Chapter 17 Primer

Those wild owls who used to stalk the dead trees in Chang'an and in the haze above the palace, unknowingly, have passed through the spring night of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, and the spring of the first year of Changqing when "the water flows and the flowers are ruthless". , After flying over the Yellow River and Taihang, he flew to Hebei, thus bringing the tragedy into another chapter with a broader scene. Ouyang Zhigong in the late Ming Dynasty had a famous saying in "Shu Police Records": "The world is in chaos before Shu is in chaos, and the world is governed after Shu is governed."But his conclusion is inappropriate in the Tang Dynasty.Not to mention that when Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty aspired to the world, it was determined by the spread of Xishu, and he surrendered to Chang'an early; it was the critical moment when the world was turbulent and the flames were everywhere during the Anshi Rebellion and the Huangchao Rebellion, Xishu was still the relatively peaceful backyard of the imperial court.This sentence is very appropriate in Hebei.In the past three hundred years, only the hometown of Yanzhao, where heroes came out in large numbers, is the touchstone of the dynasty's chaos: want to prove the power of the dynasty?Go to Hebei!Conquer it like Tang Taizong (Li Shimin) and Li Chun (Tang Xianzong).The aging Tang Xuanzong (Li Longji) used the melody and rhythm of the neon clothes and feather dance to anesthetize himself.However, when Yuyang's drums sounded in Hebei, the lie of the prosperous age of singing and dancing was immediately exposed.When Tang Dezong (Li Shi) first came to the throne, he pretended to be a wise gentleman.It was the turbulent "Four Kings Rebellion" in Hebei that tore off his disguise and eloquently pointed out that he was nothing more than a mediocre emperor——

Hebei has proved time and again that it is the standard by which Chang'an's dominance is tested. Using this standard to measure the people and events during the Changqing period, our hearts will become extremely heavy.In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, we witnessed the creepy Yuanhe Palace Change in the palace of Chang'an; in the first year of Changqing, we used a tribute fraud case to explain the negative impact of the Yuanhe Palace Change on scholar-bureaucrats.But if we want to explore the unique impact of the Yuanhe Palace Change on the entire empire, we cannot limit our attention to Chang'an.

Leaving Chang'an, and only by leaving Chang'an, can we gain a complete understanding of the whole incident.The story of Hebei will greatly expand the subject matter of our narrative. The bloated owl is not as light as ordinary birds.Let it hunch our heavy eyes, turn, setback, and sweep, leaving an indelible shadow on the vast land north of the river.The shadow and the haze all over the sky merge together to form a period of dark immoral background, a nightmare—— Let us walk into Hebei in a nightmare.