What are the historical values and shortcomings of the History of the Three Kingdoms?

The History of the Three Kingdoms is a biographical national history of Wei, Shu and Wu. Among them, Shu Wei has 30 volumes, Shu Shu 15 volumes, Wu Shu has 20 volumes and * * * has 65 volumes. It recorded the history of 60 years from the first year of Huang Chu, Wei Wendi (220 years) to the first year of Taikang, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty (280 years). The author is Chen Shou in the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Chen Shou (233-297) was born in Han An, Brazil (now Nanchong, Sichuan) in the Western Jin Dynasty. He is not very studious. He studied under Qiao Zhou, a scholar in the same county, and wrote The History of Guan Ge in Shu Han. At that time, eunuch Huang Hao was authoritarian, and his ministers followed suit. Chen Shou was repeatedly dismissed because he refused to give in to Huang Hao. After entering Jin, he served as a writer, scholar and suggestion. In 280, the gold was destroyed, ending the separatist situation. Chen shou was forty-eight years old and began to write the reflection.

Chen Shou was a minister of the State of Jin, who succeeded Wei and won the world. Therefore, The History of the Three Kingdoms respects Wei as orthodox. In Shu Wei, Cao Cao wrote a biography, while Shu Shu and Wu Shu just passed it on without discipline. Liu Bei is called a great master, and Sun Quan is called a great master. This is an example of compiling history books to serve politics, and it is also a feature of the History of the Three Kingdoms.

Although Chen Shou respected Wei as orthodox in name, in fact he wrote a Book of Wei Shuwu, which truthfully recorded the tripartite confrontation between the three countries, showing that they were independent, not subordinate to each other and had equal status. As far as the recording method is concerned, Biography of the First Master and Biography of Wu are also the same as chronology, but they are not called chronology. This way of dealing with Chen Shou was in line with the actual situation at that time, showing his outstanding knowledge and originality. Generally speaking, the history of the Three Kingdoms is relatively simple, which may be related to the quantity of historical materials. Chen Shou, a native of the Three Kingdoms, was thirty-one when Shu died. The History of the Three Kingdoms edited by him belonged to modern history at that time, and many things he personally experienced, heard and saw were quite true, so it was speculated that he had the conditions to collect historical materials. However, because of the recent years, many historical materials have not been made public; At the same time, due to the lingering grievances, it is difficult to be fair, which also brings certain difficulties to the selection of materials and the revision of history.

Comparing the three books of Wei, Shu and Wu, there are only fifteen volumes, which is simpler than Wei and Wu. This is probably the reason why Wei and Wu have more historical materials than Shu. When Chen Shou wrote The History of the Three Kingdoms, Wei had it and Wu had it, which provided great convenience for Chen Shou to collect historical materials. However, there are neither historians nor ready-made historical books to learn from in Shu and Han dynasties, so it is very difficult to collect historical materials. Chen Shou worked hard and even paid attention to searching for some fragmentary articles. Shu Shu only got fifteen volumes. The deeds of many important figures in Shu Shu are recorded very briefly, which shows that the historical materials of Shu Han are quite lacking. In addition, for political reasons, Chen Shou may have abandoned some materials, such as some disgraceful things involving Sima Yi, which is inconvenient to write and has to be abandoned.

The History of the Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou, like the first three histories, is also a private history book. After Fan Qi's death, Shang said in the above table: "Chen Shou wrote The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, in which there are many exhortations, which are conducive to weathering. Although the elegance is not the same, the quality is straight and I am willing to record it. " It can be seen that the History of the Three Kingdoms was well received by people at that time after it was written. Chen Shou's narrative is short, the three books are rarely repeated, and the notes are informative. He is also very cautious in the selection of materials, which is valued by historians of past dynasties. Historical Records, History of Han Dynasty, History of Later Han Dynasty and History of the Three Kingdoms are collectively called the first four histories, which are considered as biographical historical masterpieces.

The Biography of Chen Shou in the Book of Jin written by Fang and others in the Tang Dynasty, while acknowledging that Chen Shou is "a good narrator with a good history", thinks that Chen Shou was expressed in the book out of personal grievances. It is said that "Ding Yi and Ding Kun are famous ministers of Wei, and their longevity refers to their son's saying: You can find a kilometer to meet and make a good biography for respecting the public. Ding didn't cooperate with him, but he didn't make a biography. Records of Ma Su joining the army were condemned by Zhuge Liang. Records also sat beside the quilt, Zhuge Zhan suicide. Life is the spread of light, which means that the light will be a little longer, and no one can meet the enemy; It is an exaggeration to say that only words and deeds are examples. There are few discussants. "

Only a few historians, such as Liu Qiu in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and Liu Zhiji in the Tang Dynasty, believe this historical material about Chen Shou's secret in the Book of Jin, but most historians think it is untrue and false. Pan Mei, a Qing Dynasty scholar, pointed out in Textual Research on the History of the Three Kingdoms: "Ding Yi and Ding Kui, the officials just stabbed and raped Huang Menfu, but they didn't have the power to destroy the front and meet the challenge, and they didn't have the effect of capturing the temple inside. In the hands of Wang Chen, the party shook their heirs and angered their flesh and blood. If they fail, they will be punished and have committed the crime of Wei, so they can't make a biography. " "Book of Jin" said that Suomi wanted to make a biography, which is the most ignorant statement. Zhao Yi also pointed out in the Notes on the Twenty-two Histories: The Book of Jin said that "Shoufu joined the army for Ma Su, was slandered by Zhuge Liang, and was killed, so Shoufu was named Legend of Light, which means that Shoufu will be slightly inferior. This is really ignorance. You don't have to be good at fighting where the light can't reach. Guan Shouxiu's Zhuge Ji shows that science and education are strict, rewards and punishments must be believed, no evil is not punished, and no good is not shown. As for officials, rape is not allowed, and people are motivated. Today, the people of Liang and Yi, although some are the sons of Gan Tang and Zheng, are beyond reproach. Post-evaluation of The Legend of Light: Light is rule, sincerity, justice, goodness without reward, evil without fiber without degeneration. Finally, those who are afraid and love in the national territory, although the criminal law is severe and there is no evil resentment, but they exhort with their hearts. Its praise for the hole can be said to be unique. "Thus, Chen Shouzhi's derogatory remarks in the Book of Jin are really untrue and unreliable.

However, the History of the Three Kingdoms also has some shortcomings, which can not be ignored. In narration, apart from contradictions in some biographies, its biggest shortcoming is that it pays more attention to Cao Wei and Sima Shi, which has been criticized by historians in past dynasties. In addition, the book only has history and biography, and there is no ambition and table, which is a great shortcoming.

After the Three Kingdoms was written, the narrative was too brief. When Emperor Wendi of the Southern Dynasties came, Pei Songzhi, a famous historian, made notes for him and added a lot of materials.

Pei Songzhi (372-45 1 year) was born in Hedong (now Wenxi, Shanxi) in the Song Dynasty. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he was an official in Lingling and a doctor in Guo Zi. After entering the Song Dynasty, Ren Zhongshu served as assistant minister. Song Wendi wrote down a note written by Chen Shou in the History of the Three Kingdoms, and ordered Chen Shou to make a supplementary note. In order to annotate the history of the Three Kingdoms, he collected more than 150 kinds of original materials of the Three Kingdoms period, and quoted the original works of various works, with about three times as many words as the original works. His annotation on the History of the Three Kingdoms focuses on filling the gaps and correcting the fallacies. As he said in "Notes on the Three Kingdoms": "If you don't record your life, the recorder will make it up; Or the same words are not good, or the accident is different, and the doubts cannot be judged. If the news is different, copy it; If it is obviously unreasonable, punish it with violation correction; It is quite foolish to argue whether its current events are related to small deaths. "

The biggest feature of Pei's annotations is that they are widely used and quoted, which greatly enriches the content of the original book. In particular, most of the original materials he quoted have been lost today, but fortunately they are still in Pei's notes, so the historical materials are of great value. When we read the reflection, we must read Pei Songzhi's notes as the text.

Wei, Shu and Wu were originally independent books, and it was not until the Northern Song Dynasty that they merged into one and changed their names to The History of the Three Kingdoms.