Pei Songzhi, Hedong Wenxi people. He was born into an official family. Grandfather Pei Meiju is a doctor of Guanglu, and father Pei Jue is an official. Pei Songzhi likes reading since he was a child. At the age of eight, he was already familiar with The Analects of Confucius and The Book of Songs. After the classic exhibition, knowledge is improving. In the 16th year of Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, 20-year-old Pei Songzhi was appointed as the general of the ancestral temple. At the beginning, Pei Songzhi was appointed assistant minister and magistrate of Sanqi, and later transferred back to the imperial court, renamed Shang. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he was an official in Lingling and a doctor in Guo Zi. After entering the Song Dynasty, he served as Ren Zhongshu's assistant minister.
Song Wendi Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms is briefly described, and Pei Songzhi is ordered to take all kinds of historical materials of the History of the Three Kingdoms as Chen Shu's notes. After receiving the imperial edict, Pei Songzhi consulted old news, and after three years' careful writing, he finally wrote The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in July of the 6th year of Yuanjia. Before Pei's annotation, historians generally commented on the meaning of the text, focusing on the exegesis of the text, while Pei's annotation focused on the supplement and textual research of the facts, and paid insufficient attention to the pronunciation and interpretation of the original text. In Notes on the Three Kingdoms, he completely implemented his guiding ideology of notes, that is, "filling gaps, preparing for mistakes, punishing mistakes and arguing difficulties". Therefore, Pei's annotation not only explains the place names and objects, but also supplements the historical omissions in the original book and corrects the mistakes in the original book. Several versions of the same thing are different, so he included it for reference. Zhu Pei commented on historical events and figures; Pei also refuted Chen Shou's inappropriate remarks. Pei's annotations are extensive, quoting classics, complete from beginning to end, without abridgement or division. In order to annotate the history of the Three Kingdoms, he collected more than 150 historical works of the Three Kingdoms period and quoted the original texts of various works. The number of words in the notes is about three times that of Chen Zhi.
The explanation of these four styles can be found in his Notes on the History of the Three Kingdoms: "I was called first, so I adopted the similarities and differences of the Three Kingdoms to note Chen Shou's Notes on the History of the Three Kingdoms. Quite impressive. Many things are judgmental. Sincere garden visit is a beautiful modern history. But the loss is slight and sometimes missed. I am trying to find out the details by decree, and I will be informed in a week. Search for old news and avoid it. According to the three countries, although they are not far apart, they are all related to North Korea and Kim. This has been the case for hundreds of years. The notes are wrong, and every mistake is wrong. He doesn't remember it all his life, and even if he does, he doesn't have to make up for it. Or there are lovely words, saying the same thing, or unexpectedly different, the suspect can not be judged. They are all copied in different news situations. If it is obvious that what Mi Miao said is unreasonable, he will be corrected. Whether current events are short-lived or not, arguments are stupid. "
In view of the defects of "sparse but not refined" and "sometimes lacking" in the history books at that time, Pei listed "filling the gaps" as the first item and became the focus of the annotation of history books. All the historical materials with preservation value that are not included in Chen Zhi are annotated. For places where Chen Zhizhong's records are too brief, Pei Songzhi has made a lot of quotations and detailed supplements, so that readers can learn more historical facts than Chen Zhi. For example, Cao Cao's reclamation during the Three Kingdoms period was an important political and economic measure. However, The Complete Bookkeeping Preface only says "Discuss the development of wasteland with the Annals of Zaozhuang, the Emperor of the Three Kingdoms". The first year of Jian 'an, so there are only a few people in this generation. Pei Songzhi quoted Wang Shen's Hanshu as a supplement, and contacted Ren Jun Biography quoted by Shu Wei to supplement the relevant records of nearly 330 words. In this way, the reasons, consequences and specific measures of land reclamation are generally described clearly. Important documents related to important events and people also need to be filled in, such as Wei Wu Story by Cao Cao, Wise Ming by Juxian County, Freedom of Conduct by Cao Pi and Wu Yushu by Li Mi. These are masterpieces handed down from generation to generation by Zhu Pei.
The theory of reserving differences is aimed at the same statement, but every book records that "there are mixed words, or there are problems and doubts that cannot be judged." Pei pointed out that "they are all copied for different news." There are many different and even contradictory records in Pei Songzhi's various historical works. Note Pei can make a more objective judgment through comparison and identification, but those materials that are difficult to distinguish right from wrong are collected together for readers or future generations to distinguish. In addition, Zhu Pei also classified those arguments that can be recognized but not well grasped as preparatory arguments. For example, the Ji of Emperor Wu cited in Chen Qingbiao is different from the Historical Records. Pei Songzhi said, "In the year of official discipline, Liu Bei first broke Cao Cao, and then gave it to the son of heaven. Before that, Ji Yunquan attacked Hefei first and then Chibi. Two different, Wu Zhi is right. "
For obvious mistakes, Zhu Pei corrected them with facts, which means "punishing mistakes". There are two expressions for "punishing mistakes". First of all, list the advantages of Chen Zhi before and after to prove his mistakes. It is recorded in "Wu Zhi" that before the battle of Guandu, "there were not enough soldiers", and Pei said, "It is indispensable." Find out the contradictory record of "100,000 people" in the Ji of Emperor Wudi, and further confirm that "the battle of Guandu cannot be less than 1,000 people". The second is to quote the works of other historians and find out the mistakes recorded by Chen Shou. For example, Biography of Xun Yu records that Zhu Ran defeated Jiang Wei in Chiwu five years, and Pei quoted Biography of Zhu Ran as a textual research saying that "Chen Shou was mistaken for Wu Jiahe for six years as Chiwu five years."
"Debate" includes comments on historical events and history books, that is, textual research on some historical facts, Chen Shou's theory of similarities and differences and various family histories. Pei's comments on historical figures and events are often supplemented by historical facts. For example, in The Three Kingdoms, it was recorded that Guan Yu defected to Liu Bei, and Cao Cao forbade his men to pursue him. Pei Songzhi commented: "Song Zhi thought Tso knew that his feathers would not stay, but in his heart he would praise his ambition. If he hadn't sent someone after him, he wouldn't have got his degree in Wang Ba. Why is he here? " Scholars generally have different views on Pei Zhao's evaluation of persuading Sun Quan to surrender Cao. He thought, "If Zhao Yi wins, Liuhe will be one. Do you have a war tie? This is the dream of the Warring States period! Although it doesn't work in Sun Shi, it is bigger than the world. " This also reflects his unique view of opposing separatism and longing for reunification and his progressive view of history. There are also different views on some remarks made by Pei Songzhi Chen Shou. For example, Chen Shou attributed Yuan Shu's failure to extravagance and waste, while Pei Songzhi criticized him for not grasping the crux of the problem and thought that "self-esteem" was the key to Yuan Shu's demise.
Pei Songzhi's life works include Guan Yu Chuan and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. According to the records in Synopsis of the Golden Chamber, there are Biography of Jia Peichuan, Collection of Mourning Classics and Collection of Pei Songzhi. In the history of Chinese historiography, Pei Songzhi's Sui Shu Jing occupies a special position. This book has preserved many precious and vivid historical facts for the history of19th century.