Among the eight families of ancient literature in the Tang and Song dynasties, there are three from Jiangxi; Among the three, there are two more in the Fuzhou area, namely Wang Anshi (1021-1085 Linchuan) and Zeng Gong (1019-1083 Nanfeng). In the history of literature, there are many good stories of friendship, and the friendship between Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong is one of the moving chapters.
They not only have the friendship of fellow villagers (in fact, after Zeng Gong returned to his hometown from his father's official office, considering that his grandmother and aunts were mostly in Linchuan, he applied for Linchuan nationality and lived in Linchuan for a long time in the future), and they were like-minded, admired each other based on talent and virtue, and respected each other, and the friendship between the two was very sincere and deep. Cai Shangxiang of the Qing Dynasty once spoke highly of this: "The two public aspirations are early, the Tao is excellent, and finally his body can be established in future generations, so far for six or seven hundred years, there is no one who can accept it." Wang Anshi and Zeng Gongding were friends in Jingyou for three years (1036, when Zeng Gong was eighteen years old and Wang Anshi was sixteen years old). Shi Zhi Zeng Gong "less with Wang Anshi tour, Anshi's reputation is not revived, Gong Daozhi is Ouyang Xiu", "Anshi is less good at reading, once you see it for life, you will never forget, its genus writing is like flying, if you are inadvertent, it will become, and everyone who sees it will be convinced of its subtlety. Yousheng Zeng Gong brought Ouyang Xiu to show Ouyang Xiu, and the cultivation extended his reputation and was promoted to the earth." Prior to this, Zeng Gong also wrote to Cai Xiang, the then counselor, and strongly recommended Wang Anshi. It can be seen that the emergence of this outstanding politician in history is still inseparable from Zeng Gong, a young man.
In the days that followed, they continued to exchange letters and poems, thus leaving a considerable moving record of friendship, from which they also truly expressed their thoughts, character, temperament and style. Although they once had different political views on the issue of implementing the new law, they once advocated the golden mean, advocating that "it must be educated first and stay for a long time, and then it can be cured, which is not an easy way." Because "without first edification, but quick to blame good people; Don't wait for a long time, but the merits and sins of quick desires will be seen. Therefore, it is used according to the method of manipulation, and resentment is violated; Listen to the trend of picking, and implicitly complain about the harm of the accusation. The more annoying it is, the more annoying it is, and the more it disobeys itself." The attempt to achieve the goal of resolving the social contradictions at that time through long-term education was indeed conservative and too paranoid. However, from the point of view of his efforts to warn Wang Anshi not to be too hasty in the methods and steps of reforming politics, it is not entirely without merit.
What is also commendable is that they were able to distinguish between political struggle and personal interaction, and the difference of political views did not prevent them from maintaining friendship, thus showing the tolerant bearing and open-mindedness of both sides. There is nothing surprising about this, Sima Guang and Su Shi, who were contemporaries of Wang Anshi, also showed the good demeanor of this kind of politician. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, many people have made a big fuss about Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong's so-called "beginning and ending". But as Cai Shangxiang pointed out in "Examination", this is pure slander. He believes that since Wang Jiefu Zeng Zigu became friends, "the frequency of books in the middle, the thickness of mutual understanding, and his poems and essays can be seen in the two collections", only the poem "Zigu Guo Jiefu Returns to Couples" shows the differences between Wang and Zeng in the implementation of the new law, but this is also "in the Chaoyan Dynasty, how suspicious is it in the old friendship". He also used the third book of Zeng Gong and Wang Jiefu in the winter of the second year of Zhiping, "Youyun will have to talk about each other from the word field, and the face will be happy in the age of decay" and Yuanfeng March, Zigu moved to Cangzhou expired, and praised "the beauty of my monarch's appearance, and the appearance and success" as a strong evidence to overthrow the "beginning and end" theory. Looking at the works that Wang and Zeng sent to each other, I think that Cai Shangxiang's view is indeed a fair theory that is in line with the actual situation.
Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong left a large number of poems in their lifetimes. From the perspective of literature, as famous ancient writers, there are not many prose Chinese texts; Comparatively speaking, their poetry works have a higher literary value. In terms of style, the poems of Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong can be said to have their own characteristics. Wang Shi is strong and strong, while Zeng Shi is plain and peaceful. "Poetry is like its people", this is true.