The historical truth of "Chang'an 30,000 li"

In the third year of Tianbao (744), the poet Li Bai and the poet Du Fu met for the first time in the eastern capital Luoyang, leaving them for future generations to have unlimited reverie.

Wen Yiduo compared it to the meeting of the sun and the moon, and in China's thousands of years of history, only Confucius saw Laozi comparable to it:

For example, if the sun and the moon meet in the blue sky, then I don't know how many incense cases will be burned in the world, and I don't know how many people want to look at the sky and worship, saying that it is the auspicious rui of the emperor. Now that Li Bai and Du Fu, the two yao in the poem, have come together, we see, are not as spirited and meaningful as the heresy in the sky?

▲ The Son of Heaven did not come to the ship, claiming that he was a fairy in wine. Source: Movie stills

1

At that time, Li Baigang was returned by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Two years ago, he received an edict from Emperor Xuanzong, and he sang "Go out laughing up to the sky, my generation is a Penghao person", and with the ambition of "May the Lord be a good master, and the success will return the old forest", he went to Beijing to worship Hanlin.

But when he came to Chang'an, Li Bai realized that he was just a literary attendant for the entertainment of the emperor, and occasionally wrote a few poems "Qing Ping Tuo", using poems such as "Yun wants to wear clothes and flowers and wants to look, and the spring breeze blows Revlon" to satisfy Emperor Xuanzong's vanity, which is very different from the emperor Shiqing he pursued.

He was unrewarded, unrestrained, played a big name, asked the eunuch Colix to take off his boots, offended the powerful people in the dynasty, and had to travel far again with his sword.

Du Fu was 11 years younger than Li Bai, and at that time he was just a fledgling literary youth, from a scholarly family, keen on the imperial examination, and bent on "to Jun Yao Shun Shang, and then make the custom pure".

However, Du Fu smashed the exam, and although he had already made his mark in the Hanmo field, he was still a cloth coat, so he had to travel around to relieve his depression.

The young Du Fu was "sexually rich and alcoholic, jealous and rigid", "debauchery in Qi Zhao, and Qiu Ma was quite frivolous", which was diametrically opposed to the later melancholy old Du, and naturally shared the same mood as Li Bai.

Li and Du met, and when they saw each other, they agreed to go to the land of Liang and Song to play, bring poetry and wine to accompany, seek immortals to visit the Tao, send love to the landscape, "drunken autumn quilt, hand in hand with the day".

2

The world remembers Li Du's first encounter, but they forget that they traveled this time, and there was another "donkey friend", that is, Gao Shi.

It is obviously a movie of three people, how can Gao Shi not have a name?

Gao Shi, born into a family of fallen eunuchs, like Li and Du, he has always aspired to officialdom. At the age of 20, he entered Beijing and wrote: "Twenty Books and Swords, Journey West to Chang'an City." Look up at the monarch and bow your fingers to the secretary. ”

Gao Shi said that if his brother wants to become an official, he should be listed as a public secretary. However, the ideal is very full, the reality is very skinny, in Chang'an, no one can look at this hot-blooded young man. He also repeatedly hit a wall on the road to the imperial examination, hanging up once and doubting life.

Gao Shi went to Yan Zhao in a fit of anger, threw himself into the construction of the surrounding Xinjiang, and fought with the Hu people, and later wrote "the warrior army is half dead and alive, and the beauty is singing and dancing under the tent", "When you see the white blade and blood, the festival of death is never Gu Xun", and became one of the most prestigious border poets in the Tang Dynasty.

In particular, the sentence in "Don't Dong Da" "Don't worry about the road ahead without knowing yourself, who in the world does not know the king" is an ancient famous sentence in the farewell poem. The little-known Dong Da, like Wang Lun, relies on the poems written to them by friends to brush his sense of existence, and is still active in primary and secondary school textbooks.

When Li and Du traveled together, Gao Shi had already returned to the Central Plains, lived in the Song Land for several years, worked in the wilderness, and studied continuously, and was regarded as half a "Henan person".

Hosted by Gao Shi, the three great poets met unexpectedly and began a unique threesome walk, which became a grand event in the cultural history of the Tang Dynasty.

In the autumn of that year, Li, Du, and Gao traveled to the land of Liang and Song, "drinking and watching prostitutes, shooting hunting and discussing poetry, and enjoying each other."

They party, visit nightclubs, hunt in Meng Zhuyeze, blow the stage and give poems to Liang Yuan, taste old wines, laugh about the general trend of the world, how happy and dashing.

3

According to rumors, the three came all the way to Wangwu Mountain. This famous mountain, which appeared in the story of Yugong Moving the Mountain, flourished in Taoism during the Tang Dynasty. The Taoist priest Sima Chengzhen was summoned by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to observe and practice on the balcony of the mountain, and he had a friendship with Li Bai.

Li Bai remembered his Taoist friend and immediately took Du Fu and Gao Shi to visit.

When I went to the balcony to ask, I realized that Sima Chengzhen had driven Hexi to the west a few years ago.

Li Bai learned that he and his friends had been separated forever, and he was stunned, so he asked Daotong to take Sima Chengzhen's landscape paintings to see, only to see the mountain streams and hills in the painting, towering and majestic.

When Li Bai saw this painting, his heart was surging, he took out a pen and paper, his thoughts wandered in the great rivers and mountains, and he wrote down a 25-character cursive script while drunk:

The mountains are high and the water is long, and the objects are tens of thousands, unless there is an old pen, it is strong and poor. On the eighteenth, go to the balcony book, too white.

▲ Li Bai's only authentic work "Upper Balcony Post", now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Li Bai's cursive master and his friend Zhang Xu, these 25 characters are majestic and powerful, even after thousands of years of vicissitudes and hundreds of generations of hardships, we can still glimpse the past style of poetry immortals.

This work is Li Bai's only heirloom ink treasure "Upper Balcony Post".

This is Li Bai's "national treasure" level legacy left to future generations, and it is also a witness of the travel of Li, Du and Gao.

Since then, they have each rushed for the future, but they never expected that what awaited them was a completely different ending.

4

After the Liang and Song Dynasty's journey, Du Fu continued to seek fame, and Yu Tianbao entered Beijing in the sixth year to rush for the exam, but he met the traitor Li Linfu on the congratulatory table, and said to Emperor Xuanzong that "there are no sages left behind", the talents are already in the dynasty, and there are no sages left out by the people.

Li Linfu was obviously bragging, but Tang Xuanzong really took it seriously for the sake of face.

As a result, all the candidates failed the list, and Du Fu did not pass the exam.

In Chang'an, Du Fu began a decade-long career as a "Beijing drifter", submitting resumes everywhere, clanging so poor that he couldn't eat enough.

In the poem "Twenty-two Rhymes for Wei Zuo Chengzhang", he described his poor life as follows: "Chao Guo Fu'ermen, twilight follows fat horse dust." Broken cups and cold burns, sadness lurks everywhere. ”

After ten years in the capital, he became such a small official as the Right Guard leading the army Cao to join the army, and Du Fu had no choice. This position is mainly responsible for guarding the armor staff, which is the high-level guard master.

Du Fu hurried to Fengxian County to visit his wife and children living here and tell his family the news. As soon as he arrived at home, "the entrance was heard, and the young son was hungry", and it turned out that the younger son had starved to death.

Zhumen wine smells of flesh, and the road has frozen bones. In the ten years of Chang'an, this is the Great Tang in Du Fu's eyes.

However, Gao Shi's vision was different from Du Fu's.

Three years after Li Linfu's farce of "Wild Remains Sage", Gao Shi was recommended by Song Zhou Assassin Shi to participate in the "Youdao Branch" specially opened for hermits, and finally obtained his first official position - Feng Qiu Wei. That year, he was nearly half a hundred years old.

After getting this job, Gao Shi wrote a song "Leave Li Youxiang" to praise the merits of the traitor Li Linfu.

"Fu explained Yin Dao, Xiao He Lu Han punishment. Balanced holding the national handle, pillar stone always dynasty. "Li Xiangke is comparable to Fu Shuo and Xiao He, he is really a powerful minister who governs the country.

"Enrong is in the first ranks, including the shape of Yu Xuanxi. There are stealing hills and mountain favors, and there is no time to pillow Xi Ning. "I am so good that I am fortunate to receive Li Xiang's favor, and I am so grateful that I can't sleep all night."

Not long after writing this poem, in the eleventh year of Tianbao (752), Gao Shi resigned from this job and went to Hexi, where he became Geshuhan's guest of honor and became the secretary of the curtain. Those years were the peak of Geshuhan's career, and Gao Shi hugged this thigh, thus stepping into the center of the power game.

The following year, Li Linfu died, and after his death, he was falsely accused by Yang Guozhong of rebellion, and his descendants raided his home and exiled.

Gao Shi's political sense is evident.

Du Fu and Gao Shi, one of whom thought "to Jun Yao Shunshang", and the other chanted "Bow to the public secretary", both were once white-clothed showmen who were unwilling to be subdued.

However, ten years later, in the sinister officialdom, Du Fu only saw the crisis of the Great Tang, while Gao Shi learned how to survive in the dark court.

5

Tianbao Fourteenth Year (755), "The Fishery Yang Shrew Came Agitatedly and Broke the Neon Clothes Song". The Anshi Rebellion ended the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, and also stirred the wheel of fate of Li Bai, Du Fu and Gao Shi.

In the second year of the Anshi Rebellion, Gao Shi assisted his brother Shuhan in guarding Tongguan.

After Tongguan was captured by the rebels, Geshuhan surrendered, and the officials defending the city scattered for their lives. When Tang Xuanzong heard the news, he fled west in a hurry, running faster than a rabbit.

Only Gao Shi was not afraid of danger, and he also ran, but he ran to see Tang Xuanzong by copying the path.

Tang Xuanzong panicked and learned that Gao Shi was coming from the front, so he asked him how the battle was going.

▲ Tang Xuanzong. Source: Movie stills

Gao Shi first explained the reason for the loss of Tongguan, and then changed his tone to excuse Emperor Xuanzong's escape, saying that this move could avoid the rebel front, which was a blessing for the society and was not enough to be ashamed.

Gao Shi's mouth was sweet, Tang Xuanzong was happy to hear it, and when he arrived in Chengdu, he appointed Gao Shi as a counselor.

On the way to Shu, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang adopted the advice of Prime Minister Fang Guan and ordered the kings to divide the towns, among which the crown prince Li Heng was the marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and Li Xuan, the king of Yong, was the governor of Jiangling.

Gao Shi saw the flaws in this arrangement at a glance and strongly opposed it: "The so-called division of towns is just a trick of following the feudal princes of the early Western Zhou Dynasty to use the clan Ping Zhou, which will inevitably lead to the confrontation between the north and the south." ”

Gao Shi in the language.

Throughout the history of the Tang Dynasty, the struggle for imperial power was always accompanied by intrigue and killing. Li Heng, who had been the crown prince for nearly twenty years, had long been eager to ascend the throne, so he honored Emperor Xuanzong as the emperor and ascended the throne himself for Emperor Suzong of Tang.

As soon as the new monarch took the throne, the old Tang Xuanzong became a mascot, and Gao Shi turned around and ran to Tang Suzong.

6

Du Fu obviously did not have the political foresight of Gao Shi, and not only did he experience ups and downs along the way, but he was also trapped in Chang'an during the Anshi Rebellion and was captured by the rebels.

One night, in despair, he saw the bright moon hanging high, thought of his wife and children who were separated from each other, and wondered if he could still see them alive, and his heart was like a knife, and he wrote this song "Moon Night":

"Tonight in Yanzhou Month, I only look at it alone. Compassion for the little children, but did not understand Chang'an. The fragrant mist is wet, and the clear glow jade arm is cold. When leaning on the false guise, the tear stains are dry. ”

It is estimated that Du Fu's official position is too small, and the people speak lightly, and the An Shi rebels do not put him in their eyes at all, and after being trapped in the lonely city for a year, Du Fu took advantage of the chaos to escape and go to Fengxiang, where Emperor Suzong of Tang was located.

Along the way, there are dangers, life and death are unpredictable, it is "this summer the grass and trees grow, and you have to go west to get out." The bast shoes saw the Son of Heaven, and the sleeves showed two elbows", and finally met Emperor Suzong of Tang in the second year of Zhide (757).

When Tang Suzong saw Du Fu coming, he was quite moved in his heart, and regardless of whether he knew him or not, he first sealed a left left to collect the remains for encouragement.

It stands to reason that Du Fu chose Tang Suzong at this time, there was no problem at all, and the future was bright, but it was a pity that he knew a person who Suzong wanted to get rid of quickly.

This person is Fang Guan, the prime minister who entered Shu with Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and proposed that the kings divide the town.

Fang Guan and Du Fu are friends of cloth and love literature, and their intersection is as light as water, and they have nothing to do with politics.

However, the accession of Emperor Lingwu of Tang Suzong to the throne was controversial. Unwilling to withdraw from the political stage, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, in order to contain Emperor Suzong, sent Fang Guan to Lingwu to teach the national treasure jade book.

Tang Suzong had just taken the throne in the chaos, and did not dare to easily replace the person arranged by his father, so he left Fangqian to continue to be the phase, but he wanted to get him off the phase as soon as possible.

At this time, someone reported that Fang Guanmen had taken bribes. Emperor Suzong of Tang seized the opportunity and demoted him to the rank of Young Master of the Crown Prince on this ground.

Fang Qiang's resignation was originally just a political event in the transfer of the imperial throne, but Emperor Suzong of Tang disliked the old ministers of the Xuanzong family and found an opportunity to "invite" him to retire.

Du Fu could not understand the mystery, and as a left widow, his duty was to recommend virtuous people and advise the emperor. Fang Guan was both virtuous and not a serious crime, Du Fu immediately made a decision, and Shangshu Chen: "The crime is detailed, and it is not appropriate to exempt the minister." ”

Tang Suzong was furious.

Who? Du fu? Just came to that? Just talk to you! Censure!

In order to kill the chickens and warn the monkeys, Tang Suzong demoted Du Fu, who dared to be a head bird, to join the army, and released him back to Yanzhou to visit his family, in fact, telling him that he did not have to come back.

In the second year of the Qian Yuan (759), Du Fu, who had been repeatedly attacked, abandoned his official position, entered Shu to avoid chaos, and began a poor life living in the grass hall and wandering southwest.

Once again, he fell victim to politics, and this time it was not the traitor but the emperor who ruined his career.

7

Gao Shi's worries stated to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang soon became reality, and Li Xuan, the Yongwang, was the first hidden danger of Emperor Suzong of Tang, and Gao Shi's friend Li Bai was involved.

When Du Fu and Gao Shi were both seeking fame, what was Li Bai doing? After returning the money and leaving Chang'an, he stumbled on his career and spent all day drinking to relieve his worries.

Li Bai, who was ostracized, also wanted to give up, and he shouted loudly: "An can destroy the brow and bend the waist, so that I can't be happy!" ”

After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Li Bai and his family lived in seclusion in Lushan to avoid the war, and if he could return to the hidden mountains and not ask about the world, he really answered the name of the immortals.

At this time, King Yong threw an olive branch to Li Bai. He sent people to Lushan many times and pleaded with Li Bai to come out of the mountain to help.

Li Bai, who was romantic by nature, thought that King Yong, who went out of Jiangling, was only to set up a shogunate and expand the team to quell the Anshi Rebellion, and did not realize that King Yong had already become a threat to the throne of Emperor Suzong of Tang.

At the repeated invitation of King Yong, Li Bai reappeared in the rivers and lakes with the ideal of "finally going to the Five Lakes with Ansheji and succeeding in success" and joined King Yong's account.

During those two months, Shixian burst out of enthusiasm for work after a long absence, and wrote a series of poems to cheer for King Yong and fulfill his position as a publicity committee.

He sang: "The Yongwang Zhengyue is out of the east, and the Son of Heaven divides the Dragon and Tiger Banner." The building boat was quiet in one fell swoop, and Jiang Han turned into a Yanque Pond. ”

In his writing, King Yong's army was disciplined and mighty, rushing to the battlefield, and it seemed that by following this Wang Division, he would be able to realize his life ambition of Jiguo Anbang.

However, Emperor Suzong of Tang had already defined this team as a "puppet army" and declared King Yong a rebel, and Li Bai, who was in it, inadvertently became an anti-thief.

Emperor Suzong of Tang ordered King Yong to see him, but King Yong refused to obey the edict, preferring to work against the imperial court.

In February of the second year of De (757), the Tangsu Sect sent troops to suppress King Yong, and the Anshi Rebellion had not yet been settled, and the brothers went to war first.

It was Gao Shi who led the army to Feihuang Tengda, and this year, he paid homage to Huainan Jiedu.

King Yong's motley army was crushed with one blow, and there was no resistance. As soon as the Tang Dynasty army came, a wave took away, and King Yong was killed, "the guest royal is like a floating cloud, dissipating from the wind."

Although Li Bai was lucky enough not to die, he was arrested on the way back to Lushan and thrown into Xunyang Prison, where he was convicted of "rebellion and disorder", and his life hung in the balance.

Li Bai heard that his old friend Gao Shi was now developed, and thought that he could still save it, so he wrote a poem to Gao Shi, asking him to raise his noble hand and help himself.

In this song "Sending Zhang Xiucai to High School Together", Li Bai, who has always been unruly, rarely has a humble time, praising Gao Shi as the commander of the Yongwang army, saying that he "wisdom and courage crown the ancient, Xiao Chen difficult and fun", "heroic and unruly, master Yang Qingfen".

Then, there is no then.

I think back then, the three of them traveled Liang Song and sang and drank, but now Gao Shi turns a blind eye to Li Bai. Only because Gao Shi chose Tang Suzong, Li Bai joined the Yongwang Group, a former friend, and a stranger.

Since then, Li Bai and Gao Shi have blackened each other, seemingly deliberately deleting the records about each other in the poem, and the history books have left traces of the two knowing each other, but there is no longer Gao Shi in Li Bai's poems, and there will no longer be Li Bai in Gao Shi's poems.

In the first year of the Qian Yuan (758), Li Bai was sentenced to exile in Yelang, and although he did not die, he was already discouraged.

The following year, there was a great drought in Guanzhong and Emperor Suzong of Tang granted amnesty to the world. On the way to the penal colony, Li Bai finally regained his freedom, he sailed down the Yangtze River, and wrote the ancient famous "Early White Emperor City" in the joy of being born in a desperate place:

"The dynasty and the white emperor are among the clouds, and the thousands of miles of Jiangling are returned in one day. The apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the light boat had already crossed the 10,000 heavy mountains. ”

▲ Li Bai statue. Source: Figureworm Creative

In the last three years of his life, Li Bai sent people around under the fence, and finally died of illness in the home of his fellow clan in Dangtu.

The soul of the immortal returned to the bright moon, ending his frustrated and dashing life, leaving behind a thousand years of immortal poetry.

8

Du Fu was in Chengdu, and his life was very difficult.

When the hut he lived in was dilapidated and his family was hungry and cold, he was still worried about the world: "There are thousands of buildings in Ande, and the cold people in the world are happy." ”

When he learned that Li Bai had been imprisoned and exiled to Yelang, he was always worried about this deceased man he had not seen for 14 years, and wrote "Dream Li Bai Two Poems", in which he said that "death has swallowed his voice, and life is always compassionate", and at the beginning he wrote about life and death, with a sad tone, and said "You should share the language of the wronged soul, and submit poems to Miluo", crying out for Li Baiming's grievances.

"If you go out and scratch your head, if you have a life ambition. The crown is covered with Jinghua, and the Si people are emaciated", this is saying that Li Bai's life's ambition has finally come true, and it is also saying that the two have the same illness and pity.

▲Chengdu Du Fu Thatched Cottage. Source: Photogram

Fortunately, Gao Shi and Du Fu's friendship did not change in the vortex of politics.

As early as when Gao Shi entered the Geshuhan shogunate and went to Hexi to wander, Du Fu, who was still adrift in Chang'an, often sent poems to greet him.

Du Fu is straightforward by nature, and the poems are full of gratification and encouragement for the success of Gao Shi's career, without a trace of jealousy, such as "The Lord will accept talents, and the victory will be enough." Wen Jun has been stunned, and he is comforted."

Although I had a bad life, you succeeded, and I am happy for you, and that's enough.

In the eyes of some people, there has always been only interests in officialdom, but in Du Fu's heart, there is still a lifelong friendship.

In the second year of the Qian Yuan (759), Gao Shi entered Shu and served as the assassin of Pengzhou.

When Du Fu and Gao Shijiu reunited, he was melancholy and rarely wrote a song "Fengjian Gao Thirty-Five Envoys" to express his joy: "The autumn will be late, and the friendship will be closer." The end of the world is happy to see each other, and I am honest. ”

Gao Shi did not write many poems in his later years, but after meeting Du Fu, he also wrote poems and sang peace, and at the same time regretted that his friend did not meet him, and the poem said: "Being in the distant domain has no expectations, and there are all worries and worries." This year, people remember each other, where will people know next year? ”

When Du Fu was in distress, Gao Shi gave him financial support many times, and Du Fu was very grateful, writing in the poem: "The old man provides Lu rice, neighbors and garden vegetables. ”

Later, Gao Shi was transferred back to Beijing, and Du Fu happened to be not in Chengdu, so he could not send him in time, so he could only send a book to tell his farewell, "The spring of the world urges the twilight, don't add tears to the waves." Since then, the two have never seen each other again.

Time hurriedly urges people to grow old, fate, and finally let the three people who used to travel with Liang and Song be separated:

There is a person, boating in the mighty rivers and lakes, drinking into the bowels, fighting the sword and roaring, that is Li Bai;

There was a person, wandering the mountain path, worried about the country and the people, staggering forward, that was Du Fu;

There is a person, galloping and plugging the border pass, the golden iron horse, riding the wind, that is Gao Shi.

Thousands of years later, we still remember the wild Li Bai, the sad Du Fu, and the proud Gao Shi. Life can't be repeated, some people just want to be Li Bai, some people live like Du Fu, and some people have become Gao Shi.

Bibliography:

[Later Jin] Liu Xian et al.: The Old Book of Tang, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1975

Wen Yiduo: Tang Poetry Miscellaneous, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1998

Mo Lifeng: A Biography of Du Fu, Nanjing University Press, 1993

Zhou Xunchu: Biography of Li Bai, Nanjing University Press, 2005

Xiao Difei et al.: Tang Poetry Appreciation Dictionary, Shanghai Dictionary Press, 1999