Chapter 62 Sikong Tu

Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, who wrote all kinds of scriptures, can be regarded as a great Confucian and is very respected. The place where he lived was called "Zheng Kilometer". It is said that the troops of the Yellow Turban Uprising would take a detour here. , not to harass. Sikong Tu in the late Tang Dynasty was also in troubled times, but the Wangguan Valley in Zhongtiao Mountain where he lived was also not visited by robbers, so many people fled into Wangguan Valley and saved their lives. Sikongtu (837-908), courtesy name Biaosheng, called himself Zhifeizi in his later years, a layman who endured humiliation.He was born in Yu Township (now Linyi, Shanxi).He was born at the end of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the fall of the Tang Dynasty was inevitable. It was not easy to survive in such a society. Figure basically does it.

His character is pretty good.Appreciated by Wang Ning in his early years, he took part in the imperial examination in the tenth year of Xiantong (869). The examiner was Wang Ning, and he was chosen as the fourth.He thanked Wang Ning for his kindness, and followed Wang Ning all the time, entering Wang Ning's shogunate.The imperial court recruited him to serve as the censor in the palace. He couldn't bear to leave Wang Ning, so he was impeached and demoted to be the director of Guanglu Temple, divided into Dongdu (Luoyang).Prime Minister Lu Xie lived in Luoyang after he was dismissed. He admired Sikong Tu's character and knowledge very much and made friends with him.Lu Xie returned to the court and promoted him to be a member of the Ministry of Rites, Wailang, and soon he was promoted to be a doctor.

Huang Chao's rebel army broke through Chang'an, Sikong Tu rushed to Xianyang, and met Tang Xizong at Fengxiang.Emperor Xizong was very moved, and appointed him as Zhizhi Zhizhi, and was promoted to Zhongshu Sheren, but he soon resigned from office. During Tang Zhaozong's time, he went back to Zhongtiao Mountain to live in seclusion.Zhu Quanzhong usurped the throne and called him Minister of Rites, but he refused to go.Tang Aizong was killed. When he heard the news, he vomited several liters of blood and died of a hunger strike. Sikong Tu is a poet, but also a poetic theorist.In his poems, he advocated "the meaning beyond the rhyme" and "the purpose beyond the taste" ("On Poems and Books with Li Sheng").His "Twenty-Four Poems" is an important work in ancient poetry theory.

Sikongtu's own poems express a hermit's feeling of avoiding the world, and his style is indifferent, similar to Pi Rixiu and Lu Guimeng, but his achievements are not very high.