On the first day of August, Zhao Gao wanted to make trouble, so he did an experiment in advance and gave the second child a deer, saying, "This is a horse." The younger generation smiled and said, "Is there anything wrong with the Prime Minister? Call the deer a horse. "

Zhao Gao asked the ministers around, and some people were silent, others said it was a horse, and they all came to flatter Zhao Gao. Some said it was a deer, so Zhao Gao used the law as an excuse to secretly frame those who said it was a deer. Later, ministers were afraid of Zhao Gao.

Second, the original text

It was August, and Zhao Gao wanted to make trouble. He was afraid that his ministers would not listen, so he set up a checkpoint first. The next year, he offered a deer and said, "Ma Ye." II laughed and said, "Is there anything wrong with the Prime Minister? Call the deer a horse. " Left ask right ask, left ask right ask, or silence, or say Ma Yishun Zhao Gao. Still talking about deer, all kinds of words in high yin. After all, ministers are afraid of heights.

Third, the source

Excerpted from Historical Records by Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty.

Extended data

First, the creative background

Sima Qian's stepfather was Taishi Gong in the third year of Yuanfeng (BC 108), and he began to write Taishi Gong Shu (hereinafter referred to as Historical Records) in the first year of Shu Tai (BC 104).

Later, he was arrested and imprisoned for defending Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for the defeat and surrender of Li Ling, and was convicted of corruption, which caused great physical and mental trauma. After he was released from prison, he worked as a secretary and continued to finish his history books with humiliation and enthusiasm. In about two years (9 1 year ago), the book was finally compiled and revised.

Second, the appreciation of works

The unique narrative art of Historical Records pays great attention to the deeper exploration of the causal relationship of events, synthesizes various historical books of the previous generation, forms a unified statement, and describes all historical times before the middle of the Western Han Dynasty with twelve biographies and ten tables as the representatives vertically, and eight biographies, thirty biographies and seventy biographies as the representatives horizontally, leading all classes, nationalities, fields and industries, forming a comfortable structure criss-crossing.

In addition, Historical Records also has many unique features in terms of composition, sentence patterns and words, which is unique and unconventional, and produces unique effects with its novelty and variety.

Three. Brief introduction of the author

Sima Qian (former 145-? ) was born in xia yang (now south of Hancheng, Shaanxi). Historians and essayists in the Western Han Dynasty. Sima Tan's son, Ren Taishiling, was imprisoned for defending Li Ling's defeat and surrender, and later served as the secretariat. He worked hard to complete the historical records he wrote, and was called Shi Qian, Tai Shigong and the father of history by the later Buddha.

Sima Qian created China's first biographical style and general history book with the historical knowledge of "studying the relationship between man and nature, connecting the changes of ancient and modern times", which was recognized as the model of China's history books and the first of the "Twenty-five History", and was praised by Lu Xun as "a historian's swan song, leaving Sao without rhyme".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Biography of Qin Shihuang