Original text from Sui Gong: If there is no martial law when traveling to the south in the interest of prosperity, who will save the Jiuzhong letter of remonstrance? The spring breeze brings the whole country to cut the palace brocade, half of it is made of mud and half of it is made of sail. Translation: Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty did not care about safety when traveling to the south. Who in the Jiuchong Palace paid attention to the letter of advice? During the spring outing, half of the silk brocade made across the country was used as a mud barrier for horses and the other half was used as sails.
This poem satirizes Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty for his extravagant travels. The first two sentences describe Emperor Yang's wanderings as he pleased, acting unscrupulously, and indiscriminately killing loyal and admonishing people, thus committing suicide. The next two sentences describe the huge cost of cutting brocade, contrasting one person with the whole country, palace brocade with mud barriers and sails, highlighting the arrogance and extravagance of Emperor Yang. However, there is not a single word of discussion in the whole poem. In the graceful and beautiful narrative, there is a deep concern hidden in it, which makes people think about the rise and fall of the past.
About the author
Li Shangyin, courtesy name Yishan and nickname Yuxisheng, was born in Xingyang, Henan Province (now Xingyang City, Zhengzhou, Henan Province) in the Tang Dynasty. He was originally from Hanoi, Huaizhou (now Jiaozuo City, Henan Province). A famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose has high literary value. He is one of the most outstanding poets in the late Tang Dynasty. He is known as "Xiao Li Du" together with Du Mu and "Wen Li" together with Wen Tingyun.
Because the style of poetry is similar to that of Duan Chengshi and Wen Tingyun of the same period, and all three of them were ranked sixteenth in their families, they were collectively called the "Thirty-sixth Style". His poems are novel in conception and beautiful in style, especially some love poems and untitled poems, which are sentimental, beautiful and moving, and are widely read.