The charm of the Tang dynasty's poetry lay in its unique feeling and charm. If the meaning of the poem was explained in plain language, it would completely lose its feeling and make people feel quite bored.
But for many foreigners who were not scholars of the Tang dynasty, if it was not explained in plain language, they would not understand it at all, not even a little bit. Just like Li Xiaolu in front of him. Although she could feel the beauty of the poem, she could not figure out the meaning of the poem at all. She just felt that the rhyme was in place and sounded very meaningful.
Ang Lee was also idle and bored, so he had enough time to explain to Li Xiaolu the meaning of each sentence in the poem. If Li Xiaolu still did not understand, Ang Lee could continue to explain until Li Xiaolu completely understood.
The unique charm of the Tang dynasty's poetry lay in the fact that it could express extremely rich and colorful content in the shortest language. Those who understood it would know what was going on as soon as they heard it. Those who did not understand it would never understand it.
Ang Lee could not guarantee that Li Xiaolu would be able to understand the meaning of the Tang dynasty's poetry after he explained it, but she would definitely understand it in general. It was just that she did not grow up in the Tang dynasty, so she did not have the cultural heritage of the Tang dynasty's scholars. Naturally, it was difficult for her to understand the unique charm in the Tang dynasty's poetry.
Good tea needed to be tasted carefully in order to taste it. The same was true for good wine. It was even more so for a beauty with a soul. Poetry was no exception. It needed to be tasted carefully.
Ang Lee could easily taste the unique charm in the poem, but for Li Xiaolu, it was too difficult. Even if Ang Lee explained it in person, she was still a little confused. She just said that she could understand it in order to please Ang Lee. In fact, she could not taste the charm of the Tang dynasty's poetry at all. If a foreigner could taste the charm of the Tang dynasty's poetry casually, then the poetry of the Tang dynasty was too worthless.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand it. The poetry of the Tang dynasty is not something that foreigners can understand casually. It is normal that you don't understand it. However, as long as you live in the Tang dynasty for a long time, you should be able to understand it. Understanding the poetry of the Tang dynasty requires enough cultural heritage, which is the cultural heritage of living and learning in the Tang dynasty."
Ang Lee exposed Li Xiaolu's pretense of understanding and told her that it was not shameful if she did not understand. It was already very amazing for a foreigner to learn the language and writing of the Tang dynasty. She really could not expect too much. Moreover, learning should be done step by step, not overnight. It was too unrealistic to expect that Li Xiaolu could understand it after Ang Lee explained it once.
It was unrealistic. "The poignant love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is really moving. Although I don't understand these poems very well, I can still understand the meaning after listening to Assistant Minister Li's explanation. These poems are really interesting. It is incredible that a few words can express so many meanings."
Li Xiaolu said in surprise.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "That's for sure. There are too many interesting points in the poems of the Tang dynasty. There are still many places that you need to taste carefully to understand the meaning. In the future, when you go to the Tang dynasty, you will be able to understand the poems of the Tang dynasty naturally. I believe in your learning ability."
"Hee hee, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is finished. There are so many stars in the sky. Does every star have a moving story?"
Li Xiaolu looked at the stars outside the window and asked curiously.
Ang Lee nodded with a smile and said affirmatively, "Of course. Every star in the sky has a story. There are too many stories. Which one do you want to hear?"
Li Xiaolu casually pointed in a direction and said, "There are a few stars over there that look like a spoon. Is there a poignant love story there?"
Ang Lee looked up. It turned out to be the Big Dipper, which was also a very famous star. Almost everyone in the Tang dynasty knew about the Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper was composed of seven stars: Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Kaiyang, and Alkaid. In different seasons, the positions of the Big Dipper were different, but overall, they were in the shape of a spoon.
Among them, Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, and Megrez formed the body of the Big Dipper, which was called Kui in ancient times, while Alioth, Kaiyang, and Alkaid formed the handle of the Big Dipper, which was called Diao in ancient times.
To talk about the Big Dipper, one must mention the North Star. The position of the North Star was five times the extension line of Dubhe, Merak, and North Star. Moreover, the three stars, Dubhe, Merak, and North Star, were always in a straight line, which was very interesting. At the same time, it was also relied on by the people of Hua Xia to identify the direction.
Because the North Star was always in the north direction, as long as you find the North Star, you can know where the east, west, north, and south are, and you can get out of the predicament.
And Taoism put the Big Dipper in a very important position. Each star of the Big Dipper was given the name of a constellation, which was called the Big Dipper Seven Palaces.
For example, Dubhe Palace's Greedy Wolf Star Lord, Merak Palace's Jumen Star Lord, Phecda Palace's Lucun Star Lord, Megrez Palace's Wen Qu Star Lord, Alioth Palace's Lian Zhen Star Lord, Kaiyang Palace's Wu Qu Star Lord, Alkaid Palace's Po Jun Star Lord.
The Big Dipper in ancient Hua Xia has a very high status. It can be said that all the stars revolve around the Big Dipper, and the Big Dipper revolves around the North Star, so the status of the North Star is even higher than the Big Dipper.
However, although there are many stories about the Big Dipper, there are not many love stories. Maybe there are, but not many people know about it. When it comes to beautiful love stories, everyone always thinks of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, no one will think of the Big Dipper.
In ancient Hua Xia, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl represented more love, and the Big Dipper represented power. Especially in Taoism, almost all of them regarded the Big Dipper as a myth.
For example, the Megrez Star in the Big Dipper, also known as the Wenqu Star, was in charge of the fate of literature in the human world. Those who wrote well in the human world and were hired by the imperial court were all Wenqu Stars descending to the human world, such as Bi Gan, Fan Zhongyan, Bao Zheng, Wen Tianxiang, and so on.
Because Ang Lee can't think of a love story in the Big Dipper, he can only talk about the knowledge of identifying the direction.
"You see it! There is a brighter star in the north of this spoon, and that is the North Star. It is always in the north direction, and the mouth of the spoon will always be facing the North Star. If you get lost at night, you can find the way home as long as you can see the North Star clearly. "
Ang Lee pointed at the North Star that was facing the Big Dipper and said.
"The Big Dipper and the North Star, so these stars have names! I can even identify the direction. Let's try it next time. "
Li Xiaolu said excitedly.
In fact, there was astronomy in the west a long time ago. Although it was far inferior to the astronomy of the Tang dynasty, the brightest stars had names and legends. Li Xiaolu's family was poor, and there were no scholars in her family, so she didn't know about astronomy. She only knew that the bright spots in the sky were stars. After she became a dancer, she didn't hear about the stories of the stars, so she never knew that there were so many interesting stories about the stars in the sky.
"Do you see the brightest star? It is called the Sirius Star, and it is the brightest star in the sky except for the moon. "
Ang Lee pointed at the Sirius Star in the sky and said.
Because of its distance from the earth, the Sirius Star was the brightest star in the sky except for the sun. Although the moon was brighter, the moon was a satellite of the earth, not a star.
In addition to the moon, which looked like a giant satellite, there were also Venus and Jupiter, which were both planets in the solar system. Because they were closer to the earth, they were naturally brighter.
However, because the orbit of Venus was on the inner side of the earth, it was either before sunrise or after sunset to see it.
When it appeared in the eastern sky in the morning, it was called the Morning Star, and in the evening, it was on the western side of the sky, so it was called Chang Geng. In fact, it was Venus, a star, the biggest and brightest star except for the moon.
However, no matter what, the brightest star that could be seen in the middle of the night was undoubtedly the Sirius Star. As long as the moon was ignored, the Sirius Star was the boss.
"Sirius Star, what a domineering name! Why is it called this?"
Li Xiaolu asked curiously.
Ang Lee didn't know how to explain it, so he said, "It's just a name. Why do you care about the name? Anyway, there are many poems about the Sirius Star. "
"Oh, you want to read poems again? I'm listening. "
Li Xiaolu said.
Ang Lee thought for a while and said, "This old man talks about youth's craziness. Left leading the yellow, right leading the blue. Brocade hat and marten fur coat, thousands of cavalry rolling up the hill. In order to repay the governor, I personally shot the tiger and watched Sun Lang. Drunk, my chest is open, my hair is white, so what! Holding the festival in the clouds, when will I send Feng Tang away? I'll draw the bow like the full moon, looking northwest, shooting the Sirius. "
This was a poem written by Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty, which expressed his strong desire to pacify Xixia. Of course, this represented the thoughts of the entire literary circle of the Song Dynasty. Many ambitious people were full of passion, hoping that the imperial court could pacify Xixia as soon as possible and change the situation of the Song Dynasty.
After all, at that time, after the Song Dynasty signed the Treaty of Stillwater with the Liao Kingdom, they signed a contract with the Xixia Kingdom, giving the Xixia Kingdom 72,000 taels of silver, 153,000 rolls of silk, and 30,000 catties of tea leaves every year.
Although the Song Dynasty was relatively rich, it couldn't withstand such serious torment! It was a disgrace for a rich country to pay tribute to two poor countries for years. Moreover, it would not only damage the prestige of the Great Song Empire, but it would also put a lot of financial pressure on the Great Song Empire. No matter how rich the Great Song Empire was, it could not afford the consumption of tribute for years. Therefore, the literati used poems to express their wishes. They clearly told the world that they wanted to pacify West Xia and that they had to be loyal to their country.
However, the poem "looking northwest, shooting the Sirius" seemed a bit wrong. After all, the Sirius star in the northwest represented the Xixia regime. However, the real Sirius star in the sky was in the southern hemisphere. If Su Dongpo looked northwest, how could he see the Sirius star? This was very strange. Could it be that the Sirius star in the Song Dynasty was in the northern hemisphere? Or was it different from the Sirius star in the modern era?
In addition, there was a similar description in the poems of Chu. The great poet Qu Yuan wrote a poem, "Wearing a white dress under the clouds, I raise an arrow to shoot the Sirius star." The Sirius star here alluded to the strong Qin dynasty in the northwest of Chu. It also seemed to tell us that the Sirius star was in the northwest. However, the Sirius star in the modern era was in the southern hemisphere, which was very strange.
Of course, many scientists in the modern era also gave a more reasonable explanation. For example, there was an arc-shaped cluster of stars in the southeast of the Sirius star, which was aimed at the Sirius star in the northwest. If these stars were the base, the Sirius star was in the northwest. Therefore, there was the saying "looking northwest, shooting the Sirius star".
There was also a sentence in the historical records, "The nine arc-shaped stars are in the southeast of the Sirius star. They are heavenly bows. They are mainly used for bandits. They often go to the Sirius star."
In other words, the nine arc-shaped stars in the southeast of the Sirius star were used to deal with the Sirius star. It was noted that the arc-shaped star was the bow, and the arrow was its arrow. The arc-shaped star was in the southeast of the Sirius star, and the Sirius star was in the northwest of the arc-shaped star. In other words, the ancients believed that the Sirius star was a wild general. It was the symbol of invading foreign enemies. The arc-shaped star was the heavenly bow. It was used to deal with foreign invaders. It was used to shoot down foreign invaders.
With this explanation, one could understand the meaning of "looking northwest, shooting the Sirius star" in Su Shi's poem.
However, from this poem, it could be seen that the imperial court of the Great Song would rather contribute annual coins to foreign enemies than form a powerful military group to eliminate these annoying foreign enemies.
As for the reason, of course, there were many aspects. First, the enemy was very powerful. It was not easy for the imperial court of the Great Song to defeat them. The imperial court of the Great Song did not want to contribute annual coins to West Xia at the beginning. They had fought many battles, but the number of victories was not many. However, the number of defeats was not few. It was really not easy to defeat West Xia.
After all, since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, it had been facing a very serious problem. That was, the land where the horses were raised was not in its hands. This caused the Great Song Dynasty to have a small number of cavalry. It could be imagined how difficult it was to use a large number of infantry to conquer West Xia, which was almost entirely cavalry.
The mobility of the West Xia cavalry was definitely much stronger than the Great Song infantry. Using the advantage of mobility, they could attack the Great Song Dynasty's logistics at any time. This made it difficult for the Great Song Dynasty's army to win. In the end, the Great Song Dynasty surrendered.
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