The weather in Jiangshan in the coming week

In February of the eighteenth year of Zhenguan (644), the weather was still a little cold, but the atmosphere here in Xuanwu Gate was very warm. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, summoned hundreds of civil and military officials with more than three products in the Qing Dynasty, and held a big banquet here, where the monarch and his ministers got together and enjoyed themselves.

Seeing the warm atmosphere, Emperor Taizong was in a good mood, so he ordered his attendants to bring pen and paper. He wanted to show off his unique skill-flying white book.

Bofeishu is a special calligraphy font created by Cai Yong, a great calligrapher in Han Dynasty. The strokes are white, like a dry pen without ink, which has a unique charm. It is not easy to practice.

Ministers are waiting when they see this scene. Taizong waved a pen and wrote several articles. Take it in your hand when you finish writing, and give it to whoever can grab it from him.

The emperor opened his mouth, and of course the ministers should cooperate, scrambling to grab it with the help of alcohol. Liu Yue, an ordinary waiter, may be really drunk and can't catch it. In desperation, he jumped on the imperial bed and successfully grabbed a piece of paper.

Got it! Yes, happy!

But what's wrong?

Of course not, brother. You jumped on the imperial bed, the throne of the emperor, and you dare to step on it. Do you want to rebel? You're dead. ...

Emperor Taizong said with a smile, "I heard the words of Jieyu in the past, but now I see a regular waiter boarding the bed."

Ban Jieyu, a talented woman in the Western Han Dynasty, was praised for refusing the request of Emperor Han Chengdi to invite her to sit in the imperial coffin. However, this has nothing to do with Liu Yue jumping into the dragon bed. This is also a foil to Liu Yue's rudeness. That's what Emperor Taizong said, just changing the subject and being humorous.

After all, the theme of the banquet is to have fun with the monarch and ministers, and Liu Yue inadvertently achieved this. Why not indulge yourself, show your generosity and buy people's hearts? It's a good deal.

In short, in the end, Liu Yue not only didn't get blamed, but also succeeded in getting a handwritten imperial book from the emperor, a winner in life.

To say that Li Shimin of Emperor Taizong is not bragging, his calligraphy does have two brushes. Zhu, a calligraphy theorist in the Northern Song Dynasty, commented on Tang Taizong's calligraphy: "Calligraphy is the most wonderful."

Emperor Taizong also wrote several articles about calligraphy theory, and his calligraphy tactics, writing and meaning were insightful and valued by later generations.

Today, we can also see some of his calligraphy prints, such as Jin Ci Ming, Ping Shu, Wen Quan Ming, Xing Shu, Er Du Tie, Kai Shu, Wu Zi Qiu Ri Xiao and Yu Xin Shi Tie.

Among them, Preface to the Monument to Jinci is in Jinci, Taiyuan, Shanxi. What is special about this monument is that it is the first monument written in running script in history. Before that, all the tablets were written in official script, and no one ever wrote them in lines.

But Emperor Taizong has always been a man who dares to break the rules. If he abides by the rules, he can't be an emperor and can't achieve chastity.

It is not that he insists on inscription line by line. The fact is that Emperor Taizong was not good at writing regular script, but as an emperor, he had to write some inscriptions himself. Instead of writing seal script, official script or regular script that you are not good at, it is better to break the routine and write what you are good at.

Therefore, Taizong used his own running script to enter the monument, and wrote the monument with Feibai. His calligraphy has a king's breath that others can't match. His running script is engraved, his brushwork is vigorous and his momentum is extraordinary.

Under the leadership of the emperor, the calligraphy form of the running script tablet gradually became popular in the tablet culture of the Tang Dynasty, which is also a major feature of the Tang Dynasty.

As an emperor who made great efforts, Emperor Taizong loved calligraphy very much, but he didn't have much time to improve his personal skills. He once said to the minister:

Skills like calligraphy are not urgent, but as long as you keep paying attention, there is nothing you can't learn, and you are afraid that you will be lazy and unable to devote yourself wholeheartedly for a long time.

There are two prosperous times in the history of calligraphy in China, one is the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the other is the Tang Dynasty. The prosperity of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty can not be separated from the advocacy of emperors, especially Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin.

As we know, the prosperity of Tang poetry is related to the poetry and fu in the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, and so is calligraphy. The criteria for selecting scholars in the Tang Dynasty are "style, speech, calligraphy and judgment", and calligraphy is also an important criterion for selecting scholars.

Even in Chinese studies, calligraphy has been set as a compulsory subject. In the first year of Zhenguan, 24 children studied calligraphy in Hong Wen Pavilion. Emperor Taizong invited calligraphers Yu Shinan and Ou Yangxun to write regular script. In the second year of Zhenguan, the school was founded, and a doctor of calligraphy was set up to accept students to give lectures.

In addition, he posted handwritten quotations and anecdotes about the political rise and fall of the previous generation on the screen of the main hall of Tang Chao, which can help ministers receive ideological and aesthetic education of calligraphy, killing two birds with one stone.

As the emperor likes and respects calligraphy so much, it is natural that a trend of learning calligraphy arose in the Tang Dynasty.

Another point is that Emperor Taizong's personal preference has a great influence on the calligraphy circle in the Tang Dynasty, that is, he is exclusive to Wang Xizhi.

How much does Li Shimin worship Rainbow Xizhi? I like to personally write praises for the biography of Jin Shu Wang Xizhi. Emperor Taizong ordered Fang, Xu and others to preside over the compilation of the Book of Jin. After the completion, he wrote a hymn for Wang Xizhi alone.

In this eulogy, Emperor Taizong said that calligraphers since Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Zhong You, Wang Xianzhi and Xiao Ziyun, all had flaws, and only Wang Xizhi was the most perfect. He said:

Before that, Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi were called "two kings", each with his own strong points. Some people think Wang Xizhi is better, and many people think Wang Xianzhi is better.

However, Emperor Taizong preferred Wang Xizhi's scrawny calligraphy to Wang Xianzhi's fleshy calligraphy, and his aesthetic thoughts influenced the aesthetic standards of calligraphy in the early Tang Dynasty. Wang Xizhi was honored as a "book saint" without the admiration of Emperor Taizong and Li Shimin.

Not only that, he also collected the original calligraphy of Wang Xizhi everywhere, and then ordered people to give it to the crown prince, the prince and the modern minister after the extension.

So that at that time, not only scholar-officials preferred sons to daughters, but also monks, immortals and literati took learning and imitating Wang Xizhi's calligraphy as a fashion, and the whole Tang Dynasty set off a fanatical wind of Wang Xizhi.

Today, we can see many precious original works of Wang Xizhi, but we still want to thank Emperor Taizong for his efforts. Otherwise, most of these books will disappear if they are scattered among the people.

Wang Xizhi's most famous work in his life, the world's first running script "Preface to the Lanting Pavilion", also has an indissoluble bond with Emperor Taizong.

The Preface to the Lanting written by He in the Tang Dynasty said that the original works that Tang Taizong looked for everywhere could not be found. After many inquiries, he learned that Preface to Lanting was handed down to his disciples by Sun Zhiyong, the seventh son of Wang Xizhi, but he denied it.

Therefore, Taibai sent suggestion Xiao Yi secretly to Yongxin Temple in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, where Qicai was located. After winning the trust of the old monk Qicai, he successfully let Qicai show him the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, and therefore the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion was included in the palace.

At the end of the Preface to Lanting, Emperor Taizong liked it very much after he got the Preface to Lanting, and he took it with him day and night. Before he died, he left his last words, asking the prince to bury the Preface to Lanting with him. Since then, the Preface to Lanting Collection has disappeared, leaving only a temporary extension.

Whether the story is true or not has always been debated, but the original of Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion is a copy ordered by Emperor Taizong, so it is called "Dragon Book Lanting" because it bears the seal of "Dragon".

Undoubtedly, Emperor Taizong was a wise monarch who loved Jiangshan and managed it well. At the same time, his influence and contribution to calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty can not be ignored. His love for Jiangshan does not affect his love for calligraphy.