There are also quite a few political and moral critical poems in "National Style", some of which are aimed at specific characters and events, and some of which have universal meanings. On the whole, these poems largely reflect the dissatisfaction of the lower classes of society with the rulers of the upper classes. For example, "Cutting Tan": the sound of cutting down sandalwood trees is cankan, and they are put down by the river, and the river water is clear and microwaved. If you don't sow and don't reap, why do you move three hundred sheaves of grain home? If you don't hunt in winter and don't hunt at night, why do you have a badger hanging in your yard? Those old men and gentlemen, they won't eat in vain!

In the past, many people understood this poem as a question of the laborer to the exploiter for not working hard and enjoying what he had done, but if you think about it, I am afraid that this is also not very accurate. It should be pointed out that in the era of the "Book of Songs", the so-called gentleman worked hard, the villain worked hard, the hard-working person governed people, and the laborer governed people, in the general understanding of the society at that time, this was justified and justified. Whether the slaves, who were severely enslaved materially and spiritually, could soberly deny this principle recognized by the society at that time was itself a question. If the lower classes had realized that this society was unfair and openly wrote to resist, it would have been impossible for such poems to be adopted by the princes and the musicians of the Zhou Dynasty and become the objects of daily recitation and study by the children of the aristocracy.

When interpreting this poem in the "Preface to Mao's Poems", it is said that the poet is still based on the socially recognized principles, thinking that the gentleman should seek his own affairs in his position, and it is a very shameless thing to eat Lu without merit, that is, to eat white rice. The last sentence "Those old men and gentlemen, they won't eat idle meals in vain!" It seems to be written sarcastically. In fact, in the social reality at that time, it was a common phenomenon for gentlemen to occupy empty positions and fail to fulfill their duties. If this is the case to satirize the actions of most of the nobles themselves, the principles claimed by the nobles themselves would be profound. It seems to be on the side of the laborers, sympathetic to the hard work of the laborers, and at the same time, it has a certain spur significance to the aristocracy, warning them not to be idle people, and must do their own work, that is, mental work.

Etiquette is a code of conduct set by the rulers themselves, and the members of the ruling class indulge in a life of immorality and pleasure, and they themselves break this norm. So, the poets made sharp satire on them. But at the same time, we should also understand that the reason why this poem is written so sharply and fiercely is, first of all, from the standpoint of maintaining etiquette, that is, on the basis of the correct starting point recognized by the society at that time. It was on this basis that the upper rulers kept the poem and recited it. Whether the author genuinely wants to preserve the system of etiquette or satirizes the hedonistic gentlemen of the time, in the long run, this poem is still very beneficial for maintaining the ruling order of the upper rulers and ensuring their aristocratic privileges. So the ruling class kept the poem and let the children of the nobility learn to sing it.

Another example is "The Mouse", which is a rather profound political satirical poem. The poem compares the ruler to an insatiable rat, and the common people feel that they cannot bear the heavy oppression of these fellows, and want to flee to a happy land. Judging from the sentences in the poem, the author owned his own landed property, and his status may have been a low-class nobleman or other freeman. This demand against excessive exploitation is also something that wise rulers are willing to approve of, and consider worthy of alarm. So the poem, although it is clearly a satire of the exploitation of the rulers, has been preserved and well recited.

As we said earlier, some of the poems in "Xiao Ya" are similar to the poems in "National Style", the most prominent of which are the poems about war and labor. We can introduce this kind of poems in "Xiaoya" and poems on the same theme in "National Style". "Cai Wei", "Di Du", and "River Grass is Not Yellow" in "Xiao Ya", "Broken Axe" and "Dongshan" in "Feng Feng" (bīn), "Drumming" in "Shao Feng", "Boxi" in "Wei Feng", etc., are all masterpieces in this regard. Unlike the epic poems that recount the merits of war, most of these poems show their experiences and thoughts from the perspective of ordinary soldiers, focusing on the soldiers' weariness of war and longing for their hometown, which makes people feel more real and intimate to read.

Among them, the poem "Dongshan" is written about the complex feelings of a soldier who has been on the expedition for many years on the way home, and at the beginning of each chapter, he sings: "Since my expedition to Dongshan, my wish to go home has been empty for a long time." Now that I have returned from Dongshan, it is raining and foggy. "He has been going to Dongshan for a long time, and on the way home, there is a drizzle in the sky, and we can see his sad feelings at this time from the environment. He felt a sense of joy at resuming civilian life, and then imagined that his hometown might be deserted, and he might be greeted by a ruined scene: "Melons have grown on the vines of the oak building, and the vines have climbed under the eaves. The house is damp and raw ticks, and spiders build webs as door hangings. The deer trails are left on the field, and the phosphorus fire flashes at night. "What a tangled feeling!

However, even so, he still felt that his hometown was good, he said: "It's not terrible to have a desolate home, the more you feel homesick!" After a while, he remembered his wife, who was waiting for his return: "The white stork hill is calling softly, and my wife sighs in the house." Clean the rat hole in the house and hope that I will go home early. The round gourd was cut in half, and no one cared about the pyre. I don't see the old things, and it's been three years since I came here. Then he remembered how beautiful his wife had been when she first married him: "How beautiful the newlyweds were." However, three years later, is his wife still so beautiful?

The whole poem is a description of the soldier's heart on the way home, and it is written so vividly and realistically, reflecting the people's nostalgia and yearning for a peaceful life. This poem also had a certain influence on later poems, such as "Fifteenth Military Expedition" in the folk song of Han Yuefu, which is written about a veteran returning from the army, but seeing that his hometown has been ruined and his relatives have died, the idea of this poem may have been inspired by "Dongshan".

"Cai Wei" in "Xiao Ya" shows a soldier's distress about participating in the war between the Zhou Dynasty and the Dog Rong tribe, and he can't go home or rest: "Having a home is equal to not having a home, so I go to fight with the Dog Rong." I don't have time to sit down and fight with the dogs. "There is no royal errand, and there is no leisure if you want to rest. It is too painful to be full of sorrow, and I am afraid that I will never go home again. "All the soldier thinks about going home all day long is to go home as soon as possible, but seeing that the days are passing day by day, there is no hope of going home, so he is sad alone, "Say go home, go home, see that the year is over again", "Say go home, go home, feel sad and worried", "Say go home, go home, and in the blink of an eye, October will come again".

Finally, the soldier finally looked forward to the day when he went home, and on the way home, the sky was full of snowflakes, his body was hungry and thirsty, and his heart was full of sadness: "I remember that when I first set out on the expedition, the willows were blown by the wind. Now, on the way back, snow is flying all over the sky. The roads were muddy and difficult to walk, and I was thirsty and hungry. Full of sadness and sorrow, who understands my sorrow! ”

It was spring when he went to serve in the army, and the willows swayed in the wind, as if to see him off, and seemed to show retention. When he returned to his hometown, it was winter, and the snow and frost were falling, as if to express welcome, but also as if to express extreme indifference. The above description has been highly praised by later generations of literati, such as the Jin Dynasty military strategist Xie Xuan believes that this is the best poem in the Book of Songs. The custom of folding willows to give to people who traveled far away, which is expressed in later poems, seems to have originated from this poem at the earliest. This poem is the first to combine willow with travel, so it leaves people with the feeling that willow stays behind.

It is worth savoring that this kind of work in the "Book of Songs" cannot simply be called an anti-war poem. Because although the poem expresses the soldiers' boredom with military life and their nostalgia for peaceful family life, they do not directly oppose the war and condemn those who call them into service. The mood in the poem is also dominated by sadness, and there is almost no anger in it. This is because, from a collective standpoint, it is an individual obligation to go to the army, and even if it would hinder the personal happiness of the soldiers, it is a helpless thing. What a true and unpretentious expression this is, and what a revered thing it is for the ancients to use poetry to narrate things, and to express their expressions!

This similar characteristic can be seen more clearly in "Wei Feng Boxi", where it is written: My husband is so mighty and a great hero of the country. My husband holds a spear and is a good striker for kings. Since her husband left the east, her hair has been disheveled like a fluff. What is still lacking? For whom to retouch my face! When it rains, it rains, but the sun shines brightly. Thinking about my husband with all his heart, I have a headache and a happy heart. Where can I find the Forget-me-Forget Grass? Plant it just north of the house. Thinking of my husband makes me sad and sick.