Narrator: Wang Anshi, who had been out of office for the second time 10 years ago, heard that Su Shi was going to Changzhou, so he invited him to visit Jiangning on the way to reminisce about old friendships and enjoy the scenery.

Background: Wang Anshi’s home in Jiangning.

The bamboo garden is quiet, with stone tables and benches, a small stove, and a teapot. Characters: An Shi is 65 years old, Su Shi is 49 years old, and Ding Gui is 40 years old (in the past, he was a minor official in the Ordinance Department of the Three Departments, and Anshi has been following him since he stopped being prime minister. Now he is a servant.

) An Shi: I heard that you are going to Changzhou. Why, you didn’t stop by to see me. You were still waiting for me to write you an invitation before you agreed to come.

Su Shi: (Su Shi seemed to be listening but not listening, and kept fiddling with the hat on his head) Is there a mirror in the Prime Minister's house?

Anshi: What do you need a mirror for?

Su Shi: I am in a hurry and my clothes are disheveled. How dare I talk to my husband like a savage? It is really inappropriate.

Anshi: Hey, you see, the red tape is not just for our generation.

Don't talk to me one by one. I retired a long time ago. Today we treat each other as master and disciple. Show off your "bamboo stick and mango shoes" casualness and do it as easily as you want.

How have you been in Huangzhou these past few years?

Su Shi: The teacher was ashamed. Unexpectedly, he wrote a few poems and was imprisoned. He almost lost his life. But he survived the catastrophe, thanks to the teacher's rescue.

When I think about you presiding over the reform at that time, I was in opposition to you at every turn. I really should not have done so.

Anshi: Hey (upper voice), don’t make it so cliché.

Officialdom is about politics, and you can have different opinions. Because of this, you are Su Dongpo, and I am Wang Anshi.

Now that I have no official position and only a light body, you are also a good-natured person, so I would like to go to Chibi for some fun.

Su Shi: Deputy envoy of regiment training, a casual job. Apart from admiring the mountains and rivers and tasting delicious food, what else can he do.

Now I am neither participating in the reform nor opposing the reform, I do whatever I want.

Now that we are out of the way and looking back, does the teacher think the reform is right?

An Shi: Look, you are involved in the reform again. Anyway, apart from the reform, we really have nothing else to talk about.

Whether the reform is good or bad will be judged by future generations.

At least I seized the opportunity, displayed my talents, and became famous and slandered all over the world. Having lived like this, I will not live in vain in the next life.

Su Shi: Doesn’t the teacher care about the opinions of the world?

An Shi: What's the use of caring? What's the use of not caring? If others don't agree, just stop doing it?

Roll up your sleeves and work hard when others appreciate you?

Then why do you need this? (He patted his left chest as he spoke).

The so-called right and wrong comments are just different interests and different positions.

Moreover, the merits are not so easy to determine.

As the saying goes, the coffin is finalized. No matter how many people or things, the coffin has been sealed for decades and hundreds of years. There are thousands of people criticizing today and tens of thousands of people praising tomorrow. Sometimes the praise reaches the extreme, and sometimes the criticism reaches the extreme.

, you said, is it useful to care about these things?

There is a kind of person who is neither criticized nor praised by others.

Su Shi: A mediocre person.

Anshi: The one who knows me is Dongpo.

A person who is famous all over the world and slandered all over the world is definitely not a mediocre person. As long as a person is not a mediocre person, it is already worth it.

Su Shi: What the teacher said makes sense.

So reform does not care about reputation or reputation, but it must care about people's livelihood and suffering.

Anshi: It’s not that I haven’t considered the people’s livelihood you mentioned. The country and the people are inherently contradictory. If you emphasize the country, the people will inevitably be left out.

Sima Guang, an old man, jumped out at the beginning of the reform and said that the wealth of the world is constant, and the number of countries means the number of people. Can I not understand this truth?

Su Shi: Students have long known that your talk of developing production and making the cake bigger was sheer lies.

Anshi: How to develop production?

Productivity is only that big. How many silkworms can a family raise, how many acres of land can one cow plow, and how many kilograms of grain can one acre of land produce? These are all fixed numbers and cannot be changed.

Unless there is a breakthrough in technology, the rice seedlings can enjoy the shade and yield 3,000 kilograms per mu.

Su Shi: Doesn’t the emperor know this?

An Shi: Of course the emperor knows.

But what the emperor wants is to achieve something, to enrich the country and strengthen the army, to display the country's prestige, and to reform the past and make new things. I can only consider the interests of the country in everything.

Having said that, whether money is placed in the hands of the state or the people depends on which one plays a greater role.

Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, conquered the world and wanted to recuperate and spend money on the people. Because he had just experienced troubled times, if he did not let the people live a good life, the country would not be stable.

Su Shi: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used Sang Hongyang's strategy. The country went out to do business, earned enough of the price difference, and transferred the money from the people's hands to the state treasury. Because at that time, the country was internally stable, and the main threat came from the outside, from the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu happened to be a master of great achievements.

, as long as the war can be won, the people's life and death do not matter.

Anshi: There is nothing we can do about it. Is it possible for one person to do such a big thing as resisting foreign enemies?

If we can't do it, we have to rely on the state. At this time, money can play a greater role if it is used by the state.

The people are temporarily suffering a little pain to avoid the big pain of national subjugation and genocide. Can you say that this is not caring about people's livelihood?

The Xixia people are attacking at their doorstep, and the Khitan are also watching closely. If these threats are not eliminated, how can the people live a good life?

Su Shi: You have worked so hard. It would be great if all the ministers in the court could understand.