What traditional bow does Li use?

Everyone will die, either heavier than Mount Tai (meaningful death) or lighter than Yu Hongyan's feather (death is nothing).

Let me show you the following story, which may be useful ~

Voice-over: More than 2000 years ago, a scholar, after suffering great humiliation, put up with humiliation and completed a great historical work with his flesh and blood. In the next few thousand years, this masterpiece is like a bright pearl, a towering monument, standing in the long river of China literature and history, which is beyond the reach of future generations. This man is Sima Qian, and this historical work is Historical Records. Historical Records is the first of twenty-four histories, which records the history of more than two thousand years from Huangdi to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty. In the excellent tradition of Chinese studies, only Historical Records is an unparalleled "encyclopedia". Mr. Lu Xun called Historical Records "a masterpiece of historians, leaving Sao without rhyme". Sima Qian, the author of such a masterpiece, was just an ordinary historian in the Western Han Dynasty, and there was nothing special among many historians in China feudal society. But why did Sima Qian write such a great historical masterpiece? What changed Sima Qian's life track? Professor Wang Liqun of Henan University led us through thousands of years of history.

Hello, everyone. Starting today, we will start reading Historical Records. Historical Records pioneered China's historical biographical literature. Before Historical Records, there were only two types of historical books in China. One is the chronological style, which describes history by year. The most famous ones are Chunqiu and Zuozhuan, which are arranged in chronological order. The other is national history, which records history by time, such as Mandarin and Warring States policies. A general history without biographical style. The so-called biography is to describe history with people as the center. Historical Records is China's first biographical general history. This has a great influence on later generations, so all the official histories of China, that is, the twenty-four histories we often say, are biographical from the historical records. But "Historical Records" is a general history of biographies, and other history is a dynastic history of biographies, that is, the history of a dynasty.

Although Historical Records and other historical books are all twenty-four histories, they are quite different. First, Historical Records is full of love and hate, which is not found in other historical books. Originally, a historian only asked for an objective and fair narrative of history, not for expressing feelings. However, when describing the characters in Historical Records, it often carries the author's own strong feelings of love and hate. In particular, he wrote some tragic figures, such as Biography of Xiang Yu, Biography of General Li, and Li Guang. Historical Records can be said to be an elegy, generous and very touching. The second feature of Historical Records is that many literary techniques are incorporated into the description of characters. For example, "The Hongmen Banquet" and "The Hongmen Banquet" have been selected as traditional Chinese textbooks for our senior high school for more than half a century. The banquet at the Hongmen is simply a novel. Third, Historical Records also filled the historical gaps of many figures in the history of the Chinese nation. In other words, without historical records, many great men of our Chinese nation would not be known today. For example, Confucius, the author of The Analects of Confucius, and Sima Qian wrote a family of Confucius in the middle of Historical Records, which completely outlined Confucius' life for the first time. This is the first and most authoritative biography of Confucius so far. Historical Records also incorporates the author's criticism of feudal emperors, which is even more complicated. We can give two examples. In Historical Records, Sima Qian's criticism of the two men is the most acute. One is Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the other is Emperor Wudi, the contemporary emperor who lived in Sima Qian. It is great that a historian dares to criticize the founding emperor and his immediate superior. Sima Qian dared not write without courage. He not only wrote that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited talented people and eventually achieved great things, but also wrote that Liu Bang was narrow-minded, killed heroes and used vulgar language, and wrote a lot of bad records about him. As for the exposure of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it is everywhere. This is the record and critical spirit of Historical Records. Who has finished such a great historical work? It's Sima Qian In fact, Sima Qian's life is nothing special. He is a family of historians. He took Wan Li Road, studied in thousands of books, and studied under some famous teachers at that time, which were possessed by some ordinary historians at that time. So what event made Sima Qian complete a great transformation from an ordinary historian to a great historian? This is fate.

Voice-over: Sima Qian was born in an ordinary historian family in 145 BC, and his father Sima Tan was a historian in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian inherited his father's footsteps and continued to be a historian when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in power. In this case, Sima Qian read a lot of palace books and prepared for the writing of historical records. However, it is not surprising that historians with such family background, experience and conditions are in the feudal society of China. Sima Qian is an ordinary historian at best. So, what event made Sima Qian complete the transformation from an ordinary historian to a great historian?

In 99 BC, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the failure of diplomacy, the relationship between China and Hungary became tense again. The war between Han and Xiongnu was reopened, and Liang Wudi sent Li Guangli, the younger brother of his favorite princess, to crusade against Xiongnu. However, it was this war with Xiongnu that triggered the change of Sima Qian's fate. So what events changed Sima Qian's fate in the battle with Xiongnu?

This happened in the second year of Liang Wudi's reign, that is, in 99 BC. This year, Liang Wudi sent a general named Li Guangli, the eldest brother of Li Furen, one of Liang Wudi's favorite concubines, and the younger brother of Li Furen, his favorite concubine, to ask Li Guangli to lead an army against the Huns. Of course, the subjective purpose of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was to make Li Guangli seal the marquis through military service. At the same time, in order to ensure that Li Guangli joined the army smoothly, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty requested that a famous soldier at that time be named Li Ling, and that Li Ling provide logistical support for Li Guangli. The record in Historical Records is called "trench", which is to provide logistics support. But Li Ling didn't want to do it. Li Ling publicly proposed that he was willing to take 5,000 infantry out alone to disperse the military pressure of Xiongnu on Li Guangli. This incident made Emperor Wudi very dissatisfied. Emperor Wu felt that Li Ling was too embarrassed, so he told Li Ling that I had no extra cavalry to ration you. The implication is that if you want to go out, go out with your 5 thousand infantry. In this case, Li Ling went out with his 5,000 infantry. Of course, Li Ling's expedition started smoothly without any resistance. Moreover, Li Ling immediately sent someone back, drew a map, and came back to report the smooth progress of the March to Emperor Wu, who was also very happy.

But then the situation changed dramatically, because Li Ling's 5,000 infantry met the 30,000 Xiongnu main force led by Da Khan. Li Ling is really good at fighting. Li Ling's 5,000 infantry killed thousands of Khan's 30,000 troops. Although Khan's strength is six times that of Li Ling, it can't be cheap, so Khan of Xiongnu thinks Li Ling is too simple as an infantry. In a rage, he felt that my 30 thousand men could not beat your 5 thousand men, and he couldn't get through. In an emergency, he transferred about 80,000 troops to Wang Xian, and Da Khan's army was 1 1 10,000 cavalry to deal with Li Ling's 5,000 infantry. In this case, Li Ling fought and retreated, and the Vietnam War became more and more brave. In the end, Da Khan, who hit the Huns, felt that the war could not be fought. Khan was ready to withdraw, but at this time, an unexpected thing happened. This incident is that a subordinate of Li Ling was insulted by his superior. In a rage, the man went to take refuge in Hun Khan and defected. Then, he reported two important top secret military information of Li Ling. First, Li Ling has no backup troops and can fight with confidence. He has no backup. Secondly, Li Ling's infantry can fight mainly because he has a bow and arrow that can be shot repeatedly, called crossbow machine. This is an upgraded version of the bow and arrow. This arrow is fired by a machine, and it can be fired repeatedly, saying that his crossbow machine is running out of arrows. This said, the Xiongnu Khan felt hopeful, stopped withdrawing troops, and then concentrated his troops to launch a general attack on Li Ling. And Li Ling's army was marching in the valley at that time. This Khan's army, the Xiongnu's army, is on the mountains on both sides, throwing this big stone into this valley. Therefore, the remaining 3,000 soldiers in Liling suffered heavy casualties, and the war could not be fought, and there were no arrows. So in this case, Li Ling felt that it was impossible to fight, so she broke through. When he broke through, only 400 of his 3000 soldiers finally fled back. Li Ling's deputy was killed and Li Ling was captured and surrendered. This is a very famous Liling incident in history.

When the news of Li Ling's defeat and surrender reached the ears of Emperor Wudi, Emperor Wudi was furious and very angry. Ministers saw that the emperor was angry, and public opinion was one-sided. Ministers demanded that Li Ling be severely punished. It was at this time that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty saw Sima Qian next to him, because he had to attend when Sima Qian was appointed as an official. He asked Sima Qian what he thought. Sima Qian was very angry when he saw Emperor Wu. In order to broaden the heart of Emperor Wu, Sima Qian put forward three points: First, Li Ling is a national scholar. Stone country is the best person in a country, so it is called stone country. Li Ling is a stone country, and he serves the country wholeheartedly. This is the first point. Secondly, Li Ling fought Khan with five thousand infantry and Xiongnu for more than ten days, and he fought back. He killed far more enemies than his 5,000 infantry, and his contribution was enough to comfort the world. Third, Sima Qian thought that Sima Qian did not really surrender, but pretended to surrender. When there is an opportunity in the future, Li Ling will definitely find an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty.

It turned out that Sima Qian said these words in order to broaden the heart of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and at the same time to find some excuses for Li Ling. However, he never imagined that the words just landed and Emperor Wu flew into a rage. He immediately put Sima Qian in prison and made a false accusation, that is, framed the emperor. This is a very serious crime, and the decision to handle it wrongly is death penalty. Sima Qian was suddenly put on death row because of Li Ling's disaster and sentenced to death.

According to the provisions of the Han Dynasty, people sentenced to death have three choices: first, they are sentenced to execution; Second, to redeem one's life with money means to pay 500 thousand to avoid death; Third, accept castration, that is, castration of men's reproductive organs. This is called castration. Sima Qian has been writing historical records for some time. If he accepts the death penalty at this time, the historical record will be finished and the historical record will not be written. In this case, Sima Qian cannot accept the death penalty, so there are two ways to accept the death penalty. One is to bring money, and the other is to be castrated. Sima Qian, an official, was always by the emperor's side, but his income was low. Sima Qian has no money at home and can't afford 500 thousand. There's only one way left. You don't want to die and have no money. There is only one way left-castration. Therefore, Sima Qian finally accepted castration in order to complete Historical Records. This incident is what we call the biggest event that influenced Sima Qian and changed his life-Liling incident.

Voice-over: The disaster of Liling was undoubtedly a great blow to Sima Qian, who chose castration in despair. Castration is not only cruel corporal punishment, but also a rude trampling on spirit and dignity. During the Western Han Dynasty, many people would rather die than accept castration. So what does Sima Qian mean by choosing castration? What will happen to his life?

The Liling incident had a great influence on Sima Qian.

First of all, different identities. Sima Qian's original identity was originally an official of the central government. After being imprisoned, he became a eunuch who was not a eunuch. This is a great blow to Sima Qian, because his identity has changed. First of all, it has become a substitute for a man. He's not human. Second, he became an alternative scholar-bureaucrat and could not be accepted by the scholar-bureaucrat class. Thirdly, he became an alternative of a literate person, which means that Sima Qian was originally a literate person, a scholar-bureaucrat and a scholar. But now, the group he belongs to has expelled him and refused to recognize him as a person, a literate person and a scholar-bureaucrat. This is a great blow to Sima Qian, which is the first point.

Second, lifelong humiliation. Sima Qian said a few very painful words when he talked about his imprisonment. He said that ugliness is worse than humiliation, and shame is greater than castration. You said that the biggest mistake you make when you live in this world is to insult your ancestors. It is said that when a person lives in society, the biggest mistake you are accused of is that you have been castrated. Therefore, Sima Qian later said that in a famous letter, he was called "Letter to Ren An", also called "Letter to Ren Shaoqing". In this letter, he talked about his pain after accepting castration. He said that "the intestines turn nine times a day", and I don't know how many times the intestines turn a day. "If you live in a house, you will be in a daze. I don't know where I went when I died. " He said that when you sit at home, you will be in a trance. After going out, you don't know where to go. "Every time I think about shame, I feel sweaty and have clothes on my back." At the thought of the pain of castration, the cold sweat on my back immediately seeped out and soaked his clothes and clothes on my back. So he felt that after castration, this shame accompanied his life. So Sima Qian felt that this shame was too great, and this was the second point.

Third, life is the opposite. Sima Qian is a talented person, but Li Ling's fate caused a sharp conflict between his talent and his life. So he himself said, even if he is easy-going, easy-going, that is to say, I don't have talents like Shibi and Sui Houzhu. Even though I am as noble and noble as the ancient saints Xu You and Bo Yi, what do others think of me? Treat me like shit. You can't be proud of it. This truth is very simple, because people are social animals, and human sociality is the fundamental difference between people and animals. As a social person, he must be recognized by the society. After Sima Qian accepted castration, the biggest point was that he was not recognized by this society. Therefore, the price of Sima Qian's life is the dignity of being a man, which is a painful price. Therefore, after accepting the castration, Sima Qian, as a human being, died, and Sima Qian, as a feudal scholar-bureaucrat, died, but Tai Shigong, who inspired the text in Historical Records, was reborn. This is a historic change of Sima Qian.

Voice-over: In the Western Han Dynasty, castration was a cruel double punishment of spirit and body. The prisoner was humiliated, and life was worse than death. Even Sima Qian, who is strong-willed and ambitious, always sweats when he thinks of the humiliation of castration. It is conceivable that castration is a cruel punishment. The imprisoned Sima Qian is 47 years old and has been writing historical records for some time. So what is Sima Qian's understanding of life and society about to enter the age of knowing destiny?

After accepting the castration, Sima Qian was forced to treat people, life and history from a social identity that was looked down upon by people at the bottom of society, so his evaluation of historical figures changed fundamentally from other historians in the Twenty-four History before accepting the castration. Then we can talk about this change from several aspects.

First of all, it changed Sima Qian's view of life and death. We all know that Sima Qian said a few very famous words, saying that "people are inherently mortal, and death is heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." Before and after the disaster of Liling, Sima Qian's view of life and death changed fundamentally. For example, when we look at Historical Records, there is an article in the middle of Historical Records called Lu Bu Biography, which describes a general named Lu Bu under Xiang Yu. This man is a valiant soldier under Xiang Yu, who has defeated Liu Bang many times, so Liu Bang hates him very much. After Xiang Yu committed suicide, Liu Bang always wanted Lu Bu and ordered anyone who wanted to harbor Lu Bu to destroy the three clans. Ji Bu had no choice but to take refuge in a family first, and then the family resold him to the home of a great warrior Guo (Zhu) at that time. The servant bought by Guo Guzhi was Jibu, and then the Guo family (Zhujiajian Island) went to Beijing to personally find Liu Bang's most trusted servant, namely Xia Houying and Teng Gong, who were drivers for Liu Bang. Then I told Teng Gong that after Liu Bang became the monarch, could he kill all the officials of Xiang Yu? Impossible, and you just got the monarch, and you have to kill Jibu just to avenge yourself. If you really push Jibu, then either he fled north to Xiongnu, or he ran south to South Vietnam. Aren't you equal to taking a strong man to help your enemy? Having said this, Teng Gong believed the words of the Guo family (Zhujiajian Island). He used this sentence to persuade Liu Bang, who later listened to this suggestion and pardoned Lu Bu. In the era of Liu Bang, Lu Bu became a doctor; In the era of Hui Di, Lu Bu became a general; In the era of Emperor Wen, Lu Bu was a satrap. Lu Bu later became the famous founding minister of the Western Han Dynasty. When Sima Qian finally talked about Lu Bu, he was very emotional. When Xiang Yu was alive, Lu Bu was such a general. In the end, he can be a slave to others in such a humiliating way. He is not ashamed of being a slave. He just felt that he was talented and could not be wasted, so he put up with humiliation and dragged out an ignoble existence. We look at Sima Qian's understanding and evaluation of Lu Bu. In fact, it was after he experienced the disaster of Li Ling that he met Lu Bu, so that he could correctly evaluate Lu Bu. So we read history books, and we read historical records. To truly understand Historical Records, we must understand life and society. The deeper you know about life and society, the deeper you will understand Historical Records.

One more thing, Sima Qian accepted castration for a very important reason. There is no money at home. If he had money, Sima Qian wouldn't be so humiliated. So after the Liling incident, Sima Qian had a brand-new view on money. Therefore, Sima Qian feels that the pursuit of wealth is human nature, and there is nothing wrong with it, as long as it is taken properly. Therefore, Sima Qian wrote an article called Biography of Huo Zhi in the middle of Historical Records. In Biography of Huo Zhi, he fully affirmed the legitimacy of people's pursuit of wealth. So Sima Qian cited many examples, the most famous of which was a passage. He said, "The world is bustling, all for profit; The world is bustling, all for profit. " What is it for to say that the world is bustling and running around? All for a "profit". He said, from the governors to the compilers, they are all pursuing profit. There is nothing wrong with pursuing profits, but your means of pursuing profits are improper. This view was also summed up by Sima Qian from his own painful lessons. Therefore, more than two thousand years ago, Sima Qian realized that the legitimacy of people's pursuit of material interests was very remarkable. We should thank Sima Qian and Historical Records.

Moreover, the disaster of Liling completely changed Sima Qian's evaluation of historical figures. Therefore, the evaluation of many characters in Historical Records is particularly sharp and profound. We can give an example. There is an article called Xiao Jiashi in Historical Records, which describes that an important official of Liu Bang is Xiao He. Xiao He was Liu Bang's most trusted minister, but when Chen Si rebelled in the tenth year of Emperor Gaozu, Lv Hou said that Han Xin colluded with Chen Si to rebel and killed Han Xin. When Liu learned that Han Xin had been killed, he immediately sealed Xiao He, sealed 5,000 households in Xiao He and sent 500 soldiers to Xiao He. Xiao He was very happy and gave a banquet to entertain the officials. But at this time, a man named Zhaoping went to a party in Xiao He to cheer for him and mourn for him. It is said that you have made no special contribution to the emperor's counter-insurgency outside, and you were sealed because the emperor didn't trust you after the Han Xin incident. Once the emperor comes back after this seal, he will definitely punish you. After hearing this, Xiao He stopped drinking and drove all the guests away, but he couldn't find a way. The man helped him think of a way and said, what will you do? What can you do if you want to solve this crisis? You donated all the property in your family. This Xiao He also does not have method, reluctantly donated all his possessions to Liu Bang as military expenses. When Xiao He donated all his wealth to Liu Bang, Sima Qian wrote five words: "Emperor Gao was overjoyed". Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu, was very happy to see Xiao He's memorial. These five words are hard-won, and they deeply expose a founding emperor's suspicion of founding heroes. Liu Bang can doubt anyone, but Liu Bang should not doubt Xiao He. Xiao He and Liu Bang are in the same county. When Xiao He was a deputy county-level cadre, Liu Bang was the director of Surabaya, and Xiao He took care of him at that time. Xiao He followed Liu Bang after he started fighting. And Xiao He is not a person, he is with the whole family and liu bang farmland. Therefore, when Liu Bang finished the whole world, all his ministers advocated giving Cao Can the first credit and sealing Cao Shen first. Liu said is wrong, first seal Xiao He. Liu Bang also cited a famous example at that time. He said, did you see that hunter? When hunting, there are hunters and hounds. Hunting dogs chase prey. All your generals who attack the city and plunder the land outside the city must not be hunting dogs, so you are called kung fu dogs. And that Xiao He, he is a hunter who orders hounds to chase their prey. His name is Gong Ren. Liu Bang put forward a theory that Xiao He is a meritorious person and Cao Can is a meritorious dog, so who is more meritorious, the man or the dog? Of course, people have done a lot of work. So Xiao He comes first, and Cao Can comes second. Such a small ah, Liu Bang had doubts about him in his later years, and Sima Qian exposed Liu Bang's doubts about the hero. After reading for twenty-four years, no historian can analyze the inner secrets of the founding emperor so sharply and profoundly as Sima Qian. One of the most important reasons is that after the Liling incident, Sima Qian had a new understanding of the emperor's tyranny and cruelty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty murdered Sima Qian through the Liling incident, and he also changed Sima Qian's life track. At the same time, what Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did also created a great historian and a great historical work-Historical Records.

Then, we will read Historical Records from the next lecture, and read Historical Records from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who is most closely related to Sima Qian's life. What kind of man was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and how did he reach the peak of power? Please watch the next episode of "Gong Yu Competition".