Between Historiography and Xiaoshuo

Marked by Sima Qian’s Records of the Historian, Chinese historiography had been fully developed. But it was not until the Tang Dynasty that xiaoshuo came onto the stage. How did the Chinese narrative literature evolved during the 800-year interval that witnessed the rise and fall of the Han, Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties? Undoubtedly, historiography continued throughout this period to be the mainstream. How did this mainstream give birth to any tributaries? What were these tributaries?