The Western Han Dynasty is one of the most powerful feudal dynasties in Chinese history, shining in the long river of history, Han Gaozu, Han Wudi and other emperors are very charismatic emperors.
After the long period of tyrannical oppression of the Qin Dynasty and the four-year Chu-Han hegemony, the whole country has long been devastated, the common people are also miserable, and people are looking forward to the days of prosperity and peace.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han, the political concept of Taoism ruling without doing anything and Huang Lao governing the country was adopted, and the whole society gradually revived, and the people also lived and worked in peace and contentment.
At this time, the Xiongnu also became strong and repeatedly attacked, posing a great threat to the frontier. Although the Western Han regime and the Xiongnu occasionally had disputes and won and lost each other, they preferred to adopt a friendly approach to achieve a state of avoiding war and peace.
After the rest and recuperation of the rule of Wenjing, production developed rapidly, at that time grain and grass were abundant, the national strength was abundant, and the people lived a rich life, and the common people hated the Xiongnu who harassed the south from time to time, and the government was not satisfied with avoiding the war in a friendly way.
The arrow is on the string, and the pillow is waiting
During the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, the relationship with the Xiongnu was even more in dire straits, the Western Han Dynasty had long been strong and strong, and the Xiongnu were also ready to attack, vainly trying to take the Central Plains, and a big war was also imminent.
At this time, the Xiongnu messenger on the northern border quickly sent a letter, and Emperor Wudi of Han opened it and saw that there were four big characters written on it: "Tianxin takes rice".
Emperor Wudi of Han handed it to all the ministers to read in turn, "Which Ai Qing knows what these four words mean?" All the ministers talked about it, but none of them understood the deep meaning behind it.
When he was at a loss, a small official named "He Tang" stood up, "Your Majesty, Wei Chen is willing to give it a try." The emperor saw his confident appearance and ordered him to explain in detail.
He Tang was in no hurry to let people take out a banner with these four big characters written on it, "Emperor, please look", and pointed to the words on it as he spoke:
"Tian" can be described as "Heavenly Empire", "Heart" is "Central Plains", "Rice" is "Holy Lord", and "Tianxin takes rice", which is not only the meaning of attacking the Central Plains and seizing our rivers and mountains. ”
As soon as he heard this, there was an uproar above the court, if this letter really meant this, then this was obviously a letter of war, and the Xiongnu's intention was like Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knew it.
This letter seems simple, only four simple words, but if it cannot be deciphered, on the one hand, it may lead to being ridiculed by no one in the country, and more seriously, on the other hand, it will provide the other side with an excuse to raise troops and invade.
Emperor Wudi of Han frowned, "Hmph, my Han family has suffered from the Xiongnu for a long time, the Xiongnu often invade the border of our Han Dynasty, and the border people are not living well, today the war letter is delivered, my Great Han will definitely fight, and the Xiongnu, what are they afraid of, they want to fight and fight." ”
All the ministers wrote one after another, "Emperor, this matter is absolutely impossible, this letter from the Xiongnu 'Tianxin Rice' is not clearly a war letter, if you rashly send troops, although it will raise the prestige of the mainland and correct the prestige of our army, but in fact, it will only be unworthy and unsatisfactory, which is not the work of the Ming Lord." ”
The emperor had to shake his head and said helplessly, "What opinion do all the Ai Qing have?" After speaking, he looked around the stage for a week, and saw that all the ministers bowed their heads and said nothing.
The emperor snorted coldly, and saw He Tang, a small official standing on the side, so he pointed to He Tang again and said: "Since you can understand the deep meaning of these four words, what can you do to deal with it?" ”
He Tang raised his pen at this time: "Emperor, the little minister has a plan, allowing the small minister to give it a try, which can not only show the Xiongnu the prestige and dignity of my Han Dynasty, but also reduce unnecessary losses." Please see".
One stroke, a world of difference
He Tang said confidently, so he took a pen and added it to the banner. The word "tian" was added vertically to become the word "wei", the word "heart" was added to become the word "must", the word "take" was added to the word "beg" to become the word "dare", and the word "meter" was changed to the word "come".
After adding four strokes, the four characters of "Tianxin takes rice" were changed to "may not dare to come".
The emperor and all the ministers couldn't help but clap their hands when they saw it, and the emperor Long Yan was happy: "Good one, 'Tianxin takes rice, may not dare to come', with such a capable minister, I expect that he Xiongnu will not dare to invade my big han, quickly send an envoy to send the letter back." ”
The envelope was sent back to the Xiongnu, and the leader of the Xiongnu shivered when he opened it, and the two battles, expecting that the Han must have sufficient preparations to face the battle, so he had this confidence, so he thought again and again, and did not dare to send troops easily.
This battle is won without a fight. And this intelligent little official He Tang was naturally favored by Emperor Wudi of Han, and he became an official all the way to the knighthood.
Whether it is true or not, history proves
Of course, this story is obviously invented by posterity. According to the simple construction of Chinese characters, the Chinese characters used in this allusion must be the simplified characters used today, while the script used in the Western Han Dynasty was Xiaoxiao, which is quite different from the simplified characters used today.
The origin of Chinese characters is more than 6,000 years old, making it one of the oldest scripts in the world.
According to legend, during the ancient Yellow Emperor period, Cangjie established a systematic writing tool based on the distribution of stars and the footprints of birds and beasts, which is why it is also called "Wenzu Cangjie". The solar term "Valley Rain" is also to commemorate Cangjie's words.
In the long historical process, Chinese characters have evolved over thousands of years and roughly passed through seven stages, including the Yinxu oracle bone script, the Shang Zhou Jinwen, the Qin Dynasty Great Seal and Small Seal, the Han Zhishu, the Wei and Jin Kai Script, the cursive script, and the Xingshu.
The simplification of Chinese characters began in 1956, and before that it was all traditional characters. Traditional characters are more complex than the small seal of the Han Dynasty, and the meaning of the character cannot be modified by adding a stroke. And the protagonist He Tang is also unable to find this person.
This allusion is also quoted in "Young Bao Qingtian" (Part 1). The protagonist Bao Zheng uses his ingenuity to save a crisis. Although the story is fictional, the charm of Chinese characters and the wisdom of Chinese characters contained in them are evocative.
There are many more anagram stories like this, and here is a short story of anagram for everyone to entertain after tea.
In the past, a scholar named Li Anyi went to visit a local rich man, Zheng Sheng, but Zheng Sheng sent a servant to shirk that he had gone out and was not at home, and did not want to go out to see him. Li Anyi wrote a big "noon" character on the door of this rich businessman, and then walked away.
So someone asked him, "Sir, what is the explanation for this?" Li Anyi replied, "The cow is not a head."
The word "noon" is used here to mean "the cow does not show up", which is used to mock the rich businessman and ridicule him for refusing to show up. Here "noon" and "cow" need to be savored and can smile. If you come out, it's noon, and if you don't come out, it's a cow, wonderful!