Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1101 1096 [Dunhuang Manuscript]

Duan Zhengxing, the last king of Dali Kingdom, happily moved to his new home in Kaifeng.

However, Li Renxiao, the last emperor of Western Xia, had already moved from Kaifeng to Luoyang. He was not as good as the students of the Imperial College and could not even pass the Imperial College graduation examination. After failing the examination for two consecutive years, the emperor gave him a special graduation quota.

After graduating from the Imperial College, Li Renxiao automatically became a Juren, and then he could directly take the imperial examination.

But Li Renxiao finally gave up. He had been recognized by the Ming Dynasty scholars, so he asked the emperor for a title and an official position. This was the promise Zhu Ming made at the beginning. If Li Renxiao failed to pass the imperial examination, he would still be given the position.

His title was Duke and his official position was Hanlin official.

Li Renli was also serving as a Hanlin official in literature and history, and was also an authoritative expert in Western Xia studies, so he happened to be Li Renxiao's academic mentor.

In addition to Li Renli and Li Renxiao, there are several other Xixia scholars, all of whom are classified as researchers in the Xixia Group of the Hanlin Academy of Literature and History. The first draft of "The Book of Xixia" has long been published, and the second draft was revised and approved last year, but new historical materials have been discovered and the third draft is being compiled.

As the imperial court banned the Xixia script, a large number of folk books were confiscated and transported to Luoyang. The official historical materials of Xixia had been studied, but only a small part of the folk books had been sorted out, and the rest were piled up in the warehouse, filling up several rooms.

not enough people!

When he heard that two generations of Dali rulers had come to Beijing, Li Renxiao pretended not to know and was too lazy to go and exchange experiences on destroying the country.

He came to the warehouse to work as usual.

He called the servants to carry out a large wooden box. These boxes were sealed and marked with the source of the books. The wooden box that was opened at this moment came from a Nestorian temple in Xiliang Prefecture.

Li Renxiao's job was to sort and classify them preliminarily, and then send them to the Xixia Group of the Museum of Literature and History for research.

Ordinary officials really cannot do this job because in addition to Chinese characters and Xixia characters, there are also Uighur, Sogdian, etc., and even the initial sorting requires skills.

While Li Renxiao was organizing these in Luoyang, more than a dozen painters were copying the cave murals in Shazhou.

It has been several years since Zhu Guoxiang sent it.

The reason why he sent painters to Shazhou at that time was that he heard that Mogao Grottoes had exquisite murals from past dynasties. Moreover, the painting style was very different from that in the Central Plains, so he sent some painters to take a look and practice their painting skills by copying.

Zhu Guoxiang had no idea which cave the Dunhuang manuscripts came from, so he naturally couldn't point out where the secret room was.

What Zhu Guoxiang could not have imagined was that the Mogao Grottoes were not the same as the Dunhuang Grottoes, because the Dunhuang Grottoes were a group of grottoes. They were everywhere in Shazhou!
Even when the Hanlin painters arrived in Shazhou and asked the local monks, they were unable to find out the whereabouts of the Mogao Grottoes in the first year - the locals called it the Thousand Buddha Caves.

There are two Thousand Buddha Caves, and Mogao Grottoes belongs to the Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves.

The murals in Mogao Grottoes were not uncommon in Shazhou at that time, and many local caves had similar works.

A dozen painters from the Imperial Academy arrived in Shazhou and copied paintings at six caves, of which Mogao Grottoes was only one. Of course, the Mogao Grottoes had the most painters, because someone discovered the inscription "Mogao Grottoes" and knew that this was the place that the emperor had named.

As the Ming Dynasty suppressed Buddhism, the construction of grottoes in the entire Shazhou was suspended, many small caves were even gradually abandoned, and even nearby temples were banned.

But in several large caves, there are still believers coming to worship Buddha and burn incense.

Zhou Cong is 32 years old this year. He has been copying murals in Shazhou for five years and can only communicate with his wife twice a year.

This job is quite tough, but Zhou Cong doesn't complain.

He studied under the famous artist Li Tang, but was only a nominal disciple. His painting skills were OK, but just OK, and he could not get a place in the Hanlin Academy of Painting. Being able to improve his painting skills in Shazhou would be of great help to his future development.

There are many murals here, and Zhou Cong particularly likes the styles of Wei, Jin and Tang dynasties.

They usually live in the Thousand Buddha Temple to the east of Mogao Grottoes, where there were originally more than 200 monks, but now there are only dozens left. The remaining monks were forced to return to secular life and share the land with the Han immigrants.

The craftsmen hired to carve the caves were all registered with the government and assigned to settle down in various places.

The entire Shazhou Grottoes, large and small, have been excavated since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, with construction only stopping for a long time during wars. Once peace came, monks or believers would raise funds to excavate new caves, and excavation continued until the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

It's a new day again, and Zhou Cong and his friends go to work.

They also hired monks to work as handymen in the temple, doing odd jobs like helping to carry things.

It's going to snow soon and the weather is a bit cold.

Zhou Cong copied for the whole morning. His hands and feet were cold, so he ran out to stretch his legs and chat with his friends.

"When will Brother Ludao return to Beijing?" Zhou Cong asked.

Liu Cunzhong said: "I will come back in the early spring of next year. If I don't come home soon, my children won't recognize me anymore."

Zhou Cong said: "I also plan to go back in the spring."

Zhu Guoxiang did not set a time, he just mentioned it casually in the Hanlin Academy of Painting, and the Hanlin Academy sent more than a dozen painters over.

Liu Cunzhong said: "After I go home and rest for a while, I will apply to visit other Buddhist caves. There are so many famous caves in the world, and there must be very different styles of painting. I have gained a lot in Mogao Grottoes. In the future, I will travel around the country and learn from the strengths of others, and maybe I can integrate them into my own."

Zhou Cong praised: "Brother Lu Dao has great ambitions!"

Liu Cunzhong said with a smile: "Even if I can't become famous, I have so many copied scrolls to pass down from generation to generation, so my descendants can also make a living from this."

For painters since the Tang and Song dynasties, skills were often passed down from father to son.

Painters will create their own material libraries and let their children and grandchildren copy them from a young age.

Without leaving home, children can draw flowers, birds, insects and fish in a realistic manner and master various basic painting techniques of realism, including spatial perspective, etc. When they grow up a little, they can go further by observing real objects.

"Da da da da..."

There was the sound of horse hooves, and an official came running and shouted, "A letter from Luoyang has arrived, along with the six-month edition of the Great Ming Monthly Report. If you want to write to your family, it's best to finish it today. I'll take it to the Shazhou camp tomorrow, and send it off with the family letters from officials, soldiers, and immigrants before it snows. Please tell each other!"

"Good work!"

Painters came out of the caves one after another.

In remote areas, post messengers are very popular and can make a living wherever they go.

Zhou Cong and others stopped copying and returned to the temple to receive letters from home.

In addition to a letter from home, Zhou Cong also received an embroidered purse.

His wife said in the letter that their daughter would be 15 years old in two years, and her craftsmanship was getting better and better. Half of the patterns on the purse were embroidered by her daughter. She also said that someone had come to propose marriage, and one of the families was quite good, and was a distant relative of his wife. The young man was not only of good character, but also had been admitted to the state school at the age of fifteen. Both parents thought it was a good match, and wrote to ask Zhou Cong what he thought.

Zhou Cong read the letter again and again, and then looked at the purse that his daughter had helped embroider.

After a silly smile, Zhou Cong picked up his pen to write back.

He first expressed his longing for his wife and children, then wrote that he was in good health, and then mentioned the interesting things and troubles he had encountered. Finally, he said that his painting skills had improved by leaps and bounds in the past six months, and he planned to return to Luoyang to reunite with his family after the spring.

After thinking about it, Zhou Cong asked his wife not to agree to their daughter's marriage yet, and wait until he returned to personally observe the young man.

After writing his reply, Zhou Cong opened the letter and read it several times before running to find the newly delivered newspaper.

In order to save money, the painters in Mogao Grottoes jointly subscribed to the "Da Ming Monthly Report". After everyone took turns reading it, the monks from the Thousand Buddha Temple would come to borrow it, and they could even sell it in the city at a low price.

Before Zhou Cong entered the house, he heard his friend Zhang Luqing shouting, "The king's army destroyed the Dali Kingdom and changed it to Yunnan Province! The former vassal states under the jurisdiction of Qianzhou, as well as some prefectures and counties in western Hunan, were also changed to Guizhou Province. Suddenly, the territory of two provinces was increased!" "Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

The painters who were reading newspapers in the room shouted congratulations.

Although they were far away in Shazhou, they learned about major events happening across the country through the "Da Ming Monthly".

Soon, a painter named Yang Juhou came with another newspaper in his hand and said, "This summer, the imperial court sent envoys to Qiangtang, and a total of 52 Tibetan tribes submitted to the emperor, and each sent envoys to Luoyang to pay tribute and meet the emperor."

The crowd cheered again.

Soon, people read about the Huainan corruption case and the personnel and institutional changes in the court, and everyone sighed.

Zhou Cong went in and sat down, picked up a newspaper that had already been read by someone else, and sat there happily reading quietly.

The next day, I continued copying the murals.

His friend Liu Cunzhong changed the cave, hired monks to help lift the stool, and Zhou Cong also helped to get some painting supplies.

"Boom!"

A monk's vision was blocked by a high stool. He couldn't see what was happening in front of him and suddenly bumped the stool against the stone wall.

The leading monk rebuked: "Be careful!"

Zhou Cong frowned: "It seems like there is a hollow echo."

During the Guangxu period, the Dunhuang manuscripts were discovered because of a down-and-out scholar who was invited by Taoist Wang to copy scriptures. He noticed something unusual when he was knocking his pipe against the wall.

The inside of the wall is empty, there is a secret room!
Zhou Cong picked up the stone paperweight and knocked it against the wall twice, then he and Liu Cunzhong looked at each other.

They quickly called other painters and knocked the wall with the paperweight again.

Everyone discussed and decided: break down the wall.

Murals are everywhere in Shazhou, and they are not rare. Moreover, the mural in front of us is in the style of the late Five Dynasties, and it is a common thing in the whole Shazhou.

They found some monks and started to smash things up, and soon the secret room was revealed.

The secret room was filled with items, probably enough to fill ten or twenty trucks.

Most of them are Buddhist scriptures, but there are also a lot of other things.

Zhou Cong searched for a while and even found some children's graffiti and kindergarten-level brush paintings.

This situation is very normal. When building a large Buddhist cave or pagoda, believers in the surrounding area will copy Buddhist scriptures and send them to pray for blessings, including things written by children.

In addition, some literate civilians (even those who have a basic understanding of writing are fine) would be hired to copy scriptures on site, and when they got bored of copying, they would come up with some weird drawings.

Once the construction of the Buddhist caves and pagodas is completed, these scriptures used for praying will be collectively sealed inside.

Yang Juhou flipped through the Buddhist scriptures and put them aside, when he suddenly saw a pile of official documents. After reading them carefully, he saw that they were the judgments of the Hexi Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty.

How could official documents from the Tang Dynasty appear in a Buddhist cave?
Everyone gathered around and read it carefully. Out of curiosity, they looked for other books and found many unfamiliar words.

They didn't take it seriously, thinking it was a Buddhist scripture copied in a foreign language.

In fact, there are not only Tibetan, Uighur, Sogdian, Sanskrit, etc., but also Kharosthi, Tocharian... and even Hebrew!

Everyone asked the monks to help sort and organize the things and temporarily move them all back to the Thousand Buddha Temple.

A few days later, heavy snow fell and all the painters stayed in the temple to sort out the books and scriptures.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Cong saw Liu Cunzhong trembling all over.

Liu Cunzhong held a few pages of paper in his hand, swallowed his saliva and said, "I...I want you to write a note."

Zhou Cong smiled and said, "There are Taoist scriptures in the Buddhist cave?"

Liu Cunzhong's voice was trembling: "I have also studied Taoist scriptures. This is not an ordinary Taoist scripture, this is Laozi Xianger's Notes."

"Is Laozi Xianger Zhu very rare?" Zhang Luqing asked.

Liu Cunzhong explained: "This book was lost during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Taoist priests in the Tang and Song Dynasties have been looking for it. Although the manuscript I have in my hand is incomplete, it is enough to drive Taoist priests all over the world crazy."

Zhang Luqing held a book in his hand: "This may be a unique piece, a collection of miscellaneous songs from the Tang Dynasty."

Everyone looked at each other.

The collection of miscellaneous songs from the Tang Dynasty is definitely the earliest collection of lyrics and music in existence.

Everyone continued to search and read.

The next day I found a collection of poems by female Tang Dynasty poets. Before this, there had never been a collection of poems by female Tang Dynasty poets.

There are also some works on mathematics, astronomy, and fiction, all of which are unique pieces.

There were even more scattered manuscripts, notes, inscriptions, official documents, and deeds, and people had no time to read them carefully.

One day, it was snowing heavily outside, and Zhou Cong's hands were shaking. He didn't know whether it was because of the cold or because he was shocked by his discovery.

He paused for a long time before calling out, "Qin Fuyin!"

"What is Qin Fu Yin?" Everyone was puzzled.

Zhou Cong explained: "Wei Zhuang's long poem "Song of a Qin Woman" had such a great influence when it was written that Wei Zhuang bought back all the published collections of poems and destroyed them. He also asked his relatives and friends not to include this poem in their collections."

Liu Cunzhong was puzzled and asked, "It's just a poem. How can it be more shocking than Laozi Xianger's Notes?"

"The inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the streets were trampled with bones of nobles! Only these two lines of the poem are still circulating," Zhou Cong said with excitement, his face flushed. "Do you know how big a sensation it will cause if the whole poem is spread? All the scholars and writers in the world will go crazy!"

As more and more unique works came to light, painters finally became unable to sit still.

It involves documents from more than ten regimes from the Three Kingdoms to Western Xia, including classics, history, official and private archives, medicine and astronomy, religious scriptures, poetry and literature... everything is covered.

Everyone waited for the heavy snow to stop, copied a catalog of treasures, and quickly sent it to the Shazhou government.

The destination of these things is the Hanlin Academy, where several generations of Hanlin officials will study them slowly.

When these twenty or thirty carts of documents arrive in Luoyang, the Hanlin officials will be so excited that they will go crazy, and their actions will certainly alarm the emperor and the retired emperor.

Zhou Cong sighed: "It is only because the Holy Emperor is alive that these treasures can see the light of day again."

Zhang Luqing guessed, "It's possible that the Guiyi Army hid there. They are powerless against the alien race, so they risked their lives to protect these things."

(End of this chapter)