Cheng Mu "likes reading, and everyone knows its meaning." She taught her two brothers to read wisely, and she wanted to encourage them with the honor of the ancients. Therefore, Su Shi was "studious and ambitious" from an early age. Educated by his mother, they read the classics and talked about the past and the present.
However, their personalities are not the same. Su Shi likes painting and calligraphy, likes collecting, travels around the mountains, dares to say and do, and is cheerful and unrestrained. Su Shi was versatile all his life, and he was proficient in poetry, ci, fu, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Even Wang Anshi, a former political enemy and later teacher friend, praised him for "I don't know how many centuries it took to have such a figure." Su Zhe is taciturn and introverted. His writing is like a person, unpretentious but sincere.
Su Xun wrote an essay on the two-character name "The Theory of Two Names" to explain the reason for naming the two brothers: "Wheels, spokes, covers and wheels all have jobs related to cars, and those who do nothing by themselves, although I didn't regard it as the end of the car when I went to the stone. I'm afraid you don't dress up. " Wheels, spokes, umbrellas, and four-sided rails at the bottom of the trunk all have important uses, and stones are the rails of the handrails on the car, which seem useless when exposed, but without them, it is not a complete car. So, I'm afraid Su Shi won't notice, and I'll restrain myself in the future. ""the car in the world, unless reported, has nothing to do with the quality of the car report. Although chariots and horses are killed, suffering is not as good as Tao, and the goodness of Tao lies between good and evil. I know it's free. General idea: "Frogs are the marks of wheels running over. He has neither the credit of car walking nor the disaster of rollover, so he knows that frogs should be able to avoid disaster all their lives. "As can be seen from this article, Zhizi is not like a father.
In March of the first year of Jiayou (1056), Su Xun and his son left home for Beijing to have an exam. At that time, Su Shi was twenty-one and Su Zhe was eighteen. After passing the post office in Feng Ming, Shaanxi Province, the group had to stay in a hotel because the post office was dilapidated and uninhabitable. Passing through Erling Road near the hill in Henan Province, the horse died, so he rode a donkey to Mianchi. His brother is writing poems on the wall of Mianchi Old Monastery. When they arrived in Kaifeng, the capital, the father and son met many celebrities. Ouyang Xiu read Su Xun's works and admired them very much. He tried to recommend them to Han Qi and Fu Bi, but they were not taken seriously.
In the second year of Jiayou, when the three brothers Su Shi shocked the capital, the bad news suddenly came. Cheng died of illness in his hometown and had to rush home to worry about his mother.
In the sixth year of Jiayou, his brother returned to Beijing to take part in the imperial examination. As a result of the examination, Su Shi got the third grade and Su Zhe got the fourth grade. At that time, in the Song Dynasty, the first and second grades were nominal, and the third grade was the best. Before that, only one Wu Yu had been in the third class. Historical biography records: "Renzong read Su Shi's and Su Zhe's" Strategies for Establishing Science "and said happily:" I won two prime ministers for my descendants today. " "
From then on, Su Shi stepped into his official career and began his ups and downs. Su Shi was sent to Shaanxi as the judge of Fengxiang House. Su Shi wrote a poem to Su Zhe on the way to express his brother's feelings of parting. When Su Zhe was reading poetry, he speculated that his brother should go to Mianchi at this moment, and Mianchi was the place where they stopped when they went to Beijing to catch the exam six years ago, so he wrote "Huai Mianchi sent his son to look forward to his brother": "Farewell, share the long journey of snow and mud. Back to cycling, I'm still looking for the bridge, and the pedestrians have gone west. I used to know if it was for the county magistrate, and the wall of the old monk's house was a commonplace topic. The idea of traveling alone is beautiful, but it is speechless but screaming. " The first four sentences first answer the poems sent by Su Shi, and five or six sentences recall the events of that year. The last two sentences assume that Su Shi travels alone and can only hear A?vagho?a's voice, but no one can talk to him. Although writing about Su Shi's loneliness actually includes his own loneliness. Therefore, Su Shi also wrote a poem "Nostalgia for the Past": "Life is like flying snow. I accidentally left my fingers and claws in the mud, and Hong Fei was driving that complicated thing. The old monk is dead and has become a new tower. There is no reason to look at the old topic with a broken wall. I still remember whether it was rugged and long. " Although it's only been six years, the monk family in Mianchi has changed beyond recognition. The monk at leisure has passed away, and the poems inscribed on the wall have disappeared, giving people a deep feeling that life is too small, just like Hong Fei, who can only leave a few paw prints occasionally. Su Shi was 27 years old at this time. My younger brother Su Zhe also served as an official of Daming Prefecture in Hebei Province in the second year of Yingzong Zhiping (1065), in charge of judicial work.
In the second year of Zhiping (1065), on May 28th, Su Shi's wife Wang Fu died of illness. The following year, my father Su Xun also died, and my brother went back to his hometown to pay his respects.
After the expiration of the first year of Xining (1068), he returned to Beijing. At this time, the political situation of the imperial court changed. Yingzong had passed away and Zongshen succeeded to the throne. He was quite thoughtful, so he appointed Wang Anshi as a political commissar and began to reform. Although the Su Shi brothers opposed conformism, they did not agree with the theory of political reform, so they were involved in political disputes. Su Shi first responded to Zongshen's suggestion, opposed Wang Anshi's preparation for the imperial examination reform, and criticized the imperial court for "seeking treatment too quickly, listening too widely, and entering the people too sharply." Zongshen once encouraged him to speak out. As a result, Su Shi criticized the New Deal in Emperor Zongshen's Book, Emperor Eid al-Adha's Book and Imperial Examination Plan. But in fact, Su Shi is not old-fashioned. In fact, he agrees with innovative ideas such as "enriching the people", "Qiang Bing", restricting aristocratic bureaucrats' children from filling official positions and "selecting officials". However, after all, it triggered a contradiction with New party member. Su Zhe also criticized the new law and had different opinions. As a result, he left the imperial court and went to Chen Zhou (Huaiyang).
In the fourth year of Xining (107 1), Su Shi was transferred to Hangzhou. On the way, the two brothers met in Yingzhou. At this time, both of them were politically dissatisfied and were excluded from the DPRK. Accompanied by Ouyang Xiu, we spent more than half a month together. On the eve of parting, we spent the night on the boat, singing political poems. Su Shi wrote two poems to show his feelings: "sail to the west wind, don't cry." I don't care whether I stay in the company or not, but I cherish this moment. I gave birth three times, and this time it was particularly sour and cold. Children who study are like Yuan Jun, dull, rigid and quiet. There are not many lucky words, but Jieshi is alert. Up to now, scholars all over the world have nowhere to go. Well, I've been crazy for a long time and don't want to cook a well. It's like getting drunk and falling down. Fortunately, I woke up unhurt. ""don't change your appearance, don't touch your tears. If you don't meet at close range, it's thousands of miles away. There is no parting in life, only treasure. At first, Wan Qiu danced with children with clothes in her arms. I knew I had this hatred, so I stayed in the autumn wind. The autumn wind has passed, don't hate it forever. Asked when I would come back, I said I was in the East. Clutch cycle, sorrow and joy overlap. It is often a great relief to realize this. My life is like a flying canopy. Too much trouble and premature gray hair, but not six or one Weng. " ("Liu Yiweng" refers to Ouyang Xiu; "Flying canopy" symbolizes his life, floating everywhere, never stable. The next morning, the two brothers broke up. Su Shi later wrote a poem to his good friend Chang Li, saying, "There are more than one widowed brother and one son, who come from all corners of the country. "The brotherhood is profound and touching.