Li Ling
Sima Qian and Li Ling
Pan Zuocheng
Li Ling, courtesy name Shaoqing, was the grandson of Li Guang, the "Flying General" of the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu, he was the Cavalry Commander. In the autumn of the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty, General Li Guang of the Second Division led 30,000 cavalry to attack the Xiongnu in the Qilian Mountains and Tianshan Mountains. In order to divide the Xiongnu forces, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Li Ling to march 5,000 cavalry more than a thousand miles north of Juyan. The Xiongnu Chanyu led 80,000 troops to besiege Li Ling, but Li Guangli stood still. Li Ling fought alone, killing more than half of his soldiers and killing more than 10,000 Xiongnu people. In the end, he surrendered to the Xiongnu because he was unable to fight anymore because he had run out of reinforcements. Shanyu Su heard about the names of Li Ling and Nai, his ancestors, and saw Li Ling's bravery and skill in battle during the war, so he treated Li Ling with courtesy and made his daughter his wife. When the Han Dynasty heard about this, they exterminated Li Ling's mother, wife, and youngest son.
Li Ling's surrender also implicated another person, that is Sima Qian.
Sima Qian, a historian, writer and thinker of the Western Han Dynasty, had a courtesy name. In his twenties, he entered the court as a doctor, and later succeeded his father as Taishi Ling. Sima Qian and Li Ling "lived under the same family", but they had different interests and had no personal relationship. Li Ling was defeated and surrendered to the enemy. Emperor Wu felt heavy and summoned Sima Qian to question him. Sima Qian believed that Li Ling was an outstanding scholar who could keep his integrity, respected his parents, treated others with integrity, was honest and righteous, courteous and courteous, and had the style of a national scholar. Although he was defeated and fell into the enemy's trap this time, it is speculated that his intention was to repay the Han Dynasty and make up for his sins when given the opportunity. Moreover, the matter has come to this, even though Ling is defeated, his achievements are enough to show off to the world. Sima Qian's words can be said to be fair and unselfish. But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought he was slandering General Li Guangli of the Second Division. As a result, Sima Qian was imprisoned and sentenced to corruption for false accusations. He suffered severe physical and mental torture. He originally wanted to die, but he hated that "Historical Records" had not been completed yet, so he "suffered the death penalty without being embarrassed", endured the humiliation, and wrote the book angrily. After ten years of hard work, the first general history book "Historical Records" in the history of our country was finally completed at the beginning of the Zhenghe period (92 BC), and it was the first of its kind to be a biographical historical book.
Historians have long made judgments on the important events in the lives of Sima Qian and Li Ling. When Li Ling surrendered, his family reputation had already been "honored" (Sima Qian's words), making "it would be a shame for a scholar from Longxi to live under his sect" (Sima Qian's words). But if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty could have listened to Sima Qian's words and not "clan Ling's mother wife", the possibility of Li Ling seeking an opportunity to retaliate to the Han Dynasty also existed. History is full of such examples. Later, Su Wu met Li Ling on the Beihai (now Lake Baikal in Russia, which was the northern border of the Huns at that time). Li once said, "The sins of Wei Lu and I are connected to heaven." This shows his deep regret. Emperor Gai Wu's handling of this matter was indeed inappropriate and was suspected of protecting his own shortcomings (Li Guangli's sister was Emperor Wu's favorite concubine). Later generations have a very accurate judgment: "Although the mausoleum has failed to show its kindness, the Han Dynasty has also failed to show its virtue."
As for Sima Qian's defense of Li Ling, historians have rarely discussed it. Foolishly, Sima Qian boldly spoke out. Although his evaluation of Li Ling is difficult to be precise, it shows his integrity and kindness as a great scholar. Although his attitude toward politics seemed too pedantic, it just showed the value of his ideological quality. If he could adjust to the political situation, or even be flattering, then he would not be Sima Qian who wrote "Historical Records". Although there are exceptions to the saying that "literature is like its people", this has generally been the case in ancient and modern times. It is precisely because of his upright and noble character that he was able to insist on "no false beauty, no hidden evil, and record the truth" in the writing of "Historical Records", and finally wrote "Historical Records" as "the historian's swansong, without rhyme" "Li Sao" (Lu Xun's words).