Is “Li Bai, drunk, ordered Gao Lishi to remove his boots in the court.” true?
According to the Old Book of Tang, Biographies of Empresses and Consorts, Part 1, Gao Lishi was deeply trusted by Emperor Xuanzong, and 'when riding, Gao Lishi held the reins and handed the whip.' The official biography of Gao Lishi does not record any incident of Li Bai ordering him to remove his boots. In the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Chapter 82, taking advantage of the occasion of drafting a letter to intimidate the barbarians while drunk, it is written that Li Bai was wild and unrestrained, 'removing boots and grinding ink, old grudges are now released,' and he ordered the eunuch Gao Lishi to remove his boots in the court. Gao Lishi then slandered Li Bai and excluded him. This is the fabrication of the novelist.
In the official history, Gao Lishi was loyal and cautious in serving Emperor Xuanzong, and in his later years he was convicted and exiled. In the novel, however, it is fictionalized that Li Bai ordered him to remove his boots as a grudge.
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