The reliability of historical records has always been a topic of great concern.
The reason why Mu Yu Ji Shi can now get a glimpse of the living conditions, lifestyles and daily actions of the ancients stems from two contributions: one is the various preserved documents, and the other is the continuous development of archaeology. Although history is something that happened in the past, even if it is recorded, it is not 100% certain that it is true.
Archaeological findings and documents are usually required to corroborate each other to be "more reliable".
Taking Tang Taizong Li Shimin as an example, in addition to the official history, there is also an important record of his view, "Tang Entrepreneurship and Living Note".
As the CEO of the Tang Group, this "entrepreneurship" records the process of Li Shimin's army from Taiyuan and the final establishment of the Tang Dynasty.
And what exactly is the living note?
Was it the daily life of the emperor?The diary-style historical documents that record the words and deeds of the emperor and the government occupy a unique position in the compilation of ancient Chinese history.
It originated in the Han Dynasty and was followed by later dynasties, becoming an important basis for actual records and official history.
Although most of the ancient living notes have been lost, even compared with the official history, its "historical data" value is not inferior. Some records indicate that the Living Note first appeared in the court of the Western Han Dynasty, when the chamberlain wrote the "Forbidden Living Note" to record Emperor Wu's daily words and deeds.
At this time, the daily notes were recorded by the inner chamberlain, and the content mainly related to the affairs of the inner palace and the daily life of the emperor.
The living note can also be understood as the "historians" in the palace recording the affairs of the palace, continuing the historian system and historical thinking in the pre-Qin period.
The Xia Dynasty set up historians to record the words and deeds of the Son of Heaven, and the Zhou Dynasty divided the left history and the right history, the left history recorded the speech, and the right history recorded the deeds, which was the prototype of the idea of "the left history records the words, the right history records".
This philosophy permeated the later compilation of the Living Notes.
In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, a full-time historical record was formally established, which laid the institutional foundation for the compilation of living notes.
The records of daily living notes were gradually systematized, not only recording the affairs of the palace, but also including the emperor's corrections and political speeches. As an official archive, the living notes of the two Jin and Northern Dynasties recorded a large number of government activities and documents, and provided important historical materials for the compilation of historical books.
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the living note system was gradually improved.
The Sui Dynasty established the "Living Houser", and the Tang Dynasty set up the "Living Lang" in Menxia Province, which marked the establishment of the living note compilation system.
The Tang Dynasty pursued the principle of "writing directly according to the facts", which required the emperor's behavior to be recorded realistically, and such a daily note was more reliable and became a first-hand literary and historical material.
During the Song Dynasty, he also served as the editor of the daily life notes, and the compilation of the two books made extensive reference to the living notes materials, which became a practical tool for the study of ancient times.
The living notes of the Yuan Dynasty were sporadic and set up in the early Ming Dynasty to compile them, and then they were abolished. The Qing Dynasty attached great importance to the compilation of living notes, and the living notes were established during the Kangxi period, which provided important historical materials for the words and deeds of rulers for more than 200 years.
The daily life notes of the Qing Dynasty are rich in content, including the scene of the four seasons, prayers and sacrifices, royal driving patrols, as well as the speeches of the ministers and the signs of the court meeting.
However, there are very few surviving living notes of the morning star.
Before the Qing Dynasty, only the "Wanli Living Note" was relatively intact, and the words and deeds of the rulers recorded in fact became an important basis for studying the history of the Qing Dynasty.