Chapter 74 Li Bai's drinking capacity

No one would doubt Li Bai's drinking capacity.Among the poets of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai's drinking capacity is the same as his poems, which is regarded as the first.But how much Li Bai can drink is a mystery. In this regard, he himself is the most "bragging", often boasting: "It is fun to cook sheep and slaughter cattle, and you will have to drink three hundred cups at a time", and "Thirty-six thousand days in a hundred years, you have to pour three hundred cups a day." ".This is crazy talk after drinking, and it cannot be fully believed.It's just that he couldn't stop drinking one cup after another when he was happy, which is true.His famous saying is "Will drink, don't stop drinking".And he is very particular about the atmosphere of drinking: "The two of them are facing each other, and the flowers are blooming, one cup after another." At the end of the count, I am afraid that even I can't count.Without money to pay the bill, he took off his fur coat ("Qianjin Qiu") and sent it to the pawnshop together with his mount ("Five-flowered Horse").It's so desperate.In Li Bai's eyes, wine is definitely the best thing in the world.He is no longer a drinker who drinks lightly, but a gambler who puts all the treasures in his life on alcohol.Even reciting poems is equivalent to guessing fists and drinking orders, just adding a plate of spiritual appetizers, used to hangover or sober up.

In "The Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking", Du Fu calculated Li Bai's drinking capacity by bucket: "Li Bai's Hundred Poems for a Dou".This too uses exaggeration.Wine is the cost of Li Bai's poetry.The profits generated are also considerable.If the Tang Dynasty had manuscript fees, Li Bai would have become a rich man.It's just that for a person like him, even if he gets the manuscript fee, he will use it all in exchange for drinks, and it is impossible to store it in the bank for interest.In other words, the tavern was his most trusted bank.He was originally invited to write a hymn for Concubine Yang Gui, so when he left Chang'an, Tang Xuanzong rewarded him with a large sum of money ("give gold and return it").It is estimated that it will run out in a short time, and it will all be used to "sponsor" the wine making industry of the Tang Empire.Wine and meat have passed through the intestines, but the poems have stayed.In fact, it is quite worth it: in the Tang Dynasty, poetry could be regarded as "hard currency".

Li Bai is delicious, but I guess his drinking capacity may not really be astonishing (or "superhuman").He is often very drunk.Sleeping soundly in a tavern on Chang'an Avenue, the reason why he refused the emperor's call was because he was top-heavy and couldn't walk.He may even be delirious and have forgotten what the Son of Heaven is.Never mind him so much!This is the courage of a drunkard.It is said that once, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang hosted a banquet for Li Bai in the Daming Palace, and personally spooned soup for the poet. Li Bai drank too much again, overdosed, and vomited uncontrollably on the Jinluan Hall, staining the skirts of the dancers in front of the steps.Fortunately, Tang Xuanzong did not blame Li Bai for his gaffe, and ordered Gao Lishi to take off his boots for the drunken poet and help him to rest.This is a very sober and wise emperor who can tolerate the wildness of the poet.No wonder the Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous era of poetry!From another perspective, Tang poetry really adds to the icing on the cake of Chinese wine culture, and Li Bai can be called its eternal "image spokesperson".Throughout the past and present, there is no more educated and well-known alcoholic than Li Bai.A considerable part of his poems can be regarded as "advertising words" written for wine merchants free of charge, such as "Golden bottles of sake are worth ten thousand, jade plates are worth tens of thousands of dollars", such as "Lanling fine wine tulips, jade bowls come Amber light", for example, "Let's take the moonlight in Dongting on credit, and buy a boat to drink by the white clouds" or something.

Poetry and wine have since become a pair of twin brothers in our national traditional culture.They are most closely connected through Li Bai's poems.Li Bai was a lucky man. He became a hero by drinking and reciting poems.It's really the best in everything. Because of this, I think Li Bai's drinking capacity has also been infinitely exaggerated by the legend.After all, this is also setting an example. The power of an example is infinite, and it is human nature to put gold on the face of an example.Moreover, it is also "taboo for the venerable"-few people believe that Li Bai would vomit when he was drunk, and even made the dancers in the Daming Palace put up their sleeves to cover their noses.What a disgrace to the poet! "This episode is best deleted."Therefore, Li Bai in our mind will always look up to the sky, laughing, toasting and drinking, and looks like he is in the air.

Li Bai was born in Suiye City in the north of the north (in today's Russia). He has nomadic blood and is undoubtedly good at drinking.But whether it can really be regarded as "massive" and can drink like plain water is not necessarily the case.At least, among the "Eight Immortals in Drinking" cited by Du Fu, Li Bai's alcohol capacity was slightly lower than that of Ruyang King Li  and a commoner named Jiao Sui. "The king of Ruyang fights like he is facing the sky, salivates at the entrance of the road, and hates to seal him to Jiuquan." This Ruyang king has long admired the reputation of Jiuquan (now part of Gansu), and even has the intention of moving there.As for Brother Jiao, who is even more powerful, he must drink five Dou before he enters the state: "Jiao Sui's five Dou Fang Zhuoran, talked eloquently and amazed four feasts." And Li Bai, after drinking only one Dou, he turned into a "poetry writing machine".Li Bai's advantage over others is that his poems are well written and provocative.In the Tang Dynasty, a well-written poem could become a big star.What's more, his drinking capacity has also entered the "ranking list" after all.Like a tiger with wings added.

Reading "The Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking", I lamented that people in the Tang Dynasty used to measure their drinking by buckets.Although it is said that "the sea water cannot be measured", after all, the bucket is filled with wine.Could it be that the drinking capacity of modern people has already degenerated?When clinking glasses, they use small wine cups filled with a few dollars.Later, when I went to Xi’an, I personally tasted the local specialty thick wine. I knew that in Li Bai’s time, all he drank was this kind of rough, rustic, unprocessed rice wine, not the distilled grains such as sorghum and barley that were born in later generations. Brewed Laobaigan (commonly known as shochu).If Li Bai drank a bucket of Erguotou, he must be poisoned by alcohol. How could he have the inspiration to write poems.But I feel sorry for Li Bai: he was born too early, and he was not blessed to have access to Moutai and Wuliangye; otherwise, wouldn’t he have created more and better works?One thing is certain: Li Bai would have less complaints about life if he was accompanied by Moutai and Wuliangye.

During Li Bai's lifetime, although there was no shortage of drinking time for "Wu Ji suppressing wine and persuading guests to taste", he often drank alone with his head down. "A pot of wine among the flowers, drinking alone without a blind date", so I had to clink glasses with Mingyue, invite the shadows to dance together, and improvise into a "threesome".Li Bai is actually very lonely.In his poems, besides the wine, it is the same lonely moon: "I only hope that when the song is to the wine, the moonlight will always shine in the golden bottle"; "Langxi"; "Both are full of joy and prosperity, thinking about flying, and want to go to the blue sky to embrace the bright moon"... Li Bai's life is full of wine and sorrow; he uses wine to pour out the block in his heart.What can I do? Alcohol is the only antidote for his sorrow.He regards alcohol as a spiritual savior.No matter how much he drinks, his deep affection for wine is beyond the reach of ordinary people.This is why Li Bai became Li Bai.

Li Bai was not a sycophant, and he seldom wrote poems to flatter the dignitaries, but he loved his house and black, and cried loudly when a winemaker surnamed Ji died of illness.He wrote a five unique poem called "Crying Xuancheng Good Brewing Jisao": "In Jisou's Yellow Spring, old spring should be brewed. There is no Li Bai on the night stage, who should buy wine with?" Old man Ji is really blessed to have a Such praises from great poets. Li Bai died.We don't have to worry about him.He'll still have wine in hell. Li Bai is the "wine commander" of our nation and the "sacrifice wine" (or "priest") in the poetry circle.He seemed born for wine.He did, too, die of alcohol.In 762 A.D., Li Bai drank too much alcohol in the high Caishiji (now Anhui). He reached out to catch the moon in the sky drunkenly, and fell into the water and drowned.For the suffering poet, this is also a kind of "euthanasia".Look, this is Li Bai: even death is full of poetry.Throughout the ages, how many poets can be so chic?