Ma Boyong used 90,000 words to carefully engrave in front of us the details and sadness that Du Mu did not express in "Passing the Huaqing Palace Quatrains".
When I studied this poem, what I saw was the extremely extravagant scenery of the imperial city and the absurdity and willingness of the emperor to smile for a beauty; now Ma Boyong shows us the "concubine's smile" from another angle. The origin and cost of this incident are really depressing.
The protagonist Li Shande is a ninth-grade official. After struggling in the officialdom for twenty-eight years, he finally bought a house with a loan in the outer suburbs of Chang'an and got a place. Before the excitement of getting the house deed had passed, he was summoned to work at the Forestry Department. He was tricked by someone inexplicably and got a hot potato - transporting lychees from Lingnan to Chang'an to celebrate the birthday of the imperial concubine. Referred to as "Litchi Envoy".
At that time, many people made a fortune from positions similar to "so-and-so envoy" and made a lot of money. After all, they were working for the emperor, and the funds did not need to be approved by various departments. It can be said that he is a fat man who travels outside the three realms and is not among the five elements. Li Deshan didn't want to make much money, but it would be a piece of cake to pay off the mortgage.
But who knew that the imperial edict mentioned "fresh" lychees, and also specified those from Lingnan. Lingnan belongs to the Guangzhou area, and is five to six thousand miles away from Chang'an. Even if it is sent over eight hundred miles urgently, it will not be able to catch up. The shelf life of fresh lychees is very short, no more than three or four days. When Lao Li was frustrated, he heard a poem by Du Fu and was inspired: Even if I fail, I still want to know how far away from the finish line I fell.
So he rode a horse himself out of the city gate, crossed Baqiao, and headed straight to Lingnan. At this point, the story between him and lychee preservation and transportation began.
He is a national mathematician. Although he is only a ninth-grade official, he is extremely confident in his careful calculation. All the way south, while examining the terrain, calculating the travel time and transportation methods. When I arrived in Lingnan, I went to the base to investigate the habits and planting of lychees. During this process, I encountered a lot of troubles, but in order to survive, I had no choice but to ignore my conscience and kill gods and Buddhas.
Just when he took his last breath to bring his transportation plan back to Chang'an City, the fruits of his labor were stolen. Just chess pieces.
Later, using the transportation method provided by Lao Li, and overcoming various accidents and difficulties on the way, two baskets of lychees were finally delivered on the birthday of the imperial concubine. Twenty horses were prepared when setting off from Lingnan. Only one horse entered the Chang'an city gate.
It stands to reason that Li Shande has made a great contribution, but the various things he experienced during the transportation of lychees made him understand clearly. Such a waste of time and money is just to win a smile from a beauty. This smile cost far more than thousands of dollars, and the money had to be collected from ordinary people.
They don’t care how much labor was used, how many horses died, and how many people worked hard on it along the way; they don’t care how many years it takes for people far away in the lychee base to plant a lychee tree; they don’t care what it takes for the growers. They say that trees are like relatives; they don't care how much they spent on transportation, how much they invested, how much is left, how much a lychee costs on average to be delivered to Chang'an City and put on the fruit plate... because all of this is related to The superior has nothing to do with it. These visible and invisible costs are all extracted from poor people.
Harsh government is fiercer than tigers. To the common people, high taxes are more hated than incompetent county officials. The fatuous county magistrate at best misjudged the case and accidentally killed a good person, but the harsh taxes made every ordinary family overwhelmed.
As the saying goes, "One general's achievements are worth thousands of bones." Every famous general and every king who looks down on the world came to power by stepping on numerous bones. However, some people deserve to die. After all, they die for the justice in their hearts. The man has ambitions in all directions. Lord Moxiao lies drunk on the battlefield. He has fought several battles since ancient times. But this time, riding in the mortal world just to win a smile from a beauty, what kind of thing is this? If the people know about it, it would be strange if they don't rise up.
In ancient times, history was mostly written from the perspective of those in power. Also, only those who win are qualified to write history. In "Chang'an's Lychee", Ma Boyong chose the perspective of a lower-class person to reveal to us the appearance of officialdom: "it has been difficult to be an official through the ages, and thousands of people are bald for one project"; from ancient times to the present, how many people have risked their lives in order to become an official , stay up late and read at night; and how many people can still remember their original intention of serving the people and the country after becoming officials? Being an official is difficult, being a good official is even harder, being a good official and still keeping one's hat is even more difficult.
There is a saying from Wei Guogong in the book: Process is a rule that only the weak must follow.
In an era when imperial power was supreme, most of the weak did not have much say, because bloodline determined everything, and bloodline was determined by fate. However, since ancient times, some people still believe that man can conquer nature. Since you can't help the world at the same time, and you don't want to join in the evil, then choose to be alone. If you can't eliminate traitors, you can't punish corruption, you can't save the country and the people, at least you can choose not to participate. You can't control others, but you can still restrain yourself.
Just like Li Shande, in the end he lost his future and was demoted to Lingnan because of his direct advice to Duke Wei.
From then on, I returned to Atong's lychee plantation with my wife and children, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. In Chang'an City, only the emperor and the imperial concubine could eat lychees. Here you can enjoy them as much as you want. There is no intrigue, no intrigue, no walking on thin ice, just pastoral leisure and family happiness.
Some people are not suitable to be officials at all. In some eras, certain people are not allowed to be officials at all. But we still have to believe that there will always be a day when a prosperous age will come, and there will also be a day when a heroine will kill the faint king in anger. We, China, are prosperous and prosperous, and one day we will make those depressed souls realize their wishes.