As a poor young man he worked on the grain boats. One night at
牛渚 on the Yangtze he was reciting his own poems on history when the general
谢尚 heard him from a nearby boat and took him into his service;
李白 later recalled the scene in a poem. Serving under
桓温, he once wrote a seven-page proclamation while leaning against a horse, the origin of
倚马可待, said of fast, fluent writing.
