Lu You once wrote a poem for Yue Fei. What did this poem express?

The poem written by Lu You for Yue Fei is called "Reading Fan Zhi Neng's Record of the Bridle at Night and Composing Quatrains of the Central Plains Fathers in the Central Plains when they saw the envoy and shed tears to express his feelings". The full poem is as follows:

The elderly should not know this hatred, and they also take off their clothes during the Han Festival.

The imperial ministers formed a clique to exclude Zongze, the pillar of the country, and the military and political ministers had no intention of re-employing Yue Fei, a famous general who fought against the Jin Dynasty. The elders in the enemy-occupied areas should not know these resentful inside stories, but when they met the envoys of the Southern Song Dynasty, they would cry sadly and wet their clothes!

This poem was written in the third year of Shaoxi reign of Emperor Guangzong of Song Dynasty (1192). The poet retreated to Shanyin, still thinking about the state affairs. He read Fan Chengda's "Bringing the Bridle Record" at night, imagining and writing poems.

"Raising the Bridle Record" is the diary of Fan Chengda, a minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, who went on a mission to the Kingdom of Jin in the sixth year of Qiandao (1170). It records some events in the process.

When the poet read "The Record of the Bridle", he was depressed and angry. When this mood is combined with the poet's own experience and rational thinking about history, poetry is like a volcanic eruption, expressing all his thoughts and feelings in the process of discussing historical events: the ministers form cliques and exclude the main battle Zongze; those bureaucrats who held military power were unwilling to reuse Yue Fei, who was both wise and brave.

The poet expresses his thoughts and emotions with graceful twists and turns, especially the use of "Ying" and "Yi". The folks in the enemy-occupied areas probably didn't know the hatred of the capitulating faction for harming the country, but they would shed tears of sadness when they met the envoys of the Song Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, Su Wu was sent as an envoy to the Xiongnu. When he came back, "Jie Jie was completely gone".

Although this poem is small in size, its capacity is not small. There are big discussions and big feelings in the four sentences. There are positive revelations, direct and heartbreaking words, and there are also twists and turns of resentment, euphemisms and far-reaching implications.

The poet chooses typical examples. The first two sentences describe the fact that the famous generals Zongze and Yue Fei were excluded and persecuted. The last two sentences euphemistically say that the majority of the people in the occupied areas are not aware of these resentful things. The implication is that if they knew, they would be even more disappointed and sad. The straightforward statement shows the depth of emotion. The poet praised Zongze and Yue Fei, and severely condemned the capitulation faction within the Southern Song Dynasty regime.