As early as 30 years ago, in the nineteenth year of Qianlong (1754), after Liu Yong's father was wronged, Liu Yong knew a basic principle of being an official: there was nothing to talk about in front of the emperor, no matter what he did was right or wrong. If you have offended the emperor, don't explain anything to him, only wait on him more carefully in the future.
How to serve the emperor carefully? I can only give full play to my talents in other aspects, such as poems, songs, calligraphy articles and so on.
Liu Yong thought: I am good at calligraphy, and I am good at pairing. Make the emperor happy from this aspect, so as to get rid of the troubles after the Cathay Pacific case as soon as possible. One day, Emperor Qianlong led several talented ministers to visit Panshan Mountain. Of course, among these civil servants, there is Liu Yong-not the Emperor Qianlong who wants to take him out, but Mrs. Liu Yong has a gift, so she has to take him with her, and there is no one to accompany her to write-not even Ji Xiaolan who has a good gift but can't write well. Panshan Mountain is located in today's Jixian County, Tianjin. Because this mountain looks like the style of Jiangnan, it is very popular with Emperor Qianlong. Emperor Qianlong visited Panshan Mountain eight times, leaving the sentence "If I had known there was Panshan Mountain, why go to Jiangnan". . Every time Emperor Qianlong met something unhappy, he would come to Panshan for fun. This time, Emperor Qianlong also brought a troupe to sing "Jiangguan Song" on the big stage on Panshan Mountain. Emperor Qianlong was thinking while watching the play, and suddenly on a whim, he asked the ministers to make a couplet for the play. A minister wit, immediately presented a couplet: listen to the law, break the world cold; Look at clothes and describe how warm and cold the world is.
It should be said that this pair of couplets vividly summarizes the artistic laws of China's traditional operas, and the antithesis is neat and profound. But Emperor Qianlong thought this couplet was too elegant. After a while, another minister handed over the second couplet: it seems that I am not me, I think I am not me; Whoever pretends to be like who, who pretends to be who.
This couplet is like a tongue twister, and it doesn't conform to the law. No wonder Qianlong felt shallow and asked all the ministers to think twice. At this time, the "Empty City Plan" was just staged on the stage: Zhuge Liang was sitting on the rostrum drinking and playing the piano, and Sima Yi led a great army in Enemy at the Gates. Seeing this scene, Liu Yong was suddenly inspired and wrote such a couplet: three or five people can be an army, and six or seven steps are like walking across the world and nine continents.
Ganlong is very satisfied with this couplet and thinks it is simple and elegant. He asked Liu Yong to present it with pen and ink immediately and wrote this couplet. Until now, this couplet is still hanging on the big stage of "a scene of Jiangshan Pavilion".
At this time, Emperor Qianlong suddenly thought of the interesting names of several counties around Jixian County, and said, shall I give you a couplet? This part is:
Close clouds do not rain and dry the three rivers, although fertile land is difficult to get rich.
Liu Yong thought: The emperor used the names of the four counties around Jixian, and I also used the names of the four counties around Jixian as the next part. Liu Yong's bottom line is:
Huairou has a way to Zunhua, knowing that Shunyi is a good hometown.
This couplet made Emperor Qianlong very happy at that time.
Liu Yong has done many things like this! Emperor Qianlong's anger towards Liu Yong gradually disappeared.
However, there is also Xiao Shenyang, who will remind the emperor at any time. What should I do? How did Liu Yong treat Wang Shen? {Liu Yong thought of another basic principle of being an official: you should betray a corrupt official.
Some people speculate: so, Liu Yong is going to admit defeat to Xiao Shenyang, and maybe he will pay bribes to Xiao Shenyang? What else can Liu Canyong do, fight a larger foe with Xiao Shenyang? Is that liuyong? Liu Yong, who debuted in his thirties and served as an official for more than thirty years, would be so short-tempered, like Li Kui jy in Water Margin? This is not Liu Yong's style.
In fact, after the Cathay Pacific incident, Liu Yong took the initiative to reconcile with Xiao Shenyang. How to make peace? Liu Yong thought of his own words.
Liu Yong is a great calligrapher. Shi Chuanqi "The title of the book is the world, and the political articles cover a hundred". An important feature of his calligraphy is that he uses thick ink, so he is called "Prime Minister of Thick Ink". Liu Yong's handwriting looks rich and beautiful, especially the fine print. At that time, Liu Yong's calligraphy achievements were as famous as Weng Fanggang and Liang. Liu Yong's works handed down from ancient times are epistolary, such as Little Book Friends, written in r796, with 24 lines of ***360 words, which are now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Su Shi's poem "Youdao Mountain", 1795, with 40 lines of ***305 words, is a long-running book, with a width of 3 1.4 cm and a length of 190.5 cm, which is now in Shanghai Museum. "Running script vertical axis", 4 lines of ***22 words, collected in Liaoning Provincial Museum; Festival Book Su Shi's View of the Building, written in 1792, with 95 lines, is now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum; "He Zhongshi gets up early", 5 lines and 60 words, National Museum of Kyoto, Japan; The cursive script of Zheng Yiming's Postscript and Huang Tingjian's Axis of Shen Fu Temple, with 6 lines and 76 words, is in Shanghai Museum.
It is not difficult to see that you can only win one round with cleverness, but you may win forever with great cleverness.