Chinese name: Luo Binwang

Birthplace: Wuzhou Yiwu (now part of Zhejiang Province)

Gender: Male

Nationality: Chinese

Date of birth: 640 AD

Date of death: 684 AD

Era: Tang Dynasty

Occupation: Literary Writer

Achievements: Literary Writer of the Tang Dynasty

Together with Wang Bo, Yang Jiong and Lu Zhaolin

he is known as the "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty".

Famous quote: Goose, goose, goose, singing to the sky. White hair floats on the green water, and anthurium stirs the clear waves.

Representative works: Autobiographical long poem "The Past"; "Essay on the Wu Family"

King Luo Bin, (approximately 640-684) was born in Yiwu, Wuzhou (now part of Zhejiang Province) , a writer of the Tang Dynasty. Together with Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, and Lu Zhaolin, he is known as the "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty". At the age of seven, he was able to write well, especially in five-character poems. He tried to compose "Emperor Capital Chapter", which was considered his masterpiece at the time. At first he was a member of the Dao Prince's Mansion, serving as the chief clerk of martial arts, and then transferred to the chief clerk of Chang'an. When Xu Jingye launched an army to attack Wu Zetian, King Luo Bin wrote "An Apology to Wu Zetian" on his behalf. The appeal lists Empress Wu's crimes and is very touching. When Empress Wu read the two sentences "A handful of soil is not dry, six feet of it is left alone", she was extremely shocked and asked the prime minister why he didn't reuse this person earlier. After Xu Jingye's defeat, King Luo Bin's whereabouts are unknown. It may be that he was killed by the rebel army, or that he escaped into the empty gate. There is "Collected Works of King Luo Bin" left in the world.

There are many legends about the whereabouts of King Luo Bin after Luo's defeat. There are mainly the following theories:

(1) Killed. "Old Tang Book: Biography of King Luo Bin" and "Zizhi Tongjian" Volume 203 all hold this view.

(2) Escape. Qie (qiè) Yunqing's "Preface to the Collected Works of King Luo Bin" and "New Book of Tang·Biography of King Luo Bin" both say that he was defeated and fled.

(3) Died by drowning. Volume 1 of Zhang Zhuo's "Jin Zai of Chao Ye" says that "Queen Bin and Jingye raised troops in Yangzhou, were defeated, and threw themselves into the river and died."

The "Old Book of Tang" and "Zizhi Tongjian" are derived from the actual records of the Tang Dynasty. Wang Naxiang surrendered to Wu Zetian with 25 heads. In view of the fact that King Luo Bin was the key criminal in this mutiny and the drafter of the petition against Wu Zetian, he was the most watched figure in the government and the public. Therefore, even if he was not killed, Wang Naxiang would naturally lie about being among the first to claim credit. In addition, even if the imperial court knew that King Luo Bin had fled, in order to eliminate the political influence. It will also create public opinion that King Luo Bin has been killed. Therefore, the first statement is not necessarily credible.

Qie Yunqing was the person appointed by the imperial court after Wu Zetian's death to collect the poems and essays of King Luo Bin and compose a preface. He lived at the same time as King Luo Bin but later. In the process of collecting King Luo Bin's poems, he visited many people who were related to Luo. He said that King Luo Bin was "defeated and fled", which seems to be justified. As for Zhang Wei, the author of "Chao Ye Qian Zai", he was also a contemporary of King Luo Bin but later. He said that King Luo Bin "thrown himself into the river and died" after his defeat, which can actually be used as evidence of his defeat and escape. Wang Naxiang led the crowd to mutiny, and there was a chaos on the ship. King Luo Bin took the opportunity to dive into the water. Someone witnessed it with his own eyes, and when the news spread, Zhang Huo said that he had drowned and died. In fact, the result of diving may not be death. It was night and the boat was close to the mountain. As long as you knew a little about water, you could escape naturally. Therefore, the theory that King Luo Bin was defeated and fled is credible.

There are several different theories about the whereabouts after the escape. When Chen Xijin, a rural sage in the Qing Dynasty, wrote annotations for King Luo Bin's collected works, he concluded that poems such as "Old Wu in the Evening", "Crossing the Ancient Song Dynasty", and "Yong Huai" were all written by King Luo Bin in his thoughts during his escape. This proves that King Luo Bin visited Wu, Chu, Song and other places when he fled. However, if we look closely at the poetic meaning, these poems should have been written by King Luo Bin when he passed by these places before he launched his army. He was nostalgic for the past and sad for the present, and touched the scene with emotion. He used historical traces and objective scenery to express his sadness about state affairs and his emotions about his life experience. There is no factual basis for saying that it was done after fleeing. What's more, King Luo Bin, as the "anti-leader" of this rebellion, scolded Wu Zetian bloody in his appeal to Wu Zetian.

After the defeat, amid the sounds of purges, pursuits, accusations, and killings, even if he remained in the world, it would be impossible to run away and hide in panic. How could he walk around in a swagger and leave poems everywhere to invite disaster? Therefore, the theory of exile in Wu Chu is just speculation.

The theory that Lingyin was a monk

The most widely circulated theory is that Lingyin was a monk, which originated from the "Poetry of Benshi" written by Meng Suo of the Tang Dynasty. It is said that several years after the defeat of Yangzhou, the poet Song Zhiwen was demoted to Jiangnan and visited Lingyin Temple at night. But the moonlight was like water, and the surroundings were lonely. Because the poem says: "The Yingling Ridge is high and far away, and the Dragon Palace is lonely." I recited it repeatedly, but the following couplet could not be continued. At this time, there was an old monk in the room, meditating on the Zen bed. Seeing that Song Zhiwen was having a hard time chanting, he continued: "Looking at the sea and the sun from the building, listening to the Zhejiang tide at the door." Song Zhiwen was overjoyed when he heard this, so he wrote the whole poem become. After thinking about it repeatedly, I felt that the couplet given by the monk was actually a warning for the whole poem. Early the next morning, Song Zhiwen went to visit again, but the old monk was nowhere to be seen. After asking the monks, it turned out that the person who continued the poem was actually the famous King Luo Bin! This legend has been widely adopted by later generations. Chao Gongwu's "Junzhai Dushuji", You Miao's "Tang Poems Chronicle", and Xin Wenfang's "Tang Talented Scholars" all hold this view. Hu Yinglin, Wu Zhiqi, Chen Xijin and others also quoted this story when they wrote the biography of King Luo Bin. But upon closer inspection, there is no solid evidence. Song Zhiwen and King Luo Bin were poetry friends. Luo Binwang collected three poems from Song Zhiwen in his collected works. In the poems, Song Zhiwen was called "an old friend", which shows that the personal relationship was extraordinary. Now that we meet again in a different place, how can we not recognize each other when we meet? Moreover, Song Zhiwen was demoted to Jiangnan after Wu Zetian's death. At that time, the imperial court was restoring King Luo Bin's reputation. If he were still alive, it would definitely become sensational news in the world. Even if King Luo Bin did not want to show his face in order to avoid the hustle and bustle of the world, Song Zhiwen's publicity would definitely be recorded by many literary and historians, but this has not happened. Therefore, the legend that Lingyin became a monk is just a literary legend spun by people in memory of King Luo Bin, and is not true.