The previous article wrote the story of Zhang Yuanren assisting Zhu Qingyu Jinshi and the first, and this one wrote an interesting story about God assisting Qian Qi Jinshi and the first.
One day in the ninth year of Tianbao (750) of the Tang Dynasty, in a hotel in Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), a young scholar was staying up late to read.
When he was thirsty and drinking water, suddenly, he heard someone chanting in the courtyard, "At the end of the song, no one is seen, and there are several peaks on the river." ”
Qu finally disappeared, and several peaks on the river were green
Shusheng's heart moved, what a good verse, it really has a meaning, so the scholar continued to listen carefully.
But I heard the man just chanting this sentence back and forth.
"Tall man," Shusheng said with heartfelt admiration, "I have to get to know it." The scholar pushed the door out of the room and came to the courtyard.
The night is already deep, only to see the moon hazy, the shadows of the trees, silent, who is chanting poetry? The scholar did not die, and walked around the courtyard, but he still did not find anyone, let alone hear the sound of the chant.
What's going on, is it haunted, the student is very confused, sadly returned to the room, lying on the bed, repeatedly experiencing this poem "The song is finally missing, and there are several peaks on the river." "The spirit of space is so charming, and the scholar firmly remembers this poem in his mind."
The young scholar's name was Qian Qi (722-780), zhongwen, a native of Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang), who came to Jingkou to run errands and stayed in this hotel, and encountered this strange thing.
Huai Su, one of the two famous cursive masters of the Tang Dynasty, was a family member of Qian Qi, and Qian Qi was honored as an uncle according to his generation, Huai Su was originally surnamed Qian, and Huai Su was the name of his monk.
Huaisu's calligraphy
In the tenth year of Tang Tianbao (751), the thirty-year-old Qian Qi jinshi and the first, later, Qian Qi and Lu Lun, Han Hong, Ji Zhongfu and other ten poets were called "the ten talents of the great calendar", and Qian Qi was known as "the crown of the ten talents of the great calendar".
Qian Qi is very good at five-word poetry, with clear colors, harmonious rhythms, novel physique, and light reasoning. At that time, there was a saying that "there was Shen Song before, and there was a rich man after that". "Shen Song" refers to the famous poets of the early Tang Dynasty, Shen Qi, and Song Zhi. People called him "Qian Lang" on a par with the famous poet Lang Shiyuan. In this regard, Qian Qi was very dissatisfied, and said very conceitedly: "Why can Lang Shiyuan be compared with me?"
In the spring of the tenth year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (751), Qian went to Chang'an to take the ceremonial examination, and the chief examiner was Li Wei, whose test was "Xiangling Drum ser", which required the writing of a five-word poem.
"Xiangling Drum Ser" comes from the poem "Make the Xiangling Drum serene, Make the Sea Dance Feng Yi" in the great poet Qu Yuan's "Chu Ci Yuanyou", which has a poignant myth and legend in this poem.
Legend has it that emperor Yao had two beautiful daughters, one named Emperor E and one named Nuying, both of whom were married to Emperor Shun. Emperor Shun went on a tour of the south, and died on the way to Cangwu (苍梧, in modern Wuzhou, Guangxi). Emperor E and Lady Ying qianli were crying day and night on the banks of the Xiang River, and the bamboo on the river was stained with their tears of sadness, and since then they have become mottled, and they are called ban bamboo or Xiangfei bamboo. Soon, they sadly surrendered themselves to the Xiang River and became the god of the Xiang River, so they were called "Xiang Ling", and the spirit was the meaning of the god.
Xiangfei bamboo
Xiang Ling often plays the piano and drums on the moonlit night, and if people listen carefully in Xiangshui, they will faintly hear their sad tones and sad melodies, and people are deeply moved.
Of course, Qian Qi knew the allusions and stories contained in this title, and when he was conceiving, Qian Qi suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and the sentence in his mind, "The end of the song is gone, and the number of peaks on the river is not just right to use it!" Therefore, Qian Qi used his rich imagination to describe Xiangling Guser from the perspective of a listener, and used this sentence at the end of his poem.
"Provincial Trial Xiangling Drum Ser"
Good drum cloud and Ser, often heard of the emperor's spirit.
Feng Yi danced in vain, and Chu Ke was unbearable.
Bitter tune miserable golden stone, clear sound into the meditation.
Cang Wu came to complain, and Bai Zhi moved Fangxin.
The flowing water spread to Xiangpu, and the sad wind passed through the cave court.
Qu finally disappeared, and several peaks on the river were green.
Poetic:
Good at playing Yun and Ser, I often hear about Xiang Ling.
Feng Yi would only dance alone, and the people of ChuDi could not bear to listen.
The tune is sad and bitter, and the sound of resentment spreads through space.
Touched by cangwu to complain, the water's edge of the white zhi hair fragrance.
The sound follows the flowing water through the Xiang River, and the sad wind reaches Dongting Lake.
A song was finally gone, and only the peaks on the river were green.
The chief examiner, Li Wei, saw the examination paper in front of him, stunned, he recited softly again and again, the beautiful and ethereal mood shown in the poem completely conquered Li Wei, especially the final sentence, it was even more afterglowing, as if to let people see, between the green mountains and green waters, the image of a goddess who had just laid down the clouds and se and leisurely left, Li Wei could not help but exclaim: This is not something that people can write, "there must be divine help."
Therefore, Li Wei resolutely admitted Qian Qi and gave him a high rank. Qian Qi became famous for this poem, and soon after, he was awarded the post of school secretary lang, and later successively served as an official position such as Si Xun Ren Wai Lang, Kao Gong Lang Zhong, hanlin bachelor, etc., so later generations called him "Qian Kao Gong" with official titles.
Qian Qi's poem became the best work in the three hundred years of provincial examination poems of the Tang Dynasty, only to be imitated and never surpassed.
Qian Qi Jinshi and di, left such an anecdote of "must have divine help", this is actually the embodiment of Qian Qi's own talent, is people's worship of poets, especially the love of rare famous sentences, feel incredible, according to the chief examiner Li Wei "must have divine help" said, inspired, fabricated the story of the magical experience of QianQi Jingkou Hotel.
Prior to this, Xie Lingyun, a famous landscape poet during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, had a poem "Climbing the Pond upstairs", in which the famous sentence "Spring grass grows in the pond, and the garden willow becomes a songbird." Xie Lingyun himself said, "I didn't write this sentence myself, but I got divine help." ”
When people make up the story of Qianqi, are they also inspired by Xie Lingyun? I don't know.
Two articles introduce interesting stories about people assisting and god assisting in the Tang Dynasty examination, so are there any other situations of assists? The answer is, of course, and I'll go on in the next article.