The poem says: Song Fan Zhongyan, a thousand acres of fertile land, helps all ethnic groups, and food and clothing depend on Yan.
Fan Zhongyan, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, was born in Wuxian, Suzhou, a famous politician and strategist. Fan Zhongyan was lonely since childhood and studied hard. Since his youth, he has been determined to be a person who is beneficial to the world.
Fan Zhongyan was born on August 2nd, the second year of Duangong in Song Taizong (AD 989). When his father died the following year, the Fan family lost their source of livelihood. Fan Zhongyan's mother, Xie, was poor and helpless, so she had to take Zhong Yan, who was still in her infancy, and remarried to a family named Zhu in Shanxian County, Shandong Province. From then on, Fan Zhongyan changed his surname to Zhu Shuo (2) and grew up in Zhujiajian Island.
Fan Zhongyan studied very hard since childhood and was bent on saving the world and people. Once, he met a fortune teller and asked, "Can I be a prime minister in the future?" The fortune teller said, "Isn't your tone a little too big for your age?" Fan Zhongyan said shyly, "Do you think I can be a doctor?" The fortune teller is very curious. Why are the two volunteers so different? He asked Fan Zhongyan why? Fan Zhongyan replied: "Only a good doctor and a good appearance can save people." The fortune teller said, "It's very kind of you to have this idea."
Zhu Jiajian is a rich man in Changshan, but in order to get inspiration, at the age of twenty-one, he went to the Yi③ Spring Temple on the nearby Changbai Mountain to study. He often studies hard by himself with the light on. Every time he goes to the East, everyone gets up and he lies down in his clothes. At that time, his life was extremely difficult. He only cooks a pot of thick porridge every day. After cooling, he divided it into four pieces, two in the morning and two in the evening, mixed with a little leek (5) and some salt, and it was a meal. But he doesn't mind this poor life at all, and spends all his energy on finding his own pleasure in the book.
Fan Zhongyan didn't like the extravagance and waste of the Zhujiajian brothers, doing nothing and persuading them many times. Unexpectedly, the Zhujiajian brothers were impatient and once blurted out: "What's it to you?" Fan Zhongyan was shocked and felt that he had something to say. He asked why. Someone told him, "You are the son of Gusufan, and your mother brought you to Zhujiajian." Fan Zhongyan was deeply stimulated and shaken by this incident and made up his mind to live independently from Zhujiajian Island. So he hurriedly packed a few simple clothes, took a piano and sword, and despite Zhu Jiajian's mother's obstruction, he said goodbye to his mother in tears, left Changbai Mountain and went to Nanjing to study alone. After Fan Zhongyan entered the school, the emperor did not go out to watch, studied hard day and night, slept until he undressed for five years, and when he was exhausted to the extreme, he poured cold water on his face to dispel his tiredness. He doesn't have enough food, so he can only live on porridge. Even if it isn't enough, he can only drink one meal a day. For ordinary people, this is an unbearable life, but Fan Zhongyan never complains. This situation was seen by one of his classmates, the son who stayed behind in Nanjing. When he went home and told his father, he stayed and had a lot of meals sent to Fan Zhongyan. However, a few days later, all the food went bad, and Fan Zhongyan still had no taste. The classmate asked him why he didn't eat. Fan Zhongyan said, "It's not that I don't appreciate your kindness. It's just that I'm used to simple meals. If I enjoy this hearty meal now, can I eat porridge later? " Many things happen. Fan Zhongyan studied hard for five years and finally became a man who was proficient in Confucian classics, knowledgeable and good at poetry.
In the eighth year of Song Zhenzong Dazhong Xiangfu (A.D. 10 15), Fan Zhongyan was admitted as a scholar. At this point, he took his mother to support and serve, which restored his original surname, renamed Zhong You, and entered the official career.
In the sixth year of Renzong Tiansheng (A.D. 1028), Wang Zeng, the prime minister of the DPRK, and Yan Shu, the deputy prime minister, appreciated his talents and recommended him to the Central Committee of the Northern Song Dynasty as the general manager of the secret school. During the seventeen years from then to the fifth year of Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1045), he went to Beijing four times, was demoted four times, and was repeatedly hit. His political career can be described as "ups and downs" However, he has always been honest and clean, insisted on reform, and resolutely fought against some conservative officials and decadent forces in North Korea.
In the second year of Ming Dow, Song Renzong (A.D. 1033), Fan Zhongyan was called into the palace and served as the right minister to remonstrate. However, it was not long before he was ostracized for offending conservative officials in charge of state affairs and was expelled from Tokyo again. The first time I worked in North Korea, it happened shortly after Emperor Injong succeeded to the throne, but the emperor had no real power, and all the power was in the hands of Empress Liu. Empress dowager Liu monopolized the power and ran amok, and all the officials in the Qing Dynasty dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. Fan Zhongyan was the only one who risked his life to write a letter, demanding that Empress Dowager Cixi hand over power to Emperor Renzong, regardless of his position. Vice Premier Yan Shu was very surprised to see this scene. He quickly advised: "You are not only unlucky, but also a referee." Hearing this, Fan Zhongyan told him seriously: "Although I was recommended by you, you are often ashamed of my incompetence. I didn't expect to offend you now because of my loyalty. " Upon hearing this, Yan Shu was speechless. Later, Fan Zhongyan finally angered Queen Liu because he dared to write a letter, and was driven out of Tokyo and demoted to Sichuan Intermediate People's Court.
In the second year of You Jing (AD 1035), he was called to Tokyo for the third time because of his meritorious service in water control in Suzhou, and was awarded the Tianzhangge for preparation. But this time, he was hit by exposing the scandals of Premier Lv Yijian and others, and was demoted to work in Shaanxi again. On the way to say goodbye, he said to his friends who saw me off: "I was demoted for the first time. When you saw me off, you said that I was in Aurora (very glorious). The second time you said I was more glorious. This time, you also called me particularly glorious. I have been' three lights' before and after. "
In the fourth year of Li Qing (A.D. 1043), Fan Zhongyan returned to Beijing by imperial edict, and was soon promoted to assistant minister (deputy prime minister), who co-chaired the state affairs with Fu Bi and Han Qi. At this time, the class contradictions in the Northern Song Dynasty were extremely fierce.
Peasant uprisings broke out one after another, and the border Yi people took advantage of it, which almost became a situation of splitting beans and rising up. In order to save the fate of the country, Song Renzong transferred Fan Zhongyan, who had always advocated reform, back to the imperial court, entrusted him with an important task, asked him to come up with a reform plan and supported Fan Zhongyan to carry out drastic reforms, and achieved remarkable results. This is the famous "Qingli New Deal" in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty. But it didn't take long for his reform plan to touch the interests of big landlords and bureaucrats. Under their opposition, the reform failed again. Subsequently, Fan Zhongyan was demoted again. This time, he was demoted as a well-known person in Dengzhou.
Fan Zhongyan has been in poor health since he was demoted to Dengzhou. At this time, when Fan Zhongyan presided over the "Huazhou Academy", his good friend Teng sent someone to see him and sent him a letter. It turned out that Teng was demoted to the secretariat of Yuezhou, and after some efforts, he finally turned Yuezhou into a place with prosperous economy and people living and working in peace and contentment. So he decided to rebuild Yueyang Tower, a famous building in the south of the Yangtze River, and asked his friend Fan Zhongyan to take notes. He first drew a sketch of Yueyang Tower and attached a letter, and sent people to Dengzhou thousands of miles away.
Faced with the begging of an old friend, Fan Zhongyan agreed to his friend's request in order to encourage his demoted friend. Fan Zhongyan was drunk that night, holding a candle and writing in Huazhou Academy. Referring to the sketch of Yueyang Tower, he carefully conceived it. At that time, it was the middle of September in the lunar calendar, and the autumn was crisp and the chrysanthemum was overflowing. When he picked up the pen, he suddenly had many ideas. He thought of his bumpy experience and what he had done for the people of Dengzhou. He thinks it is not enough to govern only one place. More importantly, only when the whole country is rich can the people really live and work in peace. As' parents' of ordinary people, we should take the world as the public, and have the noble quality of' worrying about the world first, and enjoying the world later'. With this in mind, he worked hard and soon wrote the famous Yueyang Tower. Fan Zhongyan met many wizards in his life and benefited a lot from Buddhism. Judging from his poems, his thoughts are quite similar to Buddhism, and he began to draw nutrition from Buddhist scriptures and strengthen Confucianism. Therefore, he can vividly describe the magnificent scenery of Dongting Lake with refined and beautiful words, and express his feelings through the scenery, urging the frustrated not to be sad because of their own misfortunes, "not to be happy with things, not to be sad for themselves", to get rid of personal gains and losses, and "to worry about the world first, and to be happy after the world". This masterpiece is a true portrayal of Fan Zhongyan's life. Later, it was regarded as a classic by people with lofty ideals in past dynasties, and it still shines today.
Fan Zhongyan is also a strategist with strategic thinking. At that time, Xixia often invaded the border of Song Dynasty, and Fan Zhongyan was sent by the imperial court to command the military in the northwest border. As soon as he came to power, he reorganized his armaments, which quickly turned Song Jun from passive to active, and reversed the northwest war situation. He also attaches great importance to discovering talents. He found a young officer named Di Qing had a good fighting style, so he broke away from convention and promoted him. It is precisely because of Fan Zhongyan's selfless recommendation that Di Cai Qingcai quickly became a historical star from a junior officer.
He helped poor families. When he became prime minister, he took out his salary and bought a thousand acres of fertile land near the city, which was called "beneficial field" to cultivate the poor and landless people. They have food every day and clothes every year. If you marry your daughter-in-law, or if you die and are buried, give them money to make up for it, and choose the elderly and virtuous people in his family to take charge of this matter. All the money and income are planned. Practiced his long-cherished wish of benefiting all beings when he was young.
Once I bought a house to live in Suzhou, and a geomantic gentleman praised the house for its excellent geomantic omen. The descendants must be public officials. Fan Zhongyan thought, since the geomantic omen of this house can make future generations noble, it is better to change it into a school and let Suzhou children enter school. In the future, all children can be virtuous and noble, which is more beneficial than their own children. So I immediately donated my house and turned it into a school, hoping to let more children study and let the country have more talents. Students studying in Suzhou have produced 300 or 400 scholars and dozens of champions in the course of these 800 years.
On another occasion, he asked his son Fan Chunren to escort 500 barrels of wheat back to his hometown in Suzhou. During the transportation, he happened to meet his father's old friend. During the conversation, he learned that his family was poor, his parents could not be buried, and his daughter had no dowry. When Fan Chunren found out, he immediately sold 500 barrels of wheat. As a result, the money was still not enough, so I sold the boat and solved the difficulties of my father's old friend. After the sale, he returned to Beijing to report to his father. When the father and son were sitting at a table, Fan Chunren said to his father, "I sold 500 barrels of wheat, but the money was still not enough." Father looked up and said to him, "Then sell the boat, too!" Fan Chunren said, "I have sold it." It can be seen that father and son are United.
Fan Zhongyan has been an official for decades. He was rude in court and was not afraid of being convicted. Wherever he went, he built water conservancy projects, trained talents, protected land and people, and made remarkable achievements, truly serving as an official and benefiting one party. In life, he is strict and frugal. At ordinary times, I eat meat and vegetables at home, and my wife and children just want food and clothing. He didn't build a decent mansion until his later years. He didn't even have a new dress when he died. However, he likes to give his money to others, is kind to others and is willing to do good things for others. At that time, many wise men grew up under his guidance and recommendation Even ordinary people in the countryside and the streets can call his name. When he left office, the people often blocked the way of envoys and asked the court to let Fan Zhongyan stay in office.
Fan Zhongyan's actions and thoughts have won the admiration of future generations. Injong died in the fourth year (A.D. 1052) at the age of 63. Evil news
All over the country, people in Suzhou and Gyeongju, as well as people of all ethnic groups who joined the Song Dynasty, painted his portrait and set up shrines to commemorate him. People sigh deeply. Where he was in politics, many people came to the ancestral hall to mourn like their dead father. They fasted for three days before they dispersed. People with lofty ideals in the past dynasties have followed the example of Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, and learned to imitate.
Today, Fan Zhongyan's spirit and thoughts are still shining, which has educational significance to make people work hard. Fan Zhongyan's four sons have all grown up. They are all smart and have both ability and political integrity. They are officials of prime minister, minister and assistant minister respectively. Fan's great-grandchildren are outstanding, distinguished and endless. For 800 years, Fan's descendants in Suzhou are still thriving.
Fan Zhongyan's merits and demerits are incalculable, because he is kind-hearted, seeking benefits for others and sacrificing his own interests. God's blessings for future generations are dozens and hundreds of times what Fan Zhongyan paid at that time. Fan Zhongyan has no self-interest, and has sown unexpected good seeds, which have been blooming and bearing fruit for 800 years. He inadvertently worked for the welfare of future generations and became a model of good deeds, which was admired and praised by the world. Therefore, the world should benefit future generations, and Fan Zhongyan's kindness is very worthy of our emulation.
Note 1 Xie: A devout Buddhist disciple who has been embroidering Buddha for 20 years. 2 say: yuè. (3) Li: lǐ, sweet wine. (4) Monk: sēnɡ, a Buddhist practicing at home. 5 leek: Ji incarnation, leek. ⑥: chù, demoted or dismissed. ⑦ Fan Chunren: Fan Zhongyan's expectation of naming his son is purely a kind heart. ⑧ Fee: fěi, significant.