A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 804: Chen Huaiyu said

Before dawn, Crown Prince Cheng Qian woke up early from Wude Hall. After a brief wash, he went to the small kitchen of Lizheng Hall.

The palace servants have already lit the stove.

Cheng Qian boiled the medicine according to the master's doctor's instructions.

On another stove, I started to make breakfast for my mother.

Remembering Master's advice to eat light meals, today I still cooked millet porridge, followed by boiled eggs, steamed corn, and a bowl of hot goat's milk.

The fourteen-year-old boy does this very seriously and attentively.

After the two casseroles were fried and the medicine was mixed, I took one portion and put it on the breakfast.

There are still a few stars left in the blue sky,

The queen was full of praise for the breakfast made by her son, "This millet porridge is well cooked, very thick, with a layer of rice oil cooked out, it is soft, glutinous and sweet."

Cheng Qian was watching his mother happily eating and was very happy, "Eat slowly and be careful not to boil it. I put a little rock sugar in the porridge and some red dates and lotus seeds. I will cook white fungus porridge for my mother tomorrow."

"Okay." Queen Changsun's eyes were full of joy, and the corners of her eyes were moist.

After the queen had a happy breakfast, the couple took a walk in the courtyard facing the rising sun, basked in the sun for a while, and then sat in the pavilion.

The queen closed her eyes and rested her mind.

Cheng Qian took out an album and read it carefully.

"What book are you so fascinated by?"

I don’t know how long it took, but Cheng Qian was awakened by his mother’s voice.

"Teacher's book."

"A collection of poems?"

"No, it's about history,"

The queen knew that Wu Huaiyu also had the title of concurrently studying national history. Wu Huaiyu was also the editor of many history books compiled by the imperial court.

"Mom, look at it,"

The queen, who had taken a nap, was now in good spirits. She took the brochure handed over by her son and found that it was not printed, but written by Wu Huaiyu, in thin gold script, and the fonts throughout the text were very beautiful and charming.

""Zhou Jiyi" took up the role of Yong to photograph Tige, and he stayed in Xuanxuan for thirty-five years. The twenty-third year of King Weilie (Wuyin, 403 BC)

At the beginning, the Jin officials Wei Si, Zhao Ji, and Han Qian were appointed as princes.

Chen Huaiyu said: I heard that the emperor's duties are nothing greater than etiquette, etiquette is nothing greater than points, and points are nothing greater than reputation. What is etiquette?

·······"

Different from the historical books such as Shiji and Hanshu that Empress Changsun had read before, this history book was very novel and different. She could tell that it seemed to be a chronicle history, but it was different.

Shiji is the first general history in the form of biographies, and Spring and Autumn Period is the earliest history book in the form of chronology.

Chronicle history books narrate historical events in chronological order, often using the method of narration and conclusion to explain the causes and consequences of historical events, which can easily make people get a systematic and clear impression. The content is mainly political and military historical facts, so as to show the governance of emperors and ministers in the past dynasties. , success, failure, and safety as a reference for history.

This volume written by Wu Huaiyu for Cheng Qian not only incorporated the biographical style into the chronological style, but also broke through this old practice and divided the chronology, imperial records, calendars, celestial phenomena, catalogs, abstracts and indexes into one, creating a chronological history book. A new style of multifunctional directory.

"Is this book your teacher's new work?"

"Well, the teacher wrote it newly,"

"What's your name?"

Before the Tang Dynasty, private historiography was actually very common. Many of the noble families were good at classics and history, and some families passed it down from generation to generation. For example, Li Baiyao and his son compiled the Book of Northern Qi together.

During the current dynasty, Yao Silian also privately studied the two histories of "Liang" and "Chen", and Li Yanshou's "Southern History" and "Northern History".

It is not surprising at all that Wu Huaiyu privately revised a history book. After all, his talent was there, but he was no worse than Li Baiyao and Yao Silian.

"The teacher named him Tongjian."

"Tongjian?"

"The teacher said that the purpose of writing this book is very clear. It is to sum up the success and failure of history for my children in light of the past events and to help them learn history better so that they can inherit the Tang Dynasty and rule the country in the future." I was surprised and read the booklet carefully.

The more I read, the more surprised I am. This Tongjian is indeed different from the history books I have read in the past. It not only records historical facts in a chronological style, but also compiles and summarizes political management experience, pays attention to etiquette and people's livelihood, and also analyzes employment and power, and pays attention to contingency and balance.

Especially the content of the historical commentary on "Chen Huaiyu". This "Chen Huaiyu" is similar to the "Tai Shigong" in the Historical Records, but Wu Huaiyu expresses it more directly. It is actually the same as the "Junzi" in Zuo Zhuan.

There are many historical commentaries on Chen Huaiyu. If you read it carefully, it is equivalent to a history textbook compiled by Wu Huaiyu for Prince Cheng Qian. It not only records history in a chronological style, but also has Huaiyu's historical commentaries at the back.

This historical review is not an ordinary historical review, but a commentary based on historical facts to teach the prince how to govern the country. This is what is called the right way in view of the past. It helps Cheng Qian summarize the successes and failures of history and teach him how to rule better. .

It may not be appropriate to say that he has the art of slaying dragons, but it is absolutely no problem to say that he has the art of governing the country.

Empress Changsun is a very talented woman who is also familiar with classics and history. The content of the pamphlet is not much, it is just one lecture.

But the entry point is very strange. It started from King Weilie of Zhou Dynasty, and it was still during his 23rd year in power. It was neither better nor worse.

This year, it was about six hundred years since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, and nearly two hundred years before the fall of the Zhou Dynasty.

This beginning may seem inexplicable.

"When I set up Yong to photograph Tige, I stayed in Xuanxuan for thirty-five years."

Empress Changsun pointed to the opening chapter and asked Cheng Qian, "Does Dalang know what this sentence means?"

"It should be a chronological method. The sons and ministers don't know, but does the mother know?"

At this time, a voice came from the side, "This is the Tai Sui calendar. It starts in the year of Wuyin and ends in the year of Renzi, a total of 35 years."

The emperor came back to see the queen early in the morning and happened to hear the words of their mother and son, so he smiled.

"What are you talking about? You're actually talking about the Tai Sui dating system. This dating system is rarely used. Even many Confucian scholars in the Han Dynasty didn't understand it."

Tai Sui chronology, also called Sui Xing chronology, is a very ancient chronology in ancient China. It is older than the chronology of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.

In ancient times, Jupiter was also called the Sui star. The ancients believed that the Sui star circled the sky once every twelve years. The ancients divided the Sui star's circle around the sky into twelve parts, called twelve times, which are the star period, Xuan Zhen, Qiao Zi, etc., in chronology at that time, you only need to say "year in XX" to know which year it is. This method of chronology can often be seen in ancient books during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This is the Suixing chronology method.

Later, it was upgraded from the Sui Xing method to the Tai Sui method.

But by the Han Dynasty, it was actually not used much. Because of the large deviation, every eighty-six years would add one more cycle, which was called Chao Chen. Therefore, it was eventually abandoned and replaced by the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches system.

Of course, the two sets of chronological systems can also be compared, but most people will not go out of their way to learn them.

Tongjian uses this chronological system. Firstly, before the arrival of the Han Dynasty, this chronological method was used more often. Secondly, it is also a bit pretentious, making people unaware of the calendar.

"Your Majesty, look at this history book. Mr. Qingyang compiled it for the prince. It is very well written."

Li Shimin took it. He was also an emperor who was familiar with history books. Especially after he became the emperor, he read more. He was surprised when he saw it.

What particularly surprised him was the historical commentary written by Chen Huaiyu. This was Wu Huaiyu's private property. His historical interpretation was also what he wanted to provide the prince with historical reference.

Li Shimin was both surprised and appreciative of his views.

"Starting from the Zhou Dynasty, even starting from King Wei of Zhou, Huaiyu's Tongjian would be very long if it covered the Tang Dynasty. The thirty-five years of history recorded in this opening chapter only cover so much.

When writing about Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, wouldn’t it cost two to three million words? "

While marveling, Li Shimin patted Cheng Qian on the shoulder, "I asked Huaiyu to maintain smooth correspondence with you after arriving in Lingnan, and even opened a special post for him. It seems that he takes this matter very seriously. ,

This Tongjian is well written, especially suitable for you. Huaiyu chews up history and feeds it to you. Study hard. There is nothing new in the world. In fact, what happens every day is old. In China for thousands of years, those people and people Things are just repeated over and over again.

The problems you face now and in the future have actually happened long ago in history. "

Li Shimin asked about the queen's physical condition and was very happy to learn that she was getting better and better.

He held the booklet and said, "This Tongjian is well written. Although it only has an opening chapter, I think it is comparable to history books, Spring and Autumn Annals and other books.

I want to talk to Huaiyu. This book needs to be printed. I will write one chapter and print one chapter. Not only will it be shown to Cheng Qian, I will also read it carefully and learn from it. I will also show it to the officials and the princes... ··”

(End of this chapter)