During the Northern Song Dynasty, cultural undertakings flourished, and literati and scholars emerged one after another. In this atmosphere, the royal family also attaches great importance to education, and the study of the prince is the most important, not only has a famous teacher to teach, but also chooses the world's wise prodigy to accompany the prince to read, in order to create a good environment. Song Zhenzong chose to accompany his prince yan shu and Cai Boli, both famous prodigies at that time, but the endings of the two were completely different.
They were famous for their prodigies from the beginning, but the difference was that Yan Shu officially took the imperial examination at the age of 14, did not shy away from the stage, and was given the title of Tongjinshi by Emperor Zhenzong. Subsequently, Emperor Zhenzong wanted to test him, and when he handed him the topics of poetry, endowment, and treatise, he calmly said, "I just did these topics not long ago, please ask Your Majesty to change other topics to rely on me." ”
In order to show his sincerity, he answered these questions verbally again, and Zhenzong was very happy to know that there was such an honest person, and awarded him the secretary of the province to let him study with the prince.
Cai Bojun was even younger when he arrived, and he was able to recite poems that others had just finished reading at the age of three. At the suggestion of his neighbors, his father carried him all the way to the Kyoshi to take the examination in the Juvenile Department. When the door supervisor saw his father and son look like this, he smiled and said to Cai Bojun, "You ride your father as a horse." Three-year-old Cai Bojun replied in a nonchalant manner: "Father hopes that the son will become a dragon."
As a result, Cai Bojun's wit spread throughout the capital. In the subsequent Tongzi Section, he passed the passing and slashing generals, and also won the favor of Zhenzong, and was also given the birth of Tongjinshi, and was given the title of secretary of the province and accompanied the prince to study together. At this time, Cai Boqiu was less than 4 years old, and theoretically, his intelligence was still above Yan Shu.
That is to say, in addition to some supporting roles, the prince, Yan Shu and Cai Boli formed a reading group, of which Yan Shu was the oldest and the most learned; Cai Boli was the smartest and most sleek; the prince was the laziest and least wanted to read.
When the prince was unwilling to study, Yan Shu was like a big brother, and he painstakingly advised the prince to study seriously, so that he would have the ability to inherit the unification in the future. Prince Pingsu was accustomed to hearing his teacher and father say this, and wherever he was willing to listen to Yan Shu's preaching, it was too late to hide. Although Cai Bojun was young, he was much more sleek, and the prince did not want to study and play with him, nor did he ever advise the prince, blindly pandering to the prince.
In the Southern Song Dynasty scholar Wang Mingqing's "Record of Waving The Crane" once recorded a story, the threshold in the palace is too high, the prince is still very laborious to cross the past, Cai Bo scurrying on the ground, using himself as a stepping stone, let the prince step on the past ("the prince is ordered to climb on his back"). In fact, the Song Dynasty was a time when the literati attached great importance to it, and most of the literati were also very backbone, and this kind of behavior was quite disdained by their peers.
Another time, Zhenzong asked the prince to write an article, but the prince could not write it, so he went to ask Yan Shu for help. However, Yan Shu flatly refused and did not ghostwrite for the prince. After Cai Boyu heard about it, he quickly wrote a letter to the prince. After Zhenzong checked, he found that it did not resemble the prince's writing, and he was busy asking what was going on. Yan Shu was present and answered truthfully, and the prince was scolded, and when he returned, he pointed at Yan Shu and scolded: "After I become emperor, I must kill you." Yan Shu said calmly, "You just killed me, and I don't tell lies." ”
Cai Boli not only flattered the prince, but also did not miss the opportunity to show off his cleverness in front of Zhenzong. Once Zhenzong asked him if he wanted his parents, in fact, this was also Tianzi casually asking the child. As a result, Cai Bojun thought too complicatedly, afraid that answering or not wanting to anger Long Yan, quickly and wittily replied: "The emperor is my parents." ”
The emperors of the Song Dynasty, starting from Zhenzong, were gentle and peaceful, and did not have as much hostility as other dynasties. Zhenzong was only concerned about Cai Bojun, and when he got this answer, he felt that this child was too sleek.
After the death of Emperor Zhenzong, the crown prince took the throne, and he was the later Ming Emperor Song Renzong. Cai Boyu expected that the opportunity to come out on his own had finally arrived, and Renzong had befriended him since childhood, and he would certainly not treat him badly. As a result, Emperor Renzong instead reused Yan Shu and continued to add his officials, and finally the official resided as the prime minister, and used the Privy Council to make JiaPing Zhangshi. Cai Bojun was only appointed a few insignificant petty officers.
Cai Boli was not convinced, so he went to find Renzong's theory. Renzong said to him, "When I was a child, I didn't understand things, so I hated Yan Shu. Now that I have grown up, I understand the reason, and to govern the world, I still need a righteous minister like Yan Shu, and a sleek person like you cannot be reused. ”
Cai Bojun was speechless in this remark, but he could not change himself anymore, and in the later eunuch career, Cai Bojun was a monk for a day and hit the clock for a day. He worked lazily, ran into minor disasters at both ends for three days, and asked the imperial court for favors at every turn. In view of the fact that he had feelings for the imperial family after all, after the four dynasties of Zhenzong, Renzong, Yingzong, and Zhezong, he was still allowed to be a petty official, and finally he was eighty years old and his political performance was mediocre.
At that time, people commented that from Xia Suizi, Zhou Xiangqi, Qin Ganluo, Han Zhang Peijiang, Ban Gu, Kong Rong, Cao Zhi, there were many prodigies, but there were only one person with amazing talent at the age of three, only Cai Boli, but his life was really lamentable, in fact, the Song Dynasty where he was located was the golden age of the literati.
However, Yan Shu, with his upright words and deeds and noble character, was famous in the political arena at that time, and later cultivated a large number of famous courtiers such as Fan Zhongyan, Kong Daofu, Wang Anshi, Han Qi, Fu Bi, and Ouyang Xiu, and opened up a good Northern Song Dynasty atmosphere for them. One of his sentences, "Helpless flowers fall, déjà vu swallow returns" is still sung to this day.