Illustrate the main contents and artistic achievements of Tang legends with examples.

(A) the early development of Tang legends. The development of Tang legends is not synchronized with the development of Tang poems. As far as legend is concerned, the early and prosperous periods mentioned in poetry belong to the early period, that is, the transformation period from strangeness to legend, which is not yet fully mature.

In the early Tang Dynasty, some novels were still completely confined to the scope of mystery novels, such as Tang Lin's Ghost Newspaper Story and Lang Yuling's Ghost Newspaper Collection. Some of them are still strange, but there are some new signs. For example, The Story of Liang Sigong (written by Yan Guogong Zhang and Liang Zaiyan) describes the activities of four strange people in front of them, talking about strange foreign objects and discussing difficulties with monks. In this paper, a structure similar to the question and answer of Han Fu is used to string together many trivial materials to form a larger system.

The Fairy Cave, written in the early years of Emperor Gaozong's Lu Dao, is a novel with distinctive features in the early Tang Dynasty. Author Zhang Kun, the word Wencheng, was the number one scholar, and Wu Zetian was then the censor, who died in Kaiyuan. At that time, he had the reputation of "wandering indiscreet" and "flashy and unreasonable writing" (Biography of the New Tang Dynasty). In this paper, the first person tells the story of living in a "fairy cave" on the way to Heyuan and meeting the goddess Du Shiniang. The full text is written in parallel prose, interspersed with a large number of five-character poems in which the subject and object answer each other, showing the banter between men and women, which is quite erotic. For this work, some people think that it is a legend, and some people think that it is a variant, but in fact its style is completely different from both. It should be noted that something similar to Youxian Cave has already appeared in Zafu. For example, Cai Yong's "Qing Yi Fu" once described such a story. The author met a "Qing Yi" and had a party one night. The author missed her the next morning. In the Six Dynasties, there was a kind of vulgar fu like Pang Langfu, which included both stories and a mixture of parallel prose and five-character poems. Then it evolved into a story fu like the fairy fu in Dunhuang, which is very similar to the fairy cave. The content described in You Xian Dong, the beautiful and colorful words and the structure of its miscellaneous five-character poems all show its inheritance relationship with miscellaneous fu and vulgar fu, which can be said to be another new attempt in the field of novels after (or almost at the same time) Liang Sigong Ji. This novel was very popular at that time and spread to Japan, which should contribute to the formation of Tang legend.

Today, the earliest novels in the Tang Dynasty that can be attributed to "legend" are "Ancient Mirror" and "Biography of General Bujiang White Ape".

The old title of Gu Jingji was written by Wang Du (Wang Tong's younger brother), and the words were written in the tone of Wang Du's self-report. However, Chongwen Mu Zong was written by Wang Tong's grandson, and many people believe what he said before. In fact, there is a common way to write fictional stories of disguised characters in Ci Fu, which often leads to misunderstanding of the author by future generations. For example, Yi Fu's Dance Fu contains a question and answer between Song Yu and King Xiang of Chu, so Gu Wen Yuan was mistakenly called Song Yu's work. Judging from the fact that The Legend of Tang Dynasty was not written under the author's name, it is very likely that Wang Du wrote it by mistake under the name of Wang Du.

This paper records the supernatural deeds such as the ancient mirror's evil spirits, which is similar to Liang Sigong's Tale and has the characteristics of many short stories in series. However, it is always centered on ancient mirrors and has a strong story, which is not as complicated as Liang Sigong Ji. Structurally, taking Wang Du's narrative as the main line, interspersed with his domestic slave's narrative, his brother Wang Ji's narrative is far more complex and complete than Liang Sigong's; Its description is more concrete and vivid, with gorgeous language and obvious progress. Wang Bijiang called it "the legacy of the Six Dynasties, a new style of ritual in the Tang Dynasty" ("Novels of the Tang Dynasty"), which is a final conclusion.

The author of "Biography of General Bujiang White Ape" is no longer available for examination. This article is about Liang going to the south with his wife Ouyang Yang, who was stolen by the ape spirit on the way. After some adventures, Ouyang Yi finally killed the ape essence and rescued his wife with the help of other stolen women. Then his wife gave birth to a son (Ou Yangxun). He looks like an ape and is very clever. After Ouyang Yi was killed, General Manager Jiang adopted this "long-standing and fruitful literature, which was quite famous at that time" son. In this paper, Ape Jing predicted that his son would "meet the Holy Emperor and be the greatest of his ancestors", so his writing time was when Ouyang was still in his prime, that is, before Xunzi was punished for the first time through martial arts. In addition, this novel has always been regarded as a "slanderer in the Tang Dynasty" (Hu Yinglin's Book Collection of Shaoshi Mountain), but it is probably a humorous work, not a deliberate slander.

In terms of artistic skills, this article is more mature than the ancient mirror. At first, the author exaggerates the atmosphere with the warning that "there is a god in the world, stealing girls", and then creates suspense with the sudden disappearance of his wife in a heavily guarded secret room. When Ouyang Yang first explored the cave, he didn't know what was the "sacred object" of stealing his wife. It was not until he entered the mountain for the second time that the white ape was trapped that he was recognized as a "great white ape", and then he further described his image through the narrative of the stolen woman. The full-text description is vivid, tortuous and rigorous. More importantly, this novel is written in the form of biographies of historians, which is of pioneering significance to the formation of the basic system of Tang legends.

At the end of the Dali period, Chen's book Away from the Soul is also worthy of attention. In the novel, Qian Niang falls in love with her cousin Zhou Wang, but her father betrothed her to someone else. Qian Niang's soul fled with Zhou Wang, and she was ill in the boudoir. Qian Niang went home to visit relatives, and the two overlapped as one. This novel was born out of Shi's Daughter in You in the Southern Dynasties, and its length is about twice as long as You. Although it is still a short story, it highlights the rendering and description of the theme of love and uses beautiful words. As a transitional work, it indicates the rise of a large number of excellent love novels in the future.

In addition, the collections of novels produced in this period, such as Moon Hee by Niu Su, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio by Zhang Jian and Guang Yi Collection, are all transitional. Many of these books record the strange stories of ghosts and gods, but some of them are detailed, full of space and exquisite in literary talent, which is no longer the old appearance of the Six Dynasties. Moreover, in Moon Hee, such as Pei Xianxian, Wu Baoan, Su Wu Ming, etc. Describing in detail some people who did extraordinary things at that time with historical biographies, twists and turns, nothing unusual, only a strong narrative, opened up a new realm of writing world stories with legendary style.

(2) The development of Tang legends reached its peak. Since Dezong Middle Ages, with the maturity of legendary style, legendary creation has entered its heyday. During this period, many famous literati devoted themselves to novel creation, thus significantly improving the artistry of novels;

Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi, Bai Xingjian, Chen Hong, Li Shen and others cooperated with legends with songs (such as Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow and Chen Hong's Biography of Eternal Sorrow, Bai Xingjian's Biography of Li Wa and Yuan Zhen's Li Wa Xing), which also stimulated the prosperity of legends; There are also writers like Li Gongzuo and Shen Yazhi who insist on writing legends for a long time and are famous for their novels in the history of literature. As far as subject matter is concerned, satirical novels and love novels (including ghosts and secular) have achieved the greatest success in this period; Especially the latter, it can be said that it represents the highest achievement of Tang legend.

Shen Jiji (about 750-797) and Deqing (present-day Zhejiang) were the earliest writers who rose in the heyday of Tang legend. They are the historian Zuo Shiyi and Yuan Wailang, an official of the Ministry of Rites. It is called "Learning from the scriptures should be clear" (The Original Biography of the New Tang Dynasty) and "Excellent Historical Writing" (The Original Biography of the Old Tang Dynasty). History books include Records of Jianzhong, and legends include Records in Pillow and Renzhuan. Pillow Story is a satirical novel and a famous story in Dream of the Yellow Emperor: Lu Sheng, who is keen on fame, borrowed the celadon pillow of Taoist Lu Weng to sleep in Handan Hotel, and realized all his dreams in his dream, such as marrying a noble daughter, being a scholar, learning and having a full house of children and grandchildren. Once I wake up from my dream, the rice beside me has not been steamed yet. Then he suddenly realized, bowed to Lu Weng again and left.

Writers who are famous for satirical novels include Li Gongzuo, Zhuan Xu, Longxi (now Gansu) and Yuan who worked in Jiangxi. He wrote four legends: Biography of Conan's Taishou, Biography of Lujiang's Phoenix Tail, Biography of Xiao Xie's E, and Gu Yue Di. Among them, the life significance of the biography of Conan Taishou is slightly the same as that of the pillow book. It is said that a ranger was invited to the "Huai 'an Kingdom" after being drunk, and was recruited as Ma Xu, who served as the prefect of Conan County for 20 years and was in Dazhi territory. Unexpectedly, fortunes depend on each other. First, the war with neighboring countries was defeated, and then the princess died of illness. Therefore, she was suspected by the king and sent back to her hometown. At this time, he suddenly woke up from a dream, only to know that the glory of the past was just a dream after drunkenness. The so-called "Huai' an country" was actually a big ant nest in the big locust tree hole of the imperial court.

Although the above two novels have some strange colors, the center is completely realistic life thinking, not to spread strange stories. They clearly reflect the frustration and confusion of the literati in the middle Tang Dynasty and their desire to escape from reality because of the changes of the times and the influence of Buddhism and Taoism, so the fame and fortune that the early Tang people enthusiastically pursued is described as a big dream here. "Under the Pillow" wrote that Lu Sheng woke up and said:

"It is well known that a husband is humiliated, that he is lucky to be poor, that he feels bereavement, and that he feels life and death."

The biography of Conan's satrap also records that after Chun Yu woke up, he "felt the emptiness of Conan, realized the suddenness of the world, lived in the heart of the door, and was inseparable from wine and color." These are consistent with the poems of the middle Tang Dynasty. Because the author holds a negative attitude towards the cause of fame and fortune, it is of great irony to write about the literati's love for money, the intrigue of officialdom and the indifference of the world.

In art, both novels have the advantages of rigorous structure and vivid description. However, the story of Sleeping Man is tended to be concise by historians, while the biography of Conan is more novel, richer in plot and more detailed than the former. The author writes all the scenes in the dream as real, unique and interesting as possible, which effectively embodies the theme that real life is no different from dreams. In the novel, Chunyuba's friend Zhou Yang and Tian are arranged to appear in a dream, and Chunyuba wakes up and digs an ant nest. The shape of the clay figurine is consistent with the mountains and rivers in the previous dream, which further exaggerates the dreamlike atmosphere and is very clever.

In the aspect of love theme, Shen Jiji's Ren Zhuan also marks the remarkable characteristics of the Tang legend entering its heyday. In this article, Zheng Liu, who was penniless and abandoned by his wife Wei Yuan, met a stone man who claimed to be "Ling Lun" but was actually a fox spirit and married him as an outsider. Wei Ying heard that the stone man was as beautiful as a fairy, relying on wealth to molest her and even using violence, but the stone man refused to give in. Wei Ying was moved, and they became informal friends from then on.

After Zheng Liu took the stone man to another county as a military attache, the stone man was killed by hounds on the road. Zheng Liu was in tears. "Think about it before, only clothes have no self-control, which is very different from others." The full text is rigorous in structure and clear in narration, especially the portrayal of the stone man image. Ren Zhuan is different from the early legendary stories in three aspects: first, it makes full use of the form of biography, so that the protagonist is always in the center; Secondly, in previous novels, the author emphasized the weird side, but in this article, the image of the stone man pays more attention to the human side; Thirdly, in previous novels, goblins, as the opposite of immortal buddhas, mostly appeared in the form of harming human beings, while stone men dominated literary creation with a firm, strong, intelligent and lovely fox spirit image. In a word, the theme of genie in this novel is further developed in the direction of being rich in human feelings and closer to real life. Since then, Li's Biography of Li Zhangwu has similar characteristics. Li Zhangwu, a scholar who wrote this work, fell in love with the Queen's family. After 1989, Li Zhangwu visited again. Wang has died because he missed too much. On his deathbed, he told Zhang Wu that it was a ghost meeting in the evening, and he could not bear to sing poetry and sing goodbye in the morning. The scene is very touching.

Liu Yichuan is a legendary work with peculiar plot, strong myth and vivid characters. Authors Li and life is unknown, their creation time is also difficult to determine, probably during the Yuan and Yuan Dynasties. The story is based on Dave's "Three Mountains in a Wide Vision", which adds love content, but not only the plot changes more twists and turns, but also the characters' personalities are completely changed. Liu Yi, the messenger in the novel, is the last son to go home. He handed the book to the dragon girl who was herding sheep in Jingchuan, and was completely indignant. When Mr. Qiantang rescued the dragon girl from Dongting Lake and threatened to marry her, he was indomitable and refused sternly, showing a strong character. The dragon girl in Dongting married Jinghe Xiaolong for the first time on the orders of her parents, but she was rejected and abused. Through personal experience, she turned to love, rebelled against her parents' orders and married a child in Jin Zhuo, and finally got happiness. Qiantangjun, the uncle of the Dragon Lady, is a rebellious hero who has devoted himself to it. As soon as he appeared, the author arranged for him to "strike a pavilion with thousands of thunder" to arouse him; The earth-shattering scene of sleet, rain and hail. How dare he ignore God's will, cut off the golden lock and jade pillar and fly to Jingchuan. He can ignore traditional ethics, swallow Jinghe dragon and choose another wife for his niece; He is so brave and fearless, but he can be persuaded by Liu Yi's false resistance and make amends in front of a weak scholar. In this romantic fairy tale love story and three main characters, people's warm yearning for a free and beautiful life has been entrusted, so it has long been widely loved.

Yingying Biography, written by the famous poet Yuan Zhen at the end of Zhenyuan, is the first work in the world that simply describes the feelings of men and women, which is of great significance in the development history of Tang legends. The story outlines the living in Pujiu Temple, which is suitable for his cousin Zheng He and his daughter. At that time, Xun, the governor of Jiangzhou, died and the army rioted and looted. Zhang Sheng and his generals were friendly and protected their mother and daughter. At a thank-you banquet of Zheng, I met and fell in love with Yingying. With the help of the maid matchmaker, Zhang Sheng tried to develop a relationship with poetry, but at first he was severely rejected. But in the end, Yingying couldn't help but entrust herself to each other, and they had a tryst for several months. After Zhang Sheng went to Beijing, he should be promoted and abandoned. More than a year later, Zhang Sheng and Ying Ying have been married separately. Zhang Sheng accidentally visited his home and asked to meet him as a cousin. Yingying refused to write poetry, so the two "never met again". Juyuan Yang's Cui Niang Poetry and Yuan Zhen's Hui Zhen Poetry are also attached. Zhang Sheng's behavior described in the novel coincides with the author Yuan Zhen, so it can be regarded as a portrayal of Yuan Zhen himself to some extent.

In fact, it is difficult to simply call Yingying a "love novel". Zhang Sheng only regards Yingying as an attractive "stunner" or even an Uber. At first, he was moved by her beauty and approached her actively, but finally he abandoned her for his own benefit, which is called "a happy ending" in the novel. On the other hand, while making false remarks, the author, after all, depicts the mutual admiration and self-integration of a young man and a young woman in a short period of time (which shows that Yuan Zhen is still very nostalgic for his own experience), and the image of Cui Yingying in the novel is also very successful. She appeared as an aristocratic family (in fact, her prototype family status was low), dignified, gentle and beautiful. She used traditional ethics as a weapon to guard against others and restrain herself, but she longed for free love in her heart and finally became a victim of feudal forces and selfish men. Because the novel contains the author's real experience and shows the character and psychology of the characters, it is more real than ordinary works; The author's literary accomplishment is very high, and he is good at describing the gestures and behaviors of characters with beautiful language, and presenting the subtle inner activities of characters, which makes people really feel beautiful to read. Because the novel has a foundation that reflects young men and women's yearning for free love, it was later adapted into zaju of The West Chamber and The West Chamber, and the novel itself became more famous.

Apart from the above-mentioned contradiction in writing attitude and the inconsistency in the theme of the novel, structurally speaking, the second half is not only a long letter describing Yingying, but also interspersed with Juyuan Yang's own poems and Zhang Sheng's comments on "forbearance", which is also loose and cumbersome. This is not mainly a question of writing skills, but reflects the phenomenon of impure writing style caused by various factors other than novels (such as the situation mentioned in "Clouds Full of Chao"). ).

Legendary masterpieces about human love in this period include Biography of Li Wa and Biography of Huo Xiaoyu.

The Biography of Li Wa was written by Bai Xingjian (776-826), the younger brother of the poet Bai Juyi. At the end of Zhenyuan, he was a scholar, left to pick up Yuan and left a legacy, and moved to the host and guest doctor.

In the novel, when a teenager from Tianbao Xingyang went to Beijing to raise a scholar, he fell in love with the prostitute Li. After more than a year, his wealth ran out and his fake mother's design was abandoned, so he became angry and became an elegy singer. When fighting with others, he was found by his father, accused of humiliating his family, whipped him unconscious and abandoned him. He was rescued by his companions, but he festered and became a beggar.

One day, Li heard the howling in the snow, felt sorry for himself, saved himself from living with the students, and encouraged him to study. Born as a scholar, he was awarded the prefect of Chengdu to join the army. His father was appointed as Chengdu Yin, but his father and son recognized each other. Father felt it and prepared six gifts to marry Li. After more than ten years, he became a big official and Li became the wife of the country. This story is pure fiction. In the society at that time, the love between scholars and prostitutes could not have a satisfactory result, let alone be as whimsical as Li. This kind of "happy ending" avoids the sharp realistic contradiction and becomes a mode often used in later dramas and novels. But it does reflect people's kind and beautiful wishes, that is, they hope that long-suffering couples will finally get an ideal combination, and readers will also get an illusory satisfaction from life.

As far as novel art is concerned, Biography of Li Wa has quite high achievements. First, its story is more complicated than any previous novel, full of twists and turns and dramatic changes, with a very complete structure, a very clear narrative and very attractive. Secondly, the character of Li Wa, the protagonist of the novel, is also richer than the previous legendary works. As a prostitute, she spent all her money in a scam and abandoned Xingyang calmly, which was determined by the nature of her business. However, when she witnessed Xingyang's life in an extremely miserable situation, her kind nature, which had been concealed by her career as a prostitute, was immediately revealed, and she made arrangements for herself and Xingyang's future life tactfully and decisively. In this process, her personality has both inheritance and change. Third, although the novel itself is fictional, there are many real and touching details in the process of telling the story, showing a sense of life. Among them, the description of Dongsi and Xisi's songs is like the scene of urban life in Tang Dynasty.

Jiang Fang, the author of Biography of Huo Xiaoyu, was born in Yixing (now Yixing, Jiangsu). He received a bachelor's degree in Hanlin in the early years of Changqing, and was later demoted to Tingzhou and Lianzhou, where he died during the Daiwa period. The author of the novel is Huo Xiaoyu, a woman who was born in a noble family and was reduced to advocating family status. She fell in love with her scholar Li Yi and knew that she could not stay with her all the time. She only hoped that Li Yi could live happily with herself for eight years, and then she chose another temple, and she was willing to become a monk. But Yi Lee later broke his oath and avoided it. Xiaoyu tried everything, but she couldn't get it, so she was exhausted and bedridden. Finally, the hero in the yellow shirt forced Li Yi to see him, and Xiaoyu angrily denounced his ruthlessness and died angrily. Ghosts haunted Yi Li after his death, which made him restless all his life.

Among tang legends, love novels are the most emotional, and Biography of Huo Xiaoyu is particularly exciting and moving. It's also about the love between prostitutes and literati. The story of Biography of Li Wa is tortuous and interesting, while the story of Biography of Huo Xiaoyu is relatively simple, but it is much more than Biography of Li Wa in reflecting the profundity of life and expressing feelings. Huo Xiaoyu, who has fallen into the dust, fell in love with Li Yi passionately and vowed to be together for eight years, which is a struggle to seize her life in an unfortunate fate. However, this hope was also destroyed by the people she loved, which plunged her into a dark abyss, making people feel how unreasonable and heartless this society is. But it also shows the pursuit of an ideal life. Biography of Li Wa gives people false satisfaction through imaginary "happy reunion", while Biography of Huo Xiaoyu stimulates people's desire with tragic ending, which is more infectious. There is also Xiaoyu's extremely strong love-hate personality, which also gives people a shock. The following is a passage about the last meeting between Huo Xiaoyu and Li Yi in the novel:

Jade has been sinking for a long time, so turn aside and ask for someone. Suddenly, when I heard that I was born, I got up and changed clothes as if I were a god. When I met the students, I stared at them angrily, and there was nothing to say. I'm so charming. If I can't do it, I will cover my face and go back to Li Sheng. It hurts to feel something, and it hurts to sit. ..... Because of the furniture, sit down. Yu nai leaned over and squinted for a long time, then raised his glass and said, "I am a woman, so unlucky;"

You are the husband, if you are ungrateful. Shao Yan gnashed her teeth childishly and ate and drank; The loving mother is in the hall and cannot support; Resume the leading edge chord tube and never rest. It was all caused by the monarch's pain in the grave.

Lily Jun Jun, today is forever! After I die, I will be a spectre, making your wives and concubines restless all day! "Is the left hand holding the arm, throw a cup on the ground, long cry a few times.

Romance novels in Tang Dynasty mainly focus on the relationship between literati and prostitutes. On the one hand, this is related to the characteristics of the Tang society: in the prosperous city at that time, brothels prevailed, and literati often lingered here, thus producing many romantic stories; On the other hand, as in the case of folk songs in the Southern Dynasties, because marriage is usually not made up of people from two of a kind, relatively free love in literature is generally extramarital. It's just that novels are much better than songs.

In the heyday of Tang legend, there were many other works, including satirical novels and love novels, which were mentioned above. For example, Chen Hong's Song of Eternal Sorrow is a historical novel involving politics and love.

Chen Hong has a cheerful personality. In Zhenyuan, he became Emperor Tai, Yamato was a doctor of history, and Bai Juyi was a friend for three years. His Biography of Eternal Sorrow was written in coordination with Bai Juyi's Eternal Sorrow, and the content was similar. But the political satire in the first half of the novel is more obvious, and the contradiction with the theme of love is more prominent. In addition, Li Gongzuo's Biography of Xie Xiaoe tells the story that Xie Xiaoe's father and husband were killed when they went out for business, and Xiao E avenged their enemies, which created a witty and brave female image and was unique in the novels at that time. Li Gongzuo's "Gu Du Yue Jing" records that Wu Zhi, the water god of Huaihe River, who was locked at the foot of Guishan during Dayu's flood control, appeared in the Tang Dynasty. This thing looks like an ape and is good at prancing. Lu Xun and others think that the formation of the image of the Monkey King in The Journey to the West is related to this, so this novel has certain value in the study of China's novel history.

The most famous collection of novels in this period is the Mystery Record written by Niu Sengru.

Niu Sengru was the prime minister of Mu Zong and Wenzong, and he was a famous political figure in the Tang Dynasty.

But the writing of this collection of novels belongs to the middle Tang Dynasty before he entered the official career. As the title shows, most of them are supernatural stories. However, the author's original intention is not to seek faith and punish evil, but to show his talents and give play to his imagination, so his stories are strange, colorful and elegant, which is obviously different from the previous generation. Some of these stories, such as Zhang Zuo, influenced by Indian Buddhist stories, are particularly bizarre and surprising.

(3) The later development of Tang legends. It is generally believed that legendary creation has declined in the late Tang Dynasty, which is somewhat simplistic. As can be seen from the preserved works, the number of single legends decreased greatly in the late Tang Dynasty, especially the love theme. However, the creation of legendary novels was very prosperous, including many works full of literary interest, especially during the twenty years from Xuanzong to Xian Tong (847-873) in Zong Yi. In terms of subject matter, chivalrous novels and satirical novels have replaced love novels and enriched the connotation of Tang legends. Therefore, in the late Tang Dynasty, legendary creation remained prosperous, but its achievements were not as outstanding as the previous stage. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the contents of the collection of novels had become miscellaneous, some of them restored the grotesque of the Six Dynasties, and some of them were transformed into records of celebrities' legacy, losing the structure and interest of legends, so the style of legends in the Tang Dynasty declared disintegration and declined.

In the collection of legendary novels in the late Tang Dynasty, the most important ones are Xue's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Xu Zhi, Li Mei's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Xuan Shizhi, Legend, Ganze Ballad, and Huangfumei's Sanshui Dai Xiao.

Chivalrous novels are the most striking kind of legends in the late Tang Dynasty. At that time, on the one hand, there were more rangers in the buffer region, on the other hand, in the turbulent life, people also fantasized that people with special abilities would uphold justice for them, so chivalrous novels rose in line with this situation and social psychology. This kind of novels are often intertwined with love stories, which adds to its romantic atmosphere. Famous works, such as Pei Yi's Kunlun Slave, wrote that an old slave was good at martial arts and stole his beloved concubine for his young master, so that they got what they wanted. Pei Yi's "Nie Yinniang" and Jiao Yuan's "The Story of the Red Line" both tell the story of a woman with different skills who helps her master solve the problem because she meets her master. The chivalrous men praised in these novels are all "grateful" from the personal experience, which embodies a kind of moral concept of the people.

The most famous chivalrous novel is Biography of Campus Guests, which has been handed down in the form of a single article. It is generally believed that its author is Du Guangting. Du Fu's novel Xu Qiuke is actually an abridged version of Xu Qiuke's Biography. There are some legendary passages written by Pei Yi in Zhu Ji in Song Dynasty, among which "Red Prostitute" is obviously from Biography of Campus Guests, so it is possible that this novel was originally a legendary one, and later it was published separately, but the author's name was lost. In the novel, there was chaos in the world at the end of Sui Dynasty, and some of her favorite prostitutes, Hong Fu Nv, had an eye for heroes and eloped with Li Jing. In the inn, they met a "campus guest" who wanted to show the king. Later, when campus visitors saw "Li Gongzi", that is, Li Shimin, they knew that there was a master in the world, but they were not willing to surrender, so they went to the island to be king. This is a very artistic work, not only cleverly conceived, but also written three heroes, each with his own personality and style, which set each other off and show more vitality. Therefore, the allusions of Dust Three Heroes spread widely in later generations, and it is even more difficult for people who have read this novel to forget these three distinctive characters. And the novel is particularly interesting to read, because it is heroic and has the charm of a child.

In the past, we often ignored martial arts novels. In fact, as the opposite of mediocre life and humble personality, this novel represents people's yearning for the realm of free and heroic life and has its unique value.

There are also many satires in the legends of the late Tang Dynasty. The satirical novels in the mid-Tang Dynasty, such as Pillow Story and biography of Conan Taishou, focus on expressing the author's understanding of life and his desire to get rid of life, while in the late Tang Dynasty, such novels consciously mocked the social and political phenomenon of the author's dissatisfaction, which is different. The most obvious example is Li Mei's Xu Xuanzhi, which was born out of the biography of Conan's satrap. It highlighted the fatuous monarch and ministers of the ant country, outlined the epitome of the political reality at that time, and predicted the prospect of the collapse of the Tang Dynasty due to the ultimate demise of the ant country.

Another example is Zhang Du's "Yang Sou", which describes that Yang Sou, the rich man of Huiji, suffered from "losing his heart" because of his "numerous possessions and needing to eat the heart of the living". His son worshiped Buddha and met a monk on the mountain. He made a promise but asked for a meal. After dinner, the monk jumped into the tall tree, laughed at Andy and turned the ape into a monkey. In this article, it is ironic that those rich people who are insatiable and believe in Buddhism want to ask the Buddha to kill and save themselves.

The satirical works in the legends of the late Tang Dynasty have a wide range of attacks and are bold. Although there are not many works of art, it is not only the predecessor of satirical sketches in the late Tang Dynasty, but also the origin of satirical novels in later generations, which deserves attention.

Although the theme of love seems to have declined in the legends of the late Tang Dynasty, after all, several good works have been produced. For example, in "Bufeiyan" written by Huangfumei, a rich concubine, Bufeiyan, was killed in pursuit of love, vividly depicting her strong character of "seeing each other, why do you hate death?" In addition, writing a story about the joys and sorrows of a pair of young men and women in social unrest is also very touching, such as snow sculpture's The Story of the Warrior.