The world knows it
Sima Qian
Be the first
compose
People of general history. What is general history?
？
Photo: Sima Qian wrote stills from the General History
Before Sima Qian wrote the "Records of History", the Han Dynasty had quelled all the wars and chaos, making the society gradually stabilize, but the people of the Han Dynasty were very indifferent to the sense of identification with the unified state regime.
Therefore, in addition to the need for unity of power, the need for culture and history, at this time we must make everyone realize that the people of the whole country are one family, and they all have the same blood.
The emergence of the "Chronicle of History" successfully solved this problem, whether it was the Chu people, the Qi people, the Wei people or the Yan people in the past, they could find their roots through this work.
In fact
that
Time
of people
There is no way to trace back to their ancestors, but through the carrier of "History", everyone realizes that everyone belongs to the Chinese nation and should be united.
Image: Check out stills from The Chronicles
In fact, Sima Qian, who was admired by the world, also suffered a tragic incident known to the world in his life, that is, he was punished by the palace, also known as corruption.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, if a person who had committed a crime and was sentenced to death wanted to continue to live, he either prepared a large amount of money to exchange his life, or accepted the palace punishment, and had no children and no daughters for a lifetime.
Thinking that when the general Wei Qing attacked the Xiongnu, Li Guang was ordered to send troops, but the enemy's strength was too strong, Li Guang was unfortunately captured, escaped to the Han Dynasty, and was sentenced to death for the sake of the failure of the war. However, Li Guang had the status of a great general and accumulated a lot of money, so he successfully took the money to redeem his life.
But Sima Qian's situation with Li Guang was not the same, Sima Qian was a Taishi Ling, just a civilian official, usually doing non-technical work such as recording documents, the salary was naturally not high, there was no additional income, and there was no money saved.
Therefore, he had no money to redeem his life, but he wanted to survive, so he was forced to endure the palace punishment. So here's the problem.
Sima Qian did as a civilian official
Good
target
What exactly is the crime?
by
Emperor Wu of Han sentenced him to death
Image: Stills of Sima Qian's portrait
In fact, the "culprit" is Li Ling, Li Ling is also a well-known general in the Western Han Dynasty, everyone's impression of him should mainly focus on the story between him and Su Wu, many people think that he is a traitor who betrayed the Han Dynasty, and then take everyone to a brief understanding of Li Ling.
Li Ling was the grandson of the great general Li Guang, who had the style of his grandfather, and he also had amazing martial arts, and he was also very good at riding and shooting, and he was also very experienced in commanding soldiers.
In 99 BC, Emperor Wu of Han asked Li Ling to serve as a reserve army for Li Guangli and deliver grain and grass to him, which made Li Ling, who had always been eager to make meritorious achievements, very dissatisfied, so he said that he asked Emperor Wu of Han to allocate five thousand soldiers to train his hands.
But these soldiers are
infantry
And most of the Xiongnu soldiers are cavalry, using infantry to fight against cavalry is a bit like an egg touching a stone, the victory rate is not high,
Li Ling's approach this time was really too impulsive.
Image: Li Ling led the stills
But with full of enthusiasm, he rushed forward with his five thousand infantry, and was greeted by the 30,000 cavalry of the Xiongnu, and in the face of this menacing murderous spirit, Li Ling, instead of panicking, led his soldiers to march forward bravely and without fear, and soon killed thousands of enemy people.
Later, Shan Yu gathered 80,000 cavalry, and this time Li Ling had no chance of victory, and he was defeated and retreated, and finally all the bows and arrows were used up.
Although tens of thousands of Hun troops were killed in the course of the campaign, they were eventually captured and forced to surrender.
With only 5,000 infantry being able to kill tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry, and even with 110,000 soldiers in the enemy's army, it can be seen how remarkable Li Ling's talent is, although he was eventually defeated, he was a well-deserved uncrowned king.
Photo: Stills of Li Ling leading an army to attack the Xiongnu
However, Li Ling's surrender to the Xiongnu made Emperor Wu of Han extremely angry, and he killed Li Ling's entire family in one breath. And Li Ling's life also began to take a turn from here.
Some people speculated that Li Ling might have pretended to surrender and worked as an undercover agent in the Xiongnu, but the killing of his whole family made Li Ling completely despair, and completely cut off his idea of returning to the Han Dynasty in his lifetime.
Back to the time when Li Ling was defeated at the beginning, this news swept the country,
Everyone believes that Li Ling is a traitor and there is a crisis of trust in Li Ling.
At this time, only Sima Qian
stand
Come out for Li Ling
objective
Said a few words
This matter has also been recorded in the historical records.
Picture: Sima Qian speaking for Li Ling in front of Emperor Wu of Han
According to Li Ling's performance before attacking the Xiongnu, he was indeed a loyal and patriotic man, with the ambition to make meritorious achievements in his heart, and at the same time he was very good to his subordinates, which made many soldiers willing to follow him to the death.
Even if Li Ling was captured, if he thought about it carefully, he would still find a way to make up for his mistakes. What's more, Li Ling only used 5,000 infantry to fight against more than 100,000 Xiongnu cavalry, and was able to annihilate more than 10,000 enemy troops, which was already an extremely rare thing in history.
The above may be a few good words that Sima Qian said for Li Ling, objectively speaking, these words really have some truth, and to a certain extent, the reason why Li Ling surrendered to Emperor Wu of Han still has something to do with it.
When Li Ling was in a dilemma, he repeatedly asked the Han for reinforcements, but Emperor Wu of Han was dragging his feet
willing
Only when troops were sent did Li Ling's entire army be destroyed.
Image: Stills of the Hun cavalry
So why did Emperor Wu of Han impose palace punishment on Sima Qian?
Is it because of those few fair words he said?
Needless to say, it's true! What kind of person was Emperor Wudi of Han, he was a supreme and exclusive emperor, how could he allow a petty official with a big sesame seed to judge and point fingers at him?
Li Guangli, who fought with Li Ling, was a relative of Emperor Wu of Han, and even if he often defeated the war, he would not be punished by Emperor Wu of Han, and the treatment of Li Ling was simply very different. Emperor Wu of Han thought that Sima Qian's good words for Li Ling were condemning Li Guangli, and Li Guangli was his own relative, so Sima Qian was indirectly satirizing himself, and it became more and more unbearable to think of it.
For his own sake, and also for Li Guangli's sake, Emperor Wu of Han decided to dispose of Sima Qian. In fact, the reason why Emperor Wudi of Han killed Li Ling's entire family was because of Li Ling's surrender.
Image: Li Guangli stills
If Li Ling had died on the battlefield at that time, Emperor Wudi of Han would have given him the honor of death as usual, but the problem was that he did not die and surrendered to the Xiongnu, plus people often took the opportunity to say bad things about Li Ling, and Emperor Wudi of Han was successfully brainwashed before he made up his mind to kill his entire family.
In the final analysis, the whole thing has nothing to do with Sima Qian, and he has never participated in this war.
Was it because he said a few words that angered Emperor Wu of Han and led to his own death sentence?
Or what political purpose did Emperor Wu of Han kill Sima Qian?
In fact, for the emperor who has a deep heart, it does not matter who or what is, what matters is the state's political power and his own position, as long as someone shakes his rule, then this person will undoubtedly die.
If Emperor Wu of Han was just an ordinary courtier, Sima Qian would not have said these words to him, but he was a high-ranking emperor, and these words would damage the dignity of the imperial family and bring shame to the imperial family.
If you want to talk about political purposes, it is probably to consolidate the imperial power, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty must do this, if you do not give a hard hand, then the next time someone will say such things, gradually, everyone will regard the royal power as nothing.
Therefore, for the sake of royal dignity, whether it is Li Ling or Sima Qian, there is no doubt that they will die, and Emperor Wudi of Han wants to kill chickens and monkeys through this matter.
Photo: Stills of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's fierce hand
Because of a war, the lives of two people have undergone earth-shaking changes.
After Li Ling surrendered, he also carried great condemnation and uneasiness in his heart, and the young man who was originally full of enthusiasm had to die alone in a foreign land
He also wanted to come back, but he was afraid of being insulted and harshly punished by the emperor, officials, and the people.
After being tortured by the palace, Sima Qian gritted his teeth, endured humiliation, and insisted on completing the "History of History", because this was his ideal and belief in life, and as he wished, the "History" became an immortal work that has been passed down through the ages.
If li ling and Sima Qian have anything in common, perhaps both have ideals and beliefs, and their lives also have their own brilliance and darkness. Some of Shi Taigong's fans have accused Emperor Wu of Han of not knowing things and not being a Ming Jun.
Photo: Stills of Li Ling who surrendered to the Xiongnu
In fact, if you change someone to be in the position of Emperor Wu of Han, you may not be able to spare Sima Qian. Emperor Wu of Han's disposition of Sima Qian was also a manifestation of the helplessness of the imperial family.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!