The author of this exciting poem is not a soldier, but a civilian. He is also a scientist.
This man is the author of Meng Qian Bi Tan, Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Shen Kuo's scientific contribution is well known. As a famous scientific work in the history of China, Meng Qian Bi Tan is a famous work. So, why did Shen Kuo write the opening military poem?
This poem is called "One of the Five Great Triumphs", which was written by Shen Kuo when he personally commanded the battle. Today we will talk about this poem and the story behind it.
Shen Kuo was an official in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was born in an official family. He was smart and studious since childhood, and he had a strong interest in science, technology and military affairs, which laid the foundation for his future career.
Shen Kuo later became a scholar and a senior official of the Northern Song government. He took part in the political reform and left the west frontier of the town.
At that time, there was a confrontation between Xixia and the Northern Song Dynasty in the Western Regions, and the Song government sent capable forces to confront it. Shen Kuo was the magistrate of Yanzhou and concurrently the ambassador of Yan Yan.
At the beginning, this poem was written by Shen Kuo when he was directing operations in the Western Regions.
Xixia was a dynasty established by the Tangut people, entrenched in today's Ningxia, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, and its strength was not weak.
Li Yuanhao, a Tangut hero, founded the Xixia Dynasty, and their plain iron kite was an elite cavalry unit, which caused serious damage to Song Jun.
The northern song government sent troops to crusade against Xixia many times, but failed to destroy it.
During Shen Kuo's Western Expedition, because Wang Anshi forged an elite marked army through political reform, the Song Dynasty gained local advantages over Xixia, and once attacked the city.
As a commander-in-chief, Shen Kuo is full of lofty sentiments. In the face of the army, victory is in sight, so he splashed ink and wrote passionate and generous military poems.
In addition to the opening poem, Shen Kuo also wrote several other poems.
For example, "Take twelve states in Shanxi first, and don't start with cracked teeth. Looking back, the Qin fortress is as low as a horse, and gradually the Yellow River flows straight north. "
Another example is: "ponytails follow Korean cars, and they hesitate and blame themselves." Don't shoot the geese in the clouds with a bow, because the geese don't send books now. "
These poems all reflect Shen Kuo's desire to win, recover the northwest and destroy Xixia.
After Song Jun fought Xixia, he won some victories, but he failed to destroy Xixia in the end, and Shen Kuo himself failed because of his command error.
The Song Dynasty was the peak of China's civil administration, but its martial arts and military strength were always weak.
Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi and others carried out reforms in the western regions, trained a relatively strong army, and gained some advantages in the war with Xixia.
Scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty were not as heroic as those in the Tang Dynasty. Due to the weakness of the national military power, they could not witness the Jin Ge Iron Horse and expedition to a foreign country like the poets in the Tang Dynasty. But a scholar like Shen Kuo still has an indelible feeling of home and country in his bones, and he can't help but pursue it.
Once given the chance, they will write passionate poems like frontier poets in the Tang Dynasty.
However, all the feelings of the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty seeking to make contributions on the battlefield were broken under the harsh military system in the Northern Song Dynasty and ended without results.