Du Xunhe was a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, and he was only admitted to the Jinshi until he was middle-aged. He met Zhu Wen on his way and wrote poems in praise of Zhu Wen. We know that Zhu Wen finally usurped the Tang Dynasty and became emperor.
Zhu Wen did not have a good reputation in history, so why did Du Xunhe praise him? There are two reasons for this.
1. Zhu Wen helped him
Zhu Wen helped Du Xunhe, so Du Xunhe was very grateful to him, so he wrote poems to express his gratitude to Zhu Wen.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the court situation was very chaotic, so Du Xunhe's career process was not smooth.
After Du Xunhe got acquainted with Zhu Wen, Zhu Wen admired Du Xunhe very much. Zhu Wen sent him a famous gift department and let him be admitted to the Jinshi, and later Zhu Wen recommended Du Xunhe to serve as a bachelor of Hanlin.
Zhu Wen helped Du Xunhe a lot on Du Xunhe's career, and in the chaotic period, Du Xunhe was able to rise to prominence, and Zhu Wen made a lot of efforts.
2, he didn't know that Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty
Du Xunhe didn't know that Zhu Wen had usurped the Tang Dynasty in the end, so it was impossible for him to hate Zhu Wen.
Du Xunhe died a year before Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, and Du Xunhe considered Zhu Wen to be his benefactor all his life.
In the chaotic situation at that time, it was rare to have someone to help, Du Xunhe felt that he was very lucky and in a good mood, so he felt that he wrote a poem to thank Zhu Wen.
Of course, Zhu Wen helped him, he must have wanted to use it for himself, but Du Xunhe was in poor health and died suddenly.
Therefore, Du Xunhe had a good impression of Zhu Wen all his life, so it is not surprising that Du Xunhe wrote poems to praise Zhu Wen.
Du Xunhe praised Zhu Wen and told us that no matter who it is, there will be people who criticize and some people will praise. If you look at the same thing from different standpoints and from different angles, you will come to different conclusions.
Bibliography:
History of the Old Five Dynasties, Later Liang, Biography VII/XIV
The Legend of Tang Caizi, Volume 9
New Tang Dynasty Book 114