One is "Xiao Lou blows through the Jade Sheng Han", the other is "blowing a pool of spring water", Li Jing and Feng Yanwei, who can sing good words, are harmonious and beautiful. Therefore, in the second year of Li Jing's ascension to the throne, Feng Yanshu was promoted to Hanlin Scholar Chengzhi. It sounds as if this Hanlin scholar's will is specially transmitted, just like the eunuch, but in fact, this official position is the leader of the Hanlin scholar, not simply drafting the edict, but in the forbidden to hold confidential matters, in fact, the prime minister, so it is also called "internal minister". Two years later, Feng Yanshu finally got his wish and became the prime minister. This year, he was forty-four years old.
Relying on his literary talent and the advantage of accompanying the prince to study, Feng Yanshu reached the peak of his life at the age of forty-four and became the prime minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He should have been a proud person who "enjoyed the spring wind and horseshoe disease, and saw all the Chang'an flowers in one day", but then his life would fall into a huge whirlpool.
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are similar to the Warring States Period, with frequent wars and wars everywhere, and wars of annexation and anti-annexation. Among the Ten Kingdoms, the Southern Tang Dynasty covered thousands of miles in the south of the Jiangsu Province, with abundant products and culture, and was a powerful country at that time. However, the Southern Tang was always in the crisis of the country's survival, and the Later Zhou in the north and the later Song always regarded the Southern Tang as the fat meat on the lips and coveted it. Li Ben, the founding lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, took a defensive position in insight into the situation and pursued the national policy of recuperating and protecting the border and the people, with the intention of developing himself in Taoguang and obscurity, and the Southern Tang Experienced a period of peace and prosperity. Li Jing, the second-generation ruler of zhida and talent, abandoned the national policy of Taoguang and obscurity, and used troops everywhere at the instigation of the belligerent Feng Yanlu and others, and Feng Yanmi, as the prime minister, failed to stop it, but instead instigated the wind and ignited the waves, resulting in the failure of the use of troops. Under the situation of being attacked on all sides, the demise of the Southern Tang Dynasty was only a matter of time.
Although the demise of the Southern Tang Dynasty was a historical necessity, Feng Yanshu could not escape the blame. Forty-four-year-old Feng Yanwei, at the age of forty-five, suffered the first boycott of his life, and this was just the beginning. In March 947, Feng Yanmi's Song party Chen Jue and Feng Yanmi's half-brother Feng Yanlu sent troops to Fuzhou, but were defeated. Feng Yanwei was impeached by Yushi Zhongzhong Jiang Wenwei and the daimyo Han Xizai and deposed. At the age of fifty, Feng Yanshu was again a minister, but seven months later, he finally stepped down because the Southern Tang Dynasty lost the land of Hunan and Hubei. At the age of fifty-one, he was reassigned by Li Jing, and four years later he was deposed by Li Jing for losing all of his land north of Jiangbei in a battle with the Later Zhou army. The last time was when Li Jing negotiated peace with Later Zhou, and Later Zhou stripped Li Jing of his imperial title, which means that you Southern Tang are only vassals of Later Zhou, and you are not qualified to be called emperor anymore, you can only be called the lord of the country, Li Jing's status has declined, and Feng Yanwei is naturally not qualified to be called prime minister. This is the tragic encounter that Feng Yanwei has had in his life.
Where there are people, there is politics; where there is politics, there is strife, and where there is organization in the imperial court, there is party strife. It is said that the party struggle between the Tang and Song dynasties was fierce, and the party struggle in the Southern Tang Dynasty was also bloody. At that time, the political circles of the Southern Tang Dynasty were divided into two parties, one faction centered on Feng Yanshu, whose members included his younger brother Feng Yanlu, the famous prime minister Song Qiqiu, Cha Wenhui, etc., known as the "Song Party"; the other faction was headed by Sun Sheng, composed of famous scholars Han Xizai, Jiang Wenwei and others, known as the "Sun Party", and the two parties launched a fierce party struggle around power.
Although the country was under external threat, the party struggle in the Southern Tang Dynasty also intensified, which also confirmed the correctness of Confucius's statement that "the wall of Calamity was raised". Feng Yanmi's Song Party, although in a high position, but it seems that everyone is a straw bag and cowards, in the foreign war, either defeated or captured and surrendered, in short, the reputation of the Song Party is very bad. Although the Sun Dang, headed by Sun Sheng, was unable to turn the tide of the tide, at least it maintained the integrity of the Southern Tang Dynasty's loyal subjects in foreign wars, and achieved the goal of "sacrificing one's life to go to the country in difficulty, and seeing death as a sudden return.", the two parties formed a sharp contrast. Therefore, as the core figure of the Song Party, Feng Yanshu was also attacked, and political enemies attacked others for their lack of character, and was one of the "five ghosts" of the Southern Tang.
In fact, although Feng Yanmi's literary talent is outstanding, he is not strong in political affairs. In the eyes of others, Feng Yanwei relied on his deep relationship with Li Jing and on his ability to speak eloquently and flatter. His political opponent Sun Sheng once said to Feng Yanshu: "Servant Shandong Shusheng, Hongbi Lizao, ten lives are not as good as Jun; witty song and wine, a hundred lives are not as good as Jun; flattery and danger, tired and robbed is not as good as Jun", which means that you are ten times more than me in writing articles; you are a hundred times more than me when you talk about elegant humor and are intoxicated with song and wine; as for the kung fu of flattery and patting horses, I will never be able to catch up with you. Although it is ironic and sarcastic, it also affirms Feng Yanmi's versatility. Even the book "Fishing for Ji Li Tan", which has always held a negative attitude toward Feng Yanmi, records that "Feng Yanshu is also a gratifying person, his knowledge is profound, his articles are brilliant, and his arguments are longitudinal, such as the torrential rain of a river, and he does not feel that he has repeatedly moved forward, making people forget to sleep and eat." It can be seen that Feng Yanmi's knowledge is profound and his eloquence is first-class. It is also such a person who is diligent in thinking and thinking quickly, and is good at debate, who will write "Bo Luo is still crying youth, wild flowers and herbs are new year by year, and things are difficult to discuss", which is a famous sentence with profound speculative philosophical reason.
Feng Yanshu, like the later empress dowager Li Yu, had a full belly of literature and art, but rarely had the talent to govern the country. Politically, it can be said that he is ambitious and talented, although he has a lofty ideal, and wants to use the spirit of life of "often getting sick and drinking before spending the day, and not giving up the mirror to be thin and thin" to repay the kindness of the lord Li Jing, and realize the life ideal of Chinese Confucian intellectuals who have always been "self-cultivation and family rule the country and the world". But people who can write words don't necessarily play politics, such as his good friend Li Jing, such as Li Yu, the grand master of Southern Tang Dynasty. It seems that there are many lyricists who sing and dance in the beautiful mountains and rivers of Jiangnan, but there are very few politicians who are far-sighted and far-sighted.
The tragedy of Feng Yanwei lies in his unconsciousness, in his blind self-confidence, and even more in his sentimental and big-talking personality. Politically, although he had a heart to save the world at kuangshi and hoped to turn the tide from the fall, the decline of the Southern Tang state was a foregone conclusion. This is destined to be a tragic ending - the so-called tragedy, that is, you watch the fate you do not want to encounter, slowly befall you, although it is a struggle and effort, but it can not get rid of it; the so-called tragedy is to destroy the most beautiful things for people to see. Judging from Feng Yanmi's life as a politician, he is a tragic fate that cannot be escaped. Feng Yanshu saw the pain of life and felt the inclination of the two parties, but he was also obsessed with fame and fortune, and refused to jump out of the mu world, such as Tao Yuanming's cultivation of nanmu; such as Fan Li's boating in the Five Lakes; as Li Shangyin longed for, "forever remembering the rivers and lakes and returning to the white hair, wanting to return to heaven and earth and enter the flat boat", Feng Yanmi, who was drawn to fame and fortune, was doomed to have no connection with living in seclusion in the rivers and lakes, and his heart was always in Wei Que, although his life was not satisfactory above the temple. The worries of the homeland, the struggle between friends and the party, the bumps in the road, and the irreparable sadness of time, these four constitute a huge whirlpool of life, tearing Feng Yanwei apart.