Author: Fang Changrong
Calligraphy is a unique traditional culture in China, since the beginning of the Qin Dynasty has continued for thousands of years is brilliant and splendid, calligraphy art can be described as broad and profound, diverse genres, all dynasties have emerged hall-level calligraphers. Their works have been copied by posterity, such as Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Ouyang Qing, Dong Qichang, Huai Su, Zhang Xu, etc. are outstanding representatives, in the position of the shoulder of the dynasty. This also leads to their unchanging positioning in people's eyes, that is, calligraphy, and its true appearance is often unknown to people, completely obscured by its calligraphic purpose.
Yan Zhenqing belongs to this kind of person, his calligraphy is exquisite, good at line, Kai, his zhengkai is dignified and majestic, the calligraphy is imposing, is the founding father of the "Yan body" calligraphy, and his works are fine works, which are the must-copy posts for calligraphy practitioners. His calligraphy, together with Zhao Mengfu, Liu Gongquan and Ouyang Qing, is called "the four masters of kaishu", and together with Liu Gongquan is called "Yan Liu", which is said to be "Yan Jian Liu Bone". Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" is known as the "First Line of The Book under Heaven", while Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of sacrifice to the Nephew" is known as the "Second Line of the Book of the World".
1. The Holy Family of Calligraphy, Concealing the True Eye
Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy is extremely rich, and his writing categories are as many as thirteen, covering almost all varieties of calligraphy, and he is truly the world's first calligrapher. Although Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy has reached the pinnacle of perfection, he is not a professional writer, he is a fan from beginning to end, few people know that he is a political master, but also a four-dynasty elder, his life is bright and upright, loyal and heroic. Such praise is not known to the world, but it is calligraphy that is famous in the world, which I foolishly believe is ironic and bizarre.
Yan Zhenqing's contribution to calligraphy is indelible, but his political achievements are even more worthy of a tree. He was an out-and-out politician and military figure of the Tang Dynasty, and his talent and wisdom far exceeded his own calligraphy, and it is not too much to say that he influenced the entire Tang Dynasty, and it is not him, the Tang Dynasty may have rewritten history. It is not to say that he does not believe, but to put aside his history that has been covered up by calligraphy to see whether his political achievements are more dazzling.
Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript" is well known to the world, but there are few people who can understand the blood and tears inside.
He was a civilian official, but in the face of national difficulties, he stood up and led the army to rebel, forcing himself to become a military man; In order to uphold justice, he endured humiliation and burdens in all directions, and became a loyal subject of respect; In order to save the country from the destruction of life, he generously died for eternity.
This is the portrayal of Yan Zhenqing's life, he lost his father at the age of three, lived by his mother sewing and repairing people, did not go to school, but had a studious heart and strong ambition, relying on his mother's education and self-study to pass the jinshi.
Yan Zhenqing's shortcomings are lonely and arrogant, and he is reckless and reckless, which is also the main reason for his bumpy career. After passing the examination, he was left in Beijing as an official, and his ability to govern was recognized by the superiors for his pragmatic ability to govern, and he was promoted all the way from the county lieutenant in the capital to supervise the imperial history. He was then ordered to inspect Hedong, Longzhou, and other places, and along the way, he impartially enforced the law and judged the facts of the case, many unjust, false and wrongly decided cases were rehabilitated, corrupt officials were impeached, and his honesty, ability, and efficiency were recognized, and soon after returning to Beijing, he was promoted to the position of imperial attendant in the palace.
There is an old saying that "accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", which means that the government is full of dangers, and it must be cautious and smooth to survive. But Yan Zhenqing's angry and outspoken and ruthless disposition can not rub the sand with his eyes, and his personality often embarrasses his colleagues, especially if even his superiors do not give face. So true to anyone who does not sin, empty-eyed, arrogant, arrogant and unruly hats are on the head, at first afraid of your integrity and performance, and over time it will become a disaster.
Second, the nature is straightforward, causing trouble and hurting the people
At that time, yang Guozhong, the prime minister, was not a clean official, and he was very disgusted and disgusted by Yan Zhenqing's behavior, and under the deception of the crowd, he came to a sinister trick that was not bothered and sent him to Dongdu as a judge. A year later, he returned to his original post, exile did not change his disposition, originally expected to use the transfer to thwart his arrogance, did not want to remain the same, had to transfer him to the military department of foreign lang, despite frequent transfers, Yan Zhenqing still went his own way.
Yang Guozhong did not do it, and really hoped that his talents could be used for his own use, who thought of tossing and turning was still an illiterate number. Since he did not know the system, he could not let him get in the way of his hands and feet in front of him, so he simply transferred him out of the capital and served as the Taishou of the Plains. Yan Zhenqing, who was driven out of the capital, got the opportunity to preside over the place, and it was a wishless thing to do without restraint, and the word "huan" was full of fun.
This plain county in Hebei is the territory of The JieduShi An Lu Mountain, which is a wild man who does things for his own ends and does whatever it takes. In order to climb the imperial relatives, he can not be ashamed to bow to the emperor's confidant Yang Guifei, who is many years younger than him, as a dry lady, and become a strange flower for thousands of years. Recognizing Gan Niang was the first step, and it didn't take long to hook up with Yang Guifei and become adulterous, and even put a green hat on emperor LaoZi, which became the biggest scandal in the Tang Dynasty. The key is that everyone can see it, and Tang Xuanzong doesn't know whether he is pretending to be confused or its cause, he has always been confused, and he has vigorously added him to the rank of knight.
( An LuShan )
What people are most afraid of is greed, because it is a hole that will always fill the gap of desire, this An Lushan occupies the emperor's wife, and the official to the prince is a hegemon, that is, he can't take it, and he even has the ambition to invade and dominate the country. He did not know whether it was the weakness of the emperor or the display of his own greatness, flaunting the market and not avoiding action, and the signs of rebellion had already appeared, although some people reported that Tang Xuanzong just couldn't listen. An Lushan was even more unscrupulous, and the counties under his jurisdiction were under control, and they were purged on trumped-up charges without using it for their own purposes.
At this time, Yan Zhenqing was demoted to the plains as an official, and he really had the intention of killing people with a knife, he had long been unaccustomed to An Lushan, and he was also hateful and helpless about his ambitions, and he refused to solicit An Lushan for various reasons, secretly taking measures and strengthening precautions. Under the pretext of rain, the city walls were constantly reinforced and heightened, the moat was dredged, the grain and grass were stockpiled, and zhuangding were recruited, while on the surface, they met with some literati every day, driving boats to drink and write poetry and dance ink, in order to paralyze An Lushan. At first, An Lushan was very worried about this loyal and stubborn court official, and after a period of time, he saw that he had spent all day drinking and drinking, and he was not wary, thinking that he was just a scholar who was not worried enough, and did not pay attention to him at all.
Third, the anshi rebellion, the establishment of meritorious service
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao, An Lushan launched the "Anshi Rebellion", and within a few days, most of the counties in Hebei were captured, but the plains city was heavily defended and helpless, and Yan Zhenqing sent people to the capital to report to Tang Xuanzong. In fact, at this time, Tang Xuanzong had already heard the news, and his heart was shocked by An Lushan's attack, and he was so distraught that he had lost his opinion on the counties and counties, and he sighed: "Of the twenty-four counties in Hebei, aren't there a single loyal subject?" His words were extremely disappointing. At this moment, the personnel sent by Yan Zhenqing arrived at the palace to report the situation, and Tang Xuanzong turned to great joy: "I don't know Yan's personality, but I didn't expect it to be so outstanding." ”
In fact, at this time, Yan Zhenqing had never led soldiers to fight, he was a blind military man who belonged to a layman, and the only bit of military common sense was also derived from books, and he could not talk about any actual combat experience, and where there was a certainty of victory. However, there is a heart of loyalty to the country, and it is obviously unfair for some people to call him a great military expert, at least not now, perhaps it is evil that does not suppress righteousness, and it should also be a prosperous official, and the knowledge of military books is not shallowly used by him. Moreover, the political work was very well put in place; he overcame the shortage of soldiers in the city, recruited tens of thousands of substitutes, and personally came to the scene to make a generous statement.
Feeling his spirit of protecting the country, five counties and counties successively came to his aid, and his power increased greatly, becoming a barrier for An Lushan to go south. In order to break his fighting spirit, An Lushan attacked the eastern capital Luoyang and took the heads of several ministers to Hebei to show the public, which caught Yan Zhenqing by surprise, worried about the damage to morale, and thought about it again and again. He dismissed the rebels for their evil intentions in front of the generals, and on the other hand, he swore an oath, saying: "I have worked with all these ministers, which one does not know?" These heads are not theirs at all. ”
The drum soldiers chased after the battle, killed the soldiers and snatched back three human heads, woven into human bodies with straw, and connected the heads for sacrifice. He also took advantage of the convergence of xing's army and Ren Changshan's cousin, and recaptured several counties with a single blow, and on the same day, seventeen counties were submitted to the imperial court, and everyone unanimously elected him as the ally lord, at this time Yan Zhenqing had more than 200,000 troops, and became the grand marshal of the Weizhen side. It can be said that Yan Zhenqing stepped onto the military circles in a crooked manner, and the military horses he commanded fought to the death with the rebels of An Lushan, deducing a wonderful myth of the literati commanding the army.
The following year, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang took refuge in Sichuan, allowing his son Li Heng to ascend the throne as Emperor Suzong, and he also relied on Yan Zhenqing to quell the unrest in Hebei, and successively appointed him to the posts of Hebei Envoy, Xianbu Shangshu, and Imperial Historian. For the Tang Dynasty Yan family also paid a heavy price in the counter-rebellion, its cousins and nephews and other more than thirty people died in the battlefield, the world-famous "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript" is from this time, you must know that this is the true meaning of blood and love.
The Anshi Rebellion was finally suppressed reluctantly, the Tang Dynasty came back to life, and Yan Zhenqing re-entered the dynasty as an official, but his career was still extremely unsmooth, all because of his outspoken personality. The new emperor Li Heng sent Zuo Shilangzhong Li to create a temple of sacrifice and signed the congratulatory speech as "Emperor Si", but no one else had any opinions, but he was a bit hard, saying that the Emperor Taishang was still in Sichuan and Shu, so how could this work? The emperor could not step down in public, and the prime minister was even more embarrassed, and afterwards he was transferred out of the capital to serve as Feng Yi Taishou, and soon demoted to Rao Prefecture Assassin History.
( Tang Xuanzong )
Speaking of conscience, Yan Zhenqing really does not care about official positions, promotion and demotion do not affect his emotions, and his personality does not change until death, everyone knows that the Tang Dynasty is a prosperous dynasty and is also famous for its chaotic dynasty, and there is an old saying called "ghost tang dynasty" which is evidenced by chaos. Therefore, Yan Zhenqing's up and down is also normal, after the "Anshi Rebellion", the tang dynasty's power struggle has become white-hot, Tang Xuanzong returned to Chang'an naken as the emperor in a high profile, he asked his son for imperial power, then how could Tang Suzong give up the throne.
Therefore, the father and son pinched each other, in the end it was a terrible afterlife, Tang Suzong took the lead, and took the chancellor appointed by Tang Xuanzong to the end, and then dismantled the disintegration of the cronies around him, the removal of the post, and forced Lao Tzu to become the commander of the light pole. The two fought fiercely until Baoying died in April of the first year of the first year, and the "dual pattern" of Emperor Daizong Li Yu taking the throne disintegrated.
4. Be faithful to your country and die generously
After Emperor Daizong became emperor, he began to select talents, at this time, Yan Zhenqing, who was already more than fifty years old, met Shi Chun again, first serving in Shangshu Province, and then fenglu County, reaching the peak of his life. It is reasonable to say that this age group has achieved fame and should not have regenerated anything, but his character is not allowed, and not long after, he joined the new prime minister, saying that the prime minister Yuan Zai had formed a party for personal gain and was in charge of adultery. It is estimated that only Yan Zhenqing in the whole imperial court dares to say such a serious word, which is also the reason why people comment that he does not know current affairs, in fact, which of the loyal subjects is not like this!
But after all, people are the prime minister, one person is above ten thousand people, you choose the opposite side as a consequence of poor consequences, soon Yan Zhenqing was demoted to Xia Prefecture, and successively served as Sima of Jizhou and Huzhou Assassin of Fuzhou. It is estimated that if he is not honest and loyal, I am afraid that the three heads will not be enough to cut, as mentioned earlier, Yan Zhenqing is in a good state of mind, completely did not take the demotion again seriously, and poured all his grievances into calligraphy during this time, so that his calligraphy also reached its peak. The idiom "characters are like its people" refers to him, and some people say that Yan Zhenqing is a military expert who is forced out and a calligrapher who is angry.
Yuan Zai, who was called "adulterous minister" by Yan Zhenqing, was eventually killed in a political struggle, and the new chancellors Yang Zhenqing and Chang Gong invited yan Zhenqing, who was sixty-eight years old, to be an official Shangshu. Two years later, Emperor Su died, Li Shi took the throne, and the chancellor was replaced by Lu Qi, perhaps grateful for the promotion of the former prime minister, or recognized them, not accustomed to what the current prime minister did, contrary to it, and then because of his outspokenness, he was demoted for the fourth time, and was appointed to the idle post of the prince's young master and no longer had real power.
Even so, Lu Qi refused to let go and had been looking for opportunities to calculate, at this time, just when the Huaixi Festival caused Li Xi to rebel, Lu offered advice to the emperor, saying that Yan Zhenqing was highly respected and could send him to Li Ying to persuade him to surrender. Although he knew that this was a life of nine deaths, the loyal and learnable Yan Zhenqing was not afraid of life and death, and the righteousness was awe-inspiring.
Fearing Yan Zhenqing's prestige and high wind and bright festival, Li Ying first tried his best to win him over and make a wish to him as prime minister, but he did not make a generous statement and denounced Li Xi's shamelessness. In the end, he threatened with death, and did not let him obey, but had to put him in prison, expecting that he would undoubtedly die, Yan Zhenqing was not afraid, he wrote his own epitaph and sacrifice text, showing the spirit of fearlessness in seeing death as a return, and was finally hanged under the cypress tree of Longxing Temple.
Yan Zhenqing, an old minister of the Four Dynasties, completed his loyal and heroic life with tragedy. Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty gave him the nickname "Wen Zhong" and edicted: "Instrumental talent, outstanding public loyalty, in and out of the four dynasties, firm and virtuous." "Praised Yan Zhenqing's extraordinary life."
【About the Author】Fang Changrong, a native of Nanjing, is a member of the Jiangsu Prose Literature Association, the Jiangsu Writers Association, the Western Prose Literature Association, and the China Prose Literature Association.
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