The reason why the Poet Sage was able to support Song Zhiwen was actually because Du Shenyan was in the middle to maintain this level of contact. Who is Du Shenyan? This person belongs to Song Zhiwen. A close friend who was also Du Fu's grandfather, it was because of this relationship that Du Fu had been supporting Song Zhiwen.
Through the classics, we can know that among the poets of the Tang Dynasty, Song Zhiwen's character and moral integrity were very poor. His behavior was so bad that he could not be said to be a gentleman at all. There are several examples of allusions in history. In order to please Wu Zetian's favored ministers, the Zhang brothers, he did not hesitate to put down his body and pour urine for Zhang Yizhi; and in order to make "the flowers are similar every year, the people are the same every year." "Different" took possession of these two good sentences for himself, so that he could kill his nephew Liu Shayi with his own hands; and, in order to rely on Wu Zeren's power, he betrayed his friend Zhang Zhongzhi who risked his life to take him in. As a result, As a result, Zhang Zhongzhi's entire family died.
Du Shenyan was a good friend of Song Zhiwen in his early days. During the reign of Wu Zhou, they were both bachelors of Zhuying, and during the reign of Zhongzong, they were both bachelors of Xiuwen Guan. Moreover, both of them had the experience of being demoted and then summoned back because they wanted to attach themselves to Wu Zetian's loyal minister Zhang Yizhi's brother. Therefore, the two got to know each other, as if they had met close friends, and built a strong friendship.
Both Du Shenyan and Song Zhihe were not very well-known poets in the early Tang Dynasty, but their talent for poetry was undeniable. They had many similarities in their political opinions and even their experiences, so it was a matter of time when the two met. They hit it off immediately and felt sympathy for each other, so the poems they wrote together were so sincere, simple and natural.
Although Du Fu attached great importance to Song Zhiwen, he mentioned Song Zhiwen many times in his poems, and named his residence after Song Zhiwen's Luhunzhuang. But Du Fu's affirmation cannot cover up Song Zhiwen's despicability.