During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the struggles between the Tang Dynasty and the border ethnic minorities became more and more frequent. The nature of war has changed from preventing invasion and stabilizing the frontier before Tianbao to foreign conquest and successive wars, which has brought profound disasters to the people.
In the face of the belligerence of the current dynasty, the people were in poverty, and Du Fu was both sad and angry, and wrote this long narrative poem "Chedian":
Vehicles roared, soldiers sang, and soldiers and arrows were tied to their waists.
My parents, my parents, my wife and children all ran to see them. When they marched, the dust covered the sky and they couldn't see xian yangqiao.
On the way, holding soldiers' clothes, eating and crying, the sky rushed into the sky.
Passers-by asked the soldiers how they got there, saying only that the roster was frequently recruited.
Some people go to the north of the Yellow River at the age of fifteen, even if they go to the western border to open up wasteland at the age of forty.
Long in the middle, the hair is tied up with a headscarf, and when I come back, I am bald and guarding the border.
Countless border guards shed blood and sacrificed to form seawater, and the concept of border defense in Huang Wu has not stopped.
Do you know that in the mountainous areas of eastern China, in 200 areas and thousands of villages, nothing grows except weeds?
Even if a strong woman plows the field with a hoe, nothing will grow on the crops in the field.
Moreover, the soldiers of the Qin Dynasty can fight hard, and there is no difference between chickens and dogs when they are rushed to fight.
Although the elders have doubts, how dare those who serve complain?
Just like this winter, we didn't stop the soldiers west of Hangukou from enlisting.
The county magistrate urgently urges people to pay taxes. Where does the tax come from?
If you really know that boys are a bad thing, you might as well have a girl.
Girls can also marry their nearest neighbors, and boys will die in battle.
Don't you see, on the edge of Qinghai, the bones of soldiers killed since ancient times have not been buried.
New ghosts hate old ghosts crying, and ghosts cry when they are wet.
The whole poem is about people's hatred of war and the pain caused by the recruiter's answer to the old man. In this case, local officials have to extort money, and the people are even more miserable.
This poem begins with an objective description, and suddenly shows a thrilling farewell picture with strong brushwork.
Chariots rumbled and horses neighed. Teams of arrested poor people put on military uniforms, equipped with bows and arrows, and marched forward under the escort of officials. Husband's parents, wife, scrambling to find in the team, shouting relatives, tearing their clothes and beating their chests, urging and calling. The dust raised by chariots and horses covered the sky, and even the Weihe Bridge in the northwest of Xianyang was covered.
In this sentence, "They ran after you, crying, and they tugged at your sleeve", four actions were used in succession, which showed in detail the sadness, resentment and despair of the people who saw you off.
In Du Fu's works, dust filled the crowds of chariots and horses. Crying all over the sky is deafening! This description focuses on the tragedy of thousands of families separated, which is really shocking.
Then, starting from "and every time a bystander asks you questions", the poet asks the parties, that is, the soldiers who joined the army, to talk directly by asking questions.
"Passerby" is actually the poet himself. The sad scene above is what the poet saw with his own eyes, and the sad words below are what the poet heard with his own ears. This narrative method enhances the authenticity of this poem.
"Dotted line frequency" means frequent conscription, which is also the "poetic eye" of the whole poem. Hit the nail on the head, pointing out the fundamental reasons why the people are not living and the country is not living.
Then, taking a "pedestrian" who went to the battlefield at the age of fifteen and was still guarding the border at the age of forty as an example, the "frequency of point to line" was explained in detail to show the truth and reliability of the situation.
The poet boldly pointed the finger at the supreme ruler's sentence, "The frontier court is bleeding into the sea, and the heart of Emperor Wu is still beating for the war", which is a fierce protest from the heart and fully expresses his anger.
At this point, Du Fu's brush strokes turned sharply, opening up another thrilling realm. Starting with the words "you don't smell", it is pointed out in a conversational tone that Harada Woye, east of Huashan Mountain, has fallen into thousands of villages, becoming sparsely populated, the countryside barren and full of thorns.
Since "whatever they are asked to do", poets have entered another level. "Elder" is a title of respect for poets. "Active servicemen" refers to recruiters who claim to be. Here, just a few five words are used together, which not only expresses the sadness of the garrison soldiers, but also shows their eagerness to pour out their difficulties. In this way, through the dictation of the parties, the double disasters brought by the belligerence of the rulers were exposed from two aspects: arresting soldiers and forcing rents.
Du Fu finally said with emotion: In today's society, it is better to have boys than girls. Girls can still marry their neighbors, and boys can only die in battle. Here is the voice of blood and tears.
Finally, Du Fu described the long-standing tragic reality in a mournful style: the ancient battlefield near Qinghai, the plain was dusty. The bones are exposed in the wild, which is chilling.
This is the masterpiece of Du Fu's 1400 poems, which have been highly praised by all dynasties. It reveals the great disaster caused by long-term militarism and years of war in the Tang Dynasty, which has profound ideological content and outstanding artistic characteristics.