Throughout the ages, there have been three major books in this world: "The First Book of Ancient and Modern History", Wang Xizhi's "Orchid Pavilion Preface", the original manuscript has long been lost in the Tomb of Emperor Taizong of Tang. The third line of the book is Su Dongpo's "Cold Food Post", which was exiled to Dongying after the Invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance, and now the authenticity of the Tibetan version is difficult to distinguish after the return. The only one that survives is the second line of the book, which is still there.
This is the Tang Dynasty Yan Zhenqing's handwritten "Sacrifice nephew manuscript" original size 28cm×80cm, the full text of a total of 234 words, now in Taipei National Palace Museum, this is a valuable treasure left by history for me and other Chinese descendants.
What many people don't know is that behind this peerless treasure, there is also a story of jingwei crying blood through the long rainbow, and the blood color has gone through thousands of autumns, and the touching people are still deep!
On the first day of the first lunar month in 756, An Lushan, who launched the An Shi Rebellion, declared himself Emperor of Great Yan.
In the majestic palace of the eastern capital Luoyang, the fat Hu people sat on the throne he had coveted for a long time, and they were momentarily arrogant. He must not have thought at this time that it would not be long before someone pointed at his nose and scolded angrily: You bearded slave who herds sheep, you...
The fierce man who scolded him in front of his face later died, but his name was written by Wen Tianxiang into his ancient song "Song of Righteous Qi": "For Zhang Suiyang's teeth, for Yan Changshan's tongue." "This person is Yan Changshan, whose real name is Yan Gaoqing." From the famous Yan family of #Linyi, Shandong, he is the brother of the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing.
Before the An Shi Rebellion, Yan Gaoqing was under An Lushan for a long time, and originally served as Fanyang Hucao to join the army, and was later promoted by An Lushan, and was ordered to be Taishou (太守), zhenshou Changshan (present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei). Yan Zhenqing, on the other hand, was Pingyuan Taishou (平原太守) (present-day Dezhou, Shandong), who was also under the jurisdiction of Jiedu An Lushan.
In November 755, the An Shi Rebellion broke out, Andi Lushan and Shi Siming raised an army to rebel, and the rebels soon captured twenty-three of the twenty-four counties in Hebei.
Tang Xuanzong sighed in panic, "Of the twenty-four counties of Hebei, none of them are loyal to their subjects!" Later, when Emperor Xuanzong heard that only the Northern Plains Taishou Yan Zhenqing was still holding out alone, he sighed and said, "I don't know what Yan Zhenqing's shape is, so it is so!" ”
In the midst of Xuanzong's sigh, the rebels marched south with great momentum, and the Northern Prefectures and Counties, which had been leveled for a long time and did not know what the sword soldiers were, were almost completely lost in a short period of time, and An Lushan Shi Siming was invincible, and soon occupied most of the Central Plains. Only thirty-three days later, the rebels attacked the eastern capital Luoyang, Tun Bing Tong Guan, and prepared to directly attack the Tang capital Chang'an.
Tang Xuanzong fled with Yang Guifei Cangchao, but at this time, Yan Zhenqing, who was too defensive in the plains, was still stubbornly holding out, and his cousin Yan Gaoqing had already gone further and began to plan a deadly counterattack against the rebels!
In the face of this sudden and powerful Anshi rebellion, the Yan brothers showed extraordinary bravery, unequivocally raised the banner of righteousness to defend the Tang Dynasty, and snipped the rebels!
Yan Gaoqing, who was trapped in the rear of the rebel army, although there were few soldiers under him, was awe-inspiring and fearless, and took the lead in launching a counter-charge behind An Lushan.
Yan Gaoqing first identified the military stronghold located at the junction of Hebei and Shanxi, JingxingGuan, which is also known as Jingxingsai, which is a throat road in the Taihang Mountains, and the "Lü's Spring and Autumn" calls it one of the Nine Plugs in the World, which is famous for being easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Han Xin once shook the world in this great war, and the place where the ancient soldiers must fight.
If this area is controlled by the rebels, the Tang army in the north of Jiuyuan wants to go to Hebei to put down the rebellion, it must take a long detour. And JingXing Shou would be An Lushan's confidant, and the righteous son Li Qinzhuo had five thousand military horses. If we attack Jingxing Pass by force, it will be extremely difficult for Yan Gaoqing to succeed in the small number of troops under his command.
So Yan Gaoqing did not move. Pretending that he was inconvenient to see things because of a minor illness, he handed over the work to The Chief Shi Yuan Luqian, and then falsely passed on An Lushan's order and summoned Li Qin to come to the matter.
Li Qin rushed to Changshan overnight, and Yan Gaoqing, citing the fact that he could not open the city gate at night, asked him to live in a post office outside the city first, and sent the commander Shi Yuan Luqian to take the army and the local rich to comfort him. Old wine and delicacies, beautiful people waiting, Li Qinzhuo unconsciously, drunk drunk. When he was asleep, Yuan Luqian took the opportunity to kill Li Qinzhuo and his entourage, throwing the body into the gushing Tuotuo River.
Yan Gaoqing's soldiers recaptured Jingxing without bloodshed, and then he waited for the rabbit and took two heavy generals, Gao Mi and He Qiannian under An Lushan. However, seeing that the overall situation was becoming more and more critical, his anxiety for the country did not stop at all. With just such a few manpower, he aimed directly at the core town of An Lushan: Fan Yang.
Although the military strength is limited, the literati have their own literary tricks. Yan Gaoqing first sent people everywhere to spread the text, saying that the 200,000 rebel army of the imperial court had been mobilized, and they would soon arrive at Jingxing: The counties of the various parties, if the imperial court is now anyway, the past mistakes can be written off, if you are still obsessed, then the family will be destroyed and regretted! Another hundred meters of cavalry were sent, dragging firewood and grass behind their horses, and the smoke and dust rolled to create a momentum, and the news quickly spread throughout Hebei, and the county guards in various places showed goodwill to Yan Gaoqing.
Seeing that the time was gradually ripe, Yan Gaoqing sent his son Yan Quanming to travel back and forth between Changshan, Zhending, Neiqiu and other places to consult with Yuan Luqian, Zhending County's Chengjia Shen, Neiqiu County's Chengzhang Tongyou, and others, and secretly contacted Taiyuan Yin Wang Chengye, and even sent his subordinate Ma Fu to Fanyang to persuade Fanyang to guard the general, and Jia Xun, the deputy envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, to surrender and take Youzhou.
Soon, many counties in Hebei re-established the banner of the Tang Dynasty, and the arrogant An Lu Mountain and the backyard had been set on fire. Especially Fan Yang, if the plan against Jia Xun succeeds, An Lushan, who has no old nest, will lose his foundation at once.
Jia Xun's heart was moved, but the bad thing was that he was a hesitant personality, worried, unable to make up his mind, dragging on and on, and the news leaked out, and it actually reached An Lushan's ears.
Hearing this heavy secret report, An Lushan was shocked and quickly sent his henchmen to arrest Jia Xun and strangle him with a rope. Youzhou reassigns the generals. Hearing the news, Yan Gaoqing regretted stomping her feet and sighing!
The eastern capital Luoyang also learned that everything was Yan Gaoqing's mastermind, and it was said that after An Lushan heard the news, he was terrified, and he never expected that Yan Gaoqing, who had greeted him with a smile on his face, actually gave him such a heavy blow behind his back. Hatred tickled his teeth, and a bloody revenge was brewing.
However, Yan Gaoqing was not discouraged, still actively plotting, and once the plan could not be accomplished, he sent his son Yan Quanming to take Li Qinzhuo and others to Chang'an to offer prisoners, while boosting the morale of the DPRK and China, on the other hand, requesting an early reinforcement.
When the team was preparing to leave, Zhang Tongyou of Neiqiu County rushed to cry and complain. Yan Gaoqing asked, "Why is Zhang Xiancheng crying bitterly?" ”
Zhang Tongyou said, "My eldest brother Zhang Tongru is now serving under The Account of An Lushan, which is a major crime of exterminating the clan, please ask the county guard to let me also go to Chang'an, so as to explain it clearly to the emperor in person." ”
Yan Gaoqing then allowed Zhang Tongyou to accompany him. But the team just arrived in Taiyuan. This Zhang Tongyu was paired with the guard general Wang Chengye. The two conspired together, leaving Yan Quanming to report that Li Qinzhuo was killed by Wang Chengye, but the matter of taking Yan Gaoqing's merits to reinforce the army was brushed over.
Soon Wang Chengye was added to the rank of knight as he wished, but what awaited Yan Gaoqing was an isolated city, and Changshan fell into a situation of independence and no support, no grain and grass inside, and no rescue troops outside.
The enemy soon came, and it was a large group of rebels who wanted to attack Tongguan but turned north.
Changshan City was small, and there were few grain and grass troops, yan Gaoqing knew that he was more fierce and less fortunate, but he still did not hesitate in the face of danger, and together with Yuan Luqian, he called on soldiers and swore to coexist and die with Changshan.
Shi Siming's soldiers surrounded Changshan and captured Yan Gaoqing's son Yan Jiming, hoping to force Yan Gaoqing to surrender. Although Yan Gao saw that his son was in the hands of thieves, he was willing to give in to this, and scolded An Lushan Shi Siming in the city, Shi Siming was furious, and Yan Jiming died!
In 758, Yan Jiming's cousin Yan Zhenqing sent someone to Changshan, Hebei Province, and after several twists and turns, found Yan Jiming's decapitated head, sprinkled tears to sacrifice it, and while shedding tears, he wrote this "Sacrifice Nephew Post" known as "the second line of the world's book post"!
The full text consists of 23 lines and 234 words. Affectionately recounts the story of Changshan Taishou Yan Gaoqing's father and son, who stepped forward and resolutely resisted during the rebellion in An Lushan, and took the story of righteousness. Looking at this scribbled manuscript, we can imagine how sad and majestic Yan Lugong was in his chest when he wrote that "the lonely city is besieged, the father is trapped and the son is dead, and the nest is overturned"!
Yan Jiming's death was just the beginning, and the Yan family's great tragedy continued mercilessly.
Changshan was besieged for eight days and eight nights, until the ammunition ran out of food, Yan Gaoqing led the soldiers to a deadly fight with the rebels, but Changshan finally fell, and Yan Gaoqing was captured. After being tortured, Yan Gaoqing was escorted to Luoyang, where An Lushan was already waiting for him in the palace.
As soon as he saw Yan Gaoqing, An Lushan couldn't wait, angrily pointing at him and scolding: "You were originally just a small household Cao official of Fan Yang, I promoted you to be Changshan Taishou, where am I sorry for you, you actually betrayed me?!" ”
An Lushan was condescending and indignant, thinking that Yan Gaoqing would tremble and tremble, but he could be reasonable and eloquent! Where is An Lushan worthy of being Yan Gaoqing's opponent! In particular, Dayi was firmly in Yan Gaoqing's hands!
At the age of sixty-four, the white-haired Yan Gaoqing immediately scolded back without hesitation: "Joke! My Yan family has been a Tang courtier for generations, a thief for the country, hate can not kill you, which door is it a rebellion? You shy dog, originally a slave of the Hu people who herded sheep, Meng Tianzi Longen, who is also the envoy of the Three Towns Festival, where is the court a little sorry for you, you are still rebellious! And you is also superfluous, why don't you kill me quickly! ”
An Lushan was poor in words, and this Hu'er was even more angry and inexplicable, and ordered someone to tie Yan Gaoqing to the bridge pillar of the Tianjin Bridge in Luoyang, not only to ask for the old man's life, but also to cut and torture a little knife to vent his anger.
Yan Gaoqing kept cursing, and the traitor cut off his tongue and smiled: See if you can still scold? Yan Gaoqing had no tongue in his mouth, his speech was slurred, and his eyes were all cracked, but he still roared and roared!
This is the Yan Changshan tongue in Wen Tianxiang's righteous qi song!
On the same day, yan gaoqing was pushed onto the execution ground, as well as Yan Gaoqing's young son Yan Sheng, nephew Yan Xue, and the heavy general Yuan Luqian, a total of more than thirty people. The furious An Lushan ordered that everyone be beheaded first, and some were cut off again, in order to make them suffer before they died, and the scene was extremely tragic!
Among them, Yuan Luqian was the most fierce, and he saw a rebel general next to him, spraying blood on his face, so he was tortured even more cruelly. The onlookers of the Tang Dynasty, the pedestrians who crossed the Tianjin Bridge, young and old, all shed tears secretly when they saw it.
Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice nephew manuscript" has left many traces of alterations, and it has been said that as a super calligraphy work, this seems to be a little imperfect.
But who can imagine what kind of mood Yan Zhenqing felt when he wrote the second line of the world's book more than two years after yan gaoqing's death, who already knew everything!
When I think of my brother who died tragically, when I think of my brother and nephew's righteousness of dying for the festival, when I think of the more than thirty victims of the bridge, the blue blood is spilled! What a deep blood tear and pity he had in his chest!
This sacrifice manuscript is short 234 words, among which there are thoughts and thoughts, pain, hatred, sorrow and regret, although the ink is uneven, the words are considered, and there are many deletions and changes, but everywhere there is affection and affection. The mournful heart of a generation of book gods jumped on the paper.
Under the extremely sad and indignant mood, Yan Lugong disregarded the clumsiness of the pen and ink, and the words fluctuated with the emotions, which was purely a natural outpouring of spirit and ordinary workmanship. This is the only work in the entire history of calligraphy, if it is not perfect, what is perfect!
As the saying goes: Heavenly reason cycle, retribution is not happy. There are two more things that must be explained here.
In 757, a year after Yan Gaoqing's tragic death, An Lushan suffered from many diseases, blindness in both eyes, increasing temper, and often whipping subordinates, and was later hated by his son An Qingxu, who joined forces with the counselor Yan Zhuang and his subordinate Li Pig'er to kill him, and when he died, his intestines flowed all over the place.
Later, chang'an and Luoyang were restored, and Yan Zhenqing took what happened to Changshan and Jingxing, according to the facts, played Tang Suzong Li Heng, causing Changshan to fall into an isolated and helpless county magistrate Zhang Tongyou, who was ordered by Emperor Suzong to be beaten to death, and was also punished by a belated retribution.
Yan Zhenqing
In 784, Yan Zhenqing, who was seventy-five years old but still had an iron backbone, embarked on an almost identical path of return with his cousin Yan Gaoqing. He was squeezed by the traitors and went to the enemy camp with the momentum of "although tens of millions of people are looking forward to it", but after being detained, he preferred to die unyieldingly, rejected the thief in awe, and was imprisoned by the rebel general Li Xilie for two years and then hanged and killed!
Zhang Fengxiang of the Ming Dynasty once said that there were many loyal subjects who were martyred in ancient times, but the deaths of Yan Zhenqing and Yue Fei were the most stifling: "The hatred of heroes is still not sold!" ”
Two years later, Li Xilie was poisoned to death by the general Chen Xianqi, and the remnants were surrendered to Tang.
Since ancient times, Yan Zhenqing, or Mr. Luo Guanzhong, said the best, concise and easy to understand: "Wangu Zhenqing is not sharp, and there is nothing in the world." Loyalty is still there, and the fierce bombardment of the husband is still there."