Wang Wei's "Envoy to the Fortress" New Prize

Wang Wei's "The Envoy to the Fortress" is a well-known poem that has been selected into middle school Chinese textbooks and has been selected again into university Chinese textbooks. There are different opinions on the interpretation and appreciation of this poem. For example, Chinese language teaching in middle schools focuses on the analysis of artistic techniques of poetry, paying special attention to the famous line "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun is setting in the long river". It is believed that it is a blend of scenes. Through the description of the desert scenery, it reflects the poet's lonely mood and achieves " There are paintings within poems and poems within paintings.” Another example is that some people interpret it from an institutional perspective and believe that this poem is an important historical material for understanding the ancient Chinese military system. But in fact, in order to deeply analyze this poem and fully understand the emotions, situations, events, and principles in it, we must further delve into it. Mr. Chen Yinke once proposed the literary research method of "using poetry to prove history" and "poetry and history supporting each other". He emphasized that ancient Chinese poetry has three basic elements, namely time, place and personnel. This article uses the three elements proposed by Mr. Chen as the basic outline to analyze this poem.

Let’s talk about time first. The writing time of this poem is generally believed to be in the summer of the 25th year of Kaiyuan (737), and there is basically no dispute. According to historical records, Zhang Jiuling was affected by the Zhou Ziliang incident and moved to the left in April of the 25th year of Kaiyuan (737) to become the governor of Jingzhou. Wang Wei's visit to Hexi was also related to this matter. Therefore, he left Chang'an in April this year. In the poem, "the geese return to Hu Tian" means that the weather is getting warmer and the geese are moving from south to north, which also indicates that the writing time was in early summer.

Let’s talk about the location. The place in the poem includes the place where it was written and the place names recorded in the work. It doesn’t matter where “Shi Zhi Zhi Shang” was written. Let’s first look at the place names involved in the poem. The place names in the poem include "Juyan", "Hansai", "Hu Tian", "Da Mo", "Chang He", "Xiao Guan" and "Yan Ran", among which "Hu Tian" and "Da Mo" are general references, and "Chang He" is The Yellow River is common sense. None of this needs elaboration. The "Juyan" in the sentence "The country is over Juyan" is the "country" in the Han Dynasty, which is located in the northern border of Ejina Banner in Inner Mongolia today. In the Han Dynasty, there was Juyan County in Zhangye County, and the old city was located in the southeast of today's Ejina Banner. When Wang Wei traveled from Chang'an to Hexi, it was impossible to pass through the ancient city of Juyan. This is nothing more than saying that the place he passed was once the territory of Juyan, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty. Hansai refers to the Great Wall of Han Dynasty. "Book of Han Huo Qubing Biography" records that after Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu, he placed those who surrendered outside the old fortresses of the five border counties, that is, outside the Great Wall of Qin and Han Dynasties. The Great Wall is the boundary between Han and Hu. The Han Fortress in the poem should refer to the section of the Han Great Wall from Xinquan Army to Liangzhou, which was the only place Wang Wei must pass on his westward journey to Liangzhou. The Xinquan Army is one of the eight armies under the jurisdiction of the Hexi Jiedu Envoy. It is located on the northwest bank of the Ulan Ferry of the Yellow River, opposite Ulan County on the east bank. There should be a post road from Xinquan Army to Liangzhou, which must be the only way for Wang Wei. Yanran is the name of an ancient mountain, which is now the Hangai Mountain of the Mongolian People's Republic of China. After Dou Xian of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, he climbed this mountain to carve stones to record his merits. Ban Gu once wrote the "Yanran Mountain Inscription", and this stone inscription has now been discovered. Later generations often used this allusion to express their desire to make achievements. When Wang Wei went to Hexi, he would obviously not pass through this place. The phrase "all the guards are in Yanran" in the poem is nothing more than referring to ancient events to describe the current situation.

The most important place name in the poem is "Xiaoguan". There were two Xiaoguan Passes in the Tang Dynasty. One was the Xiaoguan Pass of the Han Dynasty, which was 30 miles southeast of Pinggao County (now Guyuan, Ningxia), the capital of Yuanzhou. Han Xiaoguan was abandoned in the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty established another Xiaoguan New City, also known as Tang Xiaoguan. Xiaoguan New City is located 180 miles north of Yuanzhou Government (now Guyuan, Ningxia), on the east bank of Weiruchuan (now Qingshui River), from which it can reach Lingzhou (now Wuzhong City, Ningxia). It is said in the poem that "Xiao Pass meets the Hou Qi". So, was the Xiao Pass that Wang Wei passed through, the Xiao Pass of the Tang Dynasty or the Xiao Pass of the Han Dynasty? This question involves the route from Wang Wei to Hexi. According to Mr. Yan Gengwang's "Transportation Illustrations of the Tang Dynasty", there were two main routes from Chang'an to Liangzhou in the Tang Dynasty. One went through the five prefectures of Qi, Long, Qin, Wei and Lan to reach Liangzhou, with a mileage of about 2,000 miles. The other one goes to Liangzhou via the four prefectures of Pi, Jing, Yuan and Hui, a distance of about 1,800 miles. Since the second route is to the north of the first, the first is called the South Route and the second is the North Route. Han Xiao Pass is located 30 miles southeast of Yuanzhou City on the North Road. From the perspective of poetry, the route taken by Wang Wei should be the North Road. Because the Xiaoguan, the lonely smoke in the desert, the sunset over the long river and other things written in the poem are not in Nandao. The northern route taken by the poet starts from Chang'an City, travels northwest, passes through Pizhou and Jingzhou and then reaches Yuanzhou. It left Yuanzhou from the northwest, passed through Shimen Pass and Hechi to Huining County (now Jingyuan County, Gansu Province), the administrative seat of Huizhou, exited Huining Pass, and then went north along the east bank of the Yellow River to cross the river at Wulan Ferry. This section is a meander of the Yellow River, with the river flowing westward. Wulan Ferry often has fifty ferries ferrying passengers, making it the most important ferry in the meander. Opposite Wulan Ferry is Xinquanjun. From there, it went westward, passing through the southern end of the present-day Tengger Desert to Liangzhou (present-day Wuwei, Gansu). When Wang Wei took the North Road to Liangzhou, the Xiao Pass he passed was Han Xiao Pass, not Tang Xiao Pass.

After clarifying the route from Wang Wei to Hexi Jiedushi, let’s look at the writing location of “The Envoy to the Fortress”. Obviously, the poem will not be written in Xiaoguan, because Xiaoguan of the Han Dynasty is 30 miles southeast of Yuanzhou City and 390 miles away from Huizhou (now Jingyuan County, Gansu, on the east bank of the Yellow River), so it is impossible to see it. The scene of lonely smoke in the desert and sunset over the long river. Some people say that this poem was written in Juyansai. When the poet climbed to Juyansai and looked out, the long river he saw was not the Yellow River, but the current Ejina River (called Weowui in ancient times), and the desert he saw was the vast Badain Jaran Desert. Note: Weushui is located hundreds of miles northwest of Liangzhou. It originates from the Qilian Mountains and joins the Zhangye River in the ancient city of Ganzhou. Therefore, this statement is unreliable.

The ancient city of Liangzhou is adjacent to the Macheng River, which flows into Xiutuze and Baiting Sea in the Tengger Desert. This river is in the northwest direction of Liangzhou City, but it is not a place that the poet must pass. Therefore, the place where the poem was written should be Liangzhou. Furthermore, this poem is the poet's memory after arriving in Liangzhou. The poet's memories range from near to far, starting from the "Hansai" in "Juyan", to the "desert", then to the "long river", and finally to "Xiaoguan". Therefore, the "smoke in the desert" and the "sunset over the long river" are not the same scenes seen at the same time, but two different scenes in time and space. The solitary smoke in the desert is what the poet saw after crossing the Yellow River and entering Liangzhou. The sunset over the long river is what the poet saw while traveling to the east bank of the Yellow River. The reason why I chose these four places to write about is that these place names and scenes have both a sense of history and a sense of reality. "Hansai" and "Xiaoguan" belong to the Han Dynasty and have a profound sense of historical vicissitudes. "Desert" and "Long River" are not only majestic, but also representative and typical of road scenes. The memories in the poem are exactly opposite to the direction in which the author entered Liangzhou. The poet traveled west from Yuanzhou, where the Xiaoguan Pass of the Han Dynasty was located, to Huizhou, and then traveled 180 miles along the east bank of the Yellow River to Wulan Ferry. "), passing through the southern end of the Tengger Desert to Liangzhou. From this we can say that "The Envoy to the Fortress" is a poem about Wang Wei's journey to Hexi.

The people involved in the poem are relatively complex. Before Wang Wei arrived in Hexi, he served as a collector in the imperial court. Wang Wei was recognized by Prime Minister Zhang Jiuling, and in the 23rd year of Kaiyuan (735), he left Songshan, where he lived in seclusion, to serve in Luoyang, the eastern capital. In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737), the censor Zhou Ziliang complained that the new prime minister Niu Xianke had no talent and was exiled to Hanzhou to Lantian where he died. Because Zhang Jiuling once recommended Zhou Ziliang, he was implicated and moved to the left to become the governor of Jingzhou. Wang Wei was also recommended by Zhang Jiuling, but he was also implicated in this matter and had to leave the capital. This actually involves the issue of party struggle. Niu Xianke, Cui Xiyi, Li Linfu and others belong to one party, while Zhang Jiuling and others belong to the other party. Niu Xianke was originally the military envoy of Hexi Province. In the autumn of the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736), he was appointed as the general manager of Shuofang's march. In November of the same year, Zhang Jiuling resigned as prime minister, and Niu Xianke entered the court as minister of the Ministry of Industry and the third rank of Tongzhongshu. After Niu Xianke left office, Cui Xiyi was his successor. When officials in the Tang Dynasty left office, they often needed to be replaced by someone else. Cui Xiyi took over as the governor of Hexi Province and should be recommended by Niu Xianke. Therefore, Wang Wei was forced to go to Hexi, with the intention of killing someone with a borrowed knife. However, Cui Xiyi himself is still elegant. After he arrived in Hexi, he entered into an alliance of peaceful settlement and mutual non-aggression with Tubo. "Old Tang Book: Tubo Biography" records that Cui Xiyi "made an alliance with Kilixu to kill the white dog, and each went to defend it." Moreover, Wang Wei later directly participated in Cui Xiyi's family affairs. Wang Wei once wrote "Praise to Buddhism" for Cui Xiyi's fifteenth daughter who became a monk, and "Praise to Western Painting" for Cui Xiyi's wife Li after her father died. In May of the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738), when Cui Xiyi left Hexi, Wang Wei left with him. These things show that Wang Wei's mission to Hexi was very complicated, but Cui Xiyi admired him quite a lot.

Another thing covered in the poem is Cui Xiyi's breaking of the Tubo affair. Some scholars believe that Wang Wei's poem has nothing to do with Cui Xiyi's defeat of Tubo. The main evidence is Fan Heng's "The Possession of Tubo in Hexi" written by Fan Heng included in "Quan Tangwen". It is believed that the war against Tubo happened after Wang Wei arrived in Hexi, so it has nothing to do with the cause of Wang Wei's arrival in Hexi. In other words, Wang Wei did not go to Hexi to supervise as a supervisory censor under the order of the imperial court. However, after textual research, the war recorded in this cloth took place in the first year of Tianbao (742), after the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737). According to the two "Tangshu" records of Xuanzong and "Zizhi Tongjian", in March of the 25th year of Kaiyuan (737), Cui Xiyi fought against Tubo and achieved a comprehensive victory, capturing more than 2,000 heads. In May of the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738), Cui Xiyi left Hexi and transferred to Henan Yin. He was often depressed and miserable because of his broken trust with Tubo, and died soon after. Wang Wei's poem is obviously related to this matter. There are two details: one is the last couplet "Xiao Guan meets the marquis and rides, and they all protect Yan Ran". Dou Xian of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and recorded his achievements on a tablet in Yanran Mountain. Wang Wei used this canon to praise Cui Xiyi, who, like Dou Xian, had made great achievements in defeating Tubo. This link is very direct and easy to understand. The second is the first sentence in the neck couplet, "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert." At first glance, this sentence is just a description of a scene. But a closer look reveals that it is not that simple. Volume 152 of Du You's "Tongdian" records: "Every morning and night when it is safe, raise one fire; when you hear the alarm, raise two fires; when you see smoke and dust, raise three fires; when you see a thief, burn the firewood cage; every morning and night when it is safe, raise a fire If the fire does not come, it means that the beacon is captured by thieves." In other words, the solitary smoke is not only a sight, but more importantly, it serves as a military signal, signaling peace. There are poems to prove it, such as Du Fu's "The Evening Beacon" "The evening beacon is not near, I report peace every day" (Volume 225 of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty"); Liu Yuxi's "Linghu Xianggong has repeatedly written new poems from Taiyuan, so he sent them in return" " There is no alarm in the sky thousands of miles away, and a cage of beacon fires to bring peace" (Volume 36 of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty"); Liu Yanshi's "Fu Fanzi Herding Horses" "Qijing Mountain is so high that you can see the extreme edge, and the solitary beacon draws a line of smoke" ("The Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" Volume 36); Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty (Volume 468). Therefore, the true meaning of this sentence is to use the peaceful fire to euphemistically praise the soldiers guarding the border. It is obvious that Wang Wei praises Cui Xiyi in this poem.

But when Wang Wei went to Hexi, did he go to supervise the military as a supervisory censor? Some scholars believe that Wang Wei was under the orders of the imperial court to supervise the envoys of Hexi Jiedu based on the word "Shi" in "Shi to the Fortress" and the self-note in "Out of the Fortress" that "when he was the censor, he supervised the work on the Fortress" .

But in fact, Wang Wei served as a judge in Cui Xiyimu. In the Tang Dynasty, it was common for the supervisory censor to dispatch various armies for supervision, and this was also the responsibility of the supervisory censor. However, there is neither precedent nor precedent for being retained as a post in the palace under the supervision of envoys. Two poems written by Wang Wei in Hexi, "Shuanghuangsong Farewell" and "Liangzhou Saishen", are self-note, "when he was the judge of Jiedu and composed in Liangzhou", which clearly states that he served as the judge of Jiedu in the shogunate of Jiedushi in Hexi. According to "Tongdian" Volume 32 "Official Officers Fourteen", the official names of the assistants appointed by the Jiedu Ambassadors, such as Chang Shi and Sima, are the official names, and the deputy ambassador, deputy envoy and judge are the envoy positions. There are two judges at Jiedu, who judge the affairs of the four Cao Cao respectively: warehouse, soldiers, cavalry and Zhou. Also in Volume 19 of "Tongdian", "Official Officials One" says that judges and others "are all edicts, not correct orders." "Not the official title" means that the judge does not have an official title, but a job title. This is the origin of the first sentence of "The Envoy to the Fortress" recorded in "Wenyuan Yinghua", which means that serving as the judge of the Hexi Jiedu Envoy is an "edict" from the imperial court. Wang Wei issued an imperial edict to remove the magistrates from Hexi Jiedushi, with the constitutional title of "Supervisory Censor". There are three main functions of this constitutional title: First, because the Jiedugu magistrate is an envoy and has no rank, the constitutional title is the basis for his salary. Volume 43 of "Old Book of Tang" says that "the salary of the commander of the army and the judge is the same as that of the official in the capital." Therefore, Wang Wei's salary in Hexi is the same as that of other supervisory censors in the capital. Second, constitutional titles can also play a role in the transfer of official positions. "Old Tang Book" Volume 13 "Dezong Ji" records that in December of the ninth year of Zhenyuan (793), it was written: "From now on, the magistrates and deputy envoys of the envoys have been dispatched. After the envoys are dismissed, they will conduct inspections and test five Those with higher grades will not be included in the selection of the Ministry of Personnel, and the appointment and dismissal of envoys, officials, and imperial censors will be reported in winter." This shows that the constitutional title and Beijing title attached to the post are closely related to the transfer of positions. After Wang Wei left Hexi, he was transferred to the position of censor in the palace, which must be related to the constitutional title of "supervisory censor" he had previously held. Third, those with constitutional titles in the military also have a special role, that is, they can participate in the trial of local cases. "Old Tang Book" Volume 18 download Prefectures and counties... There are no less than five or six judges in the imperial envoys. Please order the impeachment of those with the constitutional title. "This means that there are some judges with the constitutional title of "supervisory censor". Qualifications and powers to participate in local cases. Therefore, the "envoy" in Wang Wei's "Envoy to the Fortress" was not commissioned by the imperial court to investigate Cui Xiyi's attack on Tubo. Instead, he was appointed by the imperial court to serve as a judge in Hexi Jiedushi, and was granted the title of "supervisor" according to the system at that time. The constitutional title of "Censor".

If we delve further, this poem can still cause the following thoughts.

First, Wang Wei’s return route. Wang Wei took the North Road to Hexi. So, which road did he take when he left Hexi and returned to the capital in the 26th year of Kaiyuan (738)? As mentioned above, the North Road is 200 miles shorter than the South Road. However, the South Road is relatively flatter and easier to travel, and the places it passes are more prosperous and there are more inns. Judging from Wang Wei's poems written in this year, he and Cui Xiyi should have taken the southern route back to the capital, that is, starting from Liangzhou and passing through the five states of Lan, Wei, Qin, Long, and Qi to the capital. The most difficult part of this line is Longdi, which has three passes, namely Dazhen Pass, Anyirong Pass and Anyi Pass, which are adjacent to Long and Qin states. These passes are important military strongholds and have always been battlegrounds for military strategists. Therefore, they are also the objects of description in frontier poems. The poems written by Wang Wei on his way back, such as "Journey to Longxi", "Yin at Longtou", "Old General's Journey", etc., should be based on the ancient Yuefu "futi" method to describe his thoughts and feelings on the journey. There are many works of reminiscence, such as "Longxi Journey": "The guard of the army has arrived, and the Huns surrounded Jiuquan. Snow is flying in Guanshan, and there is no smoke in the beacon garrison." And the "Old General of Guanxi" and "Old General of Guanxi" in "Longtou Yin" The "veteran" in "Veteran General Goes" is most likely expressing sympathy for Cui Xiyi. Because after Cui Xiyi defeated Tubo, he should have achieved great achievements, but in fact he was transferred from Hexi Jiedushi to Henan Yin the next year, which is consistent with what is written in the poem that "his subordinates benefited thousands of princes" and "Su Wucai was the vassal state". And "Since it was abandoned, it has decayed, and the world has been wasted and turned into a white head", which is exactly the same. Of course, these sighs have rich meanings, and can also be understood as the poet's lament for himself, or even his sadness for Zhang Jiuling's resignation as prime minister and his move to Jingzhou.

Secondly, the creative changes caused by Wang Wei's arrival in Hexi. There are not many extant works created by Wang Wei after he arrived in Hexi. Among the poems, there are only a few poems such as "Envoy to the Fortress", "Composition out of the Fortress", "Wandering in the Suburbs of Liangzhou", "Saishen of Liangzhou", "Farewell Song of Two-Yellow Birds", "March to the Army", "Journey to Longxi" and "Longtou Yin". However, these poems are very different from those he wrote when he was a scholar in Youshi and lived in seclusion in Songshan. These poems were written in the frontier fortress, and some of them are closely related to the military situation, and some describe the customs and people in the border area. It can be said that the trip to Hexi changed Wang Wei's poetry style. This is personal. If we look at the entire history of Tang poetry, the demotion of Zhang Jiuling in Jingzhou was not only a watershed in the politics of the Tang Dynasty, but also a watershed in the history of poetry. Wang Wei went to Hexi because he had been recognized by Zhang Jiuling. Zhang Jiuling was demoted to Jingzhou, and many young talents who had been rewarded by him were also demoted at the same time. For example, in addition to Wang Wei, there are also Wang Changling and others. Therefore, it can be said that the change in poetic style brought about by Wang Wei's trip to Hexi is just a case of the change in poetry caused by Zhang Jiuling's demotion in Jingzhou. In fact, the poetic styles of Zhang Jiuling, Wang Changling, Wang Wei and others have all been affected by this change.

Thirdly, there is the issue of the "authentic" status of Wang Wei's poetry. Mr. Qian Zhixi has given an in-depth explanation of this issue.

By comparing Wang Wei's poems with those of his contemporaries such as Li, Du, Gao and Cen, Mr. Qian believed that Wang's poems were authentic in the flourishing Tang Dynasty. Its characteristics are what Wang Wei himself said: "Migong Jian'an body" and "Shengde Jiang Zuofeng". Mr. Qian specifically pointed out that one of the biggest manifestations of Wang's poetry dating back to the Wei and Jin Dynasties is the transformation of parallel figures into loose lines. The examples he cited include some poems written by Wang Wei during his trip to Hexi. In terms of genre, "Shi Zhi Zhi Shang" is a neat five-character poem. But as analyzed above, this poem is actually a narrative poem, which is narrated by changing scenery step by step. From this perspective, "Envoy to the Fortress" is also a typical work of Wang Wei's "Migong Construction".

Finally, let’s talk about Wang Wei’s concept of war. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty went on a military rampage at the end of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, especially Cui Xiyi's attempt to defeat Tubo, which was an act of breaking the oath of alliance and betraying one's trust. It is impossible that Wang Wei did not know about this before going to Hexi. But does his praise of the soldiers guarding the border revealed in "Envoy to the Fortress" indicate that he agrees with this military operation? The answer should be no. In fact, Wang Wei's heart was extremely complicated. The reason why he praised General Bian was because he had to serve in this scene after all. From his previous behavior of studying Buddhism and living in seclusion in Songshan Mountain, it can be inferred that he agreed with the strategy of peacefully guarding the border. This idea is also reflected in his poems that repeatedly sympathize with Cui Xiyi.

(Author’s unit: College of Liberal Arts, Guizhou Normal University)