I learned Yue Fei's song "Man Jiang Hong" by heart when I was 18 years old. More than 20 years have passed, and I still like to recite it affectionately in my spare time and carefully appreciate the connotation contained in the poem.
Make a living in fireworks, seek love in the moonlight, and seek your heart in words. Since I was a girl, I have cherished poetry and distant dreams. Like most book lovers, I also believe that both words and music have spirituality.
My favorite type of poetry is none other than frontier fortress poetry, and Yue Ye's "Man Jiang Hong" is a masterpiece among frontier fortress poems. Many years later, singer Tu Honggang's song "Serve the Country with Loyalty" once again made my blood boil.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei was born in a peasant family. He had made great ambitions to serve the motherland since he was a child. When Yue Fei was a boy, he especially liked reading Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals and Sun Tzu's Art of War.
When he was 19 years old, Yue Fei was ready to join the army to fight against the Liao Dynasty. Before leaving, Yue Fei's mother tattooed the four characters "Serve the Country with Loyalty" on his back. In the second year of Jingkang, Yue Fei, who was brave and skillful in fighting, beat the enemy to pieces with his powerful skills.
Soon after, the Jin soldiers launched a large-scale attack on the Song Dynasty. With the capture of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong, the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. At this time, Zhao Gou saw the opportunity and ascended the throne in Yingtian Mansion and proclaimed himself emperor, and the Southern Song Dynasty was born immediately.
“Beyond the mountains, there are towers on the green hills, and when will the singing and dancing of the West Lake stop? The warm wind makes the tourists drunk, and they call Hangzhou Bianzhou.” This is the common people’s painful account of the blood and tears of the Southern Song Dynasty court.
The 25-year-old Yue Fei could not bear the people living in dire straits, so he wrote to Zhao Gou asking to send troops to fight against the Jin. As a result, the dim-witted Zhao Gou didn't take Yue Fei, who was just a sesame official at that time, into his eyes at all.
After many hardships and tests, Yue Fei joined the army of Zhang Suo, the anti-gold envoy. After the ministers of the main war faction stepped down one after another, someone recommended Yue Fei to lead the fight against the Jin soldiers.
After three Northern Expeditions, the Yue family army conquered Caizhou, Zhengzhou, Luoyang and other places. Just when Yue Fei was about to lead his men to pursue the victory and cross the Yellow River to destroy the Jin Dynasty, Song Gaozong won twelve gold medals in a row and recalled Yue Fei.
Isolated and helpless, Yue Fei was forced to return to the court. A "groundless" charge became the reason for his murder. Fengbo Pavilion has left behind thousands of years of regret. At the end of the road, the hero only regrets that the country has not yet been unified.
"Serving the Country with Loyalty" reflects Yue Fei's military life and praises his strong patriotism. The shocking melody, the majestic momentum, the sad and desolate tone, all of these successfully created Yue Fei's glorious image.
Regardless of "Man Jiang Hong" or "Loyalty to the Country", in my heart, they will always be heroic songs!