"The mountains and rivers are full of empty thoughts, and the falling flowers and wind and rain hurt the spring even more, so it is better to pity the people in front of you." Such words and phrases may not make us feel that the life of the lyricist is not smooth, but at least it is easy to make us feel that the lyricist is a person who is in a state of confusion and sorrow. However, this amorous and injured person is actually the lucky one that the people of the Great Song Dynasty envy to the extreme--Yan Shu.
1. The young genius sits on a high position
Most of us know what Yan Shu knows, or that he is a literary artist, who wrote "Last night the west wind withered the green tree." Go up to the tall building alone, look at the end of the world" such a famous sentence. However, in that era of "learning and excellence", "the literary name is far and wide" is actually the "synonym" of Yan Shu's "extremely popular subjects".
Born in Linchuan, Fuzhou (present-day Fuzhou, Jiangxi), Yan Shu was said to have been able to write independently at the age of five, and thus became a well-known "prodigy" in Jiangxi. In the first year of Jingde (1004), the famous minister Zhang Zhibai was ordered to patrol Jiangnan, learned of Yan Shu's superiority, and recommended him to the imperial court at the age of thirteen. With the recommendation of officials in the name of "child prodigy", Yan Shu could have directly entered the DPRK as an official. But his newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, or intends to participate in the scientific expedition with strength.
The following year, at the age of fourteen, Yan Shu left home and came to Beijing. Despite his small age and small stature, Yan Shu still won the favor of Song Zhenzong by virtue of his talent and honesty. Kou Zhun, who was then chancellor, was embarrassed because Yan Shu was from Jiangdong (Jiangdong was once the territory of Southern Tang, and Southern Tang was once an enemy of the Northern Song Dynasty), but Emperor Zhenzong of Song even moved out of the Tang Dynasty minister Zhang Jiuling to justify Yan Shu's name.
Due to the love of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Yan Shu became the Guanglu Temple Servant at the age of eighteen. Later, because his parents died one after another, he wanted to return to his hometown to keep filial piety, but he could not keep filial piety for three years due to the reuse of Song Zhenzong. Before the death of Song Zhenzong, Yan Shu rose all the way up, and at a young age, he achieved the Hanlin Bachelor's Degree and was promoted to Zuo Shuzi.
In the first year of Qianxing (1022), the young Emperor Renzong of Song succeeded to the throne, and Empress Liu came to the court to listen to the government. Remembering Emperor Xian's favor for Yan Shu and Yan Shu's risk of preventing the chancellor from usurping his powers, Empress Liu promoted Yan Shu from the Right Counselor and Attendant to the Ministry of Giving, and promoted him to the Rank of Ceremonial Attendant, and later appointed Privy Councillor.
Although Yan Shu had conflicts with Empress Liu for some things, he was angry with empress dowager and demoted. However, because it was always Yan Shu who was the one who was degraded, he also worked hard when he was degraded, and Yan Shu was often recalled shortly after being degraded, and was awarded a higher official position than before he was demoted. When he retired due to illness, he successively served as a royal historian, a senior scholar, a soldier's attendant, a three-division envoy, a counselor to the governor, a shangshu of the punishment department, a privy councillor, a tongping zhangshi, and a soldier's secretary shangshu... From entering the dynasty at the age of fourteen to the age of sixty-three, Yan Shu can be said to have fulfilled his duties all his life, and he was ultimately an extremely popular subject.
Second, there are many protégés in literature
This era of the Northern Song Dynasty was a brilliant era of culture in feudal history. Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi and other literary figures we are familiar with were all former officials of the imperial court. Yan Shu is no exception. Compared with Ouyang and Fan Zhongyan, Yan Shu was a character who was one period earlier than them. Before Ouyang Xiu became the leader of the literary world and favored Su Shi, the Northern Song Dynasty literary circle was using Yan Shu as a "generation of dragon gates".
During his tenure in charge of the Ministry of Rites, Yan Shu vigorously advocated Confucianism through scientific expeditions, advocating the "ancient style" of Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu, which provided an important boost to the "ancient literature movement" that we are familiar with. During his reign as a very popular subject, he used his personnel allocation power to promote Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and a large number of well-known Northern Song courtiers. During his left-wing move to Nanjing, Yan Shu "greatly revitalized the school to teach all students.". Fan Zhongyan, who is regarded as the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty' Xingxue, also became a teacher in Nanjing at this time under the reuse of Yan Shu.
Zeng Gong, one of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, once commented that Yan Shu was "a scholar of Confucianism who is wonderful in language", "the responsibility of preparing Confucianism and morality", "taking literary deliberation as a responsibility", "for the scholar Zong, the world admires his reputation"... As a disciple of Yan Shu, Zeng Gong was able to give such a high evaluation, which also confirmed Yan Shu's important position in the literary circle of the Northern Song Dynasty.
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3. Mingzhe protects himself from mistakes
As Yan Shu's protégé and heir to the position of literary leader, Ouyang Xiu also had a classic evaluation of Yan Shu - "Rich and noble for fifty years, always wise and full of life." Some people think that "Mingzhe to protect himself" here is a pejorative meaning, which means that Yan Shu did not have much positive impact on the reform of the New Deal in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, at that time, "Mingzhe to protect himself" was a kind of literati cultivation that even Zhu Xi praised. Su Shi once said that Ouyang Xiu was also "the completeness of the protection of the private mingzhe".
And Ouyang Xiu's evaluation of Yan Shu, the first half of the sentence is also very envious. "Fifty years of rich and noble travel", Yan Shu from getting Song Zhenzong's blue eyes to final retirement, it can indeed be described as a smooth sailing. Even if he had been to a place during this period, Yan Shu had gone to a prosperous place like Nanjing, and he had also become a local official. Such a smooth career path can simply make the readers who have studied hard for decades to become candidates "sour" to the point of losing their teeth.
Therefore, he is a very popular subject, a smooth career, and a leader of the literary world... Each of Yan Shu's experiences can make readers envious to the point where they can only boast. In the first month of the second year of Hehe (1055), Yan Shu died of illness in Fenjing, with the nickname "Yuan Xian". His story ended here, but his story has been envied ever since.
Resources:
Wu Yucheng. Candid Lyricist Zai Xiang Yan Shu[J].Wenshi Tiandi, 2018(12):49-53.
Shao Mingzhen. Yan Shu's "Mingzhe Self-Preservation" Identification[J].Research on Literary and Art Theory,2019,39(02):117-125.
Shao Mingzhen. The Evolution of Literary Style in Yanshu and the Early Northern Song Dynasty[J].Qilu Academic Journal, 2020(03):107-115.