In the second year of Chongning in the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Zhe became a doctor in Taizhong and entered the official career. In the first month of the second year, he moved to Yingchuan, which is now Yuzhou, Henan.
Many years ago, Su Zhe bought a field and built a house there, and after retiring, he was ready to spend the rest of his life there.
In March of the third year of Chongning, Su Zhe, who was studying in the newly built old man's house, looked up from a distance by chance, and actually saw his nephew Su Guo, that is, Su Shi's third son, walking towards the door with a big bag on his back.
Since his brother Su Shi died three years ago, he and this very beloved nephew have not seen each other for a long time.
He excitedly invited Su Guo into the house, served tea, and then chatted, of course.
Su Zhe and Su Guo naturally talked about Su Shi's relics during the chat, and the relics were brought over by Su Guo completely, and just as they were sorting them out, suddenly a neatly written poem appeared in front of Su Zhe.
Zhang Fangping and Su Zhe
What kind of poem? It is a poem given to him by Zhang Fangping when Su Zhe left the capital after the Wutai poetry case, because he was with Su Shi, and later this poem was collected by Su Shi.
Looking at Zhang Fangping's handwriting more than 20 years ago, thinking that it had been thirteen years since Zhang Fangping's death, Su Zhe suddenly let go of his grief. After a long time, Su Zhe's mood eased a little.
He wrote the following poem word by word: I knew Chengdu Yin when I was a teenager, and I was still a guest at the middle age. Treat me as a son of Xu in Jiangxi, and I will be a confidant all my life.
This poem almost reviews the experience of interacting with Zhang Fangping in his life, and from the last sentence of his life, Su Zhe has extremely deep feelings for Zhang Fangping and regards him as the best confidant and friend in his life.
The first sentence of the young man knew Chengdu Yin, which was to recall the first time he visited Zhang Fangping in Chengdu.
In fact, in the introduction to the poem, Su Zhe said that he and his father Su Xun (1009-1066) and brother Su Shi met Zhang Fangping, who was the governor of Yizhou in Chengdu at that time.
Zhang Fangping is actually only two years older than Su Xun, he is Andao, and in his later years, he called himself a Lequan layman.
His ancestral home is probably Yingtianfu (now Shangqiu, Henan), and he later moved to Yangzhou.
He served in the three dynasties of Song Renzong, Song Yingzong, and Song Shenzong, and in his more than 40 years of officialdom career, although there were ups and downs, but on the whole, he was reused. The prestige in the imperial court is relatively high, and he is known as a famous minister.
The two met and got to know each other
Zhang Fangping was appointed as the governor of Yizhou in the second year of Zhihe (1055), and his residence was in Chengdu.
Of course, Su Xun knew that the talents of his two sons were already quite competitive, but he also knew deeply that no matter how talented a young man was, if he stayed in a small place like Meishan for a long time, he could only get to know some masters in Sichuan, and his vision would be very limited.
So Su Xun took Su Shi and Su Zhe to prepare to go to Beijing, and visited heroes and masters from all over the world along the way.
At that time, Zhang Fangping was already a well-known minister of the imperial court, and he was the person they wanted to meet.
Zhang Fangping was also very happy to see Su Xun and his son.
Su Xun knew that Zhang Fangping was famous and knew people accurately, so he showed Zhang Fangping's articles on his two sons and asked Zhang Fangping for advice.
After a while, Zhang Fangping explained to Su Xun the true level of the two, and suggested that they take a long-term view, and said that the level of both of them was at the level of "national warriors".
The so-called national warrior is the best person in the country.
This countryman was Zhang Fangping's original words at that time, and Su Zhe was not only deeply inspired, but also remembered these two words vividly decades later.
In the introduction to this poem, he said: When I saw the promise of the countryman, I made a deed of forgetting the year.
Zhang Fangping even bluntly explained to Su Xun in private: Su Xun's sons are very good, the eldest Su Shi is smart and free, and the second Su Zhe is cautious and steady, and the achievements of the second child may still be above the boss in the future.
It can be seen that although Zhang Fangping admires Su Shi and Su Zhe brothers, he appreciates Su Zhe a little more.
Zhang Fangping not only praised verbally, but also began to promote Su Zhe and Su Shi to their careers with actions.
He wrote a letter of recommendation to Ouyang Xiu, who was the right to pay tribute at that time, and Ouyang Xiu also admired Su Zhe and Su Shi very much, and of course everyone guessed it.
Sure enough, in the second year of Jiayou, Su Zhe successfully passed the provincial examination, and Ouyang Xiu became his prefect.
In March of this year, Su Zhe and his brother Su Shi were both Jinshi and first, Su Shi was sixth, and Su Zhe was fifteenth.
The achievement of this fame made Su Zhe deeply feel Zhang Fangping's strength. In a poem he wrote later, he said: "In the midst of all people, take care of my good color." A sense of rampant encounter, meet the Dengshi nationality.
Among the many people who met Zhang Fangping, Zhang Fangping only appreciated himself, and being rampant actually meant to be very excited, because of this kind of acquaintance and appreciation, so Su Zhe met Dengshi, whether this understanding is reasonable or not, but at least Su Zhe's gratitude to Zhang Fangping can be seen.
This is the text written after 16 years of knowing Zhang Fangping. It can be seen that this kind of gratitude has always been cherished in Su Zhe's heart.
Now we understand that Su Zhe knows Chengdu Yin as a young man, and these seven words contain too much luck and gratitude.
We skipped the time more than ten years at once, in the second year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, Su Zhe returned to the capital after the three-year mourning period of his father Su Xun.
What was the situation of the imperial court at this time? Wang Anshi, with the support of Song Shenzong, was vigorously carrying out the Xining reform.
Su Zhe has a quiet personality and likes to think more about everything, after he understood the content of Wang Anshi's reforms, he had different opinions on the financial reforms, so he wrote to Song Shenzong, directly expressing his opposition to it.
Song Shenzong gave him the opportunity to be responsible for reviewing and promulgating the law change regulations.
Su Zhe felt that this was a great trust in himself, and he was conscientious and conscientious to repay Song Shenzong's trust.
But his opinion on the implementation of the Qingmiao Law is very different from Wang Anshi's, and I will not expand on this.
To put it simply, he believes that Wang Anshi's Qingmiao Law seems to be using state finance to subsidize the people's temporary economic difficulties, but in fact, it has increased the burden on the people, especially when natural disasters continued and the people could not afford to repay the national debt after the autumn.
But Wang Anshi is a person with a strong personality, where can he listen to Su Zhe's opinions, so he forcibly implements the Qingmiao Law.
On the whole, Wang Anshi's reform was almost unconditionally supported by Song Shenzong.
The result can be imagined, Su Zhe, who returned to the capital for less than half a year, was demoted to Henan Governor.
This is definitely a big blow to the ambitious Su Zhe.
In the second year, Song Shenzong appointed Su Zhe as the pilot examination officer of Zhongshu Province, which was an idle official, Su Zhe was unwilling to take office, and it was not good if he did not take office.
When Su Zhe was in trouble, Zhang Fangping was appointed as the governor of Chenzhou, and Zhang Fangping immediately wrote to the imperial court to ask Su Zhe to be a professor in Chenzhou, that is, a scholar in Chenzhou, responsible for local culture and education.
In the middle, Zhang Fangping and Su Zhe Shixu went around and around, and we jumped over the past few years.
In the ninth year of Xining, Wang Anshi was deposed from the throne in this year, and Su Zhe's three-year term in Qizhou expired and he returned to the capital.
He thought that he had opposed Wang Anshi before, so he was relegated to the locality.
Now it's different, Wang Anshi has been dismissed, is there a chance for him to make a comeback? The answer is that he didn't come.
A striking evidence is that in the second year, Su Zhe was only appointed as a writer Zuolang, which was another idle official of the eighth grade.
You must know that this Su Zhe is a person who wants to do things, and if you get some idle officials to do it for him, it is tantamount to punishing him.
When Su Zhe was in a dilemma, Zhang Fangping, who was then the prefect of Yingtianfu (Shangqiu, Henan), took him another hand and immediately recommended Su Zhe to be the judge of Yingtianfu.
They have cooperated in Yingtianfu for three years, and of course, they cooperate seamlessly, and their friendship is also deeper.
Why do I talk about these two experiences, because this is the meaning of the sentence in Su Zhe's poem that the middle-aged man is still the guest under the curtain.
In the second year of Yuanfeng, seventy-two-year-old Zhang Fangping only thought about one thing, that is, retirement.
Of course, Song Shenzong first wanted to keep it, and if he couldn't keep it, he could only agree.
A person has retired, as usual, he has to write a thank you sheet, and Zhang Fangping's thank you form is also written by Su Zhe, which shows how much Zhang Fangping trusts Su Zhe.
But in the year of Zhang Fangping's retirement, the famous Wutai poetry case in history occurred, because Su Shi made a lot of remarks criticizing the new law during Wang Anshi's reform of the law, and Su Shi, who was transferred to Huzhou that year, was amplified by his opponents in the Xie Table, resulting in Su Shi being arrested and imprisoned in the capital.
Song Shenzong was furious for a while and almost wanted to kill Su Shi. Later, under the intercession of many people, Su Shi was lucky to stay alive.
Su Zhe and Su Shi have a deep brotherhood, what can he do for Su Shi? He wrote to Song Shenzong, and he was willing to remove the official position he had worked hard for decades to the imperial court in exchange for Su Shi's immortality. As a result, Su Zhe was demoted to supervise the salt and liquor tax in Yunzhou.
At the beginning of the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), Su Shi first went to Huangzhou to train as the deputy envoy, and then Su Zhe also went to Yunzhou (now Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province).
On this day, Su Zhe came to Zhang Fangping's house to say goodbye, and had known each other for so many years, Su Zhe faced Zhang Fangping, who was also a teacher and friend in his seventies, of course, he had mixed feelings, and Zhang Fangping was even more reluctant, for so many years, working with Su Zhe, in fact, he had formed a sense of dependence on Su Zhe, which was not only at work, but also spiritual.
When the two were drinking, Zhang Fangping instructed his family to take a pen and paper and write a poem to Su Zhe: Poor Pingjiao floater, sighing that the gourd is old and sick. Since then, I have been fasting and hanging on the dust couch, and I don't know who to be treated again.
The first sentence lamented that Su Zhe had been adrift for so many years, just like duckweed and broken stems, he couldn't take root or stabilize.
Zhang Fangping couldn't be clearer about what happened to Su Zhe, and he felt that a "national soldier" like Su Zhe should be respected and reused like a national soldier, but the result was the opposite.
And what about himself? Once Su Zhe traveled far away, he was like a gourd (a kind of gourd), alone on one side, and at the age of seventy-three, he was not only old, but also sick, how could he withstand such a sad parting? The third sentence is an allusion.
According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Xu Ji", when Chen Fan was the Taishou, he generally did not receive guests in the place of work, but when he knew that Xu Ji was coming, he specially set up a couch, the so-called couch, which is a kind of furniture for sitting in a narrow and short way.
When Xu Ji left, he put the couch away again.
What is this called?
Xu Ji sometimes doesn't come for a long time. And the dust covered the couch.
Therefore, there is the word dusty couch, which is a metaphor for the courtesy of special preferential treatment and respect for guests and wise men.
Now Zhang Fangping said, you Su Zhe is going to Yunzhou, and my couch can only be hung up, and it will slowly become a dust couch.
Do you feel that Zhang Fangping has special courtesy and appreciation for Su Zhe.
But the more courtesy and appreciation, the more sad and lonely Zhang Fangping felt about Su Zhe's long trip.
In the last sentence, Zhang Fangping said, you are gone, I don't know when I will be interested in sweeping up the dust on the couch and welcoming which guests.
Zhang Fangping's meaning is actually very clear, from now on, I don't have a friend who can talk to each other without emotion.
Obviously, Zhang Fangping's dazed attitude after Su Zhe left had already expected it.
Zhang Fangping finished writing this poem, probably really emotional, and actually wrote it with tears.
Later, when Su Shi learned about this, he said that he was sighing, this was the first time he knew that Zhang Fangping would also cry.
Now we can look at the two sentences in Su Zhe's poem, "Treat me as a son of Xu Ruzi in Jiangxi, and confidant and confidant in my life".
Xu Ruzi is Xu Ji, a famous man in the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was recruited by the government many times, and did not go to the call, he was frugal and righteous, indifferent and ambitious, and was considered a moral master at that time.
Su Zhe means that you Zhang Fangping is like Chen Fan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, treating me as Xu Ji.
This is your kindness and trust in me.
With Zhang Fangping's poems, Su Zhe went on the road to Yunzhou, and on the way he went to Huangzhou to visit his brother Su Shi, told Su Shi the story of this poem, and also left the ink of this poem in Huangzhou.
More than ten years after Zhang Fangping's death, and a few years after his brother Su Shi also died, he saw the poem written by Zhang Fangping again from the relics of Su Shi brought by his nephew Su Guo.
Zhang Fangping's rare crying back then, and Su Zhe's crying now, the deep friendship between the two people is vividly expressed.
Back then, Zhang Fangping cried bitterly for the injustice of the countryman, and Su Zhe cried for Zhang Fangping's support and care for him.
In the sixth year of Yuan You, Su Zhe took up the post of Hanlin bachelor and came to the capital from Hangzhou.
Previously, Su Zhe had always asked for an external appointment because of his incompatibility with the court magnates.
Soon after Su Shi arrived, he fell into political struggle again, so it didn't take long for him to go to Yingzhou to be the governor.
At the end of November of this year, 84-year-old Zhang Fangping felt as if he was quickly approaching the end of his life.
On this day, he summoned his family to his side and told him carefully, showing his family that he was most concerned about the two brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe. After finishing speaking, Zhang Fangping gasped, and from then on, he never said a word until he died the next day.
After Su Zhe learned of Zhang Fangping's death, although he knew that Zhang Fangping had told his children and grandchildren not to ask for a nickname from the imperial court for him, Su Zhe felt that an important minister of the state like Zhang Fangping could not have a nickname?
In Su Zhe's view, this is completely the obligation of a friend and a surviving person.
Then Su Zhe wrote "Sacrifice to Zhang Gongbaowen" with deep affection, on the one hand, recalling the process of acquaintance and intersection with Zhang Fangping, and on the other hand, he also praised Zhang Fangping's political wisdom and moral sentiments.
wrote this love and prose memorial text, Su Zhe felt that he still had a lot to say in his heart, so he wrote three more elegiacs, praising Zhang Fangping Dao Guangzhong without competition, talent and high governance (one of the three elegiac poems of "Gift Sikong Zhang Gong'an Dao Elegy"), lonely high birth of the world, heroic immortal ("Gift Sikong Zhang Gong'an Dao Elegy Three Songs" two), Zhang Fangping's extraordinary talent, high character and learning, heroic temperament and character, have made a good evaluation.
At the same time, I know me with one word, who knows it for a long time (the third of "Three Elegies for Gift Sikong Zhang Gong'andao"), expressing Zhang Fangping's love at first sight, from the strong appreciation of the first meeting to the memory of the dying, this love is so lasting, so stable, so powerful, so evocative.
Zhang Fangping was born in 1007 and Su Zhe was born in 1039, a difference of thirty-two years.
Su Zhe said that he and Su Shi met Zhang Fangping for the first time, and Zhang Fangping regarded the two brothers as friends, which is what Su Zhe said "the deed of forgetting the year", which we now call the New Year's friendship. Friendships can often transcend age gaps.
In Zhang Fangping's later years, Su Shi took the initiative to help Zhang Fangping sort out the anthology, and compiled the "Complete Collection of Music", and wrote a preface, in the preface, Su Shi has always regarded himself as a protégé.
After Zhang Fangping read the preface, he was unhappy, thinking that the relationship between the two was not that of a teacher and a student, and that he had reached the point of forgetting the New Year.
Zhang Fangping never regarded Su Zhe as his disciple, but a confidant who was thirty-seven years younger than him but had a common heart.
A friendship that spans 37 years old, a friendship that lasts for nearly 40 years, leaves a moving story in every link, one is devoted to it, and the other is full of respect.
"Treat me Jiangxi Xu Ruzi, a lifelong confidant. ”
Su Zhe's feelings, gratitude and gratitude are all condensed in these two short poems.
In this relationship of teacher and friend, in the Northern Song Dynasty, where the political struggle was extremely fierce, their friendship transcended the relationship of interests, and became so pure, and because of the purity, it became so beautiful, so fascinating.
"A lifelong confidant", I always feel that because of Zhang Fangping, Su Zhe has become a lucky and happy person.