Li Bai: A person who is torn between "official" and "poetry"
In 700 AD, Li Bai was born in Suiye City.
This place is no longer in China.
It is said that when Li Bai’s mother gave birth to him, she dreamed of Taibai Venus.
So he was named Bai, and his character was Taibai.
Li Bai is a descendant of a famous family, and he is the ninth grandson of King Wuzhao Li Hao.
Interestingly, the ancestors of the emperors of the Li Tang Dynasty were also Li Hao.
For example, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was the eleventh generation grandson of Li Hao.
In this way, he still has to call Li Bai the clan grandfather.
Shortly after his birth, Li Bai moved to Sichuan with his parents.
In the twelfth year of Kaiyuan, 24-year-old Li Bai decided to leave Bashu and travel around the world.
At this time, his "Ode to Dapeng" had been widely circulated in Chang'an City.
As an educated young man, he refused the step-by-step imperial examination.
Because he feels that he is a big roc,
which can "make the sky move, the mountains shake, and the sea collapse."
It will surely become a blockbuster and soar into the sky!
Pass through Jingmen, cross Jiangling, and look at the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River.
Li Bai set a lifelong goal in his heart:
To plan the emperor's art and to be the emperor's teacher.
In two years, Li Bai traveled to most of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
I drink wine, compose poems, and make friends with heroes every day. I am so happy.
But he did not forget his ideals.
To realize your ideals,
you need an extraordinary and inspiring self-recommendation.
In his self-recommendation letter to Pei Changshi of Anzhou, Li Bai wrote:
"I wish you and your lord a great encounter... If you show your authority... Bai will kneel down and walk in Come forward and bow before you go, why can’t you, your lord, play the long sword?”
It means: “I hope you can give me a chance, but if you show off your power in front of me, I will I just bow to you and say goodbye, where can I find nothing to do?"
In plain language, it is - I don't want to leave you here, I have my own place to stay.
This is Li Bai's arrogance and arrogance.
Of course, he has the capital to be arrogant and arrogant.
Li Bai once said to a friend that when he was writing poems, he was "in high spirits, and when he started writing, he shook the five mountains, and the poem became a smiling and proud Ling Cangzhou." Shocked by it.
After writing it and reading it aloud, the sea would stir up waves.
In addition to being talented and arrogant, Li Bai is also very righteous.
When he was in Yangzhou, whenever there was a destitute young man, Li Bai "helped him" and dispersed more than 300,000 gold in one year.
Li Bai felt that all he needed was an opportunity like Jiang Taigong.
Once he is reused by the king, the history of the Tang Dynasty will open a new page.
However, such an opportunity never came.
In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan, Li Bai came to Anzhou.
After being introduced by someone, she married Mr. Xu.
The Xu family is the queen of the prime minister's family.
Her grandfather Xu Jingzong served as prime minister during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty.
The married life was happy and peaceful, especially the arrival of a son and a daughter, which made Li Bai extremely happy.
He named his son "Boqin" and his daughter "Pingyang", both of which were names of famous people in history.
The intention is obvious, it is to hope that they will accomplish something when they grow up.
Li Bai and his wife Xu also have a very good relationship.
Li Bai once wrote a poem: For three hundred and sixty days, I was as drunk as mud every day. Although she was Li Bai's wife, she was no different from a Taichang wife.
It means that by drinking freely, he inevitably neglected his wife and asked her to forgive him.
However, the happiness did not last long.
Mr. Xu died of a sudden illness, and Li Bai fell into pain.
At this moment, a piece of good news came.
After hearing the name of Li Bai's poem, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to summon him to the palace.
This year, Li Bai was 42 years old.
He had waited too long for this day.
Li Bai simply packed his luggage,
entrusted his two children to the care of his friends,
said goodbye to his old friends, and strode out of the house.
As the saying goes, "Look up to the sky and laugh loudly and go out. How can I be a Penghao person?"
Chang'an City is bustling with people, and the flags and flags at the door of the wine shop are spinning rhythmically.
A thin layer of rain fell, and people on the street held up oil-paper umbrellas.
Li Bai was in a great mood. He should have gone to the inn to rest for a night, clean himself up, and wait until the next day to enter the palace.
But he couldn't wait any longer, so he walked quickly to the palace.
Entering Chang'an Palace, Xuanzong had been waiting for a long time.
He invited Li Bai to sit down on the Qibao bed, served exquisite delicacies, and chatted with Li Bai about poetry and poetry.
The emperor and the poet, this is the first time in the Chinese poetry world.
Li Bai did not eat well that meal, but he found it extremely delicious.
After dinner, Xuanzong summoned the director of the Hanlin Academy and arranged for Li Bai to stay in the Hanlin Academy to prepare for the imperial edict.
This year, Xuanzong was 57 years old.
Li Linfu has been prime minister for 8 years, and the prosperous Kaiyuan era has lasted for 30 years.
24-year-old Yang Yuhuan began to live in Xingqing Palace as a Taizhen Taoist priest.
Yang Guozhong is still in poverty in distant Sichuan.
The 39-year-old An Lushan has just served as the military governor of Pinglu, and his wings are not yet full.
They have all entered or will soon enter Li Bai’s life.
Life in Chang'an made Li Bai feel unprecedented hope and the great glory of life.
"The king bestows color, and his reputation is as high as smoke. ... After returning to Xianyang, he talks and laughs like a prince."
Soon, Li Bai became a high-ranking official and writer in Chang'an City. of guests.
Once, He Zhizhang, who was already over eighty years old, saw Li Bai and exclaimed:
"You are not an ordinary person, you are simply a god descended from heaven." ."
From then on, the saying that Li Bai was an "immortal" spread.
He Zhizhang invited Li Bai for a drink. During the dinner, he read "The Road to Shu is Difficult" written by Li Bai, and sighed that this was truly a masterpiece of the ages.
After drinking to the fullest, he found that he didn't have enough money, so he changed the gold turtle he was wearing with him to drink.
One day, Xuanzong and his concubine Yang Yuhuan were writing poems and playing.
Remembering that Li Bai’s poems were very good, he called Li Bai over and asked him to compose one.
At that time, many precious peonies were planted beside the Chenxiang Pavilion in the east of Xingqing Palace.
When the flowers bloom, they are colorful and beautiful.
With such a beautiful woman and beautiful scenery, Li Bai wrote with a stroke of his pen:
"The clouds are like clothes, the flowers are like faces, the spring breeze is blowing on the threshold, and the dew is rich.
May I ask who in the Han Palace looks like it? , Poor Feiyan Yi Xinzhuang."
Yang Yuhuan was happy and shy when she heard Li Bai compare her to Zhao Feiyan.
Xuanzong said continuously: "Good poem, good poem", and rewarded Li Bai with a string of beads in his hand.
At this moment, Li Bai felt that his ideal would be realized soon.
In addition to writing poems, he actively expressed his political opinions to Xuanzong.
But Xuanzong did not respond too much.
A year passed in the blink of an eye, and Li Bai discovered that,
he, the imperial edict, was just playing poetry with the emperor.
What Xuanzong handed him was a pen that whitewashed peace and polished the king's career.
It is not the pen of the emperor who plans the country and drafts the edict.
The gap between ideal and reality was so big that Li Bai began to drink to relieve his sorrow.
In Chang'an, Li Bai left many records of drunkenness.
One time, Xuanzong played a piece of music and wanted to fill in a new Yuefu poem, so he sent someone to find Li Bai.
Li Bai was already drunk in the tavern. He didn't wake up until someone poured a basin of water on his face.
Rushing back to the palace with a hint of drunkenness, Li Bai wrote the words after a few brush strokes.
Xuanzong looked at it and sighed - good words!
Sure enough, Li Bai is Li Bai, even when he is drunk, he is still a "poetry fairy".
It’s just that this person loves wine. If he gets drunk one day and tells something that should not be said in the palace, wouldn’t he lose the royal family’s face?
Xuanzong had doubts about whether it was appropriate to keep Li Bai in the Hanlin Academy.
At this time, some villains who were jealous of Li Bai's talent also rushed forward.
Compare the grumbling poems written by Li Bai in his daily life, such as "slandering the heart of the British master and slandering the sycophant ministers", "Although the king is favored by others, he has no choice but to kill people in the palace due to jealousy", "For The despicable minister was deceitful, so he was released back to the mountain." He presented it to Xuanzong, saying that Li Bai had a disobedient heart.
Xuanzong was so angry that he wrote four words on the memorial - bestow gold and return it.
After leaving Chang'an, Li Bai roamed while looking for opportunities to make a comeback.
But opportunities are not that easy to find. It is obviously difficult to enter the political center of the Tang Dynasty.
On this day, Li Bai came to Bianzhou, walked into a tavern, drank several bowls of water and wine, and called the waiter: "Bring paper and pen!"
Hundreds of eloquent words The words are written in an instant.
As soon as he started writing, a voice came from beside him: "Good poem, good poem. May I ask your name, brother? Can you make a friend?"
Li Bai turned around , I saw a young man, dressed in plain clothes, with a slightly sad look on his face, but his eyes were bright.
"My surname is Li Mingbai."
The young man was in awe, and immediately bowed and said, "It turns out to be Li Hanlin, whom I have admired for a long time, and my younger brother's surname is Du Mingfu."
"Don't call me that, I am no longer a Hanlin."
"Why?"
Li Bai did not shy away from talking about why he was so unhappy and drunk in the palace , the villain told Du Fu all kinds of things about adding insult to injury.
Du Fu was also bitter at this time. No one was admitted to this scientific examination.
It is said that the prime minister Li Linfu was jealous of talents and lied to Xuanzong that there were no more talents available in the world.
After a conversation, Li Bai and Du Fu became close friends.
Du Fu said: "There is a man named Gao Shi who is taking the scientific examination with me. He is also a good poet. He is staying here. You might as well introduce him to my brother."
The next day , Li Bai, Du Fu, and Gao Shi met in a tavern, and they had a happy chat.
Du Fu suggested: "Since we are all frustrated, why not the three of us travel together in the Liang and Song Dynasties."
The three of them hit it off immediately, and from then on they drank, composed poems, and laughed about the world every day.
One day, three people were hiking, drinking and reciting poems on the top of the mountain. Unknowingly, it was already dawn.
Looking at the morning glow on the horizon, Li Bai's heart moved, and he chanted casually: "I woke up when I was lying high on the east mountain, and it's not too late to help the people!"
Yes, yes, I How can I be so depressed? I want to learn from Xie An, the Prime Minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although I live in seclusion in Dongshan, as long as the people of the world look forward to it, I will come out immediately!
After bidding farewell to Gao Shi and Du Fu, Li Bai came to Qizhou alone and asked the Taoist priest of Ziji Palace to teach him the Taoism.
When a Taoist student gets a Taoist instrument, it is equivalent to a college student getting a diploma.
Li Bai became an official Taoist priest from then on.
In this case, of course a real journey to immortality is indispensable.
However, the journey from the temple to the rivers and lakes, and to the immortals was not easy for Li Bai.
"Haike talks about Yingzhou, and it is hard to find letters in the misty waves; the people in Yue are talking about Tianmu, and the clouds are bright and fading, or visible."...Wearing Xie Gong's clogs, we climb the Qingyun Staircase; we can see half of the wall The sky is full of roosters."
In Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang, Li Bai was full of contradictions.
On the one hand, he enjoys the freedom of roaming the world.
On the other hand, he wanted to serve his country but couldn't find it, and he wanted to get rid of fame but couldn't really forget it.
Although he wanted to indulge himself in the dream of sleepwalking Tianmu,
However, when he woke up from the dream, he couldn't help but shouted:
"An Neng is able to bend his eyebrows and bend his waist to serve the powerful, which makes me unhappy!"
In Jinling, Li Bai climbed up to the Phoenix Terrace and watched the historical changes of the vicissitudes of life.
He lamented: "The clouds can always cover the sun, and the absence of Chang'an makes people sad." The hearts of the people.
Finally, Li Bai realized that visiting immortals could not free him from the deep pain in his heart.
"Being rich is not noble enough, and being poor is not sad enough."
Li Bai made a bold decision - to travel to Youyan in the north and join the border army to realize his political ambitions.
Around the eleventh year of Tianbao, Li Bai traveled through Handan, Qingzhang and other places and arrived in Youzhou.
Then the reality shocked him.
At this time, An Lushan was preparing his troops and plotting a rebellion, and his ambitions were well known to everyone.
At that moment, Li Bai felt sad and angry.
Seeing that the people of the country are about to lose their lives, there is no chance to join the Admonition Saint.
Li Bai had no choice but to go all the way south to Xuancheng, Anhui.
One day, he and his clan uncle Li Yunden climbed to the Xie Tiao Tower in Xuancheng. They were filled with emotion and chanted:
"Those who abandon me will not be able to stay the same day as yesterday. They will mess up my heart." There are so many worries today.”
For a poet who is over fifty years old at this time.
What abandoned him and disturbed his heart was not only the past time, but also the nostalgia for the glorious life of the past.
Soon, the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out, and Xuanzong led his princes and grandchildren to flee Chang'an.
Prince Li Heng announced his accession to the throne and respected Xuanzong as the Supreme Emperor.
On the way to Chengdu, Xuanzong issued an edict to divide the kings into towns.
That is to say, the military and political power of the Tang Dynasty was divided into the hands of various princes.
After receiving the edict, Yongwang Li Lin began to gather troops and recruit warriors in Jiangling, Hubei.
At this time, Li Bai happened to travel to the Jiangling area.
After hearing this, King Yong sent an envoy to invite Li Bai to join his shogunate.
At this time, Li Bai had married his second wife, Zongshi.
Zong was also a prime minister, and with a woman’s unique intuition, she advised Li Bai not to go.
But the arrival of King Yong's envoy once again ignited Li Bai's ideals and ambitions.
Before leaving, he joked with his wife: "When I went out, my wife forced me to take my clothes and asked me how many days it would take to return west."
After joining the Yongwang shogunate, Li Bai was passionate and heroic. Fuzhong wrote eleven songs of "King Yong's Eastern Tour Song".
"Commanding the soldiers to sit at the Qiong Banquet", "The south wind swept away Hu Chenjing".
Li Bai felt that this time he would be able to realize his ideals and ambitions.
However, our great poet overestimated his political vision.
Because of the influence of the kings' separate towns, Prince Li Heng was dissatisfied with King Yong's rapid expansion of troops.
King Yong also refused to acknowledge the fact that the prince had ascended the throne, and a civil war broke out between the two brothers.
In the end, King Yong was defeated and King Yong's army was designated as rebels.
Li Bai, our great poet, was arrested and imprisoned before he had time to display his political talents.
Li Bai in prison was in great pain, but as a scholar, he had no choice but to curse and ridicule the intrigues between Li Heng and Li Lin in his poems.
Although Li Bai was not the mastermind of the Yongwang rebels,
his reputation was too great,
and he succeeded in drawing all the hatred onto himself.
Du Fu once described the scene at that time: Everyone wanted to kill.
At that time, there were many people who advocated killing Li Bai.
Fortunately, Li Bai acted chivalrously and righteously when he was young and won the respect of many people.
Censor Song Ruosi, Jiangnan Xuanwei envoy Cui Huan and others rushed to inform him.
His wife Zongshi also actively mediates.
While in prison, Li Bai wrote a poem for the Zong family:
When he heard the news, he cried, and went into the mansion crying; many kings joined Cai Yan and invited Cao Gong with tears.
Li Bai compared Zong to Cai Wenji back then.
Hard work paid off and Li Bai was released.
Although he regained his freedom, Li Bai felt that he had political stains on his body and that his ideals and ambitions might not be realized.
At this moment, Song Ruosi helped Li Bai again.
He vouched for Li Bai and asked Li Bai to write a letter to Su Zong on his behalf.
In this self-recommendation letter, Li Bai once again regained his confidence. He used Song Ruosi's words to praise himself:
Li Bai, under my charge, tried the innocent, possessed economic talents, resisted Chao, and By the festival. Literature can change customs, learning can study heaven and man, and if you don't touch it with your life, you will be conquered all over the world. ...His Majesty Fu Wei returns to the high rays of the sun, which shines under the flowing water. I would like to pay homage to an official from the capital. Can I offer it to you? If you can show me the light, then the heroes from all over the world will lead you home.
He firmly believed that his lack of talent would make the world's scholars sigh with regret. If the imperial court can reuse him, then the world's heroes will lead Zhigui.
With his extraordinary dedication to the court, the country, and his ideals, Li Bai issued a deafening cry when he was nearly fifty years old!
However, Li Bai did not expect that a greater misfortune was quietly approaching him.
After the Tang Dynasty regained Chang'an and Luoyang, it carried out political liquidation of all officials who had surrendered to the thieves or were trapped in false posts.
Li Bai——Exiled Yelang!
Du Fu once said: "Seventy years of life are rare throughout the ages."
For an old man in his sixties, this is simply the cruelest prison sentence.
There was only one year between joining the Yongwang shogunate and exiled Yelang.
Li Bai originally wanted to make a comeback with the help of Song Ruosi,
But the exile of Yelang was like a blow in the head, and a basin of cold water was poured on him from the beginning.
One can imagine how he felt.
On the second day of December in 757 AD, Xuanzong returned to Chang'an.
On this day, Li Bai set out for Yelang.
His wife, Zongshi, sent him to the bank of Wujiang River.
Thinking about whether we can see each other again and that his official career has come to naught, Li Bai felt so tragic!
"Hangu is suddenly startled by the arrival of Hu Ma, and the peaches and plums in the Qin Palace are blooming. I am worried about being banished to Yelang from afar. When will the golden rooster be released and pardoned?"
"Poetry Immortal" The high-spirited and free-spirited mood has faded away, only revealing the lowness and sadness.
Fortunately, luck came to Li Bai again soon.
In 759 AD, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, and the imperial court announced a general amnesty, exempting all the following crimes.
This is really great news!
In just a moment, our poet forgot about his complaints and his gray hair.
He returned to the vast world and became a free bird.
At this time, the poet was already 58 years old, but he wrote the poems of a young boy!
In this poem, we see no complaints or frustrations.
All of this was gently carried away by "the boat has passed the Ten Thousand Mountains" without leaving any trace.
This is the charm of Li Bai. No matter how difficult he encounters, he always looks forward.
As long as there is a glimmer of hope, he will move forward and never give up.
This is why his poetry can travel through thousands of years and still retain its charm today.
"It is better to be strong when you are old than to be old and gray."
Li Bai, who regained his freedom, did not rest in old age, but rekindled his political enthusiasm.
Two years later, the opportunity seemed to come.
There was a split within the Anshi rebels. In order to prevent the rebels from attacking Wu and Yue, the court decided to let Li Guangbi leave the town and camp in Henan.
The 61-year-old Li Bai believed that he could join Li Guangbi's army and participate in pacifying the Anshi rebels.
From then on, Yixue joined the army on King Yong's eastward patrol and was exiled to Yelang, and started his life again.
Unfortunately, Li Bai's poor health interrupted his plans.
In order to recuperate from illness, Li Bai came to Dangtu, Anhui Province and went to his uncle Li Yangbing, who was the magistrate of Dangtu County at the time.
Historical records indicate that Li Bai suffered from "rotten flank disease".
It is inferred that it is roughly equivalent to chronic empyema perforation in modern medicine.
The reasons for Li Bai's illness are complicated, probably inseparable from his long-term alcoholism and taking pills.
In November 762 AD, Li Bai's condition worsened. On his deathbed, he wrote his last masterpiece - "Death Song".
When he was a boy, Li Bai once wrote a poem called "Ode to the Dapeng", in which he described himself as a Dapeng soaring high.
"The five mountains were shaken by it, and the hundreds of rivers collapsed."
In his youth, Li Bai had high morale,
"The roc rises with the wind in one day and swings up to 90,000 miles."
Now, on his deathbed, he still does not change his original intention and still calls himself Dapeng.
The big roc flew, echoed in all directions, flew into the air and exhausted all its power.
The lingering wind can still inspire the world, swimming in the fusang and hanging on the left wing.
This will be passed down to future generations for generations to come. However, if there was no Confucius in the world, who would cry for my suffering?
Some people say that if Li Bai had devoted himself to writing poetry, he would not have worried about the country so much. If you don't be so stubborn about your ideals and ambitions that care about the people, wouldn't you be able to live a happy life?
Maybe, but no one can walk through life a second time.
Objectively speaking, Li Bai did have great talent in poetry, but it is hard to say whether he had great talent in governing the country.
Judging from his wild and unruly personality, as well as his drunkenness in the Chang'an Palace and his rash joining of the Yongwang Shogunate, he lacks the calm character and foresight of a politician.
But this is Li Bai.
If he gives in easily and compromises with reality.
He is not the Li Bai who dominates the poetry world.
He is no longer the arrogant, elegant, free and uninhibited "poetry fairy" in our minds.
It is this kind of twisting that gave Li Bai a rich life experience.
From then on, he created amazing poems.
Recently, "Wolf Warrior 2" has set box office records, and everyone is imitating Wu Jing's "fight to the death" spirit.
In fact, Li Bai and Wu Jing are quite similar. They both once "fought to death" over one thing.
People who like to fight to the death definitely don’t like one word - bland.
Li Bai’s life was very exciting, just like a good movie, with highs and lows.
But for him, the most important thing is to live in persistence and confidence in his ideals, never give up, never say give up, just keep moving forward without looking back.