元结的一生行迹（719-772）
元结（719-772），字次山，号漫叟，河南洛阳人。唐玄宗天宝十二载（753年）进士，安史乱中避居瀼溪。后出仕，累官至道州刺史、容管经略使，以德政著称。诗风简古，力排浮艳，白居易《与元九书》推其"可继《诗经》"。晚年于浯溪撰《大唐中兴颂》，颜真卿书，为"摩崖三绝"之冠。
洛阳（719） · 少逢乱离
唐开元七年（719年），元结出生于河南洛阳。他出身鲜卑族拓跋氏后裔，家境尚可，然生逢盛世向乱世的转折点，少年时即目睹权相李林甫专权、朝纲渐弛。十七岁时，他慨然向学，师从宗兄元德秀，立志以儒术济世。
长安（753） · 洛阳应试
唐玄宗天宝十二载（753年），三十五岁的元结进士及第。然而此时长安已非开元盛世气象，权奸当道，政治腐败。次年再举"俊拔科"，授秘书省校书郎，旋因不肯依附权贵而无所作为。
瀼溪（755） · 荆楚避乱
唐玄宗天宝十四载（755年），安禄山反，天下大乱。元结携家南奔避乱，辗转来到九江附近的瀼溪（今江西瑞昌南），在此结庐而居，与邻里乡亲相安，度过数年相对安定的岁月。
道州（763） · 道州抚民
唐代宗广德元年（763年），元结授道州刺史。时道州经"西原蛮"之乱，户口锐减，民生凋敝。他到任后减赋免役，安抚流亡，不以征讨为务，而以抚绥为本，使一州百姓渐次复苏。
道州（贼退示官吏）（765） · 道州抚民
唐代宗永泰元年（765年），"西原蛮"攻占道州邻近州县，独道州城未被攻克。贼退之后，上级官府却变本加厉催征赋税。元结愤而作诗，直斥官吏之恶甚于贼盗，是唐代罕见的政治抗议诗。
零陵（767） · 浯溪寄怀
唐代宗大历二年（767年），元结罢道州刺史，寓居邻近的零陵（今湖南永州）。湘江两岸岩洞幽奇，他遍历朝阳岩、浯溪诸胜，为日后浯溪铭刻打下地理与文化的基础。
浯溪（768） · 浯溪寄怀
唐代宗大历三年（768年），元结发现浯溪（今湖南祁阳境内）石壁奇崛，临湘江而面群山，遂选此地为《大唐中兴颂》刻石之所。他亲撰颂文，请挚友、大书法家颜真卿书写，开"摩崖三绝"之先河。
容州（770） · 浯溪寄怀
唐代宗大历五年（770年），元结出任容管经略使，治容州（今广西北流）。南方瘴疠之地，他整饬军务、安抚边民，以德化夷，不尚武力。然此地距长安万里，水土不服，使他身心俱疲。
长安（归老）（772） · 归老长安
唐代宗大历七年（772年），元结自容管经略使任上归朝，不久病逝于长安，享年五十四岁。临终前将文稿交付亲友，身后留有《元次山集》十卷，其德政与文章为时人所称。
The Life Journey of Yuan Jie, the Rebel Gentleman of the Rocks
Yuan Jie (719-772), of Luoyang, descendant of the Xianbei royal house, was the Tang's most unusual combination: a governor whose first act was to refuse his own government's taxes, and a poet who wrote the empire's boldest protest verse. His 'After the Raiders Withdraw, Shown to My Officials' — 'the raiders came once; the officials plague us day and night' — stands almost alone in Tang poetry. At Daozhou he rebuilt a gutted prefecture by mercy instead of the whip; at Wuxi he chose the cliff face for the 'Ode to the Restoration of Great Tang' and set Yan Zhenqing's brush on it — the 'triple perfection' of cliff, prose and calligraphy that founded China's art of the rock inscription.
Timeline of the Journey
- 719 · Luoyang — Born into the old Tuoba line at Luoyang, on the hinge between the high Kaiyuan years and the collapse to come: Li Linfu's court already curdling while the boy studied under his kinsman Yuan Degui.
- 753 · Chang'an — Jinshi at thirty-five, collator in the Palace Library — and stalled at once: he would not attach himself to the great houses, so nothing came.
- 755 · Rangxi — An Lushan's rebellion: south with the family to Rangxi near Jiujiang — a hut by the water, good terms with the neighbors, the war watched from the reeds.
- 763 · Daozhou — Governor of Daozhou after the 'Western Origin' risings: population down to a fraction, land empty. He cut the taxes, canceled the corvée, gathered the refugees — the prefecture healed by refusing to whip it.
- 765 · Daozhou — The raiders strike the neighboring prefectures and spare Daozhou; the relieved province is then ordered to make up the lost revenue — and Yuan Jie writes 'After the Raiders Withdraw': officials worse than bandits, in lines he dared to circulate.
- 767 · Lingling — Out of office at Lingling on the Xiang: the river cliffs explored — Chaoyang Crag, then the Wuxi valley that would be his name's stone.
- 768 · Wuxi — The discovery of the Wuxi cliff and the choosing of it: his 'Ode to the Restoration of Great Tang' cut into the rock in Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy — poem, prose and brush, the 'three perfections' of the riverside cliff, and Chinese epigraphy changed.
- 770 · Rongzhou — Commissioner of Rongguan in the far south: the garrisons quieted, the border peoples conciliated by good faith instead of slaughter — and the miasma country wearing him down.
- 772 · Chang'an — Home at last, dead within the year at fifty-four, the manuscripts entrusted to friends: the Ten Books of Yuan Cishan, and the reputation — the dynasty's sternest merciful man — intact.
'The raiders came like the plague of a passing year; the officials — they are the plague of every day.' No Tang poet said anything this dangerous this plainly: Yuan Jie governed by mercy and wrote by indictment, and the rocks he chose still carry both.
