Nalan Xingde’s close friend Cao Yin wrote these two poems: Every family competes to sing "Drinking Water Ci", and Nalan never knows what is on his mind.
Nalan Xingde, a native of Zhenghuang Banner in Manchuria, was born into a noble family. His father, Mingzhu, was the powerful prime minister. His official rank started from the first rank, ranking first in the civil service; He passed the imperial examination at the age of eight and became a second-class Jinshi at the age of twenty-two. Later, he was awarded the title of the emperor's first-class bodyguard. He was gifted with precocious wisdom and brilliant talents. He was an outstanding poet in the Qing Dynasty. He was once praised by Wang Guowei as "the only one since the Northern Song Dynasty". An engraving of Nalan's Ci poems was published during his lifetime, which caused a sensation that "every family sang it" and "it was written all over the post walls of villages and schools".
Master Nalan is a thoughtful and thoughtful person. His mentors and friends recalled that when he was young, because he had not been tempered by the world, he often talked about world affairs without restraint; as he grew older, experienced more, and became more experienced, he gradually became mature and sophisticated, "knowing things frequently." "I don't want to be someone's scheming lightly", "If I ask about his worldly affairs, he won't answer, and he will use other words from time to time. People say that he is cautious, but I don't know that he is elegant and open-minded." He loved poetry and socialized in his daily life. Whenever he felt something, he always expressed his feelings and thoughts by reciting poems and writing lyrics. He was accustomed to using literary forms to express his deep feelings and express his true feelings. This should be a major feature of "Drinking Water Ci". However, as Cao Yin lamented, I am afraid not many people can penetrate the author's deep heart through those clear words and beautiful sentences, and deeply understand the underlying content behind it.
Of course, some of his close friends and close acquaintances have already had insights into this. Nalan's close friend, Yan Shengsun, who was thirty-two years older than Nalan, said that more than a month before his death, the young master returned to Wuxi in the south of the Yangtze River for a farewell party. There was no one else at the table, and they discussed the gatherings and separations of his life, and the ending and beginning of personal affairs. He is very sincere and sincere; when he speaks, he is often sad and sad. When the two of them were holding hands and saying goodbye, looking at Nalan's expression at that time, it seemed that there was something he couldn't let go of, but he didn't express it directly, and there was an unspeakable secret in it. He also said that in his daily life, Mr. Nalan was always anxious and worried, as if he was treading water in a deep place.
In fact, it is not difficult to see this kind of inner song clearly if you carefully study his poetry works. According to some statistics, among the more than 300 existing poems, the word "sorrow" has been used nearly a hundred times, and the words "tears" and "hate" have also appeared dozens of times; in addition, words such as "broken heart", "helpless", " "Sadness", "melancholy", "emotionless", "poor life", "frost destroyed", "fangfei lonely", etc., can be seen almost from the beginning of the book. There are deep and sad feelings permeating between the lines, just like the cuckoo crying blood, the sound of It is sad; even some works with generous words and passionate work are also mixed with the sound of change and war, revealing the painful sense of the emptiness of life.
I am a melancholy guest in the human world. When I know what happened to you, I burst into tears and recall my life with the sound of heartbreak. I forced my mood into a rut and read "Li Sao", feeling as sad as the day and night tides of the Xiangjiang River. You don’t believe it, looking back to the west wind, all things are miserable!
It’s natural to have a broken heart, why bother to watch the west wind!
The rest of my life is not thirty, and half of it is sorrow. My thoughts are like falling flowers, broken by the spring breeze.
Wandering for a long time, feeling sad, sick and in a bad mood. The mood is bad, blurred, and divided into sadness and joy.
In the shadow of the setting sun, I asked Gui Hong, "Have you returned yet?" Just follow the fate, go and stay without intention, look coldly at the Huating Pavilion and cranes.
Generally speaking, this kind of psychological state of pessimism, world-weariness, emptiness and depression should belong to the kind of lonely people who travel alone and move around. It is difficult for those who have not experienced ups and downs, ups and downs, and catastrophes that have endangered one's family, destroyed one's country, or destroyed one's family to gain this kind of life experience and spiritual experience. And Nalan Xingde, of course, has nothing to do with this.
His ancestors rode wild and untamed horses, rushing out of the jungle and traveling north and south; his body was filled with the blood of a brave and powerful hunting nation;
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He was born into a noble family in Tianhuang, where the bells ring with food and the horses and horses are light and fat. He grew up in a gentle and prosperous land, a prosperous place with smoke and willows. He was bathed in an environment of exquisite gold and gold, and there were flowers everywhere. , purple dance and red turn;
He is a rare among the children of the Eight Banners, a leader of the new generation on the land of China. On the road to rapid development, he was respected by his people, cherished by his parents, and the emperor. appreciation;
He is a typical lucky person in the eyes of the world. It can be said that he gets wind when he wants it and rain when he wants it.
He has almost everything that ordinary people yearn for, hope for, and pursue, including fame, fame, wealth, and honor.
But it was such a person who had a dramatic and depressing state of mind, uttering sad and sorrowful spiritual elegy. His lyrics are famous for their long sadness and sadness, and they are accompanied by tears, making it impossible to stop reading. This strange life phenomenon is really surprising and difficult to explain.
Yang Fangcan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, analyzed in the "Preface to Nalan's Ci": "Mr. Diao Er Zhu Lun, growing Hua Piao, his poems are sad and disdainful, similar to the behavior of a haggard and derelict person. This covers three reasons. Born with wisdom, unable to bear the dust, wandering in thoughts for no reason, being depressed, having a faint rhyme and doubting immortality, and thinking about ghosts. This is a sign of the passing of time. "The poet Qi Chuan also raised questions about this and tried to do so. To explain:
Why did Linge Jiaer, a distinguished guest from Humen, escape into the city of sorrow? This matter is not related to poverty, but to the liver and intestines.
Is it true?
Westerners have a saying that "character determines destiny." If we understand "being born with a weak heart" as a character trait, then it can be said that it is the special social and historical environment in which Nalan Xingde lives, his unique personality and his internal ideological conflicts. , created his sad and tragic character.
Gongzi Nalan grew up sucking the milk of Han culture. He was deeply influenced by Confucianism since he was a child, and he had the ambition to establish virtue, meritorious service, and show his relatives and reputation. Like the scholars of all ages in China, he was immersed in the dream of "learning well and becoming an official", and in the environment and mentality of "the sun shines on the leisurely courtyard, and the past and present are all in one room. Occasionally, I live in this building, hugging my knees and chanting leisurely". Next, he seems to regard himself as Zhuge Kongming, paying attention to the affairs of the world, disdain to be famous for his words, only waiting for the recommendation of his close friends and the appreciation of the Holy Lord, and then show his great talents, "I have to personally pull up the Milky Way and cleanse the whole world. Linge is just I will leave my powder copy and return home with a big smile." He wanted to do a great career, and then achieve great success, leave the court, retreat to the woods, and completely realize the life journey of a politician. In order to fulfill his long-cherished wish, he was self-possessed and worked hard. Although he was in a prosperous family, his leisurely meal was desolate and the courtyard was silent. There were no visitors who came to visit him outdoors. There were no prostitutes, silk pipes, hulu, etc. in the inner courtyard. A candle-lit tour. Whenever the weather is cold or hot, and the mornings and evenings are over, he always seizes a moment of leisure to indulge in calligraphy and art. He is able to capture their beauty and originality, showing his elegant mind and strong sense of mission. It also fully reveals the diligent spirit and enterprising mentality unique to members of the rising class.
However, it actually backfired. The reality he faced was completely different. As his most intimate friend Gu Zhenguan said: "Nothing can show the talent you want to give, no one can show off all the things you want to do, no one can reward you no matter what you want to accomplish, no one can express all the emotions you want to express." "Spit it out." Nalan himself said this:
I am so stuck now that I have accomplished nothing. Even if I have the blood of a hero in my life, there is no reason for it to splash in the Jingjiang River! My horse teeth are getting longer, and I am in vain. I ask you what is the matter, and your reputation is always like water. If you drink a glass of wine in front of a bottle, you will be drunk all your life.
So, how did this state of affairs come about?
It turns out that Emperor Kangxi admired Mr. Nalan because he was born in a family of distinguished relatives and had With superhuman qualifications, he looked up to him as soon as he met him, kept him by his side, regarded him as a confidant, and promoted him to be a bodyguard. Moreover, the term lasted for ten years, until the young master died of illness. For ordinary people, being lucky enough to be the emperor's favorite, witnessing the approaching dragon's face, and kissing the heaven's warm words at the same time is truly an incomparable honor, noble and unimaginable, but Nalan doesn't take it seriously. He is very clear about the essence of this kind of position: at the beginning of Nurhachi's rise, the Great Khan's bodyguards were served by his servants or servants, responsible for security and guard affairs; later, although they were replaced by clan members and descendants of the clan, their nature was still that of a minister. The servants were at the emperor's disposal at any time and were directly driven by the emperor. They were specifically responsible for the palace guards and accompanying retinues.
In Nalan's mind, being a bodyguard and entering the forbidden court is tantamount to being imprisoned in a carved cage and trapped in a net. In his five-character rhyme poem "Ode to the Caged Orioles", he used chanting of objects to express his feelings, which can be described as melancholy and profound.
Where is the guest in golden clothes, living in the green curtain. If you want to startle your dream, if you don't want to, you will sing the spring breeze.
The swallows wandering through the beams, whose nest is Tong on the well. The sky will be full of clouds and road wings, and the hatred will be hidden in the carved cage. Huang Ying's nickname is "Young Master in Golden Clothes". It is most appropriate for Mr. Nalan, who enjoys fine clothes and fine food, but wears gold shackles and silver chains, to refer to himself as a "caged warbler".
Look at this warbler, covered with feathers, fed by fragrant grains, covered with carved cages, hopping around all day long, and being played with in the palms of hands. She has no fear of being cold or being attacked by projectiles. On the surface, it looks really rich, comfortable and enviable. It has everything, the only thing it lacks is physical and mental freedom - it cannot fly freely or chirp freely like others of its kind.
Therefore, it is very depressed in its heart. The word "Qi Qi" gives a clue. It can be seen that the jumping behavior is not due to excitement, but Qi Qi's fear and anxiety. A sign of uneasiness. The word "where" means that it is not here originally and is not something inherent in the cage. The words "intentional" and "unintentional" in the couplet describe the reasons for Huang Ying's panic and anxiety, indicating the contradiction. It reveals a kind of momentum, an expectation, and a new awakening: to break through the dream and face the Reality requires the courage to contend and strive for freedom. The neck couplet describes the beating of the oriole's heart, its longing for the vast world outside the "green curtain", its admiration for the purple swallows that fly up and down in the early spring, whispering to Liang Wen, and its envy for building nests and drinking dew on the tall trees. The tung flower phoenix on the top. And all of this has become an unattainable fantasy. The last couplet ends with a cold remark: Kong has the same wings, facing the vast world, and in the end he can only swallow his hatred silently in the carved cage, and end up depressed.
If this is just a subtle hint of affection, then his "Ancient Poems" expresses his anger directly:
I am a humble person, and I do nothing for myself. Restricted. The suave is sent to heaven and earth, and the cage is not what you want. Alas, Huatinghe, the glory of the name is turned into disgrace!
As soon as I opened the board, I made it clear: I am a casual and unconventional person. I place my suave thoughts on the world and do not want to be restrained in any form. Therefore, , extremely disgusted with Fan Cong. However, due to bad luck and fate, he eventually became the "Huating Crane" and suffered all kinds of humiliation due to the fetters of honor and fame. There is a poem from the ancients that says, "Life in this world is as valuable as getting what you want. Ask the cranes in the Huating Pavilion in the canal, how are they like the perch in the Songjiang River?" "Huating Crane" and "Songjiang Perch" both come from Songjiang in Shanghai. Each has an allusion: Lu Ji in the Jin Dynasty was framed by a traitor. Before his execution, he sighed: I want to hear the cry of Huating Crane again. It couldn't be done! But his contemporary Zhang Han knew the opportunity first. He resolutely hung up his crown and retired to Wuzhong on the grounds that he missed the delicious seabass in his hometown, thereby avoiding the risks of cruel politics and surviving in troubled times. From the stories quoted by Nalan, it is not difficult to get a glimpse of his regrets about entering the official career and being trapped in prison by mistake.
Whether it is regret or mistake, it is actually powerless and helpless. Just like being unable to pull out his hair and leave the earth, Nalan faced the same irreversible fate. Under the emperor's long fist and claws, his life path was not his own.
When he contacted the miserable situation of Wu Zhaoqian, who was impoverished in the distance, and Gu Zhenguan, Chen Qinian, Yan Shengsun, Jiang Chenying and others around him, he felt even more disappointed and sad. He felt sincerely indignant at the extremely unreasonable world phenomenon in which talented people are not appreciated but mediocre and stupid people can achieve great success in reality, and "when one person achieves enlightenment, chickens and dogs can ascend to heaven". In the poem "Yu Meiren" written to Gu Zhenguan, he vented his strong dissatisfaction:
When you take care of the flower class, you must not let me down. Seeing the chickens and dogs ascending the ladder to heaven, Huang Jiu invited Qin Qi to plow the mud. Being thin and crazy seems to be good for being fat, and condemning fat people to laugh at him, laughing at him for being sick and always poor, not as good as all the other nobles. "Huang Jiu" and "Qin Qi" refer to the famous poets Huang Tingjian and Qin Shaoyou in the Song Dynasty, here they refer to the author and Gu Zhenguan. Watching a group of chickens and dogs soaring to heaven, while he and Gu Zhenguan, such unprecedented geniuses, willingly fell into hell (mud plow). "Skinny" and "obese" are metaphors for frustration and success in official career. "All the princes go to the wind and dust", which means that those who are successful ascend to high positions and hold great power. Du Fu once said, "All the princes are in power, but Mr. Guangwen is a lonely official." Here, the unreasonable phenomenon of "the yellow bell is destroyed and the tile cauldron thunders" is ridiculed and criticized, and extremely contemptuous eyes are cast on those who are ignorant and official fans.
Due to the irreconcilable contradiction between his real situation and his spiritual pursuit, his body and mind are under double pressure: on the one hand, it is the deviation between reality and ideals. He has ideals, longings, and pursuits. , trying to make his own choices about the path of life all the time, but never getting the answer, everything is not as expected, as if fate is specifically against him, and in the end he becomes discouraged and desperate because he is embarrassed by the cruel manipulation of fate; on the other hand, The so-called "born with liver and intestines" refers to the conflict between human nature and personality and the social environment in which he lives. His nature is lonely and indifferent, and he desires to live an unrestrained life. His personality is very distinct, but as a result, not only the scope of activities and the control of time are strictly controlled, Moreover, they must try their best to conceal their emotions, emotions and nature. Every word and deed must be based on the emperor's will. No ambiguity or omission is allowed, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous. This miserable situation was explicitly disclosed in a letter he wrote to his close friend Zhang Chunxiu:
I love leisure and am close to the bitter deer and deer. The soft world of Donghua should only bury the beautiful heart of a wise man. How can such a mediocre servant be worthy of this!
In the letter written to Yan Shengsun, the "Wangnianjiao", he talked more fully: On the 28th, I took Dongfeng's chariot again, and Jinfan sailed south. , I still don’t know where I am in the world, how can I say when I will return! Brother Han (referring to Wu Hancha) is very ill. I don’t know if I can see him again? He burst into tears. My younger brother has recently been engaged in pommel and horse training, and has become increasingly exhausted. He has suffered from various problems and is as stubborn as before. His previous high ambitions have all been wiped out. People in the past said that a reputation after death is not as good as a glass of wine during life, and this is true for a large county.
It is not difficult to get a glimpse of Nalan's inner thoughts by combining these heartfelt personal letters with his poetry works that are either tactful or express his heart.
Empress Li has long said: "The past can only be saddened, but it is difficult to recall the past." As an attendant of the emperor, Nalan was indispensable to look for old traces when he went on patrol with his chariot and traveled north and south as an official. Traces of the past and nostalgia for the past also brought him a lot of emotion.
In the 21st year of Kangxi's reign, Nalan Xingde arrived in Jilin and came to the banks of the Songhua River (formerly known as the Huntong River), which was an ancient battlefield. Before entering the Pass, during the process of unification of the Jurchen tribe, the Jianzhou, Haixi, and Yeren tribes killed each other, annexed each other, and fought desperately, leaving endless psychological trauma to future generations. The poet was touched by the scene and was filled with emotions and sadness. He wrote a poem called "Man Ting Fang": the crows rumbled in the snow, the horses galloped on the river ice, and the trembling wind blew through the dragon pile. Weeping in the dark night, this scene is always sad. Waiting to dance in the middle of the night, there are village chickens wherever there is no one. It should only be that the golden bamboo shoots secretly, and the clothes are stained with tears. It should be noted that in the past and present, victory or defeat on the chessboard has been overturned. I sigh one after another, and look back and make mistakes. There are only a few lines of ancient history left, and the stele is broken and broken under the setting sun. Time flies, mixed with river water, how long will it flow back? " "One general's success is so great that all bones wither", which describes the desolation and the horror of the killing. "堠" refers to a castle left over from the war to watch the enemy's situation or a mound used to mark mileage in ancient times. "Longdui" was originally in the Western Regions, and here generally refers to the ancient battlefields in the border areas. Phosphorus fire is commonly known as will-o'-the-wisp fire, and "yin phosphorus" is a metaphor for ghosts who died in battle. There is a line in Tang poetry that "war ghosts gather yin phosphorus". The poet then expressed his emotion: I wanted to imitate the ancestor Ti of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and heard the chickens dancing in the middle of the night; however, there was no one here, and I couldn't hear the roosters crowing at all. The implication is that even if there is a feeling of serving the country, there is no way to realize it, and it will only increase the regret. I had no choice but to blow the golden bamboo stick secretly, which also made me so sad that my clothes were stained with tears.
The bottom row is full of discussions, reflecting the sorrow of life from the dream of rise and fall. The tone is low and melancholy, with profound thoughts. The poet lamented the rise and fall of ancient and modern times, just like the overturning of a chessboard and the struggle for supremacy. Regardless of victory or defeat, everything becomes empty in the blink of an eye, reflecting the nihility of history and the illusion of life. "Barbarian Touch" refers to two small countries in the cochlear horn fighting for territory. The phrase "Zhuangzi" means that the two sides are fighting for a small one, which has no practical significance. What is left are just a few lines of records on the broken tablet, hidden in the setting sun, and the long years have passed with the mixed river and can never be returned.
On this patrol, we visited the Dawula on the banks of the Songhua River. On the way back, we also visited the strategically important Longtankou in Kaiyuan, Liaoning. These two places are not too far from Nalan’s ancestral home. His ancestor was Ye Hebu, the Haixi Jurchen. Later, various tribes in Haixi were annihilated by the Jianzhou Jurchens led by Nurhachi.
Nalan's great-grandfather Jintaishi was the leader of the Yehe tribe. After the fall of the old city, he refused to surrender and set fire to himself, but failed. Nurhachi ordered him to be hanged. More than sixty years have passed. Now, the great-grandson of Jintaishi, who is a bodyguard, and the great-grandson of Nurhachi, who has become the emperor, have come to the hometown of the Haixi Jurchens. feeling. Let's take a look at his "Huanxisha·Xiaowula" and "Recalling Qin'e·Longtankou":
The city is made of fish and willows in the birch house, and the dragon's scales are moving and the waves are fishy, ??and the flying sea should be chased by the east green. I still remember the traces of the military fortress in those days. I don’t know where the Sanskrit bells sounded. Don’t make it clear by talking nonsense.
The mountains overlap, and the cliffs appear to be cracked. The sky is cracked, the inscriptions on the stele are broken, and the ancient moss is gnawing across the ground. The wind is thundering, the gold and iron are ringing, and the dragon's cave is at the bottom of the gloomy pond. The dragon's cave is full of rise and fall, and the bright moon of the old days.
The words contain boundless emotion. With the chase down the mountain and the bloodshed at the top of the city, who will win in the end? Let's just "don't talk nonsense". "The eyes are full of rise and fall, and the bright moon of the old days" is by no means a general statement. It reminds people of the "homeland" and "empty city" illuminated by Liu Yuxi's "old moon east of Huai River". The grievances and grievances in the early years are still fresh in my memory, and there was a deep and painful feeling during them. Just because of the taboo, I couldn't speak directly, so I had to keep my thoughts hidden.
The more you read, the more you will think, which makes Mr. Nalan realize the many stories in life and the impermanence of worldly affairs. To take a step back, even if the hatred between the tribes in the past has faded away, the cruel family history, accompanied by the flash of swords and the smell of blood, killing each other for power, should always remain deeply in Nalan's heart. The memory was like a dark cloud, covering his heart, making him frightened and shuddering.
He will never forget the ups and downs of his grandfather’s family. His maternal grandfather, Prince Azig, was the twelfth son of Nurhaci. He started to go to war with his father at the age of fifteen. He was born and died. He made many military exploits and made outstanding military achievements. He became the most powerful leader in the ruling group of the Later Jin Dynasty. One of Baylor, with a prominent position. However, due to his lack of political strategy, he relied solely on his achievements and was arrogant and violent. Later, he was ordered to commit suicide by Emperor Shunzhi. His descendants took away his title and abolished his clan status. After a bloody storm, the moon was darkened and the stars were sinking. In the blink of an eye, wealth became a dream. As Kong Shangren wrote in "The Peach Blossom Fan": "I once saw the orioles in the Jade Palace of Jinling crow, and the flowers on the Qinhuai waterside pavilions bloom early. Who knew that the ice would disappear easily. I watched him rise from the Zhulou, I watched him entertain guests, and I watched his tower collapse. "
If we say that these are old accounts that "the old emperor cannot recall", then what about what is happening in front of him? It makes him even more frightened. He is always worried about his father's dangerous situation. Nalan Xingde knew best that Emperor Kangxi's consistent strategy for controlling powerful ministers was that when a certain faction became too powerful, he would immediately deliberately support the opposing faction to maintain the balance of power in the court and facilitate his control. When the powerful minister Aobai became popular and domineering, he supported Suo'etu; when Suo'etu became too proud of his merits and could not lose his tail, he turned to support Mingzhu; and when Mingzhu's power increased sharply and courtiers rushed to join him, he supported the people in the audience. His subordinates restrained him. Mingzhu's heyday was during the pacification of the San Francisco Rebellion, when Emperor Kangxi relied on him as an important minister; however, as the rebellion subsided, his assisting role gradually weakened, especially because of his high position and power, he became increasingly important to the emperor and the emperor. The officials were jealous and watched helplessly as they fell into the magic circle of "cooking the dog and hiding the bow". Mingzhu himself, however, wanted to make his mind go dark, and did not know how to restrain himself. He still bribed people with bribes and kept the house crowded with guests. As a result, he aroused constant criticism from his political enemies, and some even petitioned the emperor to have him beheaded immediately.
"When prosperity comes and spring comes, I am always afraid of the autumn festival." This made Mr. Nalan so worried that he could not sleep at night. Sure enough, less than three years after the son's death, his father collapsed in a fierce party struggle.
Nalan Xingde is extremely smart, extremely sensitive, and extremely sober, which makes him always in the torture of life, and his mood never has a moment of peace. He was frightened, cautious in his words and actions, and every nerve was tense. As the saying goes, "Accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger" and "The power of God is unpredictable." You may encounter disaster at any time.
He knows the ancient Chinese book "Han Feizi" well. Han Fei, a great statesman and thinker, came to the conclusion that kings are the most difficult to get along with based on personal observation and summarizing the experiences of others. In "Speaking of Difficulties", he listed seven situations that can cause "personal danger"--death:
Things always succeed because of confidentiality, but fail because of the leakage of language.
It’s not necessarily that the speaker himself revealed anything, it’s just that the speaker unintentionally revealed the king’s secret thoughts;
On the surface, the king did one thing, but in fact he used it as a cover to achieve another purpose. , the speaker not only knew what he was doing on the surface, but also had insight into the true purpose of what he did;
The speaker successfully planned an unusual event for the king, but another person did not participate in it However, he guessed the matter in private, causing the details to leak out. The king must think that the speaker himself intentionally leaked it;
The king's intimacy and trust with the speaker are not that deep, and the speaker is not that deep. Even if words that are spoken with great sincerity are fortunate enough to be implemented and achieve results, they will be forgotten because they are not his close followers. If they fail because they are not implemented, the king will suspect that the speaker is deliberately trying to trap him;
When the king made a mistake, the speaker clearly stated etiquette and righteousness to punish him for his misconduct;
When the king was complacent and thought he had made a mistake, you pointed it out and seemed to predict his plan.
Reluctantly persuade the king to do what he cannot or is unwilling to do, and forcefully stop what the king refuses to give up.
Immediately afterwards, Han Fei listed eight problems that the king cannot solve: If you talk to the king about his ministers, he will think that you are alienating their relationship between king and minister;
If you talk to the king about the talents of a certain minister, he will think that you are trying to steal and misappropriate the power that belongs to him;
If you talk to him about the person he loves, he will think that you want to Rely on the king's favorites as your backing;
If you talk to him about the people he hates, he will think you are testing the king's heart; if you speak straightforwardly and simply in front of the king, he will think you are ignorant of the matter. , stupid and stupid;
If you are eloquent and eloquent, you will be dismissed as complicated and trivial;
If you simply state your opinion, they will say you are cowardly and dare not To put it bluntly, if you talk about the issues you have considered extensively and thoroughly, you will be said to be unruly and arrogant.
It’s true: “It’s difficult to stick to the goalkeeper” – no matter how you do it, it won’t be good.
Although Emperor Kangxi was known as the Lord of Heroes, he was a man of prey, resourceful, moody, and unpredictable. Regarding this point, as a servant around him, Mr. Nalan has a clear view from the inside out. In the face of such a scheming master, even a sophisticated "official" would feel stretched and unable to cope; let alone a gentle man like Nalan, a scholar. It was really hard for him. In this state, every time he went out on patrol, even if he was faced with the beautiful scenery of spring with flying orioles and grass growing, assorted peanut trees, and the clear light of nine summers with fast green and red flowers and ten miles of lotus flowers, it would be difficult to arouse his interest in sightseeing. , must be unprovoked and unmotivated. In his poem "Butterflies in Love with Flowers", he wrote:
He went to the place where the green poplars once folded, and without saying a word, he lowered his whip and walked all over the Qingqiu Road. The sky is filled with decaying grass and there is no thought, and the sound of wild geese is far away heading towards Xiaoguan. I don’t hate the hard work in the end of the world, I just hate the west wind blowing my dreams into the present and the past. There is still a long way to go tomorrow, and the clothes are stained by the fresh cold rain.
If we say "no words, hanging whip" and "no emotions", they directly describe the depression of the mood; then, the journey to the water and the mountains, the long journey, the chirping of wild geese in the new cold, the wind and rain on the muddy road, It is a metaphor for the suffering of "traveling to the end of the world". It is said that it is "not hateful", but in fact, the whole story has been fully revealed between the lines. So, what is it that you hate? The west wind blows the old hero's dream, and the young man's head turns gray in no time. A feeling of complaint and resentment emerges vividly on the page. In that birdcage-like living environment of a guard, life would probably be even more difficult when he returned to the imperial court. This can be seen from Nalan's poem "Traveling on the Shasha": "The jackdaws in the golden palace, the spring grass on the jade steps, who knows the cold and warmth in the middle? The mayor of the small building Mingyue Town is idle, what is the matter in life?" Life in the palace, Full of unspeakable pain and helpless desolation, this lonely, boring and time-consuming life of a guard made him feel empty and tired. However, there is nothing to say about "being warm and cold" and "being like a fish drinking water", so we can only hurt ourselves and sigh. From here we can also understand Nalan's intention of naming the collection of words with the word "drinking water".
He deeply regretted that he was born in a wealthy family. Through Yongxue, he chanted: "Cold places are better, they have no roots, they are not rich flowers in the world." He loves physical and mental freedom and longs to get rid of officialdom. He escaped from the dangerous reality and lived a quiet life. Living in a high-rise building, he often had thoughts of fish and birds in the mountains and rivers.
He specially built a thatched hut in the garden and wrote a poem "Man Jiang Hong" to express his feelings and aspirations:
Ask me what my heart is, but I built this three-coupled thatched hut. It can be learned that seagulls have nothing to do and fly around leisurely. All my feelings are gone with the flowing water, and my whole body is still bound by false fame. Mistaken by the east wind, late in the day, the apricot blossoms bloom in the sky, and the red teeth sing. Dreams of dust, deer among bananas. Turn over the hand and watch the game. If you are too lazy and drink too much, you will eliminate his bad luck. After the snow, who can cover the eaves and green corners? It’s good to plant green walls after the rain. Some, I want to talk about Xianghanxiao, the candle in the west window.
The poet said, The purpose of building that hut is to live a leisurely, carefree and carefree life like a seagull. In the past, being restrained in name only caused too many delays. In fact, those official careers that are like smoke and dreams, like rain and clouds, are really meaningless after seeing through it. It's really not as good as cutting candles out of the west window, drinking wine and singing, watching pine trees after snow, planting green after rain, and living an ordinary life.
Of course, even these "some" wishes are sweet delusions for him and cannot be fulfilled. In front of Kangxi, the god who held the royal power and spoke of the Constitution of Heaven, he had no way to advance and no way to retreat. The only way to obtain liberation is to die, which will be painful, painful, sad, boring, and "all the feelings will go with the flow".