Compared with Wang Anshi, Yan Shu, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and other people who have shone brightly in politics and the court, although Ouyang Xiu is also above the court, more of his achievements are remembered by later generations.
It exists in recommenders and achievements in literature and poetry.
In the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Ouyang Guan passed away. At the age of 4, Ouyang Xiu and his mother Zheng were dependent on each other. They went to Suizhou, Hubei to join Ouyang Xiu's uncle Ouyang Ye. Ouyang Ye served as an official in Suizhou for 25 years and was an upright man, especially incorruptible.
She was self-reliant and had an important influence on the young Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Ye's family was not very wealthy. Fortunately, Zheng was born in a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River. She was knowledgeable and well-educated, and she was an educated lady. She used reed stalks as pens
) taught Ouyang Xiu to read and write on the sand (painting Di to teach his son). Ouyang Ye also showed concern from time to time, and finally did not let Ouyang Xiu lose his basic education in childhood.
When Ouyang Xiu was ten years old, he got six volumes of "Collected Works of Mr. Chang Li" by Han Yu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, from the family of Li family in Suizhou. He loved his articles so much that he couldn't put them down. This sowed the seeds for the future innovation movement in poetry and prose.
Ouyang Xiu's road to the imperial examination was bumpy. In the first year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Song Dynasty, he failed to pass the examination at the age of 17. He tried again in the fourth year of Tiansheng's reign and failed again. He unexpectedly failed in the imperial examination twice.
At the age of 22, Ouyang Xiu followed Xu Yan, who knew Hanyang's army, to the capital. In the spring of the seventh year of Tiansheng, Xu Yan recommended Ouyang Xiu to take the imperial examination in the Imperial College of Kaifeng Prefecture.
He won first place in both the Guangwen Guanzhi and Chinese Studies Explanation tests, and became the Yuan of Prison and Xie Yuan. He also won the first place in the Provincial Examination of the Ministry of Rites the following year and became the Yuan of Province.
In the eighth year of Tiansheng's reign, Ouyang Xiu participated in the imperial examination hosted by Renzong and held in Chongzheng Hall. He ranked 14th in the singing section and passed the Jinshi. According to the later recollections of Yan Shu, the examiner at the time who was from Ouyang Xiu's hometown, he failed to win the first prize mainly because he was too sharp.
Exposed, all the examiners wanted to dampen his spirit and promote his talent.
Although he did not win the first prize, Ouyang Xiu also obtained a good ranking. He was awarded the title of General Shilang, Provincial Secretary and Provincial Secretary, and served as a left-behind promotion officer in Xijing. When he was named on the gold medal list, he also ushered in the bridal chamber flowers and candles. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "bang list"
According to the custom of "choosing a son-in-law from the next generation", high-ranking officials in the court like to choose a son-in-law from among the new Jinshi. As soon as Ouyang Xiu became a Jinshi, he was appointed as his son-in-law by his mentor Xu Yan.
In March of the ninth year of Tiansheng, Ouyang Xiu arrived in Luoyang, became close friends with Mei Yaochen and Yin Zhu, and exchanged poetry with each other. In the same year, he married his wife Xu in Dongwu County. At that time, his boss was the son of Qian Chu, King Zhongyi of Wu Yue.
Qian Weiyan stayed behind in Xijing.
Qian Weiyan treated young talents such as Ouyang Xiu favorably. Not only did he rarely let these young scholars take on trivial administrative matters, he also openly supported him in eating, drinking and having fun.
Besides eating, drinking and having fun, these young talents could also recite poems and compose poems. At that time, gorgeous and neat parallel prose was popular in the literary world. Ouyang Xiu and others were dissatisfied with the humble and formal style of parallel prose, but relied on their rich knowledge to imitate the styles of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties.
The ancients tried to break the outdated writing style at that time and promote "ancient prose". With the support of Qian Weiyan, Ouyang Xiu and others had sufficient time to ponder the creation of ancient prose.
Later, Qian Weiyan was politically frustrated and was forced to leave Luoyang and was replaced by the famous minister Wang Shu. Wang Shu was strict in controlling his subordinates and was dissatisfied with their looseness. One day, Wang Shu gathered Ouyang Xiu and others and taught them sternly:
"You see, people like Kou Laigong (Kou Kou) were demoted because they indulged in pleasure. What's more, you people can't compare with Kou Laigong in terms of talent. How dare you do this?" Ouyang Xiu retorted: "Kou Laigong"
The reason why Lai Gong was unlucky later was not because he indulged in pleasure, but because he did not know how to retire at an old age." Wang Shu was speechless after hearing this.
In the first year of Jingyou's reign (1034), Ouyang Xiu was summoned to take the bachelor's degree examination and was awarded the title of Xuandelang. He returned to Beijing to serve as a colographer and participated in the compilation of the "General Catalog of Chongwen".
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, the shortcomings of poverty and weakness in the Northern Song Dynasty began to appear, the gap between the rich and the poor widened, and social conflicts became increasingly prominent. In the third year of Jingyou (1036), Fan Zhongyan, who had a close relationship with Ouyang Xiu, began to call for reforms. The blame was attributed to corruption, but Ouyang Xiu saw it more deeply and believed that redundant officials and redundant personnel were the fundamental problem. In the end, Fan Zhongyan's reforms offended vested interests, and he was hit and demoted to Raozhou. Ouyang Xiu, as a member of Fan Zhongyan's faction, was also implicated and demoted. He was the county magistrate of Yiling (now Yichang, Hubei Province).
In the first year of Kangding (1040), Ouyang Xiu was recalled to Beijing and resumed his duties as a colographer and editor of the "General Catalog of Chongwen". Later, he was ordered to inform the Admonition Academy.
In the third year of Qingli, he served as Youzhengyan and Zhizhigao. At that time, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fu Bi and others implemented the "Qingli New Deal". Ouyang Xiu participated in the reform and became a reformist cadre, proposing reform of official administration, military, tribute law and other ideas. However, due to the obstruction of the conservative faction, the New Deal failed again.
In the fifth year of Qingli, Fan, Han, Fu, etc. were demoted one after another. Ouyang Xiu wrote a letter to defend himself. Because he was demoted to Chuzhou (now Chuzhou, Anhui), he later changed his name to Yangzhou, Yingzhou (now Fuyang, Anhui), and Yingtianfu (now Shangqiu, Henan). etc.
In Chuzhou, Ouyang Xiu wrote the immortal masterpiece "The Drunken Old Man's Pavilion", and his classical prose and art reached maturity. He still maintained a relaxed and lazy attitude, and was "lenient and simple" in his administration, making it convenient for the officials and the people. But even under such a governing policy Later, Chuzhou was governed in an orderly manner.
In the first year of Huangyou's reign, he returned to the court and served successively as a Hanlin scholar and a historian. In August of the first year of Hehe, Ouyang Xiu was falsely accused and demoted. As soon as the order was issued, Renzong regretted it. When Ouyang Xiu went to court to bid farewell, Renzong himself said He persuaded him to stay: "Don't go to Tongzhou, stay and compile the "Book of Tang"." So Ouyang Xiu stayed in the court as a Hanlin scholar and began to compile history books. He studied "New Book of Tang" with Song Qi, and also studied "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" by himself. "New History of the Five Dynasties").
In February of the second year of Jiayou (1057), Ouyang Xiu served as the examiner of the tribute examination of the Ministry of Rites. He presided over the Jinshi examination as a Hanlin bachelor. He advocated plain writing style and admitted Su Shi, Su Che, Zeng Gong and others, which had a great influence on the change of writing style in the Northern Song Dynasty. .
At that time, there was a literary sect called "Tai Xue Style", and its leader Liu Ji was a Tai Xue student. His greatest specialty was often playing with rare words in ancient books. Ouyang Xiu's ancient prose has always been accessible and accessible, and he was most opposed to the "Tai Xue Style". Writing style. When reviewing the test paper, Ouyang Xiu saw a test paper, which began with: "The heaven and the earth are rolling, all things are growing, and the saint is born." The wording seems ancient, but it is actually very awkward. When he came out, Ouyang Xiu followed his rhyme and continued humorously and sharply: "The scholar is assassinating, the examiner is brushing!" This means that the scholar is not good at learning.
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The examiner will not admit you!
In this exam, Ouyang Xiu also saw a better answer sheet. The language of the article was fluent and the reasoning was thorough. Ouyang Xiu probably wrote it from his student Zeng Gong. This kind of writing style needs encouragement, but after all, he is "one of our own" and it is not easy to adopt. First, he took this paper as the second one. After the test paper was opened, it was discovered that the author of this paper was Su Shi. Along with Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu was admitted to the school, as well as his younger brother Su Che, as well as other famous figures in the literary world of the Northern Song Dynasty. A group of important figures. Ouyang Xiu made an outstanding contribution to the Northern Song Dynasty and the entire history of Chinese literature with his outstanding ability to recognize people.
After Su Shi passed the Jinshi examination, he wrote a letter of thanks to Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu praised Su Shi's well-written articles and said that reading his letter made him "sweat" and felt that he should avoid this young man. He expressed his gratitude to Su Shi As the rewards continued to increase, Su Shi lived up to Ouyang Xiu's expectations and eventually became another cultural giant after Ouyang Xiu. In his later years, Ouyang Xiu often revised the articles he wrote when he was young. His wife advised him distressedly: "At such an old age, You are still a child, are you afraid that your husband will scold you?" Ouyang Xiu said with a smile: "I am not afraid of my husband scolding me, but I am afraid that my descendants will laugh." This awareness of literary history and serious attitude have made a generation of literary giants.
When the results were released, those arrogant candidates who wrote "Tai Xue Ti" found out that they had not been admitted, and they made trouble one after another. Some even said they would stop Ouyang Xiu on the street and beat him up. But Renzong fully believed in Ouyang Xiu's character and judgment. He gave him great support. Since then, the literary style of the Northern Song Dynasty has been revived. Even Liu Ji, the leader of the "Tai Xue Style", changed his name to Liu Hui, took the exam again, and gained honors.
In June of the third year of Jiayou's reign, Ouyang Xiu, as a Hanlin scholar and a bachelor of Longtuge, had the right to know Kaifeng Mansion.
In the fifth year of Jiayou's reign, he became the deputy privy envoy. The following year, he was appointed as the Councilor for Political Affairs. Later, he successively held the posts of Minister of the Ministry of Punishment and Minister of the Ministry of War.
In the second year of Zhiping reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Song Dynasty, he applied for a foreign appointment, but was not allowed. In the next two or three years, he was slandered by Jiang Zhiqi and others and resigned many times, but was not allowed.
In the second year of Xining, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi implemented the new law. Ouyang Xiu criticized the Qingmiao Law but did not implement it.
In the third year of Xining's reign, in addition to serving as the chief inspector of the school and the envoy of Xuanhui Nanyuan, he refused to resign and was renamed Caizhou (today's Runan County, Henan). In this year, he was renamed "Jiuyi Jushi".
In June of the fourth year of Xining, he resigned as the Prince's Young Master and lived in Yingzhou (today's Fuyang, Anhui).
On the 23rd of the intercalary month of the fifth year of Xining, Ouyang Xiu died at home at the age of sixty-six. In August, he was awarded the title of Prince Taishi. In August of the seventh year of Xining, he was awarded the posthumous title "Wenzhong".
In September of the eighth year of Xining, he was buried in Jingxian Township, Xinzheng County, Kaifeng Prefecture.
Ouyang Xiu highly praised and recommended young talents with real talents and practical knowledge, which made a large number of young talents who were still unknown at the time stand out and become famous for future generations. They can be called eternal talents. Not only Su Shi, Su Che, Zeng Gong and other literary giants, but also The fame of great Confucian scholars including Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Lu Dajun and others is inseparable from Ouyang's knowledge, vision and mind. Throughout his life, he was full of talents. Bao Zheng, Han Qi, Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang were all highly praised and recommended by him. .The "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties", five people in the Song Dynasty all came from his sect, and they were all chosen by him as commoners, promoted and became famous all over the world.
Ouyang Xiu plays an important role in the history of Chinese literature. He vigorously advocated the innovation movement in poetry and prose, reformed the formalist style of writing and poetry from the late Tang Dynasty to the early Song Dynasty, and achieved remarkable results. Due to his political status and great achievements in prose creation His achievements in the Song Dynasty made him similar to Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty. He recommended and guided prose writers such as Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Su Xun, Su Shi, and Su Che, and had a great influence on their prose creation. He The simple style of writing has continued to influence the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Ouyang Xiu struggled to express himself under the heavy constraints of traditional culture. He despised fame and wealth, and was strong without desire. His purpose was also to maintain social stability, but he was not "conservative" but "innovative". Academically, he was very concerned about the rigid customs and outdated values of the time. Resist and counterattack. In the humanistic environment at that time, where everyone was following the trend and everyone was self-protective, Ouyang Xiu held a high position, still adhered to the big rules, maintained his personal dignity, reflected his own life value, and resisted the forces of habit and the vulgar and boring living conditions. He refused and consciously took on social responsibilities. From him, we can absorb the factor of courage to take responsibility and cultivate the antibodies to resist vulgarity and boredom. This is also the important significance of commemorating Ouyang Xiu today.
It is Ouyang Xiukan's moral articles as a teacher that have been passed down from generation to generation, Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Chao Buzhi, Zhang Lei, Zeng Gong, Zeng Bukunzhong, and the "China Eleventh
The greatest reformer of the century, Wang Anshi, was Ouyang Xiu who laid the foundation for the cultural prosperity of the Song Dynasty.
Lu Yao remembered that when he talked about Ouyang Xiu with Zhao Zhen before, he used such a sentence to describe it.
"Where can someone like Ouyang Xiu come from?"
It can be seen that although Ouyang Xiu rarely participated in court battles, his status was still very respectable. Take this imperial examination as an example, Zhao Zhen named Ouyang Xiu as the examiner to mark the papers because he liked him
Ouyang Xiu has the ability to recognize pearls with a keen eye. Ouyang Xiu only looks at people's talents, not their identity and background. Because of this, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, etc. were all recommended to the court by Ouyang Xiu. Lu Yao
In my heart, I still admire Ouyang Xiu's ability. If nothing else, just "The Drunkard's Pavilion" alone can make Ouyang Xiu's name go down in history.
When talking to Ouyang Xiu, Lu Yao should not be like talking to other ministers. He should also take into account other matters while talking. Ouyang Xiu always says what he wants. In addition, Ouyang Xiu's wife has a good impression of him.
, the last time I went to his place, I had to drag myself to become brothers with Ouyang Xiu. But this time Lu Yao decided not to write poems in front of Ouyang Xiu, in front of such a great literary figure, a man of good conduct.
Lu Yao really felt guilty when people used other people's poems as if they were his own.
On Ouyang Xiu's side, he is currently studying matters about the imperial examination in the mansion. In fact, the test papers for this examination were completely reviewed yesterday. What Ouyang Xiu is doing now is to compare the scores of those who succeeded in the examination.
After the first round of the New Cuju Competition was over, the rankings began to be released. In addition, Zhao Zhen also gave an order to ask Ouyang Xiu to help him formulate questions for the final round of the palace examination. As we all know
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, the palace examination can be equated to a modern interview, and the interviewer is the company boss, that is, the emperor Zhao Zhen himself. Although Zhao Zhen himself actually had some plans in mind, what should he ask when he arrived at the palace examination, but
He still asked Ouyang Xiu to design some questions that could be asked based on the current situation, so that he could not only show his level as an emperor, but also use these sharp questions to find out the true inner thoughts of the students participating in the imperial examination.
Now, Ouyang Xiu is busy with the performance rankings, and on the other hand, he is designing the questions to be asked during the Zhao Zhen Palace Examination. The imperial examination is a major event, and its importance is no less than that of Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi's mission, so
, In fact, during this period, Ouyang Xiu did not bother to consider or participate in diplomatic and political matters. Moreover, Ouyang Xiu saw the problem thoroughly. He knew exactly what kind of situation Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi were in now, and in this
Regarding the issue, Ouyang Xiu felt that it would not be beneficial for him to take any side. After all, Fan Zhongyan was recommended by himself back then. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu simply ignored this matter and concentrated on completing the imperial examination.
Ouyang Xiu was currently writing questions on paper that he wanted to give to Zhao Zhen for the palace examination. His wife had just made a pot of tea and put it on the desk.
Ouyang Xiu was concentrating, but he heard servants knocking on the door outside the study. Ouyang Xiu looked a little angry and said, "Didn't you tell me not to disturb me in the study if there is nothing important?"
Upon seeing this, Mrs. Ouyang immediately opened the door and asked the servant what happened, why he was so anxious.
The servant said that a guest was coming, and the visitor was Lu Yao.
When Mrs. Ouyang heard this, she felt very happy. She immediately turned to tell Ouyang Xiu about the incident and asked her servants to bring Lu Yao in.
When Ouyang Xiu heard that Lu Yao was here, the look on his face was different from Madam's.
"What's this kid doing here? He clearly knows that the results of the imperial examination haven't come out yet, so he's not here to ask me to help him cheat for personal gain, right?" Ouyang Xiu thought in his mind, but then he thought, with Lu Yao's ability
I shouldn't have to do this. Yesterday, I took a look at the list of candidates who passed the general examination. Lu Yao's name was on it, but Ouyang Xiu hadn't had time to rank the results, and Lu Yao should also be aware of this matter.
, then when he came today, he probably had other things to worry about.
Ouyang Xiu then left the study with his wife and went to the main hall to meet Lu Yao.
Seeing that Lu Yao had brought wine and food, Ouyang Xiu felt even more strange. The food was cooked by Lu Yao himself. It seemed that there must be something important to discuss with him.
Although she was grumbling in her heart, the etiquette could not be lost, so the Ouyang family and Lu Yao came to the restaurant to eat and drink. Mrs. Ouyang was very sensible and left the table without eating much. He knew that Lu Yao must have something important to see Ouyang Xiu.
After discussing it, it was still not good to be there myself.
After Mrs. Ouyang left, Lu Yao was unambiguous. He looked at Ouyang Xiu and said, "Sir, don't be too alarmed. This junior is not here for the imperial examination."
Ouyang Xiu looked at Lu Yao and said, "You brought so many things here today. You must have something to ask me for. If it's not for the exam, then why?"
Lu Yao did not hold back and directly told Wang Anshi's story. Of course, the version he told was not that he and Yan Shu recommended Wang Anshi, but that he asked Ouyang Xiu to inquire about Wang Anshi's abilities.
Although Ouyang Xiu didn't know where Lu Yao learned about Wang Anshi, he still praised Wang Anshi. Later, Lu Yao said that he would look for opportunities to recommend Wang Anshi to his superiors. He didn't know what Ouyang Xiu thought of it.
Ouyang Xiu said that Wang Anshi is indeed a great talent, but the real person in power in the court now is Fan Zhongyan, and in Ouyang Xiu's opinion, Wang Anshi and Fan Zhongyan are not the same kind of people. This is why Zhao Zhen asked Ouyang Xiu if he had any talents to recommend.
The reason why Ouyang Xiu didn't speak at that time.
Lu Yao can see from Ouyang Xiu's speech that Ouyang Xiu feels that Fan Zhongyan is a person who attaches great importance to power, and is unlikely to allow officials in the court who openly oppose him and stand opposite him to exist.
Obviously, Wang Anshi's personality is very different from Fan Zhongyan's. If the two people exist in the court at the same time, it will definitely cause conflicts.
However, this is not something Lu Yao has to consider. He came to visit Ouyang Xiu today to completely dispel Wang Anshi's doubts and to let Wang Anshi know that Lu Yao heard the news about him from Ouyang Xiu.
Ouyang Xiu had been in the house all day, so naturally he didn't know the news about Wang Anshi's arrival in Bianliang today, so he asked Lu Yao how he knew Wang Anshi. Lu Yao just said that he occasionally heard other adults talk about Wang Anshi, a capable person, so he compared
Just interested.
Ouyang Xiu felt that Lu Yao was very different from the last time he came to his house. This time, Lu Yao seemed very calm, and his attitude towards official career had also changed greatly. I remember last time, Lu Yao also said that this progress would lead to the advancement of the court.
It didn’t matter to the court, he didn’t have any big pursuits. But when he saw Lu Yao today, he felt that this young man still wanted to make a difference in the court. This made Ouyang Xiu very happy. In his opinion,
Come on, a person as capable as Lu Yao should be active in the court and bring benefits to the country and the country.
After talking about everything, Lu Yao saw that it was almost time. According to the current time estimate, Wang Anshi would not come to Ouyang Xiu's house today, so he said goodbye and returned to his home.
Along the way, Lu Yao thought about the next arrangements. The most important one is to go to Chen Chen's father's hometown in the outer city district tomorrow morning to check how the food of the three families is doing. On the other side
, Lu Yao also feels that there is no problem if there are only three households cooking food at first, but since it is called a food street, it is better to attract more people to do it in the future, so as to promote the development of the outer city.
After returning to the mansion, Lu Hao and Xu also came back later in the evening. Lu Yao briefly looked at the bank's income and expenditure, and then returned to his room to rest.
With the help of alcohol, Lu Yao thought of Cao Han and Han Yunyu again, and couldn't help but have mixed feelings in his heart. There was still this matter waiting for him to solve.