Su Dongpo opposed the reform and offended the emperor by sleeping to save his life

There are two situations that can be seen in a person's mind, one is bliss and the other is extreme sadness. When you are in the paradise world, you forget everything, that is a villain. When you are extremely sad, you fall into world-weariness, that is a common generation. Su Dongpo's talent was wasted, but his luck was bad, and his life was doomed. Especially when he encountered the "Wutai Poetry Case" and was trapped in a "literary prison". He came close to extinction several times and almost died. What was Dongpo's mentality when faced with such a miserable life?

There will be no chaos wherever you go.

Not long after Su Dongpo became an official, the "Xining Reform" led by Song Shenzong and organized by Wang Anshi spread throughout the country, and he was involuntarily involved in this turbulent political storm. At that time, Dongpo was not yet a Beijing official and mostly worked at the grassroots level. He heard and saw the implementation of new laws, especially the "Green Crops Law", whose original intention was to encourage agricultural production and curb land annexation. However, in its implementation, Dongpo turned into "forced loans" and changed from "supporting the people" to "disturbing the people", causing the destruction of many peasant families, seriously damaging the interests of the people, and causing public resentment to boil. Therefore, Dongpo wrote letters to express himself. However, Song Shenzong was eager for success and would not listen to any criticism that was not conducive to the implementation of the new law. Moreover, Dongpo was a literary giant and could be called an "opinion leader." His words often become the vane of public opinion. Therefore, the censors Ding Li and Shu Shu carefully studied Dongpo's poems, and finally sniffed out what they needed from the two poems "Xie Shangbiao in Huzhou" and "Double Jubilee" in the poem "The King of Fu Xiucai Lives", and they impeached Dongpo one after another, saying that in the poem There are contents that slander the emperor and attack the new law.

In the second year of Yuanfeng, Song Shenzong decided to file the case and arranged for Taichang doctor Huangfuzun to go to Huzhou and summon Dongpo, who was the governor of Huzhou at the time. The imperial envoy has arrived. The reason has been explained. It is urgent to get on the road immediately. There were more than twenty youngest children in Dongpo's family, and they were in a panic. His wife, Wang, was in tears and looked like a building about to collapse. Seeing this, Dongpo pulled Wang aside and said to her: "Can't my son write a poem for me like my wife?" This sentence made Wang laugh. It turns out that Dongpo once told the king an allusion: When Dongfeng sealed Mount Tai, he visited hermits everywhere and met Yang Pu, a native of Qi County. While chatting, Song Zhenzong asked Yang Pu if he could write poems. Yang Pu deliberately said no, and asked if anyone had sent poems before leaving. Yang Pu said that his wife sent a poem: "Don't indulge in a glass of wine, and don't be crazy about poetry. I will arrest the generals today, and this time I will kill my old scalp." After hearing this, Song Zhenzong He laughed loudly, knowing that Yang Pu did not want to be an official, and knowing that bitter melon was not sweet, he let Yang Pu go home. Dongpo used this allusion to enlighten his wife, and finally the anxious wife burst into laughter and allowed him to continue on his way. Dongpo is not only cautious when it comes to where he wants to go, but he can also use jokes to resolve his wife's worries and anxieties, which is evident from his calmness and broad-mindedness.

Nothing to worry about.

As Ding Li and Shu Shu, who were promoted step by step through reforms, of course they could not tolerate opposition. They were very determined to kill Su Dongpo. The scholar Su Dongpo was tortured by the censor and was humiliated. It is said that when Dongpo was imprisoned, the prison officer asked him face to face whether his ancestors from five generations had any "sworn testimony". According to the regulations at the time, only death row inmates would ask if there was a "confession" within the fifth generation, while others would only ask the third generation, which shows the seriousness of Dongpo's crime. However, Song Shenzong, as the head of the Song Dynasty, felt a little disappointed when the censor continued to provide him with new evidence of "anti-poetry" and gave him more reasons to kill Dongpo. The Song Dynasty would not kill scholars without punishing doctors. This is ancestral law. He cannot kill and become a tyrant. However, Dongpo's opposition to the reform was excessive and obvious.

Whether Dongpo's attitude towards the new law was out of the overall interests of the country or out of personal interests became the key to Song Shenzong's judgment of the severity of the case. He made the decision to arrange for the eunuch to be "undercover" in prison. One day, just after dark, Dongpo fell asleep in the cell as usual. Not long after I lay down, two men pushed the door open and came in. They fell asleep without saying anything. Dongpo didn't pay attention and started snoring gradually. At four o'clock in the morning, they quietly left the prison again, and Dongpo's snoring continued as before. Later, Dongpo learned that these two people were sent by the Song Shen Sect to observe Dongpo to see if he had any ghosts in his heart. If there were ghosts in his heart, he would naturally toss and turn. If there were no ghosts in his heart, of course he would survive. The next day, Song Shenzong happily said to his ministers: "I know Su Shi has nothing to worry about!" If a person's life is at stake, he can still feel at ease and sleep soundly. Dongpo is truly a hero among men, which is one of the reasons why he was able to return to life.

It is easy to forget about revenge and become generous.

Dongpo has nothing in his heart, no worries, no regrets. After Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the court's controversy over political reforms never stopped. Over time, political reform evolved into a partisan struggle. Political reform became a crowbar for the promotion of scholar-bureaucrats. When the emperor supported the reform, the reformists gained power; when the emperor opposed political reform, the opposition gained momentum. Many rose to the top by supporting or opposing political reforms. Wang Anshi entered the court, Sima Guang came to power, Sima Guang died, Zhang Dun came to power, and so on again and again, pushing the big ship of the Northern Song Dynasty all the way and gradually declining. Although Dongpo opposed some reform proposals, he was very supportive of the policies that benefited the country and the people during the reform. He was exiled by Wang Anshi because of his different political views, but after Wang Anshi stepped down, he and Wang Anshi became best friends. His political views were similar to Sima Guang, but Sima Guang came to power and abolished all new laws, and he wrote some new laws that should not be abolished. He uses facts as the standard to judge the rights and wrongs, the merits and the shortcomings of political reforms, instead of seeking a political future by choosing sides in political reforms like others. Therefore, he does not tolerate political reformists and does not forgive the opposition. When the reformists were in power, he was squeezed out, and when the opposition was in power, he was also attacked. Therefore, he was constantly displaced and demoted throughout his life. However, no matter what the situation, he is always open-minded, optimistic and does not hold grudges. For his colleagues who once wanted to kill him, he was neither humble nor arrogant when he was in power, neither humble nor arrogant when he was in power, nor collapsed when he was in despair. He always remembered the kindness of others.

Dongpo and Zhang Dun are about the same age. He was a good friend when he was young, but lost his love because of the reform. In the first year of Shaosheng's reign, Song Zhezong appointed Zhang Dun as prime minister. As he was attacked and demoted by the opposition, Zhang Dun retaliated against the opposition while repeating the new law. He not only demolished the archway of the late Prime Minister Sima Guang and leveled the inscription dedicated to Sima Guang by the imperial court, but also mobilized the young emperor to issue an order to dig up Sima Guang's tomb and whip his body. His despicable character and cruel methods are really rare. Since Dongpo had clearly opposed the reform, he was also included in the list of opponents by Zhang Dun, and he was merciless. Therefore, Dongpo was demoted to Huizhou and served as deputy envoy of Ningyuan Military Festival. Dongpo was used to being demoted. No matter how bad the environment was, he enjoyed himself, was high-spirited, wrote great works, and wrote a lot of poems. In Huizhou, he once wrote a poem: "To repay the poet's full spring sleep, the Taoist gives five points." Seeing Zhang Dun's relegation to Dongpo was so nourishing and touched his sensitive nerves. He immediately demoted the 61-year-old Dongpo to Changhua and asked Qiongzhou to leave.

The world is unpredictable. In the first year of Fu Yuan, Song Zhezong died early and Song Huizong, the eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. The reform faction lost power again, Zhang Dun was demoted to Leizhou in Lingnan, and he also fell to the bottom of his life. Zhang Dun's son Zhang Yuan was a layman of Dongpo. He was appointed as the examiner of the Ministry of Rites and was a disciple of Dongpo. When Zhang Yuan went to Leizhou Peninsula to visit his exiled father, he wanted to take a detour to visit Dongpo, but he was worried that the teacher would remember his father's hatred. When he was uneasy, he wrote a long letter to Dongpo, expressing his apology and hoping that the teacher could forgive his father. Dongpo wrote back: "A certain person has had diplomatic relations with the Prime Minister for more than 40 years. Although the sources are slightly different, the friendship has not increased but decreased. I heard that he was sent to the corner of the sea for a long time. I knew this. But what happened in the past? What's the good thing? It's just the first thing that happened." It was as calm as water, no resentment, no hatred. Dongpo believed that "the forty-year friendship with Zhang Dun has never increased", and he even remembered Zhang Dun's warning to him. Don't forget the kindness of others, this is Dongpo's principle in life.

The Miscellaneous Records of Donggao by Sun Zongjian of the Song Dynasty recorded an interesting story. In the early years of Yuanyou, Empress Gao, who "listened to politics behind the curtain", passed the Dongpo examination as a Hanlin bachelor and became a famous scholar. It so happened that a prison officer brutally tortured him in the Wutai Shi case. Every time he saw Dongpo, he hesitated and looked ashamed. Dongpo and others have always been uneasy about this, but the other party avoided talking about it and regretted it every time. Dongpo told him a joke: a snake bit a man to death, and was hunted down by King Yan, who died according to law. The snake complained: "Although I am guilty, I am 'yellow' and can cure my illness and atone for my sins." Wang Yan pardoned the snake. Soon, the little ghost brought a cow and said that it had killed someone and deserved to die. Niu argued hard, "I have 'Huang', how many people can survive." Yan also pardoned Niu. Later, a jailer led a man and told him that he had killed someone and wanted compensation. This man learned about snakes and cows and complained that he too had "yellow" that killed him. After hearing this, King Yan was furious and said: "Snake yellow and bezoar are used as medicine. The whole world knows that you are a person. Why is there 'yellow'?" The man replied shyly: "I am not yellow, I am just a little embarrassed." When the prison officer heard this, he blushed and smiled.

Dongpo put the blame behind, made a joke and forgave his enemy.

Dongpo's official career was bumpy and he suffered a lot of blows, but he was always magnanimous and could forgive with a smile. As Lin Yutang said in Su Dongpo's biography, "Su Dongpo lived happily and fearlessly, and his life was like a breeze."