In terms of writing characteristics, the value of "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" has three aspects: 1. The book is rich in content and has a wide range of genres, providing a large amount of real facts for later generations to study the politics, economy, military, and culture of the Northern Song Dynasty, especially the lives of some politicians and writers, as well as the local history of Shandong Province and Song poetry. Reliable historical data. Wang Pizhi served as a grassroots local official in the Northern Song Dynasty for a long time, and his communication scope was mainly in the officialdom, so he was very interested in and familiar with some rumors and stories within the ruling class. The first half of the book records a large number of historical deeds of wise kings and virtuous ministers, such as Emperor's Virtue, Essays, Famous Ministers, Knowledgeable People, Strange Festivals, Loyalty and Filial Piety, and Talents and Knowledge, such as Song Taizu who "revealed military power with a glass of wine" and "opening the book is beneficial" Zhao Kuangyin, Teng Zijing who was "the best in the world in governance" and built Yueyang Tower, Wang Anshi who advocated reform and reform, Sima Guang who was a noble man, Fan Zhongyan who was concerned about the world's worries, general Di Qing, famous minister Kou Zhun, etc. are of great historical value. At the same time, Wang Pizhi was also a literati and paid great attention to anecdotes from poets, calligraphers and painters, such as famous writers Su Shi, Ouyang Xiu, Yin Zhu, Su Che, landscape painter Li Cheng, famous poet Liu Yong and others. His deeds also appear in the book from time to time. Particularly worth mentioning are the "official system", "tribute examination", "literary and Confucianism" and other sections in the book, which accurately and comprehensively record the official system and imperial examination situation at that time, leaving very precious first-hand information for future generations. The materials provide a lot of real evidence for the study of the official system and imperial examinations of the Northern Song Dynasty; the "Sings" and "Calligraphy and Painting" sections record the creative experiences and artistic theories of a large number of poets, calligraphers and painters, which are indispensable when we study the history of literature, calligraphy and painting in the Song Dynasty. Read the references. Wang Pizhi was from Linzi and spent most of his later years in Linzi. Therefore, "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" recorded a large number of people and events in Linzi and surrounding areas during the Northern Song Dynasty. Jia Gongshu from Linzi, who is a native of Linzi in seven chapters of "Records"; Mahimeng, a long-lived old man from Linzi who has a good way of educating his children but has few sexual desires; Zhao Shimin, a famous Confucian from Linzi who is erudite and virtuous, etc. The book also records in detail Fan Zhongyan's knowledge of Qingzhou, with nearly ten items in total. In addition, Wang Pizhi's "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" also created several firsts intentionally or unintentionally: First, "Volume 8. Shizhi" contains the earliest record of "Wadang" in my country, which is found in the collection of Wadang , it is unprecedented in the history of research, so it is of great significance. The original text is: "Qin Wugong built the Yuyang Palace on the border of Fengxiang and Baoji County. It has been so long that its location cannot be known. In the first month of the sixth year of Yuanyou, a hundred steps east of Zhixian Gate, the Quan family of the residents dredged the pond and obtained ancient bronze. Five of the tiles are broken, and the only one is 4 inches in diameter. There are four characters hidden on the surface of the tile, saying Yu Yang Qiansui. With the plateau to the north, the Weishui River to the south, and the mountains in front, it is a majestic and truly scenic spot. In the early years of Duke Wu, it was 788 years ago. Stone, placed in the Ruifeng Pavilion of Qiyang Xiantai, to bring good things to people." It can be seen that since the Northern Song Dynasty a thousand years ago, tiles have been on the desks of literati. Second, the earliest mention of the "Three Sus" in the history of Chinese classical literature also originated from this book. According to "Volume 4: Talents and Knowledge": "Su Xun of Meishan didn't like learning when he was young, and he didn't know how to read even when he was in his prime. At the age of twenty-seven, he began to study hard. He was promoted to Jinshi and Maocai, but he failed. He said: " This is not enough for me to learn. "Burn his writings and study behind closed doors. For five or six years, he studied the Six Classics and hundreds of schools of thought. At the beginning of Jiayou, he went to the capital with his second son Shi and Zhe. Ouyang Wenzhonggong presented his books to the court, and the scholar-bureaucrats argued over his writings. The two sons were both promoted to high positions. As a result, Su's writings were known all over the world. Gai Xun was called Lao Su, Shi was called Da Su, and Zhe was called Xiao Su. "The book also said. It records many deeds of Su Shi, which is of great value to our study of Song Dynasty literature today. In particular, the book mentions that Zhang Yunsou, the envoy of the Song Dynasty, was sent to the Liao Kingdom on an imperial mission. In a hotel in Youzhou, he found Su Shi's poems copied by Liao people on the wall. He also heard that Fan Yang's bookstore once published a collection of Su Shi's poems. , which is of great significance to our study of the influence and spread of Su Shi's poetry. Third, the records of Fan Gongting and Fan Gongquan in Qingzhou are the earliest. "Volume 8·Shizhi" records: "In the reign of Emperor Youzhong, when Fan Wenzhenggong was in Qingzhou, a Li spring gushed out from the Yangxi River southwest of the Longxing Monk House. On the spring of the public building, a pavilion was carved in stone. Afterwards, Qingren thought about it. The name of Gongzhi is Fan Gongquan. The ancient trees around the spring are dense, and there is no trace of dust. It is only a few hundred steps away from the market, and it is like being in a deep mountain. However, people often compose poems, play the harp and cook tea on it. The bright sunshine, the sight of rare birds, and the sight of real things... are the most beautiful places in Yingqiu." Fourth, the record of "Hongqiao" in the book is the earliest, so that some contemporary bridge history experts who do not know Wang Pizhi's history give Wang Pizhi a thumbs up. He was given the title of expert on ancient bridges. According to "Volume 8. Shizhi", Xia Song, the prefect of Qingzhou, saw that the bridges in the city were often damaged by floods, so he tried to rebuild them. At this time, he happened to get a "waste pawn" in the prison city. "Crippled soldiers" are disabled soldiers who are imprisoned in prison. This person has "zhisi", that is, he has extraordinary wisdom. This "waste soldier" took dozens of large trees and connected them to form a bridge. The pillar-less Hongqiao was thus built. This is one of the earliest well-documented "Hongqiaos" in our country's history. In addition, the two idioms "opening the book is beneficial" and "competing with others" originate from this book, which is a reference to Huai'an dim sum "Bee Tang Cake", Jiangnan "Jian Tea", playing cards, mahjong's predecessor "Ye Ye", Annan coconut and other products. The records are also earlier. The book also contains the earliest prescription for "using long pine to treat leprosy".
2. The author stands from the moral standpoint of a feudal scholar-official, praising the wise king who loves the people and respects the virtuous, and has the courage to accept advice, as well as the upright officials who are honest, pragmatic, self-denying and dedicated to the public; he praises the noble and arrogant qualities and sensitive and witty creative talents of some writers; he also criticizes those who practice fraud and impracticality. It satirized and criticized ugly phenomena such as killing people and killing people. For example, "Volume 1. Emperor's Virtue" records such a story: Song Zhenzong once had a good impression of a Langguan who was sent to a local official. He praised him for his noble moral character and decent work, and promised to transfer him back at the right time. Central Committee, entrusted with important responsibilities. But after returning to Beijing, this Lang Guan relied on his connections and went through the back door to bribe important officials in the government. After Zhenzong knew about the matter, he did not reuse or promote him. This story shows Song Zhenzong's hatred for those who ran away from office to seek official positions, and praised Song Zhenzong's character of adhering to principles, which is of great educational significance to people today. For another example, it is recorded in "Volume 2. Doctrine" that during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, a solar eclipse appeared in the capital, but because of the heavy clouds at the time, no one in the capital saw it. The officials in charge of the astronomy and calendar reported this to the emperor, believing that the solar eclipse was an ominous omen, but they were not seen in the capital. This meant that the emperor was auspicious and the world was at peace, so he should have a feast for the officials to celebrate. Sima Guang advised the emperor: "The rest of the country saw the solar eclipse, but only the capital city could not. God seems to be saying that the emperor is being deceived by evil villains. Everyone in the world knows it, but only the court does not. , this is a very unlucky thing and should not be celebrated." Song Renzong followed Sima Guang's advice and did not conduct a congratulatory ceremony that would waste people and money. In this story, Sima Guang's upright and upright character is vividly displayed. Song Renzong's courage to accept advice and good at listening to other people's opinions can also be seen. The demeanor of a wise minister and a wise king is fully demonstrated in the extreme length. Another example is the story "The Wandering Monk" in "Volume 9. Miscellaneous Records", which reveals the trick of a temple in the south of the Yangtze River to ask monks to dress up as Arhats in the Arhat Hall, pretending to be gods and ghosts, and defrauding people of their money. This story tells that there is an ancient temple in the countryside of a certain county in the south of the Yangtze River. It is sparsely populated because of the remote and dangerous mountains. Once, a traveling monk came to the ancient temple and came up with a wonderful way to attract pilgrims. There were 500 Arhats in the temple. He put on the clothes and hat of an Arhat, and holding the Arhat's Zen staff, he went down the mountain to the county town to have his head shaved. While shaving, he intentionally moved around and cut the top of his head. At this time, he took off his belt, applied white medicine, and left the Zen staff as collateral. He made an appointment with the barber to go to the temple on a date and said that he would give him a gift. Thousands of dollars are paid to each other. The barber went as scheduled. Just as he was about to enter the temple, the gatekeeper grabbed him and beat him. He said, "It's been half a year since the Arhat lost his Zen staff in the temple. It turns out you stole it!" The barber explained what he had done. After passing the staff, he went with the gatekeeper to see the abbot. Everyone felt very strange, so they opened the Arhat Hall together and saw that the lock on the door was rusty and the Arhat's couch was covered with dust, as if the door had not been opened for a long time. The barber looked at the Arhat who had thrown away his Zen staff. The clothes and hat were the same as he had seen before. There was also a cut on the top of his head, and the blood stains and medicine were in the same condition as before. There was a thousand coins placed in front of the Arhat's throne. They were all ancient coins, and the ropes through which they were threaded were almost rotten. Everyone was amazed. This incident spread immediately, and people came to donate money every day, and the ancient temple prospered greatly. A few years later, some of the monks had a quarrel over money, and the deception was revealed. For example, there is a very interesting story in "Volume 10. Tanji". When Wang Anshi's reform was said to be the cause, some scholar-bureaucrats liked to talk about water conservancy. One person said that the water in Liangshan should be drained and turned into farmland. Others asked him: "Liangshanbo is a huge swamp in ancient times, covering an area of ??several hundred miles. Now its water is drained to create fields. If the floods gather in autumn and summer, where will they be accommodated?" Liu Gongfu happened to be in the house and said calmly: "What does it matter? As long as we dig a large lake next to Liangshan Bo, the size of which is exactly the same as that of Liang Shan Bo, wouldn't it be able to accommodate the accumulated water?" The people in the house laughed. , the man who talked nonsense about reforming Liangshanbo was so ashamed that he felt ashamed. This story not only satirizes some unlearned, impractical, and boastful officials; it also praises Liu Gong's father's wit and playfulness, making people laugh deeply and think deeply. In short, "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" is not a purely historical work that introduces knowledge and records historical facts. The author often sees the big from the small, and contains profound praise and criticism between the lines. His ideological connotation is rich and profound. In this sense, this work is not "made for nothing", but "made for something". Of course, due to historical limitations and class limitations, there are also many things in the book that promote foolish loyalty, foolish filial piety, karma, and mysterious superstition. This is what we must pay attention to when reading this book. 3. "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" is quite accomplished in art. Its language is concise, its narrative is concise, its style is elegant, and it is humorous. Although there are only a few words, the characters are often vivid and vivid, and the meaning is profound. For example, "Volume 10. Tan Jie" records a story about Ouyang Xiu not liking Buddhism: "Ouyang Wenzhonggong did not like the Shi family. Scholars who talked about Buddhist books must take a serious look at them. And the youngest son of the Duke, a monk with a small character. Or ask "The Duke doesn't like Buddha, so he rejects pagodas, so why does he name his son after a monk?" The Duke said, "That's why it's so despicable. Nowadays, people name cows and donkeys as Xiao'er'er. "The questioner laughed, and Fu Gong made the argument." Although the length of the article is extremely short, the narrative is concise and clear, and the writing is repetitive. It fully demonstrates Ouyang Xiu's straightforward and humorous character. It has a comedic effect and will give people a good impression after reading it. Smile easily and feel like watching a sketch or cross talk.
For another example, in "Volume 2. Famous Officials", the author wrote that Sima Guang was of noble character, highly respected, and deeply loved by the people. He did not write about his love for the people in a positive and direct way, but instead used "the scholar-bureaucrats knew and did not know, and called it "Jun Shi", "Every man and woman down to the village, everyone can't say Sima" describes Sima Guang's approachable and amiable personality charm, especially the words "At the end of Xining, I stayed in Mupu, Bei Liuhe, Qingzhou. When I got up in the morning, I saw more than a hundred villagers cheering from the north to the south. I was surprised and asked, and they all said: "It is said that Sima is the prime minister." This is a typical example of Sima Guang's love for the people and his high status among the people. The fact of prestige and the clever technique of the entire article show the author's sincere admiration for Sima Guang's love for the people. In short, "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" is relatively outstanding in terms of literary quality. Its concise writing, concise and comprehensive language, and lively and interesting style have a huge influence on the creation of later notebook novels, and even in the short story collection "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" , we can also see traces of this style. To sum up, "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" is highly historical and can help us understand the history of the Northern Song Dynasty; it is highly ideological and can help us think about society and life; it is artistic and can help us learn some techniques of biographies and short novels. . Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that "Mianshui Yan Tan Lu" is a masterpiece of great value and vitality.