According to historical records, Xiao Tong, the prince of Liang Zhaoming in the Southern Dynasty, was very intelligent and studious from an early age, and began to read the "Filial Piety Classic" and "Analects" at the age of three, and read the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of five, and could recite them. In addition, Prince Liang Zhaoming is not only intelligent and loves to read, but also has a memory far beyond ordinary people. Moreover, a number of lines at a glance, export into a chapter.
It is said that before 519, Chizhou had been in a drought, and there was no harvest of grain in the field, and when there was a serious famine among the people of Chizhou, Xiao Tong witnessed all this, wrote to the emperor many times, and personally resettled and sent grain for disaster relief, so that the people of Chizhou survived the disaster. After Xiao Tong's death, the people of Chizhou wept bitterly, because of their respect for Zhaoming's virtue and admiration for Zhaoming's talent, they specially invited Zhaoming's clothes and hats to the imperial court, and built the crown tomb and prince temple of Prince Zhaoming in Xiushan, where Zhaoming lived, and the tablets of Zhaoming have been enshrined for generations.
In fact, in the long river of history, there are not a few knowledgeable kings, whether it is dancing with ink or writing dragons and snakes, they are all dashing, but there are few people like Prince Liang Zhaoming.
Therefore, Xiao Tong is like a white lotus born in the floating and chaotic world, although it blooms in the rich and luxurious, but there is no trace of fireworks, he just lives in his own text world, living his own life. In addition, Xiao Tong also devoted himself to writing books, and the "Anthology" he wrote had a great influence on later generations. It can be seen that the appearance of Xiao Tong brought a hint of fresh air to the Southern Dynasty Liang, which was already smoky and miasma at that time.
However, Xiao Tong and his father have two completely different personalities, he does not have the experience of riding horses on the battlefield like his father, and is more like a thorough literati. Because, he likes Wenshi Silk Bamboo, expensive but not delicate, sentimental, so the face is quiet and clear. Since ancient times, the literati have been mostly related to the wind and currents, but this prince is clean and self-righteous, not close to women.
Not only that, Xiao Tong was also a big filial piety. According to historical records, Xiao Tong was a very family lover. When his mother was seriously ill, Prince Liang Zhaoming accompanied him sleeplessly day and night. After the death of his mother, he was devastated and went on a hunger strike for several days. Such a prince with both moral integrity and ability was praised by many people at that time.
Moreover, as he grew older, Xiao Tong's ability to control words became stronger and stronger, and he sank in his own literary world and was out of control.
He once explained the Book of Filial Piety to people at the Shou'an Temple, and both his courage and insight impressed the people at that time. In addition, Xiao Tong sometimes invited senior monks to study Buddhism together, and he was also quite insightful about Buddhism. In fact, in that society that advocated luxury, Xiao Tong was one of the few people at that time who was not affected by the world, and pursued frugality and was extremely simple.
It can be said that he who works hard in the literary garden is like a white lotus flower floating and sinking in the chaotic world, out of the mud without staining, and clean and clear without demon. According to historical records, at that time, in Xiao Tong's Eastern Palace, there were 30,000 volumes of books, where talents gathered, and the literary style was very prosperous, and it did not appear during the Jin Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.
In addition, Xiao Tong's literary achievements were very great, writing twenty volumes of the Collected Works, ten volumes of the canonical works "Zhengxu", twenty volumes of the "Yinghua Collection" of the essence of the Five Words and Poems, and thirty volumes of the general collection of poems compiled by the past dynasties. Moreover, as a faithful buddhist, he is the compiler of the "Thirty-two Rules" in the Buddhist Mahayana sutra Diamond Sutra.
Such a poetic prince naturally has a poignant love story.
It is rumored that in order to complete his literary creation, Xiao Tong did not hesitate to come to Jiangnan alone as a prince to find his own creative inspiration and pursue the true meaning of literature. Here, he met a girl who made his heart move, two people drinking tea and writing poems, in the misty mountain tea garden, the two people are in love, see each other and hate each other.
Since then, Xiao Tong is no longer a person who is attached to the mountains and rivers, but has always been accompanied by a woman named Huiniang. Moreover, in the face of such a beautiful day, Xiao Tong, a talented and beautiful person, did not have the slightest intention of going back. However, his anthology was complete and he had to go back. However, Xiao Tong knew very well in his heart that after he returned, he would definitely face the court life of those who were plotting against each other.
However, as the prince, it is his responsibility as the future successor of the country. So, the two people held hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes, clinging to each other, and finally, saying goodbye with tears. It's just this parting, I don't know when we will meet again.
Later, Xiao Tong, who had no intention of politics, became suspicious of his father because of the wax goose prayer.
At this time, the emperor was old, and when he saw that the prince believed in witchcraft, he could not help but be disgusted, so he began to suppress the prince. Although he had no intention of politics, he was after all the crown prince of Southern Liang, and it was his mission to inherit the throne.
After that, Xiao Tong blamed his political failure on reading too much, and burned all of his 140,000 volumes of books with a fire. It can be seen that Xiao Tong's behavior is the largest cultural destruction since Qin Shi Huang burned books to pit Confucianism. He single-handedly created a prosperous cultural era, but he also personally destroyed all this, which had a great impact on the cultural inheritance and development of China later.
Later, during a boat trip with his sister, Xiao Tong accidentally fell into the water and injured his thigh. Soon after, he died young, and he was known as "Prince Zhaoming". In 555, with the support of Western Wei, Xiao Tong's son Xiao Qi established the Western Liang regime and posthumously honored him as Emperor Zhaoming and given the temple name Gaozong.
Although Xiao Tong's life was short, his achievements in literature were beyond doubt.
During his stay in the Eastern Palace, Xiao Tong gathered a wide range of literary scholars and collected the masterpieces of more than 130 famous writers from the 700 to 800 years from the pre-Qin to the Southern Liang into a book, which was later known as the "Selected Writings of Zhaoming". The book is divided into 38 categories and 752 articles, and the fine works in the Chu Ci, Han Fu and Six Dynasties Texts are all compiled into it, which is the earliest collection of poetry in China.
According to the Qianlong "Wuqing Zhenzhi" of the Qing Dynasty, in the second year of Liang Tianjian, Xiao Tong came to Wuzhen with his teacher Shen Yue to study, and built a library. Later, the library collapsed, and the ruins remained.
Resources:
[Zizhi Tongjian Vol. 164 Liang Ji XX, Nanshi Vol. 53 Liechuan No. 43]