Hi, it’s time to meet everyone again. Today, the History Encyclopedia editor has brought an article about Chen Ziang. I hope you like it.
I haven’t seen the ancients before, and I haven’t seen the newcomers after. Thinking of the vastness of heaven and earth, I shed tears alone in sorrow.
In 696, Chen Ziang, feeling depressed and frustrated, climbed up the Jibei Tower and looked at the leisurely world, leaving behind the timeless song “Climbing the Youzhou Terrace”.
Before writing this poem, Chen Ziang had just experienced another setback in his life. He was assigned to serve as Wu Youyi’s clerk and join the army to follow Wu Youyi’s orders from Empress Wu Zetian to launch a campaign against the Khitan army that was heading south to capture Yingzhou. In this battle, Wu Youyi’s poor command led to his defeat, and Chen Ziang’s advice was not taken seriously several times. Instead, he was demoted to the rank of military adviser.
Chen Ziang, who missed out on his talent, left behind this melancholic song. Of course, perhaps Chen Ziang himself did not expect that his entire life would be like this poem, filled with melancholy and failure, and he would eventually be tormented to death by a small county magistrate.
Most of the understanding of Chen Ziang by later generations comes from his poetry, especially this poem “Ascending to Youzhou Terrace”. Although he did not write many poems throughout his life, he held an important position in the literary history of the Tang Dynasty and had a profound influence on Tang poetry. However, apart from poetry, most people do not have a good understanding of Chen Ziang’s life, which can be considered tragic in reality.
Chen Ziang was born during the Xianqing reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty (656-661 AD). There are at least four different theories about which year it was, so it is also difficult to determine. However, it can be confirmed that when Chen Ziang was born, Wu Zetian had already become the empress of Li Zhi, and her political ambitions had begun to emerge, eventually climbing to the peak of power. Many of Chen Ziang’s tragedies were also related to Wu Zetian.
In his youth, Chen Ziang actually didn’t like reading, at least not much. He had a generous personality and wanted to become a great hero, so he enjoyed studying swordsmanship. However, when he was seventeen or eighteen years old, he injured someone while fencing, which dealt a great blow to Chen Ziang. From then on, he cut off contact with his old friends and devoted himself to studying, hoping to achieve fame and make achievements in the future.
In 679, Chen Ziang went to study at the Imperial Academy in Chang’an and participated in the imperial examination the following year. However, Chen Ziang’s path to the examination was not very smooth, and he failed twice until 684 when he passed the imperial examination.
It is interesting that this year was a relatively important year in the history of the Tang Dynasty. In December of the previous year, Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, passed away and his son Li Xian succeeded him as Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. Military affairs were controlled by Wu Zetian, and Pei Yan was appointed as the assistant minister by Li Zhi. Li Xian was eager to break free from the constraints of Empress Wu Zetian and take power himself, but was demoted to King Luling and expelled from the capital by Empress Wu Zetian and Pei Yan.
Afterwards, Emperor Ruizong of Tang, Li Dan, succeeded to the throne and became a puppet emperor, spending most of his time under house arrest in the palace while Empress Wu Zetian presided over the court. After Chen Ziang passed the imperial examination, he faced such a situation. In such a situation, honest officials who are loyal to Li Tang are unlikely to have a good ending.
After Chen Ziang passed the imperial examination, he was awarded the official position of Lintai Zhengzi. He was concerned about the country and the people, and made several direct suggestions. Whether to adopt or not was beyond Chen Ziang’s control. However, Wu Zetian initially valued Chen Ziang, as he did have talent. But Chen Ziang was also loyal to Li Tang and opposed Wu Zetian, so he was imprisoned for this. Fortunately, he was later released and promoted to the rank of Right Attendant on the Eighth Rank.
In 696, he followed Wu Youyi to conquer the Khitan and returned to Luoyang not long after. He heard that his father Chen Yuanjing had been humiliated by the county magistrate Duan Jian in his hometown of Shehong. Considering that Chen Yuanjing was already very old, Chen Ziang submitted a memorial requesting to resign and return to serve. Wu Zetian granted Chen Ziang’s request and let him return home to serve his father. That year was 698, and Chen Ziang returned to Shehong County.
Not long after returning to his hometown, Chen Yuanjing passed away. During Chen Ziang’s mourning period, the county magistrate Duan Jian took action against him again. Regarding this experience, the Old Book of Tang records it briefly, with only one sentence: “Jian was imprisoned due to a matter and died of grief and anger at the age of over forty
He did not explain why Duan Jian imprisoned Chen Ziang, but at the same time, Lu Zangyong left a biography of Chen Ziang, in which he confessed that Duan Jian was greedy and cruel. He heard that the Chen family was wealthy and had thoughts of taking it for himself, so he tried to weave charges against Chen Ziang. Chen Ziang was afraid and asked his family to send him 200000 yuan. However, Duan Jian still felt that it was not enough and brought Chen Ziang to the county government for trial several times.
Chen Ziang was already in poor health, and after his father passed away, he was deeply saddened, making his body even weaker. In addition, with Duan Jian tormenting him like this, he quickly couldn’t bear it and was forced to die by Duan Jian.
In fact, whether it is recorded in the Old Book of Tang or the Biography of Chen Ziang, Chen Ziang was forced to death by Duan Jian. However, there is a question here. According to the Biography of Chen Ziang, when Chen Ziang returned to his hometown, Wu Zetian retained his official position and salary.
That is to say, even if Chen Ziang returns to his hometown, there is still a place for him in Luoyang city. Such a capital official, although not very high-ranking, will not be bullied by the county magistrate of his hometown. And Chen Ziang is only in his forties, it’s hard to say if Wu Zetian will be important to him in the future. How could Duan Jian dare to force him to death?
Even if Wu Zetian did not retain his official position and salary, he may not be highly valued in the future. After all, he is still young, and Duan Jian cannot help but consider his own career. According to normal logic, as a county magistrate, if someone like Chen Ziang returns to his hometown, Duan Jian cannot harm him even if he does not curry favor with him.
So, on the surface, it seems that Chen Ziang was forced to die by the county magistrate of his hometown, but the person who actually caused Chen Ziang’s death may be in Luoyang city. Therefore, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Shen Yazhi wrote in his book “Letter to Zheng Zhijun in Shangjiujiang”:
Ran Qiao died of slander, Chen died of injustice, both caused by Wu Sansi’s jealousy and anger for a moment, committed to eliminating harm. One took his concubines to harm him, another suspected him of being expelled as a burden, and the Yin ordered the governor of Sangzi to humiliate him, all of whom died tragically
The Qiao here is Qiao Zhizhi, and Chen is Chen Ziang. The two were figures from the same period, and Chen Ziang once accompanied Qiao Zhizhi’s army to the northwest Yanhai and Zhangye River areas. In Shen Yazhi’s view, Chen Ziang’s death was actually related to Wu Sansi, which makes sense. During Wu Zetian’s regency, she vigorously promoted the children of the Wu family, and Wu Sansi even became a popular candidate for the crown prince, killing those who opposed him.
Chen Ziang, who had always been loyal to Li Tang, was naturally not favored by Wu Sansi. He used Chen Ziang’s time in his hometown to serve his father and mourn to harm him. It makes sense, which explains why a small county magistrate like Duan Jian dared to attack Chen Ziang.
