Northern Song Xu Fu, whose courtesy name is Fuzhi, was from Jianzhou, Fujian. He failed to pass the imperial examination in his early years, so he turned to Yixue , and became a master of Yixue. He was best at "Liuyan Gua Qi Method" (the name seems very noble). Later, the famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan , once asked him for advice and admired his prophecy very much. Later, he recommended Xu Fu to Song Renzong . After some trickery, he was deeply trusted by Song Renzong and insisted on rewarding him with an official position, but Xu Fu refused to "despite because of his illness." In the end, the emperor felt that he was not satisfied and gave him the title of "Chonghui Dushi".
1. Learn hard Liuren art
After Xu Fu lost confidence in the imperial examination, he devoted himself to learning Yixue. He worshipped a monk as his teacher and studied Liuren devoutly. Soon he achieved some success. The monk asked him to apply what he learned and practice more.
On a day, Xu Fu told a fortune-telling for a servant in the Jianzhou government office and concluded that there was a sign of great danger that the servant would die in the downtown area. The officer felt that Xu Fu was not sure, and Xu Fu was not sure, so he took him to find the monk and asked the monk to help verify whether his calculation was correct.
The monk did a careful calculation and said to Xu Fu: "It is right that you can calculate the sign of great danger, but this officer did not die in a downtown area, he would be executed for breaking the law." The servant still didn't believe it after hearing this. The monk said to him: "If you go home tonight, there will inevitably be a relative of a different surname to visit. Not long after that relative came to your house, two horses will fight outside your house, and one of them will have an abortion and give birth to a three-legged foal." The servant saw that the monk had a nose and eyes and was so serious that he opened his mouth wide. He didn't know what to say for a moment.
monk then said, "If you go home and have a look, it is true that I have a good calculation, and it also means that you will die." The servant returned home half-believingly, but indeed a relative came to the door, and the two horses fighting in front of the door were exactly the same as the monk expected. The next morning, the officer came to the monk and asked him to find a way to rescue him. The monk thought for a while, "There is no way. If you go out from home and hide away, the disaster may be lighter."
The first thing that a servant was given was to be amnesty after returning was to resign from his job. The magistrate asked him why he suddenly resigned, and the magistrate told the truth about fortune-telling. The magistrate was also superstitious about Yixue, and he even approved him and his resignation with a big stroke. After the officer returned home, he hurriedly packed his luggage and went out far away. The officer was thinking about hiding farther, so he squeezed forward when he boarded the boat. He accidentally knocked a person next to him into the water. The man fluttered in the water for a few times and then sank into the water. When everyone rescued him, he lost his breath. Because the officer was the culprit, he was escorted to the government office by everyone.
In theory, the officer should pay his life. Fortunately, the magistrate had heard about the reason for the officer's resignation before, and thought it was a destined disaster, so he changed the officer's reduction and exemption from the death penalty to exile.
Due to the matter of the servant, Xu Fu found that he was still very different from his master, so he asked the monk what was wrong. The monk smiled and said, "You have learned the method of Liuren's technique. The next step is to experience it personally. The things in it can only be understood, not expressed in words, and I cannot teach you." Xu Fu was very frustrated, and the monk said to him again, "You calculate the fate of this servant. If you can't figure out my conclusion, I will be powerless."
After Xu Fu went back, he carefully regarded the fate of the servant, and finally understood his previous omissions. The result was exactly the same as that of the monk. He could also calculate what happened after he went home on a business trip, but there was one thing: why the foal born to an abortion of the horse had only three legs, he didn't calculate it. Xu Fu went to ask the monk again, and the monk sighed: "Your understanding is only so high, and it is difficult to force it to improve."
2. Asserted that Fan Zhongyan: Song and Xixia must start a war
Fan Zhongyan was demoted from the capital because of disagreement in politics and became an official in another place.When Fan Zhongyan was an official in Hangzhou, he heard that Xu Fu was also here. Fan Zhongyan had long heard that Xu Fu had learned his skills and his calculations were very accurate, so he specially invited Xu Fu to his home and asked him humbly for advice.
Xu Fu did a fortune telling for Fan Zhongyan, and calculated his past and future, and even some very obscure secrets were not missed. Fan Zhongyan was very surprised and admired Xu Fu very much. The two of them have close contact since then. Whenever Fan Zhongyan was unsure of his mind whenever he encountered something, he would ask Xu Fu to come and listen carefully to his opinions.
As a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan was concerned about the world and was very concerned about the situation in the northwest. He often talked to Xu Fu about the Western Xia issue. At that time, Western Xia often fought wars, and Fan Zhongyan asked Xu Fubu to calculate the outcome of the war between Song and Western Xia. Xu Fubu said, "In the recent period of Song Dynasty fighting against Xixia, the results were not good, and he was defeated. There will be a great war in the next one or two years before peace can be maintained. The adults are worried about the world and must go to the northwest in person and confront the Xixia people head-on on the battlefield. When dealing with the Xixia people, you must suppress them with powerful force to dispel their ambition to invade."
3. Meeting Song Renzong: Offering a strategy to defeat the enemy
0 Xu Fu's views were deeply agreed by Fan Zhongyan. The facts also proved Xu Fu's inference: Not long after, the King of Western Xia, Li Yuanhao, threatened to attack the Central Plains, seize the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and eliminate the Northern Song Dynasty. After hearing this, Song Renzong was shocked and quickly summoned the ministers to discuss countermeasures. At that time, the , the political affairs officer, , Song Shou, Fan Zhongyan and others recommended Xu Fu to Song Renzong.
Song Renzong issued an edict to summon Xu Fu, and Xu Fu had no choice but to come to the capital. Song Renzong specially summoned him at Chongzheng Hall and asked him about his views on the situation in the world. Xu Fu's answer refreshed Song Renzong. Song Renzong knew that Xu Fu was a master of Yixue, so he asked him some questions about Yixue, and then asked him directly what he meant this year and whether Xixia would make a big attack. Xu Fu replied: "In the "Yi" hexagram, the year, month, day and time that are matched this year should be small. And Taiyi guards the central palace, and the soldiers should be inside rather than outside. The real threat of Song State was not Xixia, but Liao State . Liao State is the biggest trouble, while Xixia is just a problem of scabies."
Song Renzong felt that he made sense, so he asked how to deal with the threat of Liao State. Xu Fu compared the situation of Tang Dezong back then: "Dang Dezong was eager for success and profit, and wanted to pacify the world with force, and he himself was mean and ruthless. The combination of virtue and bad luck caused the incident, and was later forced to flee from the capital Chang'an . Your Majesty was respectful, frugal, kind and forgiving, and tolerating others. The battle between Song and Liao was all initiated by the other party, and Your Majesty had no choice but to face the battle. Years of war were not out of Your Majesty's original intention, and the world could know. There was only a period of bad luck in front of you, but it would pass soon, and there would be no big obstacles."
These words came to Song Renzong's heart, and he nodded repeatedly. The facts were indeed as Xu Fu expected. The Song army later defeated Xixia and maintained peace with the Liao Kingdom for a long time.
