Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The overthrow of the theory of moral history affected more than just the Zizhi Tongjian.

The New Book of Tang and the New History of the Five Dynasties were also implicated.

Ouyang Xiu, who wrote the two books, adhered to the principle of governing history with reason, and could even be said to be the founder of the theory of moral history.

Immediately, some people suggested removing the two books from the list of official histories.

This idea was too radical and did not gain widespread acceptance, Liu Zongzhou said:
"Ouyang Xiu upheld the principles of Heaven and discussed orthodoxy during a time of moral decay and chaos; this is the merit of his compilation of history!"

"Moreover, the Old History of the Five Dynasties has been lost. If the New History of the Five Dynasties is not taken as the official history, then there will be no official history of the Five Dynasties to use."

These words left those attacking the "New History of the Five Dynasties" speechless:

No matter what they say, the "Old History of the Five Dynasties" no longer exists, and it's impossible for the Ming Dynasty to compile a history of the Five Dynasties; that would be even more unbelievable.

However, the Old Book of Tang was published during the Jiajing era, and it was possible that it could replace the New Book of Tang as the official history. They began to fight for the official historical status of this book.

Those who support Ouyang Xiu naturally disagreed, citing the merits of the New Book of Tang and arguing that it was more suitable as an official history.

After listening to their argument, Zhu Youjian finally concluded:
"The New Book of Tang and the New History of the Five Dynasties can continue to be regarded as official histories."

"However, the credibility of the New Book of Tang is lower than that of the Old Book of Tang."

"In the future, use the Old Book of Tang whenever possible. Only when the Old Book of Tang has no record of such a matter should the New Book of Tang be used."

"The same applies to the History of the Five Dynasties. We call upon book collectors across the land to contribute the Old History of the Five Dynasties. Only if they cannot be found can the New History of the Five Dynasties be used."

"The Old Book of Tang and the Old History of the Five Dynasties are both listed as official histories."

Two more official histories have been added, with both the old and new histories of the Tang and Five Dynasties being used.

This method preserved Ouyang Xiu's reputation. However, some people were not satisfied, believing that Ouyang Xiu's literary talent was superior and that his two historical works should be ranked first.

Zhu Youjian shook his head and smiled:

"There is no necessary connection between having good writing skills and being good at history."

Have you read Ouyang Xiu's "On Factions"?

"This article is beautifully written, but its conclusion is flawed."

"To support this fallacy, Ouyang Xiu even distorted historical records. He attributed the disaster of the Party Prohibitions to Emperor Xian of Han and the disaster of Baima Post Station to factionalism."

"If he writes articles like this, how can his compiled history books be completely credible?"

The criticisms of Ouyang Xiu were shifted from history to literature.

Those who admire Ouyang Xiu's writings had never thought about this issue before.

Only now that the emperor has brought it up do they realize that Ouyang Xiu made historical errors in his essay "On Factions".

Some people even drew parallels to the fact that Su Shi, whom Ouyang Xiu admitted to the imperial examinations, had once fabricated allusions on his exam papers.

This matter, though seemingly a refined affair among scholars, upon closer examination, harbors suspicions of cheating in the imperial examinations.

Ouyang Xiu disregarded the authenticity of the historical allusions and admitted the exam paper that should have been rejected.

If history is approached with this attitude, then it is bound to be a mixture of truth and falsehood. No one would believe that Ouyang Xiu did not fabricate stories when compiling history.

Based on this, the credibility of the "New Book of Tang" and the "New History of the Five Dynasties" should indeed be ranked after that of the "Old Book of Tang" and the "Old History of the Five Dynasties".

The only problem is that the "Old History of the Five Dynasties" may not be complete.

Qian Qianyi said:

"Fortunately, the Old Book of Tang was still privately kept by someone, and now it has seen the light of day."

"However, the Old History of the Five Dynasties has been lost for a long time."

"Perhaps it can no longer be found."

Zhu Youjian lamented this deeply, saying:

"The preservation of ancient books is a long and arduous task."

"I will have the Imperial Archives allocate funds to select a site to build a royal library." "Non-classified books collected by the Imperial Archives, the Hanlin Academy, the Wenyuan Pavilion, and other institutions will be placed there."

"Such a thing must never happen again, that even the official histories of the past can be lost."

This measure was unanimously praised by the court officials.

Zhu Youjian then specifically addressed the *Old History of the Five Dynasties*, stating:

"The Yongle Encyclopedia and other books have quoted the Old History of the Five Dynasties."

"The National History Museum can send people to compile and try to restore some of the records."

“This fragment of the Old History of the Five Dynasties can be used as an official history.”

"The compilation work will be handled by..."

After looking around, Zhu Youjian, facing the expectant gazes of his ministers, appointed them:
"Chen Renxi was the chief compiler."

“Select scholars skilled in the Spring and Autumn Annals from this year’s successful candidates and those who passed the supplementary examinations to compile this work.”

Chen Renxi was overjoyed and hurriedly stepped forward to express his gratitude.

Although compiling the "Old History of the Five Dynasties" cannot be considered the creation of a historical book, it is still a significant event that will be remembered in history.

His efforts to curry favor with the emperor have now been rewarded.

However, Zhu Youjian's appointments were clearly not limited to this one; he then addressed his ministers:

"After the Four Books and Five Classics were collated and annotated, the official histories of each dynasty also needed to be collated and annotated."

"The National History Museum will have many tasks ahead of it, so we can start preparing in advance."

"Grand Secretaries who have already retired should continue to contribute their remaining energy."

The Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet were all very excited when they heard such an obvious hint of merit.

They lacked sufficient academic prestige and were not in a position to forcefully participate in the collation and annotation of the Four Books and Five Classics.

However, the collation and annotation of official histories pose no obstacle. Although historical studies do not receive as much attention as classical studies, they can still leave a mark on history.

The emperor and his ministers began to discuss which parts of history were official and selected the original texts to be collated, making preliminary preparations.

Ultimately, twenty-two historical works, namely the Records of the Grand Historian, the Book of Han, the Book of the Later Han, the Records of the Three Kingdoms, the Book of Jin, the Book of Song, the Book of Southern Qi, the Book of Liang, the Book of Chen, the Book of Wei, the Book of Northern Qi, the Book of Zhou, the History of the Southern Dynasties, the History of the Northern Dynasties, the Book of Sui, the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, the Old History of the Five Dynasties, the New History of the Five Dynasties, the History of Song, the History of Liao, and the History of Jin, were designated as official histories.

In addition to the History of Yuan and the History of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty which began to be compiled recently, there are a total of twenty-four histories.

These twenty-four historical books are the official histories as determined by the government.

Other historical works such as the Tongdian and Tongjian are also important, but they are not among the official histories.

However, they also need to be proofread and even authenticated.

Zhu Youjian said the following:

"Official history is not necessarily entirely reliable, and unofficial history, separate history, and miscellaneous history are not entirely unreliable either."

"It's just that official history is relatively more credible. In the absence of other counter-evidence, let's treat it as reliable history for now."

"However, if other historical records provide counter-evidence, then we can discuss and examine their authenticity."

"After distinguishing truth from falsehood, we determine which parts of history are genuine."

This topic is clearly much bigger.

The ministers felt a chill run down their spines just thinking about how there were as many as twenty-four official histories alone, not to mention countless unofficial and separate histories, and they felt that this matter was far too troublesome.

However, the people in the Hanlin Academy were very happy. Especially those who were dedicated to academics, who believed that this was something they could do for a lifetime.

Qian Qianyi saw an opportunity to promote empirical history and said:
"I believe that we should not only look at historical records, but also seek empirical evidence."

"Only those records in historical texts and physical evidence can be considered complete and reliable history."

"Replace moralistic history with empirical history." (End of chapter)