But such a great man, whether at that time or in later generations, has a lot of controversy. In particular, Yang Shen, a great genius of Ming Dynasty who wrote The Yangtze River Flows East, can be said to be the most severe critic of Wang Anshi. I forgot his original words, which roughly meant that Wang Anshi was the biggest traitor since ancient times. He is the worst, worse than Cao Cao.
Of course, we can understand that he can have such an evaluation. We should know the people at that time, both in vision and vision. Can't compare with now, he will call Cao Cao a bad guy, and it is normal to call Wang Anshi a bigger bad guy.
Is Wang Anshi really a bad person? Is there really something wrong with his personality?
When we turn to history, we will find that this is not the case. Wang Anshi's character, words and deeds were exemplary at that time.
But the question comes again. Why did people in Song Dynasty step on him?
Among them, Sima Guang, Su Shi and others are the most powerful black Wang Anshi. They couldn't wait to trample Wang Anshi on the ground and never get up again.
But why did those people stop Wang Anshi from reforming?
Actually, this is very simple. Wang Anshi's political reform touched the interests of those people and made them sit still. Jumping up and stepping on Wang Anshi, we can't say that there is something wrong with Sima Guang and Su Shi's personality, but they still can't accept it. The ideas in their minds are still relatively old, resulting in incompatibility between the two sides.
There were so many black guards in those days that Wang Anshi hated him. That's entirely because his own interests have been violated. You know that Wang Anshi is a very disciplined person and has never married a concubine in his life. This is a very rare thing in the Song Dynasty. As we all know, at that time, all literati and officialdom would marry many concubines at home. From beginning to end, Wang Anshi and his wife are rare.
It was Wang Anshi who was so decent and out of step with that era, which made those people disgusted. If Wang Anshi is like them, his political reform may be more successful. He won't be opposed and hated by so many people, but it is precisely because he is so decent that those who have to make trouble for him can't wait to classify him as a traitor. Ironically, until now, Wang Anshi has been safe in history and his position has not changed.
So on the whole, Wang Anshi's character was first-class at that time, without any flaws, and there were no flaws. This is why people are so annoying.