Zhang Ximeng took over the responsibility of reconstructing the history of the Song Dynasty as he wished.
This has also become the first important mission since the official operation of Menxia Province.
Zhang Ximeng pondered for three days, and then called several major officials from the province under his command.
Song Lian and Liu Ji were all here, of course. In addition, Gong Bosui had participated in Tuotuo's history compilation and was also invited... He seemed a bit prominent among this group of people.
Liu Ji couldn't help laughing and said: "To be able to compile history twice and span two dynasties, Gongzhen is an eternal person!"
Gong Bo was stunned, and suddenly smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Bowen is joking. I participated in the revision of Song History, Liao History, and Jin History. Now Song History has been abolished. I don't know if Liao History and Jin History should also be revised."
Abolish it?"
Gong Bo then said: "The Yuan Dynasty was absurd. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the old customs of the grassland were used to govern the country. Later, the imperial examination was held to select scholars and serve as officials in the dynasty. Later, Tuotuo became the prime minister, and then he thought of compiling history, which could be regarded as an explanation to the three dynasties.
.However, due to the rush of time, when compiling the history, I had no time to think carefully. Most of the time, I could only plagiarize historical materials from previous dynasties in large sections. In total, the compilation of the history of the Song Dynasty was very poor."
Liu Ji instead smiled and said: "What you say may not be appropriate. Although the revision is not good, it still retains a lot of real things. If the history is carefully revised and wantonly distorted and tampered with, future generations will be affected and it will cause difficulties.
"
Gong Bosui smiled helplessly, "Mr. Bowen is very knowledgeable. What should we do, we still have to listen to Prime Minister Zhang."
Everyone set their sights on Zhang Ximeng.
Don't just look at these few people. Under Zhang Ximeng, there are a lot of Lingshi, among whom there are as many as 20 people who are responsible for writing.
In order to compile history, the number of people is still increasing crazily.
Since you want to review officials and conduct evaluations, you must be professional!
Therefore, in theory, Menxia Province should gather talents from all over the world.
There are people who understand writing, laws and regulations, arithmetic, astronomy and geography, and even people who are familiar with military affairs... After all, only in this way can we cover everything.
With the current scale of the Menxia Province, it is worthy of the standards of a top yamen. Otherwise, why should it compete with the Zhongshu Province?
Now that so many capable people are gathered together, all listening to Zhang Ximeng's instructions, the feeling of commanding the world and taking charge of the world arises spontaneously.
But these mundane things are nothing to Zhang Ximeng.
He just pondered for a moment and then said to everyone: "In the past, the compilation of history in all dynasties was to conclude the coffin of the previous dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, if we follow this rule, we should first compile the history of the Yuan Dynasty, or even simply admit the history of the Song Dynasty compiled by the Yuan Dynasty.
In the end, we wanted to overthrow the History of the Song Dynasty and start from the History of the Song Dynasty. Do you understand the intention?"
This time Song Lian immediately said: "Prime Minister Zhang has said more than once that the Zhao and Song dynasties were the gateway for China to turn from prosperity to decline. If we do not re-revise the history of the Song Dynasty, we will not be able to figure out the origin of the rise and fall of China. It is obvious that there is no need to revise the history of the Song Dynasty.
, If we can’t do this, we will have to take action.”
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "That's it, so the first thing I want to say is that when compiling history, it is natural to write down the facts of the past in a straightforward manner. However, the historical data are complicated, and the same event, recorded by different people, will lead to different conclusions.
When we compile history, we must have viewpoints and opinions. In other words, we must have viewpoints and choices when dealing with historical materials. I am not asking you to tamper with historical materials and talk nonsense, but I also ask you to understand that our Ming Dynasty
Why was the country founded, why was China rejuvenated... This question must always be kept in our hearts, so as to understand the history of Zhao and Song Dynasties and cultivate our own history. Do you understand what I mean?"
Everyone was horrified. What Zhang Ximeng said was straightforward enough. If you still don't understand, you are a fool.
A dynasty lasts for hundreds of years. There are so many people and things, like beads, scattered in the long river of time.
Those who compile history must select beads one by one and string them together.
This is a great test of the skills and mental skills of those who compile history.
If you insist on choosing the Song Dynasty to use troops externally, how to win, and then choose some weapons research and development of the Song Dynasty, then choose to write about military generals, compile them into biographies, and then write about how much the Song Dynasty invested in food, goods, weapons, etc., and get 70% of the finance.
Raising troops and so on...
As of this writing, there is not a single lie, not a single erroneous historical material cited... But the people who compiled the history definitely had bad intentions. Because anyone who sees this will subconsciously feel that the Song Dynasty was a strong and iron-blooded country, and it used troops to fight against all odds, and the country
With all your strength, you will definitely be full of martial virtue, and you will belong to a fighting nation.
But this is certainly not the case.
And this is the power of writing history. Under certain circumstances, it can influence people's thoughts unknowingly.
Zhang Ximeng has only one requirement for compiling history. After reading this volume of Song History, everyone should be able to roughly understand why Zhao and Song declined, why China was not as good as before, and why there was the shame of Jingkang and the hatred of Yashan.
Obviously, the unpublished history of the Song Dynasty cannot do this.
Even if Zhang Ximeng fails to control his history revision this time, he will make a joke that slaps him in the mouth.
"This time, in addition to the official revision of history, we also need to revise some popular books and student readers. We must clearly write down the framework of thousands of years of history and tell it to our young students."
Zhang Ximeng glanced at Song Lian and said, "The Hanlin Academy has been busy with this matter for a long time, right?"
Song Lian smiled bitterly and said: "To be honest with Mr. Zhang, I have been preparing for a long time and even published several editions. But the effect is not very good."
"Why?"
"The main thing is not to take the imperial examination." Song Lian said honestly: "We now have business studies, law studies, and martial arts, but we don't have a specialized history study... Prime Minister Zhang, do you want to ask your Majesty to add a history study?"
Zhang Ximeng raised his eyebrows and said, "Forget it, don't add it separately... For our country, history should be a basic subject, and all future exams will include history as a required course. Even martial arts is no exception.
"
After Zhang Ximeng finished speaking, Liu Bowen immediately clapped his hands and praised, "I agree with Prime Minister Zhang's proposal. History is also an easy subject to get started with. As long as you are interested, can get enough historical materials, and have a right mind and are willing to work hard, you can achieve something."
Achievements. No famous historians are needed, there are great Confucian scholars all over the world."
Song Lian coughed lightly and said: "Brother Bowen, what you said is a bit too much. Isn't our Prime Minister Zhang a famous historian and a great scholar in the world? How can we look at the rise and fall of thousands of years and rely on the pen of Prime Minister Zhang!"
Liu Bowen glared at Song Lian, "Don't you understand what I mean? I mean we don't need those old Confucians to control history, right and wrong, merits and demerits, these are all in our hands!"
Zhang Ximeng waved his hand and did not let the two of them continue to argue, but mused: "After all, in the end, this time is not only about compiling history, but also about educating the people. A proper set of historical education can lay the foundation for hundreds of years in the Ming Dynasty.
The foundation of the year must not be careless!"
When everyone heard this, they were shocked again. Is it nonsense that Zhang Ximeng has improved his history writing to this level?
Obviously not.
Historiography is collective memory, and collective memory is the best criterion for distinguishing you from me.
What is Huaxia and what is Yi Di?
Why is it that when the Yi Di enter China, the Hua Xia will be the same, and when the Yi Di come out of the Hua Xia, the Yi Di will be the same!
What determines the close relationship between people is not blood, but the education they receive, the language they use, the words they write, the common memories engraved in their heads, the consistent principles for doing things, and their thinking patterns.
In a village or a county, perhaps we can talk about blood ties, and the family members are naturally close to each other.
But when the population reaches tens of millions or more, the same historical memory becomes extremely precious.
This is also what Zhang Ximeng, Liu Bowen, Tang He and others have repeatedly mentioned.
This is also the reason for writing history as Zhang Ximeng said.
But this time, they are really going to write in black and white... The history books will be compiled, right and wrong will be clear, and right and wrong will be clear.
With the pros and cons, right and wrong, it goes without saying who students should learn from and what values they should establish.
And with a solid identity and strong cohesion.
This is absolutely enough to ensure that the Ming Dynasty will remain unshakable for hundreds of years.
When Zhang Ximeng said this, everyone naturally understood it and was very moved.
"The importance of historical writing is extraordinary. After everyone goes back, they will think about it for a while, and then the work will officially start."
Everyone immediately agreed and went down to make preparations.
And just in the past few days, Qian Tang arrived from Peiping.
After seeing Zhang Ximeng, he immediately saluted and said: "Prime Minister Zhang, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has sent his subordinates to Beijing, and the affairs of the Gongde Camp have been handed over to the Duke of Yue."
Zhang Ximeng was stunned, "Duke Yue? Is he busy enough?"
"He should be able to keep busy. He has seconded a person from Changlu Saltworks."
"who?"
"Jiang Ke!"
Zhang Ximeng raised his brows again and again, but said nothing. Hu Dahai really knows people with a keen eye.
"In that case, you are very knowledgeable, let's study history together!" Zhang Ximeng nodded in agreement.
Qian Tang then said: "Prime Minister Zhang, actually I also want to recommend someone."
"who?"
"This man's great-grandfather was an official in the Song Dynasty, and once joined Prime Minister Wen's army of King Qin as an aide. His father once passed the Yuan court examination. His own talent and learning were ten times that of the lower officials."
Zhang Ximeng thought for a while and said: "Since he has participated in Prime Minister Wen's King Qin's army, it is worth recruiting. What is this person's name?"
"Call Wu Bozong!"
Zhang Ximeng frowned slightly, "I seem to have heard of it."
"That's right, he just passed the Jie Yuan examination in the Yingtian Township Examination!" Qian Tang said: "I wonder if Prime Minister Zhang can make an exception and be promoted!"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "Our province is a place that pays great attention to rules. It's not okay to break the rules casually... Let's let him report to the Hanlin Academy first and make a review. Then we will second him from the Hanlin Academy, so everything will be fine."
Qian Tang quickly agreed, "Thank you, Prime Minister Zhang. In fact, Wu Bozong has long admired Prime Minister Zhang's knowledge and wants to follow him."
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "We will study history together, get along day and night, and just put official matters first."
Qian Tang agreed again and went down quickly.
Soon the day for the official start of construction came. Among all the officials who compiled the history, in addition to Zhang Ximeng, Song Lian, Qian Tang and others, there was also an old man who was nearly eighty years old.
This person's name is Bao Xun.
Song Lian had a very good relationship with this old man and specially recommended him to Zhang Ximeng.
Bao Xun also smiled and said: "I have heard of Prime Minister Zhang for a long time. In the past, I passed the Yuan Ting Provincial Examination but never became an official. Later I passed the Jinshi examination and the Yuan Ting called me to join the Imperial Academy but never became an official. Now Prime Minister Zhang is studying history.
, I just want Yanmo to serve me, and I hope Zhang Xiangen will be right!"
Zhang Ximeng laughed and said, "We are gathering all the talents from all over the world to compile history books!"
While he was talking, Guo Ying suddenly arrived, bringing with him a volume of imperial edict.
"Prime Minister Zhang, your Majesty has given you a golden pen and asked all the famous scholars to write history with great care and educate the common people!"
When they heard about the reward of gold pen, everyone except Zhang Ximeng's eyes widened. Where is it?