Bai Juyi sympathizes with the sufferings of the people, and here only takes "selling charcoal Weng" as evidence. An old man selling charcoal cuts wood and burns charcoal in the mountains in the south all year round.
His face was covered with dust, which was the color of smoke burning, his temples were gray, and his ten fingers were burnt black.
What's the point of selling charcoal? You can't eat with clothes on.
Pity that he is wearing thin clothes, but he is worried that charcoal can't be sold, hoping it will be colder.
At night, I came to this city with a foot of snow. I drove a charcoal car on the ice.
Cows are tired and people are hungry, but the sun has risen very high. They are resting in the mud outside the south gate of the market.
Who are the two riders? Yellow messenger and white shirt.
Holding the document was forgiven, and the cow was led north when she got back to the car.
A load of charcoal, more than 1000 kilograms, eunuch attendants to drive away, the old man is helpless, but there is no way.
Half a horse's red yarn is a silk, which is filled with charcoal to the cow's head.
Selling Charcoal Weng is one of the fifty poems of Bai Juyi, a great realistic poet in Tang Dynasty. Describes the hardships of an old man burning charcoal to make a living, and exposes the evil of the "court market" in the Tang Dynasty.
At the beginning of this poem, we were taken to Zhong Nanshan near Chang 'an, the then capital, and we saw an old man burning charcoal living a very poor life.
"Selling charcoal Weng, Nanshan cuts wood and burns charcoal." The old man who burns charcoal doesn't even have an inch of land. All he lives on is an axe, an ox cart and ten fingers blackened by fireworks. He has no wife and children, and he is alone. He cuts his salary and burns charcoal on Nanshan Mountain, making his face "dusty, smoky, with gray temples and black fingers". The hardships of labor can be imagined. Old people who burn charcoal have low demands on life. "What's the point of selling charcoal to make money?" ? He just wants to have food and clothing and maintain a minimum life. Arguably, it is not difficult for a person to support himself, but even such a wish is difficult for him to realize. Charcoal is what people use to keep warm. The old man worked hard to cut wood and burn charcoal, which brought warmth to others, but his clothes were pitifully thin.
Thin clothes always hope for warm weather, right? No, on the contrary, the old man forced by life is "worried about charcoal and willing to be cold". In order to sell more charcoal, he would rather endure double cold. This ambivalence profoundly shows the tragic situation of charcoal sellers.
"It snows a foot outside the city at night, and Xiao drives a charcoal car to roll the ice." The cold weather is really coming. Early in the morning, he got on the bus and walked on the icy road, but went to Chang 'an to sell charcoal. On the way from Zhong Nanshan to Chang 'an, what was he thinking? The poet didn't tell us; But you can imagine that he must be full of hope, because this car charcoal is directly related to his later life. After reading this, we feel closer to the elderly, and can't wait to know whether this car charcoal can be sold or not, and whether it can be sold at a reasonable price. However, the poet didn't tell us the result at once. He let the charcoal seller have a rest and let the readers calm down.
Then the pen turned and wrote, "Who are the two riders?" The yellow messenger has a white shirt. "One is a yellow eunuch, and the other is a pawn of a white eunuch. They pretended to be ordered by the emperor to buy goods, and they chased the charcoal cart north regardless of whether the charcoal seller agreed or not. The north of the city is where the emperor lives, and the driver is the eunuch in the palace. What can an old man selling charcoal do? " A load of charcoal, more than 1000 kilograms, the palace envoys will not let go. "A few thousand jins of charcoal, don't know how many jins of firewood to burn, also don't know how many days to cut! In order to burn firewood into charcoal, how much the lonely old man suffered in the dust and beside the fireworks! But what did you get? " Half a horse's red yarn is a silk, which is charcoal for the cow's head. "Even the yarn and silk together only three zhangs. Can this be worthy of the hard work of the elderly for many days? These court envoys are not shopping, they are simply robbers. They took away not only a car full of charcoal, but the hope of the old man's life and his right to exist. What kind of anger should this arouse the readers! After reading this poem, we can't help asking: Can a charcoal seller with gray temples survive the cold winter with his worthless remuneration?
Bai Juyi has a preface under the title of each poem in New Yuefu, explaining the theme of the poem. The preface of "Selling Charcoal Weng" is "Kugong City", which reflects the pain brought by the palace city to the people. "Palace market" is the most rogue way for the Tang court to directly plunder the property of the people. It turned out that all the daily necessities needed by the imperial court were purchased by the government from the people. In the last years of Dezong Zhenyuan, eunuchs were used to buy directly from court envoys. The palace often sends hundreds of people to Chang 'an's East-West City and popular neighborhoods. When you meet something you like, just say "Miyagi", take it and leave. No one dares to ask. Sometimes I tear your two or three feet of old silk thread into pieces as a reward; Sometimes, instead of giving you any reward, you are asked to post "door money" and "foot price". Therefore, every time the palace envoys come out, even the small shops selling wine and biscuits are closed and afraid to do business.