Speaking of "Manuscript for Nephew Sacrifice", everyone knows that it is very famous and famous, so how powerful is it? It is said to be the second running script in the world, and this name is It’s very impressive, so some people may ask, why is such a powerful calligraphy work so powerful that it is known as the second-best cursive script in the world? In fact, of course there is a reason, let’s read on!
Manuscript of Nephew Memorial
To talk about Yan Zhenqing, we still have to go back to the Anshi Rebellion. When the Anshi Rebellion suddenly broke out, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was completely unprepared, the entire court was unprepared, and the entire military and administrative system was unprepared. So what are everyone preparing for? Prepare for the music and dance that night, prepare for the pear orchard tomorrow, prepare for the discussion in the mountains, and prepare for the suburban banquet by the river.
One-third of the Tang Dynasty’s army was in the hands of the rebel general An Lushan. When the rebellion swept across the land with lightning speed, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty asked anxiously, could the twenty-four counties of Hebei Is there no loyal minister? Soon, he heard that a loyal minister had stood up, and he was Yan Zhenqing. The emperor also asked, why didn't I know this person before? It was not easy for Yan Zhenqing to come forward. Because he and his brother Yan Gaoqing were both prefects under the jurisdiction of Anlu Mountain. Yan Zhenqing's location is called Pingyuan, which is now Dezhou, Shandong Province. His brother's location is now Zhengding, Hebei.
Yan Zhenqing first published a crusade against An Lushan's rebellion. He recruited more than 10,000 soldiers within one day. Because of his appeal, the righteous forces north of the Yellow River turned to him one after another. He quickly gathered 200,000 troops and was elected as the commander-in-chief. His most urgent thing was to discuss every aspect with his brother, but they were too far apart, so he chose a young liaison officer, his brother's son and his nephew Yan Jiming. Ji is the "season" of season, and Ming is the "ming" of light. Because of this Yan Jiming, the heroic actions of Yan Zhenqing and his brother echoed each other.
Unfortunately, his brother was arrested by An Lushan during the battle. An Lushan treated Yan Zhenqing’s brother in the cruelest way, cutting out his tongue, chopping off his hands, and also More than 30 members of the Yan family were killed. Yan Jiming was also beheaded. The emperor certainly spoke highly of the Yan family's huge sacrifice, but the court kept losing battles, fleeing and retreating, and no longer cared about commemorating this great family.
If the court does not commemorate it, then commemorate it yourself. Yan Zhenqing used articles to commemorate his family. Among them, the "Manuscript for Nephew Commemoration" dedicated to his nephew Yan Jiming is full of blood, tears and iron bones. It has become the second most important work in the history of Chinese calligraphy after Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection". classic. Here I would like to add a few words to talk about my own relationship with Yan Zhenqing’s "Manuscripts for Nephew Memorials".
A heroic life
When I was nine years old, I came to Shanghai from my hometown in Zhejiang. My uncle, Mr. Yu Zhishi, not only took me to visit various exhibitions, but also took me to the Shanghai used bookstore to experience it. The charm of books. It was there that he bought a copy of Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscripts for Memorials to Nephew" printed by collotype, and told me related stories, which made me very excited. At the age of nine, I felt for the first time the relationship between life, blood and culture.
Ten years later, in 1967, in order to protest against the evil deeds of the mob during this catastrophe, my uncle cut his arteries three times and committed suicide, defending the dignity of life with his blood. When my mother went to take care of the funeral affairs, I asked again and again if I had seen a copy of Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of Memorials to My Nephew". I saw my uncle buying it with my own eyes. But my mother said no, and everything was taken away by the thugs. At that time, I thought the name of the copybook would be "Manuscript of Memorials to My Nephew", but now it is reversed, and it is my nephew who will be the one to honor my uncle. No matter how big the disaster I encountered later, including those thugs who used rumors and slander to fight back a few years ago, I remained steadfast and continued to work on my cultural cause, because I have the blood and tears of Yan Zhenqing in my heart. Later, I told my wife Malan about my uncle's deeds. On the 25th anniversary of my uncle's death, Malan performed the Huangmei Opera "A Dream of Red Mansions" and paid a tacit and solemn tribute to me. Because the persecution of my uncle is related to "Dream of Red Mansions".
Therefore, I want to say something to my doctoral students here: If you want to understand me better, please read Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscripts for Nephew Memorials" again, because this is my life Textbook.
The interruption ends here, we still have to go back to Yan Zhenqing quickly, because I haven’t finished talking to him yet. The year when Yan Zhenqing led 200,000 troops to attack Anlu Mountain, he was 46 years old. Another full 28 years later, no one expected that the 74-year-old Yan Zhenqing would once again accept the mission of the imperial court.
It turns out that after the Anshi Rebellion was put down, some local military forces seemed to have a reason to expand because they participated in countering the rebellion. Among them, Li Xilie of Xuchang, Henan, united with other troops to prepare to play against the imperial court. He called himself emperor. In this regard, the already weak imperial court had no other option but to send people to persuade and appease. So who would be more suitable to send? The emperor thought of Yan Zhenqing.
The emperor has two reasons: First, you, Li Xilie, are so public now because you have done a good job in suppressing the rebellion, but who is the first hero in the evaluation? It is Yan Zhenqing. He is fully qualified to teach you a lesson from a condescending position. Second, Yan Zhenqing is 74 years old and a cultural celebrity respected by the whole country. What can you do to him? Of course, there are also some politicians in the court who have always been jealous of Yan Zhenqing and hope that he will jump into this trap.
The court's attitude towards this matter was also a bit hesitant, because many officials had different opinions. There were two points of disagreement: first, the distance from Chang'an to Xuchang was long, and the old man could not afford it; second, Li Xilie If Yan Zhenqing is harmed, the Tang Dynasty will lose its national soul.
But Yan Zhenqing felt obligated and went on the road anyway. Along the way, officials and soldiers from various places tried to dissuade him halfway, but to no avail. The old man continued to move on. When they arrived in Xuchang, Li Xilie commanded more than a thousand of his godsons to stand with swords drawn and ferocious faces. Yan Zhenqing behaved calmly and without fear. Li Xilie put down his smiling face again and said to Yan Zhenqing, I will be the emperor, and you can be the prime minister. Yan Zhenqing immediately reprimanded, saying that separation from the Tang Dynasty was a sin in the world.
Later, Li Xilie used various methods to threaten the old man in an attempt to make him surrender. After a while, they dug a big mud pit about one foot square and told him that if they didn't obey again, they would push him down and bury him alive. Yan Zhenqing replied, life and death are shared, so there is no need to be wordy. After a while, they set up wood, poured oil on it, lit a fire, and said that Yan Zhenqing would be burned to death immediately. Yan Zhenqing felt that as an envoy of the imperial court, he had explained the right and wrong clearly, and decided to make a more magnificent move to inform the world, so he jumped into the fire, but was pulled out by the rebels.
Yan Zhenqing was imprisoned in a temple by Li Xilie. He felt that he was old and would die soon, so he wrote an epitaph and memorial text for himself, and also wrote a suicide note to the court, and then faced the wall Say, this is where I will be buried. After that, whenever Yan Zhenqing saw Li Xilie mobilizing again, he would always admonish him again and again to prevent him from continuing to rebel. Later, the imperial army killed Li Xilie's younger brother elsewhere. In order to retaliate, Li Xilie strangled Yan Zhenqing to death with a rope. At this time, the old man was 76 years old. He finally finished his life.
I really don’t know what language to use to express my inner admiration for such a heroic life.
Defend the Tang Dynasty with your life
To this day, we Chinese people all over the world are proud of the beautiful Tang Dynasty, but all the good things will be coveted by evil eyes, and we are always faced with risks separation and fragmentation. The same was true in the Tang Dynasty. First there were An Lushan, then Li Xilie, and some other people who wanted to destroy the Tang Dynasty. Yan Zhenqing, as a cultural person, stood at the forefront of danger every time and defended the Tang Dynasty with his life. In order to defeat An Lushan, he sacrificed the lives of more than 30 members of his family. In order to defeat Li Xilie, he spent his old age. Every time he encountered it was not by chance, but he had already made preparations for sacrifice. This is how the Tang Dynasty was defended, or it is precisely because of this that the Tang Dynasty was called the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the highest coordinate of Chinese culture and the greatest pride of the Chinese people are related to this scholar.
I remember that when I was teaching the history of Chinese culture, after I finished teaching this paragraph, I said this to the students at Peking University. I read the transcript and said:
< p> Rumors about the end of the world have appeared several times in the media recently. Many young friends asked me, what would you do if this day really came? This question gets rid of the authenticity of the rumors of doomsday and pushes us to the ultimate sense. Mental torture, I have to answer.My answer is that if this day comes, I will stand on a high place and direct my students to resolve people's final chaos, and then bring a beautiful end to mankind with a calm smile. Why is this happening? Because I have Yan Zhenqing in my heart. He always stands at the forefront in the chaos, and then uses his life to make the world quiet. In fact, this is also the highest and final power of culture.
My classmates, you may be secretly proud that you have become a cultural person, but when you think of Yan Zhenqing, you will not be proud. On the other hand, maybe you will be secretly depressed because you have become a cultural person, but when you think of Yan Zhenqing, you will not be depressed.
This is what I said to Peking University students. Two hundred and seventy years after Yan Zhenqing's magnificent death, Ouyang Xiu, a litterateur of the Song Dynasty, wrote excitedly in "New Book of Tang":
Alas, even though he is 1,500 years old, his heroic words are as heroic as those of Yan Zhenqing. The frost and the scorching sun are something to be feared and admired.
I translated it into today's text, and it is roughly: Ah, no matter whether it is a thousand years or five hundred years, his heroic deeds are unreachable, just like the frost and the scorching sun, people are just in awe. Look up. Ouyang Xiu was right in saying that Yan Zhenqing's personality height is difficult to repeat, but since it has appeared, it proves that there is sufficient possibility for such a height to appear here. There are two forms of collective personality that deserve the most attention: one is widespread and the other is high-standard independence. Yan Zhenqing obviously belongs to the second type, which is iconic even though it is not popular. This is like the landmarks we often talk about now. They are so high that they are difficult to reach, but they are the marks and product numbers that the entire land presents to the outside world. Landmarks are not easy to climb, but they are the representatives of a city and a region.
In this way, Yan Zhenqing is the landmark of the cultural personality of the Tang Dynasty, the brand name of our Chinese culture, and the representative of the Chinese people. Okay, after talking about Yan Zhenqing, I can really end the Tang Dynasty.