We often say, "If you sow beans, you will reap beans; if you sow melons, you will reap melons." Beans and melons are both foods that the Han people rely on.
Speaking of beans, people are familiar with Cao Zhi’s "Seven Steps Poem" (boil the beans to make a soup, drain the beans to make juice. The bean burns under the cauldron, and the beans weep in the cauldron. They all come from the same root, ) is very familiar, and the famous saying "We are born from the same roots, why are we in a hurry to fry each other?" The meaning of this poem is to satirize brothers fighting each other.
Speaking of melons, we must mention "Huangtai Melon Ci", which is said to be written by Li Xian, Wu Zetian's second son. This Li Xiansheng came from a family of emperors, and his parents were both emperors. After his eldest brother died, he was posthumously regarded as "filial to the emperor." His two younger brothers later became emperors. He was also honored as a prince, but he was not favored by Wu Zetian, and was eventually killed by his mother. He was exiled and died in central Guizhou, and was later granted the title of Prince Conception. After his brother was killed by his mother, he felt deeply that his life was in danger, so he wrote "Huangtaigua Ci".
This incident was first recorded in Volume 116 of the "Old Tang Book" written by Liu Yu and others in the Later Jin Dynasty:
(Li) Miyin reported: "When I was childish, Read Huangtaigua Ci, has your majesty heard about it? Emperor Gaozong had eight sons, and Ruizong was the youngest. The fourth son was born to Queen Tian, ??so Ruizong said he was filial to the emperor and was the prince to supervise the country. Benevolence, filial piety, and the emperor's plans were followed by poison and filial piety, and Yong Wang Xian was appointed as the prince. Xian was worried every day, knowing that he would not be saved, so he served at the side of his parents with his second brother, so he had no reason to speak out. The melon poem was sung by Ling Le Gong, hoping that the Queen of Heaven would understand it after hearing it. The poem said: "Grow melons under the yellow platform, and the ripe seeds will be separated." Still acceptable, he picked up the vines and returned home. 'But Prince Xian was eventually expelled by the Queen of Heaven and died in central Guizhou." [1]
This incident came from Li Mi's mouth. Later, I saw what Sima Guangzhi wrote:
? Bi said: "The reason why I said this is not to blame you, but to make your majesty be careful in coming. In the past, the Queen of Heaven had four sons, and the eldest name was Prince Hong. , Tianfang Tuzhi was jealous of his cleverness, and he was killed by poison. Xian was worried and wrote Huangtaigua Ci, hoping to understand the empress. Xian died in central Guizhou. "Growing melons are yellow under the platform, and the ripe seeds are separated: one pick makes the melons good, another pick makes the melons thin, three picks make the melons good, and four picks bring back the vines!" Your Majesty has already picked it once, so be careful not to pick it again! "The emperor was stunned and said: "That's right! You have recorded this poem, and I am a scribe." [2]
The text of "Huangtai Guasi" contained in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" is the same as "Huang Tai Gu Ci". "Old Tang Book" is slightly different. But the reason why Li Xian wrote this poem is basically correct.
This poem was also included in Volume 86 of "Collection of Yuefu Poems" by Guo Maoqian of the Northern Song Dynasty. Both Volumes 6 and 29 of "Complete Tang Poems" include this poem: "Grow melons under the yellow platform. When the melons are ripe, the seeds will separate. One pick will make the melons good. Another pick will make the melons thin. Three picks will make the melons thin. Three picks will make the melons thin. ." [3]
However, we should refer to the version of this poem in the "Old Tang Book" that is closest to the Tang Dynasty:
The yellow melons are planted under the platform, and the ripe melons are separated.
One pick makes the melon good, another pick makes the melon thin.
Three picks are still acceptable, four picks will bring back the vines.
The first sentence of the poem mentions "Yellow Terrace", which should be the name of a hill, or a platform with some symbolic meaning. "The Biography of Emperor Mu" once said that King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty "traveled to the hills of Huangtai and hunted in Pingze. There was rain, so the emperor took a rest. It was a cold day, with wind, rain and snow from the north, and there were freezing people, so the emperor composed three chapters of poems to mourn the people." It can be seen that this yellow platform was the place where King Mu of Zhou wrote poems to express his great feelings of loving and mourning the people. It also symbolized a good platform for achievements or to praise the great emperor.
Li Xian naturally chose the wrong place to plant melons on this platform. Besides, what delicious melons can be grown in the royal garden? We know that during the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a man named Zhao Ping, who was honored as the Marquis of Dongling during the Qin Dynasty. After the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, he would be nothing. "Historical Records: Xiao Xiangguo's Family" says that he "Qin Po, a commoner, poor, planted melons in the east of Chang'an City. The melons were beautiful, so they were called 'Donngling melons' in the world." The east gate of Chang'an City is also called "Qingmen", so "Donngling Melon" is also called "Qingmen Melon". Zhao Ping once advised Xiao He and was a thoughtful and insightful strategist. However, he himself did not want to be an official and did not accept Xiao He's offer. He only wanted to make a living by growing melons. This left behind the "Qingmen Growers" good story. "Qingmen planting melons" has also become a synonym for living in seclusion and not being an official. Li Xian used such "planting melons" to compare himself to Zhao Ping, who did not admire power, and also used "yellow platform" to imply that he hoped that his mother, Empress Wu, would feel sorry for him and give him a way to survive. It's a pity that he is a second-generation emperor, and his mother will not let him out of the Qingmen. He is destined to sacrifice for the queen of the Tang Dynasty.
?"Lili" means lushness, which is very common in poetry, such as "The grass grows in Liliyuan, and it is prosperous every year" (Bai Juyi's "Farewell to the Ancient Grassland"), "Looking back and lowering the flags" "Down here, I have seen the millet Lili" (Part 3 of Liu Yuxi's "Four Poems of Three Pavilions")... "The Book of Songs? Wang Feng? Millet Li" has the poem "The millet is separated, the seedlings of the other millet", which expresses the "things of the motherland" The sentiment of "right and wrong" makes "suili" a common expression used to lament the pain of a country's subjugation.
When the melon is ripe, there will be more seeds in the melon, allowing the melon to reproduce.
If you only pick one melon, it's okay, and you can still give other melons enough space and nutrients to grow; if you pick another melon, the melons will be scarce; if you continue to pick melons for the third time, I, Li Xian, Of the four brothers, one can still survive; if you pluck all four, there will be no more four brothers. Just like if there is no melon, there will be no seeds of separation, but only empty vines. "The Book of Songs·Daya·Mian" contains the poem "Mian Mian Gua Pu". "Mian Mian" means continuous, and "Pu" means small melon. The continuous melon vines bear many large and small melons, which is a symbol of prosperous descendants and a prosperous family. Therefore, "four picking vines and returning home" is to remind mother Empress Wu that our brothers are all your flesh and blood, and you cannot kill them all. It's a pity that the Tang Dynasty is not so affectionate and tender. The "dirty Tang stinkers" are real and dirty bastards. Wu Zetian finally killed the boss Li Hong, then exiled the second brother Li Xian and borrowed Qiu Qiu. Shenji's hand killed him. Empress Wu did keep two melons, but unfortunately they were not Li Xian. The two melons also became emperors one after another. It can be seen that Li Xian's luck is not generally bad.
Zhao Nantang (also known as Zhao Rutan, also known as Lu Chang), a scholar in the Song Dynasty, has a poem with seven rhymes "He Han Zhongzhi is pregnant with his younger brother", which goes: "The words of Huangtai melons are pitiful and beautiful, and the old roots are not even picked from the stems. Moved. The romance has reached its end, and the condition of my body is very bad." [4] I felt this. However, Mr. Lu Chang from the Zhao family was also very emotional when he mentioned that "the old roots have been removed, even the stems have been removed." This method of uprooting the weeds and eradicating the roots will not only "uproot the carrots and bring up the mud", but will even destroy the livelihood, so people are not optimistic about it. ——Li Xian’s story about planting melons and being picked, and Cao Zhishi’s story about burning beans and boiling beans, are both typical cases of fratricide, and there seems to be some horrifying causal connection between planting melons and beans. Even if an older man begged the melon pickers to leave a way out or to leave green hills, it was still in vain. Cao Zhi and Li Xian still could not escape the fate of being boiled and picked. Empress Wu and Emperor Wen of Wei, who did not care about flesh and blood, had not been on the "Huangtai" and did not know how to "sympathize with the people" for many years. On the other hand, the people who eat melons all over the country are still laughing and scolding the melons and beans with righteous indignation. There is a poem praising:
How can I sigh on the yellow platform?
It is worthy of praise to pick out the mountains and rivers.
Hun boiled the rotten beans in soup,
People everywhere ate melons.
(Axun)
? August 16, 2019
Notes:
[1] [Later Jin Dynasty] Liu Yu et al. Written and edited by the editorial department of Zhonghua Book Company: "Old Tang Book Volume 116 Biographies of the Sixty-Sixth Su Zong Daizong Zhuzi·The Thirteenth Son of Su Zong·Emperor Chengtian", Zhonghua Book Company, May 1975, p. 1st edition, page 3385.
[2] [Song] Compiled by Sima Guang, [Yuan] Hu Sansheng's phonetic annotation, punctuated by Zizhi Tongjian Group: "Zi Zhi Tongjian·Volume 220 Tang Ji Thirty-six" ·The Great Sage Suzong’s Civilization and Martial Virtue and the Great Prosecution of Filial Piety to the Emperor · The Second Year of Perfect Virtue”, Zhonghua Book Company, June 1956, 1st edition, page 7037.
[3] [Qing Dynasty] Peng Dingqiu et al., "Complete Tang Poems, Volume 6, Chapter 6, Huangtai Melon Ci", Zhonghua Book Company, April 1960, 1st edition, page 65. "New Book of Tang" Volume 82 "Li Tan Biography", "Tang Huiyao" Volume 2, "Taiping Yulan" Volume 149 are "Four Excerpts", "Yuefu Poems" Volume 86, Gao Yu's "Tang Poetry Collection" "As "Zhi Jue".
[4] Quoted from [Song Dynasty] Liu Kezhuang, edited by Xin Gengru's Notes: "Liu Kezhuang's Collection and Notes Volume 174 Poetry Talk 47", Zhonghua Book Company, November 2011, p. 1st edition, page 6752.