The statements in this article are based on reliable sources of information and are detailed at the end of the article
The Ming Dynasty, as a period of rapid development of literature in ancient China, emerged many amazing and brilliant "talents", such as Tang Bohu, the first of the "Four Great Talents"; Mr. Qingteng, Xu Wei, Xu Wenchang, etc.
Among them, there is one who has been rated by many people as "the first genius of the Ming Dynasty", and the "History of the Ming Dynasty" is evaluated as "the breadth of the Ming Dynasty's recitation, the wealth of the works, and the first prudence." "This person is Yang Shen.
And the most well-known words and phrases he left behind and have been passed down through the ages are the opening words of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "Linjiang Immortals, Rolling Yangtze River East Passing Water".
01 Saiko Cho
Yang Shen, the word with Xiu, was born in 1488, that is, the first year of the Hongzhi of Ming Xiaozong, and his father was Yang Tinghe, a scholar of Wuyingdian University at that time; The uncle is Yang Tingyi, a squire of the military department.
Therefore, in terms of background alone, the Yang family is a veritable famous family, and Yang Shen also got better educational opportunities at that time, plus he was brilliant and studious since he was a child, and soon showed unparalleled talent.
When Yang Shen was 7 years old, his mother taught him to read sentences and quatrains of the Tang Dynasty, and he could basically recite them; At the age of 10, he began to compose near-body poems.
When he was 12 years old, he imitated "Hanging Ancient Battlefield Text", wrote "The soul of the green building is broken and the red and pink of the green building, and the bones of the green moss shine in the daylight", and he was planning to write Jia Yi's "On the Passage of Qin", discussing the lessons of the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty.
When Yang Shen was 14 years old, he had already begun to be active in many places, and did "Ma Weipo", "Farewell Poem of Weicheng" and so on, among which "Yellow Leaf Poem" was a sensation in the entire Beijing division at that time, making Li Dongyang, the first assistant of the cabinet, a disciple and called him a "little friend".
At the age of 20, he participated in the township examination and won the first place, and at the age of 24, he won the first place in the palace examination and won the first place.
Just when people thought that Yang Shenzhi could shine in the court, his career became very bumpy.
02 The career is difficult
Yang Shen's talent is unparalleled, but he did not encounter a good era, since the death of Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youzhang, it was Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao who came to power.
According to historical records, this emperor was extremely playful, so much so that he was extremely wasted on the government, and the power was in the hands of 8 eunuchs such as Liu Jin, Gao Feng, and Gu Dayong, and was called the "Eight Tigers".
The eunuch's rise to power led to chaos in the court and rampant greed for ink, and Yang Shen could not bear such a situation, so in the twelfth year of Zhengde, he submitted the "Ding Chou Feng Shi", which wrote that "act rashly and travel without doing anything" to accuse Wuzong of abandoning the government.
But Wuzong did not make any corrections, so Yang Shen had to return to his hometown by himself to get sick. Four years later, Wuzong died, and because he had no children under his knees, he chose his cousin to succeed him, and this emperor had a well-known title: Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi.
After the new emperor succeeded to the throne, Yang Shen was also reinstated and was awarded the position of editor and lecturer of the Hanlin Academy, but for Yang Shen, his career was still very difficult.
Emperor Jiajing is placed in the entire history of the Ming Dynasty, and he is among the best in terms of intelligence, and no one can match the control of power and the mutual checks and balances between monarchs and ministers, but he has such a talent, but he is not a good emperor.
When Yang Shen was in the second year of Jiajing, he began to lecture for Sejong, and because his personality was too upright, he repeatedly offended the opponent's rebellion, for example, in a certain lecture, he quoted the "Shundian":
The saints set up atonement for small transgressions, so that the people could be rehabilitated. If the yuan is evil, there is no forgiveness.
He expressed that he did not want the emperor to atone for the various corrupt officials who had committed the most heinous crimes because of money and bribes, but it caused the anger of Emperor Jiajing, and he even stopped preaching for some reason.
And then there was also a dispute over the "Great Rites Discussion", Emperor Jiajing wanted to posthumously crown his father, that is, King Xing as the emperor, and his mother as the empress, but was opposed by the ministers below, thinking that he should change the name of Ming Xiaozong Zhu Youzhu as his father to confirm his orthodox position.
This incident became Emperor Jiajing's rebellion, and even directly ignored the government for a long time, and the ministers who stood on the opposing side were also hated by him, including Yang Shen and his father Yang Tinghe.
Yang Shen and 36 people wrote "Begging for Resignation" to express that he wanted to resign from the government, and he did not want to be an official in the same dynasty with some people in the officialdom who could only slap horses; Later, in public, he angrily reprimanded Zhang Xuan and others who were attached to Emperor Jiajing, saying, "The country has been raising soldiers for 150 years, and the festival of righteous death is today!" ”
In the end, Sejong ordered him to be sent to prison and given a court staff, which even led to Yang Shen's near death twice, and finally he was demoted to Yunnan to fill the army, and Yang Shen officially began the second half of his most tragic and displaced life.
03 Rolling Yangtze River East Passing Water
In fact, from Yang Shen's performance in all aspects, as well as the articles he has made, his characteristics can be seen: upright, ambitious, and open-minded, but obviously these characteristics did not work in the officialdom at that time.
As a result, Yang Shen could only be demoted to Yunnan, and even almost died on the road due to his serious injuries, long journeys, and various political enemies.
However, despite the difficult situation, he never fell into an extremely negative state, but began to express his feelings with mountains and rivers and composed various poems.
For example, in "Nanzhi Song", he refers to himself as a plum blossom born in a "poor mountain and a desperate region" and "peerless independence", expressing his will not to go along with the stream; and praised the pride of camellia in "Camellia Flower" as "green leaves and red English fighting snow" to convey his own ideals.
At the same time, although Emperor Jiajing won the controversy about the "Great Rites Discussion" in the middle of the period, he began to believe in asking for immortals, and handed over the government to the traitorous minister Yan Song and others for a long time, and let there be party disputes within the court, so as to achieve a balance of power.
However, this practice led to the suffering of the people below, all kinds of corrupt officials and corrupt officials were rampant, coupled with the rebellion of the Japanese in the southeast region, as well as natural and man-made disasters, which made the people even more miserable.
Yang Shen also witnessed these tragedies, and would immediately criticize them whenever he saw them, such as when he found that the gentry in Kunming cooperated with local officials to forcibly occupy people's land in the name of repairing Haikou.
So he immediately wrote the words "Haimen Xing" and "Houhaimen Xing" to criticize, and wrote directly to the governor of Yunnan, reflecting this situation and demanding that such behavior be stopped immediately.
Yang Shen spent more than ten years in Yunnan, during which he traveled back and forth many times, including 15 times through Luzhou, and on the wharf in Luzhou, looking at the rolling Yangtze River, also brought him great comfort.
So he wrote the poem:
"The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes. Success or failure turns empty. The green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times.
On the white-haired fisherman river, accustomed to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze. A pot of turbid wine is happy to meet. How many things in ancient and modern times are laughing and talking. ”
Only the first two sentences have become a swan song, and countless people will always be shocked by the majesty of it after reading it, and they will also think about "what is a hero".
In the end, history is still advancing, but the green mountains do not change, the green water flows forever, and the past and the present will become a joke, which also brings people a kind of emotion that they are accustomed to seeing the past and being open-minded in an instant.
And this poem, I am afraid it is also a psychological portrayal of Yang Shen at that time, he thought he was talented and ambitious, but in the end he fell to this, maybe he had hesitated and confused, but at this time he still saw through fate.
On July 6, the 38th year of Jiajing, Yang Shen died of illness in Kunming at the age of 72.
His life in literature, Confucianism, calligraphy and painting, etc., have a variety of contributions, together with Xie Jin, Xu Wei and become the "Ming Dynasty three talents", was the first in the expo.
Later, the song "Linjiang Immortals, Rolling Yangtze River East Passing Water" was also cited by Luo Guanzhong as the opening words of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which can be said to be very suitable for the tone of the heroes and the ups and downs of history in the book, and has been passed down to the present, and has become a swan song for the ages.
Sources of information:
[1] Cover News 2019-06-04 : Yang Shen's eternal swan song "Linjiang Immortal" was composed in Lalang Gudu, Panzhihua City
[2] Study Times 2020-12-16 : Hearing is not as good as seeing, knowing is not as good as doing