In the eyes of historians throughout history, Wang Rong is not a glorious figure.

In the Book of Jin, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest are divided into two volumes: Ruan Ji, Ruan Xian, and Ji Kang are one volume, all of which are opposition parties who refused to cooperate in the political struggle between Sima and Cao. Liu Ling, who died early and few deeds have been handed down, are in a separate volume, and the latter three people, from Wei to Jin, all became important ministers of the Sima court after Ji Kang's death. Wang Rong, like Shan Tao, is considered to have betrayed the spirit of "indestructible eyebrows and waist of the powerful" of the famous people of the bamboo forest. The praise and disapproval of historians are clear at a glance.

In our eyes, the Bamboo Forest Celebrity represents the reverence for personal feelings, the contempt for hypocrisy and etiquette, there is fine wine, there are beautiful men, there are the most wonderful speeches in the world, the most first-class thoughts, just like a myth in Chinese history, dignified without a trace of smoke and dust. However, few people paid attention to the fact that with the death of Ji Kang in 262 A.D. as the dividing line, the ancient release of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest suddenly disappeared. When the idea of freedom collides with the butcher's knife of dictatorship, when freedom is loose and encounters the discipline of power, it will not be power that succumbs in the end. The fate of the Zhulin Group is just another annotation of this eternal law, and Wang Rong is an intriguing symbol in this annotation.

Wang Rong was young and intelligent, when he was a child, he played with his friends, and his partners saw that the plum trees on the roadside were full of fruits, and they climbed the trees to pick them, only Wang Rong watched coldly: the tree was born next to the road, but it was able to retain the fruit of a tree, and it must bear bitter fruit.

It is like a fable, indicating that Wang Rong has gone from high to mortal, and he could have left a thousand years of fame but suffered a lot of white eyes behind him. Wang Rong is that tree, spring and autumn, in the world of celebrities rarely have a good death of the Cao Wei Chan Dynasty, but the bright appearance hides a bitter heart.

Mu Xiu Yu Lin is the intelligent appearance of his youth. Wang Rong's ancestral home is Langya, Shandong, which is famous for Wang Xiang who lies on the ice and seeks carp, and the Langya Wang family of Wang Dao and Wang Xizhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. When Wang Rong was fifteen years old, he met Ruan Ji, who was twenty years older than him, at home, and the two became friends at first sight. can make Ruan Ji treat people differently with his "blue and white eyes", which shows Wang Rong's insight in the Qing Talk Field.

From Cao Wei to Sima's Western Jin Dynasty, the main content of the Qing Dynasty was the understanding of human ethics. Wang Rong's human ethics were famous at the time: he said that the mountains and waves were "like jade and gold"—people knew his preciousness, but no one could really understand him; said that his beautiful male brother Wang Yan - "has a high appearance, like a Yaolin Qiongshu", but "is naturally a surface of wind and dust"; said that his son-in-law, the famous metaphysician Pei Wei - "clumsy in using long". He disliked his brother Wang Dun very much, and never saw him. Later, the Jin Dynasty crossed to the south, and Wang Dun really rebelled, which was once rumored to be a beautiful talk.

Naturally, Wang Rong also became a member of the "Bamboo Forest Tour". Similarly, advocating nature and freedom, despising the etiquette that has become out of place, considerable wisdom and cultivation have inspired countless sparks among several friends, and this period of leisurely life in the bamboo forest has become the youngest of the seven Wang Rong's life is the most cherished memory. Wang Rong's twilight years, from Ruan Ji Xie Shi, Ji Kang was killed by Sima has passed many years, he happened to pass by the Huang Gong wine pot where they drank together, when the old man who sold wine is still there, the aroma of wine is no different from that year, Wang Rong stood quietly for a long time, and sighed to the people who traveled with him: "I used to be happy with Uncle Ji and Ruan Sizong here, and the tour of the bamboo forest is also the end." Since Ji Sheng's death and Ruan's death, he has been bound by the times. Today, although this is near, Miao is like mountains and rivers! ”

Although this is close, it is like a mountain and a river, and memory can automatically delete all the less glorious episodes, presenting a perfection that is almost mythical. However, the truth always smells earthy.

After entering the Jin Dynasty, Wang Rong successively served as Xiangguo Peng, Huangmenlang of the Ministry of Officials, Scattered Cavalry Changshou, Hedong Taishou, and Jingzhou Thorn History. After Jin destroyed Wu and unified China, he did Guangluxun and the Ministry of Officials. The Huangmen Shilang and the Scattered Cavalry Shilang are the most powerful officials who convey orders around the emperor, starting with four products, and have always served as the descendants of the three dukes or the big clans. The official department is equivalent to the current head of the organization department, in charge of the election of officials, and at the end of the Wei and Jin dynasties, these three official positions are almost always in the bloody competition between the two political groups of the Baume & Mercier Group and the Lifa Group. However, Wang Rong took these three most important officials all over again. Officialdom is proud, and he has once again become the target of the world. Whether it is the betrayal of the Baume & Mercier group or the Chinese's habit of shooting the first bird, in short, Wang Rong has confirmed the reputation of a traitor in the bamboo forest. It's just that few people find that Wang Rong, Ruan Ji and Ji Kang's life ideals are completely different, and the temporary intersection is just an episode of chance encounters in life, and they will inevitably part ways.

Mr. Chen Yinke once analyzed the life ideals of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest: Ji Kang and Ruan Ji admired nature and hated famous teachings, while Wang Rong was Lao Zhuang and Zhou Kong. On the one hand, he longs for Lao Zhuang's freedom, but on the other hand, he does not reject etiquette and the bureaucratic system of the state.

The bamboo forest celebrities are not monolithic, nor are they generally believed, they gather in the bamboo forest in Shanyang to drink regularly (Mr. Chen Yinke researched that the word bamboo forest is a use of Indian Sanskrit). They just met a few people who could talk to them at a certain moment, and they were just happy with the "Huang Gong Wine Jar" or "White Gong Wine Jar" nearby. The multifaceted nature of human emotions and desires makes it impossible for us to ask the seven of them to be like the seven Ji Kangs cloned, showing a uniform pace.

Wang Rong, he loves a free and easy life, but he is also not against social order. There are even times when he can wave the flag and shout for it, and he is like a fish in water in this order full of imprisonment and discipline. He does not have an overly angular position, neither forcing others nor himself. One of the sweetest idioms about love in Chinese history, "Qing Qing I and I", also comes from his story: Wang Rong has a lovely wife who always likes to call him "Qing", similar to today's "dear". At the time, it was contrary to etiquette to address the husband like this. Once, Wang Rong said to her, don't keep calling me dear, people will say that you are disrespectful and etiquette. Wang Rong's young and lively wife pouted disapprovingly, "Relatives love Qing, it is Qingqing; I'm not a secretary, who will be a secretary? Wang Rong did not reprimand his wife for such a bold and even arrogant reply.

He can not quit drinking and meat like Ruan Ji when he encounters his mother's funeral, but he is so sad that he can't help but toss himself to the point of emaciation. You can also choose a talented and good-looking son-in-law in the funeral guard of Emperor Wu of Jin. In short, he has no special bottom line, and the most important thing is to live comfortably.

He loved money and was afraid of death. Like the big families of the time, he occupied the fields everywhere, gathered money, and counted the money at night with a lamp. After his daughter married the famous scholar Pei Yan, she borrowed money from him and did not pay it back, so Wang Rong never gave her a good look until she paid it back...... Later generations excused him, saying that this was to deliberately discredit himself in order to avoid trouble, just like Chen Qun before him and King Lanling after him. He himself never wanted to become a saint, but those who liked him had to beautify and cover up for him, and he was very boring.

When the history book is special about the elegance of the bamboo forest tour, they don't care where their money comes from. But this seems to be the least problematic issue, but it is related to the root of all choices: life and dignity always seem to be placed on both ends of the scale, and you live and die.

Here in Wang Rong, the same is true. As a human being, he had to live. In the last years of Cao Wei, the tuntian system implemented by the state was seriously damaged, the original common property was looted, and all people, whether officials or people, occupied the land everywhere: without land, there would be no income, and without income, it would naturally be impossible to live. At that time, the official given by the state was a false hat that could fall off at any time, not to mention the massive loss of state-owned assets. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, before Cao Cao dragged Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to Xuchang, the ministers in the court were hungry, and there were many people digging grass roots and eating soil.

Baume & Mercier also have to live, and there are desires that look ugly but are also part of human nature. Wang Rong is a very real person. Although Ruan Ji also saw that he was a bit "tacky", he also liked him, at least he didn't pretend, right? The Confucianism that celebrities and scholars oppose is the dog meat that sells money and power under the banner of Confucianism, and those who are duplicitous.

Wang Rong didn't pretend, his actions and motives were like a blank sheet of paper. He was afraid of death, and in the rebellion of the Eight Kings, he persuaded Sima Ying, the king of Qi, to surrender and kill Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, who was about to come, and Wang Jian of Qi was furious, and sent a bunch of people to kill Wang Rong to sacrifice the flag as soon as he slapped the table. Wang Rong saw the open fire fighting from a distance, and the swords were sharp, so he jumped into the dung pit without thinking about it, disguised the medicinal attack of Wushi San, was delirious, and escaped a catastrophe.

However, he also has pursuits, as long as it is worthwhile, the noble and bright side of human nature will naturally be reflected. When he was nearly seventy years old, Wang Rong was displaced everywhere with Emperor Hui of Jin in the Eight Kings Rebellion, running from Yecheng to Luoyang, and then fled to Jiaxian, where he met the pursuers.

Seventy-two-year-old Wang Rong died in Jiaxian. After experiencing the life and death of those talented metaphysical scholars during the Cao Wei Chan Dynasty, witnessing the only unification of China in 300 years, experiencing the brief prosperity of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin Dynasty, and experiencing the upheaval of the Eight Kings Rebellion, he finally escaped the doom of being plundered by the northern ethnic minorities like his younger brother Wang Yan.

I am afraid that there is no one who can taste all the ways of life in a short life like him. Later generations of the ancients naturally lifted heavy weights and headed the Tao, but we can't stand side by side with them, we can't restore their situation, and we don't need to make those heavy choices like them. Judging the ancients always carried a particularly harsh and strict set of values, but later generations never used this set of values to demand themselves. It's just that who wouldn't talk about it.