Mystery of the Fourth Century

"Ban Gu?"

Hearing the name Zhu Qizhen blurted out, Zhang Ying blinked.

"Ban Chao's older brother? The Ban in the Ban-Ma duo?"

Zhu Qizhen smiled and nodded.

"That's right. That Ban Gu."

Zhang Ying immediately fell silent.

If the passage recorded in the Yongle Encyclopedia had been written by Ban Gu, then there was no need to question the authority of the source.

Ban Gu was one of the most famous writers of the Han Dynasty. His representative work was the renowned Book of Han.

The Book of Han was an official history of the Han Dynasty, divided into four sections: annals, biographies, tables, and treatises. Ban Gu was responsible for writing the annals and biographies.

With its masterful literary technique and in-depth historical research, the entire work became a classic in the history of Chinese historiography.

Although many later readers felt that the Book of Han was somewhat like a dry chronicle and that its prose had a touch of flattery, some of these criticisms were actually unfair.

When Ban Gu was compiling the Book of Han, someone once reported him for privately writing the history of the state. Emperor Ming of Han then ordered the Fufeng Commandery to arrest him. Ban Gu was imprisoned in the Jingzhao jail, and the authorities confiscated his manuscripts.

"Privately writing the history of the state" was a serious crime. For instance, Su Lang, a man from the same commandery, was once accused of forging prophetic texts. After he was arrested and imprisoned, he was executed soon afterward.

The underlying reason for the incident was a transfer of imperial power. So it was understandable that Ban Gu had been somewhat cautious in his assessment of the Han Dynasty's official history after he was released.

For instance, the Book of Han's opening chapter described