Original text: The desert is windy and dusty, the sun is dim, and the red flag is half-rolled out of the camp gate. The former army fought in Taohebei at night and reported that Tuyuhun was captured alive.
Appreciation
Those who have read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" may be deeply impressed by the fifth chapter "Guan Yunchang warms wine and kills Hua Xiong". This is a wonderful section for shaping the heroic image of Guan Yu. However, the book does not directly describe how Guan Yu, a single man, fought head-on with Hua Xiong, who led 50,000 troops. Instead, the book uses this paragraph: (Guan Yu) came out of the tent, picked up his sword, and flew onto his horse. All the princes heard the loud beating of drums and loud shouts outside the pass, as if the sky was shattering and the earth was falling, and the mountains were shaking and the mountains were collapsing, and everyone was shocked. Just as he was about to inquire, at the sound of the luan bell, the horse arrived at the center of the army. Yun Chang picked up Hua Xiong's head and threw it to the ground. The wine was still warm.
This piece of literature is very concise, describing Guan Yu's power from the atmosphere at the time and the reactions of the princes. In terms of its objective artistic effect, it is more fascinating than writing dozens of rounds of sword fighting. Luo Guanzhong's text certainly has his uniqueness, but if he avoids frontal narration and uses atmosphere rendering and side description to let people imagine the war scene, it is not his first creation. Like Wang Changling's This song "Joining the Army" should be said to have been pioneered and succeeded in the form of poetry.
“The wind and dust in the desert make the sun dim.” Since the Altai Mountains, Tianshan Mountains, and Kunlun Mountains in northwest my country all trend from west to east or southeast, a large trumpet is formed in the Hexi Corridor and eastern Qinghai, and the wind force It's so big that when the wind blows, sand and rocks fly. Therefore, "the sun is dim" follows "the desert wind and dust", which does not mean that it is getting late, but that the wind and sand cover the sky and the sun. But this not only expresses the violence of the climate, it appears as a background and naturally plays a role in setting off and hinting at the military situation. In this situation, what action did the Tang army take? It’s not about keeping the gate closed and passively defending, but taking the initiative to go out. In order to reduce the strong resistance of the wind and speed up the march, the soldiers half-rolled the red flag and moved forward. These two sentences are used in the "desert wind and dust" to exaggerate a powerful army led by the red flag. It seems that it is not nature showing off its power, but this army carrying dust and wind, like a sharp sword, pointing directly at the enemy camp. This tightens the reader's heartstrings and makes people feel that a fierce battle is imminent. What kind of thrilling scene will these athletes traveling across the desert perform? Under this kind of suspense, read the last two sentences again: "The former army fought in Taohebei at night and reported that Tuyuhun was captured alive." This can be said to be a fall and a fall. The reader's suspense follows the army just now, but the opportunity to show off their skills on the battlefield did not come to them. Just halfway, good news came that the forward troops had won a complete victory in the night battle, and even the enemy chieftain was captured alive. The plot develops quickly and is a bit unexpected, but it is completely reasonable, because the rapid and fierce momentum of the army when it goes out in the first two sentences has fully hinted at the morale and power of the Tang army. This powerful and powerful reinforcements not only showed that the forward's victory was no accident, but also showed that the Tang army had more than enough troops and was sure of victory.
Judging from the description, the poet chose follow-up troops that did not directly engage the enemy, and the "Night Battle of the Front Army" with brilliant results was only brought out from the side. This is an idea that breaks the mold. If the night battle was narrated from the front, it would inevitably appear flat and could not be completed in a short quatrain. Now we avoid the positive description of the war process and highlight it from the side, which turns the shortcomings of the quatrain into its strengths. It allows readers to imagine how hard and brilliant the forward battle was from "the desert is dusty and the sun is dim" and "the night battle in Taohebei". From "It has been reported that Tuyuhun was captured alive", we can appreciate how dramatic this expedition was. A fierce battle is not written hoarsely, but written in a brisk and jumping way, through side contrasts and touches, allowing readers to experience and reverie. All this is expressed in a short four-line poem. The difficulty in conception and language should be said to be more than that of a novel story such as "Warming Wine and Killing Hua Xiong". ... ...
Appreciation Supplement
This poem describes the joy of the border guards who rushed to the front line when they heard the news that the front troops had won the first battle, and praised their bravery. The heroic spirit of killing the enemy and serving the country selflessly. This poem is grand and passionate, sweeping away the usual sad and desolate style of frontier fortress poetry.
The first and second sentences of the poem, "The desert is windy and dusty, the sun is dim, and the red flag is halfway rolled out of the camp gate." uses an inverted sentence structure to describe the scene of the border guards being ordered to set off and on the march. "Red flag" refers to the border guards; "half roll" not only expresses the dancing posture of the military flag, but also conveys the high morale of the border guards when they rush to the front line. The vast army advanced like a rapid iron stream into the boundless sea, causing smoke and dust to billow over the journey, blocking the sky and the sun, and the sunlight seemed to suddenly become dim. The three words "sunlight" use the weak light to exaggerate the majestic spirit and scene of thousands of troops rushing forward. From the "wind and dust" splashed under the feet of this rushing follow-up force, we can imagine the strength of the enemy on the front line and the fierce battle waiting for reinforcements. The faster the pace of the soldiers, the more they show their fearless spirit of going forward one after another and marching forward bravely.
The third or fourth sentence "The front army fought in Taohebei at night and reported to have captured Tuyuhun alive" refers to the good news that the front troops were victorious suddenly came during the rapid march.
The word "night battle" has endless connotations. It tells us that the victory of capturing the enemy chief alive is hard-won. Night battles in the desert not only have to overcome the difficulties brought to the soldiers by the ever-changing harsh weather, but also ignore the fatigue of the pommel and horses during the day's march. Without a profound strategy and a courageous fighting spirit, it is difficult to defeat the enemy. From the victory report at the end of the poem, we can hear the overjoyed cheers of the soldiers in the follow-up troops when they first heard the good news, the dejected sobs of the enemy chiefs, and the thrilling shouts of the vanguard during the bloody battle... At the same time, we can also feel more about the vanguard. The generals are wise, brave and invincible heroes? !
The artistic distinctive feature of this poem is that it is implicit, profound and thought-provoking. The first line of the poem describes the scene of the army's rapid march, but the poet only writes about the rolling dust on the long political road, and does not directly write about the people. The second sentence of the poem does not directly describe how the border guards marched out to fight, but instead writes "the red flag was half rolled out of the camp gate", using the red flag as a metaphor for the army. These two sentences both describe scenes of military operations, and neither seems to mention people. However, the activities of the people in the picture are not only visible, but also the main body of the picture. This makes the poem appear particularly implicit and profound. The conclusion of the poem is also quite skillful. Although it does not say that the front army won, the atmosphere of victory permeates the words. "To shoot the man first, shoot the horse; to capture the thief first capture the king." If the enemy chief is captured, wouldn't the ragtag enemy soldiers be as scattered as birds and beasts? Because the poems are full of a larger space for imagination, the poems achieve the artistic effect of being exhaustive in words and infinite in meaning.