This summer, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent his favorite younger brother, General Li Guang of the Second Division, to crusade against Xiongnu, and another sent Li Guang's grandson Li Ling to accompany Li Guangli to escort the trench. Li Guang led five thousand foot soldiers out of Juyan, and went deep into Jishan alone, suffering from Khan. Xiongnu besieged Li Ling with 80,000 cavalry.
After eight days and nights of fighting, Li Ling killed more than 10,000 Huns, but because he could not get the support of the main force, he ran out of ammunition and was unfortunately captured. When the news of Li Ling's defeat reached Chang 'an, Liang Wudi hoped that he would die, but he was extremely angry when he heard the news of his surrender. The Manchu civil and military officials watched.
A few days ago, he praised Li Ling for his bravery, and now he echoes the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and accuses Li Ling of evil. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked the Taishi for Sima Qian's advice. On the one hand, Sima Qian comforted Emperor Wu, on the other hand, he hated those ministers in have it both ways and tried his best to defend Li Ling.
He said to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "Li Ling led only 5,000 infantry, went deep into the Huns, fought alone, and killed many enemies, which made great contributions. Without reinforcements, ammunition and food, and desperate, we still fought bravely to kill the enemy.
Even the famous soldiers in ancient times were so powerful. Although Li Ling himself failed, he killed many Huns, which is famous all over the world. The reason why he didn't die, but surrendered to the Huns, must be to find a suitable opportunity to repay the Han. "
Sima Qian's outspoken remarks angered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who thought that he was defending Li Ling and satirizing Li Guangli, who returned from the failed expedition, and ordered Sima Qian to be imprisoned.
Sima Qian thought of Confucius, Qu Yuan, Zuo Qiuming and Sun Bin in prison, their humiliation and their impressive achievements. Sima Qian suddenly felt full of strength, and he resolutely chose corruption.
In the face of the most cruel punishment, Sima Qian suffered to the extreme, but at this time he had no resentment and fear. He has only one belief, that is, he must live and finish Historical Records. It was because he didn't finish the historical records that he endured humiliation. Finally, Historical Records was completed and became the first important work in the history of Chinese historiography.
Extended data:
Historical Influence of Historical Records
Historical Records has a wide and far-reaching influence on ancient novels, plays, biographies and essays. Generally speaking, Historical Records, as China's first large-scale work mainly describing characters, provided an important foundation and various possibilities for the development of later literature.
Although there are real people in the history written in Historical Records, it is actually typed by "meeting each other", that is, highlighting some main characteristics of people, comparing different people and fabricating details.
Historical Records has set up many important prototypes for China literature. In later novels and dramas, emperors, heroes, chivalrous men, officials and many other characters evolved from the characters in Historical Records.
In terms of drama, Historical Records has naturally become a treasure house for later generations because of its strong drama, distinctive characters and sharp contradictions.
In biographical literature, due to the biographical style of Historical Records inherited by later generations, a large number of biographies of historical figures have been produced.
Baidu encyclopedia-historical records
Baidu Encyclopedia-Sima Qian