An appreciation of the ancient Qin King Saoliu
Ancient style·The King of Qin swept Liuhe
Tang Dynasty: Li Bai
The King of Qin swept Liuhe, what a majestic sight!
Swing the sword to cut through the floating clouds, and all the princes will come to the west.
The clear judgment comes from the apocalypse, and it is easy to master the talents of the group.
Withdraw the troops and cast the golden man, and open Han Valley due to the east.
Inscribed on the Kuaiji Ridge, looking at Langyatai.
Seven hundred thousand prisoners were taken from Tulishan Kuma.
I still want to take the elixir of life, but my confusion makes my heart sad.
A continuous crossbow shoots at sea fish, and the long whale is Cui Wei.
The forehead and nose resemble the Five Mountains, making waves and spraying clouds and thunder.
How can you see Penglai when the mane covers the blue sky?
Xu City carries Qin Nu, when will the boat return?
But under the three springs, the golden coffin was buried with cold ashes.
Appreciation
We can appreciate this poem from two perspectives:
The first is from the perspective of appreciation of Tang poetry:
At the end of the Warring States Period, the Qin State was the most powerful, so the other six kingdoms followed Su Qin's strategy and joined forces, which was called Liuhe for short. The so-called King of Qin conquered Liuhe means that Qin destroyed the six countries. Liuhe refers to the six vassal states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei.
The first part of this poem, from the beginning to "Looking at Langye Terrace", praises the talents and unified achievements of the King of Qin.
The first four sentences vigorously exaggerate the majesty of Qin Shihuang in destroying the six kingdoms and pacifying the world. Not only to pacify the four seas, but also to "sweep" the "Liuhe" (including all directions of heaven and earth), it first promoted the great prestige of the King of Qin. The "tiger's gaze" is used to describe its majestic appearance, which makes it even more intimidating. From the first two sentences, there is a "tiger's power to seize people". Immediately after writing about the specific details of unifying the world, it is like breaking a bamboo. The three lines of "floating clouds" symbolize the chaotic and gloomy situation in the world at that time, and the King of Qin drew his sword and waved, and the whole area was settled. The word "decision" by one person seemed so decisive, and it felt like a sharp knife cutting through the mess. So all the princes in the world came to the west and became subordinate to Qin. Because the words are powerful and the tone of each sentence is full, the praise is already beyond words before the next two sentences. The sentence "Ming Ju" is written as "Ambition leads to heroic judgment", but regardless of whether it is "Ming Ju", "Ying Ju", "Ambition", "Apocalypse", or "General", it is finally used as the highest praise for a politician. On. At this point, the poem rises again and again, preparing for the turning point in the later part. The two sentences immediately following "withdraw the troops" describe the two major measures taken by Qin Shihuang to consolidate his power after he unified the world, which is also flamboyant. The first is to collect folk weapons from all over the world and cast them into twelve golden men to eliminate the resistance and make "no poison in the world". Then Hangu Pass, the throat of Qin and the East, can be opened. The second is to carve stones at Langye Terrace, Kuaiji Mountain and other places to praise Qin's merits and promote public opinion in order to maintain unification. "Kuiji Ridge" and "Langye Terrace" are thousands of miles apart in the south and north. The poet writes about them one after another, as if he were walking between houses. The image of the two characters "Cheng Wang" vividly shows the ambitious and contented spirit of King Qin at that time. There were many measures for the unification of Qin. When selecting the important ones, the outlines were clear and the descriptions were concise, vigorous and heroic. The praise of the King of Qin has reached its peak, but things must be reversed at the extreme. This is like the opening chapter of Jia Yi's "On the Passage of Qin", which is really vigorous and makes the subsequent reverse writing even more powerful.
The last twelve sentences are a vivid artistic description based on historical facts, satirizing the Qin King's arrogance, extravagance and absurd delusion of immortality. First, let’s expose his extravagant construction of tombs in Lishan Mountain. In 212 BC, the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang's reign, he executed more than 700,000 criminals and built Epang Palace and Lishan Tomb. They were extravagant and wanton, depleting the people's resources. Then expose his foolish act of seeking immortality at sea. In 219 BC (the twenty-eighth year of the First Emperor of Qin), Xu Fu, a native of Qi, said that there were three sacred mountains on the sea, including Penglai, with immortals and elixirs of immortality on them. So the First Emperor sent Xu Fu to lead thousands of boys and girls into the sea to pursue him. result. This is the matter of "collecting the elixir of death". "Bewilderment makes the heart sad" is the fear and emptiness of worrying that greed may not be satisfied. These four sentences have a sharp turn for the first paragraph, just like a horse standing on a slope. Writing about the First Emperor's desire to live forever while building a mausoleum reveals his inner world of selfishness, contradictions, and desire that makes him stupid. But the poet did not end the story hastily. Before writing about his quest for immortality and his eventual bankruptcy, he caused another wave. According to historical records, Xu Fu falsely claimed that he could not find medicine because there were big fish in the sea, so the First Emperor sent people to shoot fish along the coast with powerful crossbows fired continuously, and shot a whale to death in the sea near today's Yantai, Shandong. The text in this section uses romantic imagination and highly exaggerated techniques to describe the whale hunting scene in a bizarre, colorful, thrilling and fantastical way: the long whale suddenly appeared on the sea, suddenly looking like a mountain. Like thunder, its mane spread out and covered the blue sky.
The poet's writing in this way not only adds a thrilling and mysterious color to the poem, but also creates the illusion of hope and sets the stage for the fatal fall at the end of the poem. The long whale has been conquered, and the elixir of immortality can finally be found. As it turned out, the First Emperor died of illness during his tour shortly thereafter. "But under the three springs, the golden coffin is buried with cold ashes", this is the final anti-falling pen, which makes the King of Qin from the clouds fall to the ground. It is really thrilling. These two sentences wrap up the story of building a mausoleum and seeking immortality. The writing is powerful Sturdy and strong, but the tone is cold and cold. The British master who wanted to be so "clear-minded" in the past was actually deceived by the alchemists again and again. The immortal was not completed, leaving only a pile of cold ashes, and "Xu Fu carried the daughter of Qin, when will the building ship return?" The alchemists criticized him. Cheap. How cruel is the mockery of history.
Although this poem is a tribute to history, it was not just written for Qin Shihuang. Tang Xuanzong and Qin Shihuang are quite similar: both of them worked hard to govern, but later became arrogant and extravagant, and finally became superstitious about alchemists seeking immortality. According to "Zi Zhi Tong Jian": "(Xuanzong) respects Taoism and admires longevity, so he is arguing about Fu Rui, and the ministers express their congratulations." The result of this kind of stupid move is bound to be harmful to the country. It can be seen that Li Bai wrote this poem out of emotion. The whole poem combines historical facts with exaggeration and imagination, narrative with discussion, and lyricism. It has both a critical spirit of reality and a romantic and unrestrained passion. It is Li Bai's masterpiece in "Ancient Style".
The second type is from the perspective of Ming history:
From the perspective of Ming history analysis, some people believe that this poem not only predicts the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but also predicts the fate of the country before and after it. This kind of point of view points out that the first four sentences "The Emperor of Qin swept Liuhe. How majestic is the tiger's gaze. Swinging his sword to defeat the floating clouds. All the princes came to the west." are a summary of the great achievements of the unified dynasties in China since the Qin and Han dynasties. The next four sentences are "Mingjue comes from the apocalypse. The general guides the talents. Recruits the troops and casts the golden man. Hangu opens due to the east." It means that the Ming Dynasty declined and the Qing troops entered the pass. (The first sentence refers to the reign of Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao of the Ming Dynasty. The second sentence refers to Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, with the subject omitted. The third sentence refers to the Ming Dynasty's suppression of peasant uprisings, which led to the Jin people becoming powerful and Zhu Tongzhu. The fourth sentence refers to Shanhaiguan was opened, Qing troops entered the pass, and the Ming Dynasty fell). The next six sentences are "Inscriptions on Kuaiji Ridge. Galloping to Langyata. Seven hundred thousand prisoners. Rising from Tuli Mountain. Still collecting elixirs. Confusion makes the heart sad." It talks about the evil deeds of the Qing Dynasty after it conquered the Ming Dynasty. (Kuiji refers to Jiangnan, where the rebellion against the Qing Dynasty was very serious, and Langya refers to the hometown of the sage Confucius, and Chinese orthodoxy, which was all surrendered. And "seven hundred thousand prisoners" alludes to the Daxing Literary Prison in the Qing Dynasty). Another four sentences: "The crossbow shoots at sea fish. The long whale is Cui Wei. The forehead and nose are like the Five Mountains. The waves are spraying clouds and thunder." This is a metaphor for the powerful fleets of Westerners and the opening of the country during the Opium War. (The forehead and nose refer to the barbarians, because the barbarians like to have tattoos on their foreheads and noses). The next four sentences "The mane covers the blue sky. How can you see Penglai? The city of Xu carries the daughter of Qin. When will the ship return." It talks about the loss of China's sea power and the aggression of Japanese imperialism against China. (Penglai here refers to Fuso Japan, which means that the Japanese fleet finally returned). The last two sentences, "But under the three springs. The golden coffin is buried with cold ashes." are about the discovery of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, which echoes the first sentence.
As for the second interpretation, while I have to admire its imagination and attachment, I really cannot praise it. After all, misunderstandings abound.
Of course, we cannot explain that the theory that the dynasty collapsed during the Tianqi period is unreasonable. There are two reasons:
Firstly, some people say that the death of the Ming Dynasty began with party struggle. The most intense period of party struggle was during the Tianqi years. Due to Tianqi's indulgence, the evil party and Wei Zhongxian colluded with each other, pretending to be apocalypse and pretending to be a tiger. , in the party struggle between the Donglin Party and the evil party, the gentleman's advice disappears, and the villain's advice prevails. The author believes that the fierce conflicts between the scholar-bureaucrats and the imperial power, the intensified conflicts between the rulers and the people, etc. are also the reasons why the foundation of the Ming Dynasty was greatly affected.
The second is to check the history before and after the Tianqi period. We can find: "In 1627, which was the last year of the reign of Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Tianqi, Wang Er, a farmer in Baishui County, northern Shaanxi, led hundreds of farmers The killing of the county magistrate Zhang Douyao ushered in the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty. In the third year after that, the outstanding peasant leader Li Zicheng also joined the ranks of the peasant uprising army and soon became the famous "King Chuang" in March 1644. On the 17th, the rebel army surrounded Peiping, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. On the 19th, Li Zicheng's army entered Peiping, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself from a tree in Meishan (now Jingshan). The Ming Dynasty, which had ruled China for 276 years, was finally defeated by Li Zicheng. The peasant revolution led by the Communist Party of China was overthrown.
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On the surface, the Ming Dynasty was officially destroyed in 1644. However, the collapse of such an empire did not happen overnight. Unnecessary party strife, internal corruption, and the rise of Hou Jin were also key reasons. . Therefore, it is credible to regard the beginning of the peasant uprising in 1627 as a sign of a break in the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
So, if we push forward nine centuries from 1627, the prediction of the poet Li Bai is consistent with that of the Ming Dynasty. The error range of the two-phase correction of historical facts is only an astonishing 7 years, which is very magical.