Chapter 258 The Goddess Sends Off the Enemy
Wang Can or Wang Zhongxuan?
When he first heard the name, Qiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
If the person who wrote this article was Yang Xiu's friend Ni Heng, or some other madman, she might have to worry a little.
But Wang Can's words made her feel much more at ease.
She didn't think there was anything wrong with what the other party wrote.
After all, Wang Can came from a family of three highest officials, and his talent and reputation were already well known when he was about fifteen years old. The education he received in his early years and the extensive reading of books prevented him from developing an extreme temperament. It was also these early educations that enabled him to develop the ability to write articles and poems at an early age.
The only pity is that, in history, his official career was not very prosperous in the first half of his life.
His father was the chief secretary of General He Jin's office. After Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he fell into a situation where he had no choice. Wang Can himself, after politely declining the recruitment launched by Chang'an, went to Jingzhou and took refuge with Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou.
Firstly, Wang Can was not from a noble family in Jingzhou like Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, who could provide practical support to Liu Biao. Secondly, his appearance did not conform to the mainstream aesthetic of the Han Dynasty. Not only was he physically weak, but he also had an ugly appearance. Therefore, Liu Biao did not think much of him. However, he did not want to be known as a person who treated celebrities harshly, so he asked Wang Can to draft official documents for him.
Chen Lin under Yuan Shao wrote some things like manifestos to attack Cao Cao, while Wang Can wrote some things for Liu Biao to denounce the prefect of Changsha and to persuade the Yuan brothers not to kill each other.
Such treatment and what he saw and heard at the end of the Han Dynasty formed a sentimental tone about separation and chaos, and concern for the way of the world in his early poems and essays, such as the Seven Elegy Poems and The Tower Ascending, so that Zhongxuan Tower became an allusion frequently cited by later poets.
When he was thirty years old, his life finally turned around.
After Liu Biao's death, his second son Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao. Since then, Wang Can joined the literary creation team of the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period. During this period, his writings became more passionate, with military poems and other poems as his model.
Whether it is the former or the latter, it should actually be considered realistic. So it is no wonder that Wang Can wrote a work like "Records of Heroes in the Late Han Dynasty".
Generally speaking, this leader of the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period still based his poetry and prose on reality.
Although his current development trajectory is indeed slightly different from history, there shouldn't be a particularly large deviation... right?
Eight years ago, when Qiao Yan and Yang Xiu were discussing policy with each other in Dingzhong Temple in Luoyang, Wang Can's father Wang Qian was also there, and was in General He Jin's mansion with Xu You, Chen Ji and others. Up to this point, the development trajectory of Wang Can, who was only eight years old at the time, was no different from that in history.
In the subsequent Dong Zhuo Rebellion, Wang Qian was not affected much. After Luoyang was pacified, he followed Yuan Shao to Yecheng along with Xu You and others.
However, within half a year, Wang Qian died of illness.
Wang Can returned to his hometown Shanyang County along with Wang Qian's coffin and lived in Yanzhou.
Perhaps because the situation in the Chang'an court was reported from Guanzhong to Yanzhou, Wang Can decided to go to Chang'an to take a look. He happened to catch up with this special event, so he wrote a poem to present to Qiao Yan.
She thought that the other party would not change even his own writing habits. But when she took the poem from Cai Zhaoji, she had a bad feeling when she heard Zhaoji say "read it first and decide later" and saw the somewhat subtle expression on her face.
She opened the manuscript in her hand and looked up to see the five big characters on the title: "The Goddess Sends Me to the Expedition".
Qiao Yan: “…”
Very good, now for the fantasy story.
Then it’s no wonder that So Ji had this expression.
Qiao Yan decided to temporarily abandon his stereotype of the title and finish reading Wang Can's article first.
The beginning of this story does not follow the routine. It is not about the goddess or the soldier, but about himself.
Just like Wang Bo’s Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, which explains the reason for coming here, with the sentence “How could a boy know that he would witness a grand banquet in person”, Wang Can also wrote about the reason why he came to Chang’an. But what he wrote was not some magnificent scene with abundant natural resources, outstanding people and wonderful scenery, but the sad thing of "chaos and destruction sent by heaven, and every country was destroyed".
From the sad things he saw when he traveled from Jizhou to Yanzhou and then to all directions, he turned to the reason why he came to Chang'an -
My friends and I are from the capital.
In other words, he came to visit a friend, not to the capital city specifically.
It was just that he arrived at a coincidental time, as Chang'an Road happened to be open to the public, so he was fortunate enough to witness such a lively scene.
If an ordinary person had written in the same way, he would have written about the scene in Chang'an at this point, to contrast with his first paragraph which was derogatory before praising, but Wang Can did not write that way.
He wrote that he was tired from the journey and, under the guidance of his friend, he found a guest house and fell asleep immediately.
In the middle of the night, he suddenly heard the sound of gongs and drums. Wang Can woke up and looked out the window. He saw "the universal enlightenment of heaven and earth, producing the energy of goodness and truth". There was a beautiful and charming deity, who was natural and extraordinary, descending on the clouds.
Since it was so rare to see an immortal, he forgot about the tiredness of the journey and hurriedly chased after him out of the inn.
The fairy's feathered robe fluttered down, and as the distance got closer, people could see her face clearly.
The goddess was "rare in the world, with a radiant rosy face". Although she had no jewelry with golden feathers, no pearl pendants that could illuminate the night, no silk clothes, no gorgeous embroidered clothes, but only white clothes and black hair, and was covered in the moonlight between clouds, Wang Can was still stunned on the spot. 1
It was at this moment, on the new road in Chang'an Street, that he saw the source of the sound that had awakened him before.
That was a team of soldiers about to go to war.
If the goddess is the pinnacle of heaven, then the soldiers going to the battle are the best weapons on earth. The so-called "flags that brush against the sky and drums that shake the earth" came into his eyes one after another.
After this grand and magnificent scene of the first impression, there is a detailed description, from the plain expression of "talented officials and selected soldiers, swords and crossbows are arranged in disorder", to the astonishing scene of "black helmets shining, rhinoceros armor like a wall" as they are fully equipped and march into the final stage.
But it doesn’t end here.
Since it was the goddess who sent the troops to fight, there must be a connection between the goddess and the soldiers.
The goddess looked down at the scene from the air and began to pray, saying that the army in Chang'an "never forgets to command the common people to be pacified in times of danger, and never forgets to prepare for war and cultivate music in times of peace", and only then "will there be visitors from the east and the west", so she wished them a smooth expedition and an early realization of what had been decided for the world.
In this blessed scene, as the goddess flicked her sleeves, the road under the soldiers' feet suddenly turned into a sparkling river in the sky, echoing with the moonlight, making it almost impossible to open one's eyes.
It was because of this strong light that Wang Can suddenly woke up.
Only then did he realize that he was not really awakened by the sound of drums in the middle of the night and saw such a scene, but that he dreamed at night about what he thought about during the day. Because of the scene he saw during the day, he dreamed of such a miraculous scene at night.
He went downstairs to have breakfast with a feeling of loss, not knowing when he would be able to really see the scene of the goddess seeing off the emperor. Even if he could only dream about it again, it would not hurt. However, the owner of the inn mistakenly thought that he came to Chang'an to miss his hometown and secretly stuffed half an egg under his soup noodles.
This is the end of the article.
After reading the last sentence, Qiao Yan looked up and exchanged glances with Cai Zhaoji.
Did Wang Can spread rumors? It seems not, and it really fits his character and he went for a realistic approach.
He did not even attribute the construction of Chang'an Road to the goddess in his poem. The first paragraph about what he saw before coming to Chang'an and the last paragraph about giving the stranger half an egg are both very realistic.
The so-called goddess escorting him to the battlefield were all things he saw in his dreams and did not really happen.
Is dream writing illegal?
Of course not. Of course, you can also write in an exaggerated way.
But what would people who read this "The Goddess Sends Me to the Expedition" think?
You may just think that the foreshadowing before the dream and the final return to reality are just things that serve as the writing structure in Wang Can's poem, and what he really wants to express is in the middle part.
Chang'an New Road was originally mud, but now it has become indestructible. I think it is because of the blessing of the goddess.
How could the troops led by Grand Marshal Qiao Yan be so invincible and fierce? It was also because they were blessed by God.
Because he acted in accordance with what he described in his poetry, "to comfort my bravery and to strengthen my kindness," he was blessed by the gods.
The natural carvings on the goddess's appearance and attire, without any cumbersomeness, are in perfect harmony with the simplicity of the new Chang'an Road, and are clearly of the same origin.
As for why it is a female god and not a male god, who knows if it is because Qiao Hou is also a woman?
Qiao Yan dared to guarantee that if he gave this essay to Yang Xiu, he would be able to give the above reading comprehension on the spot.
Objectively speaking, Wang Can's work was completed in a short period of time from yesterday to today, and it was of such quality that it is absolutely qualified to be displayed in the Leping Monthly Report.
Although he is only seventeen years old, everyone in Leping Monthly, from editors to writers, is relatively young, so there is no sense of incongruity in mixing Wang Can among them.
But here comes the problem…
Qiao Yan asked Zhao Ji, "If we put this in the literature section of the June issue, wouldn't it seem like we're being too boastful?"
Although Wang Can made it clear in this poem that he had no relationship with the Chang'an court and that he came here only to visit a friend, he had actually expressed his position at the beginning.
What he said was "from the capital" instead of "from Chang'an", that is to say, no matter whether Yanzhou where he came from was affiliated with the Chang'an court, for this great talent in the opposition, Chang'an was the "capital".
Then putting this article directly in the literature section of the monthly report would be like our own special literature.
The Leping Monthly News is now supplied to more than just Bingzhou.
As early as when Qiao Yan gave Liu Bian a collection of monthly reports as a gift in the first year of Jian'an, even her opponents had begun to pay attention to this thing.
She originally thought that she was quite thick-skinned, but now she realized that if she were to publish this manuscript directly in the Leping Monthly, regardless of whether Wang Can came from a prominent family or not, she would be suspected of excessive publicity.
It seems that we can't make it too straightforward.
Hearing Qiao Yan's question, Cai Zhaoji also nodded.
This is not really a question of confidence or not.
Ever since she took charge of editing the Leping Monthly, she has actually published many of their progress there, including in the literature section.
If they were ashamed to show their confidence in swallowing up powerful enemies, there would be no need to interpret Cai Yong's "Kingfisher Poem" in another way.
But the situation in Wang Can's article is really different.
Although he did not like to use uncommon characters when writing poetry, making the often obscure Han poetry appear in a different style in his hands, which was consistent with the overall tone of Leping Monthly, the story of the goddess sending off the expedition was still a little too supernatural.
“But it would be a shame to just give up.” Qiao Yan sighed and held his forehead.
Jia Xu suggested that she further expand the publicity through spectacular means, so that Jian'an could be more widely recognized as an era name by people throughout the world than Yonghan. Isn't he just waiting for the reputation of the literati's help to spread?
Why should we hesitate just because Wang Can praised this article so much?
After some careful consideration, she replied, "Zhao Ji, do something for me."
"At the end of Chang'an Road, where the qingtan paper and mulberry paper are hung, add another thousand of each. If anyone wants to display poetry, calligraphy, or painting, they can come with their real names to receive five of them. They will be returned before the wine discussion in ten days, and the top three will be selected."
"The manuscripts of the top three poems and essays will be recorded in the Leping Monthly Report and distributed to various prefectures and counties for publicity. All the mulberry paper needed in the future will be provided by us."
"The top three in calligraphy and painting will have their traces engraved in Chang'an, and we will also provide the paper costs."
"After three days, hang up Wang Zhongxuan's "The Goddess Sends Off the Army"."
If Wang Can's article can stand out from the others, it won't be too late for her to put it up there.
If not, she would have a clear explanation for Wang Can's self-recommendation.
Seeing Zhao Ji responding and going down to make preparations, Qiao Yan read Wang Can's poem again, thinking that after doing this, he would have to organize another ancient version of the essay competition after this ancient version of the military parade.
But isn’t this also a wonderful episode in the prosperous scene of the new dynasty in Chang’an?
Qiao Yan thought about it and asked someone to invite Wang Can to his house for a chat.
This talented writer came to her own territory and happened to come up with such a creation and sang such a song of praise. It was obvious that she had a good impression of the Chang'an court. She couldn't really wait until ten days later to decide who was superior before making arrangements for Wang Can.
If I let him run away, I would be extremely upset.
Since Wang Can had written this poem and submitted it, he naturally had no intention of resisting coming.
As soon as the messenger sent by Qiao Yan arrived to invite him, he came directly and stood in front of her.
In Qiao Yan's opinion, compared with handsome and heroic men like Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, Wang Can did look a bit haggard and thin. No wonder Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in Jingzhou, gave him such advice - if he did not take medicine to treat his illness, his eyebrows would fall off first, and then his symptoms would gradually worsen, and he would die at a young age.
But his clear eyes and calm demeanor were enough to show that he had a lot of talent in his head, so there was no need to judge his ability by his appearance.
But when Qiao Yan asked him why he thought of submitting the article to Leping Monthly, his calmness suddenly paused and his eyes became vague for a moment.
He lowered his eyes and replied, "My father once brought back an oral statement and asked me to transcribe it. I have never forgotten it until now. I have always wanted to ask you to write an inscription on it, so I took the liberty of giving it a try."
Qiao Yan: “…”
Wang Can took out a piece of silk from her sleeve, and as expected, she saw that it contained the feudal theory of the governor of the state at that time.
Qiao Yan couldn't help but fall into silence.
What kind of ancient version of star chasing and asking for autographs is this...:, w,
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