Fragrance of Laurel Branch

If the evil grass were surpassed the good grass, the prairies will be damaged. Pruning the weeds to distinguish good from evil, and leave the good grass to feed the horses that can run for thousand miles a day. If the weeds were flourishing, they will destroy the good grass. At this time, you must cut the weeds and eradicate its roots. Being jealous of the talents and slandering the gentlemen, are the evil comportments. If you were too kind and don't want to eradicate the roots, that will involve the cycle of continuative catastrophes. A cowardly person with a kind heart is like a dust-covered pearl that has not been wiped for a long time. Turbidity is the sediment at the bottom of the river. You should first remove the silt, cut off stones and sand, before of dredging the canal. A wise person can distinguish right from wrong. Therefore, Bao Zheng questioned the black pot and Ximen Bao punished the frauds on the villages. Although Tao Yuanming seemed content with poverty and enjoyed the reality, it was a helpless act; although Qu Yuan died loyally, he was trapped by slander. There were many injustices in the past, which were not destined by the divinity, but caused by human disasters. The evil of human nature is in the heart. When the heart is calm, everything is clear. However, when the heart is mixed, the people are in trouble. In ancient times, there was fertile grass, but they were invaded by weeds. Then, they became weeds. The owner of the garden thought that it was a bad grass and removed it. This is because he could not understand the principle that the prime criminal is the evil grass! Therefore, the remaining sages in the north and south are all miserable, resting full of regrets! Wang Anshi, Prime Minister of Northern Song Dynasty, put down > and wrote > to refute it. > was signed by Su Xun, but the writing style of this article could absolutely not be compared to him. Although he had many conflicts with Su Shi, his father, Su Xun, had always been aloof from the political conflicts. So, he naturally disdained to spend time writing such a ridiculous work. Su Xun neither admitted nor denied it. He probably didn't care to mention it; but the article had already spread throughout Bianjing, the capital of Northern Song, getting more and more intense, as if the conservatives were fanning the flames and trying to impede the thundering momentum of the Xining Reformation. Suddenly, he sneered and took up the candelabrum to burn his work >. He, Wang Anshi, never needed to prove his innocence with the pedantry. In March, the swallows returned. The willows of Baqiao Bridge felt melancholy about the spring, and the moon rose over the Milky Way. Second year of Xining. Chuigong Hall. Bianjing. "Your Majesty, since the implementation of Qingmiao Law, people have been living in poverty, and there are complaints everywhere! The government has accumulated capitals while the people are poor, that is contrary to Rites of Zhou! The new reforms must be abolished!" Sima Guang stepped forward and advised Zhao Xu, Emperor of Northern Song Dynasty, "Although these laws have been successfully implemented in Yin County, how can the local experience be easily extended to the whole empire? How can managing a family be confused with managing an empire?" "Grand Scholar Sima, you are wrong! If you can't clean up your own house, how can you clean up the whole empire? If you don't even know the width of your own house, how can you know the breadth of the empire! The new laws are indeed thunderous, but our Song Dynasty has been poor and weak for many years! We have been appeasing and seeking peace with Liao and Western Xia, and there are refugees displaced from their homes and in misery! Your Majesty, is that this Song Dynasty that you want to see? Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, regardless of their status, are all talented and equal! Therefore, although Qingmiao Law has not been effective in the short term, it will benefit people's well-beings in the long run." "Prime Minister Wang, you are upright and have great talent, but do you think that other people are all gentlemen like you? The most important thing in governing an empire is to understand and tolerate: To understand the reality of people, and to tolerate the helplessness of reality! You insist on your own way and fantasize that everyone is equal and treated equally; but if everyone is equal, why do we need the court? Why do we need the monarch and ministers! Do you know that the government took this opportunity to enrich themselves? The officials corrupt with each other to oppress people? Do you know that people were forced to commit suicide to pay back Qingmiao money, which was called 2% interest rate, but was actually 8% interest rate? Do you know that famine is everywhere in the whole empire of Song Dynasty? All because of your reforms, Wang Anshi! The new policy is a disaster for the empire and people. It is really a hundred harms and no benefit! The civilians are the foundation of the empire. I don't want to see the parties fighting against each other. Your Majesty, I hope the court can distinguish right from wrong and abolish the new policy!" "Junshi, you are loyal and upright, but you don't know much about things." "How can the laws of ancestors be abolished?" Sima Guang questioned anxiously. "I, Wang Anshi, have nothing to fear from natural disasters, nothing to blindly follow from ancestors, nothing to care about what people say! No matter how people criticize me, I will go on my way to my snow-covered road!" Is it really true that everyone is inferior, only the scholars are superiors? Should scholars look down on farmers and merchants? Should farmers be ridiculed for being illiterate? Should merchants be greedy and sinister? Should women be obedient to their parents and husbands, then live in vain? Why not reform? Why should we be conservative and cautious? However, when some people stand up and make different voices, they will find that the other party not only wants to make their lives difficult, but also does not want to give them a way out. "What a stubborn prime minister! Now the trend of factionalism is prevalent in the court. If you still insist on going your own way, it will definitely provoke the dispute between Conservative Party and Reformist Party, then you will become the eternal sinner of Song Dynasty!" "When a person rebels, there will be thousands of people who desperately want to suppress him from destroying the existing rites and laws. In fact, they wish to tear him into pieces and never be reincarnated! However, I am willing to bear the condemnation and only want to seek justice from the empire!" "My dear ministers," Zhao Xu said, "you are all thinking about the people, why do you have to fight in the court? Don't fight about the new law anymore, let me think about it for a moment." The young emperor raised his hand, as if to smooth out the sadness between his brows. "End of the court!" Li Xian, the eunuch in charge, announced loudly. After thanking Zhao Xu, the civil and military officials left one by one. "Prime Minister Wang," Judge of the Imperial Court, Su Shi, stopped Wang Anshi on his way: "May I ask why Shang Yang was tortured to death for his reforms, and Wang Mang was assassinated by the rebellion for his innovative policies? What do you think?" "Judge Su is young, arrogant and conceited. Take care of yourself in the future." Wang Anshi glanced at him and turned away. They chose different ways to leave in the wind and snow. Only the fragrance of Osmanthus filling their sleeves, and the voice of injustice that lasted for eternity, as the final sound of Northern Song Dynasty.