Appreciation of Ancient Style and King Qin Sweeping Liuhe

We can appreciate this poem from two angles:

The first one is from the angle of appreciation of Tang poetry:

At the end of the Warring States Period, Qin was the most powerful country, so the other six countries followed Su Qin's strategy to unite, which was called Liuhe for short. The so-called sweep of Liuhe by the king of Qin means the destruction of six countries by Qin. Liuhe refers to the six vassal states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei.

The first paragraph of this poem, from the beginning of the article to "Looking at the evil platform", celebrates the great talents and unified achievements of the King of Qin.

The first four sentences strongly exaggerate the prestige of Qin Shihuang in destroying six countries and pacifying the world. Not to mention pacifying the four seas, but to "sweep" the empty "Liuhe" (including the four sides of heaven and earth), first of all, the prestige of the king of Qin was publicized. It is even more aggressive to use "eyeing" to describe its vigorous posture. From the second sentence, there is "the tiger grabs people." It would be like breaking bamboo to write about the concrete situation of unifying the world. The three words "floating clouds" symbolized the chaotic and dark situation in the world at that time, but with a wave of his sword, the atlas area was settled, and the word "decision" by one person seemed so decisive that he felt like cutting the gordian knot. As a result, all the princes in the world came from the west and the ministers belonged to Qin. Because every word is powerful and every sentence is full of tone, there is no need for two words of praise, and the meaning of praise is beyond words. The sentence "Ming Jue" was written as "Great ambition and great ambition", but no matter whether it is "Ming Jue" or "Great ambition", "Apocalypse" or "rough outline", the highest praise for politicians was finally used. At this point, the poem is raised again and again, preparing for the turning point in the latter part. Immediately after the sentence "Retreat the troops", it is also a flamboyant style to write about the two major measures taken by Qin Shihuang to consolidate political power after unifying the world. The first is to collect folk weapons from all over the world, cast them into twelve Jin people, eliminate the resistance, and make "the world has been poisoned", so the throat of Qin and the eastern traffic can be opened. Second, in Langxietai, Huijishan and other places, carved stones to praise Qin's merits, and made public propaganda for maintaining unity. "Huijiling" and "Langxietai" are thousands of miles apart from each other in the south and the north, and the poet writes them immediately, just like walking between families. The image of "Chengwang" vividly shows the spirit of the king of Qin at that time. There are many measures to unify the Qin Dynasty. If you choose the most important one, you will have a broad outline and a concise and heroic narrative. The praise of the king of Qin has reached its extreme, but the extremes of things will be reversed. This is like the opening of Jia Yi's "On the Qin Dynasty", which is really vigorous and makes the later anti-falling pen more powerful.

The last 12 sentences are vividly described according to historical facts, which satirizes the absurd behavior of the king of Qin, who is extravagant and extravagant and wants to live forever. First expose the extravagance of repairing the tomb in Lishan Mountain. In 212 BC, that is, the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang's reign, more than 7, prisoners who committed castration built Epang Palace and the tomb of Mount Li, which were extravagant and extremely poor. Then expose his foolish act of seeking immortality at sea. In 219 BC (the 28th year of Qin Shihuang), Xu Fu, a Qi man, said that there were three sacred mountains on the sea, such as Penglai, where there were immortals and immortal medicines, so the first emperor sent Xu Fu to take thousands of children and men to the sea to pursue them, but for several years there was no result. This is the matter of "collecting immortal medicine". "Being at a loss makes my heart sad" is the fear and emptiness that greed may not satisfy. For the previous paragraph, these four sentences turn sharply, just like a fine horse standing on a slope. Writing about the first emperor who never died and built a high mausoleum reveals his selfish, contradictory and giddy inner world. However, the poet didn't finish the article hastily, and set off another wave before he finally went bankrupt in his quest for immortality. According to historical records, Xu Fu falsely claimed that he could not ask for medicine because there was a big fish in the sea, so the first emperor sent someone to shoot fish along the coast with a strong crossbow that was continuously fired, and shot a whale in the sea near Yantai, Shandong Province today. This passage uses romantic imagination and high exaggeration to make the whale hunting scene bizarre, colorful and thrilling: the long whale suddenly appears on the sea like a mountain. When it sprays water column, the water waves are exciting and the clouds are filled with thunder, but when it opens, it actually covers the blue sky. The poet's writing in this way not only adds a thrilling and fantastic mystery to the poem, but also creates the illusion of hope, which is a fatal fall at the end of the article. The long whale has conquered, and the medicine of immortality can always be found. Otherwise, soon after, the first emperor died on the way to the tour. "But see the golden coffin buried in the cold ashes under the Three Springs", which is the last stroke of anti-falling, makes the king of Qin on the cloud nine fall to the ground, which is really soul-stirring. With these two sentences, the brushwork is steep and the tone is cold. The British master who wanted to be so "clear-cut" at the beginning was deceived by the alchemist again and again. The immortal failed to make it, leaving only a pile of cold ashes, and "when will Xu Fu come back with the Qin daughter?" Let the alchemist bargain for it. How heartless the mockery of history is.

Although this poem is an ode to history, it was not only written for Qin Shihuang. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Qin Shihuang are quite similar: both of them made great efforts to govern, then they became arrogant and extravagant, and finally they were superstitious about alchemists' vain pursuit of longevity. According to Zi Zhi Tong Jian, "(Xuanzong) respected Taoism and longed for longevity, so he argued for Fu Rui, and his ministers congratulated him on his absence." The result of this stupid move is bound to be harmful to the country. It can be seen that Li Bai's poem is emotional. The whole poem combines historical facts with exaggeration and imagination, narrative with discussion and lyricism. It is a masterpiece of Li Bai's "Ancient Style", which is full of critical realistic spirit and romantic passion.

second, from the perspective of Ming history:

from the perspective of Ming history analysis, some people think that this poem not only predicted the death of Ming dynasty, but also predicted the national fortune before and after. This kind of view points out: the first four sentences "Qin Huang sweeps Liuhe. Look at him. Swing the sword and decide the clouds. The princes came to the west. " It is a summary of the great achievements of China's unified dynasties since Qin and Han Dynasties. Four more sentences "tell the truth from the apocalypse. Roughly drive a group of talents. Retreat troops and cast gold. Hangu is opening eastward. " It's about the decline of the Ming dynasty and the entry of Qing soldiers into the customs. (The first sentence refers to the title of Zhu Youxiao, the second sentence refers to Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, omitting the subject, and the third sentence refers to the suppression of the peasant uprising in the Ming Dynasty, which led to the Jin people sitting on their seats and casting help. The fourth sentence refers to the opening of Shanhaiguan, the entry of Qing soldiers and the subjugation of the Ming Dynasty. The next six sentences are "Ming Gong Hui Ji Ling. Looking at Langya Taiwan. 7, criminals. Dig up the earth and climb the mountain. Take the medicine that will not die. Being at a loss makes my heart sad. " It's about the evil deeds after the Qing Dynasty conquered the Ming Dynasty. (Huiji refers to Jiangnan, where anti-Qing is very serious, and Langya refers to the hometown of Confucius, which refers to Chinese orthodoxy, and has been surrendered. And "7, criminals" refers to Daxing Wenzi Prison in Qing Dynasty. There are four more sentences: "Even the crossbow shoots sea fish. The whale is Cui Wei. The forehead and nose are like five mountains. Yang Bo spurts clouds and thunder. " It is a metaphor for the powerful fleet of westerners and the opening of the country during the Opium War. Frontal nose refers to barbarians, because barbarians like to get tattoos on their foreheads and noses. The next four sentences "_ cover the sky. Why see Penglai? Xu Shi carries Qin women. When will the ship return? " It's about the loss of China's sea power and Japanese imperialism's invasion of China. Penglai here refers to Fusang Japan. When did it come back? That is to say, the Japanese fleet finally came back. The last two sentences "but see three springs. The golden coffin is buried with cold ashes. " It is about the discovery of the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, which echoes the first sentence.

For the second interpretation, the author can't compliment him while having to admire his imagination and power. After all, there are many misinterpretations.

Of course, we can't say that it is unreasonable to say that the Ming Dynasty perished during the Apocalypse. There are two reasons:

First, some people say that Ming's death began with the party struggle, and the party struggle was the most intense, no more than during the apocalypse, when evil parties colluded with Wei Zhongxian because of the laissez-faire of the apocalypse. In the party struggle between Donglin Party and evil parties, the scholar's way disappeared and the villain grew longer. The author believes that the fierce contradiction between the scholar-officials and the imperial power, the intensification of the contradiction between the rulers and the people, etc., are also the reasons why the foundation of the Ming Dynasty has been greatly impacted.

Secondly, by checking the history around the Apocalypse, we can find that: "In 1627, the last year of the reign of Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Apocalypse, Wang Er, a farmer from Baishui County, northern Shaanxi, led hundreds of farmers to kill Zhang Douyao, the magistrate of a county, which opened the prelude to the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty. In the third year after that, Li Zicheng, an outstanding peasant leader, joined the ranks of peasant rebels, and soon became a famous "King Rushing". On March 17, 1644, the rebels surrounded Beiping, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. On the 19th, Li Zicheng troops entered Beiping, and Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself from a tree in jingshan park (now Jingshan). The Ming Dynasty that ruled China for 276 years was finally overthrown by the peasant revolution led by Li Zicheng. "

On the surface, the Ming Dynasty officially perished in 1644. However, the demise of such an empire did not happen overnight. Meaningless party struggle, internal corruption and the rise of the late Jin Dynasty were also the key reasons. Therefore, it is also credible to take the beginning of the peasant uprising in 1627 as a sign of the fault in the Ming Dynasty.

So, if we push it up nine centuries from 1627, it is amazing that the error range of Li Bai's prophecy and historical facts is only an astonishing seven years.