At the beginning, he was appointed as a petty official such as Fenglilang and Dali Commentator, and later after the recommendation of the privy deputy envoy Pang Ji, he entered Beijing as a pavilion proofreader, and Tongzhi Liyuan, until the first year of He (1054), he went to Bingzhou (now Shanxi) with Pang as an official, and changed the general judgment of Merge Prefecture.

In the second year of Congjia (1057), Pang was convicted for something, and Sima Guang took the blame and left the state. In the last years of Song Renzong, he served as the Tianzhang Pavilion to be made and served as a servant of the Tongzhi Academy. In the sixth year of Jiayou (1061), he moved to the House of Residence and Tongzhiyuan.

Sima Guang aspired to compile the Tongjian as a reference for the rulers. In the third year of Zhiping (1066), he wrote eight volumes of the "Tongjian" from the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty, and entered the Song Yingzong, and Yingzong ordered to set up a bureau to renew the repair, and provide expenses and additional personnel.

Song Shenzong gave the title of the book "Zizhi Tongjian" with his book "In the Lessons of the Past, in Charge of Governing the Dao", and personally wrote the preface. Wang Anshi implemented the new policy with the support of Song Shenzong, and he vigorously opposed it, arguing with Anshi in front of the emperor, emphasizing the immutability of the laws of the ancestors.

Shenzong appointed him as the privy deputy envoy, but he insisted on resigning. In the third year of Xining (1070), he invited himself to leave Beijing, and knew Yongxingjun (now Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province) as a bachelor of Duanming Palace, and retired to Luoyang in the following year, and left Xijing to guard the imperial history platform, and continued to compile the "Tongjian" with the bookstore, and completed the book in the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1084). After the book was completed, Sima Guangguan was promoted to a senior minister.

In the eighth year of Yuanfeng (1085), Song Zhezong ascended the throne, and the Empress Dowager Gao listened to the government and summoned him to Beijing to preside over the state affairs.

In September of the first year of Yuan You, Sima Guang ruled for a year and a half, and passed away. At the age of 68, "the people of Beijing boycotted the market to hang, and the clothes were laid, and the people who cried in the alleys were covered with tens of millions", and when the coffin was sent to Xia County, "the people cried and mourned, like crying their private relatives." Tens of thousands of people came from all over the world to bury them", "Every family hangs an elephant, and the meal must be blessed". Song Zhezong buried him in Gaoling.

After his death, he posthumously presented Taishi, Wen Guogong, and Wen Wenzheng. Bestow the monument "Chungcheong Pure Virtue".

His posthumous works include "Latent Void", "Junyun Fingers", "Class Edition", "Heirloom Collection", "Hanlin Poetry and Grass", "Notes on Ancient Literature", "Yi Shuo", "Notes on Taixuanjing", "Notes on Yangzi", "Shuyi", "Travels in the Mountains", "Continuation of Poetry", "Medical Question", "Records of Shushui", "Tongjian Catalogue", "Tongjian Examination of Differences", "Tongjian Lifting Essentials", "Ji Gulu" ("Historical Map", "Deeds of Monarchs and Ministers of Past Dynasties" and "List of Hundred Officials and Ministers"), "Cutting Rhyme Finger Palm", "Sima Wenzheng Public Collection" and so on 37 kinds.

Sima Guang is politically a standard old-fashioned faction. He wrote several times to oppose Wang Anshi's reforms. He believes that the new countries with criminal law use light codes, and the chaotic countries use heavy codes, which is the world's light and the world's heavy, not to change the law.

The so-called "ruling the world is like a living room." I will fix it. If it's not a big deal, it's not a big deal. Sima Guang and Wang Anshi. As far as dedication to the country is concerned, the two are the same, but in terms of specific measures. Each has its own bias.

Wang Anshi mainly focused on the financial and military problems at that time, and solved the urgent needs through drastic economic and military reform measures.

Sima Guang believes that in the period of shoucheng, we should focus on the rectification of the ethical code to bind people's thinking within the original system, and even if it is reformed, it must be safe, because "if it is changed by a great evil, it will not be possible to obtain good craftsmen and beautiful materials, and now there is no both, and the ministers are afraid that the wind and rain will not be sheltered."

Most of Wang's opponents of the new law usually do not have any insight into the actual political issues, and their reasons for opposition include "the new law disturbs the people" and "the law of the ancestors cannot be abolished", but they cannot come up with any better reform methods.

For example, one of the reasons Sima Guang criticized Wang Anshi's reform was that the southerners could not be in power, and he played Song Shenzong and said: "The Min people are narrow and dangerous, the Chu people are easy, and now the two prime ministers are both Fujian people, and the two are Chu people who participate in politics, and they will inevitably invoke the people of the village party to fill the imperial court, so why should the customs be more pure?"

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, Sima Guang strongly opposed Wang Anshi's change of law, and Shangshu asked for an external appointment. In the fourth year of Xining (1071), he sentenced Xijing Yushitai, and since then he has lived in Luoyang for fifteen years, regardless of political affairs. During this leisurely period, Sima Guang presided over the compilation of the 294-volume 3 million-word chronicle "Zizhi Tongjian".

From the 23rd year of King Weilie of Zhou (403 BC) to the 6th year of Emperor Shizong of Zhou (959) after five dynasties, the Zizhi Tongjian recorded the history of 16 dynasties in 1362 years, and was edited and completed in 19 years.

He said in the "General Examination of Entering the Governance of Funds": "The ministers are now with muscles and bones, their eyes are faint, their teeth are few teeth, and their consciousness is decayed. The energy of the minister is all in this book. Sima Guang devoted his life to this book, and he died less than two years after it was written.

From the beginning of the publication of the "Zizhi Tongjian" to the deletion and finalization, Sima Guang wrote it himself, without pretending to be the hands of others. Wang Mingsheng, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, said: "This is a book that must be indispensable in the world, and a book that scholars must not read. 」

No insults

Sima Guang's life of integrity, should also be influenced by his father's honest education, about five or six years old, once, he wanted to peel the walnut, he couldn't do it, his sister wanted to help him, but he couldn't get rid of it, so the sister left first, and then a maidservant girl used hot soup for him to successfully peel the hu kernel, and when the sister came back, he asked, "Who did it for you?" He deceived his sister that she did it herself.

His father reprimanded him, "How dare a boy lie? Sima Guang didn't dare to lie from then on, and when he was older, he wrote down this matter on paper and encouraged himself until he died, and he didn't tell a lie. Shao Yong's son, Shao Bowen, also saw this paper. Chen Hongmou, a Qing scholar, said: "Sima Guang has been sincere all his life, and he has been based on non-deception. Later generations' judgment on Sima Guang's coffin is also a word of "sincerity".

Break the urn to save your friends

Once, Sima Guang was playing in the backyard with his friends. There was a large water tank in the yard, and a child climbed on the edge of the tank to play, and accidentally fell into the water tank. The tank was so deep that I saw that the kid was about to run out of tops. When the other children saw that something had happened, they were so frightened that they cried and shouted, and ran outside to ask for help from adults.

Sima Guang was in a hurry, picked up a large stone from the ground, and threw it at the water tank, "Bang!" The water tank broke, the water in the tank flowed out, and the child who was drowned in the water was saved.

The little Sima Guang is calm and calm, and he has been a little adult since he was a child. This fortuitous incident made Xiao Sima Guang famous, and some people in Tokyo and Luoyang drew pictures of this incident, which was widely circulated by people.

Sell horses with integrity

Sima Guang wanted to sell a horse, this horse had pure and beautiful coat, tall and powerful, and a docile temperament, but it was a pity that he had lung disease in summer. Sima Guang said to the steward, "This horse has a lung disease in the summer, and he must tell the buyer about it. The butler smiled and said, "How can anyone like you tell us that we sell horses that no one can see!"

Sima Guang did not agree with the steward's view, and said to him, "How much a horse is is a small matter, and if you don't tell the truth to people, you will ruin your reputation as a man. We must be honest, if we lose integrity, the loss will be even greater. The butler was ashamed.

Low-key and indifferent

Sima Guang has an indifferent temperament and does not like luxury, he once mentioned in "Discipline and Frugality" that the elders would dress him in gorgeous clothes when he was young, and he was always shy and blushing and took it off.

During the Baoyuan period, he was received by Emperor Renzong. At the banquet, everyone was full of flowers on their heads, playing and having fun unscrupulously, but Sima Guang was sitting in danger and did not wear flowers. The colleague reminded, "Wearing flowers is the emperor's order!" Sima Guangcai reluctantly wore a small flower.

Sima Guang had an old servant who always called him "Junshi Xiucai". Once, Su Xuan came to Sima Guang's mansion, and when he heard the title of the servant, he couldn't help but laugh, and joked: "Your master is not a showman, he is already the prime minister, and everyone is called 'Jun Shi Xianggong'!" The old servant was taken aback, and when he saw Sima Guang later, he respectfully called him "Jun Shi Xianggong", and said happily: "Fortunately, Master Da Su taught me" Sima Guang sighed: "This old servant of my family is really bad to be taught by Zi Zhan." (To be continued......)