He joined the army at the age of 47 and became a marquis at the age of 61

At the age of 47, the frustrated poet Gao Shi (703?) -765), finally ushered in a turning point in fate.

At this time, the Great Tang Empire had entered the end of its prosperous era. In the Yingsong Yan Dance of Tianbao Eight Years (749), Gao Shi, who had been cultivating for half his life in Suiyang (Songzhou) and had been seeking justice, finally took the examination under the recommendation of Zhang Jiugao, the younger brother of the famous prime minister Zhang Jiuling, Suiyang Taishou Zhang Jiugao, and obtained an official rank as the lieutenant of Fengqiu County in Chen Liu County (Bianzhou) from Jiupin.

If he was young, he would definitely not look at this kind of nine-rank sesame official position, but right now, he is too poor, and he urgently needs an official position to support his family. Just in the poem "Platform Night Meets Li Jingjian Different" written to a friend earlier, he lamented:

Centrifugation flickered, horses to autumn.

The years are depressed, and the trip is sad.

The poor family envies the slightest, and wants to follow wherever they want.

He said to his friend, although you feel that the official is meagre, but my family is poor, how envious of you, I also want to have a petty official position, but I don't know where to get it.

Therefore, for Gao Shi, who is in the middle of the family, even if it is just a nine-rank sesame official, it is what he has been diligently seeking for many years.

Many people had already lost hope when they were nearly half a hundred years old, but he rose up from here, from a high-singing and sad border poet and unknown low-level official, and in the following years, he made achievements and quickly rose to become a feudal official of the empire, becoming a unique political legend among the poets of the Tang Dynasty.

This is the first light of his life, and he will hold this light tightly.

▲ Gao Shi, it is generally believed that he should have been born between 701 and 704. Source: Photogram

1

There was the Tang generation, and most of the poets had lofty ambitions.

In the era of the Tang Dynasty, poets were generally unwilling to be a scholar who kept his fast silently, especially for poets like Gao Shi.

His grandfather Gao Wei, who served as an official to Andong Duhu, Duke Wei of Pingyuan, and a general of Zuo Wuwei, once attacked the Turks and captured the Chenose Khan before his death, and was buried in the Qianling Tomb of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi. Gao Shi's two uncles, Gao Chongde and Gao Chongli, also served as generals of Sima and Zuo Wei Zhonglang respectively because of their military merits.

Affected by the family environment, Gao Shi has been "full of strength and strong heart" since he was young, and has always been eager to make achievements and restore the glory of his ancestors.

But Gao Shi's father, Gao Chongwen, may have committed some kind of political mistake and was deposed to Shaozhou, which is located in today's Shaoguan, Guangdong, and until his death, he was only a minor official in the "history of Shaozhou Governor". For this kind of family disciples, Yao Chong, a famous prime minister during the Tang Xuanzong period, once said with emotion:

"After the death of the dignitaries, the descendants are lost and poor."

Gao Shi is a typical representative of this kind of "descendants of officials", because his ancestors once had the feat of capturing Turkic khans, so he always dreamed of entering the army from the shadow of the family, and as a result, he "did not do anything to make a living, his family was poor", and even fell into "seeking to get what he wanted", and needed the help of relatives and friends to survive.

About the tenth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (722), the 20-year-old Gao Shi newborn calf was not afraid of tigers and went to the capital Chang'an alone, hoping to get an official and a half-job.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were two main ways for people to enter the Tang Dynasty: one was to enter the imperial examination, and the other was to enter the Imperial Examination. However, even if the readers of the Tang Dynasty passed the imperial examination, they could not be immediately awarded official positions like their descendants, but had to take another examination organized by the Ministry of Officials and pass the selection before they could become officials, so many readers in the Tang Dynasty were still half-alive although they entered high school, and they could not even get a low-level official.

Gao Shi, who hopes to enter the service quickly, can only hope to enter the service through the door. However, the Tang Dynasty system stipulated that the descendants of officials above the fifth rank could enter the army through the door, but only one person. Gao Shi, who is not the eldest grandson of the family elder, is actually difficult to walk this path.

The young poet touched a nose in Chang'an and finally understood the snub of the world. In his farewell friend's poem "Bevey Joins the Army", he wrote that he "traveled west to Chang'an City" and longed to "raise his head and look at the monarch's gate and bow his fingers to the secretary", but after lingering for a long time, he understood that "Bai Bi is a minister who gives his own words, and cloth must not be a clear lord". As a son of a family member in the middle of the family, the immature poet was "melancholy and frightened", so he had to return to Song Prefecture (later renamed Suiyang Commandery, now Shangqiu, Henan) to cultivate the fields and study at the same time.

This acre of land is ten years. But even if he cultivates and reads, he is still "happy to say that the king is dominant, make meritorious achievements, and still have solar terms", and he has been in a positive mood all his life. In "Tian Jia Chunwang", he compares himself to Chen Liu's Gaoyang people, who once offered Liu Bangjin a plan to seize the world:

When you go out, spring is full of peace.

It is a pity that he is ignorant, Gao Yang is a drinker.

▲Chang'an Small Wild Goose Pagoda. Source: Photogram

2

Of course, he was not a farmer who was willing to fall into the fields, and in the nineteenth year of the first century (731), the 29-year-old poet set out from Song Prefecture (Suiyang) to Yan Zhao in the north, hoping to enter the road by entering the curtain from Rong.

The Tang Dynasty system stipulated that generals could invite officials themselves, so entering the curtain from Rong also became an important way for Tang Dynasty warriors to enter the officialdom. As a grandfather once captured the descendants of the famous generals of the Turkic khan, Gao Shi, who was hopeless through the shadow of the gate, also held considerable hopes for entering the curtain from Rong, and at that time, the Khitan and Xi tribes in the northeast gradually rose and constantly invaded the northeast border of the Tang Dynasty, so the Tang had to display heavy troops in the northeast, so the Yan and Zhao regions began in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and the military war was also increasingly fierce, which also provided unlimited hope for Gao Shi, who was eager to serve the country from Rong and advance from the Tang Dynasty.

Before the Tang Dynasty, the border pressure of the Chinese Empire mainly came from the northwest, whether it was the Inujung in the Zhou Dynasty, the Xiongnu in the Qin and Han Dynasties, or the Turks in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Tubo in the High Tang Dynasty, these nomads who rose in the northwest often invaded and attacked the Guanzhong region in the northwest and became the henchmen of the Chinese Empire.

But starting with the Sui and Tang dynasties, nomads from the northeast also continued to rise. During the Sui Dynasty, the genius Sui Emperor realized the great threat of Goguryeo in the northeast, but the overly anxious Sui Emperor wanted to complete the battle and conquer Goguryeo three times and destroy the country. After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, who had relayed the attack on Goguryeo in order to eliminate the hidden dangers in the northeast, was also unsuccessful. It was not until the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang that the Tang Dynasty finally pacified Goguryeo. However, since then, the Manchus, descendants of the Khitan, Xi, Jurchen and Jurchen have continued to rise from the northeast, which eventually greatly influenced the historical trend of the Chinese Empire for the next thousand years.

Gao Shi, who aspired to make a contribution to the Yanzhao front in the northeast, wrote in the poem "Stuffed Up":

The general rong swept the desert and captured Yu in a war.

Always be grateful and willing to follow suit.

The poet had a lofty heart and gave a passionate tribute to Yingzhou (present-day western Liaoning), which was on the front lines of the war against the Khitan and Xi tribes:

The young man in Yingzhou is tired of the wilderness, and the fox is hunting under the city.

Hu'er can ride a horse at the age of ten.

In "Stuffed on the Flute", he describes Hu Tianxue night on the front line:

Xuejing Hu Tian herding horses are also there, and the moon is bright and Qiang flute between the buildings.

Ask where the plum blossoms fall, and the wind blows all night over the mountain.

In this regard, the Tang Dynasty writer Yin Fan commented in the "Heyue Yingling Collection" that Gao Shi's poetry "has many breasts and bones, so the dynasty and the public appreciate its writings", which was quite famous at that time, but talent and official fortune could not be directly proportional, the poet wandered on the northeastern front of the Tang Dynasty for two years, but never found the opportunity to enter the shogunate, in the ups and downs of "every time the situation is fallacious and the heart is tormented", he was lost and went south, and recorded the melancholy of "From Thistle to the North":

Drive the horse to the north, and the north wind side the horse mourning.

The vast and distant mountain pass, open-minded.

The five generals have gone deep, and the former army has stopped half back.

Whoever has no mercy, the long sword returns alone.

Although he was still over thirty years old and still achieved nothing, even in difficulty, he was open-minded by nature, mingling with fishermen and woodcutters, soldiers, hermits, and gamblers, to which his friend Li Qi later sang the praises of this old friend:

Fifty without industry, light in the heart of millions.

Tu Yu was also with the group, regardless of who Jun was.

Drinking or fishing, singing and chanting.

From the age of 29 to 31, the poet who wandered the northeast achieved nothing, so he went to Chang'an again at the age of 32 (the twenty-third year of the Kaiyuan, 735), but "Chang'an is not easy to live in", politically frustrated, and even the poet who did not even have a small official had to return to Song Prefecture (Suiyang) to live.

From the age of 20 to Chang'an, the age of 29 to the northeast, and again to Chang'an at the age of 32, the poet who failed three times returned to Song Prefecture in 735, until 749 AD, before the light that lit his life shone on him, he lived in Song Prefecture for most of the 14 years, except for a brief trip in between.

From youthful endeavor to middle-aged frustration, he has always been full of warm confidence: "The public is all my generation, and it is used in strategy." "And seeing that the strong heart is there, Mo Huan is late."

It was also at this time that Gao Shi, who had been paying close attention to the situation on the front line, wrote the ancient masterpiece "Yan Ge Xing".

In the twenty-sixth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (738), the Tang army first won and then lost in the battle against the Khitans, and tens of thousands of Tang troops were crushed and sunk. After the news came out, Gao Shi, who had roamed the thistle for two years and longed to enter Zhang Shoujue's shogunate to serve in the army, was moved with emotion, and in the poem he wrote:

The Han family smoke and dust are in the northeast, and the Han family will be ruined thieves.

The boy is self-respecting, and the Son of Heaven is very colorful.

The warrior army was half dead and alive, and the beauty was singing and dancing under the tent.

The desert is poor and grassy, and the sunset in the lonely city is sparse.

Looking at the white blade and blood, the festival of death has never been Gu Xun.

Jun did not see the hardships of the battlefield battle, and still remembers General Li.

Zhang Shoujue was a famous general of the Sheng Tang Dynasty, as the true prototype of the "empty city plan", he once frightened Tubo with remnants of troops in Guazhou in the northwest, and fought against the Khitan and Xi tribes in the northeast for many years, and made outstanding achievements in stabilizing the two fronts of the east and west, but in his later years, he lied about this fiasco in the 26th year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (738) as a great victory. In the midst of condemnation from the government and the public, the following year (739), Zhang Shoujue was demoted to the title of Assassin of Guozhou, and soon after, Zhang Shoujue died of illness.

Although Zhang Shoujue died, Zhang Shoujue's righteous son An Lushan served as a Pinglu soldier in the year of Zhang Shoujue's death (740), and after that, An Lushan, which gradually assumed power in the northeast, would bring earth-shaking and violent impact to the Tang Empire and Gao Shi.

3

"Rather be a centurion, better than a scholar", the poem of the early Tang poet Yang Jiong, inspired the poets of the later generations of the Tang Dynasty to forge ahead, but where is the way forward? Gao Shi has not yet found a way out.

In "Qi Shang Farewell", he seems to have a Tao Yuanming-like understanding of the life of cultivating and studying:

Under the west mountain, beye mulberry forest.

The duck loves the rain, and the neighboring chicken knows the twilight sky.

Savages grow autumn vegetables, and ancient fields open fields.

And far from the world, I talk about nature today.

But the poet was not Tao Yuanming, and the Sheng Tang was not the war-torn Wei and Jin dynasties. In this era of poets' collective desire to make meritorious achievements, Tianbao Sanzai (744), three politically frustrated people, Li Bai, Du Fu and Gao Shi, met in Song Prefecture (Suiyang).

This is destined to be a grand event in the history of Chinese literature.

This year, 44-year-old Li Bai was just given gold by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and returned to exile again because of his arrogance; Du Fu, 33, has tried repeatedly; And the 42-year-old Gao Shi has been frustrated for many years. Three great celebrities in the history of Chinese literature met each other and traveled together in the Liang-Song region (present-day Kaifeng, Shangqiu, Henan) where Gao Shi studied and farmed. The three of them went to Huaigu together, shot poetry, and drank generously, and later, Du Fu recalled this time in "Sending Huai" and said:

In the past, I traveled to the Song Dynasty, but Liang Xiaowang capital.

Remembering and Gao Li generation, on handing over into the wine.

The two men are strong and thoughtful, and I have to be colorful.

Breathy on the stage, nostalgic for the ancient world.

As the youngest poet of the three at that time, Du Fuping was the most declining and emotional, and he recalled Li Bai and Gao Shi in "Journey to the West":

The former and Gao Li, late on the single father's stage.

Cold and cold, thousands of miles come.

The mulberry leaves are like rain, and the flying weed goes to Pei back.

The frost is frosty, and the birds and beasts are mourning.

Less than Juvenile Day, no Resurrection Cup.

Fu poetry is alone, and in troubled times he wants to be talented.

Throughout his life, Du Fu missed the grand meeting with Li Bai and Gao Shi in the year of Tianbao Sanzai (744). Although in the future, Gao Shi and Li Bai parted ways in the Anshi Rebellion, Du Fu's relationship with Gao Shi remained unswerving.

After Gao Shi traveled with Li Bai and Du Fu for a while, they left the Liang and Song regions because of something, and Li Bai and Du Fu continued to visit Ludong. Compared with Li Bai, who had a rich family, and Du Fu, who was still relied on by his father, who was still an official at that time, Gao Shi, who was 42 years old, was still working hard for firewood, rice, oil and salt, but he still did not forget to comfort his old friends who were also embarrassed in his difficulties.

I am ashamed of the economic policy, and I want to abandon it for a long time.

Jun is full of talents, how to still be haggard.

Long songs increase depression, and you can't get drunk on alcohol.

Poor from time to time, the master did not shed tears.

In the sixth year of Tianbao (747), the official Shang Shufang Guan was demoted from the dynasty, and Fang Guan's protégé Dong Da (Dong Tinglan), a famous piano master in Chang'an, was forced to leave Chang'an. During the meeting between Suiyang (Song Prefecture had changed its name to Suiyang County by this time) and Dong Da, the poet exhorted his friends:

Thousands of miles of yellow clouds in the day, the north wind blows geese and snow.

Mo Chou has no knowledge of himself in the future, and no one in the world knows the king.

This is undoubtedly the wildest and most inspirational farewell poem in the entire Tang Dynasty. Although the poet himself was in distress, he still encouraged his friends to "keep a husband poor and not enough"; Although he himself is 45 years old, nearly half a hundred years old and has no inheritance, he has always been strong.

Opportunities will be left to poets like him who are self-reliant.

▲Chang'an is the ultimate yearning of countless poets. Source: Film and television stills

4

Therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, it was not until the age of 47 (749) that Gao Shi was finally able to participate in the examination that must be recommended by officials above the fifth rank after being recommended by officials above the fifth rank after being recommended by the famous prime minister Zhang Jiuling. After waiting for many years, he was finally promoted and obtained an official rank as the lieutenant of Fengqiu County in Chen Liu County (Bianzhou) under the ninth pin.

In order to live, the poet, who was nearly half a hundred years old and had entered old age, had no choice but to go to the post, and he lamented in his poems that the days of serving as the lieutenant of Fengqiu County were "heartbroken to greet the chief, and it was sad to lash Lishu", and "to figure out the shameful officials, and to hide and thank the foolish duke".

After serving as the lieutenant of Fengqiu County, who was all "from the ninth pin" rank in the nine-pin sesame official, Gao Shi, who was 50 years old in the eleventh year of Tianbao (752), finally resigned and moved to Chang'an to seek opportunities.

In the time of the ancients, fifty years was already a declining year, but the poet Gao Shi will begin to work hard in this year and usher in a super reversal of his life.

That is, at the age of 50, Gao Shi was recommended by a friend to enter the shogunate of the famous general Goshuhan as the secretary of the shogunate. So, he rushed to Hexi in a mood.

At this time, there were still three years before the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion.

Although the Anshi Rebellion will become a turning point for the Tang Empire from prosperity to decline, and the poets Li Bai and Du Fu will also be displaced in the war, the poet Gao Shi is prosperous because of the chaos and is about to usher in the spring of his own life.

In February of the Anshi Rebellion, the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), Gao Shi followed the famous general Geshuhan into Chang'an to face the saint, but he did not expect that Geshuhan suddenly suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed while bathing, and then Gao Shi followed Geshuhan to stay in Chang'an. In the 11th lunar month of that year, An Lushan, who was also the envoy of the three towns of Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong, suddenly rebelled. At that time, because the famous generals Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi who guarded Tongguan were wrongly killed, in order to defend the Guanzhong Plain and Chang'an, Tang Xuanzong had no choice but to use the half-dead Geshuhan to guard Tongguan.

Subsequently, in June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was eager to win, forced Geshuhan to make a hasty attack, and Geshuhan, who had no choice but to "cry out of the pass", was finally defeated and captured. After the fall of Tongguan, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who had lost his ambition, fled west in panic. At this turning point in history, Li Baicang fled to Lushan in panic, Wang Wei and other famous poets were forced to surrender to An Lushan to assume false posts, and Du Fu was captured by the rebels and sent back to Chang'an.

▲ Tang Xuanzong and An Lushan. Source: Film and television stills

At this watershed in empire and life, Gao Shi, who had withdrawn from the front line of Tongguan, finally brought into full play the political distance he had accumulated for many years, and he followed in the footsteps of Tang Xuanzong all the way, and finally caught up with the fleeing Tang Xuanzong in Hechi County (present-day eastern Fengxian County, Shaanxi).

At that time, Gao Shi had been promoted to the superintendent of the eighth product before the Battle of Tongguan, and after the defeat at Tongguan, the generals and soldiers scattered for their lives, and the poets in Chang'an also panicked, only Gao Shi, who was very strategic and politically visioned, insisted on catching up with Tang Xuanzong, who fled west, and explained to Tang Xuanzong the reasons for the defeat of Tongguan.

Gao Shi told Tang Xuanzong that Geshuhan was seriously ill and lost his ability to command, and the generals who supervised the army only cared about having fun and did not care about military conditions, so that the sergeants could not even eat coarse rice, and all kinds of factors superimposed, which eventually led to the defeat of Tongguan, for this poet who still insisted on his duty in the chaotic times and came to state the military situation, Tang Xuanzong was very moved, so he promoted the 54-year-old Gao Shi to serve the imperial shi.

This was the second year of the Anshi Rebellion, and the year of great changes in the fate of the poet.

In July of that year, Li Heng, the crown prince of Lingwu in the north, declared his accession to the throne for Emperor Suzong of Tang, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was kept in the dark, did not know until more than a month later that he had become the "Emperor Taishang". Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was still nostalgic for power and unwilling to abdicate the throne, issued an edict, ordering Li Heng to be the marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and Li Xuan, the king of Yong, to raise soldiers and horses for the governor of Jiangling to counterattack the rebels.

In Tang Xuanzong's view, by dividing several sons into towns, he can still use each son to achieve mutual checks and sieges the rebels, thereby maintaining the dignity and power of his old emperor, but Tang Suzong is already located in Lingwu, naturally no one is allowed to share his power, at this critical juncture in the history of father-son power struggle, Gao Shi is very far-sighted to consult and think that it is impossible, otherwise it will cause civil strife in the country, Tang Xuanzong did not listen, but still promoted Gao Shi to counselor.

By November of that year (756), Li Xuan, the king of Yong who was guarding Jiangling (present-day Hubei), sent troops to the east, which had become another henchman of Emperor Suzong of Tang Li Heng in addition to the rebels of Anshi , in view of Gao Shi's previous advice that he could not be separated from the king of Yong, so Emperor Suzong of Tang threw an olive branch to Gao Shi and ordered Gao Shi to discuss countermeasures.

Compared with Li Bai, who took the wrong political side and returned to Emperor Shun Yong from Lushan Mountain, Gao Shi devoted himself to Emperor Suzong of Tang, and enthusiastically analyzed the situation in Jiangdong, asserting that Li Xuan the Prince of Yong would be defeated, so Emperor Suzong of Tang quickly appointed Gao Shi as the envoy of Huainan Jiedu and the governor of Yangzhou, and ordered Gao Shi to jointly fight against Li Xuan the Yongwang with the envoy Wei Shen of Jiangdong Jiedu and the envoy of Huainan Xijiedu.

Therefore, in the Battle of Tongguan half a year ago, Gao Shi, a poet who was only an eight-rank official, was quickly promoted to the rank of feudal official in the turbulent Jinge iron horse of history. Subsequently, Gao Shi, Wei Sheng, and Lai Yao met in Anlu (present-day Hubei) to form an alliance against Li Xuan the Prince of Yong. Gao Shi actively submitted to the generals under King Yong to divide and disintegrate.

Three months later, before Gao Shi's soldiers and horses could embark on the expedition, Li Xuan's army collapsed in February of Emperor Suzong of Tang's reign (757), and Li Xuan, the king of Yong, was killed on the way to escape.

5

As a pawn of Tang Xuanzong and Tang Suzong fighting for power, plus he also had ambitions, Li Xuan, the king of Yongwang who wanted to compete for the world in the chaotic times, was finally defeated, and Li Bai, who defected to the Yongwang, was also sentenced to "obedience" and sent to Xunyang Prison.

In order to save himself, Li Bai then asked people to ask Gao Shi, who was in a high position, for help, in "Sending Zhang Xiucai to High School Order", Li Bai compared himself to the unfortunate involvement in the fight between Tang Xuanzong and Tang Suzong and said: "When the two dragons fight, the heaven and the earth move", and Li Bai, who was once proud of himself, flattered Gao Shihe and asked for help: "Gaogong town Huaihai, talking and laughing but the demon atmosphere... I don't feel like frost, and the jade is burning. But spilling a line of tears, Linqi turned out to be He Yun. ”

But as Du Fu later wrote, Li Bai, who was politically wrong at that time, "everyone in the world wants to kill", and Gao Zheng, who is extremely sensitive to politics, will not fail to understand this, so he chose to ignore his old friend Li Bai's call for help, and since then, the two Tang poetry bigwigs have parted ways, and the boat of friendship has capsized because of the political storm.

Li Bai was then sentenced to "exile Yelang" and was lucky enough to meet amnesty on the way to return it, but the poet exhausted his last luck. Six years later, just a year before the end of the Anshi Rebellion (762), Li Bai died of illness in Dangtu, Anhui, and before his death, Shixian lamented in "Dying Song": "Dapeng Fei Zhen Eight descendants, Zhongtian is not strong." ”

▲ Li Bai, who was politically on the wrong side, fell into the abyss in the Anshi Rebellion. Source: Film and television stills

At the same time, Gao Shi, who was actively administering advice, was rumored by the eunuch Li Fuguo, so he was secretly demoted by Emperor Suzong of Tang to the rank of Zuo Zhi Prince Shaozhan and stayed in Luoyang. In 759, the Tang Dynasty officials and troops were defeated at the Battle of Yecheng, and Gao Shi was forced to move west to Chang'an with Luoyang's hundred officials, and was demoted to the post of Assassin of Pengzhou in Sichuan, and then transferred to Shuzhou.

However, compared with the upheaval of Tang poets such as Li Bai, Wang Wei and Du Fu in the Anshi Rebellion, Gao Shi repeatedly rose in the war.

In April 761, Duan Zizhang of Zizhou in Sichuan rebelled and proclaimed himself King of Liang. At that time, 59-year-old Gao Shi teamed up with Yin Cui Guangyuan of Chengdu to suppress the rebellion and wiped out the rebels in just two months.

In the following year (762), the father and son of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Emperor Suzong of Tang, who had exhausted their lives in the Anshi Rebellion, died 12 days apart, and Li Yu, the son of Emperor Suzong of Tang, ascended the throne for Emperor Daizong of Tang. At this juncture, Xichuan soldiers and horses made Xu know that he took the opportunity to rebel. As a result, the poet Gao Shi, who was 60 years old and promoted to Chengdu Yin, joined forces with the southern Sichuan generals to defeat the rebels.

In this year, Gao Shi, who had made successive battle achievements in Sichuan, was promoted to the envoy of Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu, and he became the only famous poet among the Tang poets to become a feudal official. In this regard, the "Old Book of Tang" said: "Since the Tang Dynasty, the poet is only suitable." ”

The poet became famous and reached the peak of his life: in 13 years, he rose from a village poet who had lost his folk to a feudal official of the Tang Empire; The real chapter of his life slowly began at the age of 47, and finally bore fruit at the age of 60 and became an immortal legend of the Tang poet.

In the second year (763), when Gao Shi reached the peak of his career, taking advantage of the Anshi Rebellion, he took the opportunity to occupy Tubo in Hexi and Longyou and attack Chang'an, and Emperor Daizong of Tang was forced to flee. In order to reduce the pressure on the Tang army in the Guanzhong region, Gao Shi, who was defending Sichuan, took the initiative to attack Tubo, but unfortunately lost the battle, losing many cities such as Pingrong City in Xishan. Given the strategic background at the time, Emperor Daizong of Tang did not blame Gao Shi. Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty Sect sent Yan Wu out of the town of Sichuan and replaced Gao Shi back to Chang'an, while Gao Shi was reappointed as a criminal attendant and Zuo Sanqi Changshi, and was canonized as the Marquis of Bohai County.

During his four years in Sichuan, from 759 to 763, Du Fu followed in the footsteps of his old friends Gao Shi and Yan Wu into Sichuan to escape the chaos. With the help of Gao Shi and Yan Wu, the poet Du Fu finally had a slight respite in the chaotic times. After becoming a high-ranking official, Gao Shi, who had already written fewer poems, wrote a poem "Ren Day Sends Du Er Collection" to his old friend in the first month of the first year of Baoying (762), when he reached the peak of his life:

This year, people will remember each other, and next year people will know where to go.

One lying in the thirty spring of Dongshan, don't you know the old wind and dust of the book sword.

The dragon bell is also 2,000 stones, and it is ashamed of the people from the east, west, south and north.

In the poem, Gao Shi, who has already achieved fame, lamented to Du Fu, who was old and frustrated, that he was a high-ranking official who was listed as "two thousand stones" when he came to the dragon bell, and compared with Du Fu, who was wandering everywhere in the southeast, northwest and southwest, "People remember each other day and day, and they know where to go next year." ”

Three years after writing this poem, in the first year of Emperor Yongtai of the Tang Dynasty (765), Gao Shi, 63 years old, died in the fall of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Anshi Rebellion had been quelled for two years, the poet Wang Wei had died in 761, and Li Bai had died of embarrassment in 762 in Dangtu, Anhui, and the generation of poets of the Tang Dynasty had gradually withered.

Five years after Gao Shi's death (770), due to the chaos in Shuzhong, Du Fu, who had to leave Sichuan and wander around Hunan, inadvertently re-turned to this poem sent to him by Gao Shi, Du Fu "burst into tears and read the end of the final chapter", and wrote the last poem to his old friend "Chasing the Reward of the Old Gao Shuzhou People See and Send Daily":

Since the people of Mengshu Prefecture wrote it daily, I don't realize that the Qing poems have been scattered for a long time.

This morning, my eyes flickered open, and I burst into tears and groaned like yesterday.

East, West, South and North are more who is concerned, and Bai Shou Bian Zhou disease exists alone.

Flute who can mess with thoughts, Zhaozhou words and spirits.

▲ Five years after Gao Shi's death, Du Fu shed tears and sang poetry and old friends

Shortly after writing this poem, in the winter of the fifth year of the Great Calendar (770), in the turmoil of the Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion, the poet Du Fu finally died of illness on a small boat from Tanzhou to Yueyang at the age of 59.

At that time, Sheng Tang was gone forever.

Bibliography:

Ge Xiaoyin: Fifteen Lectures on Tang Poems and Song Poetry, Peking University Press, 2013

Chen Tiemin: Selected Poems of Gao Shicen, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2018

Hou Yumei: A Brief History of Tang Poets (Chusheng Tang Scroll), Sanqin Publishing House, 2018

Zhang Zhiyong: The Character of Tang Poems, China Youth Publishing House, 2019

Hao Bo: A Brief History of Tang Poetry, Xuelin Press, 2018