The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Wang Wenlong, who lived in Guanyi, couldn't help laughing when he heard Li Zhi's comments about him.

Li Zhi believes that his view of history is reasonable, and Wang Wenlong's view of history is also reasonable. In fact, it is also a statement of indeterminate right and wrong - after all, this person is still promoting his own theory.

After laughing, Wang Wenlong sat down and thought. In fact, Wang Wenlong was not fully enjoying himself when he was debating with Li Zhi, and he could not convey some words well.

He understood what Li Zhi was thinking: Li Zhi may not have known that there were problems with his method of studying history. He just wanted to use his own interpretation of history to confront the Neo-Confucian interpretation of history.

But Wang Wenlong also knew that no matter how powerful Li Zhi's theory was, it would not be able to overthrow the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism that was prevalent at that time. It was the later textual criticism school that could really touch the foundation of Neo-Confucianism.

Therefore, if Li Zhi wants to realize his ideal, instead of randomly explaining history, he must delve more deeply into those traditional Confucian books. Only from these books can he find the most effective weapon to defeat Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Wang Wenlong suddenly thought of a book, "Shang Shu Ancient Texts and Evidence", which was the founding book of the textual research school in the Qing Dynasty.

Legend has it that "Shangshu" is a collection of essays compiled by Confucius to teach his disciples. It originally contained one hundred articles.

The Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism and needed "Shang Shu" as a teaching model. However, after Qin Shihuang burned books and harassed Confucians, there was no complete "Shang Shu" in the world, so everyone from the imperial court to the private sector searched for it. This process continued until the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Finally, in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Mei Chu, the internal historian of Yuzhang, presented the most complete "Shang Shu" to the court. Mei Chu's "Shang Shu" had a total of fifty-eight chapters: thirty-three of them were written by scholars from the previous dynasty since the Western Han Dynasty. Twenty-five chapters of the "Jinwen Shangshu" written orally are said to have been found from various corners of the "Guwen Shangshu" before the Han Dynasty.

Because this "Shangshu" is the most complete version since the Han Dynasty, it has been highly praised by later generations. Until this time, the official revised "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" all used Mei Chu's fifty-eight chapter version of "The Book of Documents". As the most classic model for imperial examinations and Confucianism, "Shang Shu" has an extremely high status.

What the book "Shangshu Ancient Prose and Comprehensive Evidence" does is:

It proves that among the "Shangshu" that has been praised by Confucian scholars since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the twenty-five "Old Classics" are fake!

As the founder of the textual criticism school in the Qing Dynasty, this book was hailed by the Qing Dynasty as "a secret that has not been passed down for more than a thousand years." Liang Qichao believed that "starting from this book, scholars gradually began to question the scriptures."

The more Wang Wenlong thought about it, the more excited he became.

And it is quite safe to write this kind of book. Questioning the ancient documents and ministers began thousands of years ago. Zhu Xi questioned it, and Mei Ji of this dynasty questioned it, but they did not do it to the extreme. "Explanation of the Ancient Documents and Documents" " continues to analyze these predecessors' doubts. When literary inquisition was prevalent in the Qing Dynasty, no one could catch the author's problems, so he did not need to be afraid.

The only thing that needs explanation is that Wang Wenlong, a man who claimed to be ignorant of classics and history more than a year ago, suddenly became so knowledgeable about Shangshu.

Wang Wenlong thought for a long time, spread out the manuscript paper, warmed his hand on the fire cage, and then took a pen and started writing the preface of "Shang Shu Ancient Prose and Comprehensive Evidence".

"Preface - Confusion about Reading Shangshu

The boy returned from the West and began to learn Yi from Chinese Confucian scholars. He read "The Great Oath" in "Shangshu" and thought about it repeatedly, and he became confused. "

"Although I don't read much, I still remember reading Mozi's "Shang Tongpian", in which I read a quote from "The Great Oath", "A villain sees a treacherous person", but there is no such sentence in "The Great Oath" in "Shang Shu" speech."

"Mozi was born after Confucius and before Mencius. At that time, there was no burning of books to embarrass Confucian scholars. Moreover, Mozi's "Shang Tong Pian" has been regarded as a genuine book for thousands of years and is not relied upon by future generations. It can be seen that the writing of "Shang Tong Pian" "The Great Oath" that was circulating in the world at the time of "The Great Oath" should have this sentence, but the "Guwen Shangshu" that came out later was left alone. Isn't this a very suspicious thing?"

"From this, the boy couldn't help but be quite curious about the Book of Documents. After studying it carefully, he was full of doubts and unclear thoughts. He deliberately wrote this book in order to ask wise people to clear up his doubts..."

Yan Ruoqu, the author of the previous "Shangshu Ancient Texts", wrote this book during the Kangxi period. The textual criticism at that time was not yet fully mature, so when Yan Ruoqu was writing, he just listed the more than 100 doubtful points he found one by one. Although he had achieved The effect of falsifying the "Guwen Shangshu" is still a bit sloppy in the arrangement.

Wang Wenlong was determined to promote the development of the textual criticism school in the Ming Dynasty, so when he wrote the doubts given by Yan Ruocha, he arranged the various doubts in the "Gu Wen Shangshu" into categories: phonology, exegesis, history, and geography.

There are too many doubts in the "Guwen Shangshu". For example, many of the place names noted in the "Yu Gong" article only appeared after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

These research methods of Yan Ruochu were also developed into auxiliary disciplines of textual criticism in the later textual criticism school: philology, phonology, exegesis, history, geography, calendar, bibliography, edition, collation... …

If nothing else, just throwing out these textual textual work methods can shock the Confucian scholars of this era.

The method of textual criticism is to use all means to study ancient documents.

There is almost no possibility of escaping the false documents and erroneous interpretations of the past dynasties under such all-round research.

They may be self-explanatory for a while, but upon further study you will find all kinds of errors.

There is no error or forgery that can be perfect, otherwise there will be words that did not exist in that era, or there will be historical figures who were not born at that time, or the wrong geography or date calculations will be used. It's simply not right, and the different versions are inconsistent with each other...

As long as we work hard to research, the foundation of the entire Confucianism can be lifted up.

What's more important is that these twenty-odd articles in "Gu Wen Shangshu" have been recognized as inviolable sacred scriptures for more than 2,000 years. From the emperor's sutra banquet to the Mengguan class, there was not a day without memorizing them, but it was suddenly discovered that they were all inviolable. It is a fabrication and will definitely directly break the blind faith of many Confucian scholars.

In Liang Qichao’s words: “After the publication of "Ancient Documents and Documents", I realized that some of these heirlooms are also unreliable. They have to be studied one by one. Once the research path is opened, they will lead to infinity... One cannot but think that the last three The number one contributor to a century of academic liberation.”

Wang Wenlong was very busy in the library. By noon, he had finished writing the preface and copied most of the first volume. At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and Wang Wenlong asked Wang Pingbao to open the door. He saw Mao Wenlong, Wang Keshou, and Ma Jinglun standing at the door.

As soon as Ma Jinglun saw Wang Wenlong, he said: "How did Mr. Jingguan convince my master? Now he is finally willing to take medicine."

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "I didn't persuade Mr. Zhuo Wu to take medicine that day. I just told him that 'right and wrong have been decided'. Mr. Zhuo Wu was disdainful at the time, but after thinking about it, he accepted it. He found that he could live longer. It’s a good thing, so I’m willing to take medicine.”

Hearing Wang Wenlong's description, Mao Wenlong couldn't help frowning: "I used to think that I was also a scholar, but now I know that celebrities like Mr. Zhuo Wu are really weird. They don't take medicine even when they are sick. Even the ignorant men and women in the countryside know it. If you feel pain, go to the doctor to ask for some medicine."

Wang Wenlong said: "Mr. Zhuo Wu is feeling sad, maybe even worse than a stomachache. But it is too pessimistic."

"Master has been slandered for decades, and it is difficult for outsiders to understand the pain in his heart." Wang Keshou said understandingly.

Ma Jinglun nodded and said, "Fortunately, our disciples have completed what Master Li asked us to do. Master is finally a little happy."

After Wang Wenlong and Mao Wenlong inquired, they found out that Li Zhi felt that his time was running out, so Ma Jinglun and Wang Keshou were busy building a cemetery for Li Zhi this year.

The cemetery was chosen at Yingfu Temple to the west of Lushui. This place is close to Fangshan and Shijing Mountains. It was the area where the eminent monks Baoji and Puhua lived in the Tang Dynasty. Li Zhi liked it very much.

Wang Keshou bowed his hands to Wang Wenlong and said: "After Jianyang had a conversation with the master, the master was finally willing to take the medicine. We disciples should all thank Mr. Wang."

Wang Wenlong waved his hands and said: "I can't afford this."

At this time, Ma Jinglun glanced at the manuscript on the table and asked curiously: "What other work is Jianyang writing?"

Wang Wenlong explained: "I was talking about history with Mr. Zhuo Wu and suddenly I had an idea, so I was going to write about my research on history and Confucianism."

Ma Jinglun and Wang Keshou were both Jinshi scholars and had extensive research on Confucianism. Even Mao Wenlong had a look of curiosity on his face when he heard this.

Mao Wenlong took the initiative to plead: "I wonder if you can let me and the two gentlemen see Jianyang's masterpieces?"

Wang Wenlong nodded and smiled: "It's up to you."

Several people couldn't wait to go to the desk, each picked up a page of the manuscript and started reading.

After reading a few sentences, Wang Keshou asked out of curiosity: "Does Jianyang's book falsify the "Guwenshangshu"?"

"Just clarifying some doubts."

Yan Ruochu wrote "Guwen Shangshu Shuzheng" and pointed out the errors of "Guwen Shangshu" without mercy, but did not blatantly say that "Guwen Shangshu" was a forgery.

With all these doubts here, as long as readers are not stupid, they will naturally know what the problem is in "Guwen Shangshu". There is no need to say it so clearly to offend people.

The three of them could all understand Wang Wenlong's meaning and couldn't help but take a breath at the same time.

Ma Jinglun couldn't help but said to Wang Wenlong: "Mr. Jianyang's book is very ambitious."

The three of them looked at each other, and their faces gradually became serious.

Questions about ancient texts and ministers began to appear since Wu Yan in the Northern Song Dynasty, but questioning is useless. You have to provide actual evidence to falsify it.

Scholars have not falsified the "Guwen Shangshu" for so many years, and Wang Wenlong is bold enough to dare to challenge this undertaking.

What's more, Wang Wenlong writes so well.

The study of this book covers ancient and modern times, comparing history, geography, calendar, and texts from the same period or earlier, and breaks down the defenses of "Guwen Shangshu" layer by layer with reasonable evidence.

Under the current information conditions, just being able to read so much information is enough to be called a knowledgeable person, let alone analyzing each piece of information together. The talent required is simply too terrifying.

(End of this chapter)