Why did Emperor Xingzong of Liao ask Wang Gongchen to fish on the ice?

Song Shou saw that the Liao people were fishing on the ice in the fourth year of the Tianxi. Sixty-nine years later, in the eighth month of the lunar calendar of the year when Su Rui was appointed as the official Shangshu, he and Zhao Junxi, the attendant of the Punishment Department, sent an envoy to the Liao State to congratulate the Liao lord on his birthday. It was the fourth year of Emperor Zhezong of Song (1089). At that time, the traffic was inconvenient, and it traveled dozens of miles a day, departing in September of the lunar calendar, and arriving in Jingning City in Liaoning Province for more than a month. Time estimation

Wang Gongchen has experienced ice fishing

The records of the History of Liao, together with Su Rui's poetry, prove that he could not have been hunting fish in the Liao people's spring bowl fish that witnessed the Lulu River or the Mixed River. On this trip, he could only see the Liao people's winter bowl.

In fact, before Su Rui wrote about the Liao people fishing, Wang Gongchen, who was on the mission, had experienced ice fishing.

"Twenty-four years of spring and the first month of the sea, like a mixed river." Wu Chen, empress dowager. Xin Wei, Song sent envoys to congratulate and feed the elephants. In February, he was ugly and summoned song envoys to fish and write poems. ”（23）

This Song Shi who was summoned to fish and write poems was Wang Gongchen. The twenty-fourth year (1055) of Emperor Yelüzong of Liaoxing was the second year of Emperor Renzong of Song's reign. This is related to

Written by An Tao, Su Rui Shu

The "Epitaph of Wang Gongchen" says that "to the first year of the first year of the three envoys, to move the Shang Shu Zuo Cheng." Shi Bei sent an envoy to hire him to re-emphasize the righteousness of good. The upper election of the public holds the courtesy report, and the museum is awarded to the mixed river. The captive party offers the account on the ice, for the fishing swallow".

It seems that the Liao people's program of "felt lu cover fish" on the ice, there is more wonderful than Song Shuo's insight, that is, in addition to fishing on the ice and snow glacier, the cat felt house covers fish fishing, you can also fish, eat and drink, play music and poetry and have fun! Moreover, the Liao people also watched people put dishes on the plate, and the specifications of entertaining envoys of the Song Dynasty were also different.

Look at the "Wang Gongchen Epitaph" record: "Offerings to the ice, for the swallows of fishing, exaggerated as a grand gift, so that they can enjoy it." Whenever the Gong obtains the fish, his lord will personally persuade him, and he will drum up Hu Qinyouzhi, and Gu said of his six fuyun: "Although the Southern Dynasty is a multitude, but the young man is a young man, he has not entered Hanlin for thirty years as a bachelor, and I have not seen his comparison, so it is particularly thick." 'He who accepts his will, because he is rewarded with pleasure, is particularly pleasing to him.' ”

Look again at the record of the "Continuation of the Zhizhi Tongjian Long Edition":

"Xin Wei, the third envoy and the official Attendant Wang Gongchen was the envoy of the Hui Xie Khitan and the deputy of Li Xun of the Texas Assassin Shi. Gongchen saw that the Khitan lord was in the Mixed River, and his kingdom rose every spring, and feasted and fished on the ice, but the nobles were close to the subjects, and a grand ceremony was here. Every fish he gets, he will personally persuade Gongchen, and he will also beat the drum and pipa. It is said that liu liu fu said: Southern Dynasty juvenile champion, into the Hanlin fifteen years, I am kind to him. ”(24)

The Khitan usually fished in a bowl in the spring. The Liao Emperor, as recorded in the History of Liao, set out for the first month of the Mixed River, and on the way he had to walk for a while, first the Lulu River and then the Mixed River. "Summoning the Song Dynasty to make fishing and giving poetry" is already "February has been ugly".

Why is the time difference of several months?

Wang Gongchen set off from Bieliang in September of the first lunar calendar, and had to walk all the way to the northeast of the horse, and it took more than a month to reach the main line of Liao. After performing official duties, there was also a time-consuming matter, that is, the "Wang Gongchen Epitaph" said that "zhi ze was awarded to the museum in the mixed river".

The Khitans were not as ignorant and xenophobic as some people wrote. With a broad heart, he allowed the construction of the "Yang Invincible Temple" at Gubeikou to praise yang Jiye, an enemy who had killed so many Liao soldiers.

While carrying forward their own national culture, they also actively absorb the advanced culture of foreign nationalities. Emperor Xingzong of Liao particularly admired Wang Gongchen, and just as he came to congratulate him, he grabbed him on a business trip and asked him to open a museum to give lectures and popularize Chinese civilization to officials and relatives of the emperor and the state. "Teaching the museum to mix with the river" is just like the cadre training today, and it takes more than a month to start the lecture, so it is dragged until the next year.

This special solemn courtesy "fishing banquet" that the envoys of the Song Dynasty had never received in the past, in addition to the "Wang Gongchen Epitaph" written in the "Gonggongchen's Epitaph", "When the gong gets the fish, his lord will personally persuade him, and he will drum up Hu Qinyouzhi", there must be many famous halls, but It is impossible to say that Wang Gongchen returned. He could only talk about those who saw people and showed their faces.

Wang Gongchen must have caught more than one fish. Every time he caught a fish, Liao Xingzong personally played the pipa for him to celebrate, and also "did it first" to persuade him to drink. Why did Emperor Xingzong treat Wang Gongchen so courteously? According to the Six Symbols he heard from Emperor Xingzong and The Liao Chancellor Liu Liufu, "Although the Southern Dynasty was a multitude of scholars, but the young emperor was not thirty years old, he was a scholar, and I did not see his comparison, so he was particularly generous." In fact, in addition to the generous gifts, there is also the meaning of rewarding Wang Gongchen for opening the museum to train Liao talents.

Emperor Xingzong of Liao respected Wang Gongchen's talents, and it was impossible to entertain him with the kind of tough game of "Lulu River Hook Cow fish". "On the ice of the account, for the swallow of fishing" can also be seen that it is inside the felt room, that is, the "cover fish" such as closing the door in the cat felt room that Song Shuo said. The so-called Lulu River hook fish needs to be opened and closed in a magnificent scene, and it is impossible to unfold in the felt room of tens of square meters.