Yan Zhenqing’s “Manuscript for Memorials to Nephew” that went to Japan to be exhibited returned to the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The National Palace Museum in Taipei also announced that the "Manuscripts in Honor of My Nephew" will rest in the warehouse for more than three years after the exhibition.
This piece of calligraphy, which is considered to be the "second running script in the world", has become the object of everyone's attention due to this trip to Japan. But apart from this calligraphy, what kind of person is Yan Zhenqing?
In fact, his posthumous title "Wenzhong" explains everything.
Until "I don't know the world"
The Xuanzong Dynasty can be said to be the era when the Tang Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline. Later generations believed that in the early period of Tang Xuanzong's reign, he reused virtuous officials and worked hard to govern; but in the later period of his reign, he began to reuse treacherous officials such as Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, which led to political corruption.
When Yan Zhenqing became an official, he happened to catch up with this second half.
But in such an environment, Yan Zhenqing, who came from a well-known family and was well educated, was upright and a bit "ignorant of the world."
In the eighth year of Tianbao (749 AD), Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the censor of the palace, with the responsibility of correcting those officials who did not observe order. Not long after he took office, he "defeated" Ge Shuhan, the governor of Longyou who had made great military exploits at that time, but was accused by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty of insulting the hero.
In fact, when Yan Zhenqing was on a mission to Longyou, Ge Shuhan hosted a banquet to receive him, and his brother Yan Youyu also served in the Ge Shuhan shogunate. But Yan Zhenqing is completely uninterested.
When Yang Guozhong came to power, Yan Zhenqing also suffered a political blow because he did not participate in party formation.
In the twelfth year of Tianbao (753 AD), Yan Zhenqing was pushed out of Chang'an and demoted to Pingyuan as the prefect. At this time, he was already forty-five years old.
A loyal sect in the Anshi Rebellion
Before Yan Zhenqing left Chang'an, the poet Cen Shen wrote a poem "Farewell to Yan Pingyuan" for him. The last line of the poem is "The common people have looked to you. Huang Baning will stay for a long time."
Huang Ba was a minister in the later period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He was worshiped as the prime minister because of his merits in governing local counties. In Cen Shen's view, Yan Zhenqing will definitely make great achievements as a local official.
From this point of view, Yan Zhenqing did live up to this poem. But what Cen Shen didn't expect was that Yan Zhenqing's main achievement as the governor of Pingyuan was to resist Anlu Mountain.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755 AD), An Lushan rebelled in Fan Yang. The plain where Yan Zhenqing worked was under the control of An Lushan.
After the Anshi Rebellion, Yan Zhenqing and his cousin Yan Gaoqing fought against the rebels. During this period, Yan Gaoqing and his son Yan Jiming were brutally murdered by the rebels.
A few years later, Yan Zhenqing found Yan Jiming’s skull and part of Yan Gaoqing’s body. The world-famous "Nephew Memorial Manuscript" was written for Yan Jiming, who died in the war.
The arduous resistance and the murder of relatives did not change Yan Zhenqing's nature.
When Xuanzong and Suzong returned to Chang'an, Yan Zhenqing was demoted to the prefect Feng Yi for "obediently enforcing the law and not extinguishing selfish feelings".
But in fact, the reason why he was excluded was that he was too upright. The "Critical Biography of Yan Zhenqing" attributes this demotion to the fact that he "knew everything about military and state affairs, which aroused the disgust of the prime minister."
The officials of the imperial court were too poor to eat
During the reign of Emperor Daizong in Guangde, Yuan Zai, a powerful official at the time, established a system - the salary of foreign officials was higher than that of officials in Beijing, that is, officials in Beijing were paid less. The salary is less than that of officials outside the country.
After the regulations were implemented, because the political status of Beijing officials was higher than that of foreign officials, it was easy to ask for money and bribes, which led to the growth of corruption.
It happened that Yan Zhenqing was an official in the capital at this time, but he was unwilling to join the ranks of those corrupt officials. Therefore, although he was promoted to the Minister of Justice, Yan Zhenqing's family was so poor that he could not afford to eat.
As a last resort, in order to save food, the family had to eat porridge to satisfy their hunger. After several months of this, the family could not even cook a bowl of porridge.
Yan Zhenqing laughed at himself for not being good at making money and running a household, so he had no choice but to borrow rice from friends who were officials in the same dynasty.
I am too clumsy to make trouble, so I have been eating porridge with my family for several months, and now I have run out of it. I am only worried about it, and I often rely on my deep feelings, so I ordered you to report it to benefit Shaomi. Still forgive me for the trouble.
——Yan Zhenqing's "Begging for Rice"
It just so happened that during this period, Yan Zhenqing's wife, Wei Shi, fell ill. One of the medicines prescribed by the doctor is deer breast, which is relatively expensive and difficult to buy. Yan Zhenqing, who had to borrow even rice, naturally found it difficult to afford it.
Reluctantly, Yan Zhenqing wrote "Deer Breast Tie" again, hoping that he would be lucky enough to get some deer breasts that could be used as medicine from his friends.
My sick wife needs less dried venison and preserved meat when taking medicine. If there is a new good one, I hope she will benefit from it. I am very lucky! ——Yan Zhenqing's "Deer Breast Tie"
Write his own epitaph and memorial before his death
In the second year of Yongtai (766 AD), the fifty-eight-year-old Yan Zhenqing was once again imprisoned for his upright behavior. derogatory. This time he traveled around for more than ten years, and did not return to the court until he was sixty-nine years old.
For Yan Zhenqing at this time, being demoted was a common occurrence in his life. But he still has his own persistence.
He wrote this in the "Guide Post" to warn his descendants: "The government can be upheld, but it must be upheld. I offended someone with my words and deeds during the last year, but I can't go against the rules and stay in time. I will be a sinner through the ages." "Although he was demoted to a distant place, he will never be ashamed."
On the way to his demotion, he passed by Jiangzhou and climbed to Mount Lu. He remembered Tao Yuanming who had served here and wrote "Oh, Tao Yuanming, Yiye is Jin." "Chen" poem.
Although Yan Zhenqing envied Tao Yuanming's reclusive life, the focus of this song "Ode to Tao Yuanming" is still to express his loyalty to the country.
In the fourth year of Jianzhong (783 AD), the rebel army Li Xilie captured Ruzhou and harassed the outskirts of Luoyang, the eastern capital.
Seventy-five-year-old Yan Zhenqing was appointed as the comfort envoy and went deep into the enemy camp to appease Li Xilie, but was detained and detained.
Yan Zhenqing, who was stranded among the rebels, felt that it was difficult to survive, so he wrote a suicide note to go to the court, and wrote his own epitaph and memorial. During this period, he often pointed to the west wall of his dormitory and said to people, "This is where my funeral is." Later generations believed that this was because Chang'an was in the west, and even after death, he had to face the imperial court.
After being imprisoned for several years, in the first year of Zhenyuan (AD 785), Yan Zhenqing was moved to Longxing Temple in Caizhou. He left the last calligraphy in his life, "Yicai Tie".
On the fifth day of the first month of the first year of Zhenyuan, Zhenqing moved from Ru to Cai, Tianye. Heaven is so clear, how can it be falsely accused! If you have the virtue of the Tang Dynasty, you will have immortal ears. Book of the 19th. ——Yan Zhenqing's "Moving Cai Tie"
Although the Tang Dynasty at this time was riddled with holes and rebellions continued in various vassal towns, Yan Zhenqing, as a minister of Li Tang, still wrote "If you have the virtues of the Tang Dynasty, you will be immortal." "sentence.
In August of that year, Yan Zhenqing was killed, and he continued to curse the rebels until his death.
The following year, Li Xilie was killed by his generals, and the rest of his troops surrendered to the imperial court. Only then did Yan Zhenqing's coffin return to the capital.