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王文正筆錄

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Text ID
KR3l0028
Date
1020–1038
Dynasty
北宋

Wáng Wénzhèng bǐlù 王文正筆錄

Wang Wenzheng’s [Wang Zeng’s] Brush-Records by 王曾 (撰)

About the work

A one-juàn record of approximately 30 short entries on Northern-Sòng court matter, by the great early-Sòng chief minister 王曾 Wáng Zēng 王曾 (978–1038, zì Xiàoxiān 孝先, shì Wénzhèng 文正), the senior conservative-Confucian statesman of the early Rénzōng reign. The work covers events of the Tàizǔ, Tàizōng, Zhēnzōng and early Rénzōng reigns. As the Sìkù compilers note, Wáng Zēng was thoroughly versed in court precedent (liànxí zhǎnggù) and his statements are largely confirmed by other sources; Lǐ Tāo’s Xù Zīzhì tōngjiàn chángbiān draws on the work word-for-word in several entries.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Wáng Wénzhèng bǐlù in 1 juàn, by the Sòng Wáng Zēng. Zēng zì Xiàoxiān, native of Qīngzhōu Yìdū. Xiánpíng 5 (1002) xiānggòng and the Lǐbù examination and the tíngduì — first place in all three. Held Yòu púshè 右僕射 concurrent Ménxià shìláng Píngzhāngshì Jíxián diàn dàxuéshì 平章事集賢殿大學士; enfeoffed Yí guógōng 沂國公; posthumous title Wénzhèng. His traces are in Sòng shǐ Běnzhuàn. This is his record of court jiùwén (old report), about 30 entries, all Tàizǔ Tàizōng Zhēnzōng matter; those reaching Rénzōng early years number only one or two. Zēng practised the gùshì (precedent) and his statements are mostly quèzáo yǒu jù (firmly grounded); thus Lǐ Tāo in Tōngjiàn chángbiān draws on his text fully. Among entries: Lǐ Háng 李沆 as chief minister and Wáng Dàn 王旦 as cānzhī zhèngshì, the daily flood of frontier dispatches: Wáng Dàn worried, Lǐ Háng said: ‘one day the realm will be tranquil and you may not have so easy a hand’; later when the [Liáo] peace was concluded and the fēngshàn ceremonies were celebrated, Wáng Dàn was exhausted in the zhāodǎo role and only then appreciated Lǐ’s foresight — Sīmǎ Guāng’s Sùshuǐ jìwén also records this. Chángbiān notes that Lǐ Háng died in Jǐngdé 1 [1004] 7th month; the peace was concluded only in the 12th month — so Sīmǎ Guāng had not yet checked dates and we should follow Wáng Zēng’s account. Such are sound. Only the change of reign-title to Jǐngdé occurred in the 1st month [of 1004], yet Wáng under the Wáng Jìzhōng entry says “the military matter being concluded the reign-title was changed” — a slight slip. Also Jìzhōng surrendered to the Liáo after defeat, did not die for the state, and was instead employed by the enemy — a serious lapse in subject-loyalty…

Abstract

Wáng Zēng (CBDB id 1901; 978–1038) — Jǐnshì zhuàngyuán of 1002 (the famous sānyuán jídì “winner of all three rounds”); twice chief minister under Rénzōng; posthumously Wénzhèng and Yí guógōng; the model of early-Northern-Sòng Confucian official. His bǐlù is, despite its modest size, one of the most documentarily reliable early-Sòng bǐjì: the author had direct knowledge of the late-Zhēnzōng court (he served at it personally), and his testimony on the Tānyuān covenant of 1004–5 (Lǐ Háng’s foresight, Wáng Dàn’s role) is verified by Chángbiān.

The work is among the foundational Northern-Sòng bǐjì: with Sīmǎ Guāng’s Sùshuǐ jìwén KR3l0030, Ōuyáng Xiū’s Guītián lù KR3l0032, and Sū Zhé’s Lóngchuān lüèzhì KR3l0037, it forms the core of Rénzōng — early-Shénzōng anecdotal historiography.

Standard modern edition: collated in Zhōnghuá’s QuánSòng bǐjì; also reproduced in Sòng shǐliào cóngshū.

Translations and research

  • Hartman, Charles. The Making of a Confucian Hero. CUP 2021. Cites Wáng Wén-zhèng bǐ-lù on early-Sòng court memory.
  • Bol, Peter K. “This Culture of Ours”: Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China. SUP 1992. Uses the work for Rén-zōng-era political culture.
  • Lǐ Tāo 李燾 Xù Zī-zhì tōng-jiàn cháng-biān — draws on the work in several entries.
  • No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The Wáng Wénzhèng bǐlù is the locus classicus for the canonical Northern-Sòng narrative of Lǐ Háng’s foresight and Wáng Dàn’s eventual recognition of it — a story that became a gōngàn (standard case) in Sòng political-pedagogical literature for the value of long views over short.

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