Wei Collected Liebiography
Wei Shui (507-572), the name Boqi, nicknamed Fozhu, was a native of Xiaquyang County, Julu County (now Jinzhou City, Hebei Province). Northern Qi writer and historian.
Historiography who has become a talented person
Wei Shui's grandfather once received the favor of a powerful minister of the Northern Wei Dynasty and married the daughter of this important minister. Wei Shui's father also served as a high-ranking official in the Northern Wei court.
Wei Shui has been agile and flexible since he was a child, and he is not informal. One year, he followed his father to inspect the frontier and fell in love with horseback archery, so he made a big ambition to rely on martial arts to make a career in the future.
An accompanying official teased him: "Wei Lang, how many weapons will you use?" Wei Shui felt ashamed, changed his interests, studied hard, and at the age of fifteen he became proficient in writing articles, and was famous for his brilliant writing.
After the death of Er Zhurong, a powerful minister of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Jiemin ascended the throne. Once, Emperor Jie Min issued an edict to test his ministers and asked Wei to draft a sealed Zen book. Wei Shui waved on the spot and wrote nearly 1,000 words without drafting, and the full text almost did not need to be revised.
Seeing this, a minister couldn't help but praise: "Wei Shui's talent is definitely above Cao Zhi, who wrote poems in seven steps!" Soon, Wei Shu was ordered to participate in the compilation of national history at the age of twenty-six.
Later, Gao Huan supported the accession of Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Once, Emperor Xiaowu wanted to grant Gao Huan the position of General Tianzhu, but Gao Huan resolutely resigned. Emperor Xiaowu asked Wei to draft an edict, ready to agree to Gao Huan's request, and wanted to appoint him as Xiangguo.
Emperor Xiaowu asked Xiangguo how high his grade was, and Wei Shui answered truthfully, and Emperor Xiaowu gave up this idea. Afterwards, Wei Shui realized that he was too negligent and did not guess the thoughts of Emperor Xiaowu and Gao Huan, and offended both of them. He was so uneasy that he resigned from his official position.
It was a long time before the imperial court arranged for Wei to be entrusted to Emperor Xiaowu's son, King Guangping, as a staff member, and he changed from a central official to a local subordinate official. Although he was transferred to the Central Committee soon after, Wei Shui sensed Emperor Xiaowu's suspicions and resigned from his official position. At this time, Wei Shui's talent has spread all over the world, and he is as famous as Wen Zisheng and Xing Zicai, and is known as the "Three Talents of the Northern Dynasties" by the world.
At that time, the real controller of the Northern Wei court was Gao Huan, who settled in Jinyang. Later, Wei Shui got the opportunity to go to Jinyang to take up a post, but not only did he not get the weight, but he was often reprimanded and whipped. It wasn't until Gao Huan's favorite minister Sima Ziru tactfully persuaded that Wei Shui's situation improved slightly, but he didn't get preferential treatment, so he asked to continue writing the history of the country. After the recommendation of Gao Huan's eldest son Gao Cheng, Wei Shui finally got his wish.
After the establishment of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Xiaojing wanted to appoint Gao Huan as the prime minister, but Gao Huan resolutely resigned and asked Wei to draft a draft. After the chapter was written, Gao Huan said to Gao Cheng: "This person should be another Cui Guang." Cui Guang is a writer and historian of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Gao Huan gave such a positive evaluation, which means that Wei Shui has been recognized.
One day, Gao Huan feasted the ministers and said to Sima Ziru: "Wei is appointed as a historian to record everyone's good and evil." I've heard that there are many powerful people who often give him gifts, Mr. Sima, have you ever given gifts too?" the two looked at each other and laughed. Gao Huan said to Wei Shui again: "Don't look at some people dangling in front of me every day, I think they are very hardworking. My heart is like a mirror, whether I can live for a hundred years after my death is not up to you, the historian, to decide!"
After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng succeeded to the throne. The general Hou Jing disagreed with Gao Cheng, rebelled, and then defected to the Liang Dynasty. Gao Cheng ordered Wei Shui to write an essay, and within a day of Wei Shu, he wrote an essay of more than 50 pages. Then, Wei Shui was ordered to write a letter to the Liang Dynasty, asking the Liang Dynasty to return Hou Jing, and it took him only three hours to write seven pages. Gao Cheng praised him and said: "It is the glory of the country that our dynasty has Wei Harvest. ”
After Gao Cheng was killed, his younger brother Gao Yang succeeded to the throne and established the Northern Qi Dynasty as Emperor Wenxuan. One day, Emperor Wenxuan asked his ministers to express their aspirations, and Wei Shui said: "I must write straight and complete the Book of Wei as soon as possible." ”
Emperor Wenxuan remembered this, and in the second year of his reign, he issued an edict to Wei to officially compile the "Book of Wei", which recorded the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and promised: "You can rest assured and boldly record historical facts, and I will never kill historians indiscriminately like Emperor Taiwu." ”
Wei had collected a large amount of information before the collection, and now with the support of Emperor Wenxuan, he organized manpower to write the "Book of Wei" for three years, completing a generation of classics. Because Wei Shui was impatient and could not treat people fairly, he hid the virtues of good government from the history books for officials who had grievances with him, and said complacently: "In front of me, what are you to dare to oppose me! My historical pen can lift you to heaven or degrade you to hell." ”
After the completion of the Book of Wei, Wei Shui received many complaints from the children of the nobles: some said that their families were omitted, some said that they deliberately slandered their families, and some ridiculed the records as untrue and full of loopholes, and pointed out that the Book of Wei was "filthy history".
Wei Shui was very angry and refuted them one by one, but in the end, due to the public opinion, the imperial court had to order to stop the spread of the "Book of Wei". Emperor Wen Xuan has always valued Wei Shu's literary talents, and has never disposed of him. It was not until Emperor Xiaozhao ascended the throne that Wei Shui made many revisions before it was promulgated in the world.
In Wei Shu's later years, the political situation in Northern Qi was dark, and he chose to protect himself with Mingzhe, unable to save the evils of the times, and was ridiculed by the world. In 572, Wei Shui died at the age of sixty-six. A few years later, when the Northern Qi Dynasty perished, the enemies who resented Wei because of the Book of Wei dug up his body and discarded it to vent his anger.
This article is excerpted from "Twenty-four Histories Read Now, Language and History Are Progressing" - the seventh volume of the Book of Northern Qi, which is officially authorized to be published, welcome to continue to pay attention.