Not long after, Fang Daniu said from outside the door curtain: "Leaving the city."
"Um."
After a while, Fang Daniu said, "We are about to cross the Ji River. There are many people standing in the pavilion of the post station. I don't know who they are waiting for."
Fang Yun lifted the door curtain and in front of him was the Ji River Bridge made of stone slabs, and in front of that was the Ji County Post Station, which was originally the place where the imperial court delivered letters and was responsible for the food, lodging and horse changes of officials during their journey.
However, due to the prosperity of the talent system, the court's documents were directly delivered by the "wild geese" of the Academy of Literature, and arrived in an instant. The post station was no longer responsible for delivering official documents, but for mailing civilian letters.
The "carving geese" for non-officials or officials to deliver private letters to the Academy of Literature was very expensive, one tael of silver within the same state, ten taels of silver within the same country, and one hundred taels of silver across countries.
Fang Yun was surprised to see that County Magistrate Cai, Wang Yuanjun, Su Juren and other important figures in Ji County were all there. The Bull Barbarian behind County Magistrate Cai was over seven feet tall and very eye-catching.
Fang Yun was stunned at first, thinking that they were coming to welcome some high-ranking official, but when he saw someone waving, he realized that they were coming to see him off.
Fang Yun felt warm in his heart and immediately jumped off the carriage and followed the carriage towards the pavilion of the post station.
The sun had not risen yet, and there was frost in many places. It was still chilly in spring, so Fang Yun did not let Yang Yuhuan come down.
Walking in front of the crowd, Fang Yun bowed and said, "How can Fang Yun be so worthy of such kindness from all the lords and elders?"
Su Juren said, "That's wrong. You are like a young phoenix at the moment, and you will soar into the blue sky in the future. It is our honor to send you. You are 'Jixian Fangyun', and we are both from Jixian, so it is only right to send you. By the way, will you marry my daughter or granddaughter?"
Everyone laughed. In recent days, the news that Su Juren failed to marry into the family had been circulating in the city. When the scholars in Ji County learned that Fang Yun did not abandon Yang Yuhuan, they gave Fang Yun a higher evaluation.
County Magistrate Cai took out three letters and handed them to Fang Yun, saying, "I am from the same hometown as Prefect Sun, and I am on the same list as Chief Zhang of the State Criminal Department. I am also a good friend of Chief Zhou of the State Academy of Literature. Since you are going to Dayuan Prefecture, please help me take these three letters over."
Sun Zhifu was the highest civil official in Dayuan Prefecture, a fifth-rank official, while the chief judge of the provincial criminal department was in charge of the arrest and imprisonment of the province, a fourth-rank official. The chief clerk of the provincial literary academy was a sixth-rank official, and was also higher in rank than the county magistrate Cai.
Fang Yun knew that Magistrate Cai was paving the way for him by allowing him to meet with the three high-ranking officials with the help of these three letters. If anything happened in Dayuan Prefecture in the future, these three would definitely help him for the sake of Magistrate Cai.
"It seems that those three are all the Minister of Literature's men. The Minister of Literature is the leader of the Faculty of Literature, but he must have civil servants under him. Although the Left Minister Liu Shan is only the head of the civil servants, some of his students and friends are in the army and the Faculty of Literature."
Fang Yun thought to himself, took the three letters, and thanked County Magistrate Cai.
The head of the Wu clan, another prominent family in the county, handed over a small red cloth bag and said, "This is a gift of ten taels. I wish you a safe journey, Mr.
Then some people also presented gifts, and Fang Yun thanked them one by one.
It only took four hours by carriage from Ji County to Dayuan Prefecture, but these people gave more than one hundred taels of silver. Many people gave more than what they gave to congratulate Fang Yun for passing the examination. It can be seen that Fang Yun's status in their hearts was constantly rising.
Everyone talked about what they had seen and heard in Dayuan Prefecture and gave some advice that might be helpful to Fang Yun. When the sun was about to rise, someone told Fang Yun to hurry up and not delay his journey.
Wang Yuanjun said, "After today's separation, I don't know when we will meet again. Fang Yun, why don't you write a poem or lyrics here, so that our trip will not be in vain."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "It turns out that Lord Wang is not here to send me off, but to test me. You are really conscientious as a court master. How about the test next year?"
"No! Today's work must be done today!" Wang Yuanjun's words triggered friendly laughter from everyone.
Many people looked at Fang Yun curiously. Fang Yun's talent and reputation as a poet had spread throughout Ji County. They wondered what kind of poem he would write today.
"Let me think about it carefully."
Fang Yun said this and looked around.
Everyone became even more curious. It was obvious that Fang Yun was planning to use local materials. If he could write a good poem from this, it would truly be like "composing a poem in seven steps."
Fang Yun looked around slowly. There was a post station nearby and a farmhouse not far away. Roosters were crowing, and the waning moon in the sky was getting dimmer and dimmer.
There were fallen leaves on the mountain road in the distance and unknown flowers blooming beside the wall of the post station, but because he was about to leave Ji County, he became more and more reluctant to leave this place.
Fang Yun asked: "Do you have any writing materials?"
Suddenly, everyone around the pavilion laughed at the same time and stood to the sides, making way for Fang Yun to reach the stone table in the middle of the pavilion.
On the stone table were placed pens, ink, paper and inkstone. All the four treasures of the study were complete, and even the ink had been ground.
Fang Yun smiled bitterly and shook his head, walked over, picked up the pen, pondered for a moment, dipped the pen in thick ink and wrote in "Liu style", reciting as he wrote.
"When I wake up in the morning, the bells ring, and I feel sad for my hometown."
After finishing writing, he didn't start writing immediately, as if he was still thinking.
Everyone nodded, and some looked at the bells on the horses' necks.
Fang Yun continued writing, reciting: "Cocks crow in the thatched tavern under the moon, human footprints on the frosty wooden bridge."
Many people's eyes lit up. This sentence was very vivid. It seemed that Fang Yun was not writing poetry, but painting.
Then, Fang Yun wrote the last few sentences, forming a five-character regulated verse.
When I wake up in the morning, the bell rings and I feel sad for my hometown.
Cocks crow in the thatched tavern under the moon, and human footprints are seen on the frosty wooden bridge.
Oak leaves fall on the mountain road, and citrus flowers brighten the post station wall.
Thinking of the dream of Ji Ling, the pond is full of ducks and geese.
Finally, Fang Yun wrote the four words "Jixian Early Walk" on it.
After the poem was finished, County Magistrate Cai frowned, walked to Fang Yun's side, and stared at Fang Yun's poem for a long time without saying a word.
Wang Yuanjun nodded and praised: "This poem is probably also a work of Mingzhou talent. The poem is sincere and moving. It first describes the poet's departure, then the scenery along the way, and finally the poet's longing for the mountains and rivers of Ji County in his dreams. The wild ducks and wild geese floating in the lake are like travelers returning to their hometown. The true feelings are rare, rare."
Su Juren said: "This poem is extremely well-balanced and the sentences are beautiful. It is the most wonderful poem I have ever seen."
Everyone nodded. Scholars have farewell poems, frontier poems, and travel poems, and this poem "Early Morning Walk in Ji County" is indeed outstanding.
"Among them, the line 'cock crows, thatched tavern, moon, human footprints, frost on the wooden bridge' is very clever. The arrangement of the six images, cock crows, thatched tavern, moon, human footprints, wooden bridge and frost, is perfect. The most rare thing is the sonorous rhythm, which sounds like clear spring water going down your throat when you read it." said a scholar.
Lie Jin is a rhetorical device, in which the whole sentence is nouns or noun phrases, cleverly combined and arranged. Among them, the most famous and the best artistic conception is "Withered vines, old trees, crows, small bridges, flowing water, and people's homes, ancient roads, west wind, and thin horses". However, in terms of "uniqueness", it is not as good as this "Early Walk in Shangshan".
This poem is a masterpiece by Wen Tingyun, a famous Tang Dynasty poet and lyricist. Wen Tingyun is the founder of the "Huajian School of Ci". The prototype of the Huajian School in Huang Yi's novel "The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Great Tang Dynasty" is the Huajian School of Ci. Wen Tingyun has made an indelible contribution to the prosperity of Ci in later generations.
Although Wen Tingyun and Li Shangyin are both called "Li Wen", he is only better than Li Shangyin in ci poetry, and is far inferior to Li Shangyin in poetry. The only poem that can compete with Li Shangyin is "Early Morning Walk in Shangshan", which is one of the most unique poems in ancient and modern times.
The penultimate sentence was originally "Because of thinking of the dream in Duling", but it obviously does not fit here, so Fang Yun changed "Du" to "Ji". Both words are unstressed, which does not affect the tone and artistic conception of the poem at all.
Everyone was talking, but Fang Yun remained silent.
Magistrate Cai suddenly shouted, "Fang Shuangjia, why did you remain silent after you finished writing? It turns out you were testing us! You all underestimated this poem. This is not a poem from Mingzhou, but a poem to 'guard the country'!"
Fang Yun couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking that County Magistrate Cai was indeed a Jinshi, as he discovered the beauty of this poem so quickly.
“Your Excellency, are you exaggerating too much?” Wang Yuanjun was stunned. As far as he could see now, it would be difficult for this poem to reach the level of a national hero, because poems at the national hero level and above all have extremely outstanding performance in some aspect, be it deep feelings, grandeur, every word as sharp as a knife, magnificent, strange, or unique, and so on.
Magistrate Cai asked with a smile: "Don't you see that this is a wonderful poem?"
A quatrain is not a quatrain, but it means that the poem is extinct in some way and it is difficult to find an identical one.
"this… "
People were discussing the matter, but they could not figure out what was so special about this poem. After all, a perfect poem is so rare that many great scholars could not produce one in their entire lives. Poetry of that level can only be encountered by chance.
County Magistrate Cai said word for word: "The sound of chickens, thatched cottages, inns, moon, people, footprints, planks, bridges, frost! It can be said that every word is a brocade, unprecedented, how can it not be endless!"
Many people's faces changed, and they rushed to the stone table like a tide to take a closer look, and actually pushed Fang Yun away.
Magistrate Cai cleverly grabbed the stone table, otherwise he would have been pushed away.
"It is indeed a beautiful poem with every word in it. It is unprecedented, unique in all ages, and it is extremely talented. It is extremely talented!" Mr. Su shouted loudly, his face flushed with excitement. People who didn't know him would think that he had written a good poem.
Wang Yuanjun's mouth trembled with excitement, and he said, "Could it be that the saint has blessed me and my luck has turned? I actually have the opportunity to witness the birth of a poem that will protect the country?"
Several older scholars also had infatuated looks on their faces, and their expressions were even more fanatical than that of a flower-picking thief who had abstained from sex for twenty years and suddenly saw a naked and peerless beauty.
"I can die without regrets if I can see poetry being written to protect the country. I can die without regrets!"
"A rare genius, a rare genius!"
A group of scholars were shouting and wailing like crazy people.
Wang Yuanjun couldn't help himself and reached out to take the poem to look at it carefully, but he couldn't even hold the paper.
"This..." Wang Yuanjun had to increase his strength before he could hold it up with both hands, obviously using a lot of force, as if he was holding a big rock.
Wang Yuanjun sighed, "One page weighs a hundred pounds. This is indeed a poem that can protect a country. There is no doubt about it!"
The paper was obviously not big and was very thin, but it was extremely heavy. Many people saw it for the first time and were extremely shocked.
"Why doesn't the ink spread? Isn't it true that ink doesn't stain skin? This is something that only a scholar can do, how can Fang Yun's calligraphy be like this?"
"How can a saintly student be the same as you and me?"
"Too."
"Nonsense! Even a saintly student can't become ink-free in ten days. This is clearly the result of Fang Yun's hard work."
"good."
Everyone took turns to watch and comment, and before they knew it, the sun rose.
The morning light shone on Fang Yun's words, and a faint halo appeared on the surface of each word.
"Every word here is a gem," Mr. Su praised.
Magistrate Cai's expression flickered, and he frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.