One afternoon many years ago, Mr. Cheng Suren and I, a writer from our local port, sat down to taste tea in his small office full of ancient and modern classics and books, and the faint ink fragrance was served, and we selected a few writers and poets from Taigu in modern times, screening those works that could last a long time or were only short-lived.
At the same time, mr. Liu thoughtfully and almost affirmatively said to me: "In Taigu, Cao Runtang is a poet who has written the history of Chinese literature. ”
It was an autumn afternoon, a very ordinary day with warm sunshine, but for me, it obviously had value and significance beyond the seasons. It was in that room full of fragments of sun, on the road from here and there, to the history of modern literature, that Cao Runtang and I met.
Cao Runtang (1853-1904), known as Peide, Ziruntang, and Mushi'an, was born in the Northern Cao family of the Jin Shang clan. In his lifetime, he went through the three dynasties of Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu, and was a tribute and a lifter during the Guangxu years. Since childhood, he has been full of poetry and books, erudite and talented, proficient in poetry, painting, general medicine, good economy, good at talking about soldiers, and is a person with a lofty ambition and the idea of serving the country. Among the relevant materials I have seen, those who started or became famous for their business in the history of Taigu, but who are more famous for their poetry, should be led by Cao Runtang.
At the end of the 19th century, in the shopping mall fight of the Jingqi hunting, in the competition of Jinshang, Cao Runtang was undoubtedly an outstanding person. 100 years ago, the land of Shenzhou, the Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, internal and external troubles were intertwined like ants breaking the embankment, and the Qing Dynasty was crumbling and suffering from the bite of jackals. In such a chaotic world, Cao Runtang, who was born in the Jin merchant family, was determined to save the country with industry and benefit the villagers. He strategized and expanded the trade routes, founded the "Jin" business name in major commercial ports across the country, and built the Cao family into a "bull's ear holder" in the Jin merchant brigade; he lived up to the expectations of the people and was appointed to set up the Shanxi Provincial Chamber of Commerce and serve as the president; he had a far-sighted strategy, founded the Simon Company, and personally went to Serbia to plan the reclamation affairs; he had the overall situation in mind and actively participated in the Shanxi Mine Preservation Movement. Walking on the road of commerce in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Cao Runtang's talent for business and financial management has been fully displayed.
However, aside from his great commercial achievements, what I admire even more is his poetic achievements that are not inferior. Compared with the laurels of the commercial arrogance he wears on his head, I appreciate his pen and ink articles more, and appreciate that he is a bloody poet with a "sword and guts" heart.
The poet is not only a cultural symbol attached to the person, but also a display of one's own taste and talent. Reading Cao Runtang's poems, I feel that he is not like a gentle and elegant businessman, nor like a polite intellectual, but like a warrior on the battlefield who sits on the battlefield, like a general who has never slept all night. Although more than a hundred years have passed, reading his poems today, you can still feel the sonorous sound and awe-inspiring atmosphere in his poems.
One
Wu shang Yanjing crossed the Liao again, and hurriedly sighed ma sword across the waist.
The boy did not do much this day, only drawing the nose of the new poem shield.
Two
Everywhere there was a shock to the horse hissing, and the five woke up and smelled the chicken.
I also know that there are few good sounds at this time, and the three-foot dragon spring is self-mentioned.
Three
Jian Er was like a rainbow, and the day of return from breaking the enemy was not in the middle.
It is reported that the Yin Shan Wei has been solved, and the general's sleeping eyes are still hazy.
Four
White bones were piled up in battle bases, and the five flowers sealed out of the shenjing.
Poor warrior enduring the day, April Murata has not yet been cultivated.
Five
The soldiers and vehicles were trapped in the isolated city, and the good news still entered the imperial capital.
A unique general can kill an enemy, and others still say that it is a light life.
"Plugged in the Five Songs"
This group of poems has harmonious rhymes and deep connotations, which is comparable to the biansai poems of the famous Tang Dynasty poet Cen Shan. It immediately took me to the ancient battlefield full of wolf smoke, making me feel as if I saw the liver and gallbladder hero who "three feet of dragon spring and mentioned himself", and saw the tragic figure who "has the unique general can die to the enemy", but encountered the tragic figure who "others still say that it is a light life". Although Cao Runtang was a weak body, although he had not rolled on the blade of blood, he was born with "good talking" and "good strategy" in his bones, which allowed him to have a deep experience and feeling of the border war on the spiritual level, so that he could also write such a generous voice as "Jian'er is like a rainbow, and the return of the enemy is not in the middle of the day". I even thought that when I was young, Cao Runtang must have been a hot-blooded young man who was ready to throw pen from Rong, spill blood on the battlefield, and wrap his body in Ma Ge, and he fervently hoped that he would become a great husband like Yue Fei and Xin Renjie. Therefore, even if he could not personally go to the border pass and drive out the Tartars, he could see the helplessness of the soldiers forced to leave the battlefield, and he could understand the pain of having the intention to kill the enemy and being powerless. Therefore, looking at the white grass and yellow sand, thinking of hunting the flag, and even more so that the Kanloulan was broken, the poet issued a heavy sigh in the depths of his heart with a "Plugged Song Three Songs".
The general flew from heaven and vowed not to return without stepping on the Yin Mountain.
Stuffed with tun soldiers to watch, to grind the shield nose battle merits.
The white grass and yellow sand look flat, and the flag is chaotic and hidden in the isolated city.
And the state also has many heroes, and the general wants to ask for an alliance.
Lou Lan broke through the Tong Pass last night, and the admiral hurriedly returned the horse.
Unfortunately, the Male Master and Apprentice threw it, and the Han Family Tianzi was still gentle.
"Plugged in Three Songs"
The similarities between the first two poems both convey Cao Runtang's sincere feelings of serving his home country and the author's concern for state affairs and social security. The latter poem, "Spring Wind Trip", highlights his concern for Cangsheng and his worries about the safety of the border soldiers:
The spring breeze is sounding day after day, and the sun is bleak and the clouds are sad.
Last night, it was rumored that Huma had entered, and Ping Ming had stepped on the copper money ditch.
The general immediately looked forward to it, and the flag flashed on the south mountain head.
The flying foxes and geese are knotted, and the drums are constantly sounding in the building.
The athletes under the tent are good at what they are worried about.
The sky is cloudy and the moon is dark, and last year's war bones were not collected.
"Spring Breeze Walk"
From "spring breeze" to "bleak daylight", from "flag flickering" to "drumming continuously", we seem to see Cao Runtang in the border fortress, like a general standing on the city with a sword, guarding the tranquility of the border pass. "The sky is cloudy and the moon is dark, and no one collected the bones of the war last year." This is not only a depiction of the cruelty of war, it is more through the accumulation of white bones, conveying the poet's compassion for innocent beings. Of course, poets also have times to celebrate, and "Wen Jie Does Not Sleep and Write" allows us to see the joy and hope in the author's heart when the good news comes.
There are many warriors in the Central Plains, and the generals are incorruptible.
The indiscriminate talk is true, and the good news is afraid of blackmail.
I like to hear about the stone tiger, and I am afraid to hear the weeping copper camel.
On the day of the day, the whole division withdrew, and everyone sang a triumphant song.
"Wen Jie does not sleep and works"
Cao Runtang is a poet who lives in the folk and has more personal feelings about the suffering and sorrow of the bottom of society, and his heart is full of concern for people's livelihood. Therefore, his poems include both the lament of the peasants who "look at the wilderness in the field", the inner joy of "this year's rain is enough to be a good harvest", and there is also the lashing and criticism of "Xu Fei guanfeng". His "New Silk Sigh" is full of clear irony of social reality:
The new silk was listed with the fragrance of durian flowers, and the officials in front of the door urged the grain to be finished.
The eastern neighbors go with the officials, and the western neighbors replenish the flesh and go to the sores first.
The poor wife endured hunger, and the silk price did not dare to compete for a low price.
The grain was still not finished, and the official came to my hometown last night.
My hometown is barren and barren, and the spring silkworms on the foil of the family are stiff.
This year, Wusi was arrested by the officials, and next year he was honored as a horse-headed lady.
The poem may seem bland, but in its plain narrative, it sends chills down our spines. The harshness of taxes, the hardships of the people, and the coolness of the officials are like a living picture, which is clearly and unmistakably placed before our eyes, and we cannot help but feel compassion for the suffering people's livelihood. His other poems, "To Repair the City" and "New Silk Sigh", are similar and are also realistic, but their brushwork is sharper, and the exposure of dark reality and cruel bureaucracy is also more to the point:
Go repair the city, and work hard.
Repairing the city in the twilight and the dynasty, the sound of the pestle to build the people screamed.
The people complained, and the walls of the city were high.
It is easy to defend and re-make heavy trenches.
The trenches are deep and the people are hardworking, and the size of the repair is grease paste.
Xu Feiguan did not dare to speak, and only went to the city to repair the family prison.
As soon as hu came, the commander fled to avoid the Tibetan soldiers.
The people can't bear to go to their hometown, just like the high trenches can protect Wu Cao.
Do you know that the walls can be passed, and the trenches can be jumped,
Suddenly, the city is broken and the thieves are caught, and the rich redeem the poor.
Knowing that there is money to redeem oneself, it is better to build the city than to accumulate more silver.
It is better to build a city than to accumulate more silver.
The people do not repair the city officials.
The thieves of the southern city went to report to Kefu, and the governor of the northern city repaired the city.
The city does not cultivate the people and does not die, and no one can do so.
Persuade the people not to enter Xianyang City, Xianyang is often bitter soldiers for many years.
You don't see the smokey trees on all sides of Wuling, which is the place where people are happy.
The room was full of cave dwellings, and it was not until the city was repaired to be captured.
The poem rhymes neatly, with setbacks and setbacks, and is quite effective in artistic techniques. But what I pay more attention to is the realistic style of this poem, which gives us a vivid animation of the hardships of people's livelihood, and it makes people feel bitter and tearful when reading it! Throughout the ages, the monarchs and nobles have been light, the officials and eunuchs have secretly given birth, and the people have suffered hardships, which has become the law of the thousand-year cycle of feudal society. From Qin Shi Huang building the Great Wall to successive dynasties grasping Ding and serving in the army, the laborers contributed in the front and worked hard to make the city strong, able to protect the family and protect the room, and bring peace to their wives, children, and children. But who could have imagined that "once the Hu Yu came to the ground, the commanders avoided the Tibetan soldiers and fled", and those officers and soldiers who were greedy for life and afraid of death would actually be intimidated by the obscenity of the "Hu Yu" and abandon the people of the city and flee for their lives in a hurry! Yes, if there is no army loyal to the country and the people, even if there is the danger of the Great Wall, Taishan, and the Yellow River, how can we defend our homeland!
Reading the next two poems, I suddenly thought of Bai Lotte and his "Du Lingsuo" and "Selling Charcoal", and I thought of Du Gongbu and his "Three Officials", "Three Farewells", and "Soldier Carriage Line". Oh, a true poet, must have a compassionate and broad heart. If there is no broad mind, no concern for the people's livelihood, and no hot patriotic heart, Cao Runtang would not have been able to write such a poem, and he would not have bothered to write such a poem. The poet is the spokesman of society, he is in the context of the era in which he lives, experiencing the conflict, squeezing, distortion and hammering of social contradictions, obtaining his own unique insights from it, and then speaking as a poem, becoming the embodiment of the conscience and justice of society. Reading Cao Runtang's poems, I read the beauty and power of the poems themselves, and even more so the solemn and profound social and political content, and not all poets can write such works.
Cao Runtang is a poet with pure feelings and a poet who acts spontaneously. His poems include the generous and bold voices of "Tun Tian has ambitions and empty strategies, and no one to serve the country asks for help" ("Plugging up"), "Take care of my seven-foot body, can't snow the shame of the country" ("Send Friends"), as well as high-quality works that express personal disposition, elegance and ethereality. For example, in his later years, he wrote a poem to his friends: "Idle all day long in mushi nunnery, and smoke friends are accompanied by poetry niches." Sometimes the bald pen is frequently dyed, drawing a few points of orchids on the autumn mountains. "It is a vivid depiction of his comfortable and comfortable life in his leisure time. And another poem, "Inscription Painting Of cattle": "This painting has a deep meaning, and the world cannot see it." The old cow's strength has declined, and he is afraid that the calf will be thin. Spring comes to the ancient Watanabe, and the willow green grass is beautiful. "Then there are paintings in poetry, and there are poems in paintings. Old cow calf, ancient crossing green willow, love and scenery blend, virtual and real combination, implying the author's many feelings and understanding of the vicissitudes of the world.
Cao Runtang not only used his wisdom to raise the banner of Jinshang hunting and flying, but also cultivated a gorgeous scenery for us in the world of poetry. Walking on the vast land of Northern China, looking at the back of a former poet Xingyin, I read the solemnity of the thick soil of yellow sand, the vastness of the high sky and blue sky, the misery of the cultivators and wives, the crops, the wheat stacks and the smell of the earth that pervaded the fields...
Looking at the horizon of the sky, the poet is gradually moving away from us, but in my heart, Cao Runtang's back is getting taller and taller.