Fu Bi is an extraordinary son-in-law.
In the TV series "Qing Ping Le", Fu Bi was portrayed in great detail. He is dignified, elegant, rich and handsome, and once made the audience fondle the role of Fu Bi, affectionately calling him "the most handsome son-in-law in the Northern Song Dynasty".
However, is this also true of Fu Bi in history? The birth of every historical celebrity is accompanied by the color of myth, and Fu Bi is no exception.
There is such a widely circulated story: It is said that one day in the Northern Song Dynasty, a woman from an ordinary family in Luoyang had a strange dream.
In the dream, a wild goose flying high in the sky landed in a woman's yard with a plop, and then opened its mouth and spoke human words.
It tells the woman: "It is not an ordinary goose, it comes from the sky and is about to be reincarnated." The voice just fell and disappeared.
Before long, the woman got pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy named Fu Bi. Because of this legendary "birth record", Fu Bi was destined to be extraordinary at an early age.
He showed amazing talent when he was young, and his natural intelligence made him stand out from the crowd. "He is full of poetry and books", and he has the reputation of "Luoyang gifted scholar" because of his excellent writing. He has a rare gentleman spirit and extraordinary demeanor.
During Song Renzong's time, Fu Bi was an official with first-class talents in high school, and successively held important positions such as supervisor, Zhi Ji Yuan Xian and Zhi Jian Yuan.
He sent many missions to Liao country, and knew the relationship among Song, Liao and Xixia like the back of his hand, which stabilized the tripartite confrontation in the Northern Song Dynasty. Later, he retired to Luoyang for opposing Wang Anshi's political reform, at the age of nearly 80.
Such a talented and handsome man is a hot figure in ancient and modern times. His talent was appreciated by Fan Zhongyan, who praised him as "Wang Zuo's genius" and often showed his articles to literary giants such as Yan Shu for appreciation, and they formed an indissoluble bond.
In the Song Dynasty, the legal age for marriage was 15 for men and 13 for women. In ancient times, those who married early and had children early would get married early in their teens.
However, Fu Bi, who is talented and handsome, only met his Mr Right when he was nearly thirty years old. Thanks to Fan Zhongyan's appreciation, Fu Bi's articles on governing the country are widely circulated in the circle of literati, especially after reading Yan Shu, and he is very optimistic about its future.
Yan Shu's daughter was in the boudoir at that time. He asked Fan Zhongyan if Fu Bi was married. After learning that she was unmarried, she immediately took the initiative to ask her relatives.
It is Fu Bi's great honor that a generation of poets took the initiative to invite their relatives and Fan Zhongyan acted as a matchmaker. With the blessing of all the literati, Fu Bi happily married Yan Shu's daughter.
Judging from the later development, Fu Bi did shine brilliantly in the imperial court, from a generation of "Luoyang gifted scholar" officials to "the position of prime minister".
During the reign of Song Renzong, Shandong thieves were rampant, and the government suppressed them several times, so they had to adopt the method of "collusion" and use the policy of human gift to ease the contradiction between the two sides, and the two of them lived in peace.
However, the policy of collusion between officials and thieves was soon exposed to the court, and Song Renzong sent Fan Zhongyan to investigate the matter.
Despite the strict investigation, Fan Zhongyan's kind personality continued to adopt a softening policy, and even explained that "collusion between officials and thieves" was to win over and suppress, not collusion.
This circle of expedient measures is for the sake of the people and should not charge the government. However, how can such rhetoric convince the public? Fu Bi was the first person to jump out against it.
Compared with Fan Zhongyan's generosity, Fu Bi is a man who hates evil. The government is the government and bandits are bandits. Mixing with them is tantamount to indulgence of rights and endangering the people.
He hit the nail on the head and pointed out that the officials of Shandong county magistrate are doing things to appease and support traitors with the salary of the court, and they are clearly challenging the court, plotting against bandits and committing unforgivable crimes, hell to pay!
In the face of benefactor and matchmaker Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi argued and spoke fiercely. In court, officials also complained about this and often accused him of committing the above crimes, disrespectful and ungrateful.
To this, Fu Bi doesn't care. He bluntly said: "Mr. Fan and I are friends of gentlemen. If I take his intention as my intention in everything and maintain a consistent position, it will disappoint him. "
Fu Bi thinks so, and so does Fan Zhongyan? Facing Fu Bi, who often "opposes" himself, Fan Zhongyan's attitude is strikingly consistent with that of Fu Bi.
His appreciation of Fu Bi never needs the echo of the other side. Fan Zhongyan once said to his courtiers, "I admire Fu Bi because of his different customs." As the saying goes, a friendship between gentlemen is as light as water, so is the friendship between Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi.
In the early Song Dynasty, the "Yuan Tan Alliance" made the Song Dynasty and Liao countries live in peace for decades. When I arrived in Song Renzong, the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty were highlighted, and Xixia, who had always surrendered to the Song Dynasty, suddenly turned against each other and wanted to rebel.
Although there was confrontation in the Song Dynasty, it was defeated by the toughness of Xixia and was beaten one after another. "Civilization" was beaten by "barbarism", and the Liao country on the side could not sit still and was ready to take advantage of the fire.
A letter of credentials from the envoys of Liao was introduced into the court, and the content was not humble. As long as he wanted to return to sixteen states, Song Renzong was angry with such an arrogant Liao country, so he had to resort to force.
Under the recommendation of Prime Minister Lv Yijian, Fu Bi became a fish pushed out to face the enemy's sword. Fu Bi didn't mean to delay, leaving only one sentence: "I dare not love him to death."
I had a heated conversation with Liao, and the two sides were at daggers drawn. In the second round of tug-of-war, Fu Bi followed Liao envoys to Liao to meet Ye Zongzhen, the Emperor of Liao Dynasty.
Facing Ye Zongzhen's insistence on "land" in Liao Xingzong, Fu Bi choked: "You are proud of getting land, and we are ashamed of losing it."
In the long wait for Liao's reply, he is also waiting for his own fate. However, the tough Fu Bi didn't get the desired ending.
Because of this, the Song Dynasty continued to choose peaceful settlement, and increased 200,000 on the basis of the original 300,000 per year in exchange for peace in Song and Liao Dynasties.
Fu Bi is an honest and virtuous minister, but he is not a powerful man. Unfortunately, such talents still failed to change the tragic fate of the post-Song Dynasty.
Fortunately, his name was left in history, and "the most handsome son-in-law in the Northern Song Dynasty" and "a generation of prime ministers" are all proofs of his existence.