The creation of frontier poems in Tang Dynasty has roughly experienced three stages of development, one is the early Tang Dynasty, the other is the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and the third is the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Let's discuss the early Tang Dynasty. Frontier poems in the early Tang Dynasty are different from those in the first and second periods. The early stage is the period of moral integrity. During this period, the threat from Turks in the north was the most serious. Due to the situation, Tang Gaozu had to compromise, and even once "conquered the Turks" (Biography of Jing Li in Old Tang Dynasty).
After Emperor Taizong succeeded to the throne, he was saddened by this situation, so he became angry from embarrassment and tried to strengthen himself. After several years of preparation, he finally wiped out the East Turkistan in the third year of Zhenguan (629) and relieved the threat from the north. In the eighth year of Zhenguan (634), Tang Jun once again sent troops to defeat Tuguhun, which laid the foundation for attacking and destroying Western Turkistan.
The ideological content of frontier poems in this period is nothing more than two kinds: one is the angry resistance to the invasion of a strong enemy, such as Dou Wei's "Xiongnu suffered many injustices, Han Jiang wanted to be vertical and horizontal" (Exodus); Yang Shidao said, "Tianshan Mountain shows its feathers slightly, and the Han Dynasty urgently recruits soldiers" ("Leading Water"); Yu Shinan "made a small fortune by bonfire, and even went out of Wuwei" ("Joining the Army"). Second, Zhu Jie's congratulatory works, such as "Yumenguan is quiet, Jinwei Road has passed" ("Fu Great Wall Cave") in July; Yu Shinan's "General is three miles away, Rong Yuan is nine lives away" ("Out of the fortress").
Generally speaking, the quantity of frontier poems in this period is very small and the quality is not high. The screenwriter himself has no actual experience of frontier fortress joining the army, so his writing is rather vague, and the form is similar to that of Gu Yuefu. Only Yu Shinan once served as the secretary of Qin's joining the army, and had the experience of joining the army. Although his frontier poems were not written in the army, after all, he had some practical experience in fighting life, and what he wrote was more cordial and touching than others.
At that time, the military system was a government military system, including soldiers in agriculture. Usually, most soldiers are farming. "If the four sides have something to do, the soldiers will be scattered in the government and return to the DPRK" ("New Tang Book"). Without long-term military service, the court also looked down on the meritorious military service, so naturally joining the army cannot be the way to be an official.
In addition, at that time, not only the prominent positions in the imperial court were controlled by gentry, but also the government military system stipulated that the size of official positions at all levels depended on the shadow of the door, which inevitably could not arouse the interest of middle and lower literati in joining the army. This situation began to change in the late Tang Dynasty, that is, the period of Wu Zetian. Tang Gaozong wiped out the West Turkistan, but by this time, Tubo had become powerful and became the enemy of the West Tang Dynasty. In the third year of the General Chapter (670), the four towns of Anxi were trapped in Tubo and recovered by Wu Zetian, and then began a long-term war with Tubo for the Western Region. At this time, the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Khitan and the northern Turks continued. War needs an army, and the army needs talents.
Wu Zetian cracked down on a large number of old gentry for the needs of Wu Zhou regime, broke the monopoly of gentry to a certain extent, and created conditions for literati and intellectuals of the middle and lower landlord classes to enter official positions. At that time, the shortcomings of the officers and men system were exposed, which was not enough to meet the needs of the war. Therefore, the recruitment system gradually went on, and Emperor Taizong used it to recruit soldiers when he recruited Korea in his later years.
The implementation of the conscription system naturally aroused the enthusiasm of some people to make contributions in the army. Moreover, Tang Taizong himself has been advocating this spirit since he became a master in the military career. Once the conditions are ripe, someone will inevitably turn this enthusiasm into practical action. So at this time, some literati embarked on the road of joining the army. For example, Robin once joined the army in Yaozhou and the Western Regions. Cui Rong was Wu Sansi's secretary in charge of the Qidan expedition; First, Luo and Fu Gu followed Joe's Northern Expedition, and then Wu Youyi made an expedition to Qidan as a staff officer.
More and more literati joined the army, which is also found in the works written by poets, such as Yang Jiong's Send Liu Xiaoshu to Join the Army, his Send to the Army, and his Send to the Secretary of the Soviet Pavilion. This situation will inevitably promote the prosperity of frontier fortress poems, not only the number of poems has increased greatly, but also more poets have begun to set foot in this field regardless of their military experience, and their contents have also undergone profound changes.
They shouted, "Every husband is ambitious, and when they meet, they will make contributions" (Yang Jiong's "Out of the Fort"); "If you don't save, you will die, and you will be rewarded" (Luo's "Join the Army"); "If you want to swear by the Yellow River, you must delight in stones" (Cui Rong's Sai Yuan Xing, Cui Ti Shi); Chen Ziang's "Feeling 35" fully embodies the optimistic, confident and heroic spirit of middle and lower-class literati when they first looked forward to this life path.
The frontier fortress joining the army is bound to be far away from home and political center, which also means separation from family and friends, so homesickness has also appeared. Luo, who has actual military experience, wrote: "The two courts are at a loss, and Wan Li is worried" ("Xi Ci Pu Jin Lei"); "Wandering thoughts, returning home is not as good as melons" ("There is a Huaijingyi in Tianshan Mountain"). There are also some writers who reflect homesickness from the perspective of the wives of soldiers who fought in the war, such as Wang Bo's Song of Picking Lotus, Thinking of Yang Jiong, Folding Willow, Shen Shuan's Loneliness and Miscellaneous Poems. Later, this content also became an extremely important part of frontier poems.
Generally speaking, although frontier poems in the early Tang Dynasty also showed sadness, they never complained about the war. "Great attack, beating drums and capturing Huanglong City" (Shen Quan's Miscellaneous Poems) is a desire to destroy the enemy at an early date and then return home, which is very different from the war-weariness in the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the anti-war in the late Tang Dynasty. Another feature of Chen Ziang's frontier poems is that they express the author's views on current affairs and politics and his worries about frontier defense, with a high starting point.
For example, Ding Hai in the Dusk Year in Sense expresses the author's criticism of Wu Zetian's attack on Qiang people by Yazhou in order to attack Tubo. Other articles, such as Cangding Mausoleum, The North Wind Blows the Sea Tree, This is Your Son, Facing the County in the Clouds, etc., lament that the border will be incompetent, so that it will humiliate the country and protect the border people. Or condemn the court for unfair rewards and punishments and burying people with lofty ideals. These poems show a strong sense of participating in politics, and more clearly express the political demands and aspirations of middle and lower literati and intellectuals. The above situation strongly indicates the arrival of the climax of frontier fortress poetry creation.