Li Bai (701-762), one of the greatest romantic poets in Chinese history, is known as “poet immortal”, “poet warrior”, “wine immortal” He was known as the “Poet Immortal”, “Poet Warrior”, “Wine Immortal” and “Exiled Immortal”. His life was full of legends, and he also left behind many humorous anecdotes ……
Guozhong sharpening ink, and Li Shi taking off his boots
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Yang Guozhong and Gao Rex were the head of the civil and military officials, and they were in charge of the court. At that time, Li Bai was a guest at the home of He Zhizhang, a Hanlin scholar, and was not interested in his career. But He Zhi Zhang knew Li Bai’s extraordinary talent, so he strongly recommended him to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was so impressed by his poems that he summoned Li Bai to his palace.
Whenever there was a banquet in the court, Li Bai would be invited to recite poems and make a couplet at the banquet.
One day, the envoy from a foreign country came to Chang’an to submit a letter of state, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang asked the Hanlin bachelors to open and read it, but no one could read the language. The chancellor Yang Guozhong could not decipher it, and no one knew the text. Tang Emperor Xuanzong could not help but be furious and said: there is no one who is well educated in the court, no one can share my worries, and no one can recognize the letter of the state! How to diplomacy with them? Not afraid of being shameful for the foreign countries? I give you three days to decipher it! Otherwise, your salary will be suspended, and after six days, you will be suspended from your duties if you can’t decipher it, and after nine days, you will be punished for your failure to decipher it. I will select another learned person.
He Zhizhang knew Li Bai’s extraordinary talent and informed him of this immediately after he left the court. The next day, Li Bai entered the court in front of the main hall to read out the letter of state: the original state asked the Tang Dynasty to cede the land of Goryeo. Tang Emperor Xuanzong heard it and the civil and military officials to discuss the response, but at this time, the Tang Dynasty, peace has been used to, and the war with the foreign state is not sure to win, no one can respond to the moment.
At this time, Li Bai said directly to Xuanzong: this matter, Your Majesty, do not worry, the next day to invite the messenger into the court, I will be able to answer to the face of this country to request surrender.
On the next day in the Great Hall, Emperor Xuanzong asked Li Bai to draft an imperial decree, Li Bai said: I was criticized by Yang Taiji and Gao Taiyue for expelling me from the exam a few days ago, and today I saw them beside me, so I was disturbed. I would like to ask Your Majesty to ask Yang Guozhong to hold the ink stone and sharpen the ink for me, and Gao Lux to take off my boots, so that I can be refreshed, and raise my pen to draft the imperial edict to speak on behalf of the emperor, in order not to disgrace the king’s order.
The Emperor Xuanzong had to send orders to Yang Guozhong to hold the ink stone and sharpen the ink, and Gao Rex to take off Li Bai’s boots. Although Yang Guozhong and Gao Rex were powerful and unbeatable, they had to serve Li Bai under the imperial order.
As a matter of fact, Li Bai wrote a letter of “Scaring the Barbarians” in a few moments, saying that the Tang Dynasty is powerful in all directions, with brave soldiers, strong armor and sharp soldiers, and that Goryeo is only a small place, and that the small frontier countries should not take the mantis as a chariot, and do not measure themselves.
Li Bai read out the imperial edict in front of the envoy of the Ban state, without being subservient, every word was powerful, so that the envoy was greatly impressed and had to bow down and withdraw from the court, after which the envoy asked the court attendant: Who is Li Bai? Afterwards, the ambassador asked the court attendant: Who is Li Bai? The attendant replied that he was the god of heaven descending to assist our dynasty!
The ambassador returned to the country with a letter to the king and said: how can the dynasty with the help of the gods, how can we compete? Therefore, they could only write a surrender form to pay tribute.
Give Yang Guozhong “questions”?
After Yang Guozhong, the Imperial Master, was upset after giving Li Bai an inkstone to sharpen his ink, he always wanted to find an opportunity to take revenge. One day when Li Bai came to the palace to accompany Emperor Xuanzong to drink and write poems, Yang Guozhong decided to humiliate him in public by giving him a couplet.
At a banquet in the imperial garden, Yang Guozhong gave Li Bai a couplet in front of Emperor Xuanzong.
He said, “I have heard that Li Bai is very talented and insightful, so I would like to pair up with you in three steps. Li Bai readily agreed.
Yang Guozhong asked the following question
Two apes cut off the wood on the mountain and asked the monkeys how to pair the saw
It means that there are two monkeys on the mountain who are about to saw a log, so how should the monkeys saw it? The word “saw” harmonizes with the word “sentence”, and the word “ape” alludes to Li Bai.
Yang Guozhong looked at Li Bai smugly after the question, and the crowd seemed to hear Yang Guozhong’s words and snickered secretly. When Li Bai heard this, he smiled slightly and said to Tang Xuanzong, “This question is difficult, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me if my words offend the Master.”
Yang Guozhong laughed smugly and said, “The great scholar is not a vain name, right? I’m afraid you are worried about being punished if you can’t get it right!”
Li Bai replied, “Please start, and if you can’t match it in three steps, I will lose.”
After hearing this, Yang Guozhong thought to himself, “I’ll hurry up and finish the three steps, and see what you can do!
When he took the first step, Li Bai said.
A horse is stuck in the mud, let’s see how the beast can get its hoof out
In this line, the word “hoof” is homophonic with the word “question”, and the word “animal” refers to Yang Guozhong.
Xuanzong laughed and said: Good! See how Aiqing “hoof”! The ministers have seen the situation have to laugh together.
Yang Guozhong was red in the face and wanted to humiliate Li Bai, but instead he made a fool of himself.
Soon after Li Bai became an official in Emperor Xuanzong’s court, he continued to travel around in search of immortality, while Yang Guozhong, a powerful official in the court, continued to form a party and corrupt the government, which finally led to the An-shi Rebellion.
Ming Cui Zizhong’s painting “Tibetan Clouds” (partial), color on silk, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing, depicts Li Bai sitting cross-legged on a pannier, slowly walking on a mountain road, gazing up at the clouds above his head. (Public domain)
On his travels, Li Bai was a chivalrous man who rescued Guo Ziyi, a famous general who led the Tang army to defeat the rebels and recover the country after the An Shi Rebellion.
Li Bai and Guo Ziyi’s support for each other made a good story for the ages, and his poetry continued to spread to the world, making the poetry and culture of the Tang Dynasty the pinnacle of the 5,000 civilizations of China, and passed on to future generations.
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