1057 On April 8, the spring was deep and the day was warm, and the world was peaceful. It looks like an ordinary day.

Actually, it's not. This is an unprecedented day.

On this day, the list of court exams in the Song Dynasty was published.

China's imperial examination has a history of more than 1000 years. I don't know how many times it has been published, big and small. Is there anything strange about this?

There is this time.

This year's list is called "the first list in history".

There has never been, and will never be, such a luxurious lineup in China's ancient and modern admission lists:

Su Shi, Su Zhe, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Ceng Gong, Ceng Bu, Zhang Dun, Wang Shao and Lv Huiqing.

Among them, Su Shi, Su Zhe and Ceng Gong were among the "Eight Masters in Tang and Song Dynasties", Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi initiated "Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism", and Zhang Zai was the leading figure. The famous sentence "Make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, carry forward the past and forge ahead into the future, and make the world peaceful" comes from him.

the eight great prose masters of the Tang and Song dynasties

Ceng Bu, Lv Huiqing and Zhang Dun were all later prime ministers, and Wang Shao, a stranger, was also a legend. He was the most powerful literati commander in chief in the Song Dynasty. In the famous Xihe War, defeating the Qiang people and the Xixia allied forces was called the "Three Wonders".

Not to mention, there are two grinning teachers behind this list of the discerning and the blind.

Examiner and literary leader Ouyang Xiu. Assistant examiner, Mei, founder of Song poetry.

These cows had a complicated relationship before they were born. They where will you go, but also turned against each other. 1 1 In the second half of the century, the political arena of the Northern Song Dynasty basically revolved around these dozen people who loved each other and killed each other.

But this is not the most important thing. What is important is that their talents and thoughts, like bright stars, shine on the vast starry sky of Chinese civilization in the long river of time.

The most dazzling star is naturally Su Shi.

Ouyang Xiu applauded after reading his article. The famous literary leader asserted that this 20-year-old young man would be unique in the world one day. Thirty years later, people will no longer talk about his name Ouyang Xiu.

Teacher Ouyang is really knowledgeable. For thousands of years, Su Shi has been praised countless times, and people's praise for him is like a raging river.

There must be 10,000 Sushi in the hearts of 10,000 people, but one sentence is probably recognized as "interesting" and "super interesting".

One day, one month, an unprecedented list, a super talented and interesting person, is it a miracle or an accident?

Yes, no, because all accidents and miracles are inevitable, and super interesting people can't live without super interesting times.

Yes, Song Dynasty, a very interesting time that created many miracles.

2.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a famous painting "Garden of the West", which was painted by the famous painter Li.

It is also a gathering place for ancient literati. The West Garden is the garden of Xu, a captain, a loyal fan of Su Shi and a frequent convener.

Elegant map of West Park, partial

Song Shenzong, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Huang Tingjian, Qin Guan, Li, Mi Fei, Li Zhiyi, Zheng Jinglao, Wang, Chao, Bu Zhi and other 16 literary giants at the beginning of Yuanfeng, as well as foreign monk Tong Yuan and Taoist Chen Bixu, once again gathered in the West Park.

How do literati play together?

They are wearing flowers on their heads. Some of them play the piano, mix incense, enjoy flowers, watch paintings and play chess, some make tea, listen to the wind and drink, and some watch waterfalls, pick chrysanthemums and paint poems.

When the interest is high, there are "fights". Tea fights, grass fights and fish fights are still endless leisure interests.

Miffy wrote down their carefree and comfortable days:

"Water and stone flow, wind and bamboo swallow, furnace smoke curled up, vegetation incense. Happiness in the world is clear, but that's all. "

These scenes are the envy of later literati, and many famous painters, from Zhao Mengfu, Tang Bohu and Shi Tao to modern Fu Baoshi and Zhang Daqian, have painted their days. According to the survey, there are 47 recorded paintings in the past dynasties.

There are not only the tastes of Song people, but also the tastes of ordinary people, and there are also tastes everywhere in daily life.

As a veteran foodie with money and leisure, I believe Su Shi frequents these places:

"Out of the Rosefinch Gate, all the way to Jinlong Bridge, from the state bridge to the south, there are water meters, ao meat and preserved meat in the street. Wang Lou badger, wild fox, bacon, chicken.

Meijia Lujia goose duck chicken rabbit belly lung eel steamed bun chicken skin waist kidney chicken nuggets …

The Cao family in Zhuquemen eats vegetables, and the bridge wants brains and meat until it is unremarkable. Only craftsmen such as sheep head, belly lung, red and white kidneys, your room, belly marrow, quail rabbits, pigeons, game, crabs, clams and so on can all go to the market to buy and sell spare ingredients.

List foods after meals, such as crispy honey food, jujube cake, jiaozi, delicious candy, honey fried carvings, etc. "

Go shopping after a full meal. Everything in Donghuamen area is the essence. Flowers and fruits that are out of season are always expensive. As the richest dynasty in ancient China, Song people were not short of money, and someone would always buy them.

Dynamic Effect of Riverside Map on Qingming Festival

Suoguo Temple is crowded with vendors selling fans, knives and scissors, treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, rubbings, etc.

Nanmen Street's famous Tangjia Jewelry Store, where porcelain and lacquerware are exquisite and elegant.

Their nightlife is more colorful. Kaifeng, the capital, has no curfew and is a noisy and lively city that never sleeps.

There are singers, singers, puppets, jugglers, novels, lectures on history, Sanqu, shadow play, playing with insects and ants, singing in various palaces, telling lies, doing business puzzles, calling fruit, performing magic tricks, playing with whips, practicing swords, flying knives and chopping axes,

Song people loved to play, and there were various societies and clubs among the people, such as Yun Qi Club, which played football, Wentong Club, Xihu Poetry Club and Law Club, which wrote poems and essays, archery crossbow club and English club which practiced martial arts, and corner club which specialized in sumo wrestling.

Lv Fei Club, Eloquence Club, Leather Painting Club, Puppet Club, Tiger Club initiated by colleagues in the construction industry, Qihua Club established by gardeners, Champion Club founded by archers and so on.

Many people said they would like to travel to the Song Dynasty. In the historian's home, this is also an era of "culture, education, romance, interest, freedom, joy and charm".

It's interesting anyway.

But what if you leave Beijing?

3.

Those years in Beijing were the most comfortable and affluent period of Su Shi's life. But such a time is always short.

Since the age of 37, he has been demoted again and again. From Beijing to Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, Huzhou, Huangzhou and Ruzhou, and then to Hangzhou, Huizhou and Danzhou, he was more isolated and desolate every time, and spent most of his life in the ups and downs of suffering.

However, all the way from place to place, he also wrote "lonely sandbar is cold", but you can't see how much resentment he has, and you can't see the rush and sadness.

He repaired Su Causeway, brewed wine, cooked Dongpo pork with great interest, had a night outing with friends and took photos with the moon. During the day, he chased farmers, vendors, vegetable farmers and village women and talked all over the world.

No matter when and where, he is still that interesting person with a bright and broad heart.

How did this happen?

Let's look at his circle of friends first.

Su Shi and the famous monk Fo Yin are good friends.

On one occasion, he proudly wrote to Fo Yin and said, "I have learned that the Eight Winds can't be blown, and I am not greedy, jealous or angry."

Fo Yin answered two words: "Bullshit." Su Shi was very angry and immediately crossed the river to find Fo Yin Theory.

Fo Yin said: "Eight winds can't blow, and a fart has crossed the river." Su Shi understood and laughed: "What I did was like farting!"

He also has a friend named Wen, who is particularly good at drawing bamboo, and is called "Master of Ink Bamboo". The idiom "have answers" refers to him.

Once, Su Shi wrote a letter threatening Wen Tangke, saying, "If you don't draw bamboo for me, I will scribble everywhere and write your name on the painting."

Wen and Ke immediately replied, "I told many people that you are good at drawing bamboo, but if you want to get your painting, you must use fabric made of socks."

He also had a friend, Chao Gu, who avoided Su Shi when he was an official in North Korea. After being demoted to Huangzhou, he drifted to a private school and worked wholeheartedly as a teacher for Dongpo's children.

There was a man named Ma Mengde, a Capricorn in the same year as Su Shi. What's more, he has been with him for 34 years.

Taoist Yang Shichang, poet and monk Shen Liao, painter Mi Fei, pianist Cui Xian, Pan Bing who runs a hotel, and Li Guo who sells herbs. Are all the people who show their faces in his circle of friends from time to time ...

He suffered a lot, but instead of being bitter, he became more gentle and kind.

Su Shi

These, in addition to his own broad-mindedness and rich soul, are not just because, in such an elegant era, even the peasants sang his "Return to Xi", he always found a bosom friend, and there were always affectionate and interesting friends around him, giving him temperature, nourishing him and giving him a relieved smile?

If it weren't for the Song Dynasty, how could there be so many people with mountains and rivers in their hearts and Taoyuan?

If it weren't for the Song Dynasty, a scholar wouldn't be punished as a scholar-bureaucrat, 100, and a scholar wouldn't be killed indiscriminately, how could he be surrounded by high-ranking friends and his articles be screened?

If it weren't for the Song Dynasty, scholars argued constantly, but rarely went to death. If he spoke frankly, would he still be able to withstand so many political disasters?

Song Dynasty, only Song Dynasty.

4.

Of course, Su Shi was not the only interesting soul in the bright night sky in the Song Dynasty.

Ouyang Xiu got drunk, got on his horse, attacked Hu, dismounted from his horse, traveled on the land, drunk and watched Xin Qiji's sword, and Wang Anshi, the "xianggong", endured a superficial name and changed to Liu Sanbian, the goddess of literature for thousands of years. .....

In that long list, which one is not a story, but an interesting story?

It's not just fun.

Follow in their footsteps, there are songs of laughter, but also desperate sparse gray grievances and sighs;

There is a smile under Xiao Xuan's window, and there is also the murderous look and dust-laden raised by the soldiers;

There are the hustle and bustle of the dream of Bianjing City, and there are also obsequious obsequiousness; There are leisurely and wonderful elegant collections and endless party struggles;

In modern times, there was dawn, more shame, and reined in from the brink. ...

So great, so desolate, so unique, so sad, so it's a long story.

Yes, it's a long story.