In the middle of the fifteenth century, when the Ming Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline, there lived a romantic and talented man in Wuxian County—Tang Yin. Tang Yin, also known as Bohu and later Ziwei, claimed to be a romantic and talented man. Because Tang Yin Zi was born on the Yin day of the Yin month of the Yin year, his father named him Tang Yin. Since Tang Yin was born in the year of tiger, he was named Bohu. Tang Yin, together with Wen Zhengming, Shen Zhou, and Qiu Ying, were collectively known as the "Four Great Talents of the Ming Dynasty". Together with Zhu Yunming, Wen Zhengming, and Xu Zhenqing, they were also known as the "Four Great Talents in Jiangnan", and ranked first among the four great talents. Everyone is familiar with the name Tang Bohu. Thanks to the TV movie "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance", the story of Tang Bohu has become a household name.
Although there are many themes about Tang Bohu in TV movies, their depictions focus on Tang Bohu's romantic affairs, but ignore that Tang Bohu's title as a talented scholar is by no means a wasted one.
"Song of Peach Blossom Temple" is a classic work of Tang Yin. It is the most famous poem of Tang Bohu. Speaking of Peach Blossom Temple, there is a story here. It is said that Tang Bohu fell in love with a house in Suzhou, but no one had lived in it for a long time. Suzhou also has a place name called Taohuawu. When Tang Bohu decided to buy a house, he had no money, so he used part of his book collection as a mortgage and borrowed money from a friend who was an official in the capital. Later, he spent nearly two years writing, painting and selling money to pay off the purchase price. .
"Song of One Life" is also a work of Tang Yin. It is a seven-character ancient poem and comes from "The Complete Works of Liuru Layman". This poem uses vivid metaphors and specific examples to describe the impermanence and shortness of life, admonishing people to understand the world clearly, not to worry about external things, and to live the life they have now.
Shen Zhou, who was known as one of the "Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty" along with Tang Yin, was his enlightenment mentor. It can be said that Tang Bohu is "better than blue". He painted landscapes, figures, and feathers very well. The paintings that have been handed down include "Autumn Wind Fan Picture", "Green Mountain Companion Picture", "Jiangnan Farming Picture", etc., all of which are excellent. Lifelike.
Speaking of Tang Bohu, everyone will think of the story of him marrying nine beauties. The book called "Nine Beauties" is actually a game text written by literati. However, it is true that Tang Bohu painted the "Nine Beautiful Pictures".
One day, Zhu Zhishan went to the Tang family to meet friends, and Tang Bohu was painting. It was a landscape painting with a far-reaching artistic conception. When Zhu Zhishan met, he kept praising his paintings as being better than his master, Shen Zhou, but in the end he added that his paintings of ladies were just about the same. In fact, Zhu Zhishan had a plan. He wanted to have a beautiful picture, so he came to plot against Tang Bohu. After hearing this, Tang Bohu was very dissatisfied and asked him why. Zhu Zhishan knew that this method of motivating generals had worked, so he made a bet of three hundred taels of silver with Tang Bohu. The bet was that if Tang Bohu could spend one year painting ten beautiful pictures of famous ladies in Suzhou, the loser Three hundred taels of silver must be given to the winner. Zhu Zhishan said "miracle" to the left and "impossible" to the right, which inspired Tang Bohu to boast without thinking that he could complete ten beautiful pictures in half a year.
After Zhu Zhishan left, Tang Bohu thought about it carefully and realized that he had been fooled again. Our ladies usually don’t leave the house, so where can we draw pictures of this beautiful woman? At this time, Tang Xing, a bookboy, saw his master's thoughts and suggested: "My lord, on the first and fifteenth day of every month, young girls come to Xuanmiao Temple to burn incense and worship Buddha. Why don't you discuss it with the master who is your chess friend and let you Can't we pretend to be a little Taoist priest to find out what's going on?" Tang Bohu thought this was a clever plan, so he followed the plan. As spring passed and autumn came, Tang Bohu drew eight pictures of beauties. This year, when he was fifteen, Tang Bohu met Agui, a girl from a tofu shop, in the temple. When Tang Bohu saw her, he accidentally dropped the candle scissors in his hand. Agui looked at Tang Bohu and smiled again. Tang Bohu hurriedly walked out of the palace, but accidentally bumped into the old master who had just entered the palace. Agui found it even more funny and laughed again. Because of these three smiles, later generations made up the story "Three Smiles". After returning home, Tang Bohu drew the scene he saw in the morning on paper, and Agui was the heroine in the painting. Tang Bohu looked at the nine pictures of beauties that he had drawn and said proudly: "I don't believe I can't get three hundred taels of silver this time."
Seeing that the appointment date was coming, Tang Bohu still had some money left. I didn’t draw the next picture of a beautiful woman, so I was very anxious, but the tighter it became, the harder it was to draw it. One morning, Tang Bohu looked at his wife Lu Zhaorong dressing up in front of the dressing table. Suddenly, an idea came to him and he became very interested in painting. He said: "There is no place to find even if you wear iron shoes. It takes no effort to get it." "Why did my husband come out?" This statement?" Tang Bohu told his wife about the bet with Zhu Zhishan and explained his feelings. Lu Zhaorong didn't agree at first, but couldn't stand Tang Bohu's pestering, so he agreed to draw only a picture of his back. Tang Bohu thought this was a great idea and agreed. Lu Zhaorong had no choice but to follow her husband to the lotus pond. This time, Tang Bohu drew a "picture of a beautiful woman playing with fish" for his wife. After the painting was completed, Lu Zhaorong complained to Tang Bohu, saying that he should not secretly draw beauties, but Tang Bohu vowed never to secretly draw beauties again. The date of the appointment had come, and Lu Zhaorong was afraid that Zhu Zhishan would cause trouble if these pictures were taken, so he told Tang Bohu not to give them to him. He also said that she would have her own answer when he came later. Zhu Zhishan came as expected, and Tang Bohu unfolded the ten beautiful pictures one by one for him to appreciate. At this time, Lu Zhaorong and Tang Xing stepped into the study. Seeing the ten beautiful pictures, Lu Zhaorong scolded Zhu Zhishan. As his elder brother, he actually asked Tang Bohu to steal the painting of a lady, so he asked Tang Xing to take the painting and burn it, and then walked back to the room.
Zhu Zhishan watched helplessly as Tang Xing took the ten beautiful pictures outside the house and burned them to ashes before walking away in despair. In fact, this was Lu Zhaorong's plan, and all he burned was Tang Bohu's invalid drawings.
Because this back view was so beautiful, a prince in the Qing Dynasty became lovesick and wanted to see this beauty, so he almost died. Fortunately, there was a smart man who took advantage of the young man's sleep to change the scene and the clothes. The painting was the same, but the beauty was from the front. When the young master saw the beauty's frontal view, he no longer fantasized about it, and his illness was cured. Therefore, people say that Tang Bohu's paintings are alive, which shows how vivid and charming this back view is.
There are so many literati in the past dynasties in China, and many of them are famous today, but there are only a few left who can make their names heard and known in detail by future generations. Tang Bohu is one of them. Tang Bohu is not a successful person, but he is an accomplished person; he is not a top painter, but he is a happy artist. To put it more appropriately, he is a person who lives life to the fullest. Although his life was only a short period of fifty-four years, he made the most of his life and left a rich cultural heritage for future generations.