The author of the poem "Hoeing The Day of the Afternoon" has a poor character and a luxurious life, and he is also unfair to the peasants, how is the "poet of mercy for the peasants" Li Shengren?
Li Shenqi may not be familiar with you, but his poems are well-known at home and abroad, leaving their names for thousands of years, and even being selected as the first grade of primary school must memorize ancient poems -
At noon on the day of hoeing, sweat drops under the soil, who knows the plate of Chinese food, the grains are hard.
We in China pay attention to characters like its people, and literature is like its people, but throughout history, there are many people whose literary character is extremely inconsistent, such as Cai Jing, who has extremely high calligraphy attainments, who writes a good hand, and who is full of economics, but he is a traitor who has brought calamity to the country and the people; another example is Yan Chong, who writes articles that no one can compare, wen is like a spring, but he is a traitor who has made a right, and such examples abound, and Li Sheng, who is mentioned in this article, is one of them.
The Li family has been an official for generations, and Li Shen's great-grandfather was Zhongshu Ling during the Wu Zetian period, and both his grandfather and father served as local officials. However, when Li Shen was six years old, due to the death of his father, a major change occurred in the family, and the responsibility for raising him fell on his mother. The Old Book of Tang records: "The gentleman was six years old and lonely, and the mother Lu clan taught the scriptures", it can be said that the mother was Li Gentry's education initiator, and the more difficult life gave him the opportunity to get close to agricultural affairs, plus when Li Gentry went out to study at the age of twenty, he saw with his own eyes how the peasants worked hard for grain, and it can be said that Li Gentry wrote "Compassion for Farmers" with a certain realistic basis.
At the age of twenty-seven, Li Shen entered the examination and rose steadily from then on. He soared all the way from Guozijian assistant teacher, and finally to the prime minister, but Hengtong's official fortune did not let him use his power and resources to seek happiness for the poor peasants in his pen, but he no longer sympathized with the peasants, and he was wrapped in power and materialism, and he eventually became a corrupt official who was extremely vicious and indulgent.
1, in order to eat chicken tongue, kill three hundred chickens
A person's luxury can be reflected in many aspects, as far as food is concerned, eating mountain treasures and seafood is a luxury; cooking with extremely complex techniques is a luxury, such as Empress Dowager Cixi's bad teeth in her later years, let the cook stuff the meat in bean sprouts and take its delicacy; in order to eat a certain thing, it is also a luxury to waste more food, and it is said that Li Shen loves chicken tongue, in order to satisfy his gluttony, the back kitchen has to slaughter three hundred live chickens every day, which is really unjust.
Legend goes to legend, and there must still be real evidence on the truth of this matter. In the relevant historical materials about Li Sheng, there is no such record, which should be fabricated by later generations. Although the authenticity of killing three hundred chickens in order to eat chicken tongue is doubtful, it also shows from another angle that Li Shen does live a luxurious life.
2, the prostitutes are in groups, and there is no mercy in giving people
The Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi has a famous ancient poem called "Gift to Li Sikong Whore": Gao Gong Yun Yu Gong Like Makeup, Spring Wind Song Du Wei Niang. It is common to see idle things, and cut off the Suzhou thorn history sausage. It is about the feast and drinking that happened in Li Sheng's house, and the commonplace of the idiom also comes from here.
It is said that one day Li Sheng invited Liu Yuxi to dinner, the pomp and circumstance can be quite large, not only is there no shortage of food and wine, but there are also private prostitutes pouring wine and singing next to them, and beautiful women are like clouds. Liu Yuxi had never seen such a big scene, and was shocked in an instant, during which there was a prostitute, named Du Weiniang, Liu Yuxi was emotional at her eyes, and the two secretly sent Qiu Bo and eyebrows. Liu Yuxi hardened his scalp and asked Li Shen to give Du Weiniang to him, but he did not expect that Li Shen did not raise his eyebrows and immediately agreed, so Liu Yuxi made this poem.
From this incident, it can be seen that Li Shen is such a luxurious person, which is completely inconsistent with the compassionate image of "who knows the plate of Chinese food, the grains are hard", and it is also touching.
If it is said that Li Gentry indulged in extravagance, it would not be enough to be cursed for eternity after death, and he was also sentenced by the emperor to the fate of "cutting the three officials of the gentry, and the descendants are not allowed to be". There are three main reasons for this:
1, sell the reputation of fishing, fish and meat people
Who knew that the poet who wrote the poem of mercy on the peasants had in the blink of an eye become a cruel official who did not care about the lives of the people in pursuit of fame?
One year, there was a locust plague in the place under Li Shen's jurisdiction, and the locusts crossed the border, the crops were lost, and the people were not happy. Faced with such a situation, Li Shen not only did not start to solve it, but instead concealed the real situation, sang praises to the emperor, and shouted that the locusts had crossed the border and did not damage the crops, all of which were "holy graces". Another time, in order to provide the imperial court with rare tributes, in the cold winter moon, Li Gentry forced the people to dig clams in the cold and frozen river water, regardless of whether the people were dead or alive.
Because Li Shen was a cruel official, the people were very afraid of him, and many people even crossed the Yangtze River and fled outside, and when his subordinates reported this to him, Li Shen said disapprovingly: "Have you ever seen wheat held in your hand, the full grains are always below, and those inferior wheat go with the wind without reporting to me." He meant that the people who fled because of his cruel deeds were inferior wheat, arrogant in tone, and could not speak of loving the people as sons.
2, do not miss the old feelings, arrogant
In the official field, it is very important to win over relations, this is already the unspoken rule of the official field, if so, there is nothing wrong with it, but there are not many li gentry who "do everything possible to please you when you are needed, and do not want you to be difficult when you are needed".
At that time, it was normal for the officialdom to form gangs and factions, but Li Shen was a stutter, patting his ass and not recognizing people after his hair, which was really despicable. It is said that when he was a commoner, because of the need to woo a person named Li Yuanjiang, he often visited him at his home, and when he met, he was called "uncle", which was flattering. However, after Li Shengfei Huang Tengda, he had to call Li Yuan general "Grandpa" before he was willing to give up. Such a person who is flattering, small-bellied, ruthless and unjust, is also a gentleman.
There is also a small story recorded in the "Tang Yulin" that after Li Sheng passed the Kaifeng River after becoming an official, a man walked in front and did not give way to Li Sheng when he passed. Such a small matter provoked Li Shen to be thunderous, and he actually asked his subordinates to arrest this innocent passerby. Its arrogance is evident.
3. Small-minded and falling into the well
Li Shen did so many bad things in the front, in the final analysis, it is still a stain on his personality, which has little impact on his political career, at most it has left a bad reputation in the folk, and what really crushed Li Shen is the "Wu Xiang Case" he presided over at the age of 74. He literally sent Wu Xiang to the execution ground on the false charges of forcibly marrying a woman and embezzling and bribing. In fact, even if Wu Xiang's two crimes were true, they would not lead to death, so why did Li Sheng have to put him to death?
It has to do with factional struggle. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the declining shi forces and the rising Shu forces fought each other, and the contradictions were fierce. Among them, the head of the Shi clan is Li Deyu, whose party is called Li Dang, and the Shou clan is headed by cattle monks and children, becoming a cow party, and the two sides are leaning on each other, known as the "Niu and Li Party Dispute". Li Shen was a follower of Li Xiang's party, and Wu Xiang was a member of the Niu Party, which is not difficult to explain why Li Shen wanted to kill Wu Xiang.
Although the imperial court expressed doubts about this matter and sent Yushi Cui Yuanzao to review it, the results proved that Wu Xiang's corruption was true, but the number was small, and as for the forced marriage of people's women, it was out of thin air. Li Shen's obstinate behavior sent Wu Xiang to the guillotine. The factional struggle in the late Tang Dynasty had reached the point of crisis rule, which was naturally the focus of the imperial court's chaos, even if Li Gentry was in a high position of power, this time he bumped into the knife edge, and it was difficult to escape the catastrophe.
Flipping through the historical materials, I found that the evaluation of Li Shen was two extremes. Some people think that Li Shen is a corrupt official and a cool official, extravagant and wasteful, but some people say that Li Shengang is fierce and fierce, and he has won the hearts of the people.
Compared with the image of being accused and spurned above, Li Shen is a different person in the pen of his friend Bai Juyi. Bai Juyi said that when he moved from Xuanwu to Huainan, the originally delicate and domineering Xuanwu town people became thick, that is, "people are vulgar and thick", and it was even more because of Li Shen's efforts in the past few years that Xuanwu Town, which had failed in grain harvest, became a fertile place where no one was hungry.
Therefore, when Li Shen left office, the local people held fine wine to send off, and even wept bitterly, "like a baby's farewell mother". Isn't Bai Juyi's Li Shen a good official who loves the people like a son? Why is the same person, but the evaluation difference is so large?
Li Shen mentioned one thing in the preface to one of his poems, "But to The West of Zhejiang":
In the eighth year of Taihe (834), there was a great drought in western Zhejiang, crops failed, rice prices soared, and the people stared at each other in the Tao, and Li Gentry, who was then an observer of eastern Zhejiang, but the eastern zhejiang under his rule just happened to be a good harvest of grain, out of public will, Li Shen took the initiative to report to the imperial court that he was willing to supply 50,000 rice in western Zhejiang at a low price to save the emergency, and the imperial court of course agreed. Unexpectedly, this move offended Wang Fan, the observer of western Zhejiang, because he concealed the local drought and did not report it, the imperial court was not aware of the suffering of the people in western Zhejiang, and Li Shen's kindness made him look ashamed.
Therefore, Wang Fan joined forces with Li Zongmin and Wang Ya, the backbone of the Niu Party in the middle of the dynasty, to frame Li Sheng, saying that he used Chen Mi as good rice for huge profits, and Li Sheng was demoted again. Later, Wang Fan's deeds were exposed and denounced, and Li Shen was reappointed to enter the former Zhejiang Province under Wang Fan's jurisdiction, and as far as the eye could see, Zhejiang West had not yet recovered from the drought for many years, and even the famous Linping Lake had dried up, and the reeds in the water were even dried up in pieces.
Looking at Li Sheng, a historical figure, we must first know that he is a politician, not a simple poet of compassion for the people's suffering, and Du Fu is different. The nature of a politician determines that the evaluation of future generations is so confusing.
In the end, Wu Xiang was rehabilitated, and At this time, Li Sheng, who had been dead for nine days, was still punished by "cutting the three officials of the gentry, and the descendants were not allowed to be shi". Don't people want a good reputation in the world? When Li Sheng was alive, he enjoyed all the glory and wealth, under one person, above ten thousand people, but after his death, he ended up with such a fate, and he also tired his descendants, so that the whole family was humiliated, which was really a pity!