The biographical type of historiography (jizhuanti 紀傳體) as well as the chronological type (biannianti 編年體) of historiography both had their advantages and disadvantages. The former - as represented in the official dynastic histories - was concise in the descriptions of a person's life and performance and additionally provided the reader with information about important topics of government in the monographies; on the other side, many events are reported redundantly in several chapters, and the reader does barely learn about the historical circumstances before and after the life of a certain person. The chronological type - e.g. the Zizhi tongjian 資政通鑒 - helped the reader to have an overview of the flux of time and events over a whole period, but it does not provide him with the necessary background knowledge and omitts the interesting encyclopedical part of the monographies of the biographical type of historiography. To know more about the development of factors that lead to a certain event and to learn about the outcome of intrigues, decisions and wars, the Southern Song period 宋 scholar Yuan Shu 袁樞 (1132-1205) rearranged the material of the Zizhi tongjian to create a new type of historiography that he called jishi benmo 紀事本末 "reporting origin and result of historic events". While the Zizhi tongjian hold its position as the father of a new (or rather renewed) type of historiography and the Tongjian gangmu 通鑒綱目 became the orthodox type of moralizing history, the jishi benmo type became the popular style of historiography with dozens of writings, especially during the Qing Dynasty 清. The most important histories of the jishi benmo type are listed in the table below. Yuan Shu's Jishi benmo comprises 142 chapters (juan 卷) that treat more than 1300 separate historic events in their entirety. 書名 Title Composer(s) 三朝北盟會編 Sanchao beimeng huibian (Song) 徐夢莘 Xu Mengxin 蜀鑒 Shujian (Song) 郭允蹈 Guo Yuntao 皇宋通鍳長編紀事本末 * (Huang-Song) Tongjian changbian jishi benmo (Song) 楊仲良 Yang Zhongliang 宋史紀事本末 Songshi jishi benmo (Ming) 馮琦 Feng Qi (comp.); 陳邦瞻 Chen Bangzhan (add.) 元史紀事本末 Yuanshi jishi benmo (Ming) 陳邦瞻 Chen Bangzhan 懷陵流寇始終錄 * Huailing liukou shizhong lu (Qing) 戴笠 Dai Li, 吳殳 Wu Shu 平定三逆方略 Pingding sanni fanglüe (Qing) 勒德洪 Le Dehong (et al.; imp. ord.) 平定准噶爾方略 Pingding Junggar fanglüe (Qing) 傅恆 Fuheng (et al.; imp. ord.) 平定兩金川方略 Pingding Liang Jinchuan fanglüe (Qing) 阿桂 Agui (et al.; imp. ord.) 欽定臺灣紀略 (Qinding) Taiwan jilüe (Qing Qianlong 53) Anon. (imp. ord.) 明史紀事本末 Mingshi jishi benmo (Qing) 谷應泰 Gu Yingtai 繹史 Yishi (Qing) 馬蚨 Ma Fu 左傳紀事本末 Zuozhuan jishi benmo (Qing) 高士奇 Gao Shiqi 三蕃記事本末 * Sanfan jishi benmo (Qing) 楊陸榮 Yang Lurong 通鑑前編記事本末 * Tongjian qianbian jishi benmo (Qing) 沈朝陽 Shen Chaoyang 台灣鄭氏始末記 * Taiwan Zhengshi shimo ji (Qing) 沈雲 Shen Yun 籌辦夷務始末 * Chouban yiwu shimo (Qing) 文慶 Wenqing etc. 剿平粵匪方略 * Jiaoping Yuefei fanglüe (Qing) 奕訢 Yixin 中日兵事本末 * Zhong-Ri bingshi benmo (Qing) 羅惇融 Luo Dunrong * not contained in the Siku quanshu Source: Zhongguo da baike quanshu. Zhongguo lishi, vol. 2, p. 1145.

Exemplarious translation 卷十：吳蜀通好 漢獻帝建安二十年。初，劉備在荆州，周瑜、甘寧等數勸孫權取蜀。 權遣使謂備曰：「劉璋不武，不能自守，若使曹操得蜀，則荆州危矣。今欲先攻取璋，次取張魯，一統南方，雖有十操，無所憂也。」 備報曰：「益州民富地險，劉璋雖弱，足以自守。今暴師於蜀、漢，轉運於萬里，欲使戰克攻取，擧不失利，此孫吳所難也。議者見曹操失利於赤壁，謂其力屈，無復遠念。今操三分天下已有其二，將欲飲馬於滄海，觀兵於吳會，何肯守此，坐須老乎？而同盟無故自相攻伐，借樞於操，使敵承其隙，非長計也。且備與璋托爲宗室，冀凴英靈以匡漢朝。今璋得罪於左右，備獨悚懼，非所敢聞，願加寛貸。」 權不聽，遣孫瑜率水軍住夏口。備不聽軍過，謂瑜曰：「汝欲取蜀，吾當被髮入山，不失信於天下也。」 使關羽屯江陵、張飛屯秭歸，諸葛亮據南郡，備自住孱陵。權不得已，召瑜還。及備西攻劉璋，權曰：「猾虜，乃敢挾詐如此！」備留關羽守江陵，魯肅與羽鄰界，羽數生疑貳，肅常以歡好撫之。 10.1. Wu and Shu on good terms In the 20th year of the era Jian'an "Establishing peace" of Emperor Han Xiandi, when Liu Bei still resided in Jingzhou (present-day Hubei), Zhou Yu and Gan Ning several times　tried to pursue Sun Quan (ruler of Wu) to conquer Shu (present-day Sichuan, the territory of Liu Zhang). Sun Quan sent a messanger to Liu Bei, telling him: "Liu Zhang is no martial figure, and he will be unable to protect himself. If Cao Cao (ruler of Wei) conquers Shu, Jiangnan will be in great danger. Therefore my wish is that we first conquer the territory of Liu Zhang and then that of Zhang Lu (Hanzhong, in present-day southern Shaanxi), so that the whole southern realm is unified. Under such a condition, we would not have to worry about even ten Cao Caos." Liu Bei answered: "The province of Yizhou (Shu) has a rich population, and its territory is secured by mountains. I fear that, even if Liu Zhang is weak, he would be able to defend himself well. To wage war in Shu and Han[zhong] would mean to care for a logistics train ten thousand miles long. The projection to conquer this territory by war and assuring a success for it, would be quite difficult for Sun's state of Wu. Disputing that matter, you can see that Cao Cao has been defeated at the Red Cliff, and one could say that his force has vanished, and that he is nobody to worry about in the future. Yet now, Cao Cao possesses already two parts of the three parts of China and wishes to drink his horses at the green sea and to show to his soldiers Guiji, the capital of Wu. How could we stand this situation and sit there until we grow old? Yet if we would create an alliance there would be no reason to attack each other, and this would provide rather a support for Cao Cao to perpetuate the enmity. This is by no means an intelligent plan! I am from the same family as Liu Zhang and have to hope to take over the holy duty of the house of the Han Dynasty. If Liu Zhang is accused by anybody here around, it is only me who can be afraid, so that I do not have to ask for any wrongdoings but rather have to be lenient against him. Sun Quan did not follow this suggestion and dispatched Sun Yu with a naval force to occupy Xiakou. Liu Bei did not respond to the by-marching forces [as Sun had expected] and said to Sun Yu: "If you want to conquer Shu, I have to cover my hear and to withdraw to the mountains, in order not to loose the confidence of the empire." He sent out Guan Yu to occupy Jiangling and Zhang Fei to Occupy Zigui. Zhuge Liang stood read in Nanjun, and Liu Bei himself in Chanling. In such a situation Sun Quan could not but call back Sun Yu. Liu Bei thereupon made his troops ready for a campaign against the west to attack Liu Zhang. Sun Quan exclaimed: "That scoundrel! How can he deceive me like this!" Liu Bei left back Guan Yu to protect Jiangling and Lu Su and Guan Yu in the nearby areas, and whenever there was an illoyal thought in Guan Yu, Lu Su perceived and supported him.