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

Two years later, Jiao Hong also lost power in the political struggle and was sent to Nanjing to work as an imperial minister. From then on, Jiao Hong began to build a library in Nanjing and gradually became less concerned with worldly affairs. Now he has resigned from his official position and concentrates on writing at home. Book.

The main content of Jiao Hong's book was the history of the country that he had not been supported by the imperial court to complete.

He did a lot of preliminary research in order to compile the history of the country. This was his life's hard work, and he was naturally unwilling to waste it. Finally, he turned his unfinished history of the country into a "Guo Chao Zhi Lu" and a list of references. "National History Classics".

Although these two books were written by Jiao Hong personally, the research methods used and the depth and breadth of the materials cited were all at the national history level. The reason why Jiao Hong built a library was originally to find materials for his own books. .

For example, "National History Classics and Records", this book is actually just a catalog, but the catalog alone contains six volumes, divided into four categories: classics, history, Zi, and collections, plus the bookmaking category. It is the name of a bibliography of historical records of the past dynasties, with a discussion after each category. This was originally a reference bibliography that Jiao Hong planned to look for among the people when compiling the historical records of the country and dynasties.

In this book, Jiao Hong analyzes and examines almost all historical books of previous dynasties, from "Historical Records" and "Hanshu" to "Suishu" and "Song History".

If you look at the "National History Classics", you can roughly know that if Wanli had not terminated Jiao Hong's history compilation work, he would have probably written a huge national history book like "Zizhi Tongjian" during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. , is almost certainly a classic.

Although Jiao Hong did not complete this great work, during the preparation process, he undoubtedly became the first-class historian in the entire Ming Dynasty. He was not the one who only studied the history of his own dynasty, but comprehensively understood ancient history. He attached an article "Jiu Miao" to the end of "Guo Shi Jing Ji Zhi" to list which views were wrong in previous historical research and which books had discrepancies between versions.

Not counting the history books after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the official history books at this time already have twenty-three histories and more than 30 million words. Even if you read one volume every day, it will take eight years to read them all. You also have to refer to a large number of official and unofficial histories before finally writing In addition to the differences in the discussion, writing this book would have taken more than ten years just to collect the preliminary data, and it would have required reading every day without holidays to finish it.

Why was Jiao Hong’s status so high in the historical circles at this time? Just look at other people’s academic results, who dares to say no? Moreover, Jiao Hong was not only a great scholar of the generation, but also Zhu Changluo's teacher, and he was also quite prestigious in the political arena.

As soon as Jiao Hong arrived in front of the city gate, the prefect of Zhangde stood out and invited him warmly: "Jiao Danyuan has come a long way and has worked hard. The house has prepared wine and food for the old gentleman. I also invite him to come with you."

Jiao Hong said calmly: "I appreciate your kindness, but I am here to see the excavation of oracle bones, but I don't want to stay in the city for a long time."

I heard that he wanted to pass through the city. How could the prefect of Zhangde agree? He persuaded with a smile: "Why are you so anxious, old man? It's not too late to go after dinner. Although Anyang Fucheng is small, it is a historical place with many places worth seeing."

Dong Qichang, who was quite familiar with Jiao Hong, couldn't help but smile when he heard what he said, knowing that the prefect had obviously not yet accepted Jiao Hong's temper.

Sure enough, Jiao Hong raised his eyebrows and asked in a rather joking tone: "Oh, can you tell me, Lord Magistrate, is all the knowledge in Anyang City hidden in the rice bowl?"

The prefect of Zhangde was stunned when he was asked, and the local gentry and celebrities who came to welcome him were also stunned.

The magistrate smiled awkwardly and said: "The old gentleman's words are wrong. Eating is just human nature. How can it be compared with learning?"

Jiao Hong sneered and said: "In this case, how can I delay the investigation of the oracle bone excavation just to save this meal? Your Excellency, I understand your kindness and please allow me to go to the excavation site first and wait for the inspection to be completed before returning to the city. Drinking with the old man.”

The prefect Zhangde looked ugly, but he could not refute: "Since the old gentleman insists, he will not stay any longer. I just hope that after the old gentleman returns from the inspection, he can return to the city to have a good rest so that he can fulfill his friendship as a landlord." "Thank you, sir." Good intentions." Jiao Hong nodded, returned to his horse, and entered the city directly from the south gate, intending to pass through the city.

Seeing Jiao Hong's lack of respect, the prefect of Zhangde stood speechless. Dong Qichang walked to his side with a smile. The prefect frowned and said, "Dong participated in politics. Could it be that he has done some evil to Mr. Jiao?"

Dong Qichang smiled and said: "Old parents, please don't worry. This is your first meeting with Mr. Dan Yuan. I don't know that he has such a temper. Even Li Zhuowu, who is famous for his eloquence, can't get along with Mr. Dan Yuan."

The prefect of Zhangde was stunned when he heard this.

Dong Qichang really wasn't telling lies. Jiao Hong was famous for his bad temper. It was not that he was angry, but he liked to quarrel with others and hated ineffective communication.

Jiao Hong was born in the Taizhou school. The historical evaluation of this school is that he can fight dragons and snakes with his bare hands. There is no one who dares to fight against him. During his lifetime, Li Zhi and Jiao Hong had a similar temperament. While slandering Confucius, Jiao Hong praised the learning of Yang Mo and ridiculed Mencius.

However, Jiao Hong did not shy away from ridiculing Li Zhi even when he was happy. Li Zhi once said: "dressing and eating are the physics of human relations."

Jiao Hong asked directly and coldly: "If dressing and eating is the physics of human relations, then what are you doing from the Four Books and Five Classics to the Zuo Zhuan of Historical Records? Wouldn't it be good to write books about dressing and eating every day?"

Li Zhi was speechless.

Jiao Hong's thought emphasized the breadth and practicality of learning. People like Li Zhi talked about the nature of mind, but Jiao Hong felt that he should read two more books at this time. Li Zhi's understanding of many historical facts was wrong, and he also criticized Things come and go. In Jiao Hong's opinion, doesn't this mean target shooting?

However, Jiao Hong was generally very fond of Li Zhi, thinking that he "may not be a saint", but he can "take the second seat of a saint".

Dong Qichang rode a donkey and caught up with Jiao Hong. Jiao Hong turned around and asked, "Where is Wang Jianyang now?"

Dong Qichang replied: "I also participated in excavations in the villages outside Anyang City, and sometimes taught some archaeological principles."

Jiao Hong nodded and said, "Take me to have a look."

Although Wang Wenlong had been giving lectures in Nanjing for several months, Jiao Hong did not want to go to the Imperial College to join in the fun, mainly because Jiao Hong had also worked as an Imperial College clerk, and it would be awkward to return to the Imperial College.

However, Jiao Hong had long wanted to meet Wang Wenlong, a young man who had become famous all over the world in the past few years and whose old friend Li Zhi praised him in his last letter. It happened to be that they were in Anyang together this time to see how good he was. Fineness. (End of chapter)