Chapter 83 Chapter 83: The Misery Life of Tang Bohu, a Romantic Talent

Tang Bohu, a great painter of the Ming Dynasty, was a well-known romantic talent known to all women and children. There are many stories and legends about him in the folk, the most famous of which is of course his love affair with "Three Points of Autumn Fragrance". Many art forms have made up and performed this story, such as movies. "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance", Pingtan "Three Smiles", Henan Opera "The Merry Talent". We all know that literature and art come from life and are higher than life. Therefore, Tang Bohu's character and life experience in literary works cannot be taken as real. Then, what kind of person is the real Tang Bohu in history?What kind of life path has he traveled?

Tang Bohu's surname is actually Tang Mingyin, and Bohu is his character.The reason why Tang Yin was named "Yin" is said to be because he was born at the time of Yin, Moon, Day and Yin in the year of Geng Yin. People with so many birthday coincidences seem to have a smooth, lucky and happy life, but the fact is just the opposite. Tang Bohu His life can be described as full of hardships and fate. In 1479 AD, that is, the sixth year of Ming Xianzong Chenghua, Tang Bohu was born in a merchant family in Suzhou.He was smart since he was a child, familiar with classics and history, and was loved by his parents. He also had a younger sister to keep him company.When Tang Bohu was sixteen years old, he won the first place in the talent examination, which caused a sensation in the whole city of Suzhou.At the age of nineteen, Tang Bohu and Xu's family got married. The two raised their eyebrows together, and they were very affectionate.

Unexpectedly, when Tang Bohu was in his twenties, a series of disasters befell his once happy big family. His parents, wife, and younger sister died one after another, and the family fortune also declined.Tang Bohu, in adversity, did not sink into depression. Under the persuasion of his good friend Zhu Yunming (also known as Zhu Zhishan), he devoted himself to studying and successfully won the first place in the public examination of Yingtianfu when he was 29 years old. Yuan". But the cruel test of Tang Bohu in life is far from over, and a new round of suffering is waiting for him on the road ahead.

The smug Tang Bohu went to Beijing to take part in the exam with great anticipation in the second year of "Jie Yuan", but unexpectedly got involved in the "examination leak case" that determined his life's fate. At that time, Cheng Minzheng, a university student, and Li Dongyang, a great writer, presided over the capital examination. Both of them were well-educated people. The test questions they gave were relatively uncommon. Many candidates were stumped. Only Xu Jing, an examinee from Jiangyin, and Tang Yin, an examinee from Suzhou. The test papers are not only well-written, but also elegantly written.Therefore, Zhonghua Chang wrote to Emperor Xiaozong to impeach Cheng Minzheng for accepting bribes and leaking the test questions. If the investigation is not strictly carried out, it will lose the hearts of scholars all over the world.

Emperor Xiaozong believed it was true and was very angry. He immediately issued an order not to allow Cheng Minzheng to review the papers. Li Dongyang and other examiners would review all the papers read by Cheng Minzheng. When Li Dongyang and others reviewed the answer papers, they found that Xu Jing and Tang Yin's papers were not among the ones that Cheng Minzheng had read. The result of the trial was that Xu Jing visited Cheng Minzheng after he arrived in Beijing, and Tang Yin was imperially appointed as the chief examiner by Cheng Minzheng. Later, he was asked to write a preface for a collection of his poems, but no evidence of bribery was found.

In the end, Emperor Xiaozong decreed "rehabilitation", and the three were released from prison and regained their freedom. Hua Chang "adjusted the Southern Tai servant's book with false statements".After Cheng Minzheng was released from prison, he was so angry that he developed a carbuncle and died.Tang Bohu was stripped of his qualifications as an official and relegated to Zhejiang as an official. He was ashamed to take up the post and returned to his hometown. Some people think that this "examination of leaked questions" is the result of the internal struggle of the ruling class. "History of Ming Dynasty Cheng Minzheng Biography" records it like this: "Or speaking of the prison of Minzheng, Fu Han wanted to take his position, so Ling Changzuo In other words, there is no way to understand the secret."

But there is no doubt that Tang Bohu was dealt a severe blow by the "examination and leaking questions" case. From then on, he bid farewell to the officialdom, gave up his official career, and decided to spend his life in poetry, calligraphy and painting. The house leak happened to rain overnight, and Tang Bohu, who failed in the examination and suffered from prison, returned to Suzhou. Another big change happened in his family. walk away. Tang Bohu, who was alone, lived in a small building facing the street at the entrance of Wuchaofang Lane. He made a living by selling literature and painting, and lived a peaceful, unrestrained and casual life, just as he wrote in a poem: "Don't make alchemy, don't sit in meditation, don't work for merchants, don't plow the fields. When you are free, write paintings and sell them, and don't let the world make money."

At the age of thirty-six, Tang Bohu, who had accumulated a certain amount of savings by selling paintings, built an elegant and leisurely garden in Taohuawu, north of Suzhou City. The scenery here is pleasant and the environment is quiet. The red peach and green willows are quite interesting in the mountains.In the second year, Tang Bohu built another villa. Although there were only a few thatched huts, there were elegant plaques hanging under the eaves such as "Xueputang", "Mengmo Pavilion", and "Xiadiezhai". Tang Yin loved peach blossoms all his life, so he named this villa "Peach Blossom Temple" and called himself "The Master of Peach Blossom Temple". Sit in front of the flowers, and come to sleep with the flowers when you are drunk. Half drunk and half awake day after day, the flowers fall and bloom year after year..." He often invites Zhu Yunming, Wen Zhengming and other friends to come here to drink, compose poems, and paint with brushstrokes. Let go.At this time, Tang Yin lived a leisurely and detached life, but he never thought that he would be in danger again in the near future, with his life hanging by a thread.

In the ninth year of Zhengde reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1514 AD, Tang Bohu was recruited to Nanchang with a lot of money from the Ming clan, King Ning, but soon found himself caught in a dangerous and terrible political conspiracy by King Ning.In order to escape danger and save his life, Tang Bohu had no choice but to learn from Sun Bin in history and Song Jiang in history, destroying his image and pretending to be crazy, so that he was able to escape and return to Suzhou successfully. Soon thereafter, King Ning rebelled against the imperial court, but was defeated by the imperial army and was quickly put down.

Although Tang Bohu escaped the catastrophe with his own wisdom, he has been in poor health since he came back from Nanchang. He has been sick all the year round, so that he can't often paint for sale. In addition, he is not good at managing the family and managing money, so his life is once again in trouble. , and once relied on borrowing money from friends Zhu Zhishan and Wen Zhengming.At the same time, his thoughts gradually became depressed, and he turned to believe in Buddhism. He called himself "Liu Ru Lai Shi", and deeply felt that "all conditioned dharmas are like dreams and bubbles, like dew and electricity, and should be viewed in this way." (from "Diamond Sutra" )

During this period, the famous calligrapher Wang Chong often helped Tang Bohu and married his only daughter as his daughter-in-law, which became the happiest thing in Tang Bohu's later years. In the autumn of the second year of Jiajing Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (1523), Tang Bohu, who was in poor health, was invited by his friends to visit the Wang family in Dongshan.In the master's house, Tang Bohu happened to see an authentic painting of Su Dongpo, in which there is a sentence "a century and a half, but there will be little suffering in the future".These two sentences just touched his sad state of mind. After returning home, he fell ill and died soon after. This is how a generation of romantic talents finished his life full of suffering. Maybe people think that Tang Bohu's life is too unfortunate, so they deliberately made up many happy and interesting stories and legends with him as the protagonist, hoping to comfort his gifted heart deeply hurt by this world.