The Tang Dynasty once flourished in the history of our country, but as the first complete history of the Tang Dynasty, it was completed in an extremely chaotic era. This history book is now called "Old Tang Book" in the twenty-fifth history, and its title is "Liu Shao Bian".
authorized strength
Liu Shao was the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty at the end of the Five Dynasties. The Book of Old Tang Dynasty was written at the order of Shi Jingtang in the fifth year of Tianfu in the late Jin Dynasty (940) and completed in the second year of the late Jin Dynasty (945). In fact, Zhang Zhaoyuan and Wei Jia are the most skilled in this history book, only because Liu Shao was in power when this book was written. According to the regulations at that time, the general prime minister should be the editor-in-chief (supervisor) of the compilation of national history, so Liu Shao became a signed writer. In 946, the year after the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty was published, the northern Khitan attacked the late Jin Dynasty on a large scale, resulting in a tragic situation in which Kaifeng and Henan counties were deserted for hundreds of miles, causing serious public and private losses, and it was inevitable that historical records would be robbed. Therefore, the revised Book of Old Tang Dynasty is of great positive significance in preserving historical materials.
brief introduction
The Book of the Old Tang Dynasty preserved the first-hand historical materials of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty has a history of 300 years, and wars are frequent. The original historical materials have suffered several disasters, especially the Anshi Rebellion and the military and political scuffle at the end of the Tang Dynasty, resulting in "the legacy of the times and the simplicity of the feet." Fortunately, the National History compiled by Shu Wei in the Su Zong period became the main basis for the compilation of Tang Shi in the later Jin Dynasty. After Su Zong, less historical materials were kept. Especially in the five dynasties of Xuan, Yi, Nuo, Zhao and Ai, even the "true record" was not preserved, just because Zhang Zhaoyuan and others mixed all kinds of rumors and novels in "troubled times", which slightly supplemented the historical facts. When the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty was compiled, it was only more than 30 years before the death of the Tang Dynasty, and many historical materials were directly obtained from the Tang people. Old Tang Shu preserved these precious historical materials. This is one of its great benefits. For example, some sentences in some biographies, such as "practicing today", "enthronement" and "the beginning of enthronement", are obviously traces recorded directly from the national history and records at that time. Only by directly recording the records of people at that time, historical materials are particularly precious. Some biographies also use "lines" and "family biographies" written by people at that time in the Tang Dynasty. These family heirlooms are often written by famous writers in the Tang Dynasty, which not only keep historical materials truthfully, but also have their own characteristics in writing. Zhao Yi's Notes on the Twenty-two Histories commented that the Biography of Feng Changqing, a Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, was "sorrowful for Yu Bo" and "still exists for thousands of years". The Biography of Guo Ziyi written by Pei Ji is "neat from beginning to end, without fabrication, which shows that historians in the Tang Dynasty are older than literature". In the biographies of the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, the imperial edicts, calligraphy and memorials of the monarch and ministers in the Tang Dynasty were also quoted in large sections. Some of these original materials have disappeared since then, but they have been preserved because of the inclusion of old Tang books. It is precisely because of these advantages that Sima Guang and others used a lot of materials from Sui and Tang Dynasties when compiling Zi Tong Zhi Jian. On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty was a powerful dynasty in China, and a multi-ethnic unified country developed. The Book of Old Tang Dynasty records a large number of historical materials of China ethnic minorities and their close relationship with the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. For example, the record of the marriage between Princess Wencheng and Songzan Gampo, the historical record of Princess Jincheng's entry into Tibet, and the historical records of many ethnic groups in the north, northwest, northeast and southwest such as Turkic, Uighur, Tubo and Qidan are all recorded in the Book of Old Tang Dynasty. In the history of the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and its neighbors Japan, Korea and India, the Book of the Tang Dynasty is also recorded in detail. Its weight is much more than other similar official histories, and the historical facts are more reliable.
history
However, the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty has only been circulated for about a hundred years, and it has met with bad luck. Starting from the Qing Dynasty in Song Renzong, the court in the Northern Song Dynasty thought that the old books of the Tang Dynasty were miscellaneous but not refined, and ordered Song Qi and Ouyang Xiu to compile the Books of the Tang Dynasty. This book of Tang Dynasty was written in 1060 (five years in Jiayou, Song Renzong) and began to "spread to the world". Since then, the Book of the Tang Dynasty compiled by Liu Yong has stopped circulating. It was not until the 17th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1538) that Liu Shao's Book of the Tang Dynasty, which experienced a bumpy fate of 478 years, was reprinted. In order to distinguish these two kinds of Tang books, later generations named Liu Shao as the old Tang book, and Song Qi and other later Tang books as the new Tang book.
Because Song Qi and Ouyang Xiu, the authors of The Book of the New Tang Dynasty, are both great writers in the literary world, later generations generally followed their views and criticized the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty, which was described as "quite complicated" in the late Ming Dynasty. Indeed, it has many shortcomings. But in all fairness, it should be said that Uncle Tang has made great contributions to the truthful preservation of historical materials. This should be fully affirmed.
meaning
The Book of Old Tang Dynasty studies the land system and tax system in China. This is also a very important history book. There are detailed records about the land equalization system, tenancy regulation system and two tax laws in Tang Dynasty, which provide convenient conditions for future generations to study. What is particularly commendable is that the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty contains quite rich information about the history of science and technology in China. In Li Zhi and Tian Wenzhi, there are relatively complete contents of Linde Calendar and Dayan Calendar written by Li, a famous astronomer and a monk. Jia Dan's biography records his works, such as Map of the South of Longyou Mountain and Map of the Flowers in the Sea, which is a rare record for Chinese and foreign geographers to study ancient geography. However, the shortcomings of the old Tang Shu are also obvious. Because it comes from troubled times and is written by many people, it is hard to avoid being rough. Sometimes the trace of copying is obvious, and even an official document is copied at the same time in the historical biography, causing undue confusion. Because of the instability of the team of historians and the lack of communication between them, some characters tied for two biographies at the same time. For example, Biography of Yang is listed in both volumes 122 and 144. There are similar situations in Biography of Wang Qiuli and Biography of Autumn. No wonder some people want to deny it in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. Song and other famous European writers wrote another one. However, it would be unfair to completely deny this book or even take it out of the official history. After all, history gave the old Tang book a bumpy fate and let it sink for about 500 years.