Chapter 346: Ranking the Ten Great Poets in History, Number Three—Dongpo Jushi, Su Shi

Villa second floor.

In a billiard room inside.

The green velvet table surface glowed with a soft light under the lights.

Gu Shanhe leaned over, aimed, and struck.

The white ball hit a red ball, and the cue ball stopped precisely next to the black ball.

"In again."

Liu Bang stared, his cue stick stuck on the ground, "I'm not playing anymore!"

Ying Zheng stood on the opposite side, looking at the table expressionlessly.

He learned billiards the fastest, and could play decent shots in three days.

But Gu Shanhe had been playing for twenty years, and the gap could not be filled by talent.

Liu Che changed positions, wanting to find a better angle to watch.

Liu Xiu sat honestly on the sofa drinking tea.

Li Shimin put down his cue and said with a smile: "Immortal Master Gu, with your level, the five of us together can't beat you."

Gu Shanhe straightened up and put the cue back on the rack,

"Li Erfeng, it's not that you can't beat me, it's that you haven't found the rhythm."

"Billiards is something that you get familiar with after practicing more."

Liu Bang muttered: "I practiced for three days and still can't get it in."

Ying Zheng glanced at him: "Your shot is too urgent."

"Brother Zheng, you're standing and talking without back pain; you practiced the fastest, aren't you also unable to beat him?"

Ying Zheng didn't answer, because it was a fact.

Liu Che was about to speak when the sky screen lit up.

Golden light poured down from the dome, and the green velvet on the billiard table was plated with a layer of gold.

Everyone's movements stopped, and the five people looked up in unison.

On the sky screen, a setting poem emerged—

【A lifetime of wind and rain, a lifetime of poetry, half a life of ups and downs, half a life of obsession.】

【The brush embraces the Song tide's ten thousand images, the world's openness is only Dongpo.】

Liu Bang recited it once: "Dongpo? Su Dongpo? I seem to have heard of him."

Li Shimin's eyes lit up: "Su Shi! Great literary giant of the Northern Song!"

Liu Che asked: "Northern Song? That's Zhao Kuangyin's dynasty?"

Gu Shanhe nodded: "Yes, later than everyone here. Mid-to-late Northern Song."

Ying Zheng didn't speak, staring at the sky screen.

【Sky Screen Ranking · Ten Great Poets in History, Number Three—Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan, pseudonym Dongpo Jushi.】

Liu Xiu put down his teacup: "Third place. Who will be the top two?"

Liu Che said: "No matter who it is, being able to rank ahead of Su Dongpo must not be simple."

The comments flooded the screen—

【Comment from a modern netizen】: Dongpo!!! Finally waited for you!!!

【Comment from a Song Dynasty netizen】: Great Song's first all-around talent, well-deserved!

【Comment from a foodie netizen】: Dongpo pork! Dongpo elbow! Thank you, Su Gong, for feeding us!

On the sky screen, the scene unfolded.

Meishan, Sichuan, by the Qingyi River.

A teenager sat in the courtyard reading, with thick bamboo slips piled up beside him.

His father, Su Xun, stood behind him, his gaze serious.

【Figure origin: Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan, pseudonym Dongpo Jushi. From Meishan, Sichuan, born into the Su family of scholars. Father Su Xun, younger brother Su Zhe, the three of them are all listed in the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song.】

Liu Bang gasped: "Three in one family? What kind of genes does this family have?"

Liu Che said: "Your Majesty, back in Peixian, why didn't you produce a few scholars?"

Liu Bang stared: "I was busy fighting for the world back then, who had time to read?"

Ying Zheng said lightly: "Fighting for the world without reading is also fighting in vain."

Liu Bang wanted to refute, but found there was no reason, so he shut up.

The sky screen continued—

【Gifted with peerless talent at a young age, he went to the capital for the imperial examination at twenty, shocking the literary world with his article "On the Loyalty and Kindness of Rewards and Punishments."】

【The chief examiner Ouyang Xiu mistakenly thought it was written by his student and wanted to avoid suspicion by giving it second place.】

【After learning it was Su Shi, he sighed: "Thirty years from now, no one will talk about me, only Su Shi."】

The sky screen scene switched.

Tokyo Bianliang, prosperous streets, traffic like water.

Wine restaurants and tea houses were lined up, and the entertainment districts were bustling with noise.

【Era background: Mid-Northern Song, prosperous economy, flourishing literary style, the freest era for Chinese scholars.】

【But the party struggle in the court was fierce, with the reformists and the conservatives fighting for decades, and countless famous officials became victims.】

Liu Che asked: "Party struggle? The period of Wang Anshi's reform?"

Gu Shanhe nodded: "Yes."

"Su Shi was caught between the two factions, neither agreeing with Wang Anshi's radical reform nor agreeing with Sima Guang's complete overturning of the old system."

"He spoke from his own position, and as a result, neither side liked him."

Liu Xiu sighed: "The most dangerous position is not taking sides."

Ying Zheng said: "Not taking sides is the enemy of everyone."

【Su Shi was born at the peak of the Great Song's literary governance, but happened to encounter the turmoil of the court, his talent was unparalleled in his life, but he was displaced his whole life. Half a life of demotion, half a life of drifting.】

Li Shimin shook his head: "The Great Song valued literature over martial arts, and scholars had high status, but when party struggles started, it was more cruel than the battlefield. Killing without seeing blood."

Liu Bei's comment drifted out—

【Comment from Liu Bei, Three Kingdoms】

I drifted for a lifetime, also because I didn't rely on the powerful.

I understand Su Shi's path.

【Comment from Zhuge Liang, Three Kingdoms】

My Lord, you at least have Guan, Zhang, Zhao, Ma, and Huang.

Su Shi only has his brother Su Zhe by his side, not even one who can fight.

【Comment from Zhang Fei, Three Kingdoms】

Liang, you say that, as if being able to fight could solve the problem.

【Comment from Guan Yu, Three Kingdoms】

Third Brother, you rarely say something reasonable.

On the sky screen, the scene darkened.

Gloomy prison, damp walls.

Su Shi sat on a pile of straw with disheveled hair, his face pale.

【Life disaster: Wutai Poetry Case.】

【Political enemies took Su Shi's poems out of context, fabricated charges, and impeached him for "slandering the court."】

【Su Shi was escorted to the capital and imprisoned in the Yushitai for 130 days, a narrow escape from death.】

The living room was quiet.

Liu Bang frowned: "Can writing poetry also be a crime?"

Ying Zheng said: "Every dynasty has been like this."

"If poetry is written too well, it is easy for people to pick faults."

Liu Che said: "If you want to add a crime, why worry about not having words."

"The key is whether the emperor believes it."

【In prison, Su Shi thought he would definitely die, so he wrote a death poem and asked someone to bring it to his brother Su Zhe: "With you, brother for life after life, let's tie the unfinished cause in the next life."】

Liu Xiu recited it once, his voice very low:

"With you, brother for life after life... thinking not of fame, not of the country, but of his brother before dying."

Liu Bang rarely didn't joke: "This person values love and righteousness."

Cao Zhi's comment carried a sob—

【Comment from Cao Zhi, Three Kingdoms】

Deathbed poem, written to a brother.

Qu Zi wrote to the country, Su Shi wrote to his closest relatives.

Two ways of writing, equally sincere.

【Comment from Cao Pi, Three Kingdoms】

Zhi, if you had written poetry to me back then, I wouldn't have...

【Comment from Cao Zhi, Three Kingdoms】

Brother, don't talk about this.

On the sky screen, the scene switched.

By the Yangtze River, Huangzhou.

Su Shi wore coarse cloth clothes, reclaiming land on Dongpo.

The sun was big, he was covered in sweat, but there was a smile on his face.

【Desperate sublimation: After the Wutai Poetry Case, Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou, not allowed to sign official documents, equivalent to house arrest.】

【In this desolate land, he built a snow hall, planted Dongpo land, and called himself "Dongpo Jushi."】

【Hardship did not destroy him, but made him live into the unique Su Dongpo of the ages.】

Liu Che looked at Su Shi farming in the scene and was silent for a while: "Demoted, and still can laugh?"

Liu Xiu said: "If he doesn't laugh, should he cry?"

Li Shimin said: "He has cried, but after crying, he continues to live; this is true openness."

"It's not being heartless, it's chewing up the hardship, swallowing it, digesting it, and turning it into nutrients." ===== CHAPTER 347 =====