On one occasion, Bai Juyi went to visit the lake. I saw people picking up soil and filling the lake and building pavilions by the lake in the south. Bai Juyi asked who made it. The servant came back and said, "This is the garden built by Master Yan's father-in-law."
Bai Juyi sent Mr. Zhong's father-in-law to say, "The West Lake is the people's West Lake. Why do you want to occupy it alone? " Now, you are fined to open 100 acres of farmland. "
Sir Zhong's father-in-law, knowing that the secretariat was uncompromising, had to hire a group of people to dig a hundred acres of lake mud.
Once again, Bai Juyi came back from a walk on the white sand embankment and saw someone cut down two trees from the mountain and carried them back for firewood. Bai Juyi said to the man, "When all the trees on the mountain are cut down, the mud will flow into the lake and accumulate. How to do this? Punish you for replanting ten trees! "
The man had to go to the mountain to replant ten trees. Since then, no one has dared to occupy the lake on the mountain to build houses and cut down trees. In this way, Bai Juyi stayed in Hangzhou for three years, making the West Lake green and green, and letting the people live and work in peace and contentment.
After Tang Xianzong ascended the throne, he carried out some political reforms and appointed some honest ministers like Li Jiang as prime ministers. But he still values eunuchs. He wants to crusade against the buffer region and use a eunuch leader as commander in chief. This matter caused opposition from some ministers. The most fierce opposition is left gleaning Bai Juyi.
Bai Juyi was a famous poet in Tang Dynasty and a native of Xiayi (now the northeast of Weinan, Shaanxi). His reputation for being good at writing poems spread early. Bai Juyi was clever from an early age. He was only six or seven months old when he was born, and he could recognize the words "know" and "nothing". He began to learn to write poetry at the age of five or six. When he was about fifteen or sixteen years old, his father was an official in Xuzhou, asking him to go to Chang 'an, the capital, to see the world and make friends with celebrities.
At that time, it was after the Zhu rebellion that Chang 'an suffered great damage. Especially after years of war, food shortage in various places, soaring rice prices in Chang 'an, people's lives are very difficult.
At that time, there was a writer in Chang 'an named Gu Kuang, who was brilliant but arrogant. When he meets the younger generation, he often relies on his qualifications. Bai Juyi heard Gu Kuang's fame and took his manuscript to Gu Kuang's home for advice.
Gu Kuang heard that Bai Juyi is also the son of a butler, so he can't accept it. Bai Juyi visited Gu Kuang and gave him a famous card and a poem.
Gu Kuang looked at the young people, looked at the famous post, saw the word "Juyi", frowned and joked: "The price of rice in Chang 'an is very expensive recently, but life is not easy! "
Bai Juyi was scolded by Gu Kuang inexplicably, and he didn't care. He stood respectfully asking for advice. Gu Kuang picked up the scroll and flipped through it. His hand suddenly stopped, eyes staring at the scroll, gently chanting:
The endless grass on the plain comes and goes with each season;
Wildfire can't burn it out, but the spring breeze can revive it.
When Gu Kuang read this, he showed excitement on his face. He immediately stood up, held Bai Juyi's hand tightly and said enthusiastically, "Ah! It is not difficult to write such a good poem and live in Chang 'an. I just played a joke on you, don't take it amiss. "
After this meeting, Gu Kuang appreciated Bai Juyi's poetic talent very much and boasted to everyone how great the children of the White House were. When word of mouth spread, Bai Juyi became famous in Chang 'an. In less than a few years, he passed the Jinshi exam. Tang Xianzong heard about his reputation, and immediately promoted him to a bachelor's degree in Hanlin, and later sent him to pick up the left.