Chapter 23 seventy-first spring

No one will deny that during the more than 40 years of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji's reign, the Tang Empire was indeed a peaceful world with clear politics, prosperous economy, stable society, and prosperous culture.Since Li Longji ended the turbulent political situation in the "Post-Wu Zetian Era" with thunderous means, the colorful picture scroll of the glorious and prosperous age has been unfolding rapidly under the diligent rule of Emperor Xuanzong... During the Kaiyuan period, due to the vigorous implementation of the household registration policy by Xuanzong's court and the active "persuasion to teach farming and mulberry" while "increasing the number of household registrations", the population has greatly increased and the area of ​​cultivated land across the country has increased significantly.According to the poet Yuan Jie, at that time, there were high mountains and valleys in the four seas, and busy farming scenes could be seen everywhere.With the massive growth of labor force and arable land area, the agricultural economy developed rapidly, "every year is rich", "nian valley is repeatedly harvested", the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the national fiscal revenue has greatly increased. Datang's national strength has been booming since then!

Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once described this unprecedented golden age in his well-known poem "Recalling the Past": The great development of agriculture quickly led to the development of handicrafts and commerce.The handicraft industry at that time included textiles, printing and dyeing, mining and metallurgy, metalworking, shipbuilding, gold, silver and bronze wares, pottery, woodware, porcelain, jade carving, sugar making, tea making, paper making, printing, leather and other industries.In many industries, exquisite craftsmanship and ingenious works of art have emerged.For example, the world-famous "Tang Sancai" reached its peak during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years.Tang Sancai is a kind of low-temperature glazed pottery. Different metal oxides are added to the colored glaze. Green, brown and green are mainly three colors, hence the name "Tang Sancai".The color glaze of Tang Sancai has the effect of changing shades, infiltrating each other, and mottled dripping. In the mutual reflection of colors, it shows a magnificent and magnificent artistic charm.

The highly developed social economy has naturally promoted the prosperity of culture and technology. In the era of Xuanzong, the Tang Dynasty produced a large number of outstanding talents in various fields of culture and art such as poetry, painting, calligraphy, music, singing and dancing, and created breathtaking and immortal works, which reached a height that would be insurmountable by later generations. Tang poetry is recognized as the pinnacle in the history of ancient Chinese literature, and in the prosperous poetry world during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, everyone came out in large numbers and stars were shining.Among them, the exemplary significance of "Poet Immortal" Li Bai and "Poet Saint" Du Fu in the history of literature goes without saying. In addition to these two masters, Zhang Jiuling, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Wang Changling, He Zhizhang, Wang Zhihuan, Cui Hao, Cen Shen, Gao Shi and other people are also unique and radiant characters.

In terms of painting, there are also many famous masters: Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang who are good at painting ladies. Their representative works "Mrs. There are portraits of beauties and sentient beings in the Tang Dynasty who look back with a smile and a hundred beauties; there are Cao Ba and Han Gan who are good at painting pommel horses, and they were awarded poems by Du Fu; There is also Wu Daozi, who is honored as the "Painting Saint" by later generations. He is also good at figures, landscapes, and especially Buddhist and Taoist paintings. In terms of calligraphy, there is Zhang Xu, who is bold and unrestrained and addicted to alcohol. It is said that when he is drunk, he will scream and run away, and then write quickly, and even write with his hair dipped in ink, so he is nicknamed "Zhang Dian". He is respected as "the sage of grass"; after him, the monk Huai Su inherited his brushwork, and also shocked the world with wild grass. It is said in history that he "moves his brush quickly, like a whirlwind in a shower, flying and turning, changing at will, and possessing the law." Later generations called Zhang Xu and Huai Su together as "Dian Zhang Zui Su"; in addition, there was Yan Zhenqing who combined seal script and official script into regular script and created the original "Yan style". Zhao Mengfu, a native of Zhao, was praised by later generations as "Four Masters of Regular Script", and together with Liu Gongquan as "Yan Jin Liu Gu".

In terms of music and singing and dancing, Tang Xuanzong himself was a highly accomplished artist.To the east of Taiye Pool in Daming Palace, there is a garden in full bloom with pear blossoms, called "Pear Garden". Tang Xuanzong established the Royal Art Center here, and personally selected hundreds of musicians and palace people with artistic talents to teach and create together. and performances, known as "Disciples of Liyuan", among which Li Guinian is the most famous, and later generations call him "Sage of Songs".Xuanzong himself is proficient in rhythm, is good at playing the Jiegu, and is especially good at composing music. The classic work in the history of Chinese art "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Song" was composed by Li Longji himself, choreographed and performed by Concubine Yang Guifei.

In addition to culture and art, it is especially worth mentioning that the monks and his party have made outstanding contributions to science and technology. His common name is Zhang Sui. He has studied classics and history since he was a child, and is proficient in astronomy and calendar. During Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, he was appointed to preside over the revision of the calendar and compiled the "Dayan Calendar". Its style and structure have been used by future generations.He was the first person in the world to discover the phenomenon of stellar movement, a thousand years earlier than the British Halley discovered that the movement of stars.At the same time, he also proposed to measure the length of the meridian. Although the measurement result was not very accurate, it was the first record of actually measuring the meridian in the world.In addition, he cooperated with another scientist, Liang Lingzan, to make a "Zodiac Globe" for observing the movement of the sun and the moon, and a "Bronze Armillary Globe" for observing celestial phenomena.The latter is also the world's earliest mechanically rotating astronomical clock.

... This is Tang Dynasty. This is the prosperous Tang Dynasty full of splendor and brilliance. This is the prosperous Tang Dynasty that has fascinated and haunted countless posterity. However, in the middle of the eighth century AD (the last years of Tianbao), when the Tang Empire had gone through more than 130 years of glory and vicissitudes, while reaching its heyday and peak, it also irretrievably moved towards vanity, depravity and decline. . Looking back more than a thousand years later, through the dust and smoke of the years and the veil of time, can people see clearly when is the turning point of the Tang Empire from prosperity to decline?

Is it true that from the moment when Mount Tai was enshrined in Zen in the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan, when Xuanzong Li Longji stood at the top of the world with the posture of an eternal emperor, a historical fate of fullness and prosperity, prosperity and decline has been quietly buried A foreshadowing? Didn't it start from the moment when Li Linfu monopolized the court at the end of the Kaiyuan period, when Xuanzong Li Longji became more and more indulged in pleasure and neglected government affairs, the carriages of the Tang Empire began to run blindly, and gradually exposed the danger of overturning ?

Or from the moment when An Lushan rose strongly in the early years of Tianbao, when Xuanzong Li Longji gave him more and more power and honor without principle, a very subversive and destructive historical tragedy Has it already kicked off? Or is it that from the moment when Yang Guozhong was in power and chaos in the last years of Tianbao, when Xuanzong Li Longji would rather bury himself in the dream of prosperity than wake up, the once prosperous and powerful empire has slipped into the abyss of eternal doom? Perhaps, each of the above-mentioned moments is a key node that determines the direction of history. As long as Tang Xuanzong Li Longji can stay awake at each node at that time and make the right choice in front of the question of "going left or going right", then he will arrive at In the end, you will not be forced to face the extreme proposition of "survival or destruction", and you will not be caught in the life dilemma of "whether you want a country or a beautiful woman" in Maweiyi...

However, for Li Longji in the spring of Tianbao's fourteenth year, none of the above problems existed. Because in his view, "An Lushan rebellion" is a false proposition not worth mentioning.He never wants to spend his brains on this, and let himself add to his troubles.At this moment, he is embracing the seventy-first spring of his life with the same passion as a young man. Life at seventy is rare since ancient times.Since God is so generous and has given him peace and beauty, and given him a long life to enjoy all these things, why should he not enjoy them? ! ) This kind of spring is only suitable for enjoying pure art and flawless love; this kind of spring is only suitable for letting one soul fly and dance with another soul in the "Neon Clothes and Feather Song" like the sound of nature, and it cannot let the world All mundane affairs are disturbed, let alone politics intervene and ministers make noise.

In short, the seventy-first spring of Li Longji's life belongs only to his lover Yang Yuhuan, not to his empire and subjects... However, what makes Li Longji feel helpless is that he is the king of a country after all, and it is impossible for a king of a country to really get rid of politics.For example, one morning in early spring and February, the imperial court received a request from An Lushan to replace the Han generals with thirty-two Tibetan generals.Li Longji was too lazy to worry about that, and immediately ordered the relevant departments to issue a letter of appointment.As soon as the edict was issued, Yang Guozhong and the new prime minister Wei Jiansu entered the palace immediately, saying that An Lushan's betrayal had been revealed, and he must not agree to his request. Li Longji was very displeased. What's wrong with An Lushan, why can't you people let go of your jealousy and suspicion towards him? The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming... will say this!Can't you get some fresh ones? Regardless of the prime minister's dissuasion, Li Longji still awarded 32 appointment certificates to An Lushan.Yang Guozhong and Wei Jiansu were deeply disturbed, and finally had no choice but to think of a way to ascend secretly, suggesting that Xuanzong let An Lushan enter the court as prime minister, and then promote Fan Yang, Pinglu, and Hedong to be envoys. , In order to remove An Lushan's military power and fundamentally weaken his power. Li Longji couldn't resist the strong advice of the two prime ministers, so he reluctantly agreed.But after the edict was drafted, Xuanzong didn't issue it. Instead, he quietly sent his confidant eunuch Fu Qilin to Fanyang to spy on the reality of Anlu Mountain.Fu Qiulin went to Fanyang for a trip and accepted a large bribe from An Lushan. After returning, she tried her best to advocate to Xuanzong, saying that Anlushan "served the country with all his loyalty and had no second heart". Li Longji smiled.He said to Yang Guozhong and Wei Jiansu: "Lushan, I treat him wholeheartedly, and I will have no different ambitions. The two captives in the Northeast are suppressed by them. I protect myself, and you don't worry about it!" (Volume 21 seven) I put my heart and soul to An Lushan, and I predict that he will not have a different mind.Xi and Khitan in the Northeast are all guarded and contained by him.I can be his guarantor, you don't have to worry! The emperor has already talked about this, so what else do Yang Guozhong and Wei Jiansu have to say? As a result, the plan to enlist An Lushan into the dynasty fell to nothing. In Li Longji's view, no matter how powerful An Lushan is, he is also his loyal minister; no matter how powerful An Lushan is, he is also a watchdog to help him guard the country.Therefore, An Lushan will definitely not be the wolf in Yang Guozhong's imagination! I will protect myself, so don't worry about it! Such eloquent words and such an optimistic and confident attitude! However, the facts will soon prove that Li Longji was wrong. This serious mistake will not only ruin the splendid Tang Dynasty, but also start a chaotic world that lasts for 142 years—a chaotic world full of bloodshed, killing, darkness, strife and death.