Li Bai’s talent was like a pearl in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Although there were many talented people in the Tang Dynasty, it still could not take away Li Bai’s position as the immortal poet of the Tang Dynasty. Why is such a rare genius not favored by the king? Does Li Bai really not want to bow down to the powerful? What are the reasons that cannot be compared to outsiders? Below, the History Encyclopedia editor will provide a detailed introduction to the relevant content.
Li Bai was fortunate to have been born as a poet during the Tang Dynasty, which was the easiest time to nurture literary figures and literati. This is both fortunate and unfortunate. Throughout Li Bai’s life, he rose to fame at the age of fifteen and later traveled throughout the country. He also eagerly set up camps to meet officials of all sizes, but was ultimately rejected. Feeling disheartened, he could only retreat to the mountains and forests, farm and study.
People only see his carefree swordsmanship to the ends of the earth, and his arrogance that makes Gao Lishi take off his boots, but few people see that Li Bai also had the great ideal of “using the great road to govern the ruler” at the beginning. Year after year, Li Bai was like a concubine who waited tirelessly for the king’s fortune. But it always proved fruitless.
If the officials of the Tang Dynasty deceived the upper and lower levels, causing Li Bai’s self recommendation to be unsuccessful, then our great poet Li Bai still had hope for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Xuanzong strictly enforced tax laws and gathered wealth from all over the world for the enjoyment of the royal family, while the people suffered greatly due to floods and droughts. Li Bai traveled all over the mountains and rivers, and made great strides in the market. Can’t he see these? No, no, no, he saw it. Because he saw it, he kept hoping to see Xuanzong again and again.
He thought that Emperor Xuanzong was just blinded. As long as he followed the emperor, those petty people with ulterior motives could not seduce the king to destroy the great country. The naive poet thought that this dirty world of fame and fortune could always compete with this era as long as he did not forget his original intention.
He cared about the people, but did not follow the law. Only by holding a high position could he admonish the emperor with literature. In the 23rd year of the Kaiyuan era. He wrote the “Mingtang Fu” and the “Great Hunting Fu” with remarkable literary talent, which opened the door to the upper echelons of the Tang Dynasty with his poetic abilities. At the age of forty-three, he finally gained the appreciation of the king through the recommendation of Princess Yuzhen. Entering the Hanlin to serve the emperor, the emperor welcomed this legitimate immortal with the highest literary treatment, and Li Bai became a Hanlin attendant from then on. I think this relationship between the emperor and his subjects is like the foundation of two cross-border gods, both full of fantasies and expectations for each other.
But he never thought of becoming a king, indulging in pleasure and admiring the emergence of flying immortals; This courtier, who was wholeheartedly seeking, had no sense of humor and even insulted the king’s favorite courtier. What’s even more outrageous is that when the edict was issued and summoned, as a courtier, he was actually drunk. Li Bai’s silent resistance enveloped in beautiful poetry. Can Tang Xuanzong not understand it? He understands, but as a king, under the sugar coating of imperial power and beauty, he has long been tired of the busy daily affairs of state affairs. Otherwise, he would not have celebrated the Qianqiu Festival for himself during the Great Drought in the Sixteen Continents.
Li Bai did not understand the balance and self indulgence of a king. His romantic patriotism and the harmony between ruler and minister were destined to receive no response from Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, so he abandoned himself despite his talent. Whenever Li Hanlin let go of his pride to accompany the king during his boredom, he slowly accumulated his political capital and looked at the intrigues and trickery in the officialdom, using a worldly wise but not worldly wise attitude to save the declining prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. I won’t waste my whole life in a cup of wine.
It is said that after learning civil, military, and artistic skills, he would sell them to the emperor’s family. Obviously, the emperor wanted to eat abalone and shark fins, but Li Bai kept talking about the health of vegetables and radishes. The emperor couldn’t just say that he loved such extravagance and debauchery. His heart was righteous, so he naturally wouldn’t stigmatize the emperor he was loyal to. This obviously didn’t make him pee in a pot. The emperor pitied his unparalleled talent and sent the poet back with a heavy sum of money.
Soon, Li Bai’s thought opportunity came. When he was almost sixty years old, Prince Yong wanted to use Li Bai’s literary influence to further his path to imperial power. However, the naive Li Bai saw the kindred spirit of Boya and Zhong Ziqi. The poet was almost in flower armor, but still romantic like a knight, just to expel the powerful, without any thought of the cruelty of the change of imperial power.
The biggest taboo of emperors is probably rebellion. Li Bai’s talent fulfilled him, but it also led him to the lowest point of his life. His poetic charm made him famous in the world of fame and fortune, but it never allowed him to divide power and strategize. His “Eleven Poems on the Eastern Tour of the Eternal King” caused him to be held accountable in the autumn, and his temporary inability to see the direction led him to be ultimately exiled to Yelang.
Li Bai, the immortal poet, rose to the rank of Hanlin, which was the highest starting point for literati. His several achievements were at least much more successful than those of Du Fu. But obviously, he had not figured out the emperor’s heart and had not positioned himself properly. It didn’t matter, even the most deadly poets died from a young man. A young man who carries a giant treasure but doesn’t know how to protect it and use it to ascend to power, makes us viewers who have a god’s perspective so anxious that we want to smash the wall.
The poet, however, has no idea at all, perhaps immersed in the self satisfaction of not being able to board the ship when the emperor calls. It was this naive young man who, after several twists and turns, did not achieve the eternal legacy of an emperor, but instead achieved his unparalleled position in the poetry world. He was not favored by the king throughout his life, perhaps because the secular framework could not restrain the ideal of exile. The secular emperors in the world cannot understand the helplessness of exiled immortals towards human suffering.
