Chapter 6 A martyr's twilight years, full of ambition

Cao Cao Although the tortoise lives long, it still has its own time; Soaring snake rides the mist, and turns to ashes in the end. An old man, with an ambition of a thousand miles; In his old age, the martyrs are full of ambition. The period of shrinkage is not only in the sky; The blessing of raising joy can lead to eternal life. Fortunately, even zai, singing to sing aspirations. On the afternoon of September 24, 2007, during a discussion with the counselors of the State Council and the librarians of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, Premier Wen Jiabao said: "Everyone here is both ordinary and special. Ordinary is because you live among the people, especially because you have a relationship with intellectuals. Extensive contacts. Especially because you have knowledge and expertise and can play a special role in the modernization drive. Many of you are already old, 'the martyrs are old and have high ambitions', and you must continue to care about national affairs."

"The martyr's old age is full of ambition" is a famous sentence of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao's life is exactly the portrayal of this poem.When he wrote this poem, the 54-year-old Cao Cao had just defeated Yuan Shao and his son in Guandu and put down the Wuhuan rebellion in the north.This poem fully expresses his ambition and enterprising spirit. The first four sentences focus on the limited life span and use two metaphors to prove that everything in the world cannot escape the law of life and death. "God Turtle" comes from "Zhuangzi Qiushui": "I heard that there is a tortoise in Chu, and it has died for three thousand years." , Clouds and mists are gone, but dragons and snakes are the same as earthworms and ants.” The tortoise, which is famous for its longevity, and the snake, which can ride the clouds and fog, are like all living beings in the world, and it is difficult for them to escape the limit of life and death.

This kind of helpless feeling about the limit of life is quite common in the chaotic era of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties.However, unlike his contemporaries, who turned to "invite you to travel quickly and protect yourself for a hundred years" (Cao Pi's "Poems of Furong Pond") because of the imminent limit of life and death, Cao Cao, who is already in his twilight years, hopes to continue to create great achievements.The four-line poem in the second section expresses the author's "martyr" ambition by comparing himself with the old man.Although the academic circles have different interpretations of the word "Fu Ting", it may be said to lie down in the stables, or it may be said to be fed in the trough, but they can all be like old horses.In Cao Cao's works, although the old horses are inevitably trapped in the stables, they have the lofty ambition to travel thousands of miles a day that ordinary horses do not have.This old horse can be said to be the author's self-expression, and it is also the martyr whom the author admires and promises himself. The term "martyr" is said in "Zhuangzi Qiushui": "The one who puts a white blade in front of him and regards death as if he is alive is the courage of a martyr." "Han Feizi·Deceitful Envoy" said: "Those who have a good name and do not advance in office are called martyrs in the world." This kind of "martyr" is only in the moral sense, and Cao Cao further enriched the connotation of "martyr" in the traditional sense. A "martyr" should be like an old man, even if he is aging in life, he is still "vigorous".

In the third section, the four sentences of "surging and shrinking" turn from impassioned ambition to rational life thinking: people's life should not be simply attributed to destiny, if they are good at self-cultivation, they can also prolong their lives.We can infer from the expression of lofty aspirations in previous poems that the blessing of "nourishing joy" in the poet's life obviously also includes the "nourishing joy" of the ideal and ambition of not getting old. The whole poem, from the limited life span to "you can have eternal life", expresses the poet's philosophical thinking on the limited and infinite life.Life as nature is limited, but the aspirations and ideals as spirit are infinite. It is the pursuit of this infinite ideal that makes life have eternal meaning.This may be the deep connotation that Cao Cao wants to express in this song "Gui Shi Shou".

In the poem, the ones that are especially praised by later generations are "an old man with a strong ambition for a thousand miles; a martyr with a strong heart in his old age". heroic feelings.To this day, people often say this sentence in order to express that their talents and ambitions have not been fully utilized and they hope to make a difference.Premier Wen Jiabao quoted this line in the hope that senior counselors of the State Council and librarians of the Central Museum of Culture and History, even in their twilight years, should remain ambitious and continue to provide advice and suggestions for the country and the government, writing the glory of life in their twilight years .