Li Guowen: Why didn't Historical Records mention the "Cao Gui Debate"?

The article "The Debate over Cao Gui" comes from "Ten Years of Zuo Zhuan and Zhuang". Because it was selected by Guanzhi of Ancient Chinese, it has been incorporated into middle school Chinese textbooks over the years, and people are familiar with it, so I won't go into details. Who's Cao Gui? Zuo Zhuan didn't say a word, so we had to muddle through and didn't dare to make mistakes. The only thing that is certain is that he should not be from Luqufu. Just trying to make a living in this political center and find a way out is similar to the "drifting north" that is now making a living in the capital. This is also the only way for strugglers who don't want to die of old age and leave their hometown to create their own world by hard work and opportunity. It is estimated that he was not the only one who left his hometown with him, so when he was going to visit Duke Zhuang of Lu and state his views on the upcoming battle of Qilu, his "hometown" poured cold water on him. Come on, man, that's official business. You are a common people, stay out of it! He didn't listen, he went, he won, and it became a much-told story. Remember, this is just a story, not necessarily history. The older the history, the rarer the literature and the more misunderstandings. This was the case during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in BC. Because they fought endlessly, the former fought less and the latter fought more, and most of the historical materials were destroyed by the war, which was the inevitable result of the war. In particular, ignorant people become powerful, and they love to burn books. After burning the book, it will pit Confucianism. A historian can't even keep his head. Will he protect the bamboo slips that record the national history? In addition, historical materials must be credible? Does what he writes have to be accurate? A Dream of Red Mansions has been published for 56 years, but it has only been more than 200 years, and more than a dozen versions have appeared. Everyone calls themselves real old hemp children. who is it? China people love to fake, can fake, can fake, is a must. As a result, historical mistakes have become a muddled account. In Historical Records, which is more than 400 years later than Zuo Zhuan, Sima Qian did not believe the historical facts of Cao Gui's debate when he wrote Lu Shijia. Although the public is corrupt, his character is quite firm, and he doesn't even mention the battle of the long spoon. Didn't the Qilu War written by Zuo Qiuming happen? Of course, it happened. Later generations dug up more than one iron arrow on the arrow cluster in the sedimentary sand of Changshou (now Huangshan Town, Laiwu, Shandong Province). However, I still believe Sima Qian's judgment, because iron smelting technology was introduced to China from Central Asia, which took place during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This is a gradual process. First, in the Spring and Autumn Period, iron was used on farm tools to forge plows, which could reclaim wasteland and intensively cultivate it. After the bumper harvest, the land is highly valued, and it is necessary to expand the territory and invade neighboring countries. So there was a struggle between misappropriation and anti-misappropriation, and finally both sides naturally had to start work. Fortunately, in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it was useful to speak. Generally speaking, there is not much fighting, people will not die too much and the time will not be too long. The warring States period is different. With the maturity of iron smelting technology and the sophisticated production of agricultural tools, iron cheaper than bronze is widely used in weapons. In this way, the war in the Warring States period became the main theme of those two hundred years. According to statistics, during the 254-year Warring States Period from 475 BC to 22 1 BC, there was no war for only 38 years, and the remaining 2 16 years were not only wars, but also killings. The most hateful thing is the war in the warring States period, as long as the land, not the population. Population, population, people have mouths, and mouths are used for eating, so they kill people on a large scale in the name of eliminating the effective forces. The battle of Qin and Zhao Changping, with 400,000 soldiers in Qin pit, was the highest record of killing the enemy at one time. Advocating and encouraging killing is the driving force of Qin's ultimate victory. According to Shang Yang's "20-rank system", after killing the enemy, the left ear can be cut off and presented to the prison, and the first-class merit can be awarded. The soldier returned home in triumph, took out dozens or hundreds of ears from his pocket and called them with an extremely cold-blooded Chinese character "".What a bloody scene. Therefore, Sima Qian believed that Cao Gui's "starting an army" had a high momentum, and later he failed and was exhausted. Tactical considerations, if any, should be the current events of the Warring States period, which happened in the early spring and autumn of the tenth year of Lu Zhuanggong in 684 BC, which was too advanced. Moreover, although Confucius often worried about the "collapse of rites and music" and the sky was falling, in fact, in the Spring and Autumn Period, rites did not completely collapse and music was not completely broken, and it was still a civilized society that ruled the country by rites. At that time, there were at least a hundred vassal States, large and small, which were crowded with the Central Plains and frontiers. Because too many countries can't remember, the idiom "bottom-up" came into being, and those insignificant small vassal States were ignored. Now no one even uses this idiom, and those small vassal States that "fell from the bottom of the valley" are submerged in the torrent of history, and no one asks. But at that time, it was necessary for these vassal States to worship, pay tribute, present gifts and swear allegiance to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and they worked hard one by one. As for their inner thoughts, leave them alone for the time being. On the surface, everyone maintains such a loose form of rule. This is the last feudal society in China. The biggest feature of feudal society is strict hierarchy. Nobles are rulers, slaves are laborers, and this identity cannot be changed. During the Warring States period, especially in the State of Qin, the more enemies were killed on the battlefield, the more pockets were taken out, and the slaves of yesterday might be turned into princes in an instant for the benefit of future generations. In the Spring and Autumn Period, people like Cao Gui caught between nobles and slaves were at best lobbyists. There is a difference between a good life and a bad life, and between a good fate and a bad fate. Sima Qian, on the other hand, thinks that it is impossible to change from a little wax that can only eat millet to a dynasty power that eats meat. Imagine that pushing open the neighbor's door is absolutely different from pushing open the palace door. When the neighbor's door opens, you will see the face of the host who greets you. The door of the palace may not open as you wish. Before you meet the monarch, you have to be questioned, you have to be questioned, you have to fill out a form, and maybe you have to be searched. After all the formalities of entering the palace are completed, you may not be able to meet the supreme leader you want to see. Maybe send a minister to pick you up (you are lucky), maybe send an official to send you away in a few bureaucratic words (you will lose your temper). So, you must obey this Cao Gui. What method does he use to cross layers of barriers? What is his secret? He can sit opposite to Duke Zhuang of Lu and send everything he wants to say to the monarch's ear. Is it possible? It seems unlikely. There may be similar success stories from ancient times to the present, but there are too few such lucky people. Sima Qian was unconvinced by the truth of this historical fact, which made sense. That Lu Zhuang Gong Jitong, by no means a wise king, has such a degree and courage. He actually drowned Cao Gui in the twilight, and entrusted him with the important task of "riding the right", taking charge of battlefield command, taking good advice and bidding. Isn't it a joke that he is so outrageous in that hierarchical society? This happened in the late Warring States period, and it is possible and more likely to happen in the Qin State ruled by Shang Yang. All the cleverness of China people has benefited from the long history and suffered too much. People already know what is possible and what is impossible. If possible, you can fight for it; No way. You don't have to hit a wall. Sima Qian was four or five centuries later than Zuo Qiuming. His knowledge and experience made him understand that in that sunset, the ancient meaning remained the same. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the ethical code was strict and hierarchical, and Zuo Qiuming's debate on Cao Gui was a bit cross-generational. Carnivores are despicable. In fact, people who don't eat meat are not necessarily contemptible. The inevitable rate of the two should be roughly equal. The crow jumped on the pig's back and laughed at its black color, while the fox laughed at its sour taste without grapes. This idiom of Cao Gui has been passed down to this day, and few people use it, just because one pole knocks over a boatload of people. According to Zuo Zhuan annotated by Du Yu and Kong, it is clear: "Appreciating meat refers to managing positions in the imperial court, that is, serving as official food." """For the official, the official gives things, and above the doctor, food is meat." To put it bluntly, it's a piece of cake, a working meal. For Sima Qian, Zuo Qiuming is a senior, and both of them are historians, but they left earlier; Second, the ancients, left for the Warring States, Sima for the Western Han Dynasty, separated by four or five hundred years; Third, celebrities. Zuo Chunqiu is the first historical book in China that records the year, month and day. Later, all the history books we read were based on this. Isn't it good that Sima Qian didn't buy the accounts of predecessors, ancients and celebrities, didn't attach himself to them, didn't blindly follow them, held independent opinions, dared to innovate and went his own way? Source: China Reading Newspaper