The Ming Dynasty was an important dynasty in China's feudal history, sandwiched between the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and was the last Han Dynasty in China. From Zhu Yuanzhang's expulsion of Hu Yuan in 1368 and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty to Li Zicheng's revolt in Beijing in 1644, Chongzhen's suicide, and the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there were 276 years in total. If you add that the Southern Ming Dynasty existed for 18 years, and the last emperor, the Yongli Emperor, was killed by the Qing army in Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty actually existed for a total of 294 years. Therefore, the history books that record the Ming Dynasty are also very important, and the important historical books that exist to record the Ming Dynasty mainly include "Ming Shilu", "Ming History", "Ming History Chronicle" and "Guoyu", "Record of Sin" and so on.
Among them, the book "Guo Yu", because it is not a direct book of historical facts, has an anti-Qing tendency, and has long been strictly prohibited by the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the "National Pavilion" has not been printed for a long time, and it has been circulated very rarely, and very few people know about it. But it is a very important history book, a very valuable historical masterpiece, and has preserved the history of a generation of countries. The writing of "Guo Yu" has gone through twists and turns, which is impressive.
First, the author talks about migration and vows to write history
Tan Qian (1594-1658), the author of the "GuoYu", was originally named Yixun, the character Zhongmu, the number of the father; after the death of the Ming Dynasty, the name was changed to Qian, the character Rumu, the number Guanruo, Zhejiang Haining Maqiao people. Talk about moving since childhood to study hard, especially like history, talk about migration "read less national history, look up to the famous valve." Because of his family's poverty, he made ends meet by copying, ghostwriting, or keeping a note.
In the first year of the Apocalypse (1621), Tan Qian was twenty-eight years old, because his mother died, and Ding You was at home. During this period, tan qian, in view of the fact that the ming dynasty records have many avoidances and distortions, mistakenly compared, "see its surface, it is no longer visible in it." In the case of dismissal, Yang Wenzhen (Shi Qi) is inevitably untrue, the prosperity of Tailing, jiao biyang (Fang) is ugly and righteous, and the god (Wanli) Xi (apocalypse) carries the author's eunuch and castration. As for the seventeen years of SiLing's excellent diligence and vigorousness, and the taishi is desolate, the emperor becomes a flame, the country is destroyed and the history is also destroyed, and the whole world is heartbroken. Therefore, the record of the Fifteen Dynasties, correcting its right and wrong, visited Chongzhen's fifteen-year residence newspaper, and filled its que text." Feeling this, he made a grand wish to make up a true and credible History of ming. Therefore, Tanqian mainly focused on the ming dynasty records, and referred to more than a hundred kinds of ming dynasty history books and the government gazettes (di bao) at that time, and began to compile the history of the Ming Dynasty. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, the records of the Chongzhen and Hongguang dynasties were no longer taken into account, and he talked about the fact that "the country was destroyed and the history was also destroyed", so he visited the newspaper, inquired about the old man, made up for the history of the two dynasties, and sent the feelings of the fall of the country to the compilation and revision of the history books of the previous dynasties. In order to revise the history of the Ming Dynasty, Tan Qian visited books everywhere to borrow and copy them, and enriched the materials. Sometimes I heard that there was a rich family hundreds of miles away who had a large number of ancient books in his home, and he immediately got excited and immediately went on the road.
In the first year of the Southern Ming Dynasty (1644), Tan Qian was a member of the Cabinet University Scholar Gao Hongtu, who was highly valued by Gao Hongtu and Zhang Shenyan, and was recommended as a Zhongshu Sheren and a secretary of the Ceremonial Department, and participated in the revision of history. However, Tan Qian was unwilling to "take the misfortune of the country as an official", so he resigned vigorously and concentrated on the work of writing history, and finally wrote the first draft.
Second, the manuscript is stolen, and there is no fear of changing it
In August of the fourth year of Shunzhi (1647), just as Tan Qian Zhang Luo was about to publish the "Guo Yu", the thief sneaked into Tan Qian's house and wanted to steal something valuable, but he could not find anything, only a locked bamboo box. The thief thought it was something valuable, so he stole it. Who knows that inside is the manuscript of the "National Pavilion"! At this time, Tan Qian really wanted to cry without tears, and the whereabouts of this precious manuscript were unknown from then on.
In the face of the sudden blow, Tan Qian cried bitterly and was extremely sad, but he was not discouraged, but he perked up, started from scratch, and rewrote. He based on the Ming Shilu and found different versions for reference. After four years of hard work, in the fourth year of Qing Shunzhi (1647), when Tan Qian was sixty years old, "six drafts were changed and collected to a hundred volumes", and finally completed the Ming Dynasty chronicle "Guo Yu" of more than 4 million words, which was more radiant than the old draft. The Guoyu recounts the history of the 317 years from the birth of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang in September of the first year of the YuanWenzong calendar (1328) to the entry of Qing troops into Nanjing in May of the second year of Shunzhi (1645) and the fall of the Fuwang regime. After the completion of "Guo Yu", he talked about the mixed feelings of moving and moving, and gave a poem to say his aspirations: "The past industry is exhausted, and the hardships and tears are left." The remnants of the compilation of gray hair, the number of lines of books. ”
Third, the journey to the north, the sense of sorrow of the homeland
Tan Qian changed his name to Qian because he admired Ma Qian of Taishi Company. Sima Qian wrote the "Records of History", not only referring to the royal books, but also traveling everywhere, searching for historical sites, visiting the old and the old, and seeing and hearing about it with his own eyes, so as to obtain first-hand historical information. Tan Qian's personality also has a lot in common with Sima Qian, and he can be angry and strong, write straight books, and preserve the history of a generation. Tan Qian admired Sima Qian's personality, and also had the intention of going north to visit monuments and visit the old people.
It just so happened that a jinshi in Yiwu, Zhu Zhixi, was invited by the Manchu Qing to enter Beijing to serve as the editor of the Royal Hongwen Academy. Zhu Zhixi hired Tan Qian as his secretary(s), and Tan Qian agreed to come down. During this trip to Beijing, Tan Qian wrote it as "Journey to the North".
When he arrived in Beijing, in addition to doing a good job of writing for Zhu Zhixi, Tan Qian spent the rest of his time collecting materials for the "Guo Yu". He searched for books and visits, searched for relics, and interviewed Ming courtiers, imperial relatives, eunuchs, and princes in Beijing, and even the Chongzhen Di Bao borrowed them and obtained first-hand information on checking the manuscripts.
Tan Qian also befriended several Jinshi Huoda, Cao Rong, and Wu Weiye who lived in Beijing, and they were also quite interested in Tan Qian's compilation of the Ming History, and lent his rich collection of books to Tan Qian for consultation, which was of great help to Tan Qian's completion of the "Guo Yu".
Tan Qian was in the midst of the changes in the Ming and Qing dynasties, deeply cherishing the pain of the subjugation of the country, he had a sustenance for the book "Guo Yu", and signed the "Guo Yu" as "Jiang Zuo Remnant".