Shen Song
In the second year of Qianning reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, many major events occurred in China that year, such as Li Keyong in Hedong annexed Youzhou; Zhu Wen in Bianzhou provoked the "Three Zhu War"; Yang Xingmi in Huainan sent a private message to Zhaozong, asking the group to "kill" "Pig Alliance"; Dong Chang of eastern Zhejiang arrogated the throne; "River Heritage Case", floods washed away the Dragon King Temple, and one family wanted to kill the whole family; Li Maozhen, Wang Xingyu, Han Jian and other Kansai groups staged the "Three Towns Crime" , Zhaozong was forced into temporary exile...
Every incident is enough to rewrite history, but they were all concentrated in that year. In comparison, the imperial examination of that year should seem so insignificant, but it was so unwilling to be lonely. Even if it was a grain of sand, it would still stir up waves in the long river of history.
In February of that year, the results of the imperial examination were announced, and 25 people came first. Tang Zhaozong was very happy because this was an important support for his "civilian line". However, a group of candidates angrily petitioned the imperial court, saying that the exam was unfair and the examiner had accepted bribes! The failed students even named Zhang Yixian, the top candidate in the new subject, for bribing the examiner Cui Ning.
Zhaozong was furious. The vassal town is full of ambitions, the eunuchs cover the sky with only one hand, and the newly promoted Jinshi is Zhaozong's hope to turn the tide, but you actually dare to cheat on this, how can you do it? So he named his seeded players Lu Xun and Feng Wo for a re-examination of the 25 newly qualified players.
In order to strictly screen out those who cheat, Zhaozong deliberately increased the difficulty of the test questions and shortened the test time. In one sentence, I will kill you!
As soon as the news came out, 25 people peed half of it. Quite a few people dare not enter the examination room and find various excuses, such as Lu Geng.
Student Lu Geng first excused himself from feeling unwell and unable to take the exam, "Report, I'm positive..."
——It doesn’t matter, the court very considerately prepared a shoulder carriage for him to carry him in;
Lu Geng's classmate Feizhi said he wanted to go home to visit his relatives, "I miss my mother. This dynasty governs the world with filial piety, how can it be..."
——It doesn’t matter, bring your mother over here…
Lu Geng was so desperate that he said, "My father is Li Gang!"
His father is Lu Wo, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty. In the end, it was Comrade Lu Wo who came forward to plead for his son, "We were wrong, we abstained... shall we behave in a good way?" Lu Geng gave up the reexamination and went home directly.
One more thing to mention here, Lu Wo seems to have an indissoluble bond with the imperial examination:
1. Within the recommended system.
Lu Wo once met Tang Xuanzong who was visiting privately incognito while shopping. Seeing that this man was elegant and dignified, he guessed that this man must be a high-ranking official, so he politely avoided him. Xuanzong was very surprised, so he took the initiative to strike up a conversation, "Handsome guy, what do you call me?"
Whether it was vanity or the dream in his heart that was too powerful, Lu Wo saluted and said, "Jinshi Lu Wo."
When he heard that he was a Jinshi, Xuanzong was delighted. As expected, people who have read books are different, so he proposed to read his works. Lu Wo immediately picked up his pen and presented some poems. Xuanzong carefully put the poems away, put them in his sleeves, and left on a white mule, "Lu Jinshi, see you later."
After returning home, Xuanzong couldn't wait to open the poem manuscript, and couldn't help but nod, "Okay, well written!" Then he ordered the prime minister to check up on this Jinshi named Lu Wo, and give him a monthly ticket, a recommendation vote, and a reward for his quality. By the way, Find out what position he currently holds, which means that he should be promoted and reused.
The prime minister checked the personnel files for a long time, and the more he checked, the more confused he became. "Your Majesty, is Comrade Lu Wo your Geng Geng this year? I have checked back for almost a hundred years, and I have not seen any Jinshi named Lu Wo..."
Xuanzong was so wise and enlightened that he immediately understood, "Then tell the Ministry of Rites and hire this person immediately." The emperor appointed him and recommended him to the system.
2. The five elements are missing from the imperial examination
Pretending to be a Jinshi or an official is a felony punishable by death. However, Lu Wo, who pretended to be a Jinshi, not only was not convicted, but went directly to the State Council... The prime ministers couldn't help but ask him privately, "What is your relationship with the emperor? Which princess do you want to marry?"
"I confess, I tell everything..." The bamboo tube poured beans, and he confessed everything at once, trying to get leniency for confessing, "This is the whole truth, I...I brag..."
"No, you are not bragging, you are a real braggart!"
During these years in the system, Lu Wo has always been humble, cautious, and extremely low-key. At the same time, his talent has been fully recognized by officials. Later, the famous Lu Xie became prime minister, and a new story came.
Lu Xie, the Internet-famous prime minister at the beginning of the book, the mighty general Gao Pian is backed by a big tree in the court. Lu Xie has always had a problem, that is, his family is uneducated. Lu Xie was born in the Lu family of Fanyang. He is one of the most famous surnames in China, one of the "forbidden marriage families", and a real "rich family". It's just that no one from the Lu clan has been the examiner for a long time, because "knowledge of tribute" not only requires solid knowledge, but also a unique discernment, which means that you need to be a horse with a thousand li and a bole. Those who ascend to the imperial examination and enter the Hanlin Academy are the elite among scholars, while the "Zhi Gong Ju" is the elite among the elite.
At that time, Lu Xie, Wang Duo, Zheng Tian and others were political enemies and criticized each other. However, the Lu family had never known about tribute, which became a reason for Wang Duo and others to make fun of Lu Xie. Lu Xie was depressed until he discovered Lu Wo, so Lu Xie promoted Lu Wo to "Zhi Gong Ju" that year to break this cultural curse.
Which year is that? In the first year of Guangming Dynasty, Huang Chao invaded Chang'an. That year Lu Wo knew about the tribute examination, but there was no tribute examination that year.
Lu Wo's last encounter with the imperial examination was that of his son Lu Geng. Finally, he got through the back door through connections and got his son to be named on the gold medal list, but he was caught on the spot by Emperor Xuanzong.
In a word, the biggest fate between Lu Wo and the imperial examination is that they have no fate. As long as there is a little fate, it doesn't mean there is no fate at all.
Except for Lu Geng who abstained, 24 other people participated in the re-examination. The results were announced: Zhao Guanwen, Wei Shuo, Shen Song and other fifteen people came first. Among those who failed the exam, four were so stupid that they were "banned from the imperial examination for life." The examiner Cui Ning was also demoted because of this.
Zhao Guanwen was the first number one scholar in Guangxi; Wei Shuo became prime minister in the Later Tang Dynasty, but failed in the political struggle and was demoted to death; and this Shen Song is our protagonist today.
Shen Song was born in Fujian. His grandfather, Shen Ren, served as a commentator in Dali during the Tang Dynasty and was awarded the honor of Fei. His father, Shen Chao, was the magistrate of Changxi County, Fuzhou. When Shen Song was born, a big snake fell from the beam and fell in front of the bed. The big snake tilted its head and stared at the newborn baby affectionately. After looking at it for a long time, it reluctantly left. On the seventh day after birth, according to local customs, I was giving a newborn a bath and had just filled the bathtub with hot water. Suddenly, there was a strong wind and rain, and there was a thunderous "click" and the bathtub broke.
People say this kid is no ordinary person.
After passing the imperial examination, Shen Song did not stay in the capital, but returned to his hometown of Fujian. Why didn't Shen Song stay in the capital? Because even the emperor no longer stayed in the capital: Li Maozhen declared war and invaded, Zhaozong was forced to go into exile, and then Zhaozong was kidnapped by Han Jian; Zhu Wen of Bianzhou recommended Zhang Jun as prime minister, but Li Keyong tried his best to oppose Zhang Jun's appointment as prime minister. "Your Majesty worships him as prime minister in the morning, and our soldiers from Hedong will arrive at the capital in the evening." Yang Xingmi of Huainan asked the emperor to move the capital to Yangzhou; Wang Jian of Xichuan asked the emperor to move the capital to Chengdu...
In this situation where the vitality is like a blowout, what can Shen Song do if he stays in the capital?
Shen Song set out from Chang'an and returned to Fujian via Jianghuai. When passing through Huainan, he was enthusiastically persuaded by Yang Xingmi to stay, but Shen Song declined politely. Then when he came to Hangzhou, he was enthusiastically persuaded by Qian Liu to stay. Shen Song finally chose Qian Liu and became one of the important think tanks around Qian Liu. Since then, most of Qian Liu's writings and memorials were written by Shen Song.
When the imperial court awarded Qian Liu the title of naval governor, Qian Liu asked Shen Song to draw up a form of gratitude. Shen Song showed off and exaggerated the prosperity of western Zhejiang in the form. Qian Liu was very happy after reading it. However, another think tank, Luo Yin, After seeing this, he shook his head and couldn't say anything, saying that the imperial court was corrupt and the powerful ministers were asking for bribes from the local vassals. At this time, it is most taboo to show wealth. We must cry for poverty!
So Qian Liu asked Luo Yin to draft one. Luo Yin described the western Zhejiang region in this way: "The weather is cold but elk often travel, and the sun sets but cattle and sheep don't come down." In the end, Qian Liu adopted Luo Yin's memorial.
One day not long after, Qian Liu got a stunning singer and showed off to everyone at the banquet. Everyone praised her and said that the girl looked like a fairy. Luo Yin also lamented that she was like Chang'e descending to earth.
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Song said: "This is a bad statement. Chang'e is extremely ugly compared to her."
Luo Yin glanced at him and sneered: "Speak as if you have seen Chang'e."
The fish is hooked! This was what Shen Song was waiting for.
Shen Song stroked his beard and said leisurely: "I have been to the Moon Palace twice, why haven't I seen it?"
"Toad Palace to win the laurels" literally means to climb the osmanthus flowers in the moon palace. It was later often used to describe the success in the imperial examination, but now it is more widely used to describe achieving brilliant results in a certain field. Shen Song made a pun about Luo Yin, because Luo Yin failed despite repeated attempts.
So some people say that Luo Yin and Shen Song are enemies and dislike each other. In fact, according to historical records, the "conflict" between the two was more like flirting and joking between colleagues, and did not escalate into a life-and-death fight. When Luo Yin passed away, his epitaph was written by Shen Song. What is revealed between the lines is the admiration of the younger generation for the elder and the regret and remembrance between close friends.
When Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor and changed the Yuan Dynasty, Qian Liu asked Shen Song about Tang Guozuo. Shen Song said that he could tell that he was a short-lived ghost by looking at the reign name. The word "tong" in "tongguang" had a structure surrounded by three, and it was not as comprehensive as the word "国". Getting up means "failure to serve the country", and the word "tong" means "stop one ear". It seems that there will never be an emperor in their family.
Three years later, Shen Song's predictions were all fulfilled. Qian Liu was even more impressed by him.
After Qian Yuanguan ascended the throne, he established the "Selecting Academy", which was to recruit talented people from all over the world. As the country's talent pool, the person in charge was Shen Song. Shen Song became the soul of Qian Yuanguan's civil service group and helped establish a feudal bureaucracy with Comrade Qian Yuanguan as the core.
In the later Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingtang named Qian Yuanguan "King of Wuyue" and established the country. Qian Yuanguan worshiped Shen Song as his prime minister. Just ten months later, Shen Song died of illness at the age of 76, leaving us prematurely.
