Li Shiji |
A Thousand Pieces of Gold was published in 2002, and looks at events under the Qin and Han dynasties through Chinese proverbs and their origins in Sima Qian's history, Shiji.
According to the Chinese histories, the Shiji and Hanshu, the original inhabitants east of the Tianshan to the beginning of the first millennium AD, the Jushi, were a people who 'lived in felt-tents, kept moving in pursuit of water and grass for grazing, and had a fair knowledge of farming.'
In 598, angry that Ying Province (營州, roughly modern Zhaoyang, Liaoning) had been attacked by Goguryeo, Emperor Wen send his son Yang Liang and the general Wang Shiji (王世積) to attack Goguryeo—a campaign that Gao tried to dissuade Emperor Wen from but Emperor Wen launched anyway, and in fact forced Gao to serve as Yang Liang's deputy.
When Dou then was on the way to attack Tang's Wei Prefecture (衛州, roughly modern Weihui, Henan), Li Shiji tried to ambush him, and his officer Qiu Xiaogang (丘孝剛) nearly killed Dou before Dou's guards killed him.
Sima Zhen, who added a prologue for the Shiji, said his surname was Jiang (姜), and proceeded to list his successors.