The first year of Shang Yuan in Tang Dynasty.
In the depths of Zhou Guo's prison (now Lingbao, Henan Province), a 24-year-old boy collapsed against the prison wall and looked at the front with empty eyes.
He was sentenced to prison for murder and was waiting to be executed in the autumn.
In prison for a period of time, his heart is always unbelievable:
How is that possible? How did I become like this? This must be a dream, a dream! ! When I wake up tomorrow, I can stand in the sun again.
At this time, a stout jailer came and stood outside the door and looked at the young man sympathetically, reflecting his usual indifference to other prisoners. He inwardly sighed, alas, it is a pity that such a talented person.
Opening the prison door is the usual cold tone: Wang Bo, it's time!
……
Nine years ago, one spring.
Li Zhi, Tang Gaozong, looked at the newly-built Ganyuan Hall not far from the high platform in the palace, with a satisfied smile on his face: The national strength is strong, and I am mighty in Datang!
At this time, a court official presented a passbook, saying that it was "Ganyuan Palace Fu" recommended by a court official.
Emperor Gaozong opened the book and read it again, only to find that the article was magnificent and flowery. He couldn't help exclaiming repeatedly: "Wizard, wizard, I am a wizard of Datang!" "
This eulogy was written by Wang Bo at the age of 15.
A year later, Wang Bo, aged 16, participated in the special examination (You Su Ke) held by the imperial court from time to time, and was awarded the post of Chao Saburo in one fell swoop, winning seven prizes, which was equivalent to the level of deputy magistrate. It seems that there was no labor law in the Tang Dynasty, and the government openly employed minors. )
People die than people, and goods should be thrown away.
While all of us are still frantically enrolling in cram schools, in order to be admitted to key high schools, Wang Bo can leisurely drink tea and read newspapers in the government building-why?
It seems that it's time to show Wang's illustrious family background.
2
In 650, Wang Bo was born into a noble family+a prodigy family in Longmen, Shaanxi.
There are many people in the family:
Grandpa Wang Tong was a cultural celebrity and private school educator in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties. He is a "fifteen-year-old teacher" and his students are all over the world.
Grandpa's younger brother, Wang Ji, was a "prodigy and immortal" and became famous in Beijing at the age of eleven. He is the founder of five-character poems, and his masterpiece Wild Hope scored 8.9.
Grandpa's brother Wang Du is the author of The Ancient Mirror and the pioneer of the legendary novels in Tang Dynasty.
Wang Bo's brother Zhu is also a gifted boy. He was admitted to Jinshi at the age of 20!
It must be solemnly stated here that in the Tang Dynasty, thousands of troops crossed the wooden bridge, and only about 30 people were admitted every year in the country!
This means that if you are not the top scholar in the province, there is almost no chance. Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, being a scholar at the age of 50 was something to be proud of. In contrast, today's college entrance examination is so easy.
Grandpa and brothers are already awesome, right?
But our Wang Bo is even worse. He thoroughly developed the family prodigy gene to the extreme:
At the age of six, I began to write articles, "I am not stagnant in my mind, and I love ingram micro slightly";
When I was nine years old, I read Annotations on Hanshu by Yan Shigu, a great scholar in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and actually picked out a laundry list of mistakes for Laoyan, and wrote a long article with a volume of 10 called Hanshu refers to defects. (I feel that Comrade Lao Yan's coffin board is going to be crushed ...)
It's like a nine-year-old child reading 300 Tang poems today, and then writing a book thicker than 300 Tang poems, demonstrating the fallacy of poetry annotations in the book.
This made Uncle Wang's good friend Du Fu (Grandpa Du Fu's cousin) deeply stimulated. When he went out, he said to everyone, Hey, do you know? The children of Lao Wang's family next door ... Barabara.
In this way, nine-year-old Wang Bo has begun to shine in the literary rivers and lakes of the Tang Dynasty. Next, the cow's endless. /kloc-at the age of 0/3, he began to send resumes to officialdom politicians everywhere to find jobs.
/kloc-when he was 0/4 years old, he wrote directly to the prime minister of the dynasty to express his political views and criticize the shortcomings of the times. After reading it, the Prime Minister clapped his hands and cheered for the prodigy, and immediately wrote a letter of recommendation to the court.
15 years old dedicated "Gan Yuan Palace Fu", 16 years old became the youngest official in the court. ...
Be famous while you are young.
Teenagers have stood at a height that most people will never reach, and their future is like a searchlight.
However, the higher you stand, the worse you will fall if you step empty one day.
three
Talented people never lack opportunities.
A few days after arriving in Chang 'an, Wang Bo, with the aura of a child prodigy, was hired by Pei Wang (Tang Gaozong's sixth son, mother Wu Zetian) as an editor in his own palace. Since then, Yu Yuelongmen has become a good buddy of the second generation of local tyrants. A group of minors drink, fight cocks and pick up girls together in the street all day.
It can be said that God gave Wang Bo a good hand, with a good family background and extremely high talent. So far, he has also played well.
But later, God began to abuse him.
At that time, the princes and nobles of the upper class in the Tang Dynasty liked to play cockfighting, among which Pei Wang and his younger brother Wang Ying were senior players.
On one occasion, two brothers organized a cockfighting competition, and Pei Wang ordered Wang Bo to write an article about cockfighting to encourage them, which was equivalent to challenging the king's chicken.
I didn't expect to brush the screen as soon as I wrote it. This literary article "Ba Wang Ying Chicken Wen" was madly forwarded and shared by cockfighting fans. In the message area, it is just a bet to discuss which is better for the prince's cockfighting.
However, it is such an episode that Wang Bo came to an abrupt end on the way to the peak-Tang Gaozong flew into a rage after reading this article and ordered Wang Bo to be expelled from the palace and relieved of all his duties!
He touched one of the most sensitive strings of the royal family.
How did Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, become emperor? The change of Xuanwu gate, kill his brother, kill his brother. The process of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi becoming a prince, though not to the extent of bloodshed, is also thrilling and turbulent.
Wang Bo thought writing articles was just for fun, but in the emperor's view, it was fanning the flames and creating discord.
How young you are!
In this way, a young writer and court official, the first of the four kings in the early Tang Dynasty, suddenly became unemployed.
On a sunny afternoon, 19-year-old Wang Bo walked out of Pei with a thin bag on his back and stood in the busy street. He sighed lightly: now, where should we go?
four
Across the wall of Sanqin, across a layer of fog, across a river.
We said goodbye sadly, and our two officials went in opposite directions.
After all, the world is just a small place.
Why are you wandering at the fork in the road, wiping your eyes like a heartbroken child? .
In the Tang Dynasty, everyone who bid farewell had to write a poem. If you don't write a poem, you are not a good buddy.
This famous "Farewell to the Governor and Go to Shu" was written to a friend who wanted to build a beautiful Sichuan when he was in Chang 'an.
We can fully imagine the extent to which Du will collapse when he gets this poem: Big Brother, you write so beautifully, how can I reply? !
According to the custom at that time, poor Du Shaofu had to write a poem in return. Therefore, there is no doubt that under the powerful atmosphere of poetry, Du Fu's poems have not left even a trace of ink in the long river of history.
Wang Bo, who just lost his job, decided to travel. After all, life is not just the present, but also poetry and distance.
Well, let's go to Zhou Shu, where Du Shaofu is located.
As the saying goes: Mochow has no bosom friend before, and everyone knows you.
When officials from all over Sichuan heard that Wen Wang was coming, they were so excited that they couldn't sleep, and they sent their men to chase after him in the post station. Wherever the idol goes, he not only manages to eat and live, but also travels with him-ancient idolization is also crazy!
During this period, on a late autumn night, the moon in Sichuan was exceptionally bright.
It turns out that 19-year-old Wang Bo wrote another poem that shook the poetry world that night-"Jiang Ting jathyapple Bie".
The smoke cage is blue,
Fly south.
Leaving the pavilion alone,
It was a cold night.
I think this is the most beautiful farewell poem since the founding of the Tang Dynasty half a century ago.
Simple 20 words, no tears, no reluctance to write, all the feelings of parting are condensed in one word "cold", and the realm comes out with this word.
This is the master.
After walking through the scenery of one city after another, three years later, Wang Bo began to miss Chang 'an's Chinese hamburger and Daoxiao Noodles.
The sorrow of the Yangtze River has stagnated, and Wan Li's thoughts will return.
The night is high and windy, and the mountains fly.
-Wang Bo's In the Mountains
Well, it's time to go back to Chang 'an. I'm still young, so I should do something.
five
After returning to Chang 'an, Wang Bo joined Zhou's army on the recommendation of a friend. However, Wang Bo never imagined that when he entered the officialdom, God began to abuse him again.
And abusive escalation, completely overturned! -In Guo, he was soft-hearted and hid an escaped official slave. Later, he was afraid of being reported, and at that time he was confused and killed the official slave. ...
It's over! Kill for life! The death penalty is fixed!
Many people got the news and deleted him from the address book without hesitation, but it was also doomed that Wang Bo's life should not be lost, which coincided with the change of the title in Tang Gaozong and the amnesty in the world.
Speaking of it, the murder case in Wang Bo is still full of doubts. How can a scholar who has no hands to tie a chicken kill someone? In some works in the Tang Dynasty, it was pointed out that Wang Bo offended his colleagues because he was arrogant and was framed by others.
This is not impossible. The fatal weakness of genius is that IQ develops too fast, while EQ can't keep up at a young age. Then it's easy to be independent and not ashamed of the world ... (it seems that being an ordinary person is not bad ...)
No matter what the truth is, we can imagine how hard this incident has hit Wang Bo, who was once a favored son of heaven.
Later, the country wanted to re-enable him, but he refused without hesitation: others became rich as officials, but I lost my official position, saying that my brother was no longer in officialdom.
From then on, Wang Bo completely broke his official career.
For the rest of his life, what he wants to do most is to cross the ocean to cross his toes (now Hanoi, Vietnam) and visit his father who was tortured badly by himself.
Yes, his father was dragged into exile by him. At that time, Xinmatai in Vietnam was not a tourist attraction, but a wild place where wild animals crisscrossed and pythons infested. What a real power!
At this point, Wang Bo, who was packing, didn't know that he was about to usher in the real peak of his life.
The peak is radiant and mighty through the ages.
six
In the second year of Emperor Gaozong's reign, Wang Bo set out to visit his father.
In autumn, I passed Hongzhou (now Nanchang). Now that I have arrived in Nanchang, I naturally want to climb the world-famous Wang Teng Pavilion.
Coincidentally, there are no books.
Because the pavilion has been rebuilt, Yanzhi Prefecture of Hongzhou plans to hold a literary evening in the pavilion on the Double Ninth Festival. Heard that just passing by, yan governor hurriedly sent someone to send the invitation letter. Now that the king is down and out, he can be brought in without an appearance fee, and he wants nothing!
After three rounds of drinking, Governor Yan warmly called on everyone to send representatives to preface the Double Ninth Festival poetry meeting.
Does he really want to hold an essay contest?
Wrong, in fact, the candidate has already been decided-Wu, the son-in-law of the viceroy, has written the manuscript in advance, and wants to make a splash at the party and earn some true love powder for his official name.
The guests here are very clear, and they all play dumb and refuse to write.
Son-in-law gloated and was about to write down the article that had been memorized. Suddenly, I saw Wang Bo put down his half-eaten chicken leg and shouted, "Comrades, let me do it!"
Emma, full IQ, negative EQ! Do you mean to say that people are jealous of you and set you up? What if such a big man winks? But … I agree with Wang's stupidity and naivety this time! )
Yan Dudu is unhappy: good good! You can get up! I want to change.
Wang Bo: Well, watch!
The commander-in-chief left, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became: What kind of king is this? He's a fool! Anger made his people look at what the boy wrote and whether he was really better than his son-in-law.
After a while, his hand came down and reported that his beginning was "Zhang Yu old county, Hongdu new house".
The governor sneered: this is just a cliche!
Another person said: He wrote "The stars are divided into wings, and the ground is connected with Lu Heng". The son-in-law said: Hey, I can write this, too!
Men will report again:
"Jin Sanjiang takes five lakes, controls savages and leads Europe and Vietnam."
"Everything is beautiful, and the dragon light shoots the bulls; Outstanding people, Xu Ru went down to Chen Fan couch. "
"Xiongzhou fog column, handsome star chi. At the turn of the end of summer, the host and guest are all in the southeast. "
The governor and son-in-law stopped talking and looked at each other meaningfully.
Seeing that the viceroy was hiding in his tent, Wang Bo thought, OK, I'll give you two words:
The commander-in-chief Gong Yanyi is elegant, and the halberd is in the distance; Fan Yi of Yuwen Xinzhou is temporarily stationed. Ten days holiday, win friends like a cloud; Welcome to the wedding. Teng Jiao, a poet of Meng; Purple electric paste is General Wang's armory. Home is slaughter, Tao is name; What does a boy know? Bowing is always the winner.
Hehe, do you think my EQ is really low? The so-called worldly wisdom, we geniuses are not ignorant, but disdainful.
After all, the mission of genius is to show your talent to the maximum! Let's keep a low profile everywhere and be a low profile person? That will suffocate, dear!
Writing here, Wang Bo looked around and saw that the sky was high in the distance, the Chengjiang River was like a practice, the waves and mountains brought out the best in each other, and the nearby pavilions were scattered and picturesque. At that time, infinite inspiration came to mind, and a flash of light flew out:
When Wei is in September, the sequence belongs to Sanqiu. The water is cold and the pool is clear, and the smoke is purple.
Mountains and clouds are heavy; Feige is full of blood, and there is no land under it.
Clouds selling rain Ji, colorful. The lonely ducks fly together in the sunset, and the autumn water is the same as the sky.
Fishing boats sing late, the coastal sound is poor, the array is cold, and the sound breaks Hengyang Pu.
……
Every sentence is a beautiful blockbuster! Moreover, it is still dynamic!
After listening to the report of his men here, Yan Dudu and his son-in-law could no longer sit still. They knew that an ancient miracle was about to be born, so they ran out to witness history.
The satrap of Yan wrote sadly: "It's difficult to climb mountains and mountains, and whoever loses his way will be sad;" Meet by chance, they are all foreign guests. We have completely forgotten the existence of our son-in-law, and we can't help patting our chubby hands happily: "This confrontation has reached the extreme! Genius, genius! "
Then, however, the king did not stay in self-pity, but turned his head and looked far-sighted:
Feng Tang is easy to get old, but Li Guang is hard to seal. Qu Jiayi is in Changsha, not without a master; Is there no time to escape from Hongliang to Haiqu? A gentleman plays it by ear and knows the world. When you are old and strong, would you rather be moved? Poverty is strong, not falling into the sky.
At this point, Yan Yan's viceroy has completely turned into 24K pure gold brain powder: Mm-hmm, I made this bowl of chicken soup!
After splashing some water, Wang Bo thought it was almost enough. The above content is estimated to have put the seven meats and eight vegetables in everyone's town. Let's make a modest conclusion!
Farewell words, thanks to Wei Wei; Climbing high to make a contribution is to hope the public. Dare to exhaust one's feelings, be respectful and short in quoting, give a million words, and achieve four rhymes. Please sprinkle Pan Jiang, and each side will pour their own water into the sea.
The translation is as follows:
Thanks for the banquet, I had the opportunity to write the preface. As for climbing the mountain to write poetry, I can only count on the gentlemen present. I just took the liberty of making up a few words and making a brief introduction. Next, I would like to invite all of you here to show the talents of Pan Yue and Lu Ji and write magnificent poems.
After reading the first parallel prose in ancient and modern times, everyone was completely dumbfounded:
Melody, antithesis, rhetoric, allusions-all bring the beauty of Chinese characters to the extreme!
What's more, there are things to do, feelings to reason, and everything to be written in an orderly manner. What can I do? ! More like going home to wash and sleep. ...
Taking the humanities of Han and Tang dynasties into a sequence, the scenery of Jiangshan is absolutely beautiful.
It is no exaggeration to write a limited-time proposition composition like this, saying that it is "unprecedented, and there will be no one after it".
seven
There are always different opinions about the ranking order of the four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty. Some people say it's Wang, Yang, Lu and Luo. Some people say it should be Wang, Luo, Lu and Yang. But in any case, for more than a thousand years, no critic dared not put Wang Bo in the first place; I don't think there will be another thousand years.
In a word: the sunset and lonely Qi Fei are the same as each other, which is enough to freeze history in that afternoon thousands of years ago.
Interestingly, in Feng Menglong's novel Awakening the World, the story reached a super climax.
The son-in-law was upstaged by Wang Bo. He suddenly attacked and accused Wang Bo of copying the works of sages. In order to prove that this is an old article he has read for a long time, he actually memorized Wang Bo's composition by virtue of his special ability of never forgetting!
After reading, he stared at Wang Bo with a sneer: Can you hit me?
The guests also whispered, suspecting that Wang Bo had plagiarized.
Wang Bo clapped his hands unhurriedly and said, "Brother Wu has a good memory. I admire him! Admire! But there is a poem at the end of this article, do you know? "
The son-in-law was instantly stunned: What, there are poems? What poem?
See Wang Bo smiled, to fame, got up and waved his hair, without adding any words:
Wang Teng sings the praises of Linjiang Pearl,
Yu Pei sings and dances;
Draw a building facing Nanpu Cloud,
The bead curtain rolls up the rain in the western hills at dusk;
Clouds and pools are shadows,
Things change, a few degrees in autumn;
Where is the emperor in the cabinet today,
Outside the threshold, the Yangtze River flows by itself!
Silence, dead silence.
Finally, the son-in-law retired with shame. He knows that he is definitely facing a first-class player today.
When Wang Bo finished writing this poem and put down his pen, it also represented that he had completed the most important breakthrough in his life.
Well, it's worthwhile to have such a peak experience once in a lifetime!
eight
In the winter of the third year of Shangyuan (676), the Preface to Wang Tengting was published in 2006, and it has been painted in Chang 'an.
One day, Tang Gaozong also read this preface and couldn't help patting his thigh: "This is a masterpiece, genius!"
"Where is Wang Bo now? Find him quickly. I want to take a photo with him and sign it! " The eunuch faltered: "That ... this ... person has died ..."
Yes, a beautiful Preface to Wang Tengting exhausted Wang Bo's life.
In 676, Wang Bo crossed the sea and drowned in the boat on his way home from visiting his father.
He only lived a short 26 years.
We don't know how fierce he will be if he lives to sixty-two.
Maybe he is so fierce that God can't stand it. It's just the early Tang Dynasty. With such a pace, how can Li Bai, who is "embroidering his mouth and spitting out his tongue", be half prosperous in the Tang Dynasty and Du Fu, who is "a thatched cottage and poet of later generations"?
Forget it, you'd better be immortal before it's too late.
Seeing this, those who like to say that they are jealous of talents when they encounter a little setback, feel your conscience.
What is a jealous talent? This is the real jealous talent!
However, a preface to Teng Wangge is enough, and we can't ask for more.
For Wang Bo, in a sense, after the Preface to Wang Teng-ting, he completed the transcendence of life and became a truly immortal-he will always live in the youngest and most beautiful era, and his poems will always be young and magnificent.