痛定思痛 — “After the pain has settled, reflect on the pain”

In the first year of Dezong's reign during the Song Dynasty (1275 AD), the Yuan army was closing in on Lin'an (modern-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. To relieve the court's urgent crisis, Wen Tianxiang resolutely resigned from his position as Right Prime Minister and, as a scholar of the Zizheng Palace, went to the Yuan camp for negotiations, seizing the opportunity to observe military intelligence.

Upon arriving at the Yuan camp, Wen Tianxiang spoke passionately, vehemently denouncing the Yuan army's crimes of invading the south. Bayan, the Yuan army commander, was impressed by his talent and attempted to persuade him to surrender to the Yuan Dynasty, but Wen Tianxiang sternly refused.

Soon after, the Yuan army forced Wen Tianxiang to travel with Jia Yuqing to Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. Wen Tianxiang initially wished to die to show his loyalty, but considering the national humiliation and family vengeance, he endured the hardship and accompanied Jia Yuqing. When the ship reached Jingkou (modern-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), Wen Tianxiang seized an unguarded moment, boarded a small boat, and escaped.

He then traveled to Zhenzhou (modern-day Yizheng, Jiangsu). He informed Miao Zaicheng, the general defending Zhenzhou, about the enemy's true military situation and wrote to the two border marshals of Huaidong and Huaixi, urging them to unite and expel the Yuan army. Unexpectedly, Li Tingzhi, the Huaidong border marshal stationed in Yangzhou, mistakenly believed that Wen Tianxiang had already surrendered to the Yuan army and was now coming to trick them into giving up Yangzhou city, so he ordered his arrest. Wen Tianxiang was unable to explain himself and had no choice but to leave the city.

From then on, he changed his name, narrowly escaped death, and journeyed south by sea, finally reaching Fuzhou. During his escape, Wen Tianxiang wrote many patriotic poems, which were later compiled into "Zhinan Lu" (Record of the Compass). In the "Postscript to Zhinan Lu," he lamented: "Life and death are as ordinary as the transition between day and night. To die is just to die, but the difficult and perilous circumstances that repeatedly and intricately appear are beyond human endurance. After the painful events have passed, when one recalls the suffering endured at that time, how profound is that pain!"