Ouyang Xiu is ugly, but generous.
Ouyang Xiu has a famous saying, "I can't tell anyone anything before I study." .
It is said that there are some books in the world that I have never read. In an era when book publishing is still too developed, Ouyang Xiu, who was smart and never forgets reading, should be regarded as a modest remark.
When Ouyang Xiu was the examiner, he read a wonderful article "On Punishment Loyalty" and found a conversation between Yao and his subordinates that he had never seen before, so he found the author of this article, Su Shi, and asked the young man for advice again and again with great humility. But Su Shi replied, "I haven't seen it either. I take it for granted! " "History can be taken for granted? For other examiners, it must be the anger of being fooled by this play. In a rage, Su Shi was thrown out of the door, which is unknown. But Ouyang Xiu appreciated Su Shi's talent and generosity and laughed it off.
The heart of loving talents must be broad-minded. As a literary leader in the Northern Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu spared no effort after his promotion. He recommended Wang Anshi, Ceng Gong, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe and others, especially Su Shi, showing his sincere love and tolerance.
Ouyang Xiu wrote in the article "A Book with Mei": "When reading the Book of Songs, I don't feel sweaty. Come on, come on. I should avoid the road and let him out. " Scholars despise each other, which is the result since ancient times. If Ouyang Xiu really wants to crush Su Shi, Su Shi is likely to take a detour and get ahead.
Ouyang Xiu once discussed poetry with his son Ouyang Pei. When talking about Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu was amazed: "You remember my words. After 30 years, the world will only know Su Shi and will never praise my poems again!"
Now it seems that Ouyang Xiu is too modest. Facts have proved that more than 900 years later, we remember not only Su Shi's poems, but also Ouyang Xiu's poems and characters.
Su Shi never forgot Ouyang Xiu's recommendation and modesty, and spoke highly of Ouyang Xiu's poems, which some people thought was flattering. Su Shi expressed his admiration for Ouyang Xiu in this way: "On Tao, such as Han Yu, on things, such as Lu Zhi, on notes, such as Sima Qian and on poetry, such as Li Bai." Today, objectively speaking, it is no exaggeration.
Saying that a person is modest also shows that he respects others.
When Ouyang Xiu and Shangshu Song Qi revised the Book of the New Tang Dynasty, the court asked Ouyang Xiu to finalize it, and specially reminded Ouyang Xiu to read Song Qi's revised biography in detail. Delete if you can. Change it if you can. But Ouyang Xiu felt that Song Qi was a senior and well-informed. There must be his original ideas between the lines, so he didn't change a word. After the book was completed, on the issue of signature, according to the usual practice, it was suggested to use only Ouyang Xiu's name, because "the old book was revised and only the names of the officials in the bureau were listed", but Ouyang Xiu still wrote Song Qi's name in his biography. Song Qi was a little flattered and said, "Since ancient times, literati have never given in to each other. It's unheard of!"
Throughout the twenty-four histories, there are many people who write history, but it is good for the author to add the word "Deng" to his signature. For example, The Book of Jin was signed by Fang and The History of the Old Five Dynasties was signed by Xue and two authors. New Tang Book is the only one.
Ouyang Xiu's generosity can be traced back to his mother's education and influence as a child.
As we all know, Ouyang Xiu lost his father at the age of four, because his mother painted the land, taught him to write and taught him the truth of being a man.
Ouyang Xiu's father was a small official when he was alive. In the evening, he often sighs while reading documents under the candle. Ouyang Xiu's mother asked her husband why he kept sighing. He said, "This man committed a capital crime. I tried to survive for him, but I couldn't." Ouyang Xiu's mother said, "Is it possible to live?" The husband said, "I try my best to make a living for every prisoner, but I can't." That proves that this man deserves to die, and he and I have no regrets! " "
Ouyang Xiu's mother told him this story when he was a child, and he never forgot it, which played a vital role in the formation of his character of "benevolence and forgiveness". Later, he tried to be lenient when handling cases. Criminals who didn't intentionally kill people tried to keep them alive and said, "This is my ambition first."
"Literature stops at moistening things and politics can be passed on." Ouyang Xiu thinks that politics can help people more than literature. For example, in Hebei, because of his forgiveness, 2,000 lives were saved from capital punishment, but Ouyang Xiu always paid more attention to the nourishing effect of literature on the soul. He believes that writing can improve people's self-cultivation and broaden their minds.
When Ouyang Xiu was an official in Qingzhou, Song Qi came to visit him and said that a senior official appreciated Ouyang Xiu's articles very much and wanted him to take a look at some articles. Ouyang Xiu handed Song Qi some newly written articles. Later, when Ouyang Xiu served the imperial edict, he heard the official's article praising a man named Qiu. Ouyang Xiu found Qiu's article and couldn't help laughing. It turned out that Qiu's article was given to senior officials by him. At that time, in order not to embarrass Qiu, Ouyang Xiu did not discover this matter. It was not until later that this man took these articles as an official that Ouyang Xiu told Emperor Renzong about it. Injong was furious and wanted to remove Qiu from his office. Ouyang Xiu also interceded for him. Probably Ouyang Xiu thinks he is a competent official, not among the villains.
Ouyang Xiu's generosity is admirable. For Wen, you can let him go, but for yourself, you are often serious.
In his later years, Ouyang Xiu worked hard to revise and improve his life's works, and even his wife felt sorry for him, saying, "Why bother asking for it? Are you still afraid of teacher criticism? " Ouyang Xiu said with a smile: "I'm not afraid of the teacher's criticism, but I'm afraid of jokes in the future!"
Ouyang Xiu once wrote "The Theory of Clans", saying that "gentlemen and gentlemen are friends, and villains and villains are like-minded friends". He admired Fan Zhongyan, who was upright and upright, and introduced him as a fellow countryman. He hated Lv Yijian's nepotism and never missed the opportunity to attack and accuse Lv Yijian. Of course, Lv Yijian also regarded Ouyang Xiu as a thorn in his side. He slandered Ouyang Xiu and Fan Zhongyan for colluding with cronies, alienating the monarch and his subjects, and demoted Ouyang Xiu as the county magistrate of Yiling (now Yichang, Hubei).
It can be said that Lv Yijian is Ouyang Xiu's sworn enemy. Although Ouyang Xiu didn't like Lv Yijian, he knew Ren Xian and was deeply impressed by Lv Gongzhu, the son of his sworn enemy. Here's a detail. Lv Yijian has four sons, Gong Chuo, Bi Gong, Gong Zhu and Gong Ru. Lv Yijian wanted to see who was the most generous. He once took out a rare treasure and shared it with his sons. While enjoying himself, he pretended to accidentally break the treasure, which surprised the other three sons. Only Lv Gongzhu is very calm. Lv Yijian decided that this son had the talent of prime minister and attached great importance to it.
Ouyang Xiu certainly knows Lv Gongzhu's position in Lv Yijian's heart. If it were anyone else, he would definitely find a chance to punish the boy. However, after Ouyang Xiu was demoted by his father, he also wrote an article "Praising Wang Anshi and Lv Gongzhu Miscellaneous Son", praising him as "knowledgeable, taciturn, wealthy and determined", and specially recommended him to Emperor Injong. When Ouyang Xiu went to Qidan, the leader of Qidan asked about the learned scribes in China. The first person mentioned by Ouyang Xiu was Lv Yijian's precious son Lv Gongzhu.
(B) Ouyang Xiu's embarrassment
This kind of magnanimity, which is rare in ancient and modern times, has been running through Ouyang Xiu's life, but Ouyang Xiu is by no means a muddled old man. "History of Song Dynasty" said: "You are strong and courageous. Although you are stuck in the front, you ignore the trigger. Exile and displacement, as for repetition and willfulness. "
From Ouyang Xiu's totally different attitudes towards Lv Yijian and his son, we can see that he has a clear love-hate relationship and is persevering. He acted fairly and kept his word, which offended many people in officialdom and naturally suffered a lot.
Ouyang Xiu was hurt all his life.
Two sensational scandals once put Ouyang Xiu in an extremely embarrassing position and pushed him to the lowest point in his life.
The first is the right and wrong between Ouyang Xiu and his niece.
This niece is not her niece. Ouyang Xiu's sister married a man named Zhang Guizheng, and he gave birth to a daughter with his ex-wife. After Zhang Guizheng's death, Ouyang Xiu's sister took the little girl to her brother and lived in his brother's house for a while.
When the little girl grew up, she married Ouyang Xiu's nephew and had sex with his servant. After the incident was exposed, the case was tried in Kaifeng. Somehow, Zhang suddenly said that he had an affair with Ouyang Xiu when he was unmarried. The Record says: "Zhang is afraid of sin, and he tries to forgive himself. His words are current events, and his words are very ugly. " That is to say, at that time, in order to alleviate his crime, Zhang said some bad things about Ouyang Xiu in court, which was very ugly.
In fact, Zhang didn't help her reduce her crime, but it had a great influence on Ouyang Xiu. At that time, this incident was tantamount to detonating a blockbuster. Ouyang Xiu was summoned to Kaifengfu and tried for several months, but he had no clue. Because the plaintiff's lawsuit was unclear and the defendant's defense could not be verified, Ouyang Xiu had to be released.
Xie Qian, Ouyang Xiu's political opponent, got a treasure when he learned about this incident. He quoted sentences from Ouyang Xiu's poems, followed the way and took a seat accordingly, which made Ouyang Xiu extremely embarrassed.
Ouyang Xiu's first poem is "Looking at Jiangnan":
Willow in Jiangnan, the leaves are small and not cloudy. People are light enough to withstand folding, and warblers pity the tender branches. Save it for spring. Fourteen-five, holding the pipa leisurely. Go to the lobby to collect money. Pay attention when you meet. Besides, now.
"Rayon is too light to be folded, and oriole is too tender to sing", which really gives the malicious people great ambiguous imagination space. Although Ouyang Xiu wrote repeatedly that his sister was only ten (seven) years old when she took Zhang to see him. But Xie Qian just laughed at him with his poems. Ten years old, isn't it time to learn "winnowing money" (winnowing money, an ancient gambling game)? Some people think that Looking at Jiangnan was not written by Ouyang Xiu, but by a race named Liu Hui. Because Ouyang Xiu didn't admit Liu Hui when he was an examiner, Liu Hui held a grudge.
If so, why didn't Ouyang Xiu defend the word? It seems that Ouyang Xiu probably wrote this word himself.
This incident is becoming more and more serious. Lv Yijian, Ouyang Xiu's old rival, took the opportunity to suppress Ouyang Xiu and demoted him to Chuzhou, where he became an alcoholic. It is conceivable that without this scandal, there would be no preface to the drunken pavilion, which has been circulated for ages.
The second is the so-called "story" of Ouyang Xiu having an affair with his daughter-in-law.
According to the common folk saying, my father-in-law has an affair with my daughter-in-law, which is called "picking up ashes". No matter ancient or modern, this relationship belongs to neither fish nor fowl love, so one of the most insidious means to attack the enemy is to defile his private life.
In folklore, both Wang Anshi and Su Shi expressed their love for beautiful daughter-in-law. They compare their daughter-in-law to a pipa and want to "play a tune" on it. Her daughter-in-law is also romantic and bold, and responds with a poem: If the father-in-law plays a song, the rich water will not flow to outsiders. It's really "rich water doesn't flow from outsiders." When Weng's daughter-in-law was writing a poem to express her feelings, her son came back. In desperation, my father-in-law had to erase the poems written on the wall or table in a panic.
The story of hormones defeating morality is put on Wang Anshi and Su Shi, and there is no credibility at all.
At that time, Xue Zongru, the cousin of Ouyang Xiu's wife, committed a crime and was impeached. Xue Zongru had hoped that Ouyang Xiu would put in a good word in front of the emperor to excuse him, but Ouyang Xiu wrote to ask for timely treatment. Xue Zongru was furious and made a rumor that Ouyang Xiu was having an affair with his eldest daughter-in-law Wu Chunyan. Because of the close relationship between Xue Zongru and Ouyang Xiu, outsiders certainly think that his words are highly credible, which means that "it is necessary to wash your dirty linen in public". This kind of privacy rumor certainly spreads the fastest.
At this time, there was a suggestion from Jiang. Originally, Ouyang Xiu recommended him, but this man seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the personal interests of the political reform party, and made a big fuss about this matter, saying that impeaching Ouyang Xiu was against human feelings and morally corrupt. At that time, there was a very "elegant" saying that "the curtain book is not repaired." This incident was as controversial as previous scandals, but Emperor Zongshen, who was under 20 at that time, was very independent. He trusted Ouyang Xiu, personally intervened in this matter, upheld justice, and demoted Jiang, who falsely accused Ouyang Xiu, to Daozhou wine tax supervisor.
No matter how generous Ouyang Xiu is, he can't stand others throwing dirty water on him unscrupulously. But he never wrote a special article to defend the above two things, nor did he retaliate against those with ulterior motives. He was hurt and lonely as never before.
Ouyang Xiu wrote in "Preface to Drunk Pavilion": "However, birds know the joy of mountains and forests, but they don't know the joy of people; People know that it is fun to swim from Taishou, but I don't know that the joy of Taishou is also fun. " His loneliness and short-lived joy in mountains and rivers are so paradoxically intertwined.
These two "scandals" dealt a great blow to Ouyang Xiu. He was disheartened and repeatedly asked to resign, but he was not allowed. Only a few years later, Ouyang Xiu died.
Looking back, for public figures, erotic gossip does have special lethality, but why can Ouyang Xiu be defeated at once? In other words, why do many people believe Ouyang Xiu's scandal?
This is related to Ouyang Xiu's usual romantic unruly.
Ouyang Xiu likes playing prostitutes. He once invented a game of passing flowers and drinking. He asked a prostitute to take a flower and handed it to the guests at the party. Every time it is passed to a guest, the guest will pick a leaf from the flower, and whoever picks the last leaf of the flower will be punished for drinking. The guests have a good time and often go home after midnight. What is certain is that at such a reception, without beautiful and enchanting prostitutes, the game of picking leaves and handing flowers will not be in full swing.
Xing Jushi recorded another anecdote about Ouyang Xiu's drinking in the Song Dynasty.
On one occasion, Ouyang Xiu and others made a drinking order, stipulating that each person should write two poems to express what he wants to do, and must reach the level of criminal punishment. That is, after everyone is drunk, indulge their inner desire to do bad things. If you were asked to commit a crime, what crime would you commit?
One man said, "Coax a widow with a knife and rob a ship in the sea." Another person said: "The moon is dark and windy, arson." It was Ouyang Xiu's turn, but he said, "The wine sticks to the shirt and the sleeves are heavy, and the flowers press the eaves." The drunken man was confused by this article. When they asked him what the two poems had to do with crime, he smiled and explained, "What can you do with so much wine?"
Ouyang Xiu is neither hypocritical nor evasive. Nobody can avoid the "black hole" in human nature. Even Ouyang Xiu, a "scholar", sometimes has the idea of committing a crime, although it is only for a moment. Perhaps, this is the truly complicated life.