When Li Yifu (614-666) was living in Shudi, Yuan Tiangang, a famous Tang Dynasty xiangshu artist, was surprised to see him and said: "This young Lang Jun, the future wealth will certainly reach the limit of his courtiers, but his life expectancy will not last long." Therefore, he left him to live in his own home, and entrusted his son to him, saying: "My child has the fate of being a seven-pin official, and I hope that you will take care of and promote him." Li Yifu agreed, and then asked Yuan Tiangang: How many years does his life span have? Yuan Tiangang replied, "After you turn fifty-two, you will not be able to predict it." ”
Tang Taizong Li Shimin
Later, after appeasing Li Daliang, The Attendant Liu Huan (Later Official to Chancellor), and others successively recommended Li Yifu to the imperial court, and Emperor Taizong of Tang summoned Li Yifu and asked him to recite a poem describing crows.
The day is full of color,
The piano is accompanied by night crying.
Shanglin ruxu tree,
Do not borrow a single perch.
The meaning of the poem is: "The crow shines under the morning sun, and the clouds shine brightly, and the night song can hear "The Cry of the Dark Night". There are such dense trees growing in the royal upper forest garden, but it is impossible to borrow a branch to let it perch. ”
The meritocracy of Tang Taizong praised Li Yifu's poem and said, "I will lend you the whole tree, and it is only a branch!" Therefore, Li Yifu was promoted from a minor official of the provincial ceremony under menxia to the post of inspector of imperial history.
Li Yifu in the film and television drama
This "Yong Wu Bai Guan" good story reflects Tang Taizong's love of poetry and his emphasis on poets from one side. In fact, Li Yifu's improvised poem is also very well written. He borrowed Yong Wu to express his nostalgia and expressed his desire for promotion in a euphemistic and implicit manner. The crow in the poem actually refers to Li Yifu himself. "The sun is full of color" is reminiscent of Li Yifu bathed in the warm sunshine of the Tang Dynasty, because in ancient times, people often compared the emperor to the sun. The sentence "Night Cry in the Piano" is born from the piano song of "Dark Night Cry"; and the night cry of the crow also shows that Li Yifu has some feelings for his subordinates. The two sentences "Shanglin is like a tree, do not borrow a branch to perch" are the emotional focus of the whole poem. "Shanglin Garden" was originally a royal court in the Qin and Han dynasties, which refers to the Tang Palace Garden. The two verses are closely linked and intended to be beyond words. The deep meaning of its connotation is: the imperial court has so many official positions, but it does not have a place for me Li Yifu! It was so poetic that Tang Taizong understood it as soon as he heard it.
Is this kind of promotion too biased towards poetry? Not really. Because before Emperor Taizong of Tang personally evaluated Li Yifu's poetic talents, the ministers Li Daliang, Liu Huan, Ma Zhou, and others had repeatedly recommended Li Yifu; at the same time, although the inspector Yushi was an official of the Central Imperial History Bureau, his authority was not small, but his rank was only on the eight pins, and he was often promoted as a low-level official. Trying poetry in person can only provide a rough impression. As for li yifu's later ascension to the high position of prime minister in the Gaozong Dynasty because of his flattery of Wu Zetian, his degeneration into a traitorous courtier, and his death due to corruption and demotion, who could have predicted such a development?
"Hidden knife in laughter" and "human cat" and "Li cat" are all derived from Li Yifu
Tang Taizong, the Great Sage Emperor of Literature and Martial Arts, really had the status of a founder in the poetry circle of the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, Hu Zhenheng praised him for his great contribution of "opening up the source of yin". After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he made great efforts to govern with a beginning and an end, so that the Tang Dynasty was politically clear, economically developed, culturally prosperous, and the national strength was strong, which was called "the rule of Zhenguan" in history, which laid a solid material foundation and spiritual foundation for the prosperity of Tang poetry. In this infrastructure construction, Tang Taizong particularly emphasized the formation of a political and ideological situation in which the whole country is politically connected and people. As soon as he ascended the throne, he issued an edict to the whole country: "There is Sui Yuyu (the Sui Dynasty ruled the world), and the government is troubled. The upper part is suspicious, the lower is not harmonious. As a result, friends are swimming well, and qinghang is not clear; the secretary of state and the joint officer, please ask Si Jie. From now on, it is advisable to reform the previous drawbacks, to hand over the upper and lower levels, and to pass the salty goods. Announce to the world, so that you can know your intentions. ”
Wu Zetian
Since then, the official customs and folk customs of the Tang Dynasty have changed, and the situation of blending and smoothing up and down has gradually taken shape. Beginning with Emperor Taizong, most of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were more open-minded. That is, the arrogance of "playing like a friend and treating the column as a grass mustard" like Li Bai, the indignation of Du Fu who "does not starve to death, and the Confucian crown is more mistaken", and Bai Juyi's "Xuancheng is too defensive to know?" A blanket, a thousand and two silks, the ground does not know that the cold people want to be warm, less to take people's clothes as lichens" the direct irony, have not been punished. On the contrary, both the emperors and generals and the common people greatly appreciated their outstanding poetic talents. This relaxed political environment undoubtedly provides very favorable conditions for the expansion of the theme content of Tang poetry and the formation of various styles and genres.
At the same time, Tang Taizong himself was also an outstanding poet. He successively opened a literary museum and a hongwen museum in "the leisure of all opportunities, and the art of art", recruited literary scholars, and often chanted and sang. He also paid special attention to the improvement of the system of giving scholars to the imperial court. At the end gate, "Seeing the new soldiers embellished and coming out", Taizong couldn't help but say happily: "All the heroes of the world have come to me." Emperor Taizong also took various forms, extending the invitation to the "Four Literary Scholars" and giving them heavy awards, which were called "Dengying Prefecture (Immortal Blessed Land)" at that time. These measures have enabled poets to win the honor and respect of society.
In terms of poetic style, although Tang Taizong had not yet completely shaken off Qi Liang's gorgeous old habits, he also tried to promote the "elegance" of poetic style. In the "Preface to the Imperial Capital Chapter", it is advocated that "with the song of Xianying, the sound of the rambling" (according to legend, "Xianchi" is the music of the Yellow Emperor, "Liuying" is the music of The Emperor, and "The Song of Xianying" is a quaint and pure poetry).
Once, Emperor Taizong wrote a palace poem and asked Yu Shinan to sing peace. Yu Shinan refused, saying: "Although the Psalms of the Holy Father are skillfully written, the system is indecent and righteous. What is good on the top will be worse for the bottom. I am afraid that this poem will spread out and be imitated by the world. Therefore I dare not accept your orders. Emperor Taizong gladly accepted and rewarded Yu Shinan with fifty silk horses.
After Yu Shinan's death, Emperor Taizong specially composed a poem by Yazheng, telling the historical lessons of ancient rise and fall, and sighed: "When Zhong Zi died, Bo Ya would no longer play the piano; who would I give this poem to appreciate!" Finally, he ordered Chu Suiliang, the qiju lang, to take the poem and burn it before Yu Shinan's spiritual throne. This story not only shows that Tang Taizong advocated elegant and upright poetry, but also showed that he had the courage to listen to the opinions of his subordinates and constantly correct his own poetic style.
Tang Taizong's love of poetry, as well as a series of effective measures he took to promote poetry and give preferential treatment to poets, have always influenced future emperors and influenced the popularization and prosperity of Tang Dynasty poetry. This is also really "the good one on the top will be worse on the bottom".