Li Bai's status in my country's literary world is self-evident. There are very few outstanding people who have been able to break the shackles of "literati's reluctance" of their colleagues for thousands of years, and there are only one literati who can win the reputation of "poe

Li Bai 's status in my country's literary world is self-evident. There are very few outstanding people who have been able to break the shackles of "literati's neglect" of their colleagues for thousands of years, and there are only one literati who can win the reputation of "poetry immortal". Li Bai's poems have been included in the primary school textbooks and in the high school Chinese textbooks. In the circle of literati, I am afraid that no literati except Mr. Lu Xun will win this honor.

Li Bai has been wandering around the world for half of his life. Since he left home and traveled to the world, he has rarely talked about his background. Among some of Li Bai's works, we can only find the few brief introductions.

"Book with Han Jingzhou" says:

"Baiben Longxi Common man, wandering in Chu and Han. Fifteen good swordsmanship, all over the princes, thirty years old, and have passed away from the prime minister. Although he is less than seven feet tall, he is full of loyalty and righteousness. After all, he will be fined. How dare he not be the king and marquis!"

From this passage, we can know that Li Bai said that he was a "common man" and his family is ordinary.

However, in the article "Book of History with Anzhou Pei Changshi", Li Bai gave a different statement:

"Bai's family was named Jinling, and was born in the world. He was in trouble with Juqu Mengxun, and rushed to Qin. He lived in his family because of his official residence, and was young in the Yangtze River and Han Dynasty."

It can be seen from this that Li Bai's ancestors should have a good background.

And in the poem "Give to Zhang Xianghao", Li Bai's words are even more straightforward:

"I am a native of Longxi. First, I am a border general of the Han Dynasty. My achievements are overwhelming the world. My name is flying on the blue sky.

I was not a man of hard work. I was quite sad at that time. I was very sad. The bravery of Kongtong is inspiring. The spirit is strong and the wind is strong.

Heroes are left with grandsons. Gods of all generations are the king. Fifteen readings of strange books. Written by fu Ling Xiangru.

Dragon face is favored. Lin Pavilion lives on the sky. The road is not yet cloudy. I was slandered.

Imagine the late Jin Dynasty. The collapse of Hu dust rises. The clothes and hats are trapped in the wind and dy. The soldiers and the soldiers are in full swing. The soldiers and the soldiers are in full swing. The stones are peering at the city. Liu Cong robs the emperor. He sings the sword at night. The ambition is thousands of miles a day.

swears to kill the whale and salamander. Clear the water of Luoyang. The rain in Liuhe is sprinkling rain. All things are withered.

I wave a cup of water. Why am I laughing at myself? I am ashamed of accomplishing things. I want to make good plans.

Destroying the enemy without saying good deeds. I floated up to the hut. Only by waiting for a safe time. Stay in the vast sea. "

From this we can see that Li Bai's ancestors participated in the border guarding and worshipped generals for their military achievements at the border. However, because Li Bai's ancestors had a tragic fate, they failed to get the title despite their great achievements. As for who Li Bai's ancestor was, this poem is still unclear. In short, Li Bai rarely mentions his family background in his self-report, and the three mentioned only are also very vague, and we cannot sort out the context from it.

Therefore, if you want to know Li Bai’s family background, we need to start from the writings of others.

Li Bai's uncle Li Yangbing , mentioned Li Bai's family background in "Preface to Caotang Collection": "Li Bai, whose courtesy name is Taibai, was from Chengji, Longxi, and was the ninth generation grandson of King Zhao of Liangwu. He was joined in Gui Group for the rest of time, and was prominent in the world. The middle Ye was not a crime, and was exiled to Tiaozhi, with different surnames and names." Obviously, this coincides with the statement that some historians call Li Bai a "rogue of the royal family."

From the perspective of the royal family lineage list of the Tang Dynasty, "King Zhao of Liangwu Li Yang " is the same as Tang Xuanzong . According to historical records, during the Tianbao period, Li Longji issued an edict allowing Li Long and his descendants to be included in the "limitation". Don’t underestimate this edict, “entitled to a ancestry” means that it can be entered into the royal family from then on, become a royal relative, and have already belonged to the royal family on the household registration.

However, it can be seen from the literature that after receiving the edict, Li Bai's family did not go to the government to register like other branches. Later, Li Bai was summoned to the Hanlin Academy for his talent and became a "monarchist". He had many opportunities to meet Li Longji, but he still had no relationship with Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, and he never even mentioned this relationship in front of Li Longji.In the fifteenth year of Tianbao, the Yongwang, who was followed by Li Bai, was sentenced for rebellion. Li Bai, as an aide, was imprisoned and exiled in his later years. During this period, Li Bai was no longer the noble son who "returned after all his money", but a down-and-out literati with a bare wall. Li Bai's situation in his later years was so he must be very eager to get opportunities, but he still concealed this background.

This is quite intriguing. Why did Li Bai never mention to others that he was the "ninth-generation grandson of King Zhao of Liangwu" during his lifetime?

Even though Li Bai and the emperor of the dynasty are already distant relatives who are "not close to each other", at least this kind of relative can make Li Bai have no worries about food and clothing in his later years. But Li Bai would rather be in trouble than make a statement when he was alive. It was not until after his death that Li Yangbing made this origin public. If you think about it carefully, there must be some unknown secrets in it.

In recent years, some scholars have proposed based on Li Bai's writings that Li Bai is a descendant of the famous Han Dynasty general Li Guang , and belongs to Li Guang's 25th generation grandson in terms of generation. Moreover, Li Bai's family is the branch of Li Ling in the Western Han Dynasty and Li Xian in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. However, when Li Bai communicated or wrote with others during his lifetime, he only mentioned that his ancestor was the Han general Li Guang, and did not say that his family was the side branch of Li Ling and Li Xian.

A Chinese linguist from Taiwan boldly speculated based on these clues and came to a conclusion: Li Bai is both a descendant of the flying general Li Guang and the ninth generation grandson of Li Yang. Similarly, Li Yuan , Li Shimin and Li Longji are also descendants of Li Guang and Li Yang. In terms of seniority, Li Bai is the great-nephew of Emperor Taizong of Tang . The reason why Li Bai had this relationship with the Tang royal family was still unwilling to use it to enter the clan was mostly because Li Bai's ancestors were exiled and expelled from the clan.

Obviously, Li Bai's ancestors are very likely to be involved in a storm involving inheritance rights and even hatred. Moreover, this incident must be quite serious. If not, why did Li Bai conceal this relationship? Most likely, Li Bai's ancestors (maybe they were grandfather or great-grandfather) had "stand the wrong team" in the Xuanwumen incident, and were eventually liquidated by Li Shimin's group. Because Li Bai lived in the era, the Xuanwu Gate incident was still a sensitive topic, so Li Bai did not dare to stand up and admit his family background, worried that he would be troubled.

Of course, guessing is just a guess after all. No matter how reliable it is, it may not be a fact, and more evidence is needed to support it.

The author of "The New Tombstone of Li Gong, a scholar from the Tang Dynasty", is the son of Li Bai's close friend Fan Lun. In the following, Fan Chuanzheng wrote:

"The Gong's name is Bai, and his courtesy name is Taibai. His first name is Cheng Ji, Longxi. It is difficult to find a genealogy for the family of the successor. The granddaughter of the Gong's granddaughter searched in the box and found that the Gong's deceased son Bo Qin was spun off for more than ten lines of hand, and the paper was broken and the words were missing, so he could not prepare in detail. It was considered that the ninth generation grandson of King Zhao of Liang. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, a house was stranded on the broken leaves, and was scattered and scattered, and was hidden and famous. Therefore, since the dynasty, it was leaked from the family. At the beginning of the Shenlong, he returned to Guanghan and was overseas for the county people. His father's guest, who took his place in his town, so he lie on the name of a guest and did not seek a salary. "

This passage seems to be the only reference for the rest, but some of the key points are still unclear. Especially why did Li Bai's father, Li Ke, go to Guanghan to live in seclusion or escape to Shu for refuge? If the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed, so he had to go to a foreign land, then why didn’t Li Bai’s branch return to his original hometown as soon as possible? If it is due to some historic reasons of the Li family (such as being exiled against Tang Dynasty law), there is no need to "return to Guanghan". Therefore, there are loopholes in Fan Chuanzheng's text.

Based on the above research, many scholars further speculated that perhaps Li Bai's father Li Ke had encountered some changes, so he took his family back or "retreat" and this reason was inconvenient. These words passed down from the historical community are quite confusing, so we cannot clarify how Li Bai's branch came to the relatively remote Qinglian Township.

Some scholars also use the two texts "Supplementary of Du Fu's Poems" and "The New Tombstone of Li Gong, a scholar from the Left-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self-Self On this, combined with the "Zhouyi Jue Gua", we deduced the meaning of the three words "Biyi City" and came to a new conclusion:

The reason why Li Ke went away from a foreign land and settled in a foreign land was not necessarily because of "the conflict between the clan", but because of "Renxia" and "avoiding hatred". It is because of this situation that Li Bai refused to always avoid talking about certain key points when telling his hometown, or use a large number of lyrics to cover up. This situation is normal due to the ancient concept of "tagging for the respected one".

If the assumption proposed by a certain scholar above is valid, then although the historical problem about Li Bai's family background will not be solved easily, it will at least not be so confusing.

Li Bai is a literati with rich emotions. In his works, he always mentions friends and relatives who are close to him, such as Li Bai's wife, children, and friends who frequently appear in Li Bai's poems. Moreover, Li Bai often wrote poems to people close to him and sent gifts to express his true emotions in this way.

However, Li Bai never talked about his father publicly, and even wrote poems for his father. Even the identity of "the ninth generation grandson of King Zhao of Liangwu Li Han", Li Bai never showed it to others. Even if he is a good friend, Li Bai never talks about related topics, let alone putting these contents into words. There are three reasons why Li Bai never mentioned his family background:

1. Li Bai's father may be the prototype of the poem "The Legend of the Knights". He is a chivalrous man who helps the poor and the needy. However, because he was chivalrous and righteous in his life, he offended many powerful people. Li Bai was worried that telling these plots would cause revenge on the family, so he simply concealed them;

2. Li Bai's grandfather or great-grandfather directly or indirectly participated in the Xuanwu Gate incident, and stood in the wrong team in the dispute over the crown prince at that time, and was liquidated by Li Shimin's one-party. Therefore, Li Bai would not tell the secret at all, for fear of being "cut off" by the Li Tang royal family;

3. Li Bai is not a descendant of Li Yang, the King of Liangwu Zhao, or had a fault when applying for naturalization to the court, and the Li Tang royal family did not recognize the identity of the Li family.

Of course, if the third statement is true, then the "ninth-generation grandson of King Zhao of Liangwu" mentioned by Li Yangbing may be fiction.

The author himself prefers Li Bai's father Li Ke in his early years. Looking at Li Bai's life and behavior, he seems to be imitating this chivalrous temperament. Perhaps, Li Bai's father Li Ke was a knight who "killed one person in ten steps and did not stay thousands of miles away", but this identity was not recognized by the upper class at that time and could easily cause unnecessary trouble to the Li family, so Li Bai had to hide the inside story of his father Ren Xia.

Reference materials:

["Book with Han Jingzhou", "Book with Anzhou Pei Changshi", "Preface to the tombstone of Li Gong, a bachelor of the Tang Left-Self-Self-Li Hanlin"]