I study history myself, and I often need to read ancient books, which are not only traditional Chinese characters, but also have no punctuation marks, so I need to break sentences by myself. Therefore, for reading ancient books, excellent knowledge of ancient Chinese is necessary, and there is no shortcut.
There are many reference books. As newcomers in this field, I recommend them as follows:
1
Wang Li: Ancient Chinese, 1-4 volumes, published by Zhonghua Book Company.
2
Wang Li
Book: Draft of Chinese History, Volume 1-3, published by Zhonghua Book Company.
three
Wang Li
Book: Dictionary of Common Words in Ancient Chinese, published by Zhonghua Book Company.
Mr. Wang Li is the most famous and outstanding linguist in China. There is nothing wrong with reading his book.