The news that Li Ling surrendered to Xiongnu shocked the court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty put Li Ling's mother, wife and children in prison and called ministers to discuss Li Ling's crimes.
Ministers condemned Li Ling for not being afraid of death and surrendering to the Huns. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked Taishi to ask Sima Qian to listen to his opinion.
Sima Qian said, "Li Ling has less than 5,000 infantry. He went deep into the enemy's hinterland and struck tens of thousands of enemies. Although he lost the battle, he killed so many enemies that he can tell the world. Li Ling refused to die at once, so he must have an idea. He must want to atone and repay the emperor. "
Hearing this, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought that Sima Qian's defense of Li Ling was intended to belittle Li Guangli (Li Guangli was the younger brother of Emperor Wu's favorite concubine), and he flew into a rage and said, "Defending those who surrendered to the enemy is not intended to oppose the court?" With a cry, he took Sima Qian out of the prison and handed him over to Ting Wei for interrogation.
After the trial, Sima Qian was found guilty and should be punished for corruption (a kind of corporal punishment). Sima Qian was unable to atone and had to be punished and imprisoned.
Sima Qian thought it was a shame to be punished by corruption, and he almost wanted to commit suicide. But he thinks he still has an extremely important job to finish and should not die. Because he was writing a book with all his energy, this is the greatest historical work in ancient China-Historical Records.
It turns out that Sima Qian's ancestors were historians for generations, and his father Sima Tan was also an official of the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian came to Chang 'an with his father when he was ten years old, and read many books since childhood.
In order to collect historical materials and broaden his horizons, Sima Qian has traveled all over the country since he was twenty years old. He has been to Huiji, Zhejiang, and has seen the legendary place where Dayu called tribal leaders to meet. I have been to Changsha to pay tribute to the patriotic poet Qu Yuan by the Miluo River. He has been to Qufu to inspect the place where Confucius gave lectures. He has been to the hometown of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, and listened to the story of Liu Bang's starting an army from his elders in Peixian County ... This kind of travel and investigation made Sima Qian gain a lot of knowledge, and also absorbed rich nutrition from folk language, which laid an important foundation for Sima Qian's writing.
Later, Sima Qian became a retinue of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, followed the emperor around the world, and was also ordered to visit Bashu Kunming.
After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian inherited his father's footsteps and made an official order, so he read more and collected more historical materials.
When I was preparing to write, I went to prison and was punished in order to defend Li Ling and offend Emperor Wu. It's my own fault, he thought bitterly.
Now that I've been punished, my body is ruined and it's useless.
However, he thought: Zhou Wenwang was once imprisoned and wrote the Book of Changes; Confucius was trapped in Cai Chen on his way around the world. Later, he made up a Spring and Autumn Annals. Qu Yuan was exiled and wrote Li Sao. Zuo Qiuming is blind and writes Mandarin. Sun Bin was gouged out of his kneecap and wrote the Art of War by Sun Tzu. There are also 300 poems in The Book of Songs, most of which were written by the ancients in a depressed mood. These famous books were written when the author was depressed or his ideal didn't work. Why don't I use this time to write this history well?
Therefore, he compiled this period of history from the legendary Yellow Emperor era to the second year of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (95 BC) into 130, 520,000-word masterpiece Historical Records.
Sima Qian described in detail the deeds of some famous people in ancient times in Historical Records. He spoke highly of Chen Sheng and Guangwu, the leaders of the peasant uprising. People often show sympathy for the oppressed lower classes. He also rewritten words that were too difficult in ancient literature into words that were relatively simple at that time. Character description and plot description are vivid in image and language. Therefore, Historical Records is not only a great historical work, but also an excellent literary work.
Sima Qian became a secretary after he was released from prison. Later, he finally died of depression. However, he and his masterpiece Historical Records enjoy a lofty position in the history of Chinese historiography and literature.