Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 312: Li Bai of the Ming Dynasty? Unlucky Tang Bohu [Please subscribe]

"Your Majesty, I have put down a video?" Liu Kuan asked.

"Let's play it." Old Zhu came back to his senses and casually agreed, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, where is the pyramid built? Why does the video start by comparing the pyramid to the Liangzhu ruins?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the pyramid is a type of building that is common in ancient civilizations outside of China. It is an inverted cone-shaped building that can be used as a tomb, an altar, or a temple."

"The most famous pyramids in later generations are those left by the Egyptian civilization, followed by those left by the Mayan and Aztec civilizations in America."

"Among them, the Egyptian pyramids are the most magnificent. The largest one is as tall as a dozen stories. Made of piled-up stones, their construction requirements were similar to those of the imperial city walls. Even a knife could hardly penetrate their cracks. As a result, they are internationally renowned and have even been listed as a world wonder, alongside other Chinese structures like the Great Wall."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and commented, "We built the Great Wall to defend against the nomadic tribes in the north, but from what you said, the Egyptian and Mayan civilizations built pyramids to serve as tombs, altars, and temples—that's truly unwise."

"By the way, does the Egyptian civilization that built the pyramids still exist today?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the ancient Egyptian civilization that built the pyramids is four or five thousand years old and has long since perished and been lost in history. Although Egypt exists today, it has little to do with ancient Egypt."

Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised. "A civilization that existed four or five thousand years ago? They could build buildings more than ten stories high. That's quite impressive."

"At that time, people were ignorant and superstitious about ghosts and gods, so it's understandable that they wasted manpower building mausoleums, altars, and temples."

Liu Kuan smiled slightly and said, "If Your Majesty has no further questions, I will play the second video."

"Let it go."

The second video starts playing.

When Lao Zhu and others saw it, they found that it was from the "Ming Dynasty" series that Liu Kuan had broadcast during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year.

At the same time, the subtitle also appeared.

"I would rather die among flowers and wine than bow before carriages and horses. A master of poetry and painting, the talented Tang Yin!"

It’s actually a video about the talented people of the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others were all a little surprised.

Because based on their understanding of Liu Kuan, Liu Kuan valued the civil and military officials and heroes who fought for the Ming Dynasty, especially those who resisted the Qing invaders; secondly, he valued craftsmen and people who made special contributions to the Ming Dynasty, such as Zhang Juzheng.

Liu Kuan didn't despise ordinary Confucian scholars and talented men, but he didn't think much of them either.

So, how did Tang Yin catch Liu Kuan's eye?

Or in other words, how did it come to be valued by future generations?

In addition to being confused, princes such as Zhu Su, Zhu Zi, Zhu Chun, and Zhu Bai, who were originally close to Confucianists, literati, and talented people, began to look forward to it.

The video begins with that familiar soundtrack (Drowning).

A woman explained, "In February of the sixth year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming Dynasty, a baby boy was born in Wu County, Suzhou. Because that year was the Year of the Tiger, he was named Tang Yin. Later generations became more accustomed to calling him by his courtesy name, Tang Bohu!"

"Tang Yin's ancestor once served as the director of the Ministry of War. He later accompanied Emperor Yingzong on his personal expedition and died in battle at Tumu Fortress."

"During the Chenghua period, the Tang family had already fallen on hard times. Tang Yin's father ran a small tavern to make a living and support Tang Yin's studies."

"Perhaps the Tang family's literary legacy should not be cut off. Tang Yin possessed extraordinary talent. At the age of sixteen, he passed the county, prefectural, and imperial examinations in succession, and even took first place, making him famous for a time."

"Three years later, he failed the provincial examination and married Xu. They lived a happy married life, and this time became a lifelong aftertaste."

"Six years later, Tang Yin's father passed away. Within the next year or two, his mother, wife, and children also passed away. Suddenly, he was the only one left in the vast Tang family. That year, Tang Yin was twenty-six, and his hair was already white!"

After listening to the previous explanations, Zhu's family thought that his life was that of an ordinary talented man and did not think there was anything special about him.

But when they heard that Tang Bohu's entire family had died in the past two or three years and he was the only one left, they all opened their mouths wide.

"Is this man destined to be unlucky?"

"Is the Tang family unlucky?"

"Could it be that someone secretly disturbed the feng shui of Tang Yin's family?"

For a moment, many people began to make wild guesses, even Lao Zhu was no exception.

Then Lao Zhu and others couldn't help but think: Tang Yin's family members are all dead, so he shouldn't be unlucky anymore, right?

But the subsequent content of the video told them that Tang Yin’s bad luck was far from over, or rather, his miserable life had just begun.

After the funeral of his family, Tang Yin was persuaded by his good friend Zhu Zhishan and decided to study hard and concentrate on the imperial examinations.

He was talented, and with his hard work, he successfully won the first place in the Nanzhili County Examination, and became the Jieyuan!
Old Zhu thought to himself, 'Tang Yin's family is extinct, so it's a sign of good fortune. Just like us, we were so unlucky and miserable back then, but in the end, a lucky break led to the founding of the Ming Dynasty, hehe.' But then Old Zhu thought about the video's subtitle and felt something was wrong.

Sure enough, when Tang Yin took part in the imperial examination in Beijing the following year, something went wrong. He was involved in an imperial examination cheating case because of party disputes!

He was first imprisoned, and although he was released later, he almost lost his fame and could only work as a minor official from then on.

Career is over!
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but pause the video and asked: "This video is not clear, so did Tang Bohu participate in the cheating?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty, this matter will remain an unsolved mystery in later generations. Perhaps those who specialize in Ming history have the answer, but I really don't know."

Zhu Biao pondered and said, "This Tang Bohu was able to pass the Zhongnan Zhili Provincial Examination and was the first in the three previous examinations of the county government. This shows that he is talented and gifted. There is a high possibility that he will pass the imperial examination. As long as he is not stupid, he should not be involved in cheating, right?"

The others nodded after hearing this, thinking that this made sense.

Liu Kuan said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has a point, so this video only says that he was implicated and involved in cheating in the imperial examination."

"Also, if he had personally committed cheating in the imperial examination, I'm afraid the court's punishment would have been far more severe. Therefore, I suspect that Tang Yin was most likely involved in the cheating without realizing it."

"For example, in the video, his friend Xu Jing bribed the examiner to obtain the exam question, then placed it among many other questions and asked Tang Yin for advice on how to solve the question and write the essay."

"After the incident, Xu Jing betrayed Tang Yin, which implicated him. As for Tang Yin's claim that he didn't know a problem he'd solved was a test question, who could believe him?"

After hearing this, the Zhu family looked at each other in surprise.

Then, Zhu Bo, who rarely spoke, frowned and said, "Teacher, this means that even if Tang Yin was wrongly accused, he can't prove his innocence?"

Liu Kuan nodded, "Not bad."

Old Zhu frowned and said, "To have such a talented scholar unable to prove his innocence, it seems the imperial examination system needs a lot of improvement."

Zhu Biao nodded, "I deeply agree with you."

Lao Zhu touched the screen to continue playing the video.

The rest of the video basically talks about how Tang Yin's official career ended, his life was frustrated, he made a living by selling paintings, and indulged in wine and women.

During this process, the video not only shows a series of Tang Yin's paintings that have been passed down to later generations, but also interspersed with several of his famous poems.

Such as his "Yi Jian Mei".

The rain hits the pear blossoms, and the door is closed. I have wasted my youth, wasted my youth. Who can I share my joys with? I am ecstatic under the flowers, ecstatic under the moon...

The video ends with Tang Yin lying under a peach blossom tree in Peach Blossom Temple, drinking and falling asleep. At the same time, his most well-known poem, "Peach Blossom Temple Song", appears on the screen.

Zhu Zi, Zhu Bo, Zhu Chun and other people who love literature couldn't help but recite it softly.

"In Taohuawu there is a Peach Blossom Temple, and in the Peach Blossom Temple there is a Peach Blossom Fairy. The Peach Blossom Fairy plants peach trees and picks peach blossoms to exchange for money to make wine..."

"... Others laugh at me for being too crazy, I laugh at them for not seeing through me. I don't see the tombs of heroes from ancient times to the present, I don't have flowers or wine, I just hoe the fields."

After more than ten minutes of video, the Zhu family fell silent again.

After about half a minute, Zhu Biao sighed and said, "Tang Bohu's paintings, poems, and even calligraphy are indeed extremely brilliant. It's a pity that he was implicated in the imperial examination cheating case and was unable to display his talents throughout his life."

Zhu Di shook his head and said, "I think that although Tang Bohu is talented, his character is inevitably a bit poor. After he won the first place in the examination and the first place in the provincial examination, he became dissolute and frivolous. The former caused him to waste more than ten years in the examination, and the latter made him make bad friends, which led to his involvement in the cheating case."

"Fourth Brother, you're right." Zhu Yuanzhang praised Zhu Di in public, a rare moment. "Even if Tang Bohu were to enter the government, he would probably do foolish things and would hardly become an effective official."

Liu Kuan also joined in the discussion, "Some people in later generations compared Tang Bohu with Li Bai, thinking that Tang Bohu was like the Li Bai of the Ming Dynasty."

The others' eyes lit up when they heard this, and they felt that it was indeed the case.

Tang Bohu was a master of both poetry and painting, but he never entered the official career. In his old age, he was involved in the Ning Wang Rebellion and escaped by pretending to be crazy and stupid. His life is indeed somewhat similar to that of Li Bai.

Old Zhu, however, had lost interest in Tang Yin and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, let's stop discussing Tang Bohu and put down the video."

Liu Kuan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I plan to show a movie first."

Old Zhu was puzzled, "Why is this?"

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)