Chapter 62 Chapter 62: Li Shangyin Pursuing Personality Independence

Li Shangyin, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, is one of the author's favorite writers. He occupies a very important position in the Tang Dynasty and even in the history of Chinese literature.Twenty-two of his poems are included in the "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty", which we are all very familiar with, ranking fourth after Du Fu, Wang Wei, and Li Bai.His implicit, elegant and magnificent poetic style is loved and imitated by countless posterity.Poets in the late Tang Dynasty had a downward trend under the light of their predecessors, but Li Shangyin pushed Tang poetry to another peak. He was the most famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, and he was called "Little Li Du" together with Du Mu.Many of his famous sentences are popular and widely circulated, such as "the setting sun is infinitely beautiful, but it is only near dusk", such as "the spring silkworms will die when the silkworms die, and the wax torch will turn into ashes and tears will dry", such as "the body has no colorful phoenix and wings, but the heart has a tacit understanding It's easy to understand", such as "Junwen has no return date, and the night rain in Bashan raises the autumn pond".There is no doubt that Li Shangyin is a successful poet, but his life is a great tragedy.

When Li Shangyin was ten years old, his father, who was an aide, died in Zhejiang, and he, his mother, siblings had to return to his hometown in Henan.The family with no source of income soon fell into poverty and had to rely on relatives to help them get by. As the eldest son of the family, Li Shangyin shouldered the responsibility of supporting the family early on.Later, he mentioned in the article that he used to "serve book sellers" when he was a teenager, that is, he helped others copy books and sold grain and rice to supplement his family. Li Shangyin's poor life in his early years had a great influence on the formation of his character and ideas.On the one hand, he studied hard, strived to make progress, and longed to become an official as soon as possible, to honor his ancestors and change his poor and declining family. A tortuous and bumpy official career.

When he was about sixteen years old, Li Shangyin wrote two excellent articles, one is "On Cai" and the other is "Sage", which won the appreciation of some scholar-bureaucrats, including the order of Tianping Army Jiedushi. Fox Chu. Linghu Chu is a very important person in Li Shangyin's schooling career. He is an expert in parallel prose and admires Li Shangyin's talent very much. He not only teaches him the writing skills of parallel prose, but also supports his family life and encourages him to communicate with himself His son Ling Huxiao and others made friends.With the help of Linghu Chu, Li Shangyin's parallel prose writing has improved very rapidly, and he has gained great confidence from this, hoping to use this ability to successfully embark on his official career.In the "Letter of Thanks" of this period, Li Shangyin expressed his gratitude to Linghu Chu and his own smug mood: "There is no such thing as a small idea, and I have to bring a pen and inkstone to serve Longtao. Since the middle of the night, I don't envy Wang Xiang has a saber."

In the Tang Dynasty, if intellectuals without family background wanted to develop their official careers, there were two main ways: the imperial examination and the shogunate.The former is considered to be the qualification to enter the officialdom, and it is the official recognition of its administrative ability; the latter is the political team cultivated by some powerful bureaucrats themselves. If they perform well, they can often become official officials of the court through the recommendation of these bureaucrats.During the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty, many officials had not only obtained the qualifications of the imperial examination, but also had experience as aides.

Li Shangyin was appreciated by Linghu Chu when he was young, and had the opportunity to follow him to learn "Siliuwen" (that is, parallel style), and naturally became Linghuchu's staff.But it is precisely because of this experience that he has been implicated in the political vortex of "Niu Li party struggle" all his life. "Niu Li party struggle" originated from an imperial examination in the third year of Tang Xianzong Yuanhe (808 AD).Li Jifu, who was the prime minister at the time, cracked down on the candidates Niu Sengru and Li Zongmin because they severely criticized him in the test papers, and Li Jifu, Niu Sengru, Li Zongmin and others became enmity.This grievance was later inherited by Li Jifu's son Li Deyu. The "Niu Party" led by Niu Sengru and Li Zongmin and the "Li Party" led by Li Deyu attacked each other and fought endlessly for decades. It is a chronic social disease that is as serious as "feudal separatism" in politics.

Li Shangyin's teacher, Linghu Chu, tended to be a "cow party". With his help, Li Shangyin entered the political arena and became a Jinshi in the second year of Tang Wenzong Kaicheng (837 AD).After Linghu Chu's death, Li Shangyin became an aide of Wang Maoyuan, who was inclined to the "Li Party", and was appreciated by Wang Maoyuan, who married his daughter as his wife. Li Shangyin, a talented, pure and noble poet who pursues independent personality, thus became an innocent victim of the "Niu Li Party Struggle". Marriage to Wang Maoyuan’s daughter made Li Shangyin regarded by the Niu Party as a member of the Li Party, but what Li Shangyin thought in his heart was to stay outside the “Niu-Li Party Struggle” and rely on his own ability and talent, rather than the party’s unity against differences, to achieve lofty political ambitions , which can be reflected in his poems.However, it is only wishful thinking to maintain independence in the brutal political struggle. As a result, Li Shangyin received double cold reception and even attacks from the Niu Party and the Li Party. No chance of promotion.Later, Linghuxiao, who was in a high position, especially hated him, thinking that he sold himself to join the Li party and was ungrateful.

Under such circumstances, Li Shangyin's official career was obviously not going well. He had been in the secretary province twice, but only held low-level official positions for a short time. He also worked as a small-level government official, but his experience was also short and rough. Most of the time, he worked under the cover of some expatriate officials. For us who are deep in the modern commercial society, it is really puzzling that Li Shangyin has been reduced to such a poor state while guarding so much power and network resources.If history can make bold assumptions, we might as well arrange Li Shangyin's political choices: 1. If he could have defected to the Niu Party without hesitation and inherited the same line with the Linghu family, he would surely be in a high position and have great power, but the price he paid was : He is going to watch Linghuyu demote his political idol Li Deyu again and again without conscience, until he is demoted to death in Hainan, can he do it?2. If he sticks to his political ideals and beliefs (Li Shangyin actually leans towards the Li Party) and completely joins the Li Party, then he will not only bear the heavy cross of "ungratefulness", but also be ready to fight against the Li Party at any time. After gaining power, he will relentlessly attack the bull party members, can he do it?Perhaps there is another hypothesis, that is to adopt a political strategy of sitting on the fence. When the Niu Party gains power, it will embrace the Niu Party. You can sit firmly on the "Diaoyutai" and be at the height of the "temple" instead of being far away from the "river and lake". However, how can Li Shangyin, a great poet with a bright heart and a full belly, do it?

However, assumptions can only be assumptions after all, and idealistic poets exist for idealism after all. Li Shangyin finally chose an independent, self-responsible, and self-salvation road, but it is full of thorns and bumps. In the face of the raging partisanship, he always maintained an independent, rational and detached stance, and did not change his political views because of emotional closeness, distance, likes and dislikes.Li Shangyin paid a heavy price for his choice, and his predicament and situation may only be "comparable" to Su Shi at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty two hundred years later.When Wang Anshi was on stage, Su Shi, a conservative, was repeatedly demoted for criticizing the shortcomings of the new law. After Wang Anshi stepped down, Sima Guang abolished the new law, and Su Shi was repeatedly demoted because he was dissatisfied with Sima Guang's dogma and arbitrariness.

Fortunately for the poets in life, although Li Shangyin "has never been able to realize his lofty political ideals and aspirations" and "has never been able to realize his lofty political ideals and aspirations", he has left so many beautiful poems that are touching and heart-touching to future generations. Loved and admired by countless posterity, if the poet knows in heaven, he will show a knowing and satisfied smile.