Su Shi was the most famous literary hero of the Song Dynasty and had an important influence in the history of the Song Dynasty. He was not only accomplished in literature, but also in politics, and had a large number of fans in later generations, known as "Su Xian". However, his life as an official was difficult and difficult, and it also made fans in later generations feel regrets, which also became an insurmountable obstacle in his life. Speaking of Su Shi's tragic official experience, it is necessary to talk about the story of him being repeatedly suppressed and excluded by his superiors, and the first of them was suppressed and excluded by Prime Minister Han Qi. Although Su Shi later agreed with Han Qi's reasoning, he seemed to feel that Han Qi was also protecting him. However, this statement still puzzled many fans of Su Shi, and always felt that Han Qi had a conspiracy and trickery in his heart.
Han Qi's suppression of Su Shi occurred during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Song, when Su Shi had just returned to Tokyo to report for duty. Because Su Shi was a young genius and famous in the world since he entered Beijing, he became the best among the young literati of the Song Dynasty and was sought after by the literary circles. Ouyang Xiu, the leader of the literary league at that time, once said that in the future, Su Shi would replace his position in the literary world. Su Shi's fame made him an object of competition among the upper class at that time, even Song Yingzong Zhao Zongshi was no exception. Zhao Zongshi had heard of Su Shi's name before he ascended the throne, and when he heard that Su Shi had returned to Tokyo, he intended to summon him to the Hanlin Academy and promote him to be a zhizhi, but his idea was strongly opposed by Han Qi, the chancellor at the time.
This story was recorded in the "Biography of Su Shi of Song" and later widely circulated in the folk. Han Qi's reason was simple, he said, "Shi Zhicai, Yuanda Instrument, he should be used by the world every day." If they are to be cultivated in the imperial court, so that the people of the world will not be afraid to surrender, and all of them want the court to use it, and then take it and use it, then everyone will have no words to say. If it is used suddenly, the people of the world may not think so, and it is enough to be tired. Judging from this passage, Han Qi's reason seems very reasonable. He first acknowledged Su Shi's talent, but dissented his qualifications. He believes that Su Shi's qualifications are too shallow, and he is suddenly promoted and reused, and he is dissented by the people of the world, which is not a good thing for Su Shi. Therefore, he suggested that he cultivate in the imperial court and gradually appoint Su Shi.
After Han Qi raised objections, Song Yingzong also said that he would appoint Su Shi as the xiuju note. Han Qi's answer was, "Notes and edicts are neighbors, and they cannot be taught." If you are not close to the pavilion, please call for a test. Han Qi's reasons were still very strong, he believed that xiuju zhu and zhizhi were official positions of the same rank and power, and could not be granted to Su Shi. He suggested that civilian positions be awarded in the pavilion and that they be recruited through examinations. Song Yingzong was worried that Su Shi would not be able to pass the exam, but Han Qi insisted that Su Shi take the exam. Later, Su Shi entered the Zhishi Museum after the examination and participated in the work of compiling the history of the country. After he heard about this from Ouyang Xiu, he once sighed, "Gong can be said to be a lover of virtue." Later scholars believe that Su Shi understood Han Qi's behavior and believed that Han Qi was protecting him.
Is this really the case, and after careful consideration, you can find many of them suspicious points. First of all, Han Qi and Song Yingzong appointed Su Shi in different ways. Song Yingzong was directly promoted to Zhizhi (知制诰) or XiuQi (修居居注), while Han Qi asked Su Shi to enter the pavilion after the examination. The nature of these two official positions was too different in nature, and Han Qi was suspected of being jealous of Xian's ability. Both zhizhi and xiuju were important official positions of the Song Dynasty, and they were necessary for the reserve chancellor. In other words, if you want to be the prime minister, you must first be one of these two officials. From this point of view, it shows how Much Song Yingzong attached importance to Su Shi. He obviously wanted to cultivate Su Shi as a reserve prime minister, and Han Qi happened to be the prime minister at that time, and Han Qi could not get rid of the suspicion of jealousy.
Zhizhi was an official position in drafting edicts, usually held by a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, which was very important in the imperial court. According to the regulations, all edicts need to be drafted by knowledge, and to put it bluntly, it is to write the holy will. Emperors often supervised and controlled the work of the chancellors of the government through positions such as zhizhi .jpg. If the chancellor's policy was at odds with that of the emperor, he could refuse to draft edicts, and the chancellor's power would be constrained. Xiu Qiju was a confidant of the emperor's side, mostly by the Hanlin Academy. Nominally a record of the emperor's daily ruling and life, in fact, the emperor's secretary can pass the prime minister of the government hall to issue edicts to the localities. Although such non-compliant edicts can be refuted locally, they also have great power.
But the suggestion given by Han Qi was too different from these two official positions, and he asked Su Shi to work as a clerical official in the pavilion, which was too ridiculous. Inside the pavilion is not only the Qingshui Gate, but also the clear ascending passage, which is a typical cold bench. Moreover, Song Yingzong asked for direct promotion and appointment, but Han Qi wanted to hold an examination. This obviously has the nature of suppressing Su Shi, not protecting Su Shi. If he wanted to protect Su Shi and think that Su Shi's qualifications were not enough, he should find a position that was slightly lower than the knowledge system and could accumulate political achievements and seniority. There were many such positions in the imperial court, such as the imperial history of the Imperial Household, the Counselor of the Imperial Court, the Judge of Kaifeng Province, and so on. Make a cold bench for Su Shi to sit on, but also have to take the exam, and if you can't kick back to the place, it is obvious that you intend to pit Su Shi.
In fact, song Yingzong saw this plan of his, so he was worried that Su Shi would not be able to pass the examination. Su Shi's literary talents are all over the world, and the jinshi and the first of the Eight Classics of Zheng'er are afraid of examinations? Obviously, Song Yingzong was not worried that Su Shi's literary talent was not enough, but that someone was obstructing him. The examinations for the selection of official posts in the imperial court were all organized by the Government Affairs Hall, and it was Han Qi himself who made the decision. If Han Qi deliberately wanted to suppress Su Shi and force him not to pass, Song Yingzong would have no way. Fortunately, Su Shi's master, Ouyang Xiu, was also a counselor of the Government Affairs Hall, so Han Qi had to give some face, and it was impossible to suppress it unreasonably. However, from the comparison of these three positions, Han Qi's arrangement for Su Shi has nothing to do with political protection, which is a typical bright rise and dark descent.
Judging from Su Shi's political achievements in the local area at that time, he was already very outstanding. He successively served as a judge of Dali and a judge of Fengxiang Province, and entered the third class in the examination of the system, which was the "first in a hundred years". Such seniority and achievements, even if you do not enter Beijing, it is enough to be the chief official of a large state capital in the local area. Moreover, in this way, he can have more opportunities to complete his political achievements, and the future is also very bright. However, under Han Qi's obstruction, Su Shi was pressed into the WenMu, and it was difficult to achieve results, and time was wasted in vain. It was not until Su Xun's death that Su Shi and his younger brother Su Rui returned to their hometown of Ding Yu, which allowed him to get rid of the embarrassing official dilemma. Judging from this historical development trend, Han Qi's suppression of Su Shi is very obvious and deliberate.
So the question is, why did Han Qi suppress Su Shi? You must know that although Su Shi is famous all over the world, he is not a big official after all, just a young man in his early twenties. He was still far from the prime minister, and he could not threaten Han Qi's position in the imperial court. To explain the above doubts, it is necessary to explain from the background of the era in which this event occurred and the political pattern of the imperial court at that time.
From the analysis of the history books, this incident occurred around the second year of Zhiping. At this time, it was not long after Emperor Yingzong of Song and Emperor Zhao Zongshi took power, and the imperial court had just opened the prelude to the controversy between the Pu and the people. In connection with this political struggle, it can be found that Zhao Zongshi's desire to appoint Su Shi as the Zhizhi Commandery has deep political intentions. This was not only to promote Su Shi, but also to solve the need to resolve the dispute between Pu Andu.
As mentioned above, the Dispute over Pu Yi was a political struggle for Zhao Zongshi's biological father, Zhao Yunrang, to gain historical status. The most fierce opposition in this struggle were the ministers of the two systems headed by Wang Jue and the ministers of the Taiwan Advisory Led by Sima Guang. They believed that Zhao Zongshi was the heir of emperor Renzong of Song and could no longer be confused with Zhao Yunrang, so they strongly opposed a series of activities to recognize political status such as giving Zhao Yunrang the title of honor.
Interestingly, the two positions that Zhao Zongshi proposed to Appoint Su Shi were among these opponents. Zhizhi (知制诰) is an important position among the ministers of the two systems, second only to the Hanlin Bachelor and the Hanlin Bachelor. In fact, many times, Hanlin Bachelor also holds the position of Zhizhi Zhen. Although xiu qi ju zhu is said to be a historical official, he often concurrently holds the duties of a royal history or a counselor, and is also in the sequence of the ministers of the Taiwan.
From the perspective of Emperor Yingzong of Song and Zhao Zongshi, the political purpose of placing Su Shi in the Zhizhi System, or the cultivation of the Living Notes, is very obvious. He just wanted to plant nails among the ministers of the two systems and the ministers of the Taiwan Advisory Who opposed the Pu Council, so that the dispute between the Pu Council could pass smoothly through the imperial court and be released to the world. He could have Su Shi as the Zhizhi Zhen to help him draft the edict of puyi, or he could have Su Shi as a xiuju note to help him bypass the two systems and directly issue the edict. Although doing so will inevitably cause the world to shake, and even chaos in the imperial court, it is also likely to achieve the results that Zhao Zongshi wants. Of course, if Su Shi really did this, he would inevitably be pointed out by thousands of people, and become an official spurned by the scholar class and the civilian official clique, which would not be a good thing for his future official path.
From this point of view, it seems that Han Qi's blocking of Su Shi from these two positions really prevented him from getting involved in the Pu discussion dispute and protected him. In fact, Han Qi's approach was not to protect Su Shi, but to love power and greed. If Su Shi helped Song Yingzong complete the Pu discussion, he must be a red man in front of Song Yingzong, and Han Qi's credit would be much less. Su Shi was a disciple of Ouyang Xiu, and Ouyang Xiu was a counselor and governor of the Government Affairs Hall. If the two join forces, it will inevitably weaken Han Qi's right to speak in the government affairs hall, and also avoid Han Qi from becoming a dominant power minister. Judging from the position of the imperial court of ZhiZhi and Xiu Qiju, these two positions themselves had the effect of restricting the power of the prime minister, and they united with the emperor, and Han Qi's prime minister had little room for free use of power.
In fact, because of the dispute between the Pu discussions, the ministers of the two systems and the ministers of the Taiwan Advisory Committee fell out with Song Yingzong, which gave Han Qi the opportunity to take power and fall to the opposition. It was precisely because Han Qi took advantage of this opportunity to squeeze out such famous ministers as Sima Guang and Wang Jue, and only then did he completely control the power of the imperial court. But such a powerful prime minister is not something that any emperor wants to see. Song Yingzong placed Su Shi in the position of ZhiZhi (知制诰) and Xiu Qiju (修居居注), also deliberately restraining Han Qi and preventing him from becoming uncontrolled after the Pu controversy. But Han Qi had not easily reached such a strong political position, and naturally he was unwilling to give up his power and accept the supervision sent by the emperor. He obstructed Song Yingzong's appointment and promotion of Su Shi in order to maximize his power and interests in the government affairs hall. As for the claim to protect Su Shi, it is nothing more than self-deception.
In addition, Song Yingzong's promotion of Su Shi also had a relatively long-term purpose, which was also very unfavorable to Han Qi. Su Shi was a jinshi in the second year of Jiayou, and this imperial examination is one of the two dragon and tiger lists in the history of ancient Chinese imperial examinations. The jinshi produced in it can be said to be the quintessence of the literati of the Song Dynasty. In addition to the Su Shi brothers, there were Zeng Gong, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Lin Xi, Wang Shao, Zeng Bu, Zhang Xuan, Zheng Yong, Liang Tao, Lü Huiqing, Zhang Wei, Zhang Zai and so on. These people are all famous ministers in the history of the Song Dynasty, and those who have served as prime ministers and deputy prime ministers abound. Since the release of the list that year, it has been decided that they are the future of the Song Dynasty's literary circle and the most elite officials in the future of the imperial court. And Su Shi, because of his outstanding literary name, became the most famous existence among this group of jinshi.
Because of the dispute over pu discussion, Zhao Zongshi fell out with the stalwarts of the imperial court at that time, and a large number of officials in the stalwart faction, represented by Lü Jie, Lü Dafang, and Fan Chunren, were demoted and released by Han Qi. As a result, a large number of vacant positions appeared in the imperial court, which was a good opportunity for Han Qi to appoint private individuals and install cronies. Zhao Zongshi's purpose in promoting Su Shi was to open the way for the promotion of Jiayou's second-year-old soldiers. Most of these jinshi were in the localities at that time, and those in Beijing were also petty officials, and they had no power. However, if they were promoted to fill the vacancies of degraded officials, this would enable the full tide of Tianzi protégés of Zhao Zongshi to effectively curb Han Qi's power. Ouyang Zhenhao was the chief examiner of Jiayou's second year, which was also very beneficial for Ouyang Xiu and Han Qi to restrain each other.
It can be said that Zhao Zongshi's promotion of Su Shi was not only a personal problem of Su Shi, but also involved various political changes before and after the Puyi controversy, which was a very important part of the political struggle. For the sake of his own power as prime minister, Han Qi went all out to obstruct and suppress Su Shi, and also to avoid his power being emptied. In fact, he offended the officials of the world in the dispute between the Pu Discussions, and became a traitor in the mouths of the scholars and the clique of civilian officials, and if he did not have this point of power and self-protection, I am afraid that the end would be very miserable. This extremely exquisite and self-interested calculation of his is very clear to the ministers of the DPRK and the CENTRAL Government, but it is not convenient to take the initiative to expose it. Ouyang Xiu revealed this matter to Su Shi in an attitude of dissatisfaction. Su Shi's lament that "Gong can be described as a lover with virtue" is also an irony and self-deprecation of Han Qi.