen that Yue Fei is actually a timid and fearful general who will only escape. Although Qin Ju slandered Yue Fei like this, Yue Fei did not pay attention to it. On the way back to The Dynasty, he even sent troops to support Chen Prefecture, taking the country as the great responsibility.
Second, let's take a look at the family history.
Because most of the family history is written by the younger generations in the family for their respected elders, it is inevitable that they will have subjective factors such as blood and family affection, resulting in problems such as concealing evil deeds and excessive praise.
As we have already said, the family history of Yue Fei is mainly based on the writings of his grandson Yue Ke. At the beginning of the compilation, Yue Ke spent a lot of effort searching and sorting out historical materials about Yue Fei, and finally selected some essence fragments from many materials to write this work.
In fact, Yue Fei, as a hero of a generation, was eventually framed to death, which not only attracted the attention of the people, but also the imperial court later rehabilitated him. Logically, Yue Ke did not need to write too many praises, but only wrote the real situation of history. This is not only the truest description of Yue Fei himself, but also a respect for historical facts.
However, Yue Ke, like other family history compilers, has never been able to break the limitations of kinship and blood relations, and he often praises Yue Fei consciously or unconsciously in his books, concealing evil and promoting good. For example, he deliberately concealed that the young Yue Fei had been a eunuch and a guest, because he felt that it was detrimental to Yue Fei's personal image. In addition, in order to praise his grandfather Yue Fei, Yue Ke also made up some facts that did not exist at all.
For example, in the tenth year of Shaoxing, Yue Fei led troops to fight in Henan, and his merits were only to capture Xuchang and send troops to threaten Kaifeng. However, when Yue Ke recorded it, he made up a plot of "Yue Fei's great victory in Zhuxian Town": "When Xianchen Yue Fei led his troops to Zhuxian Town alone, he happened to encounter the enemy troops who had fallen, so Xianchen decisively sent five hundred cavalry to pursue. It didn't take long for Yue Fei to break through the enemy army and continue to march towards the Beijing Division, which could be described as incomparably powerful. ”
It can be seen that whether it is an official history or a family history, the compilers cannot achieve absolute fairness and fairness when compiling it. Because, from a human point of view, there must be more words of praise for those he admires; and there are more words of disgust for those he hates, so Qin Ju naturally smeared Yue Fei more when he presided over the revision of the official history of the Southern Song Dynasty; and Yue Ke naturally praised his grandfather more.
Resources:
[History of the Song Dynasty, Vol. 365, Liechuan No. 124, Chronicle of the Xingshi of the King of E, Compilation of the Emperor of Jin, Volume IV of the Chronicle of the Emperor xingshi of the King of E]