Text: Sasuke (Columnist for Reading History)
When the ancients wrote articles and poems, it was inevitable to send a complaint in the text that "huai cai did not meet". Throughout history, except for the Northern Song Dynasty, it is rare to see examples of both great literary heroes and great bureaucrats, and even many scribes have spent their lives, and finally only ended up with a small official of eight or nine products, and ended up with hatred in the depression of undesirables.
In the face of so many talented and well-educated people, it is really incomprehensible that the kings cannot reuse them, is it true that the rulers of thousands of years have all had blind and stupid emperors?
Regarding this phenomenon, Xie Lingyun, the founding ancestor of the ancient Chinese landscape poetry school, is an extremely typical example, and from the exploration and interpretation of his life trajectory, we may be able to get a glimpse of the answer to this question that has plagued readers for thousands of years.
One
In 385 AD, Xie Lingyun was born in the Xie clan of Chen County, Jiangnan, and his grandfather Xie Xuan once commanded the "Battle of Shuishui", which is known as the classic battle of Chinese history with few victories and more victories, and was awarded the title of Kangle Gong for his merits, which is also the origin of Xie Lingyun's later name as "Xie Kangle".
The Xie clan was a top door valve during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Two Jin Dynasties, and a large number of family members were active in the political and cultural fields during the past hundred years, creating amazing achievements. As the most influential family at that time, even compared with the royal family, it was not much more than enough, and later generations often called it "Wang Xie", as a synonym for a large family, in the Wuyi Lane on the banks of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, they still retain their glorious history.
Xie Lingyun is the most righteous heir of this family, and at the age of 18, he inherited his grandfather's title and began to enter politics. In contrast, even in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, where there were many door valves and countless children of nobles, Xie Lingyun's starting point was the highest. What is even more enviable is that Xie Lingyun's literary talent was known as the head of Jiangnan in his teens, and his talent was so brilliant that almost no one could match.
Wealth and status, talent and reputation, God almost gave Xie Lingyun everything that mortals dreamed of. However, he does not seem to be able to make good use of it...
Two
Before the age of thirty, Xie Lingyun had already vividly expressed the habits of his children, and his food, clothing, shelter and transportation would be luxurious and beautiful. However, he is from a family background, with a high aesthetic taste, and once led the trend of fashion trends, attracting people around the world to imitate.
In contrast, his career is bland.
After the death of his grandfather Xie Xuan and the succession of Xie Lingyun to the throne, the imperial court granted him the post of Waisan Rider in accordance with the custom. This position was a vacant position at the time, usually held by the children of the family, as a resume for future promotions. To put it bluntly, it is to gild the second ancestors in case they are overly accused when they are promoted in the future.
Xie Lingyun may have held himself in high esteem, feeling that he should be given a position with real power and political talent, rather than a false title, so he refused to accept the post.
In the following years, he served as a minor officer such as a staff member of the army, and successively followed Sima Dewen, the emperor of Jin, and Liu Yi, a general. Later, Liu Yi rebelled and committed suicide, and Xie Lingyun served under the general Liu Yu, but he was never reused. During this period, he was removed from office twice for his extreme conduct.
Like many extremely talented and proud young people, Xie Lingyun believes that youth is a period when great ambitions should be made, and it is undoubtedly a great shame if he cannot win fame and glory at this time.
However, those who are familiar with history will find that many famous figures have only emerged and achieved something after entering middle age. Whether it was Cao Cao of Wei Zu or Emperor Liu Yu, who later "swallowed everything like a tiger", his real glorious years did not begin until he was forty years old. Before that, they were just inconspicuous pawns.
Not knowing how to spend time to dormant, precipitate, and temper themselves is a common disease of many geniuses, and such people usually do not have much achievement in the end, and Xie Lingyun is such a typical example.
Three
In 420 AD, the general Liu Yu forced the Jin Emperor Chan to establish the Song State to replace the Eastern Jin Dynasty, beginning the famous Southern and Northern Dynasties period in history.
Liu Yu claimed to be empress dowager, and immediately took measures to suppress the shi clan door valves and reuse the han disciples, so Xie Lingyun was demoted from Kangle Gong to Kang Le Hou, and The Food Yi was also reduced from two thousand households to five hundred households.
For some time afterwards, he remained unmoved and arrogant, treating the edicts of etiquette as nothing. This may be the result of the long period of non-reuse, resulting in the lack of venting of inner emotions, because the DPRK and The Chinese people from top to bottom regard him only as a scholar with rich literary talents, not as a politician with extraordinary talents.
In ancient China, although the imperial examination system had not yet been established during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, an important part of examining and appointing officials was still an assessment of political ability. No matter how well the words are written and how well the psalms are written, as long as they cannot make a real contribution to the governance of the country, they must not let such a group of people hold political power, otherwise it is a betrayal to the country and the people.
In 422, Emperor Wu died, and the young crown prince Liu Yifu succeeded him as Emperor Shao of Song. Due to the emperor's young age, the government of this period was in the hands of several ministers. The young emperor only knew how to play the game, never took the government to heart, and after being criticized by the ministers, he naturally had a sense of disgust for these bad old men.
The contradiction between the young emperor and the powerful subjects just provided an opportunity for Xie Lingyun, who had been seeking to ascend to the throne. Relying on the influence of his family's power and his own literary name, he co-opted a faction of people who had originally opposed the ministers of the orphans, and began to spread rumors in the DPRK, claiming that the ministers of the orphans had the intention of rebellion, taking advantage of the opportunity to create a conflict between the young emperor and the ministers, and planning to make a profit.
Since ancient times, no matter how high the merits of the courtiers, they have been very jealous of the rumors that they have the intention of rebellion, and when such rumors come from the mouth of a literati with great right to speak, it is even more frightening. Xie Lingyun's approach was naturally to form a hatred with several orphan ministers, and he obviously overestimated his ability to fight, and soon after, his plan was easily disintegrated, and he himself was expelled from the capital by these old foxes and demoted to Yongjia Taishou.
Stealing chicken is not successful, anti-erosion put rice.
People say that "once he enters the official field, it is as deep as the sea", this time, Xie Ling was transported on the naïve, these veterans of the eunuch sea for decades, where can he easily overthrow a young man who is not deeply involved in the world?
Four
As the greatest landscape poet in ancient China, Xie Lingyun's creative inspiration came mostly from his travels to the scenery of mountains and rivers. Yongjia is in the southeast of present-day Zhejiang Province, from which the Ou River flows, and there are many famous mountains and rivers in the territory, which is a tourist attraction today.
In such an environment, Xie Lingyun's travel habits were fully satisfied. He spent all his time out to play, often for ten days and half a month did not return to the official office to deal with political affairs, he did not care about the lawsuits of the people, the urgent need to deal with the important tasks were pushed aside, just to enjoy the moisture of natural scenery, wrote beautiful poems to express his feelings.
Xie Lingyun's poems can still be of great artistic value today, and the important reason behind it is the evasion of duties and the sacrifice of the interests of the people.
Why sweep the world without sweeping a room?
Just by serving as a party taishou, Xie Lingyun willfully made a mess of everything, and if he was allowed to hold a higher official position, he didn't know how much chaos he would cause.
A year later, Xie Taishou was almost having fun, planning to toss in another place, simply saying that he was sick and planning to resign and retire. The uncles and brothers in the family saw him coming like this, and they wrote letters of advice one after another, but the great talent had a very high opinion of himself, did not listen to a word, and went straight back to his hometown to live in seclusion.
In Boning County, where Zu Mo is located, there are the old houses and villas of the Xie family, but Xie Lingyun has specially built new manors and residences. Surrounded by green mountains, Xie Lingyun sang wine and songs with nearby hermits every day, indulging in indulgence, and living happily.
In such a passionate state, his creation also entered the peak, and the masterpieces were frequently produced, and whenever a new poem was written, it would soon spread to the capital and cause a sensation, causing people to copy it.
The newly succeeded Emperor Wen, Liu Yilong, admired his literary name and twice recruited him to serve in the palace as a civilian, but because of his low official position and lack of real power, he refused to accept the post twice in succession. It was not until Emperor Wen asked the scholar Fan Tai to write him a letter full of praise that he slowly accepted the appointment.
The reason for Xie Lingyun's acceptance of the appointment may be that he believes that his time has come, so when he is summoned, he frequently claims to be a political expert and should participate in the government.
However, Emperor Wen only considered him a first-class literati, not a wise politician, and whenever he drank at a banquet, the discussion with Xie Lingyun was limited to poetry.
In contrast, some of those whose fame and titles were under him rose step by step. Xie Lingyun's heart was in sharp contrast, so he once again said that he was sick and refused to go to the court.
Five
In his leisure days, Xie Lingyun is still as leisurely as ever, immersed in gardening, flowers and birds, poetry and painting.
If that were all there was to it, he would not be excessive, at best he would be indulging in pleasure, but what he really despised was his profligacy and abuse of the people's anointing and labor. He still maintained the habit of traveling, and as an official, he neither asked for leave nor played, often for more than half a month there was no news, and there were many critical voices in the dynasty, and Emperor Wen of Song had to suggest that he resigned on his own.
In 428 AD, Xie Lingyun was impeached by the Imperial Historian and dismissed from all his posts, and since then he has retired to the Huiji, spending all day hanging out with a group of family members, drinking and having fun, talking about poetry and songs for self-amusement.
With the huge wealth accumulated by his ancestors, Xie Lingyun was able to travel more happily through the famous mountains and rivers and the secret forest. But his way of playing was feared and criticized at the time. Every time he traveled, he had to take his protégé diners with him, and hundreds of people marched into the mountains in a mighty way, destroying them without reservation when they encountered obstacles that blocked the way.
Once, in order to open the way, he actually cut down all the trees on the road from Ji gun to Linhai County. The local Taishou originally thought that it was a mountain people rioting, and he was terrified, knowing that it was Xie Lingyun who traveled before he calmed down. According to his duties, he should have banned such absurd behavior, but because of Xie Lingyun's status as a marquis and his family power, Taishou had no choice but to avoid it.
In the eighth year of Yuan Jia (431), Xie Lingyun had a dispute with Taishou Mengshu (太守孟顗) for the purpose of privately occupying a lake in Huijian County, and verbally slandered Meng Taishou. It is said that Meng Yan believed in Buddhism, and Xie Lingyun sarcastically said, "The person who becomes an immortal should be a literati with aura, and your ascension to heaven must be before me, and your enlightenment must be after me." ”
Such words came from the mouth of a well-known poet, which was diametrically opposed to the elegance of the poem, and since then the two have formed a hatred.
In order to avenge the arrow, Meng Yan borrowed the topic of Xie Lingyun's rampant disturbance of the people, saying that Xie Lingyun had the intention of plotting rebellion, and at the same time deployed an army defense in Huijian County. Xie Lingyun was afraid that Meng Yan would poison him, so he quickly rushed to the capital and wrote an extremely aggrieved letter to the emperor.
This sonata can still be found today, the content is unbearable to read, and Xie Lingyun, who is usually empty-eyed, has changed her normal behavior at this time, like a wronged woman who has been subjected to domestic violence.
Of course, the emperor knew of Xie Lingyun's usual excesses, and he also understood that the rebellion was a fabrication made by Meng Yan's righteous indignation, so he found Xie Lingyun innocent.
In order to avoid regeneration, Emperor Wen of Song appointed Xie Lingyun as the history of Linchuan Inner History in Jiangxi, and restored his original two thousand households, hoping that he would be able to divide them somewhat in peace.
Xie Lingyun was not only not punished, but also given an official position, which included his reputation and family power, and the emperor's tolerance for him.
However, Xie Lingyun once again wasted this tolerance and pushed himself into a situation of no return.
Six
The habit of leisurely and youyou has been rooted in the marrow of Xie Lingyun, and in the history of Linchuan, he is still the style of the past, leaving everything behind and only caring about his own sightseeing, so he was soon impeached.
When the emissary arrived, he in turn grabbed the emissary, decided to defect, and wrote a poem boasting of being a righteous man who overthrew tyranny.
A man who can't even do a petty official, now wants to fight the whole country with his own strength, and the final result is an unquestionable failure. Soon, Xie Lingyun, who was on the run, was captured by the officers and soldiers and sent to the capital for questioning.
By this time, the evidence of Xie Lingyun's rebellion was already conclusive, and the ministers of the DPRK and China demanded that he be sentenced to death, and even some princes stood up to kill him quickly. However, looking at the merits of his ancestor Xie Xuan, Emperor Wen of Song finally resisted the pressure and left him alive, changing the death sentence to exile in Guangzhou.
Soon after, however, officials caught a group of armed brawlers on Xie Lingyun's exile road, and after interrogation, it turned out that they had been instructed to come and rob Xie Lingyun. The mastermind behind it was Xie Lingyun's subordinates. According to this, the relevant departments demanded that he be punished according to the law, and as the pressure of the ministers and public opinion in the DPRK and the central government continued to increase, Emperor Wen of Song could no longer save Xie Lingyun, so he had to issue an order to execute him in the edict.
In 443, Xie Lingyun, the most accomplished landscape poet in ancient China, was executed in Guangzhou at the age of 49.
Xie Lingyun's life has come to an end, but a fate similar to his is still reproduced in many people in later generations. The common labels of this group of people are: genius, madman, self-contradictory.
We often feel sorry for the lifelong inability of people like Li Bai, Du Fu, and Du Mu, and think that their talents are not appreciated as a manifestation of the fainting incompetence of the politicians at that time. However, through the examination of Xie Lingyun's life experience, we will suddenly find that literary talent is not equal to political talent, and those who can write good articles may not be able to handle complicated political affairs well.
These depressed people are not necessarily excluded for no reason. The innate edges and corners of geniuses give them a certain talent, but they often create a lonely and arrogant personality, inadvertently hurting others in person, thus forming a vendetta and incurring future disasters.
In short, Xie Lingyun has become the dust and smoke in history, disappearing into the distant past, but the human loopholes revealed in him still continue to this day, and there is no doubt that they will continue into the distant future, becoming an eternal contradiction in the world. The only thing people can do is to use this as a wake-up call, to try their best to make up for this weakness of human nature, and perhaps to have a chance to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.