Original text (excerpt):
Preface to Wen Tianxiang, a Guide to the Southern Song Dynasty
Oh! Being born is lucky, but what is being born lucky? I want to be a minister, I am humiliated and deserve to die; I want to be a child, and my parents are in danger, and I am responsible for my own death. Will confess to you, and you won't allow it; Please blame the mother, the mother won't allow it; Repentance of ancestral graves, life is difficult to save the country, and death is a spectre to attack thieves;
Lai Tianzhi, the blessing of the ancestral temple, cultivates me, learns from the king, takes the lead, is the shame of the nine temples, and is the inheritance of the high ancestor. The so-called oath not to live with thieves, and the so-called dedication to death, this is also righteousness. Hey, honey! If you pay, you will go all the way and you will not die.
Although you should respect the bones that are still appointed in the grass, write to your relatives a little. What do your relatives call it? If you don't want to go back to my clothes, you will see the sun and the moon again, so that you can get the right mountain on any day. What a pity! What a pity!
Explanation:
Alas! I am lucky to survive, but if I am lucky to survive, what will I do? If you ask to be a loyal minister and the monarch is humiliated, even if you are a courtier, you are still guilty. Asking to be a dutiful son, taking risks with the body left by his parents, even if he dies, is also guilty. Will apologize to the monarch, and the monarch will not agree; Confess to your mother, and she won't agree;
I had to confess to the graves of my ancestors. People can't save the national disaster when they are alive, but they will become evil spirits who kill thieves after death. This is righteousness; Relying on the blessing of the ancestors of the gods in the sky, dressing up for war, following the monarch to go out, acting as a pioneer, washing away the disgrace of the court and restoring the cause of the founding emperor is what the ancients said: "swear not to coexist with thieves" and "do your best until you die", which is also righteousness.
Alas! People like me will have nowhere to die. In the past, if you left the bones in the wilderness, although you had a clear conscience, you couldn't hide your mistakes from the monarch and parents. What will the monarch and my parents say about me?
Unexpectedly, I finally returned to the Song Dynasty, rearranged my clothes and met the emperor again. Even if I die on the land of my old country at once, what regret will I have! What are the regrets!
About the author:
Wen Tianxiang (1236.6.6-1283.1.9), also known as Song Rui, was a Taoist priest. Han nationality, a native of Luling (now Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province), was a minister, writer and national hero in the late Southern Song Dynasty. Baoyu was a scholar for four years (1256) and became a prime minister and an envoy of the Tang Dynasty.
He was sent to the Yuan army barracks to negotiate and was detained. After getting out of danger, he went to Tangwan, Taixian County via Gaoyou, and returned to the south from Nantong, insisting on resisting Yuan. In the first year of Xiangxing (1278), he was defeated and captured by Zhang Hongfan. He struggled in prison for more than three years, and then died peacefully in Chai Shi.
Extended data:
Creative background:
In the first month of the second year of Song Gongdi Deyou (1276), the Yuan Army arrived in Lin 'an at the gates. Wen Tianxiang stepped forward and went to Yuan Ying to negotiate. Successfully persuaded the enemy to retreat. The Yuan Army detained Wen Tianxiang and escorted him to the north on February 9th. On the night of February 29th, Wen Tianxiang and his party escaped in Zhenjiang. He compiled a poem written in a difficult situation into A Journey to the South, with a preface. There are many prefaces in front of every poem, so this article is called the post-preface.
Appreciate:
The language of this article is very particular. Syntactically, parallel prose is flexible; Lexically, the use of a large number of synonymous verbs and the 22 repetitions of the word "death" accurately show the hardships of the author's wandering and suffering.
It is the characteristic of this paper to express emotion by narration and discuss by narration. If you write that he is dying first, and then he is forced to go north, you should have committed suicide, because "you will do something (definition: you will do something)" and you will "bear it (definition: you still go with hatred and humiliation"; Then write about his tragic experience of escaping from the enemy camp, running to save the country and going through difficulties and obstacles.
Mainly in Syria, full of feelings for Syria; Subsequently, the narrative is mainly lyrical, and the discussion is interrupted, so that narrative, lyricism and discussion are integrated, which shows the author's unyielding integrity and the pain of national subjugation in the face of broken mountains and rivers.
It tells the story of the author's struggle with the enemy in Yuan camp and the difficult experience of fleeing to the south, and expresses the author's strong and unyielding national integrity and patriotic feelings. This article and some poems in "Return to the South" have been widely read by people and become ideological weapons for many patriots to persist in their struggle for many years.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Postscript of the South Guide