Yesterday a reader wrote a letter and gave me a large number of special approvals. Why? Because I have written too many articles about the Ming Dynasty recently. He said that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was so perverted, and the harem of the Ming Dynasty was so adulterous, what good was there in the Ming Dynasty? Why don't you write about the Song Dynasty? You see in the Song Dynasty, how well the readers were treated!
After reading this reader's criticism, I also made a profound self-examination: Did I write the Ming Dynasty too well? So I immediately reviewed the articles published in recent days. I found that I didn't write about the Ming Dynasty as good or bad about the Ming Dynasty, I was just writing about my own personal views on literature and history.
However, when I carefully explained to this reader, he still accused and criticized him without mercy, and even uttered evil words, and in the end I could only choose silence. In modern society, where everyone is equal and democratic everywhere, it is so difficult for an ordinary person to maintain spiritual and personal independence, let alone in a feudal society where the monarchy is absolute. Historically, there have been countless people who have paid the price of their lives for spiritual freedom and personal independence.
As we all know, in the ancient Chinese feudal dynasty, readers were extremely respected. Some emperors also enacted laws for this purpose, which clearly stipulated that capital punishment could not be used against literati doctors. However, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, such a talented poet was sentenced to death by the supreme ruler - beheading. This poet is Gao Qi.
Gao Qi, Zi Jidi, Late Cha xuan, jiangsu Suzhou people. He is wild and unruly by nature, and Geng Jie is proud of the shore and despises the royal power. Before entering the Ming Dynasty, he wrote many poems expressing his noble character, such as "Qingqiu Zi Song": "He is tired of traveling far, and the lotus hoe is lazy and ploughing." There are swords that are shy, and there are books that are vertical and horizontal. Refuse to bend the waist for five buckets of rice, refuse to drop the tongue under the seventy cities", completely Tao Yuanming-style Qinggao and Li Bai-style free.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the lives were ruined, the politics were dark, and Gao Qi felt that the world was muddy, so he resolutely chose to live in seclusion in Qingqiu. At this time, although Gao Qi was in the rivers and lakes, he was concerned about the people. He said in "Dawn and Spring Hope": Idle and lonely, from the sorrow of bondage." Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to win the hearts and minds of the people, in the name of "Xiuyuan History", asked the literati who lived in the mountains and forests to go out to the mountains to serve the country, Gao Qi was full of hope for the new wave.
He was full of ambition and rushed to Nanjing. On the way, in "Dengjin Ling Yuhuatai Looking at the Great River", Gao Qi wrote: The hero took advantage of the practice of dividing the territory, and several times the blood of the war flowed cold tide, I was born fortunate to have a saint rise up in the southern country, the disaster began to rest peacefully, from now on the four seas forever as a home, do not use the Yangtze River to limit the north and south." However, after arriving at the imperial capital of Nanjing, he found that everything was taken for granted.
In less than a year of his tenure, many literati and founding heroes were brutally slaughtered by Zhu Yuanzhang; slowly, Gao Qi realized that Zhu Yuanzhang appointed him not to truly appreciate his talents, but to co-opt the literati in order to consolidate his imperial power. For Gao Qi, who is arrogant by nature, it is simply a great insult to personality.
In his eyes, maintaining the independence of the individual spirit was far more important than being loyal to the emperor. If he had already chosen between the two, he would of course have chosen the former. Even if it comes at a huge cost. Therefore, after serving as a household attendant for less than a year, Gao Qi resolutely resigned from his official post and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion. In Gao Qi's heart, the emperor who was high above was not terrible. Because the people are not afraid of death, why should they be afraid of death? What was terrible about him? It is the loss of the independence and freedom of the individual spirit.
The palace words about fornication in the feudal court have always been a topic deliberately avoided by the literati. However, during his tenure in The New Wave, Gao Qi composed a poem that sharply exposed the phenomenon of fornication in the Ming court. Although the whole poem is subtle and tactful, it is really bold.
This poem is the "Palace Lady Picture": "The female slave supports the drunken moss, and the Mingyue West Garden serves a feast." The puppy barks in the air, and who comes in the middle of the night palace? "A palace concubine was very drunk and was helped back to the palace by the maid. The puppy barked at the shadow of the person through the flowers, however, the night was quiet, the palace was forbidden, so who would enter the palace at such a late time? The shadow of the puppy barking across the flowers, the shadow of the palace concubine who seems to be returning from drunkenness, is actually the figure of another person. The question mark in the last sentence indicates that there is someone else. Therefore, this poem is written about the affair of the concubine.
It is rumored that Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and indignant after seeing this poem. It was only because of Gao Qi's reputation that he was not immediately punished. However, how could Zhu Yuanzhang let Go of Gao Qi? He was just waiting for an opportunity. However, for Gao Qi, a king like a jackal, how could he ever be afraid?
After Gao Qi resigned and returned to his hometown, he relied on apprenticeship to provide for himself, and his life was peaceful and full. If it weren't for a person named Wei Guan visiting, perhaps Gao Qi's life would have lived so peacefully. But fate always likes to joke, and no one expected that this person's arrival would bring him the misfortune of being killed.
This Wei Guan was a colleague of Gao Qi when he was serving in the Hanlin Academy, and he has always admired Gao Qi and is a loyal fan of Gao Qi. Although Gao Qi is lonely and arrogant, he is still sincere and enthusiastic about his friends. This time, Wei Guan happened to be transferred to the prefect of Suzhou, and when he came and went, the exchanges between the two gradually became frequent, and they slowly became friends.
One day, this Wei Guan wanted to rebuild the mansion and wanted to move it back to its old site: Zhang Shicheng's palace. In this regard, Gao Qi vaguely felt that it was not appropriate, so he advised Wei Guan many times to let him re-select the address. However, this Wei Guan was stubborn and did not heed Gao Qi's advice. After the completion of the construction of the mansion, Wei Guan also specially asked Gao Qi to write a congratulatory letter to commemorate it.
At first, Gao Qi was very reluctant. Because although he is not afraid of political persecution, he is not willing to easily risk his life and give people a pretext. Helplessly, Gao Qi was pure and good, and finally agreed to it because of his affection. This congratulatory text is the "Shangliang Wen of the County". However, no one could have imagined that it was this article that sent Gao Qi to the guillotine.
In the folk, the completion of new houses and the writing of documents and celebrations by friends and relatives are a very common thing. However, the mistake was that this Wei Guan should not have repaired the new mansion on the site of Zhang Shicheng's palace. This Zhang Shicheng was Zhu Yuanzhang's mortal enemy in the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and was later destroyed by Zhu Yuanzhang. Wasn't it the right to build a mansion on the site of his old palace? Sure enough, shortly after the completion of the new mansion, Wei Guan was reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.
The new dynasty is initially determined, and everything is in ruins to be rebuilt. In order to quickly consolidate the new regime, Zhu Yuanzhang, as the founder, adopted a series of politically repressive policies, and wantonly killed the founding ministers and famous literati. As an emperor, he is even more suspicious, and any slightest disturbance will cause him infinite associations. However, the chincha minister he sent investigated for a long time and did not find anything.
In order to make a difference to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was suspicious by nature, this Chincha had to rack his brains to find a way to pick out a bone even if it was an egg. At this moment, this Wei Guan did not know which tendon was wrong, knowing that the Qin messenger was not good, but he still wanted to crash into the muzzle of the gun, and even took Qin Cha to see the inscription on the inauguration ceremony of the palace, which was Gao Qi's "Liang Wen on the County".
At this point, something bad has happened. Chincha found the four words "Dragon Pan Tiger Foot" in the inscription and immediately reported it to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it and was furious: Well, not only did you repair the mansion on the site of the former palace of the thief Zhang Shicheng, but you also said that this was the place of "dragons and tigers". Are you saying that Zhang Shicheng is the true elephant of the emperor?
At this time, some people with ulterior motives mentioned Gao Qi's "Palace Lady Poems", so Zhu Yuanzhang, who was furious and angry, ordered Gao Qi to be imprisoned without saying a word, and soon sentenced him to beheading. Poor thing, a poet with this plum-like character lost his life in such a tragic way because of the stupidity of a friend. What a pity!
Throughout his life, Gao Qi was arrogant and uninhibited, and never paid attention to any powerful and high-ranking officials. Even the emperor who is high above him, he has nothing to fear. However, the more talented people are, the more humble and sincere they are in their dealings with people. However, it was this humility and sincerity that made him suffer from the stupidity of his friends and gave up his life in vain.
Therefore, here, what Gao Qi wants to warn everyone most is: make friends need to be cautious, stupid and harmful to people's lives!