History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 953 Master Han

【Master Han】

Han Xizai was a man of great learning and talent, and he was a top-level figure in the academic world of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He was honored as "Master Han". Master Han, a living fossil of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was both serious and lively. Like Feng Dao, a living fossil of the Five Dynasties, he left us many interesting stories.

"Seven days no reason return"

Politically, Han Xizai was out of tune with the dignitaries of the time, but his knowledge was widely recognized. For example, Yan Xu admired his writing very much, so he paid a large sum of money (millions of precious goods) to ask him to write a stele for his father Yan Keqiu. Yan Keqiu was Xu Wen's chief think tank, and Yan Xu was Xu Zhigao's son-in-law. He served in the three dynasties of the Southern Tang Dynasty and was promoted to prime minister. Many people wanted to marry into a powerful family but could not. Now Yan Xu paid a large sum of money to ask for help. Would Han Xizai take the opportunity to marry into a powerful family?

A few days later, Han Xizai finished the manuscript. Yan Xu opened it with great interest and found that it was just a regular account, objectively recording Yan Keqiu's family background, work experience (but only describing his pedigree and rank), without even a sentence saying "Comrade Yan Keqiu's life was a glorious life, a life of struggle".

Yan Xu was very angry, so he resealed the manuscript and sent someone to return it to Han Xizai. Han Xizai humorously returned the "huge treasure" in full.

"Return completed, please don't come next time, dear."

This is Han Xizai's character. He is not afraid of the powerful, nor is he greedy for money. He is also very humorous.

Of course, as mentioned in the previous article, although Yan Xu of the "Qingliu Party" had a prominent position, he was also the target of exclusion and suppression by the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" group. Han Xizai making fun of him could not prove that he was not afraid of the powerful, and that could only be reflected when he confronted the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" group.

Han Xizai was never afraid of the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group, and he repeatedly publicly despised and ridiculed the godfather of the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group, Song Qiuqiu.

"Vile and filthy"

Yan Xu admired Han Xizai's real talent and knowledge, so he bought the inscription from him, while more people asked Song Qiqiu to write inscriptions, which was a disguised flattery. As a big leader, he always likes to write inscriptions for others. Song Qiqiu's writing skills are not comparable to Han Xizai's, and even his calligraphy level is not comparable.

Therefore, whenever someone asked Song Qiqiu to write an inscription, Song Qiqiu would make a draft himself and then ask Han Xizai to copy it. And every time Han Xizai copied, he would plug his nostrils with two small pieces of paper.

Song Qiqiu was puzzled and asked him why he used paper balls to plug his nostrils. Han Xizai looked disdainful and said, "This is a piece of rubbish, it's stinky and disgusting!"

Looking at the entire Southern Tang, no one else except Han Xizai dared to tease the political bigwig Song Qiuqiu in this way.

"Fashionist"

Han Xizai also had a very unique style of dressing. He was bold and avant-garde, never sticking to conventions, and often led fashion trends. He often transformed himself into a fashion designer and created according to his own preferences. For example, his original light gauze tall hat was sought after by people and imitated by many people, becoming the most popular style in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

"The moxa smell is too strong"

Because Han Xizai's talent was recognized as the ceiling in the Southern Tang Dynasty, many scholars who wanted to be officials chose to submit their works to him in order to gain his appreciation and recommendation, so as to be recommended for civil service. Han Xizai would always take time out of his busy schedule (actually he was not very busy, as the time spent being excluded and marginalized was always longer than the time spent being reused) to carefully read and evaluate.

If he discovered someone with talent, Han Xizai would personally copy it for him and then recommend him to the court.

However, if he found someone who was poorly written and just wanted to cheat by taking shortcuts, Han Xizai would have his servants light a stick of moxa leaves to fumigate the article. When the person came to ask about the result, Han Xizai would let him smell his article. When the person showed a puzzled expression, Han Xizai would say, "Your article smells too much of moxa leaves!"

Deng Ai, the general who defeated Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, had a stutter. Ancient people often referred to themselves by their given names, such as Zhou Yu's "Since I was born, why was Liang born?" and Cao Cao's "The heroes of today's world are only you and me." Deng Ai should also refer to himself as "Ai", but he always gave away a few more names for free because he stuttered, "Ai Ai... Ai is willing to go, to pacify Shu..."

Once, Sima Zhao could not help joking with him, "You say 'Ai Ai', which Ai must it be?" Deng Ai immediately offered a wonderful answer, "Phoenix Xi, Phoenix Xi, so it is one Phoenix." Later, the word "Ai Ai" was used to describe stuttering, and "Ai Qi" means stuttering and incoherent writing.

Han Xizai's words are a double entendre. On the surface, they seem to be saying that there is a scent of smoked moxa leaves on the scroll, but in fact they mean that the article is crude and incomprehensible, just like having a stutter.

“Don’t eat skinned sheep”

In the early years of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Han Xizai was sent as an envoy to the Central Plains. During the banquet, the accompanying officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty asked, "Why don't you people in the south of the Yangtze River eat skinned sheep?" Han Xizai replied that it was because Luowan was produced in abundance in the south of the Yangtze River. The officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty laughed out loud.

On the surface, it seems to be a discussion about the difference in food culture between the two places, but in reality, it was a trap set by officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty to ridicule the Southern Tang Dynasty. Because the Southern Tang Dynasty usurped the foundation of the Southern Wu Yang family, the homonym of "sheep" is "Yang", and the Later Zhou Dynasty played a homophonic pun. However, Han Xizai's answer was that the north is cold, so you need to use sheepskin to make clothes to keep warm. We have a warm climate in the south of the Yangtze River, and Luowan is rich in it, so people wear silk and have no demand for fur coats. Sheep skin is useless to us, so there is no need to peel the skin.

The officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty laughed loudly, thinking that the so-called Jiangnan talents were just like this, falling into our language trap without knowing it, stupid. They thought they had taken advantage, so they laughed wildly.

After a long time, the officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty suddenly stopped laughing, because someone finally deciphered Han Xizai's code. People in the south of the Yangtze River wear silk fabrics, which is "wrapped silk", and the homonym of "wrapped silk" is "Guo Si". The founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty was Guo Wei. Han Xizai meant that silk is abundant in the south of the Yangtze River, and everyone "wrapped silk".

None of the officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty reacted, and they thought they had taken advantage and laughed. By the time they realized what was happening, Han Xizai had already returned home for several days.

"Someone in Jiangnan Remembers"

During the "Three Expeditions to Huainan", Zhu Yuan, who was known as the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix Chu, defected to Zhou, which not only implicated Li Ping, but also the entire "Northern Faction" in the Southern Tang bureaucracy. Li Jing and Li Yu had a crisis of trust in all immigrants and political refugees from the Central Plains. Historical records record that "they were quite suspicious of the northerners". At the same time, they treated Han Xizai with leniency, "only waiting for Xizai to flourish".

Is it true love or just a show? Han Xizai was not naive enough to choose the former.

Not long after, Han Xizai visited Bianzhou and was warmly invited to stay (he could not be sent away). During this period, Han Xizai felt very uncomfortable. Under the shadow of "Zhu Yuan's betrayal", staying in the Central Plains for a long time was definitely a waste of time. It was hard to explain. In his depression, Han Xizai wrote a poem on the wall of the hotel room:

“I am originally from the north of the Yangtze River, but I am going to be a guest in the south of the Yangtze River.

When I returned to Jiangbei, I looked around and found no one I recognized.

The cool breeze makes me cold, and the bright moon shines for whom?

It is better to go back home, there are people in Jiangnan who remember me. "

The prime minister of the Central Plains sympathized with his situation, so he took this poem to plead for him with the emperor, and he was allowed to return to Southern Tang.

Although the Southern Tang authorities repeatedly expressed their absolute trust in Han Xizai, their actions were honest and allowed Han Xizai to always remain one step away from real power.

She said she treated him like her first love, but in reality she abused him thousands of times.

Thanks to my old friend "Yang Kui" for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)