The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

The brushstrokes of history and the pens of writers are the painters of the destiny of the country.

Su Che, a great literary master of the Northern Song Dynasty, used his sharp pen to sketch out the sad picture of literati ruining the country.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, both in literature and politics.

They are like two towering mountains, very impressive.

His political commentary articles not only have great literary value, but also contain profound reflections on current affairs.

"Su Che was from Meishan, Meizhou. His father, Su Xun, failed many examinations when he was young."

"In the eighth year of the Qingli reign, the 27-year-old Su Xun studied hard behind closed doors and taught his two sons what he had learned."

"Su Zhe grew up with his elder brother Su Shi under the education of his father Su Xun."

"In the first year of Jiayou, Su Zhe followed his father Su Xun and his elder brother Su Shi to Meishan to travel and serve as an official."

"I passed through Chengdu and visited the prefect Zhang Fangping."

"After meeting them, Zhang Fangping treated the Su family and his two sons as stately officials."

"Su Zhe and Su Shi took part in the Ministry of Rites examination presided over by Ouyang Xiu, and both brothers passed the imperial examination."

"In March of the same year, Su Che participated in the imperial examination for Jinshi held by the emperor in Chongzheng Hall and was ranked fifth."

"In April of the same year, Su Che's mother died at home, and Su Che returned to Shu with his father and brothers to mourn."

"In the fourth year of Jiayou, after the mourning period for his mother ended, Su Che once again followed his father and brother to visit the capital."

"In the fifth year of Jiayou, the Su brothers lived in Huaiyuan Posthouse to study and prepare for the imperial examination."

"In the sixth year of Jiayou, the emperor personally examined the candidates for the imperial examination in Chongzheng Hall, and Su Che presented a policy paper."

"It discusses the fact that the emperor is no longer diligent in government affairs after he grows old, and gives a detailed account of the gains and losses of court affairs, which is very pertinent."

"After the essay was submitted, Sima Guang was ordered to go to Chongzheng Hall to review the exam papers for the candidates."

"The examiners were arguing, and Song Renzong thought it was not right to set up a department for speaking out and making radical suggestions, and then demote candidates who spoke out for justice."

"In the end, the prime minister had no choice but to put Su Che's test paper into the next level of recruitment, and finally let Su Che serve as the military prosecutor of Shangzhou."

"Su Che was appointed as the military magistrate of Shangzhou, but Su Xun was appointed to write in the capital at that time."

"And his elder brother Su Shi was going to Fengxiang County to take up his post, so Su Zhe begged to support his father in the capital."

"In the first year of Emperor Yingzong's Zhiping reign, his elder brother Su Shi returned to the capital after completing his term in Fengxiang. The following year, Su Zhe was appointed as the governor of Daming Prefecture."

"In the third year of Zhiping, his father Su Xun died in the capital, and the Su Zhe brothers entered Anhui from Bianjing."

"We took the water route from Anhui up the Yangtze River to bring Su Xun's coffin back to his hometown for burial."

"After that, they lived in seclusion for a period of time until the first year of Emperor Shenzong of Song's Xining reign, when they were exempted from mourning and set out again to travel east to the capital."

"After Su Che was exempted from mourning, he arrived in the capital in the second year of Xining."

"In March, Su Che wrote a letter to discuss state affairs, and the emperor replied, "After reading Su Che's memorials, one can see that Su Che is a person who is focused on the current affairs."

"If Su Che had been relegated to a lowly position, his ambitions would have nowhere to go."

"It is indeed a pity. Su Che will be summoned to Yanhe Hall later."

"At that time, Wang Anshi and Chen Shengzhi jointly managed the Three Departments Regulations, and Su Che served as a subordinate of the two in the Three Departments Regulations Office, responsible for the work of checking the auspicious texts."

"When Lu Huiqing was clinging to Wang Anshi, Su Che and he discussed things, and their views often conflicted."

"Wang Anshi formulated the Qingmiao Law and discussed it with Su Che, and told Su Che that if there were any drawbacks to this law, he should tell him directly without any doubt."

"Su Che believed that lending money to the common people and charging 2% interest was originally used to help the common people, not to make a profit."

"But between lending and collecting money, some officials will take advantage of the opportunity to seek personal gain."

“Even if there are laws, it cannot prevent the money from going into the hands of ordinary people.”

"Even good citizens can't help but use it arbitrarily, and when the time comes, it's time to pay it back."

"Even the rich are bound to default on their payments. If that happens, I'm afraid we'll have to whip the people, and the county will be overwhelmed with trouble."

"Su Che thought that we could learn from Liu Yan's method in the Tang Dynasty, that is, the government should buy rice when the price is low, and then sell the stored rice at a low price when the price is high."

"In this way, there will be no problem of abnormal fluctuations in rice prices, and the constant balance method can be used."

Xin Qiji: Su Zhe, who was not as famous as his elder brother, might have had a much better ending than Su Shi.

When talking about Su Zhe, his label seems to be just Su Shi's younger brother.

When the two brothers were young, their father was studying very hard, but he failed the imperial examinations many times.

Later, the father was so angry that he decided not to take part in the imperial examination, but to study at home and personally teach his two children.

The two brothers have been very close since childhood. Although they are both smart and studious, their personalities are completely opposite.

The elder brother Su Shi was extroverted, while the younger brother was calm and reserved.

The father knew his two sons best, so he was very particular about the names he gave them.

The father worried a lot about his two sons, and the older brother was indeed demoted later because he was too ostentatious.

If it weren't for the optimist in my blood, I probably wouldn't have survived.

On the other hand, my younger brother strictly followed his father's teachings and worked hard to benefit the court and the people. He was down-to-earth and steady, but this did not mean that he did not have his own opinions.

On the contrary, Su Che is a kind of landmine-like figure. If he does not make a name for himself, he will create a sensation when he does.

In the second year of the imperial examination, the two brothers took part in the imperial examination.

Speaking of this imperial examination, it is different from the ordinary imperial examination.

The Imperial Examination was an examination held by the imperial court specifically for selecting special talents, and the emperor himself served as the chief examiner and set the questions.

The value is quite high, so the difficulty is naturally quite high as well.

Such an important exam, what a coincidence, is held on the eve of the exam.

Su Che happened to be sick, and if he missed the exam date because of this, he would regret it so much.

Fortunately, the Prime Minister Han Qi protected him and actually suggested to the emperor to postpone the examination date.

Soon, the test results came out. Brother Su Shi won the third place and Su Zhe won the fourth place.

Who could have thought that Su Che could criticize the emperor to such an extreme degree in the examination paper!
He used six notorious tyrants in history as metaphors, pointing out that Song Renzong had grown old and had become lazy and negligent in his administration.

There are too many concubines in the harem, he is greedy for women, and he abuses the people's money. In short, his ability to govern is too poor.

When this bomb was thrown out, it gave these old ministers a great shock.

Another examiner, Fan Zhen, thought that Su Che's writing was indeed excellent, but it was a bit excessive to curse the emperor in this way, and he should be ranked fourth.

Some even said directly that insulting the emperor was outrageous and he should be fired. It was good enough that he was not punished, so why bother giving him a rank.

In the end, the dispute could not be resolved, so it was handed over to Song Renzong to decide, and then the fourth grade was determined.

"Wang Anshi thought Su Che's words made sense and would slowly consider whether to implement the new law. From then on, he stopped talking about the Qingmiao Law for several months."

"The Hebei Transportation Judge submitted a petition requesting several thousand monk certificates as capital to privately implement the Qingmiao Law in the Shaanxi Provincial Grain Transport Office."

"In spring, we lend money to the people, and in autumn, we collect money from them."

"This approach was consistent with Wang Anshi's original intention, so the Qingmiao Law was implemented."

"Wang Anshi took the opportunity to send eight envoys to various places to collect the profits that had not yet been collected."

"Everyone inside and outside the court knew that they would cater to Wang Anshi and cause trouble to disturb the people, but no one dared to speak out."

"Su Che went to Chen Shengzhi and said that in the last years of the Jiayou era, envoys were sent to various places to show sympathy to the people."

"But they are all dedicated to creating trouble, and most of the things they report back to the court cannot be implemented."

"Because of this, we were ridiculed by the world, and what we are doing now is no different from this."

"Su Che wrote to Wang Anshi again, emphasizing that the Qingmiao Law should not be implemented, contradicting Wang Anshi."

"Wang Anshi was furious and was about to accuse Su Che of a crime, but Chen Shengzhi stopped him and demoted Su Che to the post of Henan governor."

"In the third year of Xining, Zhang Fangping, a scholar of Guanwen Hall, was appointed as the new governor of Henan Province and the governor of Chenzhou. Zhang Fangping submitted a memorial to appoint Su Che as the professor of Chenzhou."

"In the ninth year of Xining, Wang Anshi was dismissed from his post and Su Che returned to the capital."

"A month later, Zhang Fangping was appointed as the governor of Nanjing and he petitioned to appoint Su Che as the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture."

"In the second year of Yuanfeng, Su Shi was imprisoned because of the Wutai Poetry Case."

"Su Che wrote a letter to ask for his brother's redemption by using his official position, but his request was not granted. Su Shi implicated him and he was demoted to supervise the salt and wine taxes in Yunzhou."

"For the next five years, he was not transferred until the seventh year of Yuanfeng, when Su Che was transferred to serve as the magistrate of Jixi County in Shezhou."

"In the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Shenzong of Song died and Emperor Zhezong ascended the throne."

"In May, Su Che fell ill and did not recover until the autumn, when he arrived in the capital."

"The Empress Dowager Xuanren came to power and appointed Sima Guang and other members of the old party to eliminate the shortcomings of Wang Anshi's reforms."

"But the original prime minister and others were still in office, so Su Che wrote a letter to impeach them one by one and remove them from office."

"Lü Huiqing initially attached himself to Wang Anshi and was promoted to a higher position, helping Wang Anshi to implement new laws and abuse the world."

"After Wang Anshi's success was over, he continued to slander and defame Wang Anshi. People all over the world hated him."

"At this time, Lu Huiqing knew that he could not escape the blame, so he begged to become a monk in a Taoist temple to avoid being exiled."

"Su Che wrote a letter detailing Lü Huiqing's evil deeds, and eventually sent him to Jianzhou as a dismissed official."

"Si Ma Guang was prepared to re-implement the corvée system because of the harm done by Wang Anshi's corvée system, but he did not know that the corvée system was just as harmful as the corvée system."

"Su Che then said that it had only been twenty years since the corvée system was abolished, and officials and the people had not yet gotten used to it."

"Moreover, the implementation of the conscription law involves many issues and is complicated, so it should be carefully reviewed and implemented slowly."

"If we rush to implement the law without exhausting its advantages and disadvantages, I am afraid that other disadvantages will arise after its implementation."

"The state and county now have some surplus money from the accumulated labor service over the years, which can probably support them for a few more years, and they can continue to implement the labor service law until the end of this year."

"We urge the relevant departments to carefully review the pros and cons of the corvée law, use this winter to formulate a law, and then apply it to the rural households next year." "I hope that after the implementation of the corvée law, there will be no other discussions, so that no matter whether it is advanced or retreated, it will be appropriate."

"Since Wang Anshi was privately selecting talents from all over the country, Sima Guang planned to reform the imperial examination system and establish new rules."

"Su Che once again said that the imperial examination will be held next autumn, so there is not much time left."

Wen Tianxiang: Su Che, the strongest younger brother in history, has amazing talent.

I think Su Che's talent is definitely extraordinary, but he just wronged the emperor.

He took several months to take the exam, and when he handed in the paper he cursed himself. If he were the emperor, he would have been beheaded long ago.

Su Che stayed in the capital to take care of his father, claiming that his father was unwell as an official in the capital.

Soon after, Su Xun passed away. The two brothers took their father's coffin back to their hometown to observe mourning for three years, and then returned to the capital, just in time to catch up with Wang Anshi's reform.

As soon as he returned to the court, Su Che felt that the content of the new law was quite good.

But soon Su Che discovered that something was wrong and that the Qingmiao Law harmed the interests of farmers.

He then pointed out the drawbacks immediately, and spoke in a very logical and reasonable manner.

Wang Anshi kept silent for a while and didn't mention it again for a whole month.

Later, the Qingmiao Law was implemented again, but Su Che was still stubborn, so he was demoted again and again.

He was not recalled to the capital until Song Zhezong ascended the throne and Empress Dowager Gao took power and the New Deal was abolished.

This marked the beginning of the highlight of his life. In four years, he was promoted from assistant minister to deputy prime minister. During this period, he did a lot of practical things for the court and the people.

In fact, Su Zhe's political talent is no less than that of his brother Su Shi, and even better.

But he has always been a low-key person and never competes with his brother for the limelight.

Not only that, she often advises her brother to be careful and not make friends casually.

Don’t always write poems that satirize current affairs, so as not to get yourself into trouble.

It seemed as if he was the elder brother, and Su Shi was the younger brother who caused trouble.

When the famous Wudai Poetry Case broke out, Su Shi was arrested and imprisoned and almost lost his head.

Fortunately, Su Zhe was there, which saved Su Shi from danger.

While Su Shi was in prison, his eldest son Su Mai brought him food.

The two agreed that if nothing serious happened, they would send meat and vegetables.

If sentenced to death, fish will be given instead.

As a result, one day Su Mai had to go out for something and asked a relative to send him off.

The relatives who were unaware of the situation wanted to improve Su Shi's food, so they specially cooked a fish.

When Su Shi saw the fish, he was frightened and thought that his end was near. He couldn't help but feel sad.

The first person he thought of was his younger brother, so he picked up his pen and wrote two poems as a last will and testament to his brother.

When the jailer handed the poem to Su Che, after reading it, Su Che could not help but lie on the table and cry bitterly.

So he had an idea and presented the poem to the court, asking to use his official position to take the blame for his brother.

"But the discussion was still unresolved. Although poetry is a minor skill, it takes a lot of effort to study the rhythm of the poem."

"As for studying scriptures, reciting and explaining them, it is even more difficult."

"After reviewing this, we cannot implement the new examination regulations next year. Please request the imperial examination next year."

"Everything remains the same, except for the interpretation of the classics, annotations and comments by various scholars, so that readers can have their own opinions, and they don't necessarily have to use Wang Anshi's theory."

"Still, I will not explain the meaning of the prosody, so that the candidates know that the matter has been settled, and can concentrate on their studies and wait for the exam."

"After this, it won't be too late to slowly discuss the imperial examination format after the fifth year of Yuanyou."

"It has been five years since the implementation of the new policy in the early years of Yuanyou, and people's hearts have been settled."

"Only the Yuanfeng old party is distributed inside and outside the court, spreading heresy and shaking the court. Lü Dafang, Liu Zhi and others are particularly afraid of them."

"He intends to use some of the old Yuanfeng party members to settle the long-standing grievances, and he calls this practice mediation."

"The Empress Dowager Xuanren was hesitant, so Su Che met with the Empress Dowager and directly explained the error of this approach. He also wrote a letter to repeatedly discuss the disadvantages of this approach."

"The Empress Dowager Xuanren finally agreed with Su Che's view, and the idea of ​​mixing the evil with the righteous was put to rest."

"In the eighth year of Yuanyou, Empress Xuanren Gao died, and Emperor Zhezong took over the government, and the New Party regained power."

"In the first year of Shaosheng, Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty appointed Li Qingchen as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and Deng Runfu as the Right Prime Minister."

"These two had been outside the court for a long time, feeling frustrated and unhappy. It just so happened that the court was holding an examination for Jinshi."

"Li Qingchen presided over the examination and set questions to criticize the Yuanyou government. Su Che wrote a letter to oppose Zhezong's intention to restore the Xining New Law."

"After reading Su Che's memorial, Zhezong felt unhappy that Su Che compared the emperor of the previous dynasty to Emperor Wu of Han."

"As a result, Su Che was demoted to the governor of Ruzhou. Under the collective attack of the officials in Yuanfeng, Su Che was demoted to the governor of Yuanzhou."

"Su Che had made great achievements in Ruzhou. When he left, the people and elders wept and saw him off for dozens of miles."

"In the first year of Yuanfu, Su Che arrived in Xunzhou and first lived in Shengshou Temple in the east of the city."

"We spent money to buy local houses, a total of ten houses of different sizes, and simply repaired them to barely keep us out of the wind and rain."

"There was a piece of land in the north where we could grow vegetables and a well for irrigation, so Su Xun and I took our hoes and worked there."

"After a few months, vegetables such as leeks, shallots, mustard greens and sunflowers sprouted out of the ground."

"Su Zhe himself was alone and there was nothing else to do. It was just that there were few people in Xunzhou and there was no one to chat with."

"There was an old man named Huang. His family was a family of officials and scholars, and there were books in the house."

"Su Che occasionally borrowed one or two books from his home to read, but he himself was old and dizzy and could not read for a long time."

"In the third year of Yuanfu, Song Zhezong passed away, Song Huizong ascended the throne, and issued a general amnesty. Su Che was therefore transferred to Yongzhou."

"In the third year of Yuanfu, Emperor Huizong of Song appreciated Su Che's literary talent and his involvement in government affairs. He has been living in a remote area for some time now."

"So Su Che was called back and was still appointed as the Taizhong Dafu Supervisor of the Fengxiang Shangqing Taiping Palace, and was allowed to live anywhere he wanted."

"Because he had land in Xuzhou, Su Che went to live there."

"Song Huizong Zhao Ji appointed You Pushe Cai Jing to govern, and Su Che was demoted to a court official."

"After that, he built a house in Xuzhou and lived there ever since, calling himself the Yingbin Yilao."

"Su Che lived in Xuzhou for thirteen years, closed his door to visitors, and took pleasure in writing books in seclusion."

"I refuse guests, never talk about current affairs, and only express my feelings in poetry and prose."

"I wrote my own biography of more than 10,000 words, sitting in silence all day."

"In the second year of Zhenghe, Su Che died at the age of seventy-four, and was posthumously named Wen Ding."

"During the Shaoxing period, Su Zhe was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Tutor and Duke of Wei because of his eldest son Su Chi's noble status."

Lu You: The rise and fall of literature in Su Che's eyes, the fate of the literati and the Song Dynasty.

The emperor was deeply moved by this deep brotherly love, and with the pleading of ministers such as Wang Anshi, Su Shi finally escaped the disaster and was demoted to Huangzhou.

But he himself was implicated and demoted, but he did not feel aggrieved at all, as long as his brother was safe.

Su Shi wandered around all his life, and was often demoted to another place before he could even settle down in one place.

During this period, he silently shouldered the responsibility of taking care of and escorting his sister-in-law and nephew.

As a younger brother, he took on too many of the hardships of secular life for Su Shi.

In fact, Su Che was not rich throughout his life. Most of the time he worked as a minor official with a meager salary. Moreover, he had a large family to support.

Su Che was loyal throughout his life. He only had one wife, Shi, and never took a concubine.

His wife gave birth to three sons and seven daughters. Two daughters died young, so there were still five left.

Su Che was very responsible for his children. It is said that in order to raise a dowry for his youngest daughter, he sold all the land and houses he had purchased in Henan.

In his later years, he chose to settle in Yingchuan and brought his three nephews to live with him.

For more than ten years thereafter, he did not care about political affairs, but only led his descendants to farm.

In his spare time, he wrote books and practiced Zen meditation. After his death, he was buried together with his brother Su Shi by his descendants.

As for literature, Su Shi himself admitted that he was not as good as Su Zhe.

He said that Su Che's poetry and prose were actually far better than his, but ordinary people just didn't know it.

Because Su Che was a person who was indifferent to fame and fortune and did not want to earn anything by relying on fame.

Su Che's writing is like his personality, seemingly simple and ordinary, but in fact it is quite profound.

His attitude towards life is the same as his brother's. Although he has the desire and talent to serve the country, he is also content to retire to the mountains.

Fisherman, fisherman, there is a gentle breeze and drizzle on the water.

Wearing a green straw raincoat and a yellow bamboo skirt, returning home at dusk with a glass of red wine and white fish.

Return home at dusk, return home at dusk, return home at dusk, where is the sound of the flute?

This poem describes the peaceful and leisurely life of a fisherman on the river. The author compares himself to the fisherman and expresses his yearning for a secluded life.

Throughout history, Su Che's literary achievements, political achievements and even his way of dealing with people were extremely outstanding.

It's just that he has a brother who is too outstanding, and he himself is willing to play a supporting role, so he is only labeled as Su Shi's younger brother.

The sun has its own radiance, and the moon has its own coldness and arrogance.

In the vast night sky, he always guards his own ray of light.

This is Su Che, a man of solid talent and knowledge, but also a man of modest talents. (End of this chapter)