Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 162 Three of the Four Great Masterpieces

"I don't know this gentleman, have you finished reading it?" Seeing Liu Yan's rapt attention, the old man in the bookstore came over and asked.

Only then did Liu Yan realize that he had been reading books in the bookstore for half an hour. He immediately took out his wallet and said, "Buy, buy, buy, how many books does this old man have?"

The old man said with a smile: "There are three volumes, the upper, the middle, and the lower. There are three volumes in total. This one is worth ten coins."

Ten pennies?so cheap?

Liu Yan looked at the old man in surprise. You must know that in the Central Plains, a thin Buddhist scripture costs [-] Wen, so ordinary scholars can hardly afford books.

The Liu family is also an official for generations, and the family has a large collection of books, but even so, Liu Yan doesn't have much money to buy books. When he encounters a book he likes, he either borrows it or copies it himself.

If he didn't really like this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Yan would not be willing to buy it.

I didn't expect such a thick book to cost only ten cents. Liu Yan was afraid that he had heard it wrong.

The old man smiled and said: "The price is clearly marked, which is ten coins. You can look at the back of the book and mark the price of the book."

Liu Yan flipped through the book, and sure enough, he saw "Book Price: Ten Francs" written in teeny lowercase letters.

This is too good and cheap. As a book lover, Liu Yan just read the first few chapters and knew that this is a novelist's story, not a canon history.

Liu Yan had read "Three Kingdoms" in his teens, and he even read Pei Songzhi's annotations to "Three Kingdoms".

Many plots in this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are crowned and worn, and there are even some folk tales of catching wind and shadows.

But that doesn't stop it from being a good book!

Liu Yan took out thirty Wen and stuffed it into the old man's hand, for fear that the other party would raise the price and not sell it.

Unexpectedly, the old man pulled Liu Yan and said, "Didn't you find out that the characters in this book are different from the common ones?"

Liu Yan nodded and said, "It's simplified. Is this a new font created by a calligrapher?"

The characters printed in this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are indeed different from normal regular script, and many characters have been simplified to a certain extent.

However, they are all situations that can be understood in relation to the context, so Liu Yan doesn't think there is anything wrong.

The old man said with a smile: "This is the simplified characters promulgated by His Royal Highness King Jianning. Today, the notices of the Tyrant Mansion and the Sanzhou Governor's Mansion must be written in this simplified character. There is also a dictionary here, do you want it? This dictionary is more It's cheap, only five cents."

dictionary?

Liu Yan was taken aback. All the things that can be called classics these days are very important books.

Liu Yan opened it and saw that the thick book was classified according to the characters and strokes. You only need to use the search method used in the preface to find the desired word.

The dictionary will give a simple explanation of this word, and at the same time, simple word formation, some complex words and example sentences.

Liu Yan was taken aback, this was much more detailed than "Shuowen Jiezi".

This thick dictionary actually contains thousands of commonly used Chinese characters, all of which give concise and vivid explanations.

For this alone, this book can be called a "classic".

Liu Yan hurriedly paid for it, and Yang Yan had already picked out the book by this time.

I only saw that Yang Yan chose three volumes as thick as "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

The two left Fangshi outside the city, and Liu Yan, who was addicted to books, hurried to the city to settle down, so that he could spare time to read this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" carefully.

While waiting to enter the city, the two chatted again.

Yang Yan sighed and said, "King Jianning actually created simplified characters, what a great ambition!"

Liu Yan also nodded and said: "There is also this "Dictionary", which can really be called a dictionary. With this simplified Chinese character and dictionary, it will be much easier to get started."

Yang Yan also nodded. The so-called enlightenment is the enlightenment of literacy. All scholars like them have to be enlightened. They must either be taught by the Yanqing family teacher, or go to ethnology. It is quite difficult for ordinary people to read and write.

Both Yang Yan and Liu Yan belonged to generations of officials and gentry. Although their official positions were not considered high, they were both well-known poetry and book families in the prefecture and county.

The Confucian scholars of the Tang Dynasty in this era did not have the pedantic spirit of the Confucian scholars of the later Song and Ming Dynasties. On the contrary, both of them praised the simplified characters of King Jianning, thinking that it is a kind of characters that can better educate the world.

Liu Yan is even more fond of dictionaries. Liu Yan used the word "friend" to admonish the emperor at the age of eight. He naturally loves words very much. This is a dictionary that is easy to understand but full of depth, which naturally makes Liu Yan I love it very much.

Needless to say, these books were of course copied by the players from the real world.

Now a small player union called "Wen Chao Gong's House" is constantly transferring various classics to Datang Fengyun.

It's just that compared to those players who have made a fortune by carrying advanced technology, the classics that this group of writers laboriously typeset and print are backlogged and cannot be sold.

This is not to say that these books are not good. On the contrary, cultural people in the three states are full of praise for "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Water Margin".

The players were also embarrassed to put their names on it. These three books all used "Anonymous" as the author name. Some people even thought that Anonymous was a master of novels in the world, and they went to the bookstore every now and then to ask "Anonymous" what new works they had.

What, you said why there is no "Journey to the West"?
That is not Master Bianji and Master Yuji, the apprentices of Master Xuanzang, both lived to the first year of Kaiyuan, and now the disciples and grandchildren of Master Xuanzang are still alive. It is written that he took three disciples to the west to learn Buddhist scriptures, maybe he will be washed to death by the monks, That's why the players temporarily let go of this masterpiece.

Books are good books, but it is a pity that there are too few people who can read them.

With today's literacy rate, it is still unable to support a mature book market. The great development of popular literature in Song and Ming Dynasties only appeared after the civil economy developed.

And even in the Song and Ming dynasties, there was a market for books only in places where the style of writing was flourishing, such as the capital and Jiangnan.

Longyou has been an area with backward culture and education in all dynasties, and the printed books cannot be sold.

A while ago, King Jianning's Bafu issued an order to prohibit the private sale of Confucian classics, military books, agricultural studies, miscellaneous studies, laws and regulations, etc., which caused heavy losses to the players of "Wen Chao Gong's House".

The only gratifying thing is that many businessmen in the Western Regions are willing to buy some thick books back. It is said that such beautifully bound Chinese books are very popular in the Western Regions, and many big shots are willing to use these books to decorate their facades.

Liu Yan and Yang Yan quickly found a hotel to stay in Jucaifang. They just settled down and sat on the bed to read a book.

Liu Yan reads very slowly, and he will praise every part he likes. After reading it, he has a photographic memory and retells it word for word.

But Yang Yan is completely opposite, he reads very fast, it can be said that he can see ten lines at a glance, but he reads quickly and forgets quickly.

When Yang Yan finished watching 120 episodes of A Dream of Red Mansions, Liu Yan had just seen Cao Cao assassinate Dong.

But it was already dark at this time, and reading by candlelight in the hotel hurts eyes, so Liu Yan could only close the book reluctantly, and wait for the sun to come out tomorrow before reading.

Yang Yan also closed the book and exclaimed: "This "Dream of Red Mansions" is really a wonderful novel!"

Liu Yan touched "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and said: "The one who can write "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is definitely a generation of Wenzong!"

The plot of Dream of Red Mansions has twists and turns, and you can taste a variety of tastes if you taste it carefully, but Yang Yan just wanted to praise, but he didn't know where to praise it.

On the contrary, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is about the history of the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty, so it is possible to chat a few words.

Yang Yan asked: "Liu Lang, where is this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?"

Liu Yan immediately said: "Whether it is "Three Kingdoms" or "Three Kingdoms Notes", it is difficult to read, but this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has many places that violate historical facts, but the characters are really vivid!"

Liu Yan immediately recited a few passages of the plot, which made Yang Yan fascinated. When he heard that Cao Cao killed Lu Boshe's family, Yang Yan also gasped and said, "'I'd rather be blamed than others! 'Emperor Wei Wu actually said such words!"

Liu Yan said: "There is no biography of Lu Boshe in "Records of the Three Kingdoms", but in Pei Songzhi's "Notes on the Records of the Three Kingdoms", there is a story about Lu Boshe, but this is 'I would rather blame others than others blame me', I'm afraid it's just a novelist's words, so it can't be taken as true."

"Although it may not be true, this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" actually denigrates Emperor Wu of Wei so much."

Liu Yan also nodded and said: "Emperor Taizong also praised Emperor Wu of Wei once, saying, 'A majestic posture, a difficult fortune, a role of a pillar'. I didn't expect that this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" would be so derogatory to Emperor Wu of Wei."

Yang Yan thought for a while and said: "The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" respects Liu and demotes Cao, I'm afraid it's not the order of King Jianning."

"how you said that?"

Yang Yan thought for a while and said: "Isn't this world today also a world where dragons and snakes fight side by side? Your Highness is of royal blood, and has a reputation for benevolence in Longyou. Isn't he comparing himself to Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty?"

Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty is naturally Liu Bei. Liu Yan thought about it for a while, and although he felt that Yang Yan was over-interpreting, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with it.

King Jianning came from a famous family like Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty, but he had no foundation. In the book, Liu Bei managed to save a little family business, and King Jianning also managed to save a little family business outside the Great Wall.

In this way, respecting Liu and demoting Cao seems to make sense.

Yang Yan said again: "Liu Lang, in these times of great strife and chaos, we also want good birds to choose trees to live in, and virtuous ministers to choose masters to work on."

Liu Yan nodded and said: "What Sanlang said is very true. I don't want to hide it from Saburo. Master Fifth Qi, the Jianghuai Yantie Renyu Yongshi, once wrote to me, inviting me to assist him in the Yantie Academy. I wanted to go back. Enter the mansion of the Fifth Lord."

"But now I'm hesitating. After the Shazhou meeting, if this Jianning and I are really benevolent and enlightened like Liu Bei, then I will stay in Shazhou."

Yang Yan pulled Liu Yan and said: "What Liu Lang said is exactly what I want!"

(End of this chapter)