Chapter 10 Dreaming back to the Tang Dynasty——From the Grand Canal to Maweipo

At the Spring Festival Gala one year, a song resonated greatly with countless overseas travelers.Accompanied by modern music interspersed with long erhu, bright red firecrackers, lanterns, and couplets overlapped and appeared on the screen, and singers in Tang suits sang and danced affectionately and passionately: "The lovesickness of the bright moon, thousands of miles away, unknowingly approaching the call of home..." No one can count, at that moment, in the bright fireworks that almost lit up the whole earth, how many tears of compatriots rolled down. That song is called "Chinatown."

Chinatown is the common name of places inhabited by descendants of Yan and Huang in every part of the world—whether it is a mainland, an island or a desert, a city, a small town or a countryside.As for Tang people, everyone knows that they are synonymous with Chinese people on earth. The Tang Dynasty, the most splendid moment of the Chinese nation, was fixed in that magnificent era by history. Regardless of the change of dynasty and era, it will always be the most proud glory in the hearts of all Chinese people. When I stared at the pottery horse that only used three simple colors for a long time, it exuded a heroic, majestic and magnificent pottery horse; When I am dazzled by the colorful and gorgeous pictures of ladies: I seem to feel the calm and powerful pulse of Datang, but I seem to be unable to grasp anything.

I just feel that the hot history is whistling in the palm of my hand. Who can truly and accurately describe it, how many people from generation to generation yearn for the intoxicated "heavy Tang atmosphere"? As for myself, every time I see the word "Datang", I feel like I am in the desert, with Gu Yan by my side, going straight up to the sky, and a red sun is rising in front of me. Under the red sun, with strong winds and strong winds, the Yellow River blew thousands of miles away; on the bank, tens of thousands of fat and strong horses raised smoke and dust covering the sky, chasing the roaring river water, galloping towards the sea...

"When I was eighteen, I became the king of Jinglun. I cut Liu Wuzhou in the north, Xue Ju in the west, and captured Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong in the east. At the twenty-fourth, the world will be settled, and at the twenty-ninth, I will occupy the great position. The four barbarians will surrender, and the country will be safe." These few words of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty seemed to make me see this outstanding hero sitting cross-legged on the imperial chariot, stroking his black and shiny mustache proudly facing all the nations who came to worship: "Looking at the ancient times, the masters who brought chaos first were all over forty years old, but Guangwu was thirty-three years old-the hero who brought order to chaos in ancient times, there is no one who can match it."

It is true that Li Shimin is a talented and bold emperor, no one will deny this.But after a little careful reading of the history at that time, one can find that amidst the wolves of the end of the Sui Dynasty, a great empire was conceived, growing, and growing in the depths of the chaotic land, struggling hard. More and more powerful, not even God can— In the darkness, it ruthlessly kicked the hard wall of time and space with one foot after another, the stone chips fell down, the ground began to crack, the mountains and forests began to tremble, and the sea water began to boil... Li Shimin is the great master chosen by history to make this empire break out of the ground.

In the hundreds of years before this, the continuous suffocating dark years on the land of China, amid the tragic and desperate calls of dozens of generations of people, history silently paved the way for the birth of this magnificent empire. The hundreds of years of war and fire, the "lost more than three centuries" (Huang Renyu's words), the northern land was dying, and dozens of regimes, large and small, came and went like lanterns, all kinds of The clothing language of the times came surging like a tide, and was wiped out again and again. The only thing that remains unchanged is the iron hooves and gleaming blades that are always frightening.

Let us pray for the unfortunate souls who died in the blood and fire.However, it was precisely in the scenes of human tragedies that the powerful nobles of the past fell to the ground, and the sacred fortresses that had lasted for thousands of years were crushed by iron hooves and flattened by blades. All of them pretty much landed on the same plane. It is the dream of every builder to build the ideal temple on the flat land. Years of wars, a large number of deaths and displaced people have left large tracts of countryside barren, but at the same time, they have also provided future rulers with pieces of treasures that can generate wealth with a little rectification.In fact, the Northern Wei Dynasty had already started this work: the land equalization policy marked by the promulgation of the "Equal Land Order" in 485 also laid a solid foundation for our Tang economy.This effective attempt has transformed the problem that has been a headache for every king and official who is interested in governance since the end of the Han Dynasty—how to truly reduce the gap between the rich and the poor—from fantasy to the world.

What's even more exciting is that the unpleasant smell in the northern land is disappearing day by day in the strong wind in Heshuo.The corruption and decline of the Hu Yi foreigners went hand in hand with their Sinicization and assimilation process in pursuit of civilization. The sacred Chinese civilization and the way of Confucius and Mencius were revived day by day in the devastated ruins. Finally, as the pioneer of the Tang Dynasty, the short-lived glory and dignity of the Sui Dynasty on the land of China once again stimulated the long-numbed hearts of the descendants of Yan and Huang.Another hint to everyone: Hu Yun has come to an end in our country, and we have the ability to rebuild our own peace and prosperity.

I also want to thank one person, the romantic, extravagant and extravagant Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. It was his daring whimsy that left us the miraculous Grand Canal with the same giant shovel that dug his own grave.This waterway, which runs through the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, became the lifeline of the empire for a long time afterwards: it continuously transported resources from the rich and prosperous south, nourishing and nourishing the recovering Loess Plateau.And with the southward shift of the economic center of gravity, it is playing an increasingly important role.

Many years later, in front of the noisy canal, a poet could not help but sigh deeply for Emperor Sui Yang in front of the noisy canal. For hundreds of years, the sky was filled with lead-like dark clouds, pressing down on the earth, crashing and rolling, and in the cold night without moon and stars, all creatures were tremblingly looking forward to the dawn and the red sun. Finally, deep in the dark clouds, thunder broke out.The sky and the earth began to tremble non-stop.For a long time, it seemed that the breath of all things took a breath, and a round of bloody red sun jumped out.After looking around for a while, thousands of golden lights formed by blood and fire burst out.

After Li Shimin and his group of equally outstanding civil servants and military generals raised their swords and leaped their horses to extinguish the flames of war everywhere, history handed over the mission of building a magnificent new empire to these young people.With their open minds and strong hands, they raised the red sun high into the sky. But it is easy to say, to a large extent, they are just continuing and improving some reasonable policies of the previous generation.For example, the Juntian and Fubing in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the three provinces and six ministries, and the imperial examinations in the Sui Dynasty. But this is their greatness. They carefully blow away the thick dust of history, penetrate the thick fog, and select the most applicable part from the vast sea of ​​classics.They led the empire to truly conform to the trend of history, stirring up waves of monstrous waves. Not to mention the role of the imperial examination in further flattening the family and equal opportunities, nor the military success of the Fubing system, just look at the great significance behind the three provinces and six ministries system: Zhongshu Province designed policies and drafted edicts; Provincial re-examination and deliberation; the six departments of the General Secretary of Shangshu Province are responsible for implementation; and Yushitai is in charge of supervision and impeachment.Compared with the Sangong Jiuqing in the Han Dynasty, what a huge progress. Just from the origin of Jiuqing's functions, we can realize that the solemn name actually conceals the fact that they are nothing more than private slaves of the royal family.Taichang is in charge of the royal ancestor worship; Guang Luxun is the royal concierge; Weiwei is the guard of the palace; Dahonglu is actually the master of ceremonies; Zongzheng is in charge of royal affairs... The Datang government organization is a dignified and dignified institution that governs the world for the people of the world.Officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers all perform their duties in an upright manner.What's more worth mentioning is that the sect's rebuttal can actually limit the imperial power. Even if the emperor's order is inappropriate, the sect has the right to reject the five-rank offer and ask for a re-draft.The orders issued directly by the emperor without being under Zhongshu were considered illegal at that time, and the lower-level organs could not recognize them. During Wu Zetian's time, there was an official, Liu Yizhi, who once criticized the emperor in this way: "If you don't go through Fengge Luantai (the name of Zhongshu's family at that time), what is the name?" He was so timid that he didn't dare to seal the hair in the usual way, and he didn't dare to use the ink brush, so he made a nondescript "slanted ink seal". China's political system has thus taken a big step forward from "a world under the family" to "a world under the people of the world". So, when many places on the earth were still deeply immersed in the boundless darkness of ignorance and even drank blood, the dazzling light of this red sun in the east enveloped most of Asia. Mawei slope, literally guessed, should be a steep hillside that even horses are afraid of.It can be said that it is just a gentle and small slope.I have never been there, but in my impression, it is a towering mountain with white snow on the top of the mountain. In June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), the road of history was cut into two sections here. In that midsummer that was so chilling to the marrow, Ming Emperor Li Longji, who almost turned his head white overnight, watched Yang Yuhuan, who was silently sneering in despair, slowly go away with tears in his eyes. Li started a humiliating escape with a heartbroken heart. He didn't know that this small step was the first miserable footprint on the long downhill road that started after the heyday of China's feudal society. I don’t want to explain all this with old-fashioned political and economic theories such as productivity and production relations. I just want to experience the bitter fruit on the branches of the tree of prosperity once again: Zhongzong's Mo Chi finally allowed those unqualified people to become the officials they wanted to be. The real power has never been devolved, and thunder and lightning circled endlessly from the tightly closed Jiuzhong deep palace, looking down sharply at the mortal beings lying on the ground. No matter how enlightened and open-minded the Tang Dynasty was, it was still a dynasty ruled by individuals.The rudimentary form of the separation of powers is actually just an illusion, which is as different from a real democratic regime as an ape is from a human being. A democratic regime is still painstakingly slashing at the wheel of reincarnation time and time again, waiting for a long time to be born. Since it is a rule of man, the monarch as the nerve center plays a key role in the order or chaos of the empire. The wealth and fate of hundreds of millions of people are all bet on the golden dragon seat. Even before fate gambles again and chooses a monarch for the common people, the resolute and wise politician and military strategist has become a sentimental artist and musician, an old man who cannot extricate himself in love.Every part of the empire, every link, is like a clockwork that was originally tightly connected and running sensitively. Starting from the Golden Temple, starting from the center, like ripples, layer by layer loosen outward, layer by layer of rust...even, even the economic The lifeblood of the city: the household registrations of the subjects on which taxes are collected have been in disrepair for many years, and the number can no longer be figured out. As a result, the building collapsed. It fell so quickly, and the Li family also had a certain responsibility. They were too confident and open. In their minds, there was nothing they couldn't do, and there was nothing they couldn't do.Why can't my father's talent be a queen?Why can't my daughter-in-law be a noble concubine?Why can't even women be emperors?On the most taboo issue of gender since ancient times, they are so open, let alone others? Therefore, no matter what religion, whether it is old-fashioned Taoism or Buddhism, or even the weird Nestorianism and Zoroastrianism, they can be proud of themselves in Chang'an and even get promoted. Regardless of the race of the people, be it Goryeo, Khitan, Huihe, or Tubo, as long as they have the ability, anyone can command the army of the Tang Dynasty. It is this kind of self-confidence and generosity that provides infinite vitality for creating the splendid atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty. However, the Tang Dynasty, which treated the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism almost equally, seems to have forgotten that the basis of the rule of man, apart from limited laws, can only be the traditional Confucian ethics of benevolence, pragmatism and loyalty to the emperor.But now, from top to bottom, free belief and indulgent romance make those wild and untamed conspirators who have not been influenced by much traditional civilization ready to move: they quietly handed over the Tang Dynasty to them to expand the territory and defend the country The army turned around and aimed at Chang'an, which is brightly lit with singing and singing every night... Especially generals like An Lushan... The result of actively letting go of exercise is to have strong limbs, but now, the fists are secretly clenched, and they are hitting the weak head... Or Maweipo. On this small slope, Datang, oh, should be the entire feudal society of the Chinese nation, bid farewell to the prime of life, and grew gray hair.From then on, I slowly walked forward on the long downhill road. The later monarchs, the smarter they were, the more they wanted to avoid the tragedies of the year, and they dared not open up borders easily. In order to ensure the stability of the dragon position, they even made the absurd gesture of gathering the best soldiers from all over the world in Gyeonggi and being beaten with their heads in their arms. Starting from Maweipo, the Chinese nation has changed from offensive to defensive, and from outward to introspective. More importantly, since then, they have withdrawn their main energy from the barbarians and barbarians, and put it on the thoughts of the people. They racked their brains to dig out a series of teachings that are as heavy as Mount Tai from the Confucian classics, and ruthlessly put all restless His thoughts were tightly tied up, and he couldn't take a breath.All ideas that hinder the ruling, or are suspected of hindering the ruling, are all heresies and treason. Later, there are many theories about the origin of the little feet as the "quintessence of the country". Some people say that they began in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, I believe. Maybe they can’t be blamed too much, it’s really that they walked too fast and couldn’t find a way forward in the confusion—only in terms of political system, Datang has reached the extreme that feudal society can achieve.And other elites of human beings will not wake up on the other side of the earth until hundreds or even thousands of years later, and will make that deafening cry for democracy. Our lonely ancestors could only walk alone on the long slope starting from Mawei Slope, moving forward slowly.Since there is no surprising and unprecedented road ahead, then tighten your leggings and wrap your coat. It doesn't matter if you walk slowly, just don't fall into... The setting sun dragged the hunched back of this lonely twilight giant longer and longer, longer and longer, so fragile, so thin, and so heavy. Maybe the journey is too long, or the scenery is too old-fashioned and monotonous. Weary, our country slowly fell asleep on the journey, and we didn’t hear the cannons fighting for freedom and democracy from the West.Until the cobweb messy and rusty gate was slammed open by a strong ship and a sharp cannon. Another blood and fire, another cry, another humiliation, and another chaos... Another boundless darkness... Finally, our great motherland, once again Nirvana in extreme pain: In the raging fire, a phoenix raised its head and sang loudly, facing another round of rising sun, and spread its wings for nine days. Unknowingly, on the map, in the impression, in the appellation, the upright shiny nameplate of "Chinatown" has quietly replaced the old "Chinatown" signs... Under the clear blue sky, the colorful feathers of the reborn phoenix shone brilliantly in the sunlight. But no matter how high or far you fly, the dream soul always haunts the magnificent dynasty. Huang Zhong Dalu's golden dream is particularly solemn and long: Datang.