Fan Chengda·Autumn Pastoral Miscellany·Part 9
The charter boat is fully loaded and waiting to open the warehouse, the grains are as white as pearls and frost.
At the expense of two minutes, ① lose ② a handful of dendrobium, but still win ③ bran core ④ Baoerlang!
Notes
① Zhong, Hu (hú): ancient Chinese measuring instrument and capacity unit. In ancient times, six dendrobiums and four buckets were considered as one bell. One dendrobium is originally worth ten bushels, that is, one bell is sixty-four bushels. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, it was changed to one dendrobium and five buckets, that is, the capacity of the new bucket was twice the original. Therefore, one bell becomes thirty-four new buckets, which is equivalent to the original sixty-eight buckets, four more than the original. Therefore, the poet said that if you pay two bells now, you will have to pay one more than before.
② Lose: Pay.
③Win: Remaining.
④Bran core: coarse crumbs of broken rice.
Appreciation
This poem describes farmers using rented boats to transport a boat full of snow-white and plump rice, waiting for the government to open a warehouse and pay official grain. Now they have to pay eight dou more in two minutes than before, but they don't care about it, thinking that they still have some broken rice and coarse crumbs at home for their children. The harvest that the villagers had worked so hard for throughout the year was almost completely wiped out by the government. They could only feed their children some broken rice and bran to fill their stomachs.
Not to mention adults. The poet here uses the word "without hesitation", which on the one hand reflects that the simple villagers do not know how to count and cannot calculate accounts; on the other hand, even if they know that they have suffered a big loss, what can they do! They are also not allowed to pay the official rations honestly and every penny. In terms of selecting the scene, the poet did not choose to pay the grain or return after paying it, but chose the word "wai" before paying the grain, which vividly reproduced the attitude of the government being aloof and the villagers being honest and courteous. All the grief, anger and helplessness are fully reflected here. The poem profoundly criticizes the treachery and ruthlessness of the rulers, and at the same time shows the poet's full compassion and great sympathy for the lower class people.