Wang Anshi and Su Dongpo

In Mr. Lin Yutang's "The Biography of Su Dongpo", Mr. Lin seems not to like Wang Anshi very much. In the book, he tried his best to satirize Wang Anshi's life and reforms, but he also mentioned some anecdotes. Wang Anshi studied various reasons for the formation of a word, and why a word represented by certain radicals means a certain meaning. Therefore, about fifty of Wang Anshi's etymology theories have been handed down, and they are all used as jokes after tea and wine. Many jokes between Su Dongpo and Wang Anshi are based on this etymology.

? Su Dongpo liked to use the "argument by contradiction". There is a word "jiu" in Chinese, which is a combination of "jiu" and "bird". Obviously, the word "jiu" is a phonetic sound. Wang Anshi didn't care about the principles of phonetics, but just wanted to find something interesting to talk about in terms of meaning. One day, when Su Dongpo was chatting with him, he suddenly asked Wang Anshi: "But why is the word 'dove' composed of the two characters 'jiu' and 'bird'?" Wang Anshi was speechless. Su Dongpo said: "I can tell you why. "The Book of Songs" says: 'The singing dove is in the mulberry tree, and its son is seven.' Seven little birds plus two parents, isn't it nine?"

The word "wave" is formed from "water" plus "pi", and the radical "pi" indicates the pronunciation. This word "wave" touched Wang Anshi's rich imagination. He said that "wave" is the "skin" of "water". One day Su Dongpo met him and joked to him: "If 'Bo' is the 'skin' of 'water', then 'slippery' is the 'bone' of 'water'." Wang Anshi violated the basic principles of Chinese character formation, and sometimes he split The root of a word is two, and then it is connected with another part, like the word "rich", which will really make linguists laugh and cry.

A political storm is about to start a prairie fire. This storm began with a struggle between Wang Anshi, known as "Ao Xianggong", and his opposition. Su Dongpo was naturally a victim of this movement. When Chinese people gather, they just discuss issues and then agree on a certain decision. In principle and practice, whenever there is a dispute between factions, it is customary to release the opposition from Kyoto and take up posts in other places. Even during the reigns of Renzong and Yingzong, well-known leaders in the government, such as Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, were relegated to other places, temporarily relegated to low positions, and later returned to Beijing to gain power. In this situation, one faction is in power while the other retreats.

The internal disputes in the court became more and more intense in the Song Dynasty. Wang Anshi was initially just a political advisor (deputy prime minister), but with the support of the emperor, he carried out a reform plan. There are only two main issues: one is the young crop loan law, and the other is the censor's freedom of speech. The tragedy of Wang Anshi is that he himself is neither indulgent nor corrupt, and he has no choice but to do so. Everything he did was aimed at realizing this glorious illusion. What he wants is a peaceful and prosperous country, a rich, strong and powerful country that can expand its territory to the south and north. He believed that God's will would enable the Song Dynasty to expand and develop, just like the Han and Tang dynasties, and he, Wang Anshi, was the one who fulfilled God's destiny and accomplished this great undertaking. However, in the contemplation of later generations of historians, these people who fulfilled their destiny are all a bit sentimental - they are always people trapped in ambition and unable to extricate themselves, becoming victims of their own dreams, their own The dream develops and expands, then bursts into a bubble of light and disappears into nothingness.

Wang Anshi despised all those "conventional" people. Since he was isolated and helpless, he promoted some unknown "talented and incompetent" people. These people only treated him with subservience and respect, but actually took advantage of him. To fulfill their selfish desires. The three villains with notorious misdeeds are Li Ding, Shu Yu, and Deng Wan. Li Ding concealed his mother's death and refused to report it in order to avoid resigning from office and retreated to his hometown after the funeral. This was extremely treasonous in a Confucian society. Li Dingzhi is known to future generations because he said a famous saying: "Let him laugh and scold, and I will be a good official." However, the two villainous backing figures of Wang Anshi were two extremely active, wealthy Villains with scheming talents and persuasive abilities: Zeng Bu and Lu Huiqing, especially Lu Huiqing. In the end, he wanted to take Wang Anshi's position and betrayed Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi's eight-year regime finally collapsed. It can be summed up in one sentence: "Lu Huiqing betrayed Wang Anshi, Wang Anshi betrayed the emperor, and the emperor betrayed the people.

"When Lu Huiqing used extremely despicable means to publish Wang Anshi's private letters in order to alienate him and the emperor, Wang Anshi collapsed. ? In addition, although Wang Anshi and Sima Guang had different political views and could not get along with each other, they were both sincere, pious and clean. He was never criticized for his money and personal ethics, but Ouyang Xiu was rumored to have had an affair at least in his family life.

Once, Wang Anshi's wife Wu married a concubine for her husband. When the woman came in, Wang Anshi asked in surprise: "What's going on? "

The woman replied: "My wife ordered my slave to serve the master. "

Wang Anshi asked again: "Who are you? "

The woman replied: "My husband was in charge of a ship of official wheat in the army. Unfortunately, the ship sank and all the official wheat was lost. We sold all our property and it was not enough to repay the official debt, so the slave's husband sold the slave's family to raise enough money. "

Wang Anshi asked again: "How much did you sell for? "

"Nine hundred strings. ”

Wang Anshi found her husband, ordered the woman to go back with her husband, and told her that her husband did not need to return the money.

Sima Guang had also encountered this situation, because he was forced to do so. He took a concubine. When he was young, his wife failed to give birth to a son. Sima Guang ignored her because she thought it was because of her presence. After she left home, she dressed up and went to the master's study at night. When Sima Guang saw the woman appearing in his study, he asked in surprise: "Madam is not here, how dare you come here?" Go quickly! "Then he let her leave. Both Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were interested in implementing their own policies rather than seeking a position of power, and Wang Anshi paid no attention to money. When he was prime minister, as soon as he received his salary, he handed it over to his brothers. Let them spend whatever they want.

Sima Guang was a man of rare moral wisdom and a bright mind from beginning to end. He and Wang Anshi were just incompatible with each other in terms of policy. A contemporary critic once said: "Wang Anshi must implement the New Deal before he is allowed to be the prime minister, and Sima Guang must eliminate the New Deal before he is allowed to be the Deputy Privy Envoy. "It can be seen that Wang Anshi is not as unbearable as Mr. Lin Yutang said!