During the Taiping and Xingguo period of the Song Dynasty, on a bright spring night, the Imperial Garden in Kaifeng, Kyoto, was filled with bright lights and music. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty was hosting a banquet for courtiers in the Moon Viewing Hall in the garden. Taizong was in a very good mood. After dancing with swords, guns, swords and halberds, he took up his pen and brushed his brush in public. On the paper that the chamberlain had prepared, he wrote a seven-character poem in a flying way.
When the civil servants saw it, they shook their heads and started chanting one by one, and then they were full of praise and cheered loudly: "The Holy One is really a versatile man in both civil and military affairs. His elegant literary talent shames Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han!" Your Majesty's writing is so wonderful that even Li and Du will be ashamed of themselves!" All civil servants wanted to praise Taizong to heaven.
Taizong looked around the hall. All the civil servants bowed their heads, but only one person stood proudly, seemingly disdainful. When everyone looked up, it turned out to be the chief bookkeeper of Zhaozhou. Taizong lowered his face and asked coldly: "Wang Zhu, tell me, how do I write this poem?"
Wang Zhu is a descendant of Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He is full of poetry and prose. He also inherited it from his ancestors, and his calligraphy is unparalleled in the world. Just because of his upright temperament and not good at flattering, he only became the chief secretary of Zhaozhou. Several of the civil servants were Wang Zhu's good friends, and they all hinted at him with their looks, lest he speak frankly and say something that would not please Taizong, which might lead to death.
Unexpectedly, Wang Zhu turned a blind eye to the hints of his friends. He walked out of the banquet with his head held high, raised his hands towards Taizong, and said loudly: "With all due respect, this poem written by the Holy Emperor is actually from the Tang Dynasty. It was written on behalf of Liu Changqing, and was titled "Taoyuan". Liu Changqing was not successful in his official career at that time, so he had a desire to live outside the world. Your Majesty is the king of a country, and you should attach great importance to the country. How can you admire the paradise created out of nothing? The horse can follow the reins and do whatever it wants without any rules." After Wang Zhu said this, he rushed forward, grabbed Taizong's poem manuscript, and ripped it into pieces.
"What a bold maniac, how dare you commit a crime in public!" There was a roar in the hall. Several of the civil servants who were asking for credit did not care about being polite, so they immediately went up and captured the king. "Stop!" Taizong shouted, "Who told you to be rude to Wang Zhu?" Taizong pushed aside the crowd, personally gave Wang Zhu a seat, and on the spot named him Wei Wei Si Cheng and Shi Guan Ji Hou, and transferred him to Kyoto.
All the civil servants were stunned. The king contradicted and belittled the emperor in public. Not only was he not punished, but he was also promoted to a higher position. What kind of medicine was sold in the emperor's gourd? Taizong glared at everyone angrily: "I was born in the general family. When I was young, I followed my father and brother in the north and south. I had no time to study essays. As a result, now I can't read the book on governing the country or write the words that will be passed down. I am in vain to be the master of the people. You all know that I have This is not enough, but they are trying to flatter me against their will and deceiving me with lies!" All the civil servants were blushing and ashamed. Taizong dismissed all the civil servants and left the king alone.
It turned out that Taizong wanted to hire a teacher. He had already heard that Wang Zhu was a contemporary scholar and intended to transfer him to Kyoto. But when he appointed Wang Zhuo, he was worried that the civil servants would be jealous of talents and would not be convinced. After several days of hard thinking, I specially directed this interview scene in the Moon Viewing Hall. Wang Zhu was truly extraordinary and immediately stood out.
2. The Secret of Skillful Teaching
After Wang Zhu came to Beijing according to the order, Taizong promoted him to the position of Zuo Lang and concurrently served as the Imperial Academy Reader. Every day when Taizong retired from the court, he would go to Wang's place and read carefully the books that Wang had selected for him to govern the country and the people. After reading the book, he would stand quietly and watch Wang's writing. Enjoy and learn at the same time. Wang Zhu's calligraphy art has already reached the level of perfection. Taizong was new to this practice and found it difficult to get started. Therefore, the more he looked at it, the more discouraged he became, and the more he learned, the more he feared the difficulties.
On this day, Taizong copied the post Wang Zhu prepared for him for several hours, but still couldn't get it right. Either the characters had no edges, or the skeletons of the characters were messy. He was so angry that he dropped his pen and inkstone, sulking alone and determined to retreat. He tentatively asked Wang Zhu: "Wang Aiqing was born in a calligraphy family. Generations of your Wang family have produced calligraphers. Do you have any calligraphy secrets passed down from generation to generation?" Wang Zhu replied confidently: "Yes!" Taizong turned his worries into joy: "Okay. , if you have the secret of calligraphy, come on, come on, come on, give me the secret quickly.
"Wang Zhu asked in surprise: "Have you never seen the secret before? ""No! Wang Zhu became angry and loudly scolded the eunuch: "I asked you to hand over the secret of calligraphy to Long Live Lord a long time ago. Why did you delay in handing it over?" "
Taizong shouted: "You slave, how dare you hide the secret of Mr. Wang's calligraphy secretly, causing me to be blind and blind, and besieged the city and hit the wall. Hand over the secret quickly and I will spare your life! "The little eunuch was so frightened that he peed his pants. He knelt on the ground with a thump and kowtowed, "Your Majesty... Lord Wang... this secret of calligraphy..." "Quickly, where is it? "I don't know, this slave. In the past two days, Master Wang only asked the slave to prepare a large porcelain vat and fill it with clean water. He did not give any secrets." Taizong asked Wang Zhu impatiently: "Wang Aiqing, where is your secret?"
Wang Zhu calmly pointed to a large porcelain vat filled with water in the palace and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the secret is hidden in this porcelain vat. You only need to use the porcelain vat." The water inside grinds the ink, and when the water dries, the secret will reveal itself. ”
Taizong stared at the big porcelain vat for a while, and then suddenly realized.
3. Sacrificing his life to teach the emperor
A year later, Song Taizong’s writing skills and calligraphy His skills improved greatly, and he often admired and indulged himself in his handwriting. He spent a few days carefully writing a picture in regular script, and happily gave it to Wang Zhu, hoping that Wang Zhu would praise him. After reading it, Wang Zhu not only did not praise it, but also found a lot of faults. Wang Zhu's merciless criticism made Taizong feel very uncomfortable. He did not believe that his handwriting was so useless. He checked the words carefully from beginning to end, and suddenly became wilted like an eggplant beaten by frost. From then on, Taizong never dared to show off easily.
Three years later, Taizong's calligraphy matured. He spent a few days writing a banner in running script and gave it to Wang Zhu. He thought, I'll see what Wang Zhu has to say this time. After looking at it, he still shook his head and said, "I don't have enough skills, I don't have enough firepower. "Taizong was really angry. He was so angry that he pulled out his sword and stabbed Wang Zhu's throat with the tip of the sword. He said angrily: "You sour scholar! Every time I read my writing, I find myself nitpicking and deliberately finding fault with me! Everyone inside and outside the palace praises my calligraphy as the best in the world, but you devalued me as worthless. What's your intention? "
Wang's face remained calm and his heart did not beat, and he said calmly: "It's not surprising that the Holy Master's calligraphy is praised as the best in the world. If the ink written by the Holy One is not signed or stamped, but is mixed among millions of ink marks, will anyone praise it? Wang Zhu paused for a moment and then said: "If I say a few compliments without conscience to please you temporarily, the ink marks on the Holy Sage will be stinky for thousands of years in the future, and future generations will call me Wang Zhu a cunning villain." "Taizong woke up from a dream after listening to Wang Zhu's words.
IV. Imperial Master
After this, Song Taizong seemed to have changed as a person, becoming more modest and cautious. . He studied calligraphy and calligraphy when he had time, and no longer allowed anyone to praise him or show off to others. He used up a lot of water, wore out inkstones, and became bald after writing.
One day, Taizong ordered Wang Zhu to collect fine calligraphy from all over the world, and Wang Zhu complied. While appreciating many fine calligraphy works, he discovered a very high-level calligraphy banner. It was signed but not sealed. Wang Zhu looked at it for a long time. From the glyphs to the strokes, he felt that it was the handwriting of the current emperor.
Wang Zhu took the official seal and went to see Taizong and asked in surprise: "Wang Aiqing." , why are you urgently seeking to see me? Wang Zhu couldn't hide the joy in his heart: "Your Majesty's calligraphy skills have reached an excellent level. Today, I'm here to congratulate you and to resign. I can't comment on your Majesty's calligraphy. Please hire another talented person." "Wang Zhu said, and presented the official seal.
Upon hearing this, Taizong quickly got down from his seat, returned the official seal to Wang Zhu, and said with great excitement: "If it weren't for Ai Qing's strict encouragement, how could he have done it? Today, you are my strict teacher! "Taizong wrote impromptu with a splash of ink and five dragon-style characters: "A strict teacher produces a great disciple" and gave it to the king.