The historical materials of the ancient period, Sima Qian is mainly excerpted from the "Book of Shang". "Shangshu" was written by people during the Warring States period, when the legend of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. We know that Sima Qian wrote a historical record, "When studying heaven and man, the changes of the past and the present become the words of a family", which was called by Lu Xun the swan song of the historian, and the rhyme is divorced. The period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors in ancient times has been separated from Sima Qian's era for more than 2,000 years, and after the disaster of Qin Shi Huang's book burning and Confucianism, how could Sima Qian know so much about it? How did he know the details of the ancient palace secrets? Therefore, there have always been many people who suspect that Sima Qian is not writing history, but **. The Japanese sinologist Miyazaki Ichisada believes that the literary nature of the "Historical Records" is greater than the historiography, "when describing characters more than anecdotes", and each event has four structures, such as the beginning and the end, which is simply a drama. He believes that the more exciting and dramatic the stories in the "Historical Records", the more likely it is to deviate from the historical truth, such as the stories of Wu Zixu and Xin Lingjun and the story of Jing Ke's assassination of King Qin. It is even more impossible for Xiang Yu to cut hundreds of people by himself. From this point of view, Tai Shi Gong is simply a successful historical ** family. Perhaps, because Sima Qian is Taishi Ling, he is keen to collect incredible anecdotes and secrets in history. 
In the 1982 edition of Sima Qian's "Book of Reporting to Ren'an", the Zhonghua Book Company said that he was "close to self-trusting to incompetent words, snare the world to let go of old news, briefly examine his actions, summarize the beginning of the end, and check the history of his success and failure." This means that I have not been able to do my best in private, and I have recently used my unclever language to collect historical rumors scattered all over the world, roughly examine their facts, summarize their facts, and deduce the truth of their successes and failures. 
1.Before Sima Qian, the work of his father Sima Tan, wrote the "Historical Records", many historical materials were collected and created by his father Sima Tan. The ancestor of the Sima clan was a celestial official in the Zhuan period, a historian in the Zhou Dynasty, and the ninth ancestor was Sima Cuo, the general of the Qin State. During the Spring and Autumn Period, although Sima lost his official position, Sima Tan regarded the revision of historical books as his sacred duty, and devoted himself to inheriting the long-standing legacy of his ancestors: Taishi Ling, reproducing the spirit of Confucius's writing of the Spring and Autumn Period, and sorting out and discussing the history of the previous generation.
In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu carried out the ceremony of sealing Zen, Sima Tan was the Taishi Ling, but he did not have the opportunity to participate in the grand events of the world, which led to a lifelong regret and died of grief. Before he died, he instructed his son Sima Qian: "When you die, you will be a great history, and you will not forget what I want to write ......."Sima Qian then inherited his father's legacy and prepared to write a general history. 
2.At the age of ten, Sima Qian, a classic of the hundreds of schools of thought, was able to read and recite ancient texts such as Shangshu, Zuo Chuan, and Chinese. Qin Shi Huang burned books to pit Confucianism, and the Book of Shang was burned. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Dr. Fu Sheng of the Qin Dynasty relied on memory to recite 28 articles, which was known as "Fu Sheng's Teaching of the Scriptures" in history. Yao Shunyu Tang, Dayu Controlling the Water, King Wu Cutting the Sword, and Zhou Gong's Eastern Expedition are all excerpts from Sima Qian's incomplete "Book of Shang". The "Book of Music" and other passages in the "Records of the Historian" were copied by Sima Qian from Confucian classics such as "Xunzi" and "The Book of Rites". 
3.Sima Qian, the history book of the Qin State, as the Taishi Ling, has access to the history books of the Qin State and the materials since the Han Dynasty in the royal collection of the Han Dynasty. During the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang entered Xianyang, and others were plundering wealth, but the far-sighted Xiao He collected the "Qin Prime Minister's Imperial History and Law Book", which not only helped Liu Bang pacify the world in the Chu-Han War, but also later provided important original historical materials for the writing of "Historical Records".
From Pei Gong to Xianyang, all the generals fought for gold and silk property, and Xiao He was the first to collect Qin's laws, orders, pictures, and books. King Xiang and the princes burned Xianyang and left, so the king of Han knew the world and the number of households. Where the strength and weakness are, the people are suffering, and Xiao He has Qin books.The history of the Qin State in the "Historical Records", "Qin Benji", "Qin Shihuang Benji", "Baiqi Wang Jian Liebiography" and other chapters are the Qin history copied by Sima Qian from Xiao He and collected by the Han Dynasty.
4.The era of Sima Qian, citing oral historical sources, was already a hundred years after the end of the Warring States period. Although the history books of the Six Nations were destroyed, people still have direct memories of the past. The history of that time has been largely passed down by word of mouth. Once, when Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty met Feng Tang in a car, he lamented that he did not have generals like Lian Po and Li Mu to resist the invasion of the Xiongnu. Feng Tang said bluntly: "Even if Emperor Wen of Han has such a general, he will not appoint him. Later, when the Xiongnu invaded again, Emperor Wen of Han asked Feng Tang for the reason for his original words, and Feng Tang told him the story of Li Mu commanding the army on the border during the Warring States period, and the court never intervened. Feng Tang's son, Feng Sui, was a good friend of Sima Qian, and Sima Qian probably wrote the deeds of Li Mu that Feng Sui told him in the "Historical Records". The hometowns of famous people in history, such as the hometown of Confucius Temple, Xinling Jun Wei Wuji, and Han Xin, Sima Qiandu visited the site. He heard Han Xin's hometown say that when Han Xin was still a commoner in cloth, his ambitions were different from ordinary people. After Han Shin's mother died, he was too poor to pay for the funeral, but he looked for a tall and spacious cemetery so that 10,000 families could settle around it. So this anecdote was written into the "Historical Records". 5.Experience it for yourself
In his early years, Sima Qian studied under Confucian scholars such as Kong Anguo and Dong Zhongshu, and traveled all over the world to collect rumors. At the age of nineteen, he set out from Chang'an, traveled all over the Jianghuai and Central Plains, and investigated the customs and collected legends wherever he went. At the age of twenty-five, as an envoy supervising the army, he sent an envoy to the southwest and took on the task of setting up a county in the southwest. Footprints all over "Qiong, Ming, Kunming" and other places. His lifetime covered the entire territory of the Han Dynasty except north of the Great Wall and east of Longshan in the Liangguang region. This is of great benefit to him in contact with and understanding the natural scenery and people of various places, as well as the suffering of the lower classes. As a result, it also enhanced his ability to perceive world affairs and created favorable conditions for his later writing of history. The list of places Sima Qian traveled through in his life is as follows:
"Five Emperors Benji": "Yu tastes the west to the empty tong, the north through Zhuolu, the east gradually to the sea, and the south to the Jianghuai." ”
"River Canal Book": "Yu Nan climbed Lushan, Guanyu Shujiujiang, and then went to Huiji, Taihuang, Shanggusu, and looked at the five lakes; East peeping Luoxi, Dapi, Yinghe, Xinghuai, Si, Ji, Fuluo Canal; West Zhan Shu of the Min Mountain and away from the mill; From Longmen to Shuofang in the north. ”
"The Family of Qi Taigong": "I am suitable for Qi, from the Lang evil of Mount Tai, the north is in the sea, and the soil is more than 2,000 miles. ”
"Wei Shijia": "The Ruins of the Great Liang of My Suitability".
"The Family of Confucius": "Yu Shilu, Guanzhongni Temple Car Dress Ritual Vessel".
"The Biography of Bo Yi Lie": "Yu Dengji Mountain, which is covered with Xu Youzuka clouds. ”
"The Biography of Meng Weijun": "I have tasted Xue, and his vulgar Lu is more violent than his sons, and Zou and Lu Shu. ”
"The Biography of Wei Gongzi": "I passed the ruins of Daliang and asked about its so-called Yimen." The east gate of the city is also. ”
"The Biography of Chun Shen Jun": "I am suitable for Chu, looking at the palace room of the old city of Chun Shen Jun, it is magnificent! ”
"The Biography of Qu Yuan Jia Sheng": "Yu Shi Changsha, looking at Qu Yuan's self-sinking abyss, he didn't want to weep, and wanted to see him as a person. ”
"The Biography of Meng Tian": "I am suitable for the north, return from the straight road, and watch the Great Wall pavilion barrier built by Meng Tian for Qin, the mountains and valleys, the straight road, and the people's strength. ”
"The Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin": "I am like Huaiyin, Huaiyin people are Yu Yan, although Han Xin is cloth, his ambition is different from the others. His mother died, and he was too poor to be buried, but he camped high and open, so that ten thousand families could be placed next to him. Looking at his mother's mound, it is good. ”
"The Biography of Fan Li Teng": "I am suitable and abundant, ask his widow, look at the homes of Xiao, Cao, Fan Xu, and Teng Gong, and what they have heard of!" ”As a person in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian once participated in the Great Ceremony of Feng Chan with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and also accompanied Emperor Wu to inspect the Yellow River Break, and Wei Qing, Huo Quzhi, Li Ling, and Zhang Qian were contemporaries. Therefore, "Feng Zen Book", "Biography of General Wei's Hussars" and "Biography of General Li" are a reliable record of those who witnessed it.
Historical Records** There have been errors in the record. Due to Qin Shi Huang's book burning and Confucianism, the history of the Six Kingdoms was seriously disordered. For example, "Zheng Shijia" records: Zheng Huan's public friend, Zhou Li's young son, and Xuanwang's younger brother. And "Zuo Biography" records that Zheng Huan Gong is not the younger brother of King Xuan, but the same mother's brother. "Chinese Zheng Yu" records: King Youwang was Situ in eight years, and the royal family began to riot in nine years, and died in eleven years. Based on this, Sima Qian believed that Zheng Huan Gong was killed by the dog Rong when he sent troops to King Qin. Modern studies have pointed out that the "eleventh year and death" here should refer to King Zhou You, because at that time Zheng Huan Gong had moved east and established Xinzheng. Sima Qian mainly based on the "Warring States Policy" to describe the activities of the Warring States columnists Su Qin and Zhang Yi to lobby around, Su Qin and Zhang Yi have always been said to be opponents in the Warring States period of the struggle between vertical and horizontal, Su Qin engaged in vertical and vertical cooperation, while Zhang Yi insisted on continuous horizontal. However, the content of the Warring States Silk Book "Warring States Zongheng Family Book" unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, shows that Zhang Yi became famous before Su Qin, and Su Qin only began to be active among the princes after Zhang Yi's death. Of course, we don't have to be too harsh on Tai Shi Gong. When we look at the history of a hundred years ago, there are still many mysteries. Not to mention that Sima Qian is facing a long history, and the historical materials are full of conciseness, many of which are obscure and even contradictory. Sima Qian must have had a basis when he wrote the "Historical Records". For example, the "Yin Benji" records in detail the lineage table of the Shang kings, which is an isolated case and has long been suspected by many people. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the oracle bone inscription in Yinxu was unearthed, which proved that Sima Qian's account was basically correct. 
The Records of the Historian is a private work, and there must be personal feelings mixed with it, but Sima Qian did not distort history. Sima Qian hated Wei Qing and Huo Quai, and named them in "The Biography of Yu Xinglie", but the merits of Wei Huo and Huo were not erased in "Historical Records". And Li Guang is much luckier, Sima Qian once defended Li Guang's grandson Li Ling, and in Li Guang's "Biography of General Li", the defeat of General Fei is lightly mentioned, and the deeds that reflect his personal charm such as seizing the horse and fleeing, the bow of the god cowardly the enemy, and the shooting of the stone tiger are written in a special book.