According to historical records, when Jia Yi visited Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen just came back from the sacrificial ceremony and asked Jia Yi about ghosts and gods. Wendi asked ghosts and gods for a reason, but he felt something. However, the poet seized this plot and made a big fuss about it, pushing the connotation of his political frustration and unfulfilled ideals and ambitions to a deeper level, that is, the encounter and failure do not lie in personal poverty and honor and disgrace.
On the surface, the poet is satirizing the fatuity of Emperor China. In fact, Li Shangyin asked Jia Yi not because he didn't know that Emperor Wendi had feelings, but also because he was addicted to ghosts and gods, not to mention that Emperor Wendi in history was a visionary monarch. Li Shangyin's real intention is to satirize the present and express his feelings in reality through the past of the previous dynasty. In the late Tang Dynasty, many emperors worshipped Buddhism and Taoism.
The most striking feature of this poem is its ingenious structure and profound meaning. The poet successfully used the method of restraining the first and promoting the second, from "seeking" to "visiting" to "sitting at the table at midnight", advancing layer by layer, and finally suddenly falling down, which is unique.