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Chapter 11 191 Ouyang Xiu reformed the style of writing

After Fan Zhongyan was excluded from the imperial court, his colleague Fu Bi was falsely accused of being Fan Zhongyan's accomplice and lost his official position because he supported the New Deal. Han Qi defended Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi and was also implicated.At that time, although some people sympathized with Fan Zhongyan, they did not dare to speak out.Only the admonisher Ouyang Xiu boldly wrote a letter to Song Renzong saying: "Since ancient times, bad people have framed good people. They always say that good people are cronies and slander them for dictatorship. Fan Zhongyan is a useful talent for the country. Why should he be dismissed? If you listen to the bad people, put them Dismissal will only make the bad guys proud and the enemy happy!"

Ouyang Xiu is a famous writer in our country.Born in Luling (now Yongfeng, Jiangxi).When he was four years old, his father died of illness, and his mother took him to Suizhou (now Sui County, Hubei Province) to live with his uncle.Ouyang Xiu's mother wanted her son to study all the time, but her family was too poor to afford paper and pens.She saw Di grass growing by the pond in front of the house, so she used the Di grass stalks to draw on the mud floor to teach Ouyang Xiu how to read.Under the education of his mother, the young Ouyang Xiu fell in love with books very early. When Ouyang Xiu was ten years old, he often went to the nearby houses with a lot of books to borrow books to read, and sometimes copied the borrowed books.

Once, he was borrowing books from a family surnamed Li, and found an old book in a wastebasket of that house. He flipped through it and found out that it was the anthology of Tang Dynasty writer Han Yu, so he asked the owner for it and brought it with him. Read it carefully at home. In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the popular style of writing in the society emphasized gorgeousness and empty content.Ouyang Xiu read Han Yu's prose and felt that it was fluent in writing and well reasoned, which was completely different from popular articles.He pondered carefully and learned Han Yu's writing style.When he grew up, he went to Tokyo to take the Jinshi examination, and won the first place in three consecutive examinations.

When Ouyang Xiu was in his twenties, he already had a great reputation in literature.His official position is not high, but he cares about the government very much, and he is upright and dares to advise.When Fan Zhongyan offended Lu Yijian and was relegated to the south, many ministers sympathized with Fan Zhongyan, but Gao Ruona, the admonisher, believed that Fan Zhongyan should be relegated.Ouyang Xiu was very angry, and wrote a letter to blame Gao Ruona for not knowing that there are shameful things in the world.For this matter, he was demoted to another place, and it took four years before he returned to the capital.

This time, in order to support Fan Zhongyan's new policy, Ouyang Xiu came out to speak again, which greatly annoyed some dignitaries in the court.They suspend rumors and frame Ouyang Xiu for some crimes, and the court relegates Ouyang Xiu to Chuzhou (now Chuxian County, Anhui Province). Chuzhou is surrounded by mountains and has beautiful scenery.After Ouyang Xiu arrived in Chuzhou, in addition to dealing with political affairs, he often visited mountains and rivers.A local monk built a pavilion on Langya Mountain in Chuzhou for tourists to rest.When Ouyang Xiu went hiking, he often drank in this pavilion.He called himself "Drunkard" and named the pavilion "Drunkard Pavilion".His prose "The Story of the Drunkard Pavilion" has become a masterpiece that people recite.

Ouyang Xiu had been a magistrate for more than ten years. Song Renzong thought of his literary talent, so he transferred him back to the capital to serve as a Hanlin scholar. After Ouyang Xiu became a Hanlin bachelor, he actively advocated the reform of writing style.One year, the Jinshi examination was held in the capital, and the imperial court appointed him as the chief examiner.He thought this was a good opportunity for him to select talents and reform his writing style. When he checked the papers, he found flashy articles and refused to admit them.After the exam, a group of people were not selected, and they were very dissatisfied with Ouyang Xiu.One day, when Ouyang Xiu went out on horseback, he was stopped by a group of unsuccessful people on the way, who insulted him noisily.Later, patrolling soldiers came and drove the group of people away.

After this turmoil, although Ouyang Xiu was under some pressure, the style of writing in the examination room changed, and everyone learned to write substantial and simple articles. Ouyang Xiu not only vigorously reformed the style of writing, but also paid great attention to discovering and promoting talents.Many talents who were not so well-known before became famous after his appreciation, promotion and recommendation.The most famous ones are Zeng Gong, Wang Anshi, Su Xun (sound xun) and his sons Su Shi and Su Zhe.In the history of literature, people combined Ouyang Xiu and other six people with Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in the Tang Dynasty as the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties".

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