Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, and Huzhou were the positions that Su Shi himself actively sought transfer to, while the ones who were demoted were Huangzhou, Huizhou, and Danzhou.
Danzhou is pronounced: dan zhou? Danzhou is in Hainan.
Self-invited to serve in Hangzhou
In the early days of Wang Anshi's reform, Su Shi actively opposed some contents in the new law. Su Shi reported to the emperor that "the way to govern the country is not to be afraid of unclearness, not to be afraid of lack of diligence, and not to be afraid of lack of diligence." If you are not decisive, you are afraid that you will be too eager to seek treatment, listen too leniently, and enter people too sharply." This offended Wang Anshi, and Wang Anshi asked Su Shi to serve as a promotion official in Kaifeng Prefecture, where business was relatively busy. As a result, Su Shi handled the business quickly and still remained Wang Anshi felt troubled.
Then Wang Anshi began to comprehensively purge the censors, and officials who opposed the new law were dismissed or transferred remotely. Su Shi was relatively safe, and Wang Anshi had no intention of dealing with him. However, Su Shi took the initiative to ridicule Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi's relative and follower Xie Jingwen came forward to impeach Su Shi, saying that when he escorted his father's coffin back to Sichuan, he abused government guards to buy furniture, ceramics, and even sold private salt for profit.
Wang Anshi turned a blind eye to this impeachment. Therefore, Shenzong sent officials to the provinces Su Shi passed through to collect information from boatmen and soldiers, but found nothing. At this time, Su Shi did not want to stay in the capital and invited himself to take up a post in Hangzhou.
After his term in Hangzhou expired, he took the initiative to ask for a transfer to Miszhou, then to Xuzhou or Huzhou. I will not explain it in detail here.
Here we would like to appreciate the poems written in Hangzhou:
The clear sky is beautiful when the water is shining, but the mountains are also strange when they are empty and covered with rain.
If you want to compare the West Lake to the West, it is always better to put on light makeup and heavy makeup.
Being demoted to Huangzhou
When Su Shi became the magistrate of Huzhou, he wrote a "Huzhou Express of Appreciation" to the emperor. This was a routine expression of gratitude for the appointment, but Su Shi had a straightforward personality. He said that he was "stupid and unfit for the times, unable to follow the newcomers" and "he is old and quiet, but he can shepherd the small people." These words were criticized by the New Party, who said that he was "fooling the court and being arrogant" and that he "brought grudges." "Carrying anger", "criticizing the public", "harboring evil intentions", mocking the government, being reckless and rude, and being disloyal to the emperor. Such a serious crime can be said to be worthy of death.
So just three months after taking office, Su Shi was arrested by the officials of Yushitai and deported to the capital. This was the famous "Wutai Poetry Case". After establishing the national policy of not killing scholar-bureaucrats, Su Shi escaped disaster and was demoted to the deputy envoy of Huangzhou Tuanlian.
Su Shi's poems about Huangzhou:
The evening scene falls on the cup. Looking at the clouds and green mountains, there are piles of green. I recognize the spring snow waves in Min'e, the first time I've arrived.
Another external transfer
After a few years in Huangzhou, the emperor ordered Su Shi to take office in Ruzhou. Ruzhou was a long way away, so Su Shi wrote to the court, requesting not to go to Ruzhou for the time being. He lived in Changzhou and was later approved. He planned to live in Changzhou until his death, so he submitted a petition to the emperor for a "Residence List in Changzhou," but he received no response. It turned out that Shen Zong was critically ill. The next year, Su Shi returned to the imperial court and served as a doctor to Zhidengzhou. Four months later, he was summoned back to the imperial court as a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. However, after making a comeback, Su Shi raised objections to Wang Anshi's new law and once again asked for a transfer to Hangzhou. Later, he was transferred to Yingzhou, Yangzhou, Dingzhou and other places.
Demoted to Huizhou
After Zhang Dun came to power, he transferred back the officials who had been demoted, and expelled Sima Guang’s old party from the court, and Su Shi started the process of being demoted. Lu, first dismissed him as a Hanlin scholar, then pursued him as governor of Dingzhou and other positions, and finally was demoted to deputy envoy of Huizhou Jiedu. This is even worse than last time in Huangzhou.
At this time, Su Shi wrote a particularly broad-minded poem:
A man with two hairs seven thousand miles away, a leaf on the head of eighteen beaches.
Shan Yi likes the dream of laboring far away, and the name of the place scares the lonely minister.
The long wind sees off guests and adds to the belly of the sail, and the accumulated rain reduces the stone scales of the floating boat.
If you work with an official as a sailor, you will have more than a little knowledge in this life.
Being demoted to Danzhou
Su Shi thought he would settle in Huangzhou in his later years. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly demoted overseas two months later. This time the reason was because of his poem "White-headed Xiao San Man". Frosty wind, the cane bed in the small pavilion has a sick look. I reported that the gentleman slept beautifully in the spring, and the Taoist gently struck the five o'clock." After this poem reached Zhang Dun's ears, Zhang Dun said that Huizhou was so pleasant, so let's go again. After being demoted, the 62-year-old Su Shi was sent by a lone boat to Danzhou, Hainan Island, a desolate place on the border.
When he arrived in Danzhou, Su Shi regarded this place as his second hometown:
I am originally from Dan'er, parasitic in Western Shuzhou.
To suddenly cross the sea, such as traveling far away.
In the dream of life and death, there is no inferiority or superiority among the three.
I know you won’t see me again. If you want to go, stay less.
Zhezong died at the age of 24, and his younger brother Huizong came to the throne. After he ascended the throne, the Queen Mother Shen Zong listened to the government together. The Queen Mother Shen Zong gradually moved the ministers who were demoted during Zhe Zong's reign. Su Shi was transferred to Lianzhou and resettled in Shuzhou. Deputy envoy of Tuanlian, resettled in Yongzhou. Later he was reinstated as Chaofenglang. He died in Changzhou on his way back north.
It’s not easy to organize, I hope you all like it.