Tiaojiangting is a seven-character quatrain written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. This poem discusses the success or failure of the war and puts forward its own hypothetical speculation about the war that has ended in history. In the first sentence, victory or defeat is a common occurrence in military strategists. The second sentence criticized Xiang Yu for not being broad-minded enough and lacking general bearing. Imagine three or four sentences, if Xiang Yu returns to Jiangdong and regroups, maybe he can make a comeback.
This poem regrets Xiang Yu's anger and suicide, but the main meaning is to criticize him for not being good at grasping opportunities, listening to other people's suggestions, and being good at employing people. In the first year of Huichang (84 1), Du Mu passed by Wujiang Pavilion when he went to Chizhou for secretariat and wrote this epic. Written in the fourth year of Kaicheng (839).
Sima Qian once criticized Xiang Yu's stubbornness of "killing me by heaven is not a crime of war" from the perspective of historians. Du Mu, on the other hand, talks about success or failure from the perspective of a military strategist. Both of them pay attention to personnel, but Sima Qian summed up his own lessons and emphasized the reasons for his failure. Du Mu is an imaginary opportunity, emphasizing that military strategists should have foresight and indomitable will.
The unconventional discussion is the characteristic of Du Mu's epic. For example, "The east wind doesn't follow, the bronze sparrow terrace locks Er Qiao in spring" ("Red Cliff"), "The South Army doesn't show its left sleeves, and the four old men and women destroy Liu" ("Shangshan Sigong Temple") are all opposites, and their styles are similar to this poem. It is advisable for this poem to make use of the topic and carry forward the indomitable spirit.
Literary appreciation
The first sentence of the poem directly points out that victory or defeat is common sense of military strategists, and implies that the key lies in how to look at the problem and pave the way for the following. "An accident" means that the victory or defeat is unpredictable. The second sentence emphasizes that only "protecting shame" is "human".
When Xiang Yu was frustrated, he was ashamed to commit suicide. What is a real "man"? The word "man" is reminiscent of the overlord of Chu, boasting that he is stronger than mountains and rivers, and he is furious. Until his death, he had not found the reason for his failure. He just blamed himself on "bad times" and committed suicide in shame, ashamed of his title of "hero".