The next day, the students went together to participate in the garden party organized by the prefectural magistrate according to the usual practice. That is, the exchange meeting, so that the famous students who are only seen in each township can meet and get to know each other, and help each other when the state exam is in the future. After receiving the invitation, all the students were gearing up to show it, because the school administration of the management examination in the state city was also coming. Xuezheng is none other than Sima Guang, Sima Guang, born in the third year of Zhenzong Tianxi in the Northern Song Dynasty (1019), died in the first year of Zhezong Yuanyou (1086), the word Junshi, the number is roundabout, is the Northern Song Dynasty Shaanzhou Xia County Shushui Township (now Xia County, Shanxi) people, known as Mr. Shushui, Jinshi was born, successively served as Pavilion Proofreading, Tongzhili Academy, Tianzhang Pavilion to be made and waiting, Zhizhi Yuan, Yushi Zhongcheng, Hanlin Academy bachelor and waiter, etc. In the third year of Xining (1070), he insisted on resigning as the deputy envoy of the privy council because of his political differences with Wang Anshi, and learned about the Yongxing Army (now Xi'an City, Shaanxi) with a bachelor from the Duanming Palace, and the following year he was sentenced to Xijing Yushitai, retired to Luoyang, and devoted himself to writing history for 15 years. Zhezong ascended the throne, came to power after being tall, summoned Sima Guang to take charge of state affairs, and appointed him as the prime minister (Shangshu's left servant and subordinate servant). Posthumously presented the Taishi, Feng Wen Guogong, and Wen Zheng.

Sima Guang's family has been a eunuch for generations, and his father Sima Chi is a famous minister in the Song Renzong Bao Yuanqing calendar, and the official is in the military department Langzhong and Tianzhang Pavilion to be systematized, and he has a good reputation for being honest and benevolent all his life. Sima Guang was nurtured by the family, sincere and studious, at the age of seven, "awe-inspiring as an adult, hearing about the "Zuo's Spring and Autumn Period", that is, to be able to understand its purpose", since then, "the hand does not release the book, until I don't know hunger, thirst, cold and heat", at the age of 15 years I wrote an article, the people of the time praised it as "pure rhetoric, there is a Western Han style", at the age of 20, I was in the first place in the Shijia, which can be described as an early success. But he did not use this to "boast of ambition, Kunming is in things, such as the great Mo Ji Ruo", but heroically proposed: "The sage lives in the world, he will fulfill his righteousness and benevolence, show himself with virtue, and spread evil in the name of the outside!" These words reflect the mind and knowledge of the young Sima Guang, who is determined to make contributions with benevolence and virtue, and does not seek fame. Therefore, after entering the official career, Sima Guang continued to study extensively and deeply, and reached the level of erudition and omniscience, music, legal calendar, astronomy, and mathematics are extremely wonderful, among which the most attentive is the study of scriptures and history, especially the extensive reading of ancient books, and the investigation is very detailed. At the age of 26, he wrote as many as 30 historical notes, in which he germinated the idea of deleting the voluminous ancient history into a chronicle of the general history to facilitate reading, and the deeper motivation was the needs of feudal politics.

At that time, nearly 100 years after the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, there had been various crises, and Sima Guang, who had a strong Confucian ideology, stated his own set of ideas for governing the country with a positive attitude of using the world, and generally took talent, courtesy, benevolence, and faith as the fundamental measures for governing the country in Anbang, which was of positive significance at that time. In addition to his own political activities, he was also able to adhere to principles and actively implement the decision-making strategies that were beneficial to the country, especially in the struggle to recommend the virtuous and reprimand, he was guilty of straightforward admonitions, faced court disputes, and never cared about personal safety. ”

In the Xining reform, Sima Guang had a serious disagreement with Wang Anshi, who presided over the reform. As far as their dedication to the country is concerned, the two are the same, but in terms of specific measures, they have their own preferences. Wang Anshi mainly focused on the financial and military problems at that time, and solved the urgent needs through drastic economic and military reform measures. Sima Guang believes that in the period of keeping the success, we should focus on the rectification of the ethical program, to bind people's thinking within the constraints of the original system, even if the reform, it must be safe, and believes that "governing the world is like a living room, and if it is not a big evil, it will not be changed", because "if it is a big bad and change, it will not be a good craftsman, and now there is no both, and the ministers are afraid that the wind and rain will not protect it." Although Sima Guang's proposition is conservative; But in fact, it is a reform strategy on the basis of "normalcy". Judging from the deviations and improper employment of people in Wang Anshi's reforms, it proves that Sima Guang is politically sophisticated and steady, and in addition to being less courageous than Wang Anshi, he is politically mature.

Under the circumstance of different political views and difficulty in cooperation, Sima Guang retired to Luoyang, and through compiling historical works, he extracted lessons for governing the country from the successes and failures of history, "making the viewers blame themselves for the gains and losses of good and evil." It should be said that Sima's bare history is another way for him to become a political state. As early as the Jiayou period of Song Renzong (1056-1063), he once discussed with Liu Shu and said: "Yu Yu Tuo began when King Zhou Weilie ordered Han Zhao Wei to be the princes, and the five dynasties were followed. This shows that when he was in his 30s, he had already brewed the scale of "Tongjian". In the first year of the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Song Dynasty (1064), he first presented 25 volumes of the "Calendar Map", and two years later submitted the eight volumes of the "Tongzhi", indicating that he had written in addition to his political activities. His writing history was praised and supported by Song Yingzong and Song Shenzong, and Song Yingzong agreed that he would set up a bookstore and choose his own official affiliation. In addition to allowing him to borrow state-owned library materials, Shenzong also gave 3,400 volumes of Yingdi's old books to Sima Guang for reference. The pen, ink, silk, and silk needed to repair the book, as well as the money for the bait, were all provided by the state, which provided him with favorable conditions for writing.

Sima Guang wrote history, and also selected Liu Shu, Liu (Fenwen), Fan Zuyu and others as assistants, they were not only first-class historians at that time, but also had the same views as Sima Guang in politics and historiography, so they were able to show their talents and cooperate in compiling books. The success of "Tongjian" is inseparable from their efforts, but what ultimately brought "Tongjian" to its glorious apex was determined by the meticulous writings of its editor-in-chief Sima Guang. As Liu Xizhong, the son of Liu Shu, said: "The ancestors were in the bookstore, only like deeds, and they were compiled into long numbers. ”

The compilation of the Tongjian is roughly divided into three steps: first, the arrangement of the series; 2. Prepare a long series; 3. Deletion and revision of the final draft. The first two steps are completed by the assistant under the guidance of the editor-in-chief, and the third step is completed by the editor-in-chief alone. After the publication of the book was taken out by the editor-in-chief, Sima Guang emphasized the following aspects of the specific methods and principles in the compilation process:

1. Strict material selection. The content of the selected historical materials focuses on the rise and fall of the country, the gains and losses of policies, and the morality of monarchs and ministers, etc., with the purpose of providing reference for governing the country and reflecting the situation of the people's welfare. In this way, in addition to the official history, there are no less than 300 kinds of historical materials collected, such as the history of barnyard officials, the records of hundreds of families, the collection of general collections, and the inscriptions. The long series is more than 650O volumes long and has more than 30 million words.

Second, careful examination of differences. Only true can be valuable, and only valuable can have a reference role. In addition to including the selected historical materials in the main text, Sima Guang also explained the various statements and reasons for identification one by one, and wrote 30 volumes of "Tongjian Examination of Differences", which were presented together with "Tongjian". Due to the rigorous attitude of "making hidden choices and correcting the slightest detail" in the examination of differences, the reliability and authenticity of historical works have been greatly enhanced. This method of writing history was followed by later generations of historians, and the Qianjia school in the Qing Dynasty, which was known for its research on historical facts, developed along this path.

3. Compile a catalogue. "Tongjian" records the historical facts of 16 dynasties in 1362, is a total of 294 volumes of the long masterpiece, for the convenience of re-examination, at the same time as the revision of the history of the compilation of "Tongjian Catalogue" 30 volumes, China's ancient chronicle history book because of chronology, so there is no article, not a catalog, just by year search. Sima Guang broke through this old precedent and collected the chronology, imperial chronicles, calendars, celestial phenomena, table of contents, important points, and indexes in three parts, creating a new style of multi-functional catalogue of chronicles, making the Tongjian style more perfect, and advancing China's historical compilation to a new level.

Fourth, improve the historical style. The chronicle is concise and to the point, but due to time constraints, the historical events are dragged and fragmented, and it is not easy to reflect the whole picture. Sima Guang paid attention to absorbing the advantages of the chronicle, and in order to explain the cause and effect, he used a large number of writing methods such as serialization, main report, supplementary narrative, retrospective narrative, and supplementary narrative, with the nature of organizing materials with events as clues, showing the trend of breaking through the chronicle and brewing the end of the chronicle, and enlightening Yuan Shu in the Southern Song Dynasty in compiling the book "Tongjian Chronicle". This transformation has given new vitality to the ancient chronicle style, and later generations have imitated it one after another, forming a chronicle system from ancient times to the present. In this system, the "Tongjian" is written with a general history, which is convenient to "find out the causes of change and seek traces of evolution", which is consistent with the trend of thought in the society since the Tang and Song dynasties, and is also consistent with the purpose of "Zizhi Tongjian".

Fifth, the processing through. Collective writing, due to different styles and styles, is prone to fragmentation and miscellaneous, but the language style of "Tongjian" is like the hand of one person, and there is no trace of carving, which is the result of Sima Guang's careful adaptation and processing. Sima Guang, who has a deep writing foundation, is especially good at narrative, and the paragraphs are written, the original meaning is clear, the text is beautiful and simple, the style is quaint and concise, and it is really ingenious and self-contained. There are many scenes and character descriptions, which have become famous in the history of literature, and the narration of large-scale wars such as the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Weishui is even more popular and fascinating, surpassing the records of all other historical books and becoming the best historical prose.

6. Write a postscript. It has become a tradition for Chinese historians to praise and praise the meaning of praise and disparagement. Sima Guang appended a commentary in the book "Tongjian", which is not only large in number, but also long in length. The book is accompanied by more than 180 articles, more than 80 of which quote from others, and the rest are written by hand. Most of the discussions are the causes of chaos, and the way of the monarch and the minister is based on the historical theories and recitals written in the past, and they are played according to historical events and discussed on current affairs. Reading between the lines, it is full of Kuang Fu's sincerity and emotion, implying praise and disapproval, reflecting the good intentions of admonishing according to the facts, whether it is a national issue or the principle of employing people, it has put forward a historical reference for the current situation to eliminate maladministration, which has certain theoretical and practical significance. What is even more ingenious is that so many supplementary commentaries, and the content selection and arrangement of the "Tongjian", are so integrated and inseparable, and have become the finishing touch to implement the historical purpose of "capital governance". The historiographical masterpiece of detail, fine style, vivid narrative, profound argumentation, and simple style has finally been completed. The hard work of the editor-in-chief Sima Guang is immeasurable. In the "Entry to the Table", he said: "Studying and thinking about everything, exhausting everything, lacking eyesight, followed by night." Some people saw that the manuscripts were piled up in as many as two rooms, all of which were small characters, and the words were dignified, and there was not a single word scribbled. After the book was completed, the 66-year-old Sima Guang was already "a skeleton, his eyes were faint, his teeth were few, his consciousness was exhausted, and what he was doing was forgotten". Therefore, he devoted his whole life to this book, but also to place his ardent hope of governing the country, and he earnestly hoped that the emperor could "learn from the rise and fall of the past life, the gains and losses of archaeology and the present, the good and the evil, and take the right and the wrong. In this way, he will "although he is committed to Jiuquan, his volunteer will be completed forever". Doesn't this mean that he wrote history in another way of being a political state?

In fact, the significance of the "Tongjian" has far exceeded the author's original intention, and it not only provides a reference for the rulers to "govern", but also provides a reference for the whole society. He said: "The Tongjian does not specifically record the traces of chaos, but also the rituals, almanacs, astronomy, and geography in particular. Readers are like rats drinking from the river, each at best. Wang Mingsheng of the Qing Dynasty also said: "This is a book that must be indispensable in this world, and a book that scholars must not read." The history of nearly 1,000 years has proved that "Tongjian", like "Historical Records", has been called a treasure of historiography, widely circulated and taught the public. There is no shortage of researchers, making it a specialized discipline, that is, "general knowledge". Nowadays, the study of Tongjian is being carried out at multiple levels and from multiple angles, and it will provide more reference for the progress of mankind. This development trend was unexpected by Sima Guang, and it was also the inevitable result of his outstanding contribution.

Sima Guang wrote a lot in his life, and in the "Tongjian" series of works, there are 80 volumes of "Tongjian's Important Calendar", seven volumes of "Calendar Charts", 20 volumes of "Ji Gulu", and six volumes of "List of Hundred Officials and Ministers of this Dynasty". In addition, there are 20 kinds of other works, more than 200 volumes, which are the results of his research and writings on China's history, scriptures, philosophy and even medical poetry, etc., and the main representative works are "Hanlin Poetry and Grass", "Note on the Ancient Literature and Filial Piety", "Yi Shuo", "Note Taixuan Jing", "Note on Yangzi", "Shuyi", "Journey to the Mountains", "Continuation of Poems", "Medical Question", "Records of Lianshui", "Class Chapters", "Sima Wenzheng Gongji" and so on.

Although Sima Guang was enthusiastic about governing the country, he was unable to have more opportunities to directly participate in political affairs due to different political views. It was not until the death of Song Shenzong in the eighth year of Song Yuanfeng (1085) that Sima Guang, who was 67 years old, was welcomed back to the palace with the wave of demands to abolish the new law, and took up the position of minister. He was in power for a year and a half, worked hard day and night, exhausted his life's work, and then passed away. The bad news came out, "the people of Beijing boycotted the city to hang, the clothes were laid, the alleys cried to pass the car, covered with tens of millions", when the coffin was sent to Xia County, the funeral "the people cried and mourned, such as crying their private relatives." Tens of thousands of people came from all over the world to bury them." As for the portrait memorial, "the whole world is everywhere, every family hangs an elephant, and the meal must be blessed". It is rare for a prime minister in a feudal society to receive such extensive and sincere condolences from the people, and it is also a historical necessity.

Ye Sheng, who received the invitation, thought of Sima Guang's life, there is no doubt that this is a mature political figure, and his ideological height is unmatched. And many of his political ideas and pragmatic practices have their own academic ideas, and many of them have a lot in common. is a friend who can be like-minded in the future, and he must strive to become his ally.