Chapter 8 8. A bloody official career cannot avoid a bloody gift

During Emperor Renzong's reign, Prime Minister Song Xiang made no achievements during his tenure. Bao Zheng seized the opportunity to impeach and dismiss the prime minister for committing crimes in the yamen, and left to work in the local government.Song Xiang knew Yangzhou well, and few people saw him off.Song Xiang was very depressed. Everyone was regarded as a literary friend if not a colleague. Song Xiang and his younger brother Song Qi were called the "Second Song Dynasty", second only to the leaders of the literary world Ouyang Xiu, Mei Yaochen, Su Shunqin and others.So he sent two big geese to Mei Yaochen, hoping to get his reward in return, and he also had a balance in his heart when he went on the road.

Mei Yaochen has been working in the local area. When he was fifty years old, he was summoned by Renzong for an examination.Life in the capital is relatively poor, and Ouyang Xiu usually pays for drinking and prostitutes.After receiving the big goose from the former prime minister, Mei Yaochen had nothing to give in return, so he came up with the literati's way of giving poems: "I used to live on Fengchi, and I used to eat Fengchi ping. Beg to go with the rivers and lakes, and teach Su Ling. Unlike Wang Yishao, he worked hard to write about Huang Ting." The dismissal of the former prime ministers made Song Xiang unhappy.

Gifting poems between literati and bureaucrats is a set that must be learned in response to the situation, otherwise you are not a scholar-bureaucrat, and your colleagues will look down on you.Scholar-bureaucrats have a long story to say, but in short, scholars are called "scholars", and when they are old, they are called "old Confucians".He has only studied and never been an official, so he can only be called a "scholar".Those who have been officials and have not read sage books, such as military officers and medical officers, are not called scholar-bureaucrats.Those who both study and be an official have certain literary attainments and political achievements are the real scholar-bureaucrats.The famous "Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties" in the history of Chinese literature are all of scholar-official background, who have read books, served as officials, have profound literary attainments, and have certain political achievements.

Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi were the most famous scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty who exchanged poems.Ouyang Xiu was fourteen years older than Wang Anshi. When Ouyang Xiu became the leader of the literary world, Wang Anshi had just emerged. The two had been friends for more than ten years, and finally met in the capital in the reign of Emperor Renzong.Ouyang Xiu, who was 47 years old at the time, could not conceal his admiration for Wang Anshi, the younger generation. At the banquet, he became very popular with poetry, and immediately wrote "To Wang Jiefu". The compassion is still there, who will compete with the son later." Wang Anshi replied "Rewarding Uncle Yong to see the gift": "Although you want to spread the morality and justice, you have a strong heart, but you have no strength to study articles. If you can see Mencius in the future, how dare you look at Duke Han for the rest of your life?" .” This is a face-to-face collision between two literary masters.Giving poems is like giving business cards to each other when two salesmen meet, it is just a superficial thing.Of course, some scholar-bureaucrats wrote very good poems and essays, and they can be used as gold and silver gifts to colleagues or leaders when they catch up with the holidays of the year. .

Xu Dong has both civil and military skills, but it is a pity that his official career has been unsuccessful all his life, and he only achieved the humble position of Wujiang's master book.Xu Dong likes to drink, and owes a lot of alcohol debts and has no money to pay.The restaurant demanded debts, and Xu Dong said that he would pay a few more catties on credit. Then he got drunk and wrote hundreds of lines of poems on the wall.The crowd who didn't know the truth exclaimed that he was talented, and some people paid for his poems and essays.Xu Dong immediately sold the poems and essays, and paid back the shop's wine money.Xu Dong has a very famous nephew, Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty and the author of "Mengxi Bi Tan", an important material for studying Song history.During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan, Yin Zhu, Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing and others were accused of being demoted as "cliques". This political struggle was of far-reaching significance. out of Beijing.At that time, Cai Xiang, a famous calligrapher, wrote an "Unworthy Poem" for the four people to complain about their grievances, and everyone rushed to pass it on.Booksellers discovered this business opportunity, and even engraved Cai Xiang's poems into books and put them on the market. The exact amount of money they earned is unclear, but there should be many "quite huge profits" ("Mian Shui Yan Tan Lu").

The gift of poetry is a kind of relationship exchange between literati and bureaucrats, which can be regarded as a kind of "elegant bribe".Especially for officials with a certain reputation and attainments in the literary world, good writing is indeed worth a thousand gold and saves a lot of favor money.Catch up with which leader is holding a birthday banquet, and send poems directly.People without literary talents who want to maintain or build relationships with leaders have to bleed. "Return to the Land Record" records that when Lv Mengzheng was prime minister, a scholar offered him a gift and wanted to get an official position through the back door.The scholar presented an antique, which is a mirror, which is quite miraculous. It is said that it can illuminate two hundred miles, and the reflection and reflection surfaces are very broad.The story does not mention how much the mirror is worth, so it should be expensive.The bronze mirrors of the Song Dynasty were calculated based on the amount of copper consumed, 400 wen per tael.Judging from the unearthed Song Dynasty bronze mirrors, the palm-sized mirror weighs about 300 grams, and the larger one weighs about three catties.The bronze mirror given by the scholar is an antique, so the value is naturally higher than other bronze mirrors. It may be his family heirloom, and he took it out to change his official career.Unexpectedly, Lu Mengzheng rejected it. He said that my face is not as big as a saucer, and this mirror can illuminate two hundred miles, so what is the use for me?

During Song Renzong's time, there were still failures to give gifts to senior officials. "Mengxi Bi Tan" records that Sun Fuguan went to the doctor of the Ministry of Punishment, Tianzhangge Daizhi, and Hebei Transit Envoy.Someone gave Mr. Sun a gift, an inkstone worth thirty guan.Sun Fu asked why the inkstone was so expensive, and the gift giver said that the inkstone was made of moist stone, and water would flow out of the inkstone when he took a breath.Officer Sun immediately said, a load of water a day is only worth three pennies, what is the use of it?Chief Sun declined the gift in a humorous way.At that time, the market price of ordinary inkstones was around a hundred coins, compared to other inkstones, the ones given to Sun Fu were not too expensive, and there were also ones worth a thousand pennies.