Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) was a minister and writer of the Northern Song Dynasty. The courtesy name is Xiwen, a native of Wuxian County, Suzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). When I was young, my family was poor and I couldn't eat three meals a day. I had to boil the rice into thin porridge, cut it into four pieces after solidification, and eat two pieces in the morning and evening. It is passed down that "cut the pickles (chopped pickles) into the porridge". story. So he studied hard, "day and night, the moon is very tired in winter, and the water is used to fertilize the surface." In the eighth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1015), he was awarded Jinshi at the age of twenty-seven, and Yan Shu recommended him as the school manager of Mi Pavilion. In the early days of Renzong's Tiansheng reign (1023), he was appointed salt official of Xixi. Baoyuanchu (1038). Because he hijacked Prime Minister Lu Yijian for using his personal life, he was banished to Raozhou and was accused of being a "clique" together with Yin Zhu, Ouyang Xiu and others. In the first year of Kangding (1040), in the adversity of "worry about slander and fear of ridicule", when he heard that Yuanhao of Western Xia had rebelled, he resolutely "went to the border on his own initiative" to garrison troops and camp fields, appease the exiles, and listen to the people for mutual trade. Within a few years, people of all ethnic groups gradually lived and worked in peace and contentment, and Yuanhao of Xixia asked for peace. The soldiers and civilians of Xixia were afraid of his power, and the Qiang people, old and young, felt his virtues and called him "Longtu Laozi". He was highly relied upon by the imperial court and summoned him to pay homage to the deputy privy envoy. In the third year of Qingli Dynasty (1043), he was appointed as the counselor of political affairs, and Fu Bi and Han Qi were appointed as deputy envoys to the privy council. He was entrusted with ten things: "Depose the emperor in the Ming Dynasty, suppress luck, pay tribute, select officials, share public land, and support farmers." "Sang, cultivate military equipment, promote favors and trust, emphasize orders, and despise corvee services" were promulgated by Renzong and were known as the "Qingli New Deal" in history. Less than half a year after its implementation, the New Deal failed due to opposition from the aristocracy and bureaucrats. That is to say, he resigned from his post of participating in political affairs and left Beijing to serve as the fourth envoy of Shaanxi Propaganda to resist Xixia. At the beginning of the fifth year of Qingli (1045), Renzong abolished the new law and Fan Zhongyan was dismissed. In the fourth year of Huangyou's reign (1052), Zhongyan died of illness at the age of sixty-four, and was given the posthumous title Wenzheng.
Zhong Yan was an upright politician with lofty ideals in the Song Dynasty. According to the "History of the Song Dynasty", he "every time he was grateful to discuss world affairs, he worked hard without caring about his own life. At that time, the scholar-bureaucrats were strict in upholding moral integrity, and Zhongyan advocated it." Although he was demoted several times and had many political enemies in the court, he still "taken the world as his "He has been appointed" and "planned day and night for the great affairs of the kingdom and peace." His famous prose "Yueyang Tower" has the famous line "Be worried about the world's worries first, and be happy after the world's happiness", which has been widely praised by later generations. "Don't be happy with things, don't be sad with yourself", and put aside personal grievances, honors and disgrace, gains and losses, no matter "living high in the temple" or "far away from the rivers and lakes", he cares about the king, the country, and the people. Not even a little bit left in my arms.
Fan Zhongyan lived a life of poor treatment. When he joined the army as the manager of the Guangde Army and resigned after completing his term, he "had only one horse and returned on foot with his horse riding". In his later years, his descendants wanted to build him a house for his retirement after he became an official. He was extremely opposed and said: "As long as a person has moral happiness, he can only live in a living room!" Normally, "if you are not a guest, you don't care about meat, and your wife can only provide food and clothing for herself." Although he was in a high position, he always believed in frugality and took "helping the poor" as his lifelong ambition. Qian Gongfu once wrote "Yitian Ji", praising Fan Zhongyan for "being fond of giving throughout his life, choosing those close to him who are poor, and those who are sparse but wise to be willing to give."
Very few of his poems have been preserved, such as "The Proud Fisherman", which brings the content of frontier poems into the field of poems and expresses the author's heroic embrace of guarding the border for thousands of miles and protecting the people from the invaders. It has more social content and an open and unrestrained attitude. style, which is relatively rare in Northern Song Dynasty poetry. He is the author of "Fan Wenzhenggong Collection".
Zhong Yan is good at writing. Song Dynasty Huang Tingjian's "Valley Inscriptions and Postscripts" says: "Fan Wenzhenggong's writing was written quickly and calmly, which is very close to the writings of people in the Jin and Song Dynasties. In the past, Su Caiweng's writing skills were so wonderful that he would not admit them to anyone in the world. He only said that Wen Zhenggong had the same method as "Le Yi Lun" ,...the main hook of the cover and the back of the wrist are all better than the ancient rules." He also said: "Fan Wenzhenggong's "Ode to Boyi" is very much in line with the writing style of his predecessors. "Sushu Duan" states that Zhongyan studied Wang Xizhi's "Le Yi Lun" in his later years, which is also a calligraphy treasure of the generation. "Longjiang Meng Yulu" written by Ming and Tang Dynasties commented that Fan Zhongyan's calligraphy is extremely powerful and beautiful, without any trace of indulgence. Yiyun Wenzheng's calligraphy is strong and elegant, which reflects his personality.
"Shi Lu Tie" is in regular script, on paper, 32.8 cm in length and 39.2 cm in width; the postscript is 32.8 cm in length and 18 cm in width. There are eleven lines with different numbers of words in each line. If the characters are missing, save a hundred characters.
Interpretation: Zhong Yan paused: Li Si Chengxing, Zeng □□□□ handed over, and also received the teachings to inherit and stop the victory. There was no □□ in Zhongyan's disease, and the child's illness was not completely cured and gradually declined. Tian Yuanjun's letter came and was specially delivered. I recently got a book from Yangzhou, and I asked Shi Lu very much, and he reported that he was poor and at peace. It would be better to get it without moving in the summer, but a gentleman is able to enjoy it, and it is on this day. Add love and love undeclared. Zhongyan was surrounded by people from Lushe. April 27th.
