The story of Ouyang Xiu being demoted to Yiling

The story of Ouyang Xiu being demoted to Yiling

Ouyang Xiu was lonely when he was a child. His father died when he was four years old. , this is the origin of the story of "Drawing Di on the Beach". From taking part in the provincial examination in the autumn of the first year of Tiansheng's reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty to obtaining Jinshi in the spring of the eighth year of Tiansheng's reign, the 24-year-old Ouyang Xiu finally obtained the qualification of "civil servant" after a long "eight years of resistance war" and was transferred to Xijing (today's Luoyang, Henan) as a promotion official. The official position is mainly to assist the left-behind commander in interrogating criminals and other matters.

In the first year of Jingyou of Renzong of the Song Dynasty (AD 1034), 28-year-old Ouyang Xiu went to Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, to serve as an official after "one recommendation and two examinations". The pavilion is actually the proofreading library of the bachelor's college.

The year before Ouyang Xiu took office, Ouyang Xiu wrote a personal letter to Fan Zhongyan called "Shangfan Si Remonstrance Letter" which was suspected to be a sign of flattering the central leadership and implicitly reaching out for officials.

Fan Zhongyan "rarely has any major points" and often recited to himself: "A scholar should worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness!". That year, Fan Zhongyan was promoted to admonishment officer, which is equivalent to the current director of the Central Supervision Bureau or secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. "Although the admonishment officer is humble, he is equal to the prime minister." Although he is a small official, he has great responsibilities, which shows that the admonishment officer's position is very important. Ouyang Xiu was sincerely happy that Fan Zhongyan, a talented and virtuous person with a high reputation among scholars, was promoted to an admonishment officer, so he wrote this letter to congratulate him.

Fan Zhongyan was very happy after reading Ouyang Xiu's letter. From then on, the two of them kept exchanging letters and became close friends, and were ridiculed as "cronies" by the opposition. However, Fan Zhongyan did not promote Ouyang Xiu based on this relationship. In the first year of Emperor Kangding of Song Dynasty (AD 1041), Fan Zhongyan, who was the transfer envoy to the capital of Shaanxi Province, only promoted Ouyang Xiu as "Secretary of Economic Affairs" and hired him to write military official documents. He was just an official, so Ouyang Xiu immediately declined politely because his mother was seriously ill.

Although Ouyang Xiu was not recommended and reused by Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu respected Fan Zhongyan very much and worked in harmony with Fan Zhongyan. In "Shangdu Zhongcheng's Book on the Promotion of Officials", Ouyang Xiu stated that regarding the appointment and dismissal of officials, "Although the superior is good but the person is unworthy, he should be dismissed; even if the superior is evil but the person is virtuous, then he should be promoted and promoted." This view of employment echoes the ideas put forward by Fan Zhongyan in "Emperors Love Shang" and "Selecting Talents and Appointing Talents". However, Fan Zhongyan's idea of ??punishing corrupt officials was criticized by Lu Yijian, the prime minister of the dynasty. Lu Yijian threatened to resign and sued Fan Zhongyan for overstepping his duties, recommending cronies, and alienating the monarch and his ministers. Fan Zhongyan was demoted to Raozhou.

Fan Zhongyan was demoted on unfounded charges. However, the admonisher Gao Ruona, whose duty was to regulate the pros and cons of the government, spoke behind Fan Zhongyan's back and deserved to be demoted. After hearing Gao Ruona's defense, Ouyang Xiu became more and more angry and made an impassioned speech, writing the article "A Letter of Remonstrance to Gao Si".

Ouyang Xiu "was extremely angry and blamed him" and said: "Is Fan Zhongyan really unworthy? Then, as an admonisher, why did you, Gao Ruona, not tell the difference when he was promoted and used? He is not worthy. Now that he has been demoted, how can you say sarcastic words behind his back? If he is a talented person, then today the emperor and the prime minister are expelling him on unfounded charges, so you have the responsibility to stand up and speak for Fan Zhongyan." That is to say, Fan Zhongyan did not dare to be virtuous and unvirtuous, and even you, Gao Ruona, could not escape the blame. Remonstrators like this who "no longer know that there are shameful things in the world" and "don't speak up in their positions" should get out.

Ouyang Xiu's righteous and impassioned letter made Gao Ruona furious. After reading it, he immediately delivered the letter to the court and said that Ouyang Xiu was attacking the emperor. So the emperor issued an edict to expel Ouyang Xiu from the court and demoted him to be the county magistrate of Yiling (now Yichang, Hubei). This was May in the third year of Jingyou's reign (AD 1036), the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. Ouyang Xiu was 30 years old.

Regarding this demotion, Ouyang Xiu was not only expected, but also unexpected. Therefore, he was very painful in his heart. Originally, it was only 1,600 miles to reach Yiling by dry road, but Ouyang Xiu took the water route instead, went upstream, made a big circle, detoured for more than 5,590 miles, and walked for more than five months. Just arrived at Yiling.

Someone asked Ouyang Xiu: "Your local governance policies are loose and concise, but you never procrastinate in doing things. Why is this?" Ouyang Xiu replied: "If you use verticality to be broad and abbreviation to be simple, then political affairs will be neglected. And the people suffer from its disadvantages. What I call lenient is not to be impatient; simplicity is not to be complicated. "Loose is to not be harsh and arbitrary; concise is to not be complicated and trivial." This is Ouyang Xiu's definition of "Kan Jian", and it is also the code of conduct for Ouyang Xiu's life. Zhu Xi commented on him: "On the third or fifth day of the Duke's reign, things have been reduced from ten to fifty-six; after one or two months, the official office is as quiet as a monk's house." In other words, every time Ouyang Xiu went to an official place, he would only be there for three or five days. The number of troublemakers was reduced by nearly half. After a month or two, the government was like a temple, no one was making trouble, and it was very quiet. Therefore, when Ouyang Xiu was a local official, he "didn't see any traces of governance, didn't seek reputation, and only wanted to be lenient and not disturb, so he went to the people's convenience and where he went, the people thought about it."

Second, the ancient Chinese theory of "Words of Faith" is explored.

The so-called "Words of Faith" means that the content of the article must be true, the language must be literary, and the Unity of content and form. However, this basic creative theory only rose to the theoretical level after Ouyang Xiu came to work in Yiling.

Ouyang Xiu has liked articles with real content since he was a child. When he was 10 years old, little Ouyang Xiu went to a friend's house to play and accidentally picked up a broken "Collected Works of Changli" in a bamboo basket. I "read it with admiration" and must "pursue and merge it". Therefore, Ouyang Xiu regarded Han Yu's "Ming Dao Zhi Yong" as a classic, emphasized the decisive role of "Dao" in literature, and advocated that "Tao wins over literature". Therefore, when the flashy literary style of "Xi Kun Style" was used as the standard for imperial examinations at that time, Ouyang Xiu, a literary genius who was "extraordinarily perceptive at a young age, could read into recitations frequently, reach the crown, and have a majestic voice", was in the Song Dynasty. Renzong failed in the provincial examination in the first year of Tiansheng, and failed in the rites examination in the fifth year of Tiansheng, so he had to "tutorial" Xikun style and became his teacher under the famous Xikun style master Hanyang Zhijun Xuyan (his first father-in-law). He was able to pass the exam in the eighth year of Tiansheng (AD 1030). Ouyang Xiu, who was deeply hurt by writing without "Tao", strongly advocated ancient prose after passing the exam. When he came to Yiling, Ouyang Xiu was "be careful not to write about the relationship between relatives and friends." ”, pay more attention to and understand real life.

Yiling is located in a remote place, but Ouyang Xiu, who "became famous all over the world for his articles" in Xijing, despite being demoted, is still admired by students from all over the country. Many people visit him and write letters asking for advice. There is an endless stream of students. There is a joke poem that says: "The poets boarded a boat together to visit Ouyang Xiu; Xiu already knows you, but you don't know Xiu yet (ashamed)." It describes the grand occasion of "visiting" at that time.

Ouyang Xiu had a humble attitude and answered all questions. In this process of "mutual teaching and learning", Ouyang Xiu conducted an in-depth and systematic exploration of the theoretical system of ancient Chinese prose.

In his reply to Wu Xiucai from Fujian Province, Ouyang Xiu proposed that articles should have a social nature. He believes that "the winner of the Tao and the text are not difficult to achieve". The author does not care about the people's livelihood, the rise and fall of the country, and does not leave the study all day long. He is only obsessed with the refinement of words, and "the harder he works, the more diligent he becomes, but the less he succeeds."

In his reply to Henan Ancestor Natural Selection, Ouyang Xiu proposed that articles should be ideological. He believes that "if you don't learn from a teacher, you will be inconsistent; if you don't discuss extensively, you will have nothing to invent and explore deeply" and "a scholar should be a teacher." We must deepen the ideological connotation of creation under the guidance of teachers, in discussions with friends, and in the classics of sages.

In reply to the letter from Hubei Le Xiucai, Ouyang Xiu proposed that articles are related to personal morality. Ouyang Xiu said frankly that in his life, he had experienced two attitudes towards life: "Being greedy for salary and official position to support relatives" and "Being humiliated after learning". He put forward two opposing attitudes towards life and writing, namely, "taking advantage of the times" and "being outstanding and self-reliant". If you are just satisfied with "taking honor in the world", "it is nothing more than going with the times"; if you aspire to "be on par with the men of the Han Dynasty", that is a different matter.

Ouyang Xiu’s theories on emphasizing "Tao" in articles played an important role in correcting the "Xikun Style" writing style at that time, but his comrade Shi Jie, who was also anti-"Xikun Style", went to another direction. At one extreme, he created the "Tai Xue style" with "weird discussions and secluded language". From the fourth year of Qingli reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty to the second year of Emperor Renzong's Jiayou reign of Song Dynasty, it became a popular examination-oriented writing style in schools and examination halls. At that time, there was a Taixue student named Liu Ji, who was also from Jiangxi and was one of the best in Taixue. During the tribute examination in the second year of Jiayou's reign, he wrote an article that was so bizarre that it was difficult to read. The last few sentences read: " "Heaven and earth rotate, all things thrive, and saints emerge." But he used three weird words in a row. Ouyang Xiuyue followed up by saying, "A scholar thorns, an examiner brushes". In other words, "the scholar's article is too mysterious and the examiner will not accept it."

Ouyang Xiu clearly pointed out in "The Preface to the Collection of the Privy Master Qiuxian": "Words without writing will not go far." "Belief in words and words can be reflected in future generations." The theory of ancient Chinese writing of "Shixinwen" was finally confirmed after Ouyang Xiuzhi's tribute examination in the second year of Jiayou reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. ;