In the second year after Su Wu went to the Xiongnu as an envoy, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent General Li Guangli of the Second Division to lead 30,000 troops to attack the Xiongnu. They suffered a huge defeat and almost wiped out the entire army. Li Guangli escaped. Li Guang's grandson Li Ling was serving as the cavalry captain and led 5,000 infantrymen to fight against the Huns. Shan Yu personally led 30,000 cavalry to surround Li Ling's infantry regiments. Although Li Ling's archery skills were very good and his soldiers were very brave, 5,000 infantrymen killed 5,000 or 6,000 Huns cavalry. However, the number of Huns soldiers increased, and the Han army was outnumbered. There were no reinforcements behind them, and in the end, only more than 400 Han soldiers were left. The soldiers broke out. Li Ling was captured by the Huns and surrendered.
The news of Li Ling's surrender to the Huns shocked the court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty put Li Ling's mother, wife and children in prison, and summoned the ministers to discuss Li Ling's crimes.
The ministers all condemned Li Ling for surrendering to the Huns because he was afraid of life and death. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked Taishi Ling Sima Qian for his opinion.
Sima Qian said: "The infantry Li Ling brought was less than five thousand. He went deep into the enemy's hinterland and attacked tens of thousands of enemies. Although he lost the battle, he killed so many enemies and could attack The people of the world have told him that if Li Ling refuses to die immediately, he must have his own ideas. He must also want to repay his sins to the emperor." After hearing this, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought that Sima Qian was defending Li Ling in this way. He deliberately belittled Li Guangli (Li Guangli was the elder brother of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's favored concubine), and became furious and said, "Aren't you deliberately opposing the imperial court by arguing for those who surrendered to the enemy?" With a shout, he moved Sima to prison and handed him over. Ting Wei interrogated.
After interrogation, Sima Qian was convicted and should be tortured (a kind of corporal punishment). Sima Qian could not afford the money to atone for his crime, so he had to accept the punishment and be imprisoned in prison.
Sima Qian thought it was a shame to be tortured, and he almost wanted to commit suicide. But he thought that he had a very important job unfinished and he should not die. Because at that time he was devoting all his energy to writing a book, which was the greatest historical work in ancient my country - "Historical Records".
It turns out that Sima Qian’s ancestors served as historians for several generations, and his father Sima Tan was also the Taishi Ling of the Han Dynasty. When Sima Qian was ten years old, he followed his father to Chang'an and read many books since he was a child.
In order to collect historical materials and broaden his horizons, Sima Qian began to travel around the motherland when he was twenty years old. He has been to Kuaiji, Zhejiang, where he saw the legendary place where Dayu convened tribal leaders for a meeting; he has been to Changsha, where he paid homage to the patriotic poet Qu Yuan on the Miluo River; he has been to Qufu, to inspect the site where Confucius lectured; he has been to the hometown of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty , listening to the elders of Peixian County telling about Liu Bang's rebellion... This kind of tour and inspection enabled Sima Qian to acquire a lot of knowledge, and also drew rich nourishment from folk language, which laid an important foundation for Sima Qian's writing.
Later, Sima Qian became an attendant of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and followed the emperor on tours to various places. He was also ordered to inspect Ba, Shu, and Kunming.
After Sima Tan died, Sima Qian inherited his father's position and became the Taishi Ling. He read and collected more historical materials.
When he was about to start writing, he offended Emperor Wu by defending Li Ling, and was sent to prison and tortured. He thought painfully: This is my own fault.
Now that I have been tortured, my body is ruined and I am of no use anymore.
But he also thought: King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned in Youli in the past and wrote a "Book of Changes"; Confucius was trapped in Chencai on his way to travel around the world, and later compiled a "Spring and Autumn"; Qu Yuan He was exiled and wrote "Li Sao"; Zuo Qiuming was blind and wrote "Guoyu"; Sun Bin had his kneecaps cut out and wrote "The Art of War". There are also 300 chapters in the Book of Songs, most of which were written by the ancients when they were worried and angry. These famous works were written when the author was depressed or when his ideals were not feasible. Why don't I use this time to write this history?
So he compiled the history of this period from the legendary Huangdi era to the second year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (95 BC) into 130 chapters and five chapters. The huge work "Historical Records" with 120,000 words.
In his "Historical Records", Sima Qian gave detailed descriptions of the deeds of some famous figures in ancient times. He spoke highly of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the leaders of the peasant uprising, and often expressed sympathy for the oppressed lower class figures. He also rewritten the too difficult words in ancient documents into the more accessible words at that time. The character descriptions and plot descriptions are vivid and the language is vivid and lively. Therefore, "Historical Records" is both a great historical work and an outstanding literary work.
After Sima moved out of the prison, he served as Zhongshu Ling. Later, he finally died unhappy. But he and his work "Historical Records" enjoy a high status in the history of history and literature in our country.