Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen Arrest and Interrogation

When Mrs. Su heard the story, tears filled her eyes, but she couldn't help laughing.This story appeared in Dongpo's notebooks, so I don't know if he made it up on the spur of the moment. The family decided that the eldest son Su Mai would accompany him to Beijing.Wang Shi has been serving as the teaching chair for Dongpo's children, and their brothers will stay and take the whole family to the capital in the future.The officials were so frightened that they hid, but the common people came out to see the prefect. According to the records of the prefecture, the people "tears like rain".The officials and soldiers were so domineering that Su Tungpo later wrote to his successor emperor that they arrested the prefect as if they were catching thieves.Only the Wang brothers and Chen Shixi set up a banquet to see him off.

Legend has it that Su Dongpo tried to commit suicide along the way.In his own statement to the emperor, he said that he wanted to jump into the river when he arrived in Yangzhou, but according to Kong Pingzhong's records, it was when the boat was leaning against Taihu Lake to repair the oars not long after it set sail.That night, the moon and stars were sparse, and there was wind on the lake.Su Dongpo didn't know the number of charges, and he was afraid of hurting his friends.He wanted to close his eyes and jump into the lake to finish everything, but on second thought, this would definitely bring disaster to Ziyou.In his letter to Wen Yanbo, he mentioned how his family destroyed his letters and manuscripts.When the family arrived in Su County, Anhui, Yushitai sent officials to search for poems, letters and other documents.Many soldiers surrounded the boat, ransacked boxes, and threw things everywhere, and the women and children were terrified.After they left, the woman yelled angrily: "It's all because of writing the book! What benefit does he get? It scared us half to death." So the manuscripts were burned, and later Dongpo found that only a third of them had not been burned.

Su Dongpo was arrested on July 28 and imprisoned in Yushitai Prison on August 18.The interrogation was long, six to seven weeks in total.The jailer knew his identity and treated him very politely.Get hot water to wash his feet every day, and Sichuan people still have this habit today. Dongpo encountered an interesting episode in prison, which turned out to be beneficial to him.The son visited him in prison every day and brought him meals every day.Su Dongpo and him secretly agreed that usually only vegetables and meat would be delivered, and fish would be delivered in case of bad news.For a few days, Su Mai was forced to go out of Beijing to borrow money, so he asked a friend to deliver meals for him, but forgot to tell him about this secret agreement.He sent some smoked fish, and Su Dongpo was terrified.He thought that the situation turned bad and he could not escape death.Then he discussed with the jailer, and he wrote two farewell poems to his younger brother, with a sad tone, saying that his family of ten would be raised by his younger brother, while his own soul lay in the wilderness to listen to the wind and rain.He is willing to be brothers with Ziyou forever.In the poem, he thanked the emperor for his kindness in the past, and blamed himself for everything. Ziyou read the poem and cried bitterly, crying bitterly at his desk, and the jailer took the poem away.Unless Dongpo was released, the jailer would not return the poem to Ziyou, saying that he would not accept it.I believe that Ziyou knew all the plans, so I deliberately returned the poem to the jailer.At this time, the two poems in the hands of the jailer came in handy.It is his duty to submit the prisoner's work to the authorities for inspection.It is said that Dongpo was convinced that the two poems would reach the emperor.Sure enough.The emperor was greatly moved, and this was one of the reasons why Dongpo was released even though the censor exerted high pressure.

Thanks to Lu You's history of a manuscript written by Su Dongpo and listing all the documents of the trial, we have the "Wutai Poetry Case" today. Wutai is the synonym for Yushi Prison.The book includes four pleadings, records of the trial, Dongpo's confession, evidence, and the final verdict.Lu You was diligent in keeping a diary, and he was particularly interested in the manuscripts and inscriptions left by Dongpo. He only read Dongpo's works six to seventy years after his death, and mentioned his experience in this book.In the first year of Emperor Qinzong's Jingkang period (1126), the Northern Song Dynasty fell, and the government moved south to Hangzhou, bringing with it rare manuscripts as much as possible.At Yangzhou, an official named Zhang Quanzhen obtained the manuscript and extracted it from government archives.Later Zhang Quanzhen died, and another prime minister surnamed Zhang was entrusted by the bereaved family to write the epitaph for him.The prime minister asked for this manuscript as a reward, and finally decided that the bereaved family would keep half, and the prime minister would get half.Lu You said that he saw the manuscript written by Su Dongpo himself, and the corrections were all signed by Dongpo, and the stamp of Yushitai was stamped inside.I don't know if the version preserved today was printed based on the manuscript that Lu You saw, but the book does list the details of the official newspaper, including Su Dongpo's interpretation of his poems. I think the verdict of this case depends entirely on how we interpret Su Dongpo's criticism of the government.Zhang Fangping and Fan Zhen tried their best to save Dongpo. Zhang's distinction between honest criticism and malicious slander is the best summary of the case.Today we regard these poems as purely honest criticism, but the censors say that he maliciously slandered the government and the emperor.Zhang Fangping pointed out that the "Book of Songs" was deleted by Confucius, and the content is full of satire on the government. A good government should allow frank criticism.On the other hand, the censors were righteous and indignant at the humiliation of their dear sage. Shu Yu said in the form: "I saw that Su Shi in Huzhou had recently thanked him for his form, and he made some remarks about current affairs. The popular customs are spreading, and they are scrambling to recite them. All loyal people are angry. Since the new American law, your majesty, people who disagree It is not rare... However, there is no one who harbors evil intentions, complains about him, slanders and insults, and has no integrity as a minister. Everything he says is based on slander....Your Majesty, abide by morality, stand up It can be said that Yao and Shun's intentions are to build scholars in order to bless the future generations of the world. At this time, Shi used the false name of Gou De and his useless Quxue. However, Shi dared to be disobedient and arrogant without any fear to the point of being like this. And those who are established by human nature have righteousness, and those who cannot escape between heaven and earth are better than monarchs and ministers. Shi’s tolerance is based on this, and he can know that there are monarchs and ministers It’s righteous. If a minister can be full of unrighteousness and seek profit, then his evil will be pervasive... When Shi’s ten thousand deaths are not enough to thank the saint, how can he not be ashamed and unforgiving. Fu Wang Your Majesty Fu Shi has a department to discuss such a big deal Gong, to command the world to be a courtier. Unbelievable loyalty, indignation, and sincerity." Another censor's accusation was simply unreasonable.On his way to Huzhou to take office, Su Dongpo wrote a stele for Zhang's garden.The article said: "A gentleman in ancient times did not need to be an official, nor did he not have to be an official. If he had to be an official, he would forget his body, and if he would not be an official, he would forget his ruler." This is Mencius' conclusion on Confucius' attitude towards political participation.But the censor was loyal to the monarch and wanted to falsely accuse Su Shi of spreading dangerous dogma.He said: "People in the world dare not forget their lord whether they are in office or not, but Su Shi alone has the meaning of forgetting his lord if he is not in office. This is the way to abolish a minister." Li Ding listed four reasons why Su Dongpo should be killed.The narrative of his statement said: "Su Shi had no academics at the beginning, and he gained a lot of fame at the time. He happened to be in a different subject, so he went to the Confucianism hall." Li Ding also said that Su Dongpo was eager for a high position, so he expressed his dissatisfaction with those in power sourly.The emperor tolerated him and wished him to improve, but Su Dongpo did not listen to the warning, which is one of the reasons why he should be killed.Although Su's works are boring, they have a great impact on the country, which is the second reason why they should be killed. "The minister is in charge of enforcing the law, and his job is to correct adultery. If crimes cannot be tolerated, how dare you stop them. His Majesty Fu Wang cut his own heart and specially enforced the constitution. He is not particularly frustrated with obedience, but he is also loyal and conscientious. His likes and dislikes are clear. Customs change themselves." The trial began on August 20.The defendant said that he was forty-four years old this year (forty-two years old according to the Western algorithm), and at the same time detailed his ancestors, his hometown, the year he was admitted to Jinshi, and the official positions he held.Then there is a large list of names of people he recommends to be officials, because an official's promotion of good or bad people to power is also one of the elements to measure his achievements.He said he had made two mistakes in his political career.He served as a judge in Fengxiang, and he was at odds with his superiors. He once refused to participate in the official autumn ceremony and was fined eight catties of copper.During his tenure in Hangzhou, a small official embezzled public funds. He failed to report and was fined eight catties of copper.Also, "Leave no doubts". At first Su Dongpo only admitted that he had written the poems in the mountain village of Hangzhou—saying that the peasants had no salt to eat, and attacking the peasants for their loans—and the others in the indictment.He could not think of any other works he had written critical of the government.For several days he denied writing satirical poems to friends, and has always claimed his innocence.This is a matter of definition of "slandering the government" and "malicious attack".On August 30 he decided to plead guilty; he admitted writing satirical poems critical of the government and sending them to friends.But he said he had no intention of concealing it, and everything was a matter of interpretation.During the interrogation, he was ordered to sign a confession, "Having been in the library for many years, he has not been promoted, and most of the people employed by the imperial court are teenagers. What he sees is different from that of Shi, so he wrote poems and prose to sarcasm. The intention is to pass it on to everyone, and take Shi's words as his own." when".Thirty-nine of Su Dongpo's friends were involved in the case, and more than one hundred poems were reviewed, each of which required the author to explain it himself.All of Su Dongpo's poems use a thousand choices of words, and also quote a lot of literary and historical anecdotes. Thanks to this trial record, we can read the author's analysis of many passages in the poems.Many poems have ambiguous meanings, and only those who understand the historical examples can see the implication.I have always avoided poems with deep allusions, because each metaphor or history must be explained individually; it is not easy to read, and it will increase the burden on the reader.Such knowledge is not difficult to show off. For hundreds of years, annotators of Su's poems have been busy digging out the historical books or original texts of Tang poems mentioned in his poems. Some of the charges are far-fetched.The most interesting is a verse describing two old juniper trees.It is said in the poem that the juniper tree "roots to the place where there is no song in the nine springs, and only Zhelong knows it in the world".They think this is an insult to the emperor, because "dragon" symbolizes the reigning emperor, so it should only be said that the dragon is in the sky, not that the dragon is hidden in the ground spring.There is also a peony poem, in which I admire God's skill in creating all kinds of peonies.Judges said he intended to imply that those in power had contrived various new taxes. The previous narration of "Fu on Qiju" stated that he ate the seeds of Qiju, which directly satirized the poverty of the area and the meager salaries of officials.The fable of the blind man reading the sun refers to the fact that the examinee is ignorant and knows nothing about Confucianism. He only knows Wang Anshi's "Three Classics and New Meanings". However, the defendant generally admitted that he wrote poems criticizing the New Deal with anger and disappointment in his words, and that he deservedly slandered the government. In the poem he sent to Wang Shen's son-in-law, there is a line that says that he sits and listens to "whip and ring moaning".It is also said that "there is no way to return to perish in the famine".It also mentioned that "a tiger is hard to imitate", and the tiger is a symbol of tyranny.In his poem to Li Chang, he said that in Mizhou, he "picked up abandoned children in the city of wine tears", and the corpses of men, women, and children all died of starvation on the side of the road.As for the poem he wrote to his good friend Sun Jue, there is a line saying that they don't talk about politics. He admits that the two have dinner together, and whoever makes an appointment to mention political affairs will be punished with a glass of wine.He once wrote poems to Zeng Gong, who had a small official position and a great literary name, saying that he was very tired of politicians and villains who were "loud like cicadas".A poem for Zhang Fangping compared the imperial court to "frogs in the barren forest" and "frogs and grasshoppers in the waste marshes", and said that he "wanted to cover his ears".The poem to Fan Zhen refers directly to "villains," and we already know that in his poem to Zhou Bin he compares those in power to night owls.In the Hangzhou tide watching poem, it is said that if the East China Sea knows the will of the monarch, "it should be taught to reprimand the brine for changing the mulberry field." Su Dongpo once wrote two poems to his good friend Liu Shu after he left the capital. If we study them carefully, it is not difficult to understand the indignation of the officials, and we can also see the overtones in most of Su Dongpo's poems.We may also observe in passing that certain psalms mean nothing to English readers without footnotes, such as the following: