The wind picked up, blowing a pool of spring water. Leisurely lead the mandarin ducks in the fragrant path, and move the red apricots with my hands. Duck Doulan leans alone. Jasper scratches his head and falls. All day long, I hope that you will not come, and I raise my head to hear the magpie's joy.
"'Blowing a pond of spring water', what's the matter, Gan Qing?"
"It's not like Your Majesty's small building blows through the jade and cold."
This is a dialogue between Li Jing, the middle master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Prime Minister Feng Yansi, and it is also a koan case in the history of literature. Some people say that this is Feng Yansi's flattering words, while others disagree. They believed that the answer of the monarch and minister should be viewed in the context of history. For example, Lu You once said, "When the (Southern Tang Dynasty) declined and failed, and the country was almost destroyed, the head of the court called the minister to the enemy, and he honored his Zhengshuo to save the years, and the monarch and his ministers talked about each other."
Feng Yansi, courtesy name Zhengzhong, was from Guangling (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu). At the beginning of the founding of the Southern Tang Dynasty, due to his versatility, he was appointed by the First Lord Li Sheng as the secretary and made friends with the Crown Prince Li Jing. Lu You's "Book of the Southern Tang Dynasty" said that when he was in the Prince's Mansion, "the one with the highest position in the same mansion should be counted out." When Li Jing was the marshal, Feng Yansi held the post of secretary in the marshal's mansion.
After Li Jing ascended the throne, Feng Yansi thought that his chance to be promoted had come. So he was eager to get ahead, and he ran to Li Jing every day to get close, and entered the palace three or five times a day to talk, until Li Jing was too annoying and he complained a little, then he calmed down a little.
In AD 944, Feng Yansi took up the post of Hanlin Bachelor Chengzhi. At that time in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the party struggle was quite fierce, and the courtiers were divided into two parties. Song Qiqiu, Chen Jue, Li Zhenggu, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu, Wei Cen, and Zha Wenhui were one party; Sun Sheng, Chang Mengxi, Xiao Yan, Han Xizai, Jiang Wenwei, Zhong Mo, and Li Deming were one party.
For the sake of dictatorship, Feng Yansi's party suggested that Li Jing issue an edict: Only Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui, the secret envoys of the same party, are allowed to enter the house, and others are not allowed to enter unless they have a special edict. As soon as this order came out, the court and the opposition were shocked. After much persuasion, Li Jing just ascended to the imperial court. This shows Li Jing's stupidity and the scheming of Feng Yansi and others.
In 946 AD, Feng Yansi finally ascended the throne of Prime Minister. After he became prime minister, Feng Yansi acted arrogantly, and was quite forgetful. At a banquet, Feng Yansi pretended to be drunk and patted Qi Wang Jingda (Li Jing's younger brother) on the back to tell people not to forget the benefits he had given to them. King Qi gritted his teeth with hatred after hearing this, and immediately asked Li Jing to execute Feng Yansi, but Li Jing refused.
In AD 947, the second year after Feng Yansi became prime minister, Chen Jue and Feng Yanlu raised troops to attack Fuzhou. The result was a big defeat, with heavy casualties. Li Jing was furious and wanted to execute Chen Jue and Feng Yanlu. Feng Yansi took the blame and resigned in order to save the lives of the two.
In 952 AD, Feng Yansi ascended the throne again. At that time, he and Sun Sheng were both prime ministers. And Feng Yansi has always been incompatible with the celebrity Han Xizai, and even more so with Sun Sheng. So he attacked Sun Sheng, saying that Sun Sheng's prime minister was: "The golden calendula jade cup is full of shit".
After worshipping the chancellor again, Feng Yansi claimed that his intelligence and strategy were enough to govern the world. However, the emperor was in charge of the state affairs, and the position of the prime minister was in vain. How could he govern the world well? Therefore, Li Jing handed over all administrative power to him, and no longer interfered with state affairs. However, after Feng Yansi was in power, he did not make a name for himself, and the government was still in a mess. In the end, Li Jing had to clean up the mess for him.
In 958, Feng Yansi dismissed the prime minister for the third time. That is, this year, Li Jing, who had been defeated several times, was determined to eradicate the party struggle, and he issued an edict to count the crimes of Song Qiqiu, Chen Jue, Li Zhenggu and others. Then, Song Qiqiu was released to Mount Jiuhua, and soon died of illness. Chen Jue, Li Zhenggu and others were forced to commit suicide. However, Feng Yansi, who belongs to the Song Party, is safe and sound. Perhaps Feng Yansi didn't do much evil, but it was more likely that Li Jing believed in him.
In 960 AD, Feng Yansi died of illness at the age of fifty-eight.
Feng Yansi's character has been criticized. Together with Wei Cen, Chen Jue, Zha Wenhui, and Feng Yanlu, he is known as the "Five Ghosts". His political opponents accused him of "treachery and deceit" (Wen Ying's "Yuhu Qinghua", Vol. 10) and "flattery and deceitful" (Lu You's "Southern Tang Book: Feng Yansi Biography").
Although the accusations of political opponents are inevitably exaggerated, he has been accused again and again, and it is impossible for him to be purely groundless and unfounded. He often relied on his own talents and the monarch's favor to arbitrarily exclude and bully his colleagues. In Lu You's "Southern Tang Book", he said: "Blessed with his talent, he insulted the courtiers". His political enemy, Sun Sheng, once accused him in person: "You always underestimate me, I know it. Your writing is not as good as yours, your skills are not as good as yours, your wit is not as good as yours" ("Diaoji Li Tan").
Perhaps, he is far less bad than his political opponents say, but he is by no means a good person, at least he is a person with questionable character. Aside from the question of character, he is a man of calligraphy, good writing, and a witty humor.
Nineteen calligraphers of the Southern Tang Dynasty are listed in Peiwenzhai's Calligraphy and Painting Manual, among them Feng Yansi's great name. In "Diaoji Li Tan", he said: "Debate is vertical and horizontal, like a torrential rain pouring over a river, listening to it without realizing it, sitting on the knees and going forward repeatedly, making people forget sleep and eat." His speech can make people forget to sleep and eat, which shows his humor and wit.
As for his lyrics, it is even more open to the pronoun style. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Liu Shu's "Zhongshan Poetry Talk" said: "Yan Yuanxian (special) especially likes the lyrics of Feng Yansi in the south of the Yangtze River, and his own writing does not reduce Yansi". In the Qing Dynasty, Liu Xizai's "Art Summary · Ci Summary" said: "Feng Yansi's words, Yan Tongshu (shu) is handsome, and Ouyang Yongshu (Xiu) is deep". It can be seen that Feng Yansi's poems are deeply loved by Yan Shu and Ouyang Xiu, and have a certain influence on their poems.
Regarding Feng Yansi, those who like him say that he has an extraordinary literary talent, is tolerant and humble, is an evergreen in the political arena, and will never be suspicious of emperors in his life; One of the five evils. He has worshipped the chancellor three times, and is a very personable minister, favored by the emperor. He also started the pronoun style, which made the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty compete to study.
In the history books, he is a castaway villain; in the court, he is a favored minister by the emperor; in the field of poetry, he is the poet who started the style of poetry in the Northern Song Dynasty. Perhaps, he is not a good person, but he is indeed an excellent lyricist.
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