My name is Sima Guang, the word Junshi, the self-proclaimed pedantic, to the face of the world like to call a Mr. Shuishui, I am happy to accept.
Shushui (涑水, in present-day County, Shanxi Province), my hometown, where I was buried in 1086.
There are many remarkable things in my life, but there seem to be only two things that are talked about by posterity.
First, he destroyed public property in order to save a small friend;
Second, he wrote a "Zizhi Tongjian".
The former, I will not be proud. This kind of thing is not worth mentioning in my life.
The latter is a big problem that I have left for future generations.
294 volumes, close to 4 million words, spanning the long history of 1362 years. It's not easy to write, and it's even harder to read.
It is not easy to be intimidating, it is not easy to go to each age, and only a very few people really have the patience to read it from beginning to end.
Today, I came to the starting point of this book and saw the first character that appeared in the Zizhi Tongjian. He's probably the one who hates me the most in the book.
Now, it's 403 BC. I stood next to Zhou Weilie Wang Jiwu, watching him worry, and began my writings.
I solemnly wrote the title: "The First Volume of Zhou Jiyi".
Just as I solemnly wrote down the words "Twenty-three Years of The King of Wei Lie..." again, Ji Wu, the King of Wei Li, who was drinking silly next to me, suddenly felt that the chicken legs in his hand were not fragrant, and slapped me a few meters away.
He chewed my bamboo to pieces while pointing at me and scolding, "Zhou Ji, Zhou Ji, Zhou Ji, you hammer!" I'll let you Zhou Ji! ”
I calmly watched him go crazy and then asked, "Why did the Son of Heaven get angry?" ”
"The Great Zhou Dynasty has been in front of me for hundreds of years, why don't you start writing from my ancestors King Wen and King Wu?" By the way, is it not a cool thing to write about Taigong fishing, self-serving and sleeping? But why do you want to start with me? ”
"Your Majesty, I just want to find a more representative era as a beginning."
King Wei Lie pondered for a moment and suddenly realized, "Don't you just want to find a time when my Great Zhou Dynasty is in a slump?" There are twenty emperors in front of Lao Tzu, more than my scum, Youwang and Liwang, which is not more asshole than me? Why do you have to start writing from me? ”
Looking at him hysterically, I can't manage that much. He copied a larger bamboo strip and continued: "The First Order of the Jin Dynasty Grand Master Wei Si, Zhao Yuan, and Han Qian as princes...
Seeing that he was about to grab me again, I hurriedly pointed to those words and said to him, "You see, this is why I started writing from the twenty-third day of your mighty king!" ”
King Wei Lie looked at me stunned for half a day, and suddenly sat on the ground and cried loudly: "Oh my God... This makes people unable to live..."
Seeing Ji Wu crying like a child of more than two hundred pounds, I did not give up, and then wrote down: "Chen Guangyue..."
I can't care how you feel. However, if I ignore the feelings of the Emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is not okay. What is the taste of extermination so good?
Ji Wu, you must know that it was the emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty who made me do this. He said: A good work must have profound educational significance...
Looking at the finishing touch of my own opening, I smiled with satisfaction. This word is really fucking exciting!
I asked King Viriel, "Your Majesty, did you want to do this?" ”
King Wei Lie stopped crying for a while, wiped a handful of snot bubbles and said, "Which one thinks!" Can I do without sealing? I have built a nation without sealing the family, with my remaining strength, can I fight them? As he spoke, he began to cry again. While crying, he said, "Old Ancestor, you have hurt me... My life is so bitter..."
It was the decision made by King Wei Lie to identify Wei Si, Zhao Yuan, and Han Qian as princes that pushed King Wei Lie to the peak of history. Speaking of which, you should still thank me, if I hadn't started from you, among the 37 emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, you wouldn't have been brilliant, how could you be remembered by posterity?
Why should I put this matter before the three million words?
This is related to the rules and Taoism that I emphasize, and it is also the essence of the content I want to convey to future generations: everything must not be without rules.
At this time, the hierarchy was strict, and the dukes, princes, uncles, sons, and men all had their own status hierarchies and equivalent powers and obligations.
If you are the prince of the kingdom, you will do the work of your monarch; if you are the secretary of state, you will do the work of your doctor; if you are a common man, you will do the work of your common people. It is impossible to cross the level.
To this end, I also use a lot of ink to flesh out this argument. These more than a thousand Chinese characters look boring and tedious, and it is estimated that no one can read them from beginning to end, so I will not cut them one by one.
However, this is a conservative loyal to the emperor, and it is still recommended to have patience to look at the general idea of his political thoughts (I wanted to post them in "The Author Has Words", but the length was too large; I wanted to put them in the main text, for fear of affecting everyone's mood of reading the text).
During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the power of the state had actually been completely lost, and all that remained was face.
A few more princes and a few princes are actually nothing, but it is a question of who can rise in the crowd in the end.
And I'm talking a lot about this, in fact, just to illustrate some problems.
The Great Zhou Dynasty can be described as the princes of Chengye and the princes of Defeat.
I think of the princes of that year, they were all outstanding figures, and they were all their own families who fought with King Wen and King Wu.
What are you desperately trying for? Not a few days of abundance? Therefore, at the beginning of the world, King Wen of Zhou began to divide the seals.
Most of the great powers we are familiar with, such as Jin, Qi, Lu, and Yan, are Zhou Tianzi's own brothers and nephews. The most distant ones must also be the emperor's grandfather or father-in-law, such as Jiang Ziya.
The ruler's original idea was to make everyone live a good life. We are all family, and there is nothing wrong with forming a federal government. When there is something going on, everyone is also taking care of each other.
However, the ideal is very full, and the reality is very bone.
After a few generations, these people began to have different ambitions and began to fight each other.
At the end of the fight, even those with foreign surnames participated.
Wei Si, Zhao Yuan, and Han Qian are the best of these people with foreign surnames. Their ancestors, through their own efforts, succeeded in dividing up the first princely state of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the "Jin", so that the King of Weilie had to recognize their vassal status.
Wei Si, Zhao Yuan, and Han Qian established three important states in the history of the Warring States, Namely Korea, the State of Zhao, and the State of Wei, and officially opened the prelude to the most chaotic and brilliant Warring States era in Chinese history!
In the next chapter, we will look back at how the three countries of Han, Zhao, and Wei rose up and how they divided a good Jin state.
Note: The original text is obscure, so it is not necessary to list...