Shen Kuo, a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang, is erudite and good at writing, in astronomy, Fang Zhi, legal calendar, ** medicine, divination, all know, in Chinese history, since the Han Dynasty has Zhang Heng, he is the second scientist with a straight history.
Although he is a scholar with great achievements in the history of science, his role in realpolitik is that of a capricious villain.
This has a lot to do with the fact that he was brilliant in his early years. Shen Kuo's family was poor, and he was not promoted to the Jinshi until he was thirty-one years old, and since he entered the official career, he was dazzled by the crown and glory, which made him keen on profit and tried his best to make a profit.
Wang Anshi changed the law, and Shen Kuo also participated in the work. At that time, Wang Anshi was in power, Shen Kuo was attached to it, and tried his best to support the new law, and An Shichu also valued his talent, but soon saw through his character. When the new law was implemented, Emperor Song Shenzong intended to appoint Shen Kuo as the main executor, and Wang Anshi said: "Shen Kuoren (small) people, do not get close." Later, he was sent as a visiting envoy to the Liangzhejiang Road and a minister of the Qincha.
Shenzong said to him: "Su Shi sentenced Hangzhou, and Qing Qi met him well." ”
Shen Kuo went to Hangzhou and talked about the old with Su Shi, and he was very enthusiastic. When he was about to go back to his life, he asked Su Shi to record a poem and keep it as a memorial, which is also a common thing among friends, and Su Shi did not doubt him, so he wrote it to him.
In fact, Shen Kuo was very jealous of Su Shi in his heart, and the temple theory of Shenzong was a strong stimulus to him, so after returning to Beijing, in addition to praising Qingmiao and assisting in the law, it was by no means inconvenient for the people, and then he annotated Su Shi's recent poems one by one, attached them to the inspection report, signed and pasted them into the submission, and told him that "all the words are scornful".
Shenzong ignored it, but the people of the Manchu Dynasty already knew about it, so naturally someone told Su Shi. Su Shi thought that the wise emperor would not believe him and did not take it to heart.
This trick, after five or six years, has been fine. Unexpectedly, the methods used in the subsequent Wutai poetry prison case were completely learned from Shen Kuo. Su Zhe mentioned in the book that his brother was imprisoned: "The person who went to the court once paid in, but His Majesty ignored it. "It's him, so the initiator of the Wutai poetry prison case is really Shen Kuo.
Wang Anshi was dismissed as prime minister and Wu Chong was elected as prime minister. At this time, Shen Kuoguan has been promoted to the third envoy in charge of the country's finances, he wants to take the door of the new Xiangguo, and sees Wu Chong's style, and wants to be different from Jing Gong in everything, so he secretly rules Chen Changping's service law is inconvenient to all ends, and dedicates it to Wu Chong, Wu is sleeved in the sleeve, and the secret is presented to Shenzong.
The matter was heard by Cai Cheng, who knew the miscellaneous affairs of the imperial history, and the upper chapter said:
When the new law began to be implemented, the imperial court was afraid that there would be many inconsiderate places, and they had to visit from all walks of life. At that time, Shen Kuo visited Liangzhejiang and came back to say that the new law was very good, and the people were in favor of it. Now that Wang Anshi has resigned and Wu Chong is the prime minister, he has slandered the new law, and his remarks before and after are really self-contradictory, just to cater to the prime minister's intentions.
When Shenzong saw this movement, he was very disgusted with Shen Kuo's capriciousness and demoted him to Xuanzhou.