The book "Historical Records" is rich in content, recording more than 3,000 years of history from the time of the Yellow Emperor to the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It is the first biographical general history of China. Many of the contents in it serve as information an

The book "Historical Records" is rich in content, recording more than 3,000 years of history from the era of the Yellow Emperor to the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It is the first biographical general history of China. Many contents in it serve as information and basis for our reference to ancient history. The writer Lu Xun once praised it as "the swan song of historians, the rhymeless "Li Sao"".

But this book is more of a literary nature. As Sima Qian himself said, it is "the words of a family", so many of the statements contain his own subjectivity. For example, he once described two aspects without subjectivity. Qin Shihuang , it was proved that it was actually his own personal subjective slander, which was all overturned by later generations. So, do you know what the two aspects of the slander are? Why did he slander Qin Shihuang again?

The origin is not right, Zhao Zheng is not Ying Zheng

When it comes to the content records of ancient Chinese history books, Qin Shihuang definitely plays an important role, because many of the things he did were groundbreaking and unique in previous dynasties. For example, he After hundreds of years of chaos in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, he unified the six kingdoms of the Central Plains and established the first unified feudal autocratic country in history. For example, after he established the Qin Dynasty, he made books, cars, and tracks. Politically, he reformed the Three Gongs and Nine Ministers system, etc., so he was called the "First Emperor".

Qin Shihuang's achievements will naturally be recognized and indelible by later generations. However, before he became the king of Qin State , his experience was very bumpy, and because of his bumpy experience, his identity has always been confusing. Opinions vary.

Ying Zheng was not named Ying at first, but was named Zhao Zheng. This was closely related to the social environment in which he lived at that time. In the and Warring States Period, , various countries have always been on the stage of history. Strong countries will ask weak countries to send protons to other countries, with the purpose of threatening small countries from acting rashly.

Before the Qin State stepped onto the stage of singing the world drama, it was relatively weak, so the son of the Qin State at that time, Ying Yiren, , who was later the King Zhuangxiang of Qin to the State of Zhao , was a hostage. Here, he married a woman named " Zhao Ji". This woman was a singer in the house of businessman Lu Buwei . After getting together with Ying Yiren, she gave birth to Ying Zheng. Originally, there was no problem with Ying Zheng's identity, but Sima Qian made such a description in "Historical Records", which caused everyone to misunderstand Ying Zheng's identity.

It is recorded in "The Sixth Chronicle of the First Emperor of Qin" in "Historical Records": " King Zhuang Xiang was the proton of Qin in Zhao. When he saw Concubine Lu Buwei, he took him with pleasure and gave birth to the First Emperor. " This sentence refers to Ying Yi He fell in love with the singer Lu Buwei, married her, and gave birth to the First Emperor. seems objective, but in fact it is ambiguous. Many people think that Zhao Ji was pregnant when she married Ying Yiren.

In " Lu Buwei's Biography ", Sima Qian recorded this, "Lü Buwei took over Handan's concubines who were good dancers and lived there... The concubine hid her pregnancy, and when the time came, she gave birth to a son." This The passage is even more obvious, saying that before Lu Buwei gave Zhao Ji to Ying Yiren, Zhao Ji was already pregnant. So in this way, Zhao Ji’s child is actually not Ying Yiren’s, but Lu Buwei’s.

After reading Sima Qian's "Historical Records", many people feel that when Ying Zheng was in Zhao State, although he was named Zhao to please Zhao State, he should have been named Zhao because he was not the son of Ying Yiren, that is, It is said that Ying Zheng is Lu Buwei's son, so many people now think so.

However, the "big period" in ancient times usually refers to ten or twelve months. If Zhao Ji got pregnant before being given to Ying Yiren, she would definitely not last until ten or twelve months. He was just born, so the contradiction in modern biological dates proves that Ying Zheng is the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin Ying Yiren. Sima Qian's remarks in the Historical Records are misleading, but he knew it, but did not verify it, and discredited Qin Shihuang.

had poor conduct and insulted Emperor E's daughter

In addition to the slander of his identity, Sima Qian's testimony of Qin Shihuang's personal qualities in "Historical Records" is also somewhat misleading. It is recorded in the book that when Qin Shihuang passed by the Xiangjiang River on his second tour, he encountered strong winds and could not cross several times. So he angrily asked the people around him, who is the god of the Xiangjiang River? The people on the left and right answered that it was Shun's wife Ehuang Nüying.

Qin Shihuang was very angry when he heard this, so he "ordered three thousand prisoners to cut down the trees in Xiangshan Mountain to destroy the mountains." This sentence means that Qin Shihuang asked more than 3,000 people to cut down the trees along the Xiangjiang River and paint the Xiangjiang River in ocher, which is the color of the clothes worn by ancient prisoners, which means that he demoted the ancient monarch Shun's wife Ehuang Nüying to a prisoner. .

Such a description directly derogates Qin Shihuang as a stingy and intolerant villain, but the records about Qin Shihuang in Qin history are not like this. "Yuelu Academy Qin Bamboo Slips (V)" writes: "Qin Shihuang ascended to Xiangshan...Looking to the south of Luocui Mountain, the trees are beautiful, and it is forbidden to cut them down." This sentence means that when Qin Shihuang saw this, The trees were very beautiful, so they ordered them to be protected and not to be cut down at will. This is completely opposite to the description of Sima Qian calling for three thousand people to cut down the wood. It can be seen that this time his record discredited Qin Shihuang again.

Reasons for "slander"

What kind of mentality did Sima Qian have when he described Qin Shi Huang in this way in "Historical Records"? Why does he hate Qin Shihuang so much? After all, in "Historical Records", he described King Wen of the Western Zhou Zhou Dynasty and King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty , with completely opposite attitudes and full of praise.

In fact, the real reason was also revealed in his "Historical Records". In the book, he recorded this: " King Qin had a greedy heart... banned documents and tortured the law...the world began with tyranny." Anyone who has studied history in junior high school knows that Qin Shihuang practiced Legalism It is argued that a measure criticized by later generations was once implemented - burning books and humiliating Confucian scholars.

And Sima Qian happened to pursue Confucianism , so Qin Shihuang would naturally criticize anything he did that harmed Confucianism . And King Wen and King Wu of the Western Zhou Dynasty, based on Confucian " When Confucianism came to govern the country with "propriety", it was a glorious moment for Confucianism, and Sima Qian naturally praised it more. In fact, in the final analysis, it is because each of them speaks different words and adheres to different ideas.

Conclusion

History books should objectively record historical facts, but wherever there are people, there are bound to be rivers and lakes, and saints also have their own selfish motives. Moreover, people in the previous dynasty died like lamps going out, and future generations will comment on their merits and demerits, which is naturally out of their control. Sima Qian just mixed his personal subjective attitude in it so ambiguously because he did not live to the era of Qin Shihuang.

It can be seen that even historical books may have inaccuracies. Therefore, you cannot believe all books. You must learn to uphold the spirit of questioning. After all, authority is sometimes wrong. Only by questioning can we obtain real knowledge and knowledge. truth.

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