"Circle of Friends"
Wang Anshi is one of the eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, a famous politician and writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, and a representative figure of the Extravagant Faction in the poetry of the Northern Song Dynasty, the so-called Flamboyant Faction, which is a style form of Northern Song poetry, that is, the poetry is not rigid, elegant, wild, and magnificent. In addition to Wang Anshi, representative figures also include his good friend Su Shi, Su Shi's younger brother Su Rui and others.
Before Wang Anshi changed the law, his circle of friends was like this, there was Ouyang Xiu, the mentor who recommended himself and Su Shi, Zeng Gong, who was "small", and Su Shi, a friend with similar interests.
Among the six people of the Song Dynasty, they should all be good friends of Wang Anshi, although the history books do not clearly record the relationship between Su Xun and Su Rui and Wang Anshi, but the author speculates that due to the existence of Su Shi, the three people meeting is a common thing, and there should be some friendship.
In fact, in addition to these big literary heroes with heads and faces, Wang Anshi had other friends.
Han Lu's confidant
Before Wang Anshi was founded, the Han and Lü families of the Song Dynasty were already famous and prestigious families, the representative of the Han family was Han Yi, and the representative of the Lü family was the discredited prime minister Lü Yijian. It is said that Lü Yijian's reputation is mixed, mostly because of the controversy over foreign wars and the suppression of the "Qingli New Deal" represented by Fan Zhongyan, and there is a suspicion of installing his own people and forming parties for personal gain.
Let's say that Wang Dan, the father-in-law of Han Yi of the Han family, was the prime minister of Song Zhenzong, and he was an official who participated in political affairs and handled things decisively, and he had a high emotional intelligence, a deep calculation, and a famous minister in the early Song Dynasty. Han Yi's third son, Han Dai, was also the prime minister, and in short, the old Han family was also quite powerful.
As for the old Lu family, not to mention, the family is only rich in prime ministers. In the "History of song and biography", it is recorded: "The Lü clan is more in charge of the state, the three generations and four people, the prosperity of the family, but it is not there." That is to say, Lü Mengzheng, Lü Yijian, and Lü Gong, all three generations are famous. Lü Yijian presided over Zhongshu Province for twenty years, and was the longest-serving Zaifu since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In 1042, the 64-year-old Lü Yijian suddenly fell ill, and Song Renzong heard the ancients say that beards can cure diseases, so he cut off his beard and sent it to Lü Yijian. Later, whenever Lü Yijian's condition improved slightly, the emperor asked him to go to Zhongshu once every few days to adjudicate military.
Wang Anshi is so clever, when the prodigy of the world, when he followed his father back to his hometown to visit his relatives, he met the first major "prodigy" of the Northern Song Dynasty, and also the protagonist of Wang Anshi's "Wounded Zhongyong", Fang Zhongyong, so Wang Anshi asked Fang Zhongyong to make several poems, and Wang Anshi said "It's over" after reading it. Don't forget that Wang Anshi has the same skill as Feng Yu (Huang Rong's mother), so it is normal that Fang Zhongyong cannot enter his magic eye.
After Wang Anshi grew up, he knew that if he wanted to make a fortune, he would have to rely on people's recommendation, that is to say, he must first improve the style of his circle of friends, so he began to make friends with the children of officials and eunuchs. The Han and Lü families are the best candidates for the famous family.
So Wang Anshi met through a divine operation, the two brothers Han Dai and Han Wei, and Lü Yijian's son Lü Gongzhuo. Then he began to export his political ambitions and grand blueprints, saying that the sky was falling and the moon was dark, and the Han brothers and Lü Gongzhuo, who had been "brainwashed", began to desperately recommend Wang Anshi.
Song Shenzong had not yet succeeded to the throne, when he was the King of Ying, at this time Han Wei was the "chief of staff" of the Ying King, so he proposed political views to Zhao Yan (xu) every three forks and five minutes, and Zhao Yu listened, yes, boy, you have an opinion, but Han Wei immediately said at this time, This is not my opinion, this is the proposition of my good friend Wang Anshi.
Part company with
There are good brothers like Han Wei who chew the root of the ear every day before the next emperor's ear, can this not make Song Shenzong yearn for Wang Anshi, as soon as he takes office, the good days of Wang Anshi will come, all the way to promotion, the official position of prime minister, one person under ten thousand people.
However, with the advancement of Wang Anshi's transformation of the law, more and more drawbacks were exposed, and Han Wei finally parted ways with Wang Anshi, and once everyone said that "Wang Anshi is my good brother" Han Wei was directly blasted out of the capital.
Wang Anshi's teacher Ouyang Xiu sent an envoy to the Khitans, and the Khitan monarch asked him who was a scholar of character and excellence in the Great Song Dynasty, and Ouyang Xiu first recommended Lü Gong's writings. Even Sima Guang, the first person to smash the cylinder, admired Lü Gongzhu very much and was also a good friend with him. Wang Anshi once praised it in this way: "Bo debates and rhetoric, people dare not be and profane, and the public works alone with their fine knowledge and obedience." Even the prodigy Fang Zhongyong and Wang Anshi had never put it in their eyes, which could be imagined.
Lü Gongzhu was not only a man of good learning and good character, but also accurate in his view of people, and he could see at a glance that Wang Anshi's general Lü Huiqing was not a good person, and later Wang Anshi's encounter was indeed the same, and thanks to his friend Han Dai, he was saved from disaster. However, Wang Anshi, who was in the limelight, not only did not thank Lü Gongzhuo, but also demeaned Lü Gongzhuo. After Lü Gongzhu was degraded, he saw the "enslavement" of the common people by the New Deal, so he repeatedly wrote to Wang Anshi about his mistakes, and finally he and Wang Anshi were also strangers.
As for Zeng Gong, he was once Wang Anshi's confidant, because Zeng Gong introduced Wang Anshi to his teacher Ouyang Xiu, which gave Wang Anshi another career path to get ahead. However, Zeng Gong eventually became estranged from Wang Anshi.
Song Shenzong, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Su Shi, Zeng Gong, as well as what we call the Han brothers, Lü Gongzhuo and others, almost all broke with Wang Anshi because of the new law, so in the end, their former friends all took Wang Anshi and blocked Wang Anshi's circle of friends.
Throughout Wang Anshi's vast majority of his friends and confidants, they had high hopes for Wang Anshi, but in the end they experienced disappointment and even despair. It is estimated that they will finally lament the first half of the sentence that Su Dongpo and Wang Anshi hated each other - they hated that Anshi was not right.