Two-faced people, literally, a person has two faces, but it is generally used to describe people with two states. As Li Ruzhencai once described in "Mirror Flower Edge", people on both sides of the country have two faces, one is a smiling face and a kind eyebrow. The other is a vicious face fierce and sinister, such a penmanship makes people shudder, but there have been many such "two-faced people" in history.
For example, Li Linfu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was above him in talent and could threaten his officials. On the surface, he is kind and his language is beautiful, but he is secretly plotting to frame him. There are many people who have suffered from this trick of his, such as Lu Xuan and Yan Tingzhi, and for this reason, an idiom of a honey belly sword was born. Another poet who was also in the Tang Dynasty, also known as a two-faced man, was Li Shen.
Lee Squire
Li Shen was born in the seventh year of the Tang Dynasty (772) and died in the sixth year of Huichang (846). Jin Shi and later served as officials in the imperial court, all the way to the position of Duke of Zhao, and also served as a minister for four years. Li Shenqi was not only quite accomplished in the political arena at that time, but also very successful in the poetry world, and had frequent contacts with Yuan Shu and Bai Juyi, and was an advocate and participant in the Xinlefu movement.
He was the first poet in the Tang Dynasty to consciously distinguish himself from the traditional ancient title music house under the banner of "New Title Music House", and many poems in his life were included in the "Quan Tang Poetry". In the poetry world, Li Shen also has a nickname, that is, "Compassion for the Peasant Poet". This stems from a work by Li Shen, namely "The Second Song of Mercy and Nong", which has been widely circulated and recited throughout the ages.
Mercy nong two songs
The two poems of Mercy Nong are Li Sheng's group poems, and there are two poems in total, one of which is: one millet is planted in the spring and ten thousand seeds are harvested in the autumn. There are no idle fields in the four seas, and the farmers are starving to death. Second: on the day of hoeing, when the day is noon, the sweat drops down to the soil. Who knows the plate of Chinese food, the grains are hard. This group of poems profoundly reflects the living conditions of the peasants in the feudal era of China, the first is a fruitful setting off the practical problems of the peasants' hard work but empty hands, and the second depicts the scene of the peasants working at noon in the scorching sun.
The last aphorism, which is close to the meaning, expresses the poet's sincere sympathy for the peasants, and the cause of the creation of the compassionate farmers is Li Sheng's youth. After witnessing the scene of the peasants working all day long, but they could not feed themselves, they were both sympathetic and angry. Out of this mentality, the second poem of Mercy Nong was written, and the poet obviously observed very keenly that the sweat drops under the soil can be described as subtle and careful. Because the language of the poem is concise, popular and simple, it is widely circulated among the people.
Life is extravagant
Ironically, this Li Gentry, who sensed the hardships of the peasants and wrote down the second song of compassion for the peasants. In life, there is another side, after his career soared, he lost the heart of compassion for farmers in poetry. It turned out to be a corrupt official who spent a lot of time drinking and abusing adultery, and it is said that Li Shen's meal was often as many as hundreds or even thousands of yuan. When he was an emissary, he did not care about the suffering of the people, and the people under his rule crossed the river one after another and could not escape.
There is a view that Li Shen likes to eat chicken tongue soup, and a meal of chicken tongue soup medicine costs three hundred chicken tongues, which is equivalent to killing three hundred chickens a day. It is true that Li Shen's life is very luxurious, but it does not mean that he likes to eat chicken tongue. This is probably a folk misinformation, the chicken tongue here is a spice from the Western tribute, chewing can remove the odor in the mouth. So he should eat chicken tongue, which is not something that ordinary people can afford, and the price is not low.
Abuse of obscenity
Not only does he live a luxurious life, but he also loves to play with authority and is ruthless and unjust. In the past, he often visited the home of a man named Li Yuanjiang, who was a respectful uncle, but after he made his name, he called the other party a grandson. There was also a patrol official surnamed Cui who was a fellow scholar with him, and Li Shen suspected that he did not take the initiative to greet him, and in the name of the fight between the two servants, he beat his staff twenty times and exiled him. These are not the biggest stains on his life, he handled a case of Wu Xiang in his later years, and Wu Xiang embezzled a little money.
But the amount was not much, and there was no robbery of the people's women, but Li Shen insisted on sending him to the guillotine. There are folk sayings that Li Shen and Wu Xiang have a vendetta, and as for He Xiang, there is some controversy, some say that it is because of women and also because of the old grudges of the former fathers. It is unknown which kind, but Li Sheng's indiscriminate use of sexual power is true, but fortunately, he also got retribution in the end. In the first year of the Middle Age (847), although Li Shen was dead at this time, he still cut the three officials and descendants of the gentry.
References: Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang