If it is not broken, Loulan will not be returned
▓ Wang Yizao / Appreciation and calligraphy
Wang Yizao's book "From the Army (Part IV)"
From the military (Part 4)
★ Wang Changling
Qinghai Changyun dark snow mountain, lonely city looking at Yumen Pass.
The yellow sand wears gold armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will not be returned if it is not broken.
Wang Changling (698-757) was a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty. The word Shaobo, a native of Jinyang, Hedong (Taiyuan, Shanxi), is a native of Jingzhao Chang'an. He used to be Jiang Ningcheng (deputy of Jiangning County). Because of "not protecting the fine line" (not informal, not abiding by the red tape of officialdom) and degrading the captain of Long Biao, An Shi was in turmoil, and was killed by Lu Qiuxiao, the warlord of Bozhou Assassin History, on the way back to his hometown.
The group of poems "Seven Songs from the Army" is Wang Changling's representative poem. Here is the fourth poem, which describes the vast and desolate scene of the ancient battlefield, and expresses the noble spirit of the soldiers on the border to defend the country.
Qinghai Changyun dark snow mountain, lonely city looking at Yumen Pass.
These two poems describe the desolate scene of the ancient battlefield in the west from a bird's-eye view.
Qinghai: refers to Qinghai Lake. At that time, the Tang Dynasty general Ge Shuhan was ordered by Xuanzong to guard this area, guard against the two strong enemies of Tibet and Turks, and guard the Hexi Corridor. Long clouds: The sky is full of dark clouds. Snow Mountain: refers to the Qilian Mountains, stretching on the south side of the ancient Silk Road, the top of the mountain is covered with snow all year round, and the sun is dazzling. But because of the dark clouds, the snow-capped mountains became dark. Lonely City: Towns in the desert mountains appear lonely and lonely, often referred to in poetry as lonely cities.
What is the lonely city here? Some say it's the garrison castle built by Goshuhan. Some people say that the "lonely city looking at Yumen Pass" in this poem should be the inversion of the word order of "looking at Yumen Pass in the lonely city", and the lonely city and Yumen Pass actually refer to one place. Some people think that there is no need to explain it in this way, and it refers to the important places in general. I am inclined to the latter view, arguing that the place names in Biansai's poems should not be "according to the map". The length of the ancient poems is very small, and only a vast area can be sketched between the scales, and the clouds cover the fog, and the beginning and end are incomplete, and they are both real and illusory. The first two sentences of this poem describe a bird's-eye view of the northwest frontier, where dark clouds shroud the vast area of Qinghai Lake, Qilian Snow Mountain, and Yumen Pass, constituting the western frontier front of the Tang Empire.
The yellow sand wears gold armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will not be returned if it is not broken.
These two lines of poetry express the unswerving pride and ambition of the soldiers on the border to defend the country.
Wearing gold armor: It is not wearing gold armor, but yellow sand grinding through gold armor. Wear: Worn through. Gold Armor: Iron Armor, Armor. The yellow sand wore through the armor of the soldiers, which shows that the battles were frequent, long, fierce and arduous. Yellow sand can wear through the armor of soldiers, but it cannot wear out their ambition to defend the country.
The ambition is not extinguished, where is the performance? "If you don't break Loulan, you won't return it." Loulan: The name of a small country in the ancient Western Regions, located in the west of Guyangguan and south of Hami, existed for more than 800 years, and then suddenly disappeared mysteriously. During the Western Han Dynasty, its king colluded with the Xiongnu, betrayed the Han Dynasty, was capricious, blocked the communication between China and the West, and repeatedly killed the envoys of the Han Dynasty. The general Huo Guang sent Fu Jiezi to design and kill the king of Loulan. Li Bai's "Stopper Song" wrote: "I am willing to put the sword down my waist and cut Loulan directly." Later, Loulan further evolved into a synonym for "foreign enemy", which has the same meaning as "Xiongnu", "Tuyuhun", "Huma" and so on. In this poem, if you don't break Loulan, you won't return it, which is the sonorous oath of the border soldiers.
Final: This is a very rich word. It contains the meaning of finality, finality, absoluteness, and eternity, expressing the subjective oath, determination, and iron will of the soldiers, and also contains the meaning of being far away, objectively expressing the low sentimental emotions of the soldiers such as being forced, having to do so, and having no date to return. There is a popular version, "never return" is written as "vow not to return", emphasizing firmness and boldness, and the intention is more open-minded. But in retrospect, the tragic color is a little thinner. Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty said in "Tang Poetry Tailoring": "(The last sentence) can also be seen as a proud language, but it is also meaningful to look at it without a day when it is returned." The late scholar Liu Yongji's "The Essence of Tang Dynasty Quatrains" also said: "Using the word 'end' makes people read it sadly." Those who cover 'will not be returned' will not be able to return it in the end, even the previous sentence of gold armor wears through it, and the suffering of a long time is clear. They said that after tasting the last two lines of the poem, they should focus on "ambition and pride", and there is also the word "sadness" that should not be ignored. is also sad and strong, these are the two major emotional tones that the Tang Dynasty Biansai poems often contain at the same time.
The column "Teacher Wang Says Poetry" was selected for the Qingyun Plan Quality Graphic Award
Wang Yizao
Wang Yizao is a professor at Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, a scholar, poet and calligrapher. Born in Suqian, Jiangsu Province in 1942, he graduated from the Department of Chinese at Nanjing Normal University (now Nanjing Normal University) in 1963. He has successively served as a Chinese teacher at Nanjing No. 3 Middle School, the director of the Nanjing Teaching and Research Department, the director of the Education and Health Department of the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the vice president of Nanjing Institute of Education. Wang Yi studied calligraphy since childhood, and later studied under the famous calligrapher and calligraphy educator Professor Shen Zishan, focusing on Wang Xizhi's "Sacred Religious Order of Collecting Characters" and "Lanting Collection Preface".