Chapter 29 Liuao Xianggong

After Han Jiang dismissed as prime minister, Wang Anshi monopolized the power of prime minister. One person dominates, which is rare in the Northern Song Dynasty.Because there were usually two people in Tongping Zhangshi at that time, that is, they were listed as prime ministers and presided over the government. There are several collections of popular novels in the Song Dynasty, including "Avalokitesvara", "Bodhisattva Man", "Ghost in a Cave in Xishan", "Director Zhicheng Zhang", "Yuan Xianggong", "Wrong Cut Cui Ning", "Feng Yumei Reunion" Wait.The publication of these novels heralds the advent of Chinese novels.Among them, "Yu Xianggong" tells the story of Wang Anshi's implementation of the new law and the unpopularity of the people, which reflects the ideological tendency of the party opposing the new law in the Song Dynasty.

"Yuan Xianggong" was another name for Wang Anshi at that time. To bend means to be disobedient and disobedient.If it is used to describe a person, it shows that the person is stubborn, has a strong personality, and refuses to admit defeat.Wang Anshi is such a person: he is unique in literature, has profound attainments, and his prose is vigorous and steep. He is one of the eight great masters in Tang and Song Dynasties; Wang Anshi implemented the New Deal and did not allow anyone to oppose it.A friend is not good, if you oppose him, your friend will become an enemy; the enemy is even worse, if you oppose him, you will be sidelined.He was able to speak eloquently, and he was able to convince Emperor Zhao Xu to believe in his strategy of strengthening the country, and he was determined to carry out his reform plan to the end. Of course, this also depended on Zhao Xu's willingness to change.Because during Emperor Renzong's time, Wang Anshi also wrote a letter of ten thousand words, asking for reform, but Emperor Renzong ignored it. Although Wang Anshi was ambitious, he had no use for it.

After Wang Anshi came to power, Zhao Xu assigned him two assistants, Feng Jing and Wang Gui, the new political counselors.With the assistance of these two deputies, the new laws he vigorously promoted, the Baojia Law and the Exemption Law, were successively introduced during this period.He is a literati and knows the influence of literati. In order to control the literati in the world, while implementing the new law, he also reformed the imperial examination system. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the old system of the Tang Dynasty was adopted, and scholars were selected through the imperial examination.The subjects to be tested were poems, prose, essays and scriptures. Renzong followed Fan Zhongyan's suggestion and canceled the scriptures and ink scriptures. The subjects of the examination were: history or politics first, and classics and ancient books second.After passing these two rounds of examinations, the poems and fus will be tested under the personal supervision of the emperor, and then the policy theory will be tested.

After Wang Anshi came to power, he wanted to reform the imperial examination system and devoted himself to establishing schools.Zhao Xu ordered a special meeting to discuss this issue. Su Shi believed that the Renzong Dynasty established a school in vain, but the system of imperial examinations to select scholars is still feasible, and there is no need to change it. Zhao Xu also agreed with Su Shi's opinion.Wang Anshi insisted that the existing imperial examination system was not perfect and must be reformed.Later, after mediation, it was decided to select scholars based on the theory of classics and righteousness, and to stop poetry, Fu, Tiejing, and Moyi.Later, he established the Sanshe method of Tai students and paid attention to the study of Confucian classics.

In order to control the ideas of scholars and literati, Wang Anshi compiled a book called "Three Classics and New Meanings", and stipulated this book as an official standard. No matter schools or imperial examinations, only "Three Classics and New Meanings" were allowed to be used. Biography and annotation shall be abolished.When taking the exam, if the examinee's opinion is slightly different from that of the prime minister, he will lose his name. Although Wang Anshi is a master of literature, "Three Classics and New Meanings" was written hastily within two years after all, and it was compiled by his sons Wang Yu and Lu Huiqing. The academic value has not been recognized by everyone such as Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi. The prime minister's power is to abolish the ancient Confucian classics and exclusively use his books.This is probably a manifestation of Wang Anshi's "reluctance".

Su Shi is a giant in the literary world, and his literary attainments are not inferior to Wang Anshi's, and even better than him. Seeing Wang Anshi's domineering, he really couldn't bear it.In order to express his dissatisfaction with Wang Anshi, he drew up such a test question for the candidates in a Jinshi examination: Jin Wuping defeated Wu with arbitrariness, Fu Jian conquered Jin and died because of arbitrariness, Qi Huan took charge of Guan Zhong and became hegemony, Yan Kuai took charge of his son and was defeated.why? Wang Anshi knew that Su Shi was referring to Sang, scolding Huai and mocking him.With an excuse, Su Shi was transferred to Kaifeng Mansion as a pusher.Su Shi was already very famous, but he was squeezed out by Wang Anshi because of this incident, which made him even more famous.

Su Shi knew that he had offended Wang Anshi, so he simply refused to do it, and went to Shu again, denouncing Wang Anshi's new law.In fact, as early as February of the third year of Xining (1070), he had made a memorial, pointing the finger at Qingmiao Fa.The two memorials are eloquent, all-encompassing, eloquent, and straightforward. Su Shi knew that after this memorial was submitted, he would no longer have a foothold in the capital, so he immediately asked for a foreign transfer. In fact, Su Shi at this time was already in dispute. At that time, there was a rumor that the Su brothers misused the official guards and bought furniture and porcelain on the way back to their original place in Sichuan with their father's spirit transported by boat, and they might smuggle private salt for profit.

The rumor was released by Wang Anshi's confidant Xie Jingwen. The government sent people to the provinces that Su's Yunling passed through to collect information from boatmen, soldiers, and officials.Su Shi also bought a lot of furniture and porcelain, but it was not illegal.The official sent back to report that there was nothing to gain. Before Sima Guang retired, Zhao Xu once told him that Su Shi's character was not good, and that Sima Guang seemed to think too highly of him. Sima Guang replied very cleverly at the time. He said: "Does your majesty mean that someone sued him? I know him well. Your majesty knows that Xie Jingwen is a relative of Wang Anshi, and the accusation was ordered by Wang Anshi. Besides, although Su Shi is not perfect, but It's a hundred times better than that bastard Li Ding who concealed his mother's death."

According to Su Shi's political achievements, he should be the prefect, and Zhao Xu also had this idea.But Wang Anshi and Xie Jingwen disagreed, thinking that he could only be placed as a judge in a small county at most. Zhao Xu made a compromise and sent Su Shi to the beautiful Hangzhou as a judge. Su Shi had been mentally prepared for the release, and ignored Xie Jingwen's impeachment, even refusing to revise the form to defend himself. After receiving the order, he took his family and went to Hangzhou to take office. Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan, was born in Meishan, Sichuan.His younger brother, Su Zhe, was named Ziyou.Father Su Xun.The three fathers and sons are collectively called "Three Sus", occupying three seats in the eight great ancient writers of the Tang and Song Dynasties.

In order to show the difference, later generations called the elder brother Su Shi as Da Su, and the younger brother Su Zhe as Xiao Su. Su Shi's articles are handed down from his family, he is well-versed in classics and history, and he is better at literature. He writes a thousand words without adding points. In the second year of Jiayou Renzong (1057), he went to Beijing to take the examination of the Ministry of Rites together with his father Su Xun and younger brother Su Zhe.Both brothers were Jinshi in high school with honors. Ouyang Xiu, a leading figure in the literary world at that time, passed on Su Shi's articles to his peers, and they were all full of praise.

Ouyang Xiu praised Su Shi's test paper, but a misunderstanding occurred. He thought that this test paper was the masterpiece of his friend Zeng Gong.As a result, Su Shi was supposed to be the number one scholar in that exam, but he was listed as the second Tanhua. It turned out that when the examinee was taking the test, after the test paper was handed in, the clerk would copy it again, so as not to recognize the handwriting of the test paper.On the re-copied test paper, the candidate's name was omitted and saved as a separate file.But Ouyang Xiu thought that only his good friend Zeng Gong could write such a good article, so Su Shi changed from the first place to the second place by mistake.Although it is the second place, it is enough to make Su Shi, who is only 21 years old, famous all over the world as a top scholar in the country. Ouyang Xiu was the literary authority at that time, and one word of praise and one word of derogation are enough to determine the success or failure of a scholar.A literati at that time once said that scholars do not know the fear of punishment, the joy of promotion, the joy of life, and the fear of death, but they are afraid of Ouyang Xiu's opinion.It can be seen that Ouyang Xiu's weight in the literary world at that time. Ouyang Xiu had a comment on Su Shi. He once said to others: "Reading Su Dongpo's letter, I don't know why, but I am so happy that I sweat. The old man should give up this person and make him stand out." After Ouyang Xiu's words spread, Su Shi became famous for a while. Legend has it that Ouyang Xiu also said to his son: "Remember my words. After thirty years, no one will talk about this old man." Later, his words came true.Within ten years after Su Shi's death, no one talked about Ouyang Xiu anymore, and everyone talked about Su Shi. Emperor Renzong also said when he selected the Su brothers that I chose two prime ministers for future generations.It was such a person who was not tolerated by Wang Anshi and was expelled from the capital and sentenced to Hangzhou. Hangzhou was a metropolis in the south of the Yangtze River in those days. There are mountains, forests, lakes and seas there. Su Shi served as a general judge in Hangzhou. Except for interrogating cases, he did not have many official duties.Most of the cases he tried were good citizens who violated Wang Anshi's new law, and the laws he violated were all against him.But those are laws again, he has no right to change them, and he has to enforce them if he doesn't like them.Therefore, in his spare time, he devoted himself to mountains and rivers.Or go boating on the West Lake of Hangzhou with relatives, friends and famous prostitutes, or play in famous temples and ancient temples with literati.Not only did he leave behind many well-known poems, but he also left behind many stories that were loved and enjoyed.Among them, the story between him and Foyin is particularly interesting. Foyin was born in a wealthy family and had no intention of becoming a monk.Legend has it that his biological mother was Li Ding's mother.Apparently, his mother had been married three times and had a son with each of the three husbands, which was rare in those days. When the emperor gave Buddhists a visit, Su Shi recommended this person.Foyin strongly expressed his belief in Buddhism in front of the emperor.The emperor saw that he was tall and handsome, with a good face, and said that if he was willing to become a monk, he would give him a degree.The degree certificate is a qualification certificate for monks.At that time, monks holding this certificate could be exempted from various taxes and corvee.Giving him a degree is a gift from the emperor to Foyin.Foyin was in a dilemma at that time, so he had to agree to become a monk. Foyin was quick-witted and quick-witted. He interacted with Su Shi and left many interesting stories.Once, the two of them went to visit a monastery and entered the front hall. There were two huge and terrifying King Kong guarding the gate. Su Shi asked: "Which of these two Buddhas is important?" Foyin replied: "Of course it's the one with the big fist." Entering the inner hall, there is another Guanyin Bodhisattva holding a string of prayer beads. Su Shi pointed to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and asked: "Avalokitesvara himself is a Buddha, so what's the use of counting the beads in his hand?" Foyin replied: "Oh, she also prayed to Buddha like ordinary people!" "Who does she pray to?" Su Shi asked again. Foyin replied, "Pray to herself." "Why is this? She is Guanyin Bodhisattva, why did she pray to herself?" Su Shi felt like asking the bottom line, but he was actually making things difficult for Buddha Seal. "Do you know?" Foyin said with a smile, "It's hard to ask for others, and it's better to ask for others than to ask for yourself." The two asked and answered, and there was a lot of witty remarks. Another time, Su Shi wanted to use the word "bird" to make a joke of Foyin. He said to Foyin in a serious manner: "Ancient poets often used the word 'monk' and 'bird' in their poems. For example, 'time news The woodpecker is suspected to be the door-knocking monk (sound)', and: 'The bird rests in the tree by the pool, and the monk knocks on the door of the moonlight night'. I admire the wisdom of the ancients in using 'monk' to 'bird'." Obviously, Su Shi was making fun of Foyin.Unexpectedly, Foyin answered better.He said to Su Shi: "This is the reason why I sit opposite you as a 'monk'." A clever answer made Su Shi dumbfounded. In fact, these are all records of unofficial history, and there is no way to investigate the official history.As for Su Shi’s talented younger sister, Su Xiaomei, who was betrothed to Qin Guan, she refused the groom to enter the bridal chamber on the wedding night, and had to wait for the groom to prepare a couplet she gave before opening the door for him. Qin Guan searched and scratched his stomach but couldn't come out, Su Shi helped him, and the story of the second couplet was made out of nothingness, because Su Shi didn't have such a younger sister at all, let alone Qin Guan's brother-in-law. Although Su Shi and Qin Guan were Friends, but not related to uncle Lang. Su Shi and his family left Beijing for Hangzhou, Ouyang Xiu retired to Fuyang, Anhui, Zhang Fangping returned to his hometown in Huaiyang, Henan, Sima Guang and Lu Gong lived in seclusion in Luoyang, Xijing, and Fu Bi was demoted from the capital.The famous officials, Confucians and officials of Emperor Renzong's reign had been wiped out.The court was calm, deathly calm. Before Su Shi left Beijing, there was a moderate riot in Beijing. In the winter of the previous year, the Baojia law had been implemented. The recruits received military training in the countryside. They suspected the purpose of the training, thinking that they would leave their hometowns and be transferred to the north to fight against foreigners. As a result, demonstrations took place in villages near the capital.Another reason for the riots was that the government at that time ordered farmers to bring their own weapons, but in fact they were just bows and arrows.The villagers thought it was an expedition. Father, son, and brothers embraced each other and wept. Some even cut off their wrists to avoid being recruited. The riots of the villagers were actually resistance to leaving their hometowns to go to the border to fight, but what they expressed was opposition to the new law, and in such an extreme way. Han Wei was the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture at that time, and he cannot escape responsibility for such a thing happened in his jurisdiction.He immediately reported the course of the riot to the imperial court, and asked the general training to be postponed until winter, because it was the slack season for farming. How could Wang Anshi tolerate such a thing happening under his nose?Han Wei was dismissed because of this memorial. Han Wei is a follower of Wang Anshi. When Zhao Xu was the prince, Han Wei said a lot of good things for Wang Anshi in front of him. In this sense, Han Wei owes Wang Anshi a favor.Han Wei was dismissed, and Wang Anshi also lost his last friend. Deng Wan, the magistrate of Ningzhou, wrote a letter to Wang Anshi. In the letter, he praised the new law and praised Wang Anshi with all his praise. . Deng Wan was promoted because he flattered Wang Anshi. Some of his fellow villagers in Chengdu looked down on him. Some called him a flatterer, and some ridiculed him as an opportunistic politician.Deng Wan was very pleased with this, and said disapprovingly: "Let others laugh and scold, I will be a good official myself." With the assistance of Deng Wan and Zeng Bu, Wang Anshi continued to do the tireless work of "ruining" people. The old prime minister, Fu Bi, resigned as prime minister because he was dissatisfied with Wang Anshi's actions. After being demoted to be the prefect of Bozhou, he still strongly opposed the Green Crop Law. , he said in the memorial: "If this method is practiced, the wealth will be gathered at the top, and the people will be scattered at the bottom." Deng Wan saw that this was a good opportunity to curry favor with Wang Anshi, so she suggested to Wang Anshi to deprive Fu Bi of all his prime minister-level treatment for the crime of obstructing the new law.Wang Anshi wanted to put Fu Bi to death.Fortunately, Zhao Xu remembered that Fu Bi was an old minister and couldn't bear to add more crimes, so Fu Bi escaped. Yushi Zhongcheng Yang Hui, in the first book, requested the abolition of the exemption law, and asked to reappoint a group of capable ministers who had been demoted, such as Lu Huo, Fan Zhen, Ouyang Xiu, Fu Bi, Sima Guang, and Lu Tao.Yang Hui was impeached by Deng Wan, expelled from the capital, and sent to Zhengzhou to be the prefect. Liu Zhi, the supervisory censor, stated in the above table that the immunity law has ten harms, and he was also relegated to Yancang, Jianheng Prefecture. Wang Anshi ordered Zhang Tan of the Admonition Court to write an article to refute Liu Zhi's suggestion. Zhang Tan refused to obey and was also expelled from the capital. During this period, following the death of Lu Gao, who was demoted to Dengzhou, Ouyang Xiu, a great literary master, also died in Yingzhou. Lu Hui, a native of Kaifeng, is the grandson of the late Prime Minister Lu Duan. Ouyang Xiu, a native of Luling, was an outstanding writer, statesman, historian, and epigrapher in the Northern Song Dynasty.He experienced Song Zhenzong, Song Renzong, Song Yingzong, and Song Shenzong dynasties in his life, participated in many major political activities, and was the leader of the literary world at that time.According to the imperial edict, he revised the records, annals and tables of Tang Shu, and wrote "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" by himself.Su Shi commented on him when he wrote the preface: "The theory of Dao is like Han Yu, the book is like Lu Zhi, the chronicle is like Sima Qian, and the poems are like Li Bai."After death, he was given to the prince and grand master, posthumously named Wenzhong. Wang Anshi's son was named Wang Yu. He was clever since he was a child, and he had the ability to remember with a photograph. When he was fifteen or sixteen, he wrote tens of thousands of words.Not long after he became an official, he resigned because his official position was too small and his salary was too thin.I have nothing to do at home, and wrote more than 20 policy papers, discussing major events in the world.He also wrote tens of thousands of words of "Lao Tzu's Explanations" and "Buddhist Books". Although Wang Yu has outstanding talent and amazing discussions, he is suave and unrestrained, romantic and self-admired. He usually seeks flowers and asks Liu, chooses colors to attract voices, and all the Qinlou Chuguan, poets, prostitutes and dancers do not know the name of the prince.Wang Anshi dotes on this son very much and allows him three points in everything. When Wang Anshi was participating in politics, Cheng Hao visited Wang Anshi one day. The two were discussing current affairs and arguing with each other. Wang Anshi's son appeared in the living room with disheveled hair and a woman's scarf in his hand. He walked up to his father and did not say hello when he saw Cheng Hao. , and asked what they were talking about.Wang Anshi said that they were talking about the New Deal, and that their New Deal was always criticized by other ministers. "Is there any need to discuss this too?" Wang Yu sat down carelessly and said loudly, "Push Han Jiang and Fu Bi to show off their heads, and see who dares to oppose the new law." Cheng Hao is a teacher of Taoism. Seeing that Wang Yu is so ignorant of etiquette, adults interrupted casually, and said a little unhappy: "When adults talk, children should not interrupt." After hearing this, Wang Yu was so angry that his veins swelled, his fists were clenched, and he almost rushed up to beat Cheng Hao.Fortunately, Wang Anshi stopped him with his eyes, so he withdrew angrily. After Wang Anshi became prime minister, he appointed many young officials.In order to promote his son, he specially asked someone to engrave his "Lao Tzu's Explanation" into a book and sell it at a low price.After some arrangements, the books flowed into the palace and flowed to the eyes of the emperor. Zhao Xu read "Lao Tzu's Explanation" and greatly appreciated it.Deng Wan and Wang Zeng took the opportunity to recommend Wang Yu in front of the emperor.Zhao Xu then summoned Wang Yu, who talked about the new law in front of the emperor.This kind of topic suits Zhao Xu's taste very well, so he was ordered to be a storyteller for Prince Zhongyun and Chongzheng Hall. Wang Yu admired legalism, especially Shang Yang, a legalist figure in the pre-Qin period. His speech and behavior often had some legalist views. He often said that if dissidents were not punished, the new law would not be implemented smoothly.Therefore, when he explained the scriptures in Chongzheng Hall, he often infiltrated his own views. Inspired by him, Zhao Xu set up a capital patrol in the capital. The guards in the capital are actually a secret service agency of the new regime. These guards are spies sent by the imperial court to the public. As long as they find someone who slanders the New Deal, they will be detained regardless of their status.The commotion caused panic for a while, from civil and military officials to ordinary people, they dared to be angry but did not dare to speak out, and they were very careful when speaking. Wang Anshi asked to implement the Market Change Law and appointed Lu Jiawen, a judge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, as the referee.Then the Horse Protection Law was implemented, and Zeng Bu was asked to determine the specific terms and promulgate them for implementation.Then the Fangtian average tax law was implemented. The new law is first tried on Jingdong Road, and then gradually promoted to the whole country. There are still many people who oppose the new law. Privy envoy Wen Yanbo and deputy envoy Wu Chongshang said that the law of protecting horses is inconvenient to implement, but Wang Anshi ignored it. The privy officials all agreed with Li Ping, tried their best to slander the exemption law, and dismissed all the officials.Wang Anshi wrote a letter saying that he resisted the new law and demanded that he be held accountable for his crimes.Although Zhao Xu verbally agreed to his request, he never followed up.The judge of Lizhou, Xian Yuqian, wrote a letter referring to current affairs, criticizing the Young Crop Law, alluding to Wang Anshi's disturbance of the government, and was actually promoted to Deputy Envoy of Transit. Wang Anshi had an ominous premonition that the emperor's interest in the new law was fading.So he handed in a letter of resignation, requesting to resign as prime minister and leave the capital.In fact, this is a retreat-for-advance strategy. Although Zhao Xu was shaken by the new law, he hadn't reached the point of negating the new law. Of course, he would not let Wang Anshi go.After some consolation, Wang Anshi dispelled the idea of ​​resigning.