Author: Changling Wang
There is a dark snow-capped mountain in Qinghai, with long white clouds and a lonely city looking at Yumenguan.
Yellow sand wears golden armor in hundreds of battles, but the loulan is not returned.
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1. Joining the army: an old topic in Yuefu, mostly about military war.
2. Qinghai: Qinghai Lake.
3. Snow Mountain: This refers to Qilian Mountain in Gansu Province.
4. Wear: Wear.
5. Golden armor: battle suit, metal armor.
6. Loulan: The name of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty generally refers to the pirates who harassed the northwest frontier at that time.
7. Ancient City: Be a city in Qinghai. Speaking of isolated city, it is Yumen Pass.
8. Yumenguan: The establishment of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was named after the jade introduced from the Western Regions. Therefore, it is located in Xiaofang City in the northwest of Dunhuang, Gansu. During the Six Dynasties, the site moved eastward to the vicinity of Shuangta Fort in Anxi.
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Clouds over Qinghai darkened the snow-capped mountains and stood in the lonely city overlooking Yumen Pass in the distance. The Great Wall has worn out its helmet and armor in many battles, and it will never come back until it defeats the enemies in the west.
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"Qinghai Yunchang Snow Mountain is dark, and the lonely city looks at Yumenguan." There are long white clouds over Qinghai Lake. To the north of the lake, there is a faint snow-capped mountain stretching for thousands of miles; Crossing the snow-capped mountains, it is an isolated city, standing in the desert of Hexi Corridor. Further west, it is the Yumen Pass, a military fortress far away from the lonely city. This long scroll, which condensed things thousands of miles away, was a typical environment for soldiers living and fighting in the northwest frontier at that time. It is a bird's eye view and a summary of the entire northwest border.
Why do you mention Qinghai and Yumenguan in particular? This is related to the situation of the war between ethnic groups at that time. The strong enemies of the west and the north in the Tang Dynasty were Tubo and Turkic. Our special envoy's task in Hexi is to cut off the traffic between Tubo and Turkic, and take care of the two powerful enemies in the west and north within one town, mainly to defend Tubo and protect the Hexi Corridor. "Qinghai" area is the place where Tubo and Tang Jun fought many times; Outside Yumenguan, it is the sphere of influence of Turks.
Therefore, these two sentences not only describe the scene of the whole northwest border, but also point out the extremely important geographical situation that the "isolated city" rejects Tubo in the south and defends Turks in the west. The strong enemies in these two directions are the heart of the soldiers guarding the "lonely city", so Qinghai and Guan Yu should appear on the screen. This is not so much what the soldiers see, but rather what emerges in their minds. These two sentences are permeated with rich and complex feelings while writing the scenery: the frontier soldiers' concern for the frontier situation, their pride and sense of responsibility for their tasks, and the loneliness and hardship of frontier life are all integrated in the tragic, open and misty scenery.
The third and fourth sentences changed from the description of the environment with scenes to direct lyricism. "Yellow sand wears golden armor in hundreds of battles" is a poem with strong generalization. The length of the border defense, the frequency of wars, the hardship of fighting, the toughness of the enemy and the desolation of the border are all summed up in these seven words. Hundreds of battles is more abstract, and the word "yellow sand" highlights the characteristics of the northwest battlefield, making people see the scene of "the ancient battlefield with sunset and sand like clouds"; From "winning every battle" to "wearing golden armor", we can imagine the arduousness and fierceness of the battle, and we can also imagine a series of heroic sacrifices in this long time. However, although the shining golden armor has worn out, the soldiers' ambition to serve the country has not been tempered, but has become more determined in the tempering of desert sand.
"Never break the Loulan, never return it" is the heroic oath of the battle-hardened soldiers. The more the last sentence highlights the difficulty of the battle and the frequency of the war, the more forceful it becomes, hitting the floor. In a word or two, the realm is broad and the feelings are tragic and rich; There is an obvious turning point between three or four sentences, and the two sentences are in sharp contrast. Although the phrase "yellow sand" describes the hardships of war, the actual feeling of the whole image is majestic and powerful, not deep and sad.
Therefore, the last sentence is not a lament for returning home without a day, but a firmer and deeper oath based on a deep understanding of the hardships and length of the war. An important ideological feature of the excellent frontier poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty is that while expressing the lofty sentiments and ambitions of the frontier guards, they do not shy away from the hardships of war. This article is an obvious example. It can be said that three or four sentences are not empty and superficial lyricism, but only one or two sentences of rich environmental description are needed. The high unity of typical environment and characters' feelings is a prominent advantage of Wang Changling's quatrains, which is also clearly reflected in this paper. The whole poem shows the great ambition of the soldiers stationed at the border.