When people today mention the Song Dynasty, the first thing that may come to mind is to hold their breath, being oppressed by the Liao and The Great Jin in turn, and they are overwhelmed. However, no one can deny that in fact, the Song Dynasty was also the most culturally prosperous period in Chinese history.
The master of the Republic of China, Chen Yinke, once had a very good evaluation of the Song Dynasty:
"The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved over thousands of years, and it was created in the world of Zhao and Song dynasties."
Indeed, the Song Dynasty can be called the most prosperous period of culture in Chinese history, not only in the great richness of cultural works, but also in the high style and bright festival of the literati, such as in the sixth year of the Song Renzong Qing calendar (1046), a very typical example appeared.
After the end of the temple examination that year, Liu Chang's scrolls of Liu Chang, a xinyu person in Jiangxi, were always appreciated by the examiners and were recognized as the best candidates for the title. After the chief examiner had set the rank, he was preparing to send it to the emperor, when one of the examiners, Wang Yaochen, said to the chief examiner: "I think Liu Chang is not suitable to be a champion, and I hope that the adults can consider it again." ”
Why did Wang Yaochen not go through with Liu Chang? In fact, the two people did not have a vendetta, but a cousin with a good relationship, and it was precisely because they were cousins that Wang Yaochen proposed not to let Liu Chang be the leader, because the two were related, and people on the outside would definitely think that there was an inside story. Wang Yaochen was honest and frank all his life, and he must not discredit the imperial court because of this incident, so he tried to prevent Liu Chang from becoming a ruler.
The examiner did not agree, saying: "This rank is all of us evaluated together, and I don't know whose volume it is in advance, let alone your relationship with him, so you don't have to avoid suspicion." ”
However, Wang Yaochen insisted on replacing Liu Chang, believing that this was not a matter for him alone, but related to the fairness and seriousness of this system, and even more related to the credibility of the country.
The chief examiner saw that he had risen to this height, and if he fought with him again, he would appear to be in a low realm, so he no longer insisted and changed Liu Chang to the second place.
This lucky man who became a champion because of Wang Yaochen's high wind and bright festival was jia dian, a native of Deng County, Henan.
Jia Huangzhuangyuan admired the great celebrity Fan Zhongyan and was a famous "Fan Fan". One year, Fan Zhongyan was demoted to jia zhuangyuan's hometown of Dengzhou as an official, Jia Zhuangyuan was serving as a general judge in Xiangzhou at that time, and after hearing about it, he immediately ran back to his hometown from Xiangzhou to visit Fan Zhongyan.
Fan Zhongyan is a world-famous celebrity, and such a "Fan Fan" has seen a lot, so he didn't pay much attention to him. As a result, after a while, Jia Zhuangyuan went again (no one checked the post?). As a result, Old Fan still ignored him. Until the third time, Lao Fan was finally touched and gave him a sentence: "With your talent, you don't have to worry about food in this life, but it is difficult to make a big difference, I send you two words - 'do not cheat', enough for you to use in this life." After saying that, he grabbed his pen and wrote down the two words "no deception" and gave them to Jia Zhuangyuan.
This is simply the idol's autograph for his personal customization, Jia Zhuangyuan can imagine how excited, after going back, he made these two words into a waist card, hung on his body every day, and showed it to people everywhere: "This is Fan Tianwang's own handwriting for me, I will live by it in my life!" ”
Under the inspiration of the idol, Jia Zhuangyuan really did a good job, did not deceive people in his life, did not deceive his heart, was honest and outspoken when things happened, and never slipped away and patted the horse.
There was a colleague named Lü Jie who had secretly impeached him and made him suffer a lot. Later, after Jia Zhuangyuan gained power, Lü Zhi was very afraid, worried about being retaliated against by him, and waited at home every day. As a result, a few days later, I waited for the good news of promotion. Lü Zhi did not understand what was going on at first, and after inquiring, he learned that it was Jia Zhuangyuan who did not care about his previous suspicions and protected him in front of the emperor.
When Jia Zhuangyuan was a child, his parents divorced, and his mother was driven out of the house, and after Xiao Jia went to high school, he wanted his mother to enjoy the happiness with him, so he took her back. But at that time, his father had already married a stepmother for him, and his mother and stepmother got together, you can imagine how awkward it was, what to do? Don't worry, and don't know what tricks Jia Zhuangyuan used, it actually made the two old mothers get along harmoniously, and the family was happy and harmonious, and it was rumored to be a good story for a while.
There is another thing worth saying. When Jia Yan was just admitted to the Yuan, he went to visit the home of Du Yan, the prime minister, hoping to get some advice, but Du Zaixiang did not say anything else, so he asked him about his family situation. Jia Zhuangyuan was very strange, and after he came out, he complained to people: "How does Lord Du only care about my family situation, is he not interested in my official career at all?" ”
Later, when these words reached Du Yan's ears, Lao Du laughed and said: "A person's family determines his career, only when he is full of snacks and warm clothes, when he becomes an official, he will not think about corruption every day." When I asked him about his family situation, I just wanted to know if he would have greed when he entered the official arena, as long as there was no greed, the future would be very broad. ”
This sounds a little reasonable, but in fact, it doesn't make sense, who said that poor people in the family will be greedy when they become officials? Who dares to say that people who wear snacks without worry have no greed when they become officials? In fact, whether there is greed has nothing to do with whether the conditions at home are good or not, the important thing is to look at personal integrity. Lao Du was really confused when he said that, and Jia Zhuangyuan was even "impressed by it" after listening to it, which was also a fool.
No wonder Ouyang Xiu commented on him: "He is a man of integrity, but his thoughts may not reach his ears." ”
As for the original Yuanyuan Liu Chang, his personality is also similar to Jia Zhuangyuan's, and he has been outspoken and outspoken all his life, adhering to principles, and his knowledge is extremely extensive, Ouyang Xiu commented on him:
"From the Six Classics, the Hundred Classics, and ancient and modern biographies, down to astronomy, geography, buddhism, numerology, floating maps, and Lao Zhuang's sayings, everything is known."