Compassion for farmers
Li Shen
At noon in summer, the sun is very hot, farmers are still working, and beads are dripping into the soil.
Who knows that every grain of Chinese food is hard?
Bozhou has a long history, outstanding people and numerous celebrities, and has produced many outstanding figures. As far as writers are concerned, besides Cao Shi and his son, who are unconventional and created a poetic style, there is also a well-known figure in poetry. He is Li Shen, a famous peasant poet in the Tang Dynasty.
Born into an official.
Li Shen, a native of Bozhou, was born in Wuxi, Runzhou. His great-grandfathers, Li and Wu Zetian, were made Duke of Zhao when they were in power. Grandfather Li Shouyi was appointed as Pixian county magistrate. His father Wu Li was the county magistrate of Jintan, Wucheng and Jinling.
Shen Li was born in Tang Daizong for seven years. His father died when he was six years old, and his mother Lushi has been teaching him poetry and classics. From the age of fifteen, Li Shen moved to Huishan and studied in Huishan Temple. Because of his talent, Li Shen has made his mark in the field of poetry at this time. His poems have been read by Wuxi people for some time. Because he was very small, Wuxi people gave him a nickname: short Li.
Primary occupation
Before the first year of Yuanhe, Li Shen went to Beijing several times to take the exam, but all failed. In the twentieth year of Zhenyuan in Tang Dezong, Li Shen failed in the examination in Beijing again, but this time he met Yuan Zhen, who was seven years younger than himself and lived in Chang 'an, and was warmly received. In the first year of Yuanhe in Tang Xianzong, Li Shen went to Beijing to take the exam again. In addition to Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi, who is the same age as him, became friends with him this time, and they all lived in the No.1 scholar.
Jinshi and later, Li Shen was awarded the position of teaching assistant in Guo Zi, but Li Shen didn't like it, and he didn't expect to live on salary. He quickly resigned and returned to the east. When he arrived in Jinling, the observation stationed here made Kun Li appreciate his talent and appointed him as a career officer. At this time, it has been many years since the end of the Anshi Rebellion, but our time, observation and defense in various places have made their troops arrogant and the local separatist regime intensified. Shortly after becoming an official, Li Shen found that Li Kun was too arrogant to be an official again. Li Kun was furious and planned to kill Li Shen. Li Shen got the news and fled back to Wuxi before being caught.
Soon, Kun Li was executed by the court for treason. Because Li Shen opposed Kun Li, the court rewarded him for his courage and integrity. In Yuanhe four years, he was called to Beijing as a school boy. In the 14th year of Yuanhe, Li Shen was promoted to the right, and in the second year he was promoted to a bachelor's degree in Hanlin. At that time, Li Deyu and Yuan Zhen were also appointed as Hanlin. Because all three are talented, they are called "three beautiful men", and all three are affectionate. Shen Li and Li Deyu have the closest relationship, and they have been the closest political allies for more than 20 years after they met. Bai Juyi was driven out of Beijing for ten years because he was too sharp-edged in politics before, and was transferred to a local office.
Fall into a party struggle
Shortly after he was promoted to Hanlin, Li Shen was transferred to the right to fill the vacancy. In March of the first year of Changqing, Tang Muzong changed him into a foreign minister and an imperial edict. In February of the second year of Changqing, he was promoted to the position of Sheren in Zhongshu and entered Zhongshu Province. At this point, Li Shen has formed factions with Li Deyu, Yuan Zhen and others. Because Li Deyu is the leader, it is called the "Li Party", and it is politically opposed to the "Niu Party" headed by Niu Sengulu and Li.
The factional division and confrontation between Niu and Li is not because of the opposition of political views, but mostly because of the personal origins of officials. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the influence of the gentry gradually declined, and the Shu Ren class began to enter the core of political power through the imperial examination. However, the gentry who were in power were unwilling to give up their power, so they fought for power from Shu Ren officials. The representative of the officials of the gentry is the Li Party, and the representative of the officials is the Niu Party. It stands to reason that the regime should not be monopolized by the gate valve, and it is undoubtedly advanced. However, their political strategy against the Li Party masked their own legitimacy.
Shortly after Li Shen was promoted to be an official in China, Yuan Zhen became prime minister. At that time, Li, who was also the prime minister of Yuan Zhen, instigated officials to attack Yuan Zhen, but Yuan Zhen was dismissed within a few days and was appointed as the secretary of the same state. After Yuan Zhen stopped fighting, Li was worried that Li Deyu would be promoted to the position of Prime Minister, so in September of the second year of Changqing, he seized one of his small mistakes and transferred him to Zhejiang as an observer in western Zhejiang, with Niu Sengru as the Prime Minister. At the same time, he was appointed as the suggestion officer, that is, a speech officer, deprived of his functions and powers. Later, Li made an excuse to be transferred to Jiangxi as an observer.
Tang Muzong attaches great importance to Li Shen. He thinks that being appointed as foreign minister is Li Shen's own will. He also sent an ambassador to Li Shen to offer condolences and gave him a jade belt to show his appreciation. Complain to the ambassador, crying about Li's sinister and sinister. After learning the truth, he forced Li to replace him with an assistant minister of the Ministry of Finance and stayed in Chang 'an.
In the fourth year of Changqing, Tang Muzong took the lead and Tang Jingzong acceded to the throne. Li stepped up his plot to frame him, so he told him that there were many offensive words and deeds, so please send him into exile. At that time, he was still young and could not make decisions, so he agreed with the meaning of the Niu Party and demoted him to Duanzhou Sima. However, he only worked in Duanzhou for one year. In Bao Liyuan, Li Shen was appointed as Jiangzhou Secretariat. In the fourth year of Taihe, Shen Li successively served as the secretariat of Chuzhou and Shouzhou, and has been working outside.
Tang Wenzong Taihe seven years, Li Deyu returned to Beijing as prime minister. In July, Li Shen was promoted to assistant minister in the center, secretariat of Yuezhou and secretariat of East Zhejiang. In the ninth year of Taihe, Zongmin Li of the Niu Party was appointed as the prime minister, and Zongmin Li also promoted Niu Sengru as the prime minister. They and Li Xun and others pushed Li Deyu out again, and both Shen Li and Li Deyu were demoted as guests of the Prince.
In the first year of Kaicheng, Li Pai was the Prime Minister and Henan Yin. In June, Li Shen was awarded the special envoy of the Ministry of Education, such as Shangshu, Bianzhou Secretariat, Xuanwu Festival and Song Bobian Camp Observation. After four years, he was promoted to the history of the Ministry of War.
After five years of development, Emperor Wen Zongyan took the lead, and the Niudang lost power because the heirs he supported failed to inherit the throne. Li Deyu entered Beijing as a prime minister, and began the period when the Li Party was in charge of state affairs alone. Niu Dang was expelled from Chang 'an. At the same time, Li Deyu appointed Shen Li as the right assistant minister of Shangshu, the secretariat of Yangzhou and the envoy of Huainan. In the first year of Huichang, Shen Li was promoted to assistant minister of the Ministry of War, with Pingzhang, and soon became assistant minister of Zhongshu, assistant minister of Right, assistant minister under the door, national history supervisor, the Lord, and Zhao Guogong, and officially became prime minister. After four years as prime minister in Huichang, Shen Li suffered a stroke and resigned and went home. Before long, he went to Yangzhou to serve as our envoy to Huainan. In the sixth year of Huichang, Li Shen died in Yangzhou at the age of 74 and was buried in Wuxi.
Concentration on duty
Li Shen's official career has experienced ups and downs, but he is not proud when he succeeds, and he doesn't lose his temper when he is frustrated. He is always tenacious and loyal to his duties. During his tenure in Duanzhou, he put an end to violence, built water conservancy projects, reduced people's labor taxes and encouraged agricultural production, which brought unprecedented vitality to Duanzhou. In order to show the sufferings and joys of Duanzhou people, he is going to die in Lingnan, take his family from the north and sail to Qilitan near Duanzhou. Suddenly, there was a storm and the boat was blocked. People in Duanzhou heard that Mrs. Li Shen's official ship was blocked, and they all volunteered to pull the fiber. People lined up for more than ten miles, and Killer was long and singing loudly. Li Shen was greatly moved by the old and weak people who couldn't pull the fiber, and all the incense sticks bowed down to meet them. During Ren Shouzhou's secretariat, thieves in Shouzhou were rampant, and all seven predecessors were punished for poor governance. Li Shen was not timid when he arrived. He eliminated bandits and punished corrupt officials at the same time, thus putting the country in a state of rectification.
Li Shen's greatest contribution to history is poetry. Poetry prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, but there was also a poetic style that divorced from reality and unilaterally pursued formal beauty. Shen Liguan pays attention to social ills, cares about the sufferings of the people, and writes current events with new inscriptions in the form of Yuefu, which is called Xinle Yuefu. After getting to know two great poets, Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi, Shen Li and Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi advocated the poetic style of "New Yuefu". Therefore, Li Shen wrote 20 Yuefu poems and labeled them "New Yuefu Poems" to show that they are different from ancient Yuefu poems. Yuan Zhen was very happy after reading it, and immediately wrote 12 songs and prefaced them to show his approval. Bai Juyi continued Li and Yuan's new poems, and expanded them to 50, named "New Yuefu". This kind of new Yuefu poetry embodies the realistic spirit of "articles are written in the times and poems are written in things". At that time, the poetry world had a great influence, which injected a fresh breath into the poetry world of the Tang Dynasty. It is called "New Yuefu Movement" in the history of literature. In the History of China Literature edited by You Guoen and Wang Qi, he wrote, "The topic of self-innovation began with Du Fu, but it was consciously different from the traditional ancient Yuefu with the slogan of' new Yuefu', and Shen Li was the first person." Unfortunately, Li Shen's twenty new Yuefu poems were later lost. But his two poems "Compassion for Farmers" can make up for this shortcoming.