Picking chrysanthemums under the east fence, you can see Nanshan leisurely. This is an admirable portrayal of the comfortable life of the great poet Tao Yuanming after his resignation and retirement. Ling Tao's pastoral poems, which can reflect this unrestrained and unrestrained state of mind, are mostly written after his retirement, that is, works after 4 1 year old. Many of the previous four-character poems were not outstanding, such as his Ten Poems of Life, which showed strong utilitarianism and WTO color, just like ordinary literati. It can be seen that the position of an official in his heart is still not low.
There has always been a kind word about Ling Tao's death, which made him the first hermit in history. However, according to the historical records and Zhao Yan's analysis, Ling Tao's resignation is actually full of helplessness and inevitability, which can be described by his poem "Living in a secluded place, holding ambitions, driving without recording" (Part II of Four Miscellaneous Poems).
Xiao Tong described the process of Ling Tao's resignation in the Biography of Tao Yuanming: "At the end of the year (the first year of Yixi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, namely AD 405), Huixian sent Du You to pengze county. The county official asked, "You should see him wearing a belt." Yuan Ming sighed:' How can I bend down and give five buckets of rice to the children in the village!' On the same day, I was relieved of my post and assigned to "come back". "
From this record, we can find at least three suspense points: if a person has long planned to resign, he can leave at any time. Why did Tao Yuanming choose to resign before the Spring Festival (the end of the year)? Why do you have to wait until Du You comes? Why do you have to confess? When Zhao Yan answers these three questions, the truth will come out.
The first suspense answer is related to salary.
From the Western Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, officials were paid an annual salary system, but the payment method changed. The former is issued once a year, and all the food is distributed, and it is received at the end of each year; During the Jin Dynasty, it can be distributed monthly or collected at the end of the year, with part of grain and part of cash. According to Jin Zhu, the annual salary of the county magistrate at that time was 420, and the money was 32,000. This is not a small number! In The Hidden Biography of Liang Shuhe, He Yin claimed: "I am 57 years old this year, and there are four buckets of rice in the eclipse." . Tao county magistrate's rice salary for a year is converted into a bucket, which is 365 buckets, and an old man in his sixties can't finish it in 30 years. In addition, there is so much cash, which is called the "golden collar" class.
We can also find some clues from his self-report of the preface to return. Before he resigned, he was "looking forward to seeing a grain", which meant that he would wait until the grain in the field was ripe and all was collected. What is "occupying the sky"? That is to say, according to the official rank, the imperial court gave them a piece of land, which belongs to the state, and the harvest in the field belongs to the individual, which is actually part of the salary income. According to Xiao Tong's Biography of Tao Yuanming, Ling Tao covers an area of three hectares. He wants to grow glutinous rice that can make wine. As the saying goes, "I am always drunk with wine"! But the county magistrate's wife disagreed. "Please plant japonica rice." The husband and wife sat down to discuss the production plan, and finally decided to "plant two hectares of 50 mu of rice and 50 mu of japonica rice."
Tao Yuanming chose to resign during the Spring Festival, mostly because he wanted to get his salary before he left. People always have to eat, and food needs to be bought or obtained from the court through officials. After all, Tao Yuanming is not a fairy, and he has no ability to turn stone into gold. After working hard for the court for a year, you can't go home empty-handed.
The second suspense answer has something to do with orthodoxy.
Tao Yuanming was born in a declining official family. Great-grandfather Tao Kan was the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. With the military affairs commander of Bazhou and the secretariat of Jingjiang II as the official, Changsha was made the county magistrate. Tao Yuanming's grandfather was a satrap, his father died young, and his mother was the daughter of Meng Jia, a famous person in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is impossible to grow up in this family environment without any orthodoxy. For example, his poems "lyna" and "Private Peace Festival" are strongly orthodox. From his early poems, we can also find the inner sign of this feudal scholar-bureaucrat: learning martial arts and selling the royal family.
If Tao Yuanming leaves without saying hello, there will obviously be a power vacuum in the county administration of pengze county. An administrative unit without leadership is not a joke, it is irresponsible to the court and the people. This is against feudal orthodoxy, and Tao Yuanming can't do it. Choosing to resign during the Spring Festival is exactly what I said. Usually, it is difficult to see those superior leaders who are not at the grassroots level. The Spring Festival is different. Traditionally, leaders will come down to inspect, just hand over, and then pack up and leave.
The answer to the third suspense is related to honesty.
It is nothing new that literati value honesty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Taishi of Qi was killed by the powerful minister Cui Yi because he wrote "Cui Yi killed the king", but the two brothers of the Taishi were indomitable and continued to write like this, which is the integrity of the literati. Zhuge Liang fulfilled his promise of "doing my best until I die" in "The Example" with practical actions, which is also the integrity of scholars, and so on. Tao Yuanming's integrity comes more from the style of celebrities in Wei and Jin Dynasties: not afraid of powerful people and pursuing spiritual freedom.
Friends who study the Three Kingdoms should be familiar with the official name "Du You". The official has the word "post" in his name, but he doesn't care about sending letters and express delivery, and only makes money at the grassroots level by inspection. Interestingly, Zhao Yan looked up a lot of information. Few good people in history have followed Du You's official position to the grassroots level. When you meet such an official, if you have money to give him, everything is easy to say. Maybe you will be promoted tomorrow. No money for him, Xiao Xie will come soon. Liu Bei met a greedy and treacherous Du You when he was a commandant of Anxi County. He didn't have a hard time. However, before he left, Liu Bei beat Du You up, vented his grievances and safeguarded his integrity.
Tao Yuanming probably knew about Liu Bei, and he also knew that Liu Bei had beaten his superiors, because it was written in the book. However, Ling Tao is inferior to Liu Bei. He can only recite poems and can't fight. If he really fights, he will probably only be beaten. Instead of keeping his integrity, he will be humiliated on the spot. What should I do? Scholars have their own way of being scholars. A gentleman can talk without doing it. It's almost the Spring Festival, so it's ok to send a few words of emotion. A complaint, "How can you bend over for five buckets of rice?" It has become a famous saying throughout the ages.