Su Zhe: A Model of Ancient Intellectual Elite | Wen In ancient China, starting from Confucius, most intellectual elites were officials, scholars and scribes. They put politics in the first place, put it at the center, studied and wrote poems around politics, and served politics. Taking Su Zhe in the Northern Song Dynasty as an example is the best interpretation of this phenomenon. Su Zhe (1March 03918-1June 2, 5438+001October 25) was born in Meishan, Sichuan. The writer and prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty was one of the "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties". His father Su Xun and his brother Su Shi are all expressed in words. Su Xun was tired of learning since he was a child, and he was a typical late bloomer. Therefore, he paid special attention to the study of Su Shi and Su Zhe, and never let his two sons make the same mistakes. In the eighth year of Li Qing (1048), Su Xun lost his family for three years because of his father's death. At the same time, behind closed doors, I taught my knowledge and conduct to Su Shi and Su Zhe when I was young. According to historical records, Su Zhe "studied since childhood and made good use of words to control chaos". At the age of seventeen, Su Zhe, who had just finished her studies, married Shi. Now that she is married, she should start her own business, so in the second year of marriage, Su Zhe went to Beijing to travel with her father and brother. On my way to Beijing, I called on Zhang, who knows Chengdu. Zhang set out six questions to test Su Shi and Su Zhe. Zhang read the papers of the two brothers, deeply impressed, and treated Su Zhe and his son with courtesy. Zhang said to Su Xun: Your two sons are both geniuses, and Su Shi is very clever and lovely. Su Zhe is cautious, and his future achievements are not under Su Shi. Su Shi and Su Zhe's later life paths were completely as expected. The same family education and career path, the same political opinions and ethics, the same hatred and persecution from political enemies, Su Zhe's career is bigger than Su Shi's, but his career is much less bumpy and his life ending is much stronger than Su Shi's. In the second year of Song Renzong Jiayou (1057), Su Zhe was a scholar in the exam (the same as Su Shi), ranking higher and was appointed as the county principal book. At this time, Su Zhe was only 19 years old, with high talent and early fame, which was amazing. In the sixth year of Jiayou (106 1), Su Zhe and Su Shi took the examination of remonstrance system presided by Emperor Injong himself. Unfortunately, Su Zhe fell ill near the exam. Han Qi, the prime minister, suggested to Song Renzong to postpone the exam time and let Su Zhe take the exam. Song Renzong actually agreed. When the exam results came out, three people were admitted: Su Shi, Su Zhe and Wang Jie. In "Jin Lun" and "Jin Ce", Su Zhe boldly challenged the ancestor's law of the Song Dynasty, that is, "not to suppress mergers" and "not to establish generals", and believed that the current situation would not succeed if it was not changed. Su Zhe's policy of restraining land merger and lending to the people at low interest rate is not only consistent with the relevant reform direction of Wang Anshi's new law, but also more reasonable. Su Zhe's proposal to reform the military system was even praised by Shen Deqian of A Qing Dynasty as "a candle shines on the world". Su Zhe's major mistakes in current politics are particularly profound in his reply to the imperial trial production strategy. Seeing that Su Zhe and Su Shi are really knowledgeable and dedicated to the world, after Song Renzong announced the admission result and retired from the DPRK, he could not help but say to the queen, "I won two prime ministers for my descendants today." . Since then, Su Zhe, as an intellectual elite, has a higher platform to display his political ambitions, and propositions such as country and the world have become the test questions for which he has been writing answers all his life. In March (1069), the second year of Xining, Song Shenzong, Su Zhe went to court and thought that the current political priority should be to get rid of redundant officials, soldiers and expenses first. After reading Zong Shen's instructions, it is a pity that Su Zhe "devoted himself to current affairs and got what he wanted", but downplayed it. Su Zhe was immediately passed down as a "detailed article on the regulations of the three divisions" and entered the core department of political reform. Although the detailed text of the regulations of the three divisions was a hot work at that time, it had a bright future. However, due to frequent disagreements with new party figures including Wang Anshi, Su Zhe could not realize his political ambitions. After less than half a year, he asked to work locally. From then on, Su Zhe stayed away from the imperial court and worked as a local official for 16 years, but he still concentrated on current affairs and cared about the people. In August (1085), eight years in Yuanfeng, Song Shenzong, great changes took place in the struggle between the old and new parties, and the old party headed by Sima Guang completely suppressed the new party headed by Wang Anshi. The court ordered Su Zhe to be transferred back to Beijing from Jixi County. Returning to the center of power, Su Zhe was promoted quickly, starting from a small school bookkeeper, and successively held prominent positions such as Right Assistant, Huolang, Zhongshu Sheren, Assistant Minister of the Ministry, Assistant Minister of the Official Department, Hanlin Bachelor, and Yu Shichong, and even rose all the way to the position of Deputy Prime Minister-Shangshu Right Cheng and Assistant Minister of the Ministry of the Interior, and entered the ruling team at the core of the imperial decision-making. This is the peak period of Su Zhe's official career, and it is also the period when his selfless political morality and pragmatic administrative wisdom for the people are fully displayed. There are countless examples of Su Zhe in this period, and there are only two points to sum up. First, seek truth from facts and handle affairs impartially, trying not only to correct Wang Anshi's excessive behavior in the political reform, but also to prevent Sima Guang and his followers from abolishing the absurd behavior of the new law and strive to "practice the law for the people and the country." Second, on several occasions, I resigned or begged to work abroad, but I was not allowed. The former point shows that Su Zhe is wise and pragmatic, and the latter point shows that although Su Zhe has been an official for many years and is quite mature politically, his celebrity demeanor remains the same. The struggle between the old and new parties took place in Yuan You for eight years (1093), and then it took a dramatic turn. The old party headed by Sima Guang was once again moved out of the power core circle, and Su Zhe was not spared. From being demoted to Ruzhou in 1094 to retiring in103, Su Zhe worked in ten places including Yuanzhou, Yunzhou, Huazhou, Leizhou, Yongzhou and Yuezhou in the darkest ten years. Whenever Su Zhe wants to leave his post and take up a new job, the local people can't help crying and see him off for dozens of miles. After retirement, Su Zhe settled in Yingchuan. He closed the door to thank guests, read and wrote books, cultivate one's morality and cultivate one's character, and never mentioned current politics, so as to regain the peace that a world celebrity should have. During this period, Su Zhe wrote masterpieces such as Biography of Welcome, Preface to Luancheng and Collection of Analects of Confucius. After retiring for five years, the court remembered Su Zhe again. No matter how complicated Su Zhe's mood was, a letter of appointment once again made Su Zhe a doctor in the DPRK, and later he turned to a doctor in Taizhong. Four years passed, that is,1165438+September 2002. Su Zhe, who worked hard for more than 50 years in the Song Dynasty and struggled with illness all his life, officially retired as a doctor too much, and died on the 3rd of the following month at the age of 74. Throughout Su Zhe's life, he studied hard and became famous as a teenager, and he was fearless. Both moral integrity and literary achievements have become models for scholars in the Song Dynasty. Whether living in a temple or far away from rivers and lakes, he always regards high morals and integrity, honesty and honesty, and serving the country and people as the highest pursuit in life. He tried hard to seek and do practical things, but he had to retire to study and write poems. Su Zhe's life choice is pragmatic, wise and successful, which can be described as a model of China's ancient intellectual elite.