During the Chongyu years of the Ming Dynasty, in a village in Haining County, Zhejiang, there lived a Xiucai named Tan Qian. He was very poor, and there was very little else in the house except for a few tattered clothes and a few old books.
Although he was poor, he had a strong desire to learn something, especially his interest in history. One day, he got a copy of Chen Jian's "Emperor's Ming Tongji", which is a book that records the history of the Ming Dynasty, and he read it all night.
However, the more he read, the more angry he became, because it turned out that many of the historical events recorded in the book had lost their substance, there were many mistakes, and his understanding was very superficial. He thought to himself: Isn't this kind of book harmful?
At this time, it was 1645 A.D., the Qing army entered the customs, occupied Beijing and Nanjing successively, and destroyed the Ming Dynasty. The common people did not have the slightest freedom of speech, and they dared to be angry but did not dare to speak.
Tan Qian was very indignant when he saw this situation. He thought: The Ming Dynasty has fallen, and the history of the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years and ten years has not died, and it is his duty to record the history of his homeland on the spot. So, he was angry to write a chronicle of the Ming Dynasty.
However, what about the data coming from? Besides, can you do such a huge job by yourself? He thought about it again and again, and finally resolutely said to himself: "Where there is a will, there is a way, and there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome!" So he took what little he had, sold what he had, sold it, and amassed some money.
He used some of the money to buy paper sheets and pen and ink, and the other part to find materials. Favors, find a way, borrow books everywhere to read, borrow books to copy.
He also came across many needles, but he was not discouraged, and finally from a bureaucrat who had been an official in the Ming Dynasty, he read a lot of valuable materials on the history of the Ming Dynasty and immediately copied them.
He compared, analyzed, and studied a lot of information, and when he encountered doubts, he went to teach those who were familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty that even if they walked hundreds of miles, they would not complain. People saw him so tireless and tenacious, and they all took the trouble to patiently point out the right mistakes to him.
With the help of the masses, the talks have strengthened their confidence. From night to dawn, and from dawn to night, he worked tirelessly.
He didn't care if the family didn't have anything to eat for a few days; Sometimes I was so hungry that I was dizzy, so I went outside to dig some wild mushrooms and used them to boil them into a soup to fill my hunger.
He was so sleepy that he couldn't open his eyes, so he washed his face with cold water, sobered up, and continued to write.
In this way, it took 27 years to write, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite six times in a row before completing a 5 million-word work entitled "Guoyi." But because he couldn't engrave the plates, the book could not be circulated.
At that time, there was a wealthy and powerful gentleman who knew about it, so he wanted to buy this book in his hand and publish it in his own name to promote his fame. However, Tan Qian did not pay attention to a few stinky money, and he laughed at the gentleman in a sarcastic tone.
The gentleman was bored with a scene, and the purpose was not achieved, so one night, while he was asleep, he crept into his house and took the "national tree" away.
The next day, Tan Qianfa said that he was no longer in sight, and his years of hard work had been wasted, and he was angry and sad at the same time. But what's the use of being sad? He stretched out his hands and said to himself, "Aren't my hands still there? ”
He patted his head again: "Has wisdom been taken away too?" No! A thief can steal the "national treasure", but he can't steal my hands and wisdom! So he made up his mind to start all over again
In this rewrite, his preparation has been made more comprehensive and in-depth. In order to collect information, he visited many villagers, pleaded with them, and borrowed books to transcribe.
However, as soon as he saw that most of these books were praises to the rulers, and that there were many places where the truth had been lost, he thought that in order to preserve the true history of his homeland, he could not only rely on these books, but also have to talk to more people, so he decided to go deep into the people and personally interview the news and anecdotes.
At this time, he was already in his fifties, but he was still not afraid of the mountains and the long roads, and despite the scorching heat and cold, he traveled all over Jiashan, Gui'an, Wuxing, Qiantang and other places, visited many elderly peasants, and collected a lot of valuable information about the history of the Ming Dynasty.
However, he was not satisfied, and he saw that these materials were not complete enough, especially the historical facts of the Chongyu Dynasty, and if he wanted to talk to someone who had experienced it, he had to go to Beijing. But there is no travel fee to go to Beijing, and even if you borrow money, what will you do with food and accommodation after you arrive in Beijing?
Tan Qian was in a dilemma, and it happened that he had a friend named Zhu Zhixi, who went to Beijing to work as a editor at the Hongwen Academy, hired Tan Qian to be a reporter, and asked him to take a boat from the canal all the way into Beijing. After talking about the move, he agreed.
When he arrived in Beijing, during the day, in addition to doing some literary and ink work for Zhu Zhixi, he visited some historical figures when he had free time; At night, he concentrates on sorting out historical materials, and often stays up all night.
At that time, there were many bibliophiles in Beijing. Through Zhu Zhixi's introduction, he recognized Cao Rong, Huo Da, Wu Weiye and others. These three people were all Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, and they collected a lot of books that were not easy to see outside.
Among these three, Wu Weiye was the most familiar with the history of the late Ming Dynasty, and he had frequent contacts with him through personal experience, and sometimes showed him the original manuscript of the "National Legend" and begged him to correct his mistakes.
After two years like this, he accumulated a few draws of data. However, in order to make this book better, he was not satisfied with this, and still visited the officials of the Ming Dynasty and the descendants of the nobles everywhere, and inquired about the history of the late Ming Dynasty. But these people were afraid of Qing ** and didn't dare to talk to Tan Qian in detail, so they all politely refused.
Tan Qian went to the Ming Dynasty historian again. Most of these historians are spineless, so how can they accept him? Talking about migration from morning to evening, I often couldn't see their faces, and wasted time in vain.
Tan Qian knew that it was not possible to rely on these people, so he resolutely resigned from his post in the office to Zhu Zhixi, took dry food and an umbrella, and went deep into the masses to collect interviews.
He interviewed many old people and recorded their conversations. A small piece of torn paper was full of words written on the front, and the reverse was written, crooked and unrecognizable, but he kept it as if it were a treasure.
In order to find the relics, he climbed the mountain and waded through the water, his feet were blistered, and he still kept running around. A stone tablet of the Ming Dynasty and a tomb of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty are the objects of his investigation and research, as long as the things related to the history of the Ming Dynasty are memorized.
Sometimes he got lost in the mountains, so he asked the children who were herding cattle for directions, and it was easy for him to get out of the mountains. When others saw it, they all laughed at him for being stupid, but he thought to himself: I am about to be a fool who moves mountains in academic research!
He worked tirelessly in this way for several years, enriching his historical knowledge. As long as he closed his eyes, the historical facts of the Ming Dynasty appeared in front of him, and he saw how Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor and brutally exploited and oppressed the working people.
He saw Yan Song and Wei Zhongxian's extravagance and cruelty to Zhongliang.
He saw a large-scale peasant uprising, rebelling against and overthrowing the feudal hierarchy; also saw how Emperor Chongyu committed suicide in the coal mountain.
He saw how the traitor Wu Sangui led the Qing soldiers into the customs and seized the fruits of the victory of the peasant uprising.
He thought back to these painful historical facts, and his heart was very uncomfortable. He was determined to record these historical facts truthfully and educate future generations. So, he wrote desperately until his hands were sore, his head was dizzy, and he still kept writing.
At this time, in order to win the hearts of the people, the Qing Dynasty recruited intellectuals everywhere and lured them to become officials, so as to help them exercise rule over the broad masses of the working people. Therefore, the streets are full of "recruitment" and "recommendation" notices. But he didn't even look at it.
Tan Qian, who had a relative close to him, persuaded him to go out to be an official and stop wasting no more wasteful effort to write a "national message," but Tan Qian sternly refused.
He continued to write "National Glory." After more than 10 years of hard work, this 5 million-word history book "The Legend of the Nation" was finally completed for the second time, and it was more substantial and complete than the one that was stolen by others, and made a tremendous contribution to China's historiography.