History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 945: Later Lord Li Yu (Part )

"Poet Li Yu"

This is the side of Li Yu that people know best.

Li Yu was a romantic man who liked to go incognito to visit places of entertainment and experience the sufferings of prostitutes. One day, Li Yu went into a prostitute alone incognito and happened to see someone preparing a feast in the courtyard.

This is an elegant and expensive item in the brothel, that is, the guests have a separate table in the courtyard, and the brothel girls who come to the table are all high-end peripherals who are proficient in playing musical instruments, singing, composing poems and lyrics, and have both talent and beauty. The guests must also have a certain literary talent. Just having money is not enough, which is too vulgar. Therefore, those who dare to set up a table in the courtyard must be rich and talented.

It is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. Li Yu was not polite and sat down without saying anything. As soon as he sat down, the prostitutes on both sides cast awkward glances at him. Li Yu thought to himself that as long as I am not embarrassed, you will be embarrassed. However, when Li Yu looked up again, he was also embarrassed, because the guest who opened the banquet was a monk.

It doesn't matter. We are out here to have fun. The monk didn't mind. He continued to play drinking games, recite poems, and play musical instruments. He is indeed a great monk. He is proficient in poetry, songs, and various musical instruments. He is really elegant!

When it comes to poetry and songs, Li Yu is not tired. Li Yu and the monk got along very well and sang in harmony with each other. Needless to say, Li Yu's poetry level is naturally high, so soon the monk looked at Li Yu with new eyes, and the monk who could compete with Li Yu in poetry also successfully captured Li Yu's heart. The two met too late and wanted to kowtow to each other on the spot.

Li Yu, under the influence of alcohol, asked for a brush and ink, and wrote a long and short sentence on the stone wall next to him:
"Drinking lightly and singing softly, leaning against the red and green masters;

The abbot of Yuanyang Temple, who passed on the teachings of Fengliu. "

It is an implicit criticism of monks for not observing the rules and regulations.

After watching, the monk laughed, and then moved on to the next project - "embracing the prostitute behind the curtain", and took the female technician into the single room for in-depth communication. Li Yu left tactfully, and so far, the monk and the outsiders did not know Li Yu's true identity.

Later, Li Yu treated this funny story as a joke and secretly told it to Xu Xuan.
"I'm only telling you, don't tell anyone else!"

Xu Xuan also found it very interesting, so he secretly told his other good friends,
"I'm only telling you, don't tell anyone else!"

Later, this incident became widely known in the upper class society and was included in the "Qing Yi Lu" by Tao Gu. Now it has been included in the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Past Events".
"Shh - I'm only telling you, don't tell anyone else!"

When crossing the river to the north, it rained heavily. Li Yu stood alone at the stern, letting the cold rain wet his cheeks as he looked at the sky of Shengzhou at a 45-degree angle. Mixed with tears, it soaked his clothes and sprinkled into the endless Yangtze River. Myriad melancholy was like countless rolling waves. Gradually, Shengzhou City became blurred and small in his sight, and finally only existed in his memories, close at hand but far away.

Li Yu wrote a poem about the fall of his country in the cold wind - "Crossing the Zhongjiang River, Looking at the Stone City and Weeping":
"The cold icy rain hits my face randomly..."

no……

"My old hometown in the south and north of the Yangtze River has been a dream for thirty years.

The Wuyuan Palace is now deserted, and the Guangling Terrace and Palace are desolate.

Clouds cover the distant mountains, bringing a thousand worries; rain hits the returning boat, bringing a thousand tears.

Four brothers and three hundred people cannot sit idle and think carefully. "

"Five Kingdoms Story" and "Jiang Biao Zhi" mistakenly believed that this was written by Yang Pu, the last emperor of Southern Wu. This is a bit of a murderous act. If Yang Pu saw Li Yu's end, he would be quite relieved, "You will pay for what you have done sooner or later." In the long shot of the fall of the country, when Shengzhou was conquered, Li Yu was still engaged in literary creation, and later he finally had the opportunity to complete the "Linjiangxian":
"The cherries have fallen and spring has gone, the butterflies are flying in pairs, the orioles are crying to the moon in the west of the small building, the jade curtains are hanging, and the evening smoke is hanging.

After the people in the lonely alley dispersed, I looked at the remaining tobacco and felt depressed. The incense in the stove was lingering, and the phoenix child held the silk belt in vain, looking back with regret.

Li Yu's queen (Da Zhou Hou) loved plum blossoms, so they transplanted the plum blossoms to the west of Yaoguang Palace. However, Da Zhou Hou died of illness before the flowers bloomed. When the flowers bloomed, Li Yu was moved by the scene and thought of the people. So he wrote a poem "Plum Blossoms":
"Transplanted diligently to the land, beside the curved fence.

We agreed to celebrate this beautiful day together, but I am still worried that it will not be in full bloom.

Block the wind and open the barriers, use the moon to irrigate the cold springs.

Who would have thought that before and after the flowers bloomed, the eyebrows were incomplete.

The God of Spring is unaware that he has lost the master of fireworks.

What's the use of the fragrance, it still blooms on last year's branches."

Without experiencing the torture of life, one cannot become a poet, such as the poets who were not successful in their official careers, and Comrade Li Yu who suffered the pain of losing his country.

Before this, Li Yu's works were mostly about romance, describing luxurious court life, love affairs, etc. In short, the life of rich people was plain and boring. After his country was destroyed and he was captured, his artistic level obviously made a qualitative leap. Meng Chang, Liu Xuan and others had all been pretentious, writing poems, lyrics and composing music. Li Yu was no different from them at first, but after the destruction of his country, Li Yu immediately jumped from a "fan" to a "master".

In fact, this stage of Li Yu lasted only two and a half years, from January 976 to July 978, and many of his popular poems, or the poems of Li Yu included in our Chinese textbooks, were basically created during these two and a half years.

During these two and a half years, Li Yu cried all day long, using poetry to record the humiliating life after the fall of his country:
"Happy Meeting·Walking Alone to the West Tower without Words"

"I go up to the west tower alone without saying a word. The moon is like a hook. The lonely phoenix tree in the deep courtyard locks in the autumn.

"It is the sorrow of separation that cannot be cut off or sorted out, and it leaves a special feeling in my heart."

"Lang Tao Sha Ling: The rain outside the curtain is trickling":
"Outside the curtain, the rain is trickling, and the spring is fading. The silk coat cannot stand the cold at five o'clock in the morning. I don't know I am a guest in the dream, and I am greedy for a while.

Don't lean on the railing when you are alone, the mountains and rivers are endless, it's easy to say goodbye but hard to meet again. The flowing water and falling flowers are gone, and the world is gone. "

On the Chinese Valentine's Day in 978, at Li Yu's birthday banquet, the concubines and palace maids of the Southern Tang celebrated his birthday. During the banquet, everyone composed poems and lyrics, but the tunes became increasingly sad. Li Yu composed a poem called "Yu Meiren":
"When will the spring flowers and autumn moons end? How much do I know about the past? The east wind blew again last night in my small building, and I couldn’t bear to look back at my homeland in the moonlight.

The carved railings and jade bricks should still be there, but the red face has changed. How much sorrow can you have? It is like a river of spring water flowing eastward.

Many people believe that this was Li Yu's suicide poem, because that night, Li Yu finished writing this poem with tears in his eyes, the singer was crying as she sang, and everyone present was crying as they listened. Later, everyone simply hugged their heads and cried, and the sound was heard outside and was heard by Emperor Taizong of Song who happened to be passing by. The lines "The east wind blew in the small building last night" and "A river of spring water flows eastward" made Taizong so angry that he sent people to poison Li Yu.

Bianzhou was a gathering place for kings who lost their country. Chai Zongxun, Gao Jichong, Zhou Baoquan, Meng Chang, Liu Xiong, Qian Hongchu... basically all had a good end. Why couldn't Li Yu be tolerated?
Thanks to old friends "Yang Kui" and "Damahu22" for their monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)