The three most famous books in ancient China are Wang Xizhi's "Orchid Pavilion Collection", Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of Sacrifice to the Nephew", and Su Shi's "Cold Food Post".
Yan Zhenqing is a descendant of the Yan clan of Langya, born in a family of family learning traditions, and there are many paleographers and calligraphers among the ancestors. Yan Zhenqing lost his father at a young age and was raised by his mother Yin Shi alone. When Yan Zhenqing was young, his family was poor and lacked paper and pencil, and he used pens to practice writing on the wall with loess water.
According to legend, when Yan Zhenqing was serving as a lieutenant of Liquan, he heard that Tang Xuanzong was going to personally preside over the imperial examination and wanted to apply for the examination, so he asked a bhikshuni who was good at meeting him about his future. The bhikshuni said, "Everything will be done." From the next month or two there will be pilgrimage. Yan Zhenqing asked again: "When the official transports to the head, does it serve the five products?" The bhikshuni smiled and replied, "How humble is yan lang's hope?" Yan Zhenqing said: "If you get the five officials, you can wear silk clothes and silver fish, and the son must make up for The official (if the father is an official, the son can make up for the official position, but the official rank is not high, so the official name should be the official name.") My wish has been fulfilled. The bhikkhuni pointed to a purple napkin on the seat and said, "That's the color of yanlang's shirt." Sure enough, after the release of the list, Yan Zhenqing was ranked high, was awarded the rank of Lieutenant of Chang'an, and within a few months he moved to supervise the imperial history, and then his career was smooth sailing, and the color of the official clothes changed from blue to green, and then dyed red, until the official residence erpin put on a purple shirt.
Yan Zhenqing first learned calligraphy from Chu Suiliang, and later learned From Zhang Xu, and only after the age of 50 did he form a strong and majestic style. Yan Zhenqing's zhengkai, dignified and majestic, open with momentum; the line of writing is vigorous and powerful, known as "Yan Body", and Liu Gongquan is called "Yan Liu", with the reputation of "Yan Jian Liu Bone". The people of the Song Dynasty most admired yan zhenqing's character, and many people learned yan body.
However, at first glance, Yan Zhenqing's book "Manuscript of sacrifice to the Nephew", the manuscript is even scribbled and changed, and it is a mess, which is really inconsistent with Yan Zhenqing's name of "Four Great Masters of the Book of Letters".
Why is that? We also need to start from the historical background of this "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript".
Before the An Shi Rebellion, An Lushan greatly appreciated Yan Gaoqing and recommended him to be the judge of Yingtian and act as Changshan Taishou. Yan Gaoqing sensed that An Lushan had a negative intention, so he reached an agreement with his partner Shi Yuan Luqian, handed over all the administrative affairs to him, called himself ill, and quietly sent his son Quan Ming to secretly contact various forces, with King Chengye of Taiyuan as the internal response, and sent Jia Xun, the deputy envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, to seek youzhou and prepare for the defense of An Lushan. The Yan family is a Confucian student, who looks weak, but in fact has both courage and strategy.
Yan Zhenqing, on the other hand, offended the chancellor Yang Guozhong for daring to slander him, and was ostracized from the post of Taishou of Pingyuan Commandery (平原郡, in modern Pingyuan County, Shandong Province). Yan Zhenqing also estimated that An Lushan might rebel, on the one hand, he built more cities, trained soldiers, hoarded grain, and on the other hand, he spent all day rafting and drinking with guests to relax An Lushan's suspicions.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan raised an army, and the twenty-four counties of Hebei collapsed, when Yan Zhenqing's cousin Yan Gaoqing and nephew Yan Jiming guarded Changshan Commandery (present-day southwest of Zhengding County, Hebei Province) and Yan Zhenqing Shouping County (present-day Ling County, Shandong Province). Yan Gaoqing planned to kill Li Qinzhuo, the general of An Lushan, and captured Gao Mi and He Qiannian. For a while, the seventeen counties of Hebei responded. Yan Zhenqing was pushed to be the leader of the alliance and joined forces of 300,000 troops, so that An Lushan did not dare to attack Tongguan in a hurry.
Soon, An Lushan officially raised an army. Yan Gaoqing sent people to lead more than a hundred cavalry to the south, "dragging firewood and dust, hoping that the army will arrive", this move successfully deceived the thief Zhang Xiancheng into abandoning his armor and fleeing, and the morale of the changshan army and people was greatly boosted. Since then, Yan Jiming has served as a liaison between Pingyuan and Changshan. He was the brightest child in the family, and he had the virtues of an adult when he was a teenager, like the herbs and fairy trees growing in the courtyard, which were the hope of the family. The age that should have been a big show, but was killed by An Lushan halfway, which disrupted everything. Yan Gaoqing was determined to stick to Changshan, prepared carefully, and originally did not end in defeat, but unfortunately, King Chengye of Taiyuan Yin supported the army and respected himself, and he could not save himself when he saw death.
In the 15th year of Tianbao (756), An Lushan besieged Changshan and used Yan Jiming to force Yan Gaoqing to surrender, but Yan Gaoqing was unyielding and cursed An Lushan, resulting in Yan Jiming being killed. Soon the city was destroyed by Shi Siming, and Yan Gaoqing was escorted to Luoyang to see An Lushan. Yan Gaoqing angrily scolded An Lushan and was executed. More than thirty members of the Yan family were killed.
Six days later, Shi Siming attacked Changshan and captured Yan Gaoqing's family. After being captured, Yan Gaoqing yelled at An Lushan. Enraged, An Lushan ordered him to be tied to a pillar of the Tianjin Bridge, cut off his hands and feet, and eat his flesh while dismembering. Yan Gaoqing scolded incessantly, so An Lushan ordered his tongue to be cut off. Until his death, Yan Gaoqing still cursed vaguely in his mouth.
In the first year of Emperor Suzong of Tang 's reign (758), when the Tang army regained lost territory, Yan Zhenqing sent his nephew Yan Quanming to Hebei to search for the bones of his relatives, only to find the head of his brother Yan Jiming, and his father's corpse had no chance to see him again. It was under these circumstances that Yan Zhenqing tearfully wrote this "Manuscript of Sacrifice to the Nephew" with tears in his eyes.
The original text of the "Sacrifice of Nephew Manuscripts" of the Book of Sacrifices reads: "Wei Qianyuan YuanYuan Year Nine Months Nine Months Noon Shuo Three Days NongShen From Father Thirteenth Uncle Yin Qing Guanglu Fu Envoy Holding Festival PuZhou Military PuZhou Assassination History Light Car Capital Danyang County Founded Hou Zhenqing Sacrifice to the Deceased Nephew Gifted to the Spirit of the Zanshan Doctor Ji Ming Zhi Ling Zhi Wei Er Ting Sheng Sheng Shu Shu□ Shu The Great Thief Minister Embraces the Crowd Does Not Save the Thief Minister Embraces Not To Save The Lonely City Siege Forces the Father to Trap the Nest of Death The Heavens Do Not Repent Who Is Guilty of the Poison Nian Er Remnant Hundred Bodies He Redemption Oh Mourning Wu Cheng Tianze Moving the Mu River East Near the River Guan'er Quan Ming Bi Recapitulation Changshan Ti Linger Shou Rong also from Changshan and Zi Tong also caressed and destroyed The mourning heart Yan Fang Qian □ □ Far away □ Buer The haunting of the ghost and has no knowledge Jiuke whined and mourned
The translation is: in the first year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (the year of the year of the first year of the year of the fifth year), the first day of September (the first day of the first month is the day of geng noon). The thirteenth uncle Yinqing Guanglu Doctor, the envoy who supervised the puzhou military, the puzhou thorn history, the shangqing chedu lieutenant, and the founding marquis Zhenqing of Danyang County used sake and various delicacies to sacrifice the ghost of his nephew Yan Jiming: You stood out from the flock at a young age, like the Hulian ceremonial vessel in our ancestral hall, and like the herbs in the garden, I made my Yan family very happy, and I was expecting you to get happiness, but I didn't expect the rebel thief (An Lushan) to rebel at this time. Your father (Yan Gaoqing, hereinafter referred to as Brother Ren) was loyal to the country and served as a county sheriff in Changshan. At that time, I also made the imperial court the Taishou of Pingyuan County. Brother Ren, out of love for me, asked you to contact me personally. Later, you returned to Changshan County to help us retake Tumen, and after Tumen was recaptured, the anti-thief army was defeated. But the hateful thief (Wang Chengye) did not save the army, and when you were alone and helpless, the city was captured, your father was captured, and you were martyred, just like the bird's nest was destroyed and the bird's egg was broken. Oh my God, how can you not regret this scourge? Who killed you? How can you exchange your life for a hundred me when you think that you have been mutilated in this way? alack! I was ordered by the Holy Father to be sent to Heguan as an official. Quan Ming recently came to Changshan and returned with a coffin containing your first rank. My longing for me was devastated by sorrow, and the great pain made my mood shake and my face change color. I will find another day in the future to help you choose a cemetery. Your soul knows, please don't be sad to stay in another country for too long. alack! alack! Enjoy these offerings!
Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript", unusually, gave up the exquisitely crafted penmanship method, the pen is thick, the faster it is written, and the place where the pen is connected, it is done in one go. Regarding the death of his brother and nephew, he made up words and sentences, repeatedly deliberated, afraid that he would not be able to use it accurately, sorry for the spirit of the Father and Son of the Yan Family in Heaven. This scribbled manuscript completely exposed Yan Zhenqing's mood, and this sincerity and nature were incomparable to those articles that were both neat and talented.
Later, the Manuscript of sacrifice to the Nephew was once collected by the Northern Song Dynasty Xuanhe Neifu, the Yuan Dynasty Zhang Yan, the Xian Yushu, the Ming Dynasty Wu Ting, the Qing Dynasty Xu Ganxue, Wang Hongxu and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since the Beginning of the Song Dynasty, the Manuscript of the Sacrifice of the Nephew has been carved into stone. In the early years of the Republic of China, Yanguang Room first applied photography technology to photocopy and publish the inkblot of the "Manuscript of the Nephew of the Duke of Yanlu" in the form of black and white photographs, and then applied the Colo edition photocopy to publish. The original is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.