Chapter 78 169 Liu Yuxi Travels to Xuandu Viewpoint

When Wang Shuwen carried out reforms, not only a group of eunuchs hated Wang Shuwen, but also many ministers thought Wang Shuwen had a low status and acted arbitrarily, and were also dissatisfied with him. When Tang Xianzong came to the throne, everyone attacked Wang Shuwen one after another.The eight officials who originally supported Wang Shuwen's reform were all regarded as Wang Shuwen's accomplices.Emperor Xianzong issued an edict to demote all eight people including Wei Zhiyi, and send them to remote areas as Sima (official names). Historically, they, together with Wang Shuwen and Wang Yi, were called "two kings and eight Sima".

Among the "Eight Sima", two are famous writers, namely Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi.Liu Zongyuan is good at prose, Liu Yuxi is good at writing poetry, and the two are very good friends.This time, Liu Zongyuan was sent to Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan), and Liu Yuxi was sent to Langzhou (now Changde, Hunan).Both Yongzhou and Langzhou are in the south, far away from Chang'an, and they were still remote and backward areas at that time.If there are some people who can't think about it, the mood is uncomfortable enough.Fortunately, they are very cultivated people, they believe that what they do is honest, and they are not so upset when they fail.When I got there, besides working, I often visited mountains and rivers and wrote poems.In their poems and essays, they often express their political ambitions and also reflect the sufferings of some people. For example, Liu Zongyuan's poems were written in Yongzhou.

The two lived there for ten years.After a long time, some ministers in the court thought of them, and felt that these were talented people, and it would be a pity to put them in remote areas, so they asked Xianzong to transfer Liu Yuxi and Liu Zongyuan back to Chang'an, and planned to let them stay in the capital as officials. . Liu Yuxi returned to Chang'an and looked at the situation in Chang'an. Great changes had taken place. Among the court officials, many of the newly promoted people were people he could not get used to and could not get along with, so he felt very uncomfortable.

There is a famous Taoist temple in the capital called Xuandu Temple. There is a Taoist priest in it, and a group of peach trees are planted in the temple.At that time, it was the warm spring season, and the peach blossoms in Guanli were in full bloom, attracting many tourists.Some old friends asked Liu Yuxi to go to Xuanduguan to enjoy the peach blossoms.Liu Yuxi thought it would be good to go there to relax, so he went with his friends. After ten years of relegation, Liu Yuxi returned to Chang'an, and was very moved when he saw the newly planted peach blossoms in Xuandu Temple. After returning, he wrote a poem:

"Zimo Hongchen came here, and everyone looked at the flowers. There are thousands of peach trees in Xuandu Temple, all of which were planted by Liu Lang after he left." Liu Yuxi's poems were quite famous at first, but as soon as this new work came out, it spread quickly in Chang'an.Some ministers were originally unwilling to recall Liu Yuxi, but after reading Liu Yuxi's poems, they began to think carefully about the meaning in them.I don't know who said that Liu Yuxi's poem is about peach blossoms on the surface, but it is actually a satire on the newly promoted dignitaries at that time.

This caused trouble all of a sudden, and Tang Xianzong was also very dissatisfied with him.It was inconvenient for those who originally advocated keeping him in the capital to speak.Liu Yuxi was sent to Bozhou (now Zunyi City, Guizhou Province) to be the governor.The governor is one level higher than Sima, which seems to be a promotion, but Bozhou is farther and more remote than Langzhou, and it was still a sparsely populated place at that time. There is an old mother in Liu Yuxi's family, who is over eighty years old and needs someone to take care of her: if she goes to Bozhou with Liu Yuxi, the elderly will not be able to bear the hardship.

This is too embarrassing for Liu Yuxi! At this time, Liu Zongyuan couldn't stay in Chang'an anymore, and the court reassigned him as the governor of Liuzhou.Liu Zongyuan learned of Liu Yuxi's difficult situation and was determined to help his good friend.He wrote a memorial overnight, requesting that the official position assigned to him in Liuzhou be swapped with Liu Yuxi and let him go to Bozhou. Many people were moved by Liu Zongyuan's sincerity to his friends.Later, Minister Pei Du also interceded for Liu Yuxi in front of Tang Xianzong, and Xianzong finally agreed to reassign Liu Yuxi as the governor of Lianzhou (now Lianxian County, Guangdong).Later, Liu Yuxi was transferred to several places.Fourteen years later, when Pei Du became prime minister, he was transferred back to Chang'an.

Liu Yuxi returned to the capital, and it was late spring again.He thought of the Peach Blossom in Xuandu Temple, and revisited the old place intentionally.When I got there, I knew that the Taoist priest who planted peaches had died. The peach trees in the temple were not taken care of, some were cut down, and some were dead.He remembered the scene when the peach blossoms were in full bloom, and thought of some eunuchs and dignitaries who attacked them in the past, one by one stepped down in the political battles, but he himself stubbornly insisted on his own views.Thinking of this, he wrote another poem to express his inner feelings. The poem said:

"The one-hundred-acre atrium is half covered with moss, and the peach blossoms are exhausted and the cauliflower blooms. Where do the Taoists who grow flowers go? The former Liu Lang is here again." When some ministers heard Liu Yuxi's new poem, they thought he was complaining again, and were very upset, and said a lot of bad things about him in front of the emperor.Three years later, he was sent to other places as the governor.