Yes, the love between Tang Ming Emperor Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan, the wife of the longevity king, was vigorously publicized by the famous poet Bai Juyi in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", and was considered to be pure and sincere love. The two of them once swore to each other in the Temple of Eternal Life on Chinese Valentine's Day: "I wish to be a winged bird in heaven, and a twig on earth." After Yang Yuhuan's death, Li Longji fell into the endless longing for her: "Heaven and earth will last forever, and sometimes it will end. This hatred lasts forever." Influenced by Bai's poems, later generations expressed deep sympathy for Yang Yuhuan's death, and believed that the love between Li and Yang was a classic of royal love, and even considered it to be the eternal masterpiece of royal love. I once traveled to Huaqing Pool in Lishan Mountain, Shaanxi Province, and saw that Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" was written by calligraphers in Chinese and Japanese languages, and the chapters were hung on the walls of Huaqing Palace. There is a statue of Yang Yuhuan taking a bath next to the pool in front of the Huaqing Palace. It vividly reproduces the charm of Yang Yuhuan after he came out of the bath. "The waiter lifted her up and was weak". Many tourists felt pity for the fragrance and cherished the jade after seeing it, and leaned against the peerless statue. Take a group photo with the statue of the beautiful lady. Some foreigners also caressed the towering breasts of the beauty with their hands. It can be seen that the love between Li and Yang has a profound impact on later generations.
Is the love between Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan really worthy of praise?
The love between Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan was stolen. "Zizhi Tongjian" records: "At the beginning, when Concubine Wu Hui passed away, she was mourned endlessly. Thousands of people in the harem paid no attention to her. Perhaps it was said that the beauty of the Shou King Yang's family was unparalleled. She was pleased when she saw it. So the concubine took her own initiative. Begging to be a female official, her name is Taizhen. She is married to the daughter of Wei Zhaoxun, a general of Zuo Weilang, and she lives in Taizhen's palace. , She was favored like Concubine Hui, her palace title was 'Lady', and she behaved like a queen." From this text record, it can be seen that Yang Yuhuan was originally Li Longji's daughter-in-law, and the word "Qian" refers to Li Longji. Long Ji married Yang Yuhuan secretly. It is against ethics and morals for a patriarch to marry his daughter-in-law. What is there to praise about such a love? Yang Yuhuan was in her prime when she married Li Longji, and Li Longji was already an old man in his fifties and sixties at the time. Li Longji was an "old cow eating young grass", just like Weng Fan, who was in his twenties, married an eighty-year-old man. Chen Ning Yang, how many people praise their love?
When Yang Yuhuan married Li Longji, was she intimidated by the emperor's authority, or was she envious of the emperor's supreme power and coveted glory and wealth? Judging from Yang Yuhuan's pampering and arrogance, she married Li Longji mainly because of her desire for glory and wealth, and of course she was also frightened by the imperial power, while Li Longji coveted Yang Yuhuan's beauty. It’s really like carrots and cabbages, everyone has their own preferences. In this way, the marriage between Li and Yang clearly contained elements of "power and sex transactions." Just like some young beauties marrying old corrupt officials whose wives have died, or celebrities in the entertainment industry being mistressed by high-ranking officials, they are despised by people. What is there to praise?
In fact, the love between Yang Yuhuan and Li Longji was not pure. She had an extramarital affair with An Lushan. Yang Yuhuan recognized An Lushan as his godson, "Since An Lushan couldn't help but go in and out of the palace, or ate with the imperial concubine, or stayed out all night, the scandal was heard outside, and the superiors did not doubt it ("Zi Zhi Tong Jian" ")." Perhaps the old man Li Longji could not satisfy Yang Yuhuan's sexual needs. Yang Yuhuan wanted to supplement his sexual life from extramarital affairs, so he had an ambiguous relationship with An Lushan. Is love mixed with extramarital affairs worth celebrating?
Tang Minghuang did love Concubine Yang and tried his best to let her live a life of luxury and wealth. He also gave her brothers and sisters high-ranking officials and generous salaries, which greatly boosted Yang Yuhuan's vanity. satisfy. However, in the second year of the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Ming of Tang fled with Concubine Yang in panic. A mutiny broke out in Makaipo, and Prime Minister Yang Guozhong was killed by a sergeant. Under the precarious situation where Cong was angry and difficult to offend, "Shang Nai ordered Gao Lishi to lure the concubine to the Buddhist hall and hang her to death. The body was carried to the post court and Xuanli and others were summoned to see it ("Zi Zhi Tong Jian")." At the critical moment, Li Longji only cared about his own life and throne and ordered the death of his beloved, which fully exposed the ruthless love side of the feudal emperor. The harsh facts once again prove that there is no true love in the royal family. The alliance between Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan was so fragile and vulnerable. It can be seen from historical records that after Li Longji ordered the execution of Yang Yuhuan, he also asked General Chen Xuanli and others to go to the Yiting for an autopsy, indicating that Yang Yuhuan was indeed dead at that time. If Yang Yuhuan had not died, could the sergeant's mutiny be quelled? As for the various versions of the legend about Yang Yuhuan's eastward journey to Japan and his becoming a nun, they were probably made up by boring literati in later generations.
Just imagine, in that era of war and chaos, how could Yang Yuhuan, a weak woman who had always lived in a deep palace and pampered herself, travel thousands of miles across the ocean and escape to Japan? The mutinous sergeant who endured hunger and fatigue hated Yang Yuhuan so much that he wanted to put him to death. Who would be willing to commit public outrage and protect Li Longji's little wife to escape death and sail eastward to Japan? Whether it is the "Eastward Journey Theory" or the "Monkhood Theory", they are both nonsense.