Fan Zhongyan of the Northern Song Dynasty often recommended his attache to be an official. It is said that when he was an official in Zhejiang, all his subordinates recommended him to be an official. Only one person named Su Lin was not recommended by Fan Zhongyan because he was on a business trip.
Therefore, Su Lin wrote a poem saying: "The moon comes first near the water tower, and the flowers and trees in the sun are spring. The implication is that he has no chance of promotion. Fan Zhongyan is so clever that he can understand his meaning after reading his poems. Therefore, he wrote a letter of recommendation to promote Surin.
Extended data:
In poetry, Fan Zhongyan advocates "harmony but difference" and "keeping pace with the times". Fan Zhongyan inherited Mencius' noble spirit and integrated Cao Pi's poetic thoughts of "literary spirit", Lu Ji's and Zhong Rong's "feeling things" and "harmony between man and nature". He believes that the impulse and intention of the poet's creation is to inherit the "spirit" of the avenue, feel everything, and be reflected through everything.
Fan Zhongyan's Keep pace with the Times inherits Liu Xie's viewpoint of "doing things for feelings" and Bai Juyi's thought of "doing things for times", and organically combines political education with doing things for feelings. Fan Zhongyan criticized the blind imitation and moaning in the poetry circle in the early Song Dynasty, and advocated that poetry creation should be loyal to the reality of life, conform to current events and not empty talk.