杨炯的一生行迹（650-693）
杨炯（650-约693），华州华阴（今陕西华阴）人，初唐四杰之一。十一岁举神童待制弘文馆，上元三年（676年）制举及第补校书郎，官至詹事司直。因堂弟参与徐敬业起兵受牵连，贬梓州司法参军，后召为习艺馆学士，长寿元年（692年）出为盈川令，卒于官，世称"杨盈川"。
华阴（650） · 华阴神童
唐高宗永徽元年（650年），杨炯出生于华州华阴。杨氏为关中著姓"弘农杨氏"，门第显赫。杨炯自幼聪颖绝伦，博览群书，善为文章，十余岁即被举为神童，声名播于京师。
长安（弘文馆）（659） · 两京馆阁
唐高宗显庆四年（659年），年仅十岁的杨炯应神童举，待制弘文馆。弘文馆为国家最高学府，聚天下典籍，杨炯年少入馆，遍览群书，精研文史，在馆中沉潜十余年，打下深厚的学术根基。
长安（校书郎）（676） · 两京馆阁
唐高宗上元三年（676年），杨炯应制举及第，补秘书省校书郎，正式踏入仕途。校书郎掌校雠典籍、刊正文字，是清流美官。在京期间他与王勃、卢照邻、骆宾王诗文齐名，"王杨卢骆"之号传遍天下。
长安（詹事司直）（682） · 两京馆阁
唐高宗永淳元年（682年），杨炯由校书郎迁崇文馆学士，又迁太子詹事司直，充崇文馆学士，掌东宫宫务纠弹。他性格恃才傲物，看不惯朝中"麒麟楦"式的虚伪官员，肆意讥诮，为同僚所忌。
梓州（685） · 梓州贬谪
武则天垂拱元年（685年），徐敬业扬州起兵失败，杨炯的堂弟杨神让因参与起事被诛，杨炯受株连，自詹事司直贬为梓州司法参军。他远离中枢，入蜀掌一州刑法，在梓州沉潜四年，心境渐趋平和。
洛阳（习艺馆）（690） · 梓州贬谪
武则天天授元年（690年），武则天称帝建周，杨炯自梓州召回洛阳，与宋之问分直习艺馆，教习宫人书艺。九月他献《老人星赋》称颂新朝，得武则天欢心，然品秩不高，仅为文学侍从之臣。
盈川（692） · 盈川终老
武则天长寿元年（692年），杨炯外放为盈川县令。盈川地处浙西衢江之滨，为江南僻县。杨炯到任后勤于政事，然为政严酷，《旧唐书》称其"为政残酷，人吏动不如意，辄榜挞之"，宦情并不顺遂。
盈川（长逝）（693） · 盈川终老
武则天长寿二年（693年），杨炯卒于盈川令任上，年仅四十四岁。他的一生起于神童盛名，终于江南小县，虽未及大展抱负，其诗文却与王勃、卢照邻、骆宾王并耀千古，"初唐四杰"之名由此而定。
The Life Journey of Yang Jiong, Second of the Four Paragons
Yang Jiong (650-693), of the great Hongnong Yang clan of Huayin, was 'the number two' of the 'Wang-Yang-Lu-Luo' Four Paragons — a ranking he himself contested, but the one line everyone keeps is his: 'Better a hundred-man commander than a mere scholar.' A child-prodigy admitted to the Hongwen Academy at ten, a collator at twenty-six, exiled at thirty-five for a cousin's rebellion, court poet to Wu Zetian, and at last a county magistrate on the Qu river in the far southeast — harsh in government, dead in office at forty-four, and the border-music of the early Tang ringing through his verse forever.
Timeline of the Journey
- 650 · Huayin — Born to the Hongnong Yangs, one of the great names of Guanzhong: the prodigy reading everything, famous in the capital before his beard.
- 659 · Chang'an — The child-prodigy examination at ten: admitted to the Hongwen Academy on standby — sixteen years in the empire's greatest library, the scholarship poured in before the career poured out.
- 676 · Chang'an — The special examination passed, collator in the Palace Library: with Wang Bo, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang — the four names already bracketed as 'Wang-Yang-Lu-Luo.'
- 682 · Chang'an — Up to the crown prince's establishment as auditor: the office respectable, the tongue incorrigible — the court's empty dignitaries hissing 'qilin stuffing' (the padded fake unicorn), the mockery repeated to their faces. The colleagues' revenge waited.
- 685 · Zizhou — The cousin's share in the Yangzhou rising: the family guilt by association, and the demotion to legal administrator of Zizhou in Shu — four years of provincial law and self-command, the temper finally cooling.
- 690 · Luoyang — Recalled by the new Zhou dynasty of Wu Zetian: tutor in the Palace Arts School, the ode on the 'Star of the Old Man' offered to the throne — literary attendant to a female emperor, honored and unused.
- 692 · Yingchuan — County magistrate of Yingchuan on the Qu river: hard-working, and by the old histories hard-handed — the scholar who had wanted to be a soldier governing a small jurisdiction like a campaign.
- 693 · Yingchuan — Dead in office at forty-four: the second of the Four Paragons, the paragon of 'better a commander' — buried by the river he administered, read everywhere since.
'The beacon fires of the beacon towers, a hundred li, one view; the horsemen's dust darkens the watchtower — better a hundred-man commander than a mere scholar!' The early Tang's itch for the frontier, said plainest — Yang Jiong never got his war, so he wrote it, and the whole dynasty felt it.
