Doctor of the Great Song Dynasty: In the beginning, Li Qingzhao and Li Qingzhao made a private decis

Chapter 350 Yin Ruins
"The oldest writing, Oracle!"

The officials couldn't help but frown, looking suspiciously at the oracle bones in Fan Zheng's hands that looked like ghostly drawings.

"Impossible, isn't the oldest writing written in bronze?" Yang Wei frowned, thinking that Fan Zhengding must have made up the oracle bone inscriptions to get away with it.

All the officials nodded.

As Yang Wei said, scholar-bureaucrats regarded writing as gods and regarded it as the beginning of civilization. For a long time, everyone believed that the earliest recorded writing was the bronze inscriptions from ancient times.

Bronze inscriptions are characters cast on bronze vessels. The ancients called copper gold, so it is also called "bronze inscriptions".In the Song Dynasty, bronze inscriptions were considered the earliest recorded writing, and this is recognized throughout the world.

However, Fan Zheng actually made a traditional Chinese medicine dragon bone. Just based on a few strange carvings on it, he said it was the oldest writing, said to be oracle bone inscriptions.

Fan Zheng explained: "The dragon bones are naturally not the bones of real dragons, but the bone fossils of some ancient animals. They have the effects of calming the nerves, calming the liver and subduing yang, and astringing and consolidating astringency. Each dragon bone is extremely old."

"Yes, the dragon bone does have a long history!" Su Song on the side testified for Fan Zheng.

"So what?" Yang Wei sneered.

Fan Zheng looked around and said loudly: "As we all know, metals have also been evolving, such as bronze in the pre-Qin period, to later iron tools, and now steel. When bronze inscriptions appeared, humans could already make metal, and they were already extremely powerful. , but how could humans record words when they didn’t know how to make metal?”

Faced with Fan Zheng's rhetorical question, Baiguan was suddenly surprised. If writing had been created before humans created bronzes, they would naturally have found the hardest and most common objects around them and engraved words on them for long-term preservation. "

"Carapace and oracle bones!" Zhao Xu blurted out.

Fan Zheng nodded and said, "Yes, it's carapace and bones. The ancients recorded writing on turtle shells and hard bones, which is the most primitive writing in existence, oracle bone inscriptions."

"Oracle bone inscriptions, why are there no existing oracle bone inscriptions?" Cai Jing asked rhetorically.

Fan Zheng solemnly said: "Because with the emergence of bronze inscriptions and letter slips, oracle bones were gradually eliminated, and oracle bones were gradually abandoned and forgotten and buried in the soil. Fan accidentally discovered that the medicinal materials of this dragon bone had something similar to it in the doctor's medicine shop. Others would definitely think that the carvings of the characters were random carvings. However, Fan thought that he still had some literary talent, and he could tell at a glance that they were characters, an extremely ancient character, and they were quite similar to today's characters. After careful comparison and research, I discovered the oracle bone inscriptions!"

Cai Jing didn't believe it at all: "You just took out an engraved medicinal material and dared to claim to have discovered oracle bone inscriptions. It's too childish!"

He admitted that Fan Zheng had some literary talent, but it was hard to believe that just because a medicinal material with inscriptions on it was an oracle bone inscription.

Fan Zheng waved his hand and immediately presented some oracle bones and said solemnly: "After Fan learned that these might be ancient writings, he immediately ordered doctors all over the world to send all the dragon bones with writings on them to Kaifeng Mansion. Now, We have collected hundreds of oracle bones with characters on them, and after careful comparison, we found that they are the origin of today’s Chinese characters, oracle bones.”

"There are hundreds of oracle bones!"

All the officials in the court couldn't help but be shocked. If Fan Zheng's words were true, it would be a major event that shocked the literary world.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Not only that, Fan discovered that most of these dragon bones were unearthed from Anyang, not far north of Kaifeng. Local doctors have been ordered to rush to Anyang overnight to excavate the oracle bone inscriptions here."

"Anyang! The old capital of the Yin and Shang Dynasties!" Su Song blurted out with a thought in his heart.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, if Fan's guess is correct, these oracle bone inscriptions were handed down from the ancient capital of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The Yin and Shang period was the outbreak period of bronze inscriptions. These oracle bone inscriptions were gradually buried and have not been seen until today. .”

Su Song nodded and said: "From the time, place and shape of the characters, we can all guess it correctly. If there are no accidents, the oracle bone inscriptions are indeed the oldest writing."

The old and new parties suddenly fell into silence. Those who were able to sit in the court were all bachelors who had read poetry and books. However, they saw that the inscriptions on oracle bones were very different from the existing Chinese characters, but they were also related to each other, and even In the same vein.

The officials couldn't help but give Fan Zheng a strange look. The oracle bone inscriptions are the dragon bones of traditional Chinese medicine and are inaccessible to others. In addition, Fan Zheng is proficient in poetry and naturally has extraordinary literary talent. This means that people who find oracle bone inscriptions must not only be proficient in medicinal materials but also have literary talent. I'm afraid It is none other than Fan Zheng.

This credit cannot be taken away by others even if they want to. Fan Zheng is simply fed by God, which makes all the officials envious and jealous.

Lu Dafang suddenly sneered and said: "Even if the oracle bone inscriptions are true and you discovered that the oracle bone inscriptions are meritorious, it still cannot erase your crime of randomly changing the characters."

Oracle bone inscriptions are indeed of great significance to writing. Fan Zheng's random adaptation of words to create simplified Chinese characters is even more unforgivable, not to mention the doctor's calligraphy that looks like ghost drawings.

Fan Zheng retorted: "Fan took out the oracle bone inscriptions not to ask for credit, but to tell you that although writing is sacred, it is not always fixed. From the oldest oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions, writing has already appeared It’s not a small change. Before the Qin Dynasty, the script used in the world was called the Big Seal Script. The Qin Dynasty unified the world, and the First Emperor issued an order to unify the world’s scripts with the same text. The more convenient Small Seal Script replaced the Big Seal Script, which is different from the characters we have today.”

The officials nodded slightly. Although Fan Zheng made evil mistakes, no one could refute his knowledge. The current writing itself evolved from Xiaozhuan.

"The writing currently being promoted in the Song Dynasty evolved from Xiaozhuan. It improved pictograms, radicals, borrowings, annotations, etc., making the writing more perfect and standardized. However, it has a shortcoming that no one can deny. , that is too cumbersome. Since the characters are constantly changing, doctors need to write too many medical records and are overwhelmed, so why not decide to create simplified characters!" Fan Zheng said loudly.

"Writing has been changing?" The officials couldn't help but remain silent. They wanted to refute Fan Zheng, but they had to admit that what Fan Zheng said was correct. From oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions, from large seal script to small seal script, and now to traditional Chinese characters, the characters are indeed Always changing.

"The essence of characters is to record. Today's characters seem to be full of meaning, but they have one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, they have too many strokes. Not only doctors, but even scholars are overwhelmed. Fan thinks it is time to let characters return. It's as simple as oracle bone inscriptions back then." Fan Zheng said without any secret.

Baiguan frowned. When Oracle was first created, it was indeed much simpler than the current writing.

Fan Zheng continued: "Simplified characters not only retain the structure and writing rules of traditional characters, but also ease the writing rules of people all over the world. From Fan's point of view, simplified characters are the most perfect characters in the world. In the future, they will surely become traditional Chinese characters and become The written words of the world’s scholars.”

Listening to Fan Zheng's unabashed ambition, all the officials in the court were in an uproar again.

"Officials, please see, Fan Zheng has finally revealed his ambition!"

Yang Wei jumped up immediately and said angrily.

Fan Zheng said disapprovingly: "People need doctors when they have diseases. When words have diseases, they also need medical treatment. Nowadays, words in the world are extremely cumbersome, which makes Mongolian students all over the world suffer. Simplified Chinese characters came into being. Furthermore, traditional Chinese characters The writing is not the most original writing, so why should we consider it to be orthodox and not allow for change?"

Zhao Xu couldn't help but feel a headache. Fan Zheng was almost on the verge of convincing the ministers, but he still continued to anger these stubborn veterans.

Seeing that the old ministers were about to go berserk again, Zhao Xu quickly smoothed things over and said: "Okay, let's not argue anymore. The most urgent task is to go to Anyang and find the oracle bone inscriptions so that I can trace the origin of Chinese writing."

Only then did Yang Wei and others look miserable and began to study the oracle bones in their hands.Everyone knows that once the oracle bone inscriptions are confirmed, the origin and development of writing will be completely confirmed. This is an incredible discovery for the literary world of the Song Dynasty. This made many scholar-bureaucrats put aside their disputes and start looking forward to the emergence of oracle bone inscriptions.

Anyang, in Xiaotun Village.

This originally unknown little village is now surrounded by doctors.

"This is the place where you dug the dragon bones!" Su Dun asked the village chief of Xiaotun Village.

The discovery of oracle bone inscriptions was of great significance. Fan Zheng did not dare to neglect it and directly sent forensic doctor Su Dun, one of the three heroes of the medical reform, to preside over the excavation of oracle bone inscriptions.

Nowadays, doctors are being squeezed out by many scholar-officials. Su Dun is not only one of the three outstanding medical doctors, but also the son of a world-famous scholar from Su University. He is also considered to be somewhat disrespectful among the scholar-officials.

Facing the famous forensic doctor Su Dun, the village chief of Xiaotun Village did not dare to neglect, and immediately said: "How can I deceive Mr. Su? We are excavating here, and all the dragon bones have been sold to doctors."

Su Dun continued to ask: "Besides the dragon bones, what else was discovered?"

The mayor of Xiaotun Village suddenly changed his expression and spoke hesitantly.

Su Dun's face condensed and he said: "Su is nicknamed Forensic Doctor. If you have anything to hide, you can't hide it from Su's eyes. Dragon Bone is related to the origin of writing. If you delay this important matter, I'm afraid the court won't be able to spare you."

The village chief of Xiaotun Village panicked and said, "I dare not hide it. In addition to the dragon bones, there are just some clay pots."

"Seriously?" Su Dun didn't believe it at all.

In ancient times, most of the people who could control the oracle bone inscriptions were those in power at that time. It was impossible to just have some clay pots!In addition, Anyang was the capital of the Yin Shang Dynasty at that time, so how could its legacy be so simple.

A hint of panic suddenly appeared on the village chief's face, and he reluctantly explained: "In addition to clay pots, there are also bronzes, and some gold and silver."

Su Dun suddenly realized, no wonder the village chief chose to hide it.

"Gold and silver are your rewards, but the bronzes must be handed over, which are necessary to compare with the oracle bone inscriptions." Su Dun naturally didn't care about the low-purity gold and silver passed down from the Yin Shang Dynasty. All he valued was the oracle bone inscriptions, and The inscriptions on the bronze vessels needed to decipher the oracle bones.

"Thank you, Mr. Su!" the village chief said happily.

Although bronzes were more valuable, they were difficult to get rid of. Only gold and silver were what he valued, but he didn't expect that Su Dun would look down on them.

At that moment, the two couldn't help but despise each other in their hearts, and happily reached a deal.

Soon, all the bronzes excavated in Xiaotun Village were taken out. Looking at the bronze inscriptions that were almost the same as those on the oracle bones, Su Dun breathed a sigh of relief. With these bronze inscriptions, the speed of deciphering the oracle bone inscriptions would be as fast as Big increase.

"There must be other dragon bones in these places! Send the order, immediately summon all the surrounding villagers, and do their best to excavate this place. The doctor will pay all the expenses!" Su Dun said decisively immediately. '

Now Fan Zheng is under attack from the officials in the court. Only by discovering the oracle bones as soon as possible can the situation be completely broken.

The village chief was overjoyed to hear Su Dun's assurance of being wealthy and immediately summoned nearby villagers to speed up the excavation.

As pieces of oracle bone inscriptions were unearthed, Su Dun looked at the mysterious symbols on the turtle shell as if he had found a treasure. They were the oldest writings.

As the excavation progressed, a huge Yin Ruins appeared in front of everyone. The news spread like wildfire. Whether it was the oracle bone inscriptions or the appearance of the Yin Ruins, the whole world was in an uproar.

"Yin Ruins!"

"Oracle bones!"

In the city of Kaifeng, as new oracle bone inscriptions came back one after another, the entire literary world was agitated.

The Yin Ruins appeared at the same time as oracle bone inscriptions, which is enough to prove that before humans discovered bronzes, hard turtle shells were used to carve characters.

"In ancient times, Fuxi used tortoise shells to perform gossip! I thought it was a myth, but it turns out that the ancients really used tortoise shells to record civilization." Su Shi looked at the oracle bone inscriptions in his hand and couldn't help but said excitedly.

He was the Minister of Rites and Su Dun's father, so naturally he got the latest oracle bone inscriptions immediately.

"Brother Su, can you agree with the evil doctor Fan Zheng's creation of simplified Chinese characters?" Cai Bian asked at the side.

Su Shi was silent for a while and said: "From oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions, from large seal script to small seal script, and then to the characters we write today, it can be seen that characters have been evolving. From this point of view, the simplified Chinese characters created by Fan Zheng are not so rebellious. Because the words we write today are not static."

Before this, although Su Shi had a close relationship with Fan Zheng, he was also opposed to simplifying Chinese characters. However, the emergence of oracle bone inscriptions shook his mind because their characters were also changed from the previous characters.

Cai Bian couldn't help but sigh. He was used to writing traditional Chinese characters, so naturally he didn't like the unsightly simplified Chinese characters. However, he had to admit that traditional Chinese characters were not without their shortcomings, that is, they were too cumbersome.

“Since writing is always evolving, why can’t it be simpler.”

This idea appeared in Cai Bian's mind involuntarily, and Cai Bian immediately felt like he was facing a formidable enemy. He quickly shook his head, trying to get rid of this crazy idea.

However, not only him, many people in the New Party also quietly put aside their prejudices and stopped impeaching Fan Zheng.

After all, Wang Anshi's bold words back then were not to be feared by changes in nature, by laws against ancestors, and by people's words. Now Fan Zheng has provided empirical evidence to prove that words are constantly evolving. If they continue to impeach Fan Zheng, wouldn't they deny the spirit of the New Party's reform?

Even the old party sadly discovered that as more and more oracle bone inscriptions came in, the entire literary world of the Song Dynasty almost fell into the frenzy of studying oracle bone inscriptions, and no longer had the intention to pay attention to Fan Zheng's unauthorized creation of simplified Chinese characters.

(End of this chapter)