Chapter 62: Holding the Emperor hostage to order the princes
Handan Chun, an old man, did not want to be an official, nor did he want to teach. He only focused on the mountains and rivers. He studied calligraphy and articles all day long, all based on those ancient jokes.
As the saying goes, a smile saves ten years. No wonder the old man lived a long life. He was born in 132 AD and died in 221 AD. He lived to be 90 years old, which is a very long life.
However, not serving as an official or accepting disciples does not mean that he is not famous. In fact, Handan Chun was a very famous Jingzhou scholar at that time.
Later, after Cao Cao obtained Jingzhou, he heard about his reputation and immediately summoned him to Yecheng, hoping that he would become a teacher for his two sons, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi.
When Cao Pi and Cao Zhi heard that it was Handan Chun, they rushed to visit him and wanted to make friends with him. Cao Pi asked his father to let Handan Chun be his literary attendant. Cao Zhi also begged Handan Chun very urgently.
It happened that Cao Cao was doting on Cao Zhi at this time, so he ordered Handan Chun to see Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi was overjoyed and received him warmly and grandly, which shows how high his reputation is.
As a great scholar of the time, countless people came to visit him every day. Wang Can brought Shen Chen and others here to ask for an audience, naturally hoping to gain his favor. It would be better if he could get his comments.
Just like Xu Shao and Sima Hui, one made a monthly review and commented on talents. The other just said that the best talents in Jingzhou were Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong. The reputation of Wolong and Phoenix immediately spread throughout the world and became known to the world.
So to a certain extent, if you can get the appreciation of a certain literary bigwig by visiting him, your reputation will soon spread, and your reputation will gradually rise.
Wang Can has been doing this recently. Of course, he is a celebrity in Jingzhou and is very famous in Jingzhou. He no longer needs the help of big bosses to become famous.
But he was keen on helping his friends. Historically, he wrote many poems about friends, such as "Poems for Sun Wenshi", "Poems for Cai Zidu", "Poems for Pan Wenze" and "Poems for Uncle Wen". "Liang·Pianpianzhehong", "Gift to Yang Dezu", etc.
Moreover, he had a wide network of contacts, and many big men in Jingzhou knew him. He brought his friends to visit, and during the banquet, everyone wrote and exchanged academic ideas. As long as they had good academic skills, the big men were willing to give him face.
After visiting Handan Chun, Shen Chen was favored by Handan Chun because of his good jokes and high level of knowledge. He commented that his talents and learning were very high and he was among the best in Nanzhou.
With the endorsement of the big boss, Shen Chen's reputation quickly spread.
In fact, he is now quite famous in his own right.
When he was in Xianshan Academy, he was the youngest, but his talent and learning were the best among many students, and he was praised by Song Zhong, Wang Can and others.
In addition, he was very close to Wang Can. The two exchanged poems and essays, became friends, and were even more highly regarded by Wang Can.
You should know that although the poems of San Cao in later generations are very famous, such as Cao Cao's "Dan Ge Xing", "Guan Cang Hai", "The Turtle Lives Longevity" and "Hao Li Xing" are all familiar to future generations.
But in fact, the status of poetry in the late Han Dynasty was not high. It was not until after the Tang Dynasty that poetry culture reached a brilliant stage.
Therefore, poetry writing can only be regarded as a small circle. Although there are many literati in Jingzhou, there are only few poets.
Wang Can had no one to share his poetry experience with, so he was very lonely.
Now that Shen Chen could recite poems, write poems, and discuss poetry and literature with him, he was naturally overjoyed and became a close friend.
For example, last year Wang Can wrote a poem called "Seven Sorrow Poems". After he and scholar Sun Meng fled from Chang'an to Jingzhou, he wrote it in a moment of sadness when he remembered what he saw along the way.
The full text tells the story of how when he left Chang'an, he saw a hungry woman on the road who was throwing her baby into the grass and discarding it.
After the poem was completed, it was passed on to people to read. It can be said that those who heard it were sad and those who heard it shed tears. However, no one could write a poem to harmonize with him, which is regrettable.
Later, Shen Chen learned about this time and recalled his journey south from Xuzhou, so he also wrote a poem called "Seven Sorrows".
The so-called "Seven Sorrow Poems" is not the name of a poem, but a form of poetry.
It reflects social phenomena such as war, plague, death, parting, and frustration in turbulent times, and has high literary value.
The most famous among them are Du Fu's "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells".
The earliest form of poetry carrier is Wang Can's "Chaos in Xijing".
Shen Chen's "Seven Sorrows" is also in this form. It has 12 lines and 120 words. It describes the tragic scene of hundreds of thousands of people being massacred when traveling south from Xuzhou.
The whole poem is: "There are so many fortresses in Xuzhou, there are thousands of hills and tombs."
"White silk is hung on the pavilion, and corpse bones are tied to the door."
"The city walls were crushed into ruins, and the ruins of the village were facing (you, xiang)."
"What's the reason? Ah Hao massacred Huaiyang."
"Looking at each other from the south, the mountains look like yellow."
"Pengcheng crossed the Surabaya River, and all the people died in the river."
"The road is paved with remains, and the mud is made of flesh."
"What's the reason? Cao Jun drove the people to qiang."
"In the end of the year, chaos arose, and thieves and thieves were like wolves."
"The thorns grow in the luxuriant leaves, and the path leads to the death of children."
"In the den of foxes and rabbits, there are vast fields of weeds and wormwood."
"I feel that Yongmen weeps, and I feel sad today and in ancient times."
The meaning of the first four sentences of this poem is: When I passed Xuzhou on my way south, I saw many tombs and thousands of tombs.
The pavilion beside the road was hung with white flags, and corpses were tied to the horse posts at the door.
The city was in ruins, and the manor was so dilapidated that only a wooden window remained.
Why is this so?
Cao Cao's army massacred people north of the Huaihe River.
The meaning of the four sentences in the second paragraph is: Looking to the south while riding in a carriage, the mountains are as yellow as if they are sick.
When I crossed Surabaya, I saw countless corpses of people floating in the river.
The bones paved the road, and the flesh made the mud.
Why is this so?
Cao's soldiers slaughtered the people and drove them into the river to kill them.
The meaning of the four sentences in the third paragraph is: The end of troubled times has arrived, and there are as many bandits as jackals along the way.
The wilderness is overgrown with thorns, and children die young on the roadside.
Fox and rabbit nests can be seen everywhere, and the wild grass grows taller than people.
I thought of what Yongmen Zizhou said to Mengchangjun. What happened in ancient times was so similar to what happened today, which made me very sad.
After the poem was written, it did not cause any shock at all in Jingzhou Shilin.
Although some people expressed anger at Cao Cao's atrocities, once again, poetry was not mainstream literature in the late Han Dynasty.
Poets are not like those in the Tang Dynasty. If you write good poems, you can travel all over the country and people will treat you to dinner everywhere.
Therefore, most people in the world think that this poem is well written, but as for why it is so good, they cannot explain why.
Only Wang Can likes it very much.
Because he is a person who understands poetry, he can naturally see the profound meaning contained in this poem.
The idea of this poem is very similar to his "Chaos in Xijing". It is also about tragedy, and it is also about indignation at the troubled times of the princes.
For example, he wrote about Dong Zhuo, and Shen Chen wrote about Cao Cao; he wrote about a woman abandoning her son, and Shen Chen wrote about corpses floating in Surabaya; he wrote about the spring man, and Shen Chen wrote about Yongmen Cry.
According to the summary of later generations of Chinese class representatives: "The poet painted a tragic picture of hell in this poem, showing the pain and disaster brought to the people by the war in the late Han Dynasty, and profoundly reflecting the darkness and ancient society of the feudal dynasty. The harm caused by warlord wars to the people."
As a result, the image of Shen Chen, a poet who cared about the country and the people, appeared on paper. It is estimated that in another thousand or two thousand years, it will be another poem that primary and secondary school students in future generations must recite and write down the full text.
Anyway, for those primary and secondary school students, they have no idea how much harm the warlord war has caused to the people.
The poems written by Shen Chen actually caused a ton of psychological shadow on them.
For Wang Can, the appearance of this poem naturally gave him the feeling of a confidant. In addition, he often exchanged poems with Shen Chen, and occasionally Shen Chen would help him revise them, which made him feel even more comfortable.
In fact, Wang Can is not very old. He is only nineteen years old this year, while Shen Chen is eleven years old.
Although there is an eight-year age difference between the two, Cai Yong's friendship with him when they were in Chang'an is still vivid in his mind. Therefore, Wang Can has regarded Shen Chen as a very good friend and is willing to help him spread his fame.
In July, Wang Can took Shen Chen around to visit friends again. Although he was not old, he had the reputation to suppress Jingchu, and he was the queen of the Three Dukes. Naturally, the Jingzhou scholars also wanted to give him face.
Therefore, he visited aristocratic families everywhere, such as the Huang family, the Xi family, the Ma family, the Yang family, the Xiang family, etc. Over time, Shen Chen's reputation gradually increased.
At this time, the general trend of the world had begun to change.
For example, in May of this year, Zhang Xiu felt deeply that there were no talented people around him to help him. He heard that Jia Xu was not doing well in Duan Xuan's army, so he immediately sent people to Guanzhong and brought Jia Xu to Nanyang.
In June, Yuan Shu sent Ji Ling to lead 30,000 troops to attack Xuzhou again. At that time, Liu Bei had been defeated by Lu Bu and stationed troops in Xiaopei. When Ji Ling came to invade, Lu Bu fired a halberd at the gate to help Liu Bei break the siege.
When autumn entered in July, Sun Ce captured Kuaiji and defeated Wang Lang. He then began to attack Yan Baihu, a powerful local force, and drove Yan Baihu away. From then on, he completely occupied Jiangdong.
In early August, Liu Xie, escorted by Yang Feng and Han Xian, finally returned to Luoyang. At the beginning of the year, Liu Biao sent people to Luoyang to repair the palace and provide food and grass, so that Liu Xie could finally take a breather.
But he soon made another big mistake, that is, he sent Dong Chengmi to order Cao Cao to come to Luoyang to serve the king.
In fact, strictly speaking, it’s not a big mistake.
Because Han Siam, who was escorting, consciously made a contribution to the rescue, he took the credit for himself and disrupted the government affairs, which made Liu Xie deeply uneasy, so he wanted external forces to intervene to balance the political situation.
However, he never expected that Cao Cao was a fierce tiger. Compared with Han Xian, he was just a husky and was no match for Cao Cao.
At that time, Xun Yu was also advising Cao Cao that he should "serve the emperor in order to defeat his subordinates". Dong Cheng's secret edict was like a timely help. He immediately led his troops to Luoyang and reported to Liu Xie Han Siam and Zhang Yang's crimes. Han Siam fled to Yang Feng. The military power of Luoyang was controlled by Cao Cao.
Liu Xie asked Cao Cao to lead the Sili Xiaowei, record Shangshu affairs, and use the festival axe, and he suddenly became the most powerful official of the Han Dynasty.
Immediately afterwards, he killed the ministers Tai Chong, Shangshu Feng Shuo and others who opposed his rule, and completely took control of the government.
Then at the end of August, Cao Cao formally requested Liu Xie to move the capital to Xuchang on the grounds that Luoyang was ruined.
I changed the joke again in the last chapter, and you can check it out. Thanks to book friend He Zaihe for the idea.
In addition, a new book list has been released, and updates have officially begun.