Chapter 73 Tang Dynasty astronomer Li Chunfeng

"Tui Bei Tu", a collaboration between Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang, is said to be unique in ancient and modern times, and compared with Yuan Tiangang, Li Chunfeng's attainments are even better.Li Chunfeng can be called an outstanding astronomer and mathematician in the Tang Dynasty. As early as the early years of Zhenguan, Li Chunfeng emerged in the Li Tang Dynasty, and the reason was because of his outstanding astronomy. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the calendar that has been used is the "Wuyin Yuanli" compiled by Fu Renjun.Because this calendar has certain flaws, Li Chunfeng studied it in more detail and put forward a lot of suggestions for revision.After Tang Taizong sent people to investigate, he adopted most of his suggestions.In ancient times, calendar compilation was a very professional knowledge, and it was difficult for ordinary scholars to care about it.Li Chunfeng was only in his 20s when he proposed revisions to "Wuyin Yuanli", which must have attracted people's attention.As a result, he was commended by the Holy Majesty, awarded General Shilang, and entered the Taishi Bureau, starting his career as an official astronomer.

Li Chunfeng was from Yong, Qizhou, and his father, Li Bo, was a local official in the Sui Dynasty.In Li Chunfeng's impression, his father has always adhered to the rule of "being inferior to one's ambition, abandoning an official to become a Taoist priest", and Li Bo is "quite literary, he calls himself Huang Guanzi, annotates "Laozi", and writes a collection of local chronicles. volume", and wrote "Astronomical Elephant Fu".It was under the influence of his father that Li Chunfeng was enlightened in astronomy and academics.In the "Old Tang Book", it was mentioned that Li Chunfeng was "young and handsome, and read a lot of books, especially the study of yin and yang in Ming Dynasty", which is also related to his youth experience.

Li Chunfeng has been hailed as a "child prodigy" since he was a child. Under the influence of his father, he has read a lot of books, especially in astronomy, geography, Taoism and the study of yin and yang.When he was 9 years old, he went to Jingyun, Nantuo Mountain, Henan Province to worship Taoist Yuan as his teacher.Eight years have passed since I finished my studies.So Li Chunfeng returned to his hometown at the age of 17. This age is just a good age to show his ambitions.At that time, Li Chunfeng happened to be acquainted with Li Shimin's good friend Liu Wenjing. Under Liu Wenjing's recommendation, Li Chunfeng became Li Shimin's adviser.When Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor, Li Shimin was made a prince, and Li Chunfeng joined the army as the secretary of the Qin Palace.

In the first year of Tang Zhenguan, Li Chunfeng directly entered the Taishi Bureau with Shilang.The Taishi Bureau is mainly in charge of astronomy, geography, calendar making, and history editing, which made Li Chunfeng feel like a fish in water, and he finally found a platform where he can fully display his talents.So in this position, Li Chunfeng devoted himself to working for 40 years. When Li Chunfeng is mentioned, people always think of it as inseparable from prophecies such as "Tui Bei Tu" and "Zangtou Poetry", but the legends and stories that happened to Li Chunfeng are actually far more than these.There is also a record of the construction of Tiangongyuan, which also fully demonstrates that Li Chunfeng has attainments in yin and yang, feng shui and other aspects that ordinary people cannot match.

Tiangongyuan was first built in the Tang Dynasty, rebuilt and continued in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and is now a provincial cultural relic protection unit. In 2003, during an aerial photography before the declaration, it was accidentally discovered that Yuan Tiangang's tombstone, Li Chunfeng's tombstone and Tiangongyuan were all in a straight line.The location of Tiangongyuan is exactly the center of "Nine Dragons Holding the Holy Spirit" from the perspective of the terrain.It turned out that around the Tiangongyuan, there are nine very obvious mountain ranges, and each mountain range looks like a dragon from a distance.The nine mountains converge on the Tiangongyuan from different directions, and the Tiangongyuan is exactly where the heads of the nine dragons converge.Therefore, the legend of "Nine Dragons Holding Saints" has been spread since then.

From the perspective of Feng Shui, the geographical location of Tiangongyuan is absolutely excellent.At that time, Yuan Tiangang, a master of physiognomy, and Li Chunfeng, a master of Fengshui, traveled thousands of miles from Chang'an to Langzhong, and stopped because of the unique mountains and rivers here. There must be other reasons behind this.Later generations guessed that the two of them just took a fancy to Langzhong, a land of geomantic omen.Therefore, Li Chunfeng built a mansion in Langzhong where he could live for a long time, and built his tomb here after his death. Today, Chunfeng Temple, not far from Tiangongyuan, is where Li Chunfeng lived.Chunfeng Temple is located on a mountain ridge facing east and west. From the perspective of terrain, it happens to be "Ziliang Xiangkun", that is, the mountain where Chunfeng Temple is located is called Liangyin Mountain, and it is built on the highest peak of Liangyin Mountain.Back then, when Li Chunfeng chose this place as his place of residence, in terms of Feng Shui, this place was the area where "Tianshiyuan", "Big Dipper Tianzhu" and "Fengxing" lived.Therefore, it is indeed a rare and good place to study astronomy and geography, observe the sky and measure the earth on the spot, and predict the wind direction and weather.

From today's point of view, standing in Chunfeng Temple and looking around, surrounded by mountains and covered by vegetation, it immediately makes people feel like they are in a fairyland.The topography of Chunfeng Temple is like "Luanfeng Flying", and it was called "Crane Club" in Tang Dynasty.Li Chunfeng chose this precious land as his residence based on his unique Fengshui knowledge, which is enough for him to enjoy himself. However, Li Chunfeng didn't spend his whole life on fairy spells. In 622, Li Chunfeng took up the post of doctor of the Mi Pavilion, and his first memorial mentioned the need to compile a new calendar.In 644, Li Chunfeng compiled the "Jiazi Yuanli", which made a great contribution to the development of astronomy, calendar and mathematics in later generations.At the same time, he also wrote "Fa Xiang Zhi", a total of seven volumes, on "The Gains and Losses of the Previous Armillary Spheres", which had a great influence on later generations. In 641, he assumed the general guidance responsibility for compiling "Liang Shu", "Chen Shu", "Northern Qi Shu", "Zhou Shu" and "Sui Shu". Lu Li Zhi and Wu Xing Zhi have preserved the historical data of ancient astronomical changes and disasters.

Although Li Chunfeng's fame began with "Tui Bei Tu", it is just a small preference of him to make various predictions to future generations with his own ability.If any official does not try his best to do something practical during his administration, then all the predictions made by Li Chunfeng for future generations will be nothing but delusions. It is precisely because Li Chunfeng spent most of his life writing books and writing books, and worked hard to compile a more reasonable calendar to assist farming. Therefore, when evaluating Li Chunfeng's character and works, later generations said: "Although Chunfeng is named after prescriptions, " The chapter "Cultivating Virtue" repeatedly quotes scriptures and biography, and the chapter "Sitian" is deeply concerned with the loss of the Sui family, and earnestly accepts advice and keeps away from flattery. The reason why Li Chunfeng is called an astronomer in the Tang Dynasty rather than an astrologer.