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Chapter 174 History should be written by the people
"I don't quite understand why I have to travel across the country to write history. As long as I can stay close to Lord Long Live, I will definitely work hard and dare not let up. If only... if I could enter Wenyuan Pavilion and look at the collection of books, I would have no regrets in this life!"

Hearing that the emperor wanted to allow him to write history books honestly, Liu Shimin was so excited that he even stopped eating the noodles given by the emperor. He licked his lips and made an excessive request that made both Wang Chengen and Chen Ju grit their teeth and stare.

Wenyuan Pavilion is the emperor's private library. There are countless unique and rare books in it. If the cabinet ministers want to enter and have a look, they have to take advantage of the emperor's good mood to ask for permission. How can a young eunuch expect it?

"You can go to Wenyuan Pavilion. No matter how good the ancient books are, they are not what we know. I don't want you to write history according to the ideas of the ancients. The true history of a nation is not created by the emperor and ministers, but by thousands of people. The lives of millions of people.

You can go around various places and see what the people are eating, wearing, and thinking. That is the real historical data.You can see and hear nothing in the court except intrigues and lies.

So what if there is one emperor through the ages?You have also read history books. Qin Shihuang reigned for 37 years and fought for 37 years, and the people were miserable; Chu and Han fought, the population was reduced by half, and most of the people died; Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reigned for 53 years, and fought for 35 years. War, heavy corvee and heavy taxes, people's livelihood was poor, and they were dealt with by just a sinner's edict; Li Tang killed his brothers and forced his father to retire in order to become emperor, and the harem interfered with politics and caused chaos for hundreds of years, and countless people were killed and injured, leaving no one alive.

But these people were described by historians as the emperors of the ages. Their glamorous features were written down in great detail, and their ugly faces were brushed aside or even not mentioned at all.What's the point of writing history if you don't tell the truth?What is the use of a historian?There are many doctors in the Hanlin Academy who are familiar with the Five Classics of Poetry and editors who are familiar with history books. I will just find a few to edit them! "

However, Hong Tao did not agree with Liu Shimin's ideas on how to write history books, or in other words, he disagreed with the practices of previous dynasties.For the sake of fame behind his back, he dares to do something but dare not take it seriously, which is shameless and greatly lowers the moral bottom line.

If things go on like this, lying will become common. The emperor deceives officials, officials deceive the emperor, the emperor and officials deceive the people together, and the people in turn deceive the court.The various strata of society that should have divided labor and cooperated gradually turned into enemies because of the loss of basic trust, and the country will no longer be a country.

This principle was not invented by Hong Tao, nor was it summed up by him. Emperors of all dynasties knew it.Just for the sake of immediate interests and limited ability, I don't change even though I know it, I have to do it even harder.

After all, it is faster and more convenient to tell lies and deceive people than to guide people with practical things. As long as we keep a close eye on the military and public opinion and persist in brainwashing, the people's ability to distinguish right from wrong will never be able to catch up with making up lies. It will still be good to use the same lie again after a few years. So, always remember to eat and not to fight.

But in this way, it will seriously hinder social development. The people are ignorant and weak. They are indeed easy to rule, but they also lose their creativity. This is passed down from generation to generation, and the longer the time, the weaker the nation.

It is useless to rely solely on the emperor who can see the future clearly. No matter how clear the vision is and no matter how accurate the direction is, the majority of the people in the country must work together to promote it. Only then will the country and society move forward. The more creative people in the country, the faster the progress will be.

There is only one way to change all this, which is to fundamentally reduce deception and establish basic trust.But it is very difficult to do this, mainly because it takes a long time and habits are hard to change.It takes an entire generation to insist on telling the truth, give up lying, which is relatively easy, and fight against the evil in human nature.

But from a certain perspective, it is very easy. There is no need to call on everyone to consciously abandon bad habits. The emperor only needs to take the lead and set an example, and then require court officials to comply.

As long as the pervasive habit of lying in the imperial court is eliminated, officials everywhere will have no choice but to change.In the same way, as long as officials change, people everywhere must and can only follow. There is no other way, because groups are usually ignorant and blindly obedient.

There must be successful precedents for this method, because the ancients gave it a name, and it works!At the same time, the ancients also had lessons from failure, so they coined words such as "it is hard to recover" and "the law does not punish the public".But in Hong Tao's view, these are all excuses used by the ruling class to shirk responsibility.In human society, as long as the ruling class wants to change anything and takes the lead in changing it, there is nothing that cannot be done. There are no exceptions!

"...Long Live Lord, you want to imitate the ancient rituals?" After listening to the emperor's long speech, Liu Shimin couldn't believe it.In fact, the historical recording method mentioned by the emperor is not original and existed long before Qin.

Being a historian at that time was a very noble profession. He did not have much power, but he was extremely spiritually rich.No one can read the historical materials they record, let alone change them, not even the emperor. They can preserve them as they were recorded.

But after Qin Shihuang completed his unification, he used his power that no one could check to eliminate the job of historian. It was replaced by a group of yes-men who were well-read in poetry and books. As long as they mentioned beheading, and supplemented by promotion and wealth, they could write whatever they wanted. , also actively rendered.

The subsequent Han, Tang, and Song dynasties also pretended to be confused, and intensified their efforts to make their methods more clever and more noble.In the Ming Dynasty, even daily notes were not allowed to be written. If you want to know the situation at that time, you can only look through unofficial histories and miscellaneous histories. Various isolated evidences cannot be compared, and it is like looking at flowers in the fog.

There is a saying in the history circle in later generations: There is no history after the Qin and Han Dynasties!This is not to say that there was no history during this period, but the credibility of the historical data has been greatly reduced, and the entire article is full of praise for the ruling class.The black ones are said to be white, and the ugly ones are said to be beautiful.Use history as a mirror. When the mirror turns into a mirror that makes people laugh, there is no point in learning from it.

Now that Emperor Jingyang actually wanted to take the initiative to restore ancient rituals and make historians an independent and noble profession again, Liu Shimin couldn't believe it when he understood it, and he was extremely envious of it. Even though Chen Ju kept winking, he couldn't help but ask.

"That's right! The ancients kept an eye on the emperor's every move. I'm not used to having a shadow around me at all times. You can travel among the people, see the magnificence of the great rivers and mountains, and understand whether the people's lives are rich or not, which can also indirectly reflect my and the virtues of courtiers.

Ordinary people improve their own cultivation and strictly demand themselves to be noble and kind!However, the noble character of an emperor is far from enough to make the country stable and the people prosperous. No matter how high his personal cultivation is, he will still be a coward.

The real history is not about how many books the emperor read from sages, how many words of wisdom he said, how many corrupt officials he killed, how many times he worshiped heaven and earth, but how well the people under his rule lived. "

Ancient ritual?That's not possible. Hong Tao doesn't mind letting the world judge him, but he definitely doesn't want to be a saint.What's more, as an emperor, from the time he ascends the throne to his death, as long as he keeps breathing, there will be no shortage of intrigues and intrigues. Basically no one dares to expose himself to the sun, including himself.

"Long live the Lord, do you think slaves can take on such an important task?" Recording historical materials from a folk perspective is a new topic. Liu Shimin is a little confused as to where to start, and his originally high self-confidence was suddenly deflated.

"I don't set a time limit, just do it, no matter how much you do. Chen Ju, find him a suitable position. The grade doesn't need to be too high. It's better if he can move around in various provinces. Let Suzaku think of a way to spend the money. Don't go inside." treasury."

Seeing Wang An walking quickly outside the door, Hong Tao knew that he had something to deal with, so he stopped chatting with Liu Shimin and made arrangements to indicate that Chen Ju and Liu Shimin could leave.

(End of this chapter)