Li Ji, a famous general and chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, was born in 594 AD; Li Shen, a poet and chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, was born in 772 AD, and the gap between the two was 178 years, not because both surnamed Li or a high-ranking official of the prime minister, they forced every article and a martial art together, but because they were concerned with the love of farmers and grain, and the stories of the two were very classic in this regard. In particular, Li Shen's two poems of "Mercy Nong", "Every grain is hard", almost from the time when the teeth and teeth were learned, they were memorized, and they were well known to women and children and were catchy. But here I write about Li Ji and Li Sheng, which is for the adults to see, and there are obscure and uncomfortable places, that is, the corruption and degeneration of people, always inadvertently, sighing.
Let's start with Li Ji's story. It is said that one day, a young man from Li Ji's hometown came to Kyoto to meet him. When eating, there are only a few plates of vegetarian dishes and a few wheat cakes on the table. Li Ji talked and laughed, and took a big bite to eat. The young man, too lazy to stretch out his chopsticks. After taking a few bites of the pie and feeling that it was very hard, he tore off the crust and secretly threw it on the ground.
When Li Xi saw this, he was very unhappy in his heart, but instead of talking about him directly, he said to the young man: "Young man, I have been rich since I was a child, and I don't know how this cake came from." You were born in the countryside, you must be very familiar, can you tell me about it? The young man opened the box and said, "It is very simple, after ploughing, rake, planting, hoeing, harvesting, and beating, you can get the wheat grain; then grind the wheat grain to get the noodles; and then use the water and burn the noodles to get the bread." ”
Li Ji covered his beard and smiled, "Haha, you said it well." But is this plough, rake, seed, hoe, harvest, beat, grinding, harmony, and burning as light and simple as you say? Young man, you haven't done any of this work, have you? The young man replied, "Yes, my father never let me do this." Li Ji said: "The problem is here, so you have no feelings for grain, so you don't know how to cherish grain!" ”
At this time, the young man returned to God, and his face was red with shame. Li Ji ordered the servant to pick up the crusts thrown on the ground, and then washed them with water and put them in his mouth piece by piece. He still ate it with such relish. After eating, he wiped his mouth and said, "Who knows a grain of wheat, a thousand bitterness!" ”
During his lifetime, Li Ji served in the three dynasties of Tang Gaozu, Taizong, and Gaozong, and served as a general of the Marquis of Right Wu and Sikong, and was named the Duke of Cao guo of Donghai County, the Duke of England, and was listed as the "Twenty-four Meritorious Servants of Ling yan Pavilion". Although he was highly official and well paid, he lived a very frugal life, especially for his compassion for farmers and love for grain. After Li Ji's death, he was given the title of Taiwei (太尉) and the Governor of Yangzhou (州大都督), with the courtesy name "Zhenwu", and was buried in Zhaoling Tomb and worthy of the temple court of Emperor Gaozong.
Let's take a look at Li Sheng, and let's revisit his legendary classic "The Second Song of Mercy":
One
At noon on the day of hoeing, sweat drops fall into the soil.
Who knows the plate of Chinese food, the grains are hard.
Two
Plant one millet in the spring and harvest ten thousand seeds in the autumn.
There are no idle fields in the four seas, and the farmers are starving to death.
This beautiful Tang poem, although it has been a thousand years, is still alive and catchy, worthy of the poet's divine stroke, and the wonderful pen is full of flowers. Li Shen's poem alone is enough to forever hang on to the history of poetry and make people admire. Li Shen also has a poem, which is also written with the same greatness:
The plough was propped up on the ridge, and the hands were hungry for a long time.
A weaver woman under the window, hand-knitted without clothes.
I wish Yan Zhao Shu to become a concubine.
A smile is worthless, natural home and country fat.
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In the vast ocean of Tang poetry, this kind of good poems that are close to the people and use poetry to express the people's livelihood and suffering are rare, presumably the result of the author's ear and personal experience, only to get inspiration from the bitterness and bitterness of the human world and create excellent surviving works.
Li Sheng, young and poor, worried about the country and the people, twenty-seven years old in the examination of the jinshi, supplement the country to help the teaching, into the early ups and downs, but later smooth sailing, smooth steps, became the Huainan Festival envoy and the prime minister and other high-ranking officials. But people also slowly left those public order and good customs behind, lost the compassion of the peasants in poetry, and gradually degenerated into corrupt officials and cool officials. It is rumored that Li Shen's consumption of a meal is often as many as hundreds or even thousands of guan.
How could you not have imagined that this poet and prime minister Li Sheng, who was "hard at every grain", had developed into a complete tyrannical and cruel person who enjoyed life excessively. He loves to eat a dish called chicken tongue dish. To make this dish you need to slaughter more than two hundred chickens. What kind of scene was this in ancient times, just killing chickens had to be killed for half a day to get together a plate. The miserable Li Shen, who once chanted "every grain is hard", degenerated into a spurned bastard! Han Yu, Jia Dao, Liu Yuxi, Li He, and others, who were contemporaries of Li Sheng, all scorned him.
Li Sheng, if he is still that poor boy, not entering the official arena, at the grassroots level, in the people, what kind of end should it be? Of course, Li Shen's depravity was not because he entered the official arena. Li Ji, who was forced together, is the best example, also in the career, and Li Ji is still from a rich family, known in history as "the family has many servants, accumulating thousands of bells", a lifetime of compassion for farmers and grain, living a frugal life without change. What does this say! It's all about yourself.
Human changes are often done unconsciously, especially from good to bad development, unconsciously and ignorant and fearless is even more terrible. In the face of power, status, money... Impermanence and law, pinched tightly or let go, only by oneself. "Every day upwards" is an eternal expectation, "study well" is the starting point, is the beginning, and always on the road. (Text/Cai Si) (The picture originates from the Internet, if there is infringement, please inform and delete)