Although the Sui Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted only 38 years, it also produced many famous generals who shocked the ancient and modern worlds, such as Han Baohu, He Ruobi, Changsun Sheng and so on. Among them, Changsun Sheng, who served as the Sui Dynasty Yi Tongsan Division, the Zuo Xun Wei Hun Riding General, the Left Leading General, the Right Xiao Wei General, etc., was deeply used by the Sui Wen Emperor and the Sui Emperor for two generations of emperors, and was a very legendary figure. I say this because he has two characteristics.
The first feature of Changsun Sheng is that he is highly skilled in martial arts, especially archery, which is a must in the world. Changsun Sheng once competed with shabaoliu khan, the leader of the nomadic tribes in northern Saibei, and just in the sky, "tasted two eagles, flew and fought for meat", he shot an arrow with a bow and arrow, "one shot and two passes", creating the legendary deed of "one arrow and two eagles".
His second characteristic was that he had a good son-in-law who had been famous for thousands of years: Tang Taizong Li Shimin. Changsun Sheng's daughter Changsun Shi (長孙氏), in the ninth year of Daye (613), married Li Shimin, the son of Li Yuan, who remained in Taiyuan during the Sui Dynasty, and the two had a deep affection. After Li Shimin became emperor, the Changsun clan also became the Empress Dowager Changsun of the Tang Dynasty.
Among the imperial concubines and princesses of the Tang Dynasty, Empress Eldest Sun was known for her virtuousness and virtuousness, dignified and virtuous, and she was a lifelong husband and son, who could be called Li Shimin's virtuous assistant. In the terrifying waves of the Tang Dynasty's founding war, as well as in the turbulent battle for the throne before Li Shimin ascended the throne, the Changsun clan was always accompanied by the left and right, "often discussing things with the superiors, so they offered to take the place, and benefited Li Shimin a lot", often giving Li Shimin ideas and ways to benefit Li Shimin a lot.
Born into a family of officials and eunuchs, the Eldest Sun clan has been full of reading history since childhood, has received an orthodox Confucian education, is a woman who knows books and is deeply righteous, although she is an empress, she is not luxurious, her life is simple, she likes to read, and she abides by etiquette. The history books of successive dynasties praised her for this, with the Zizhi Tongjian praising her as "the empress dowager's benevolence, filial piety, and good reading"; the New Book of Tang praising her for "passing on the picture of the aftermath, viewing ancient good and evil for self-learning, and being polite and respectful", all of which affirmed her virtues.
The Tang Dynasty was a land of poetry, and many women could write poetry, and the graceful and elegant Eldest Sun clan was no exception. The Quan Tang Poems also contain a poem left by the Eldest Sun, "Spring Travels". But what is surprising is that this posthumous work of the Changsun family, both in content and style, is very "open", which is very different from her personality.
The full text of the poem is as follows: "The peach blossoms in the Upper Garden are bright as the sun, and lan concubines are in love with spring." Inoue Shin-momo steals her face, and the eaves are light. Flowers come to see dancing butterflies, and trees grow and listen to warblers. Why should Lin Xia borrow from afar, the outstanding style is famous in the past. ”
The scene depicted in this poem is in the bright spring light, a deep palace noblewoman looks at the peach red willow green, bees flying butterflies, can't help but spring heart, remembering her old days of wind and flow. The style of the whole poem is gorgeous and frivolous, the expression of feelings is bold and direct, and a thick wind and dust is blowing in the face, which is in stark contrast to the consistent image of the eldest grandson's dignified and virtuous and motherly world, which makes it hard for people to believe that she can write such a poem.
However, the Quan Tang Poems is recognized by later generations as the masterpiece of Tang poetry collections, the content is known for its rigor and detail, and the Changsun clan is also a well-known figure in the Tang Dynasty, so it is unlikely that the editors will make such a low-level mistake on the issue of authorship.
Moreover, this poem is included in the fifth volume of quan tang poems, which is an album of poems by concubines of the Tang Dynasty, and is included with Wu Zetian's 42 poems, and the order of ranking is still before Wu Zetian's poems. The word "Shangyuan" in the poem specifically refers to the royal garden in ancient times, and ordinary people should not use it at all. All kinds of evidence confirm that this is indeed the work of the eldest son.
Another view is that it is not surprising that Changsun wrote such a poem in the context of the Tang Dynasty era. The Tang Dynasty was the peak of feminism in ancient China, and the aristocratic women of the Tang Dynasty were also known for their bluntness and openness, and the "spring love" in the poem may only refer to the joy of the arrival of spring, and the "wind flow" may also refer to the author's memories of his outstanding beauty and temperament when he was young, nothing more. What is right and what is wrong is yet to be further studied and excavated by later generations.
References: Quan Tang Poems, New Book of Tang, Zizhi Tongjian