As "Sima Qian's Personality and Style" said: "Sima Qian's intellectual height is not only what we yearn for, but also what we are surprised by. For example, in the orthodox Han Dynasty, he has flourished for 890 years, but he can still give a high position to the protagonists with only 89 years in the middle. He not only wrote Xiang Yu as a chronicle, but also wrote Chen She as a family. He also made a "Qin Chu Yue Biao" for the tense situation of "five years and three changes", so that future generations will not obliterate the momentum of those insurgents, nor will they ignore their true scale in history. " Sima Qian thought about who wrote what kind of biography. There are also non-emperors, aristocratic families and civilians in this century, and Lv Zhi, as a woman, is unique.
The Chronicle of Lv Hou depicts a new image for us in many ways. Lv Zhi is a complicated figure. As a woman, she has a strong and brave heart and cruel means. As a mother, she has unspeakable helplessness. As a politician, she resolutely suppressed Liu's support. As a ruler, she gave the people a happy and stable era. In Sima Qian's works, Lv Zhi is very vivid, lively and full.
From the perspective of Lv Hou's life, with her ability and skill, it is more than enough to deal with the opponents in the harem, especially the short-sighted people like Miracle.
The most typical examples are the court struggle between Lv Hou and Miracle, and the crown prince struggle between Huidi and Ruyi Zhao. The advantage of Miracle and Ruyi is that Gaozu is totally biased towards the mother and son, and subjectively wants Ruyi to replace the Prince. Under such good conditions, what Miracle did was "crying day and night, trying to establish his son's son, the prince." But in the end, ministers fought hard, and Hui Di's status as a prince was preserved. However, this incident left a great fear and shadow in Lv Hou's heart, which can be described as "lingering fear" and also laid the groundwork for her crazy revenge in the future.
So after the death of Gaozu and Hui Di's accession to the throne, Lv Hou began to retaliate against Miracle. The cruelty of this revenge can be described as "going down in history", which shows Lv Hou's creativity. In the war with Miracle, Lv Hou was the overwhelming winner. However, at first, Lv Hou did not have the upper hand. Miracle and Gaozu lived together day and night, and Gaozu's ideological differences led to the shift of the prince. In the end, the position of the prince was saved by ministers, and Lv Hou's efforts among ministers can be imagined. These parts are reflected in chapters other than the Chronicle of Lv Hou. For example, "Hou Jia Jiang" and invited Shang Shan Si Hao. The harem struggle has always been a struggle of many factors. In contrast, Qi Ji is short-sighted, and only works hard on the side of Gao Zu, regardless of other political factors, which also doomed her failure. Being in the harem, Lv Hou was unhappy, threatening to lose the position of Prince with his son, and had to coordinate with ministers to gain their support. However, it is no accident that Lv Hou finally stood at the highest point of power.
The example of how Lv Hou treated his children is also reflected in The Chronicle of Lv Hou.
First of all, Hui Di described in his article: "Filial piety Hui Di collapsed. When I was in mourning, the queen mother cried and couldn't cry. " The description of these words is very interesting. The queen mother cried, but without tears, she just cried. The reason why the Queen Mother cries is not that she doesn't love her son, but that she has other worries in her heart, that is, she is afraid that she has no dependence. With the help of Sean's son, Lv Hou's wish was fulfilled. "The queen mother is happy, but crying is sad." The description of these words is also very spicy, and the queen mother was overjoyed and it was really sad to cry for her son's death. Judging from the description of this place, Lv Hou seems to be heartless. When his loved one died, he was still thinking about his own interests and didn't try his best to cry. Here, I think Lv Hou is suppressing and using her emotions to gain benefits, which shows that she is a woman whose rationality is far greater than her sensibility.
In another place, the article shows Lv Hou's care for her children, that is, the King of Qi sent Princess Lu Yuan to cities and counties to please Lv Hou, which was written as "Lv Hou" here, and her daughter's territory was more. As a mother, Lv Hou showed such great joy that she spared the King of Qi, who she thought would pose a threat. It can be seen that Lv Hou still takes good care of his children.
As a special mother, Lv Hou's feelings for her children can't be fully expressed as she wishes, but she has to make great efforts to use her emotions to fight for political interests. This is a kind of sadness.
As a politician, the most outstanding achievement is to benefit the Lu family. Just after the Queen Mother used the death of Huidi for the benefit of the Lv family, Sima Qian wrote: "The power of the Lv family began." After that, Lv Hou began to gradually seal the kings of Lu. The ministers who supported the DPRK said: "The Emperor Gao ruled the world, the brother of the prince, and today the queen mother called it the system, and Wang Kundi was in Shandong, and he could do anything." Lv Hou's concept of equality does not lag behind her husband, which is understandable today. However, although there is no problem with Lv Hou's idea of promoting one of her own to be an official, she persecuted the king of the Liu family by cruel means, which is bound to cause dissatisfaction among ministers, so it is logical to destroy Zhu Lu.
After Lv Hou died, her own people were wiped out. Although when she was alive, her people had infinite scenery, but after her death, she could no longer guarantee the safety of her people. After all, the Lu clan was still too arrogant and did not know how to converge, which led to the final demise. It is also regrettable that Lv Hou worked hard all his life, but his people were wiped out after his death.
Taishigong's Chronicle of Lv Hou mentioned the social and political features of the times in the annotation. Sima Qian used four words to evaluate: "Heaven and earth are natural". It can be seen that Sima Qian spoke highly of the social and political characteristics of the Lv Hou era, mainly because the people got rid of the pain of war. "Punishment is rare, and sinners are hope. People's affairs are cultivated, and food and clothing are cultivated. " After the bloody battle between Liu and Lu, Tai Shigong painted us a picture of happiness in people's livelihood in his comments at the end of the article. When we evaluate Lv Hou, we often forget her status as a ruler. Although she had sex and ruled the imperial court, she suppressed Liu Zongshi and expanded the influence of the consorts' family. Under her rule, people lived happily, so she was an excellent ruler.
The writing of Sima Qian's Biography of Lu Hou is also worth exploring. Because of the lack of knowledge, when reading Chronicle of Lv Hou, there are some immature puzzles and questions about its length and structure, hoping to get the teacher's answer. In addition, when Sima Qian created the image of Lv Hou, he gave a comprehensive and perfect description of Lv Hou's image through some small things and nuances. Sima Qian's political ideal of "governing by doing nothing" can also be seen from the Chronicle of Lv Hou.
When Sima Qian created the character Lv Zhi, there were many nuances worthy of careful consideration.
For example, "Lv Hou is resolute, assisting Gao Zu to set the world and punishing Minister Du Houli." In this sentence, it means rich. The author first praised Lv Hou's "fortitude", which is a trait that ordinary women don't have, and she also assisted Gaozu to rule the world, which is even more unusual. However, this sentence changed the style, and wrote that many ministers killed by Gaozu after he ruled the world were "due to Lv Hou". The author here is meaningful, so the minister's will is naturally Gao Zu's own, but why should Lv Hou do it? Because Lv Hou is the wife of Gaozu, and because Lv Hou is resolute and hard-handed, Lv Hou does everything Gaozu can't do.
The other is what Sima Qian wrote when he was mourning for Hui Di. "The queen mother cries, but she can't cry." And "the queen mother is happy, but she is sad to cry." These two pungent strokes portray characters with sharp contrast, and they are full of twists and turns. First, they cry instead of tears, and then they cry with joy, vividly depicting Lv Hou's insincere and hypocritical performance.
There are also "humiliation, erosion and miserable days" after persecuting Liu Zongshi. At this time, an unusual celestial phenomenon appeared, and the queen mother's reaction was "evil, unhappy, meaning,' this is for me'." "The description of the psychological activities of the characters here is very vivid, just like the psychology of ordinary people after doing bad things. After the wanton killing and abuse of Liu Zongshi, a strange astronomical phenomenon appeared and I felt ashamed. However, when Lv Hou can say "this is for me" to others, his psychological endurance is also very strong.
When Sima Qian created the image of Lv Zhi, he used psychological description to show the vicious and hypocritical image of Lv Zhi incisively and vividly, which can be described as unique brushwork.
The Chronicle of Lv Hou also reflects Sima Qian's political ideal to some extent, that is, the Taoist theory of "governing by doing nothing".
The fifth part, in Sima Qian's evaluation of Lv Hou, he spoke highly of Lv Hou's politics, which attracted the world's attention. Among them, Sima Qian wrote that during the Lv Hou period, "CoCo Lee was suffering from the Warring States Period, and both the monarch and the minister wanted to rest and do nothing. Therefore, Hui Di bowed his arch, and the high-ranking woman called it the system, and the government was not allowed to leave the government. The world was shocked. " After experiencing the pain of the war, the people in this period were finally able to recuperate, and the monarch and his subjects did not need to work too hard, and even the state affairs could be completed without leaving home.
In Sima Qian's Personality and Style, Mr. Li Changzhi believes that Sima Qian's fundamental thought is Taoist thought: "He said that Cao Can's quietness, rest and inaction are harmonious; He said that laws and regulations are not the source of turbidity (because it is for a purpose); For human desires and economic behaviors, it is best to "cause them" and the worst policy is to "contend with them", because the former follows a "trend" and the latter is "promising". This is the true spirit of old learning! " What is reflected in this is Taoist naturalism. Let nature take its course without manpower, which is "inaction" and the ideological basis of Sima Qian.
When talking about Sima Qian's political views, Mr. Li Changzhi quoted the Chronicle of Lv Hou, saying: "Lv Hou's politics can't be called it, but he thinks that it can be ruled by inaction and the people can live and work in peace and contentment, which is very good." Indeed, for people who have suffered from war, the policy of quietism is the best.
Biography of Historical Records and Lv Hou is an excellent title in Historical Records. From this biography, we can not only understand Lv Hou, a complicated historical figure, but also read Sima Qian's thoughts.
However, if we want to have a more comprehensive understanding of Lv Zhi in Sima Qian's works, it is far from enough to just read Lu Houzhuan. "Sima Qian's Personality and Style" points out: "Sima Qian came to see people with the whole Historical Records instead of an article, and he can't find his views on every issue just by the shape of the topic." "We can say that from his single article, what he did was the responsibility of an artist, but from his whole historical record, he was the responsibility of a historian." Lv Hou's image is not only recorded in Chronicle of Lv Hou, but also reflected in articles such as Chronicle of Gaozu, Hougong Family and Concubine Family. This reminds us that "Historical Records" is an organic whole, and the entries are not isolated or separated, so we should relate the clues in the whole to understand.
As a historian, Sima Qian also has his own professional ethics and ethics. Although he was a subject of the Han Dynasty, he still wrote history with a fair attitude, and even listed Xiang Yu, who competed with Liu Bang for the world, in the chronicle of the emperor, which highly affirmed his historical position. As a historian, Sima Qian pays more attention to people's livelihood and people's lives, which is also very rare. As Mr. Li Changzhi said: "History books have always been centered on political history, with the emperor's residence as the main content, but Sima Qian paid attention to society and economy." This also makes Historical Records more attractive in thought and more brilliant in human nature.