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

Anyang Mansion, a small village near Yinxu, in a side yard of the landlord's house in the village.

"Master, I'm here." The middle-aged man opened the door with a smile on his face, handed his luggage to the servant next to Jiao Hong, and then hurriedly saluted to Jiao Hong.

Jiao Hong was reading "On the Nation-State" at this time. While reading, he frowned and thought carefully. From time to time, he would turn the pages to the front, refer to some definitions of sociology at the front of the book, and then turn back to the page he was reading. Read on.

Chen Yidian stepped forward and called out respectfully: "Master." Only then did Jiao Hong react, looked up at him, nodded, then pointed to the book in his hand and asked Chen Yidian: "Have you read this book? No."

Chen Yidian took a look and nodded: "Wang Jianyang's "On Nation-States" is very famous this year. I had already read it when I was in Jiaxing."

Chen Yidian was only ten years younger than Jiao Hong. When it came to the imperial examination results, the generation gap between the two was not that far apart.

Jiao Hong was the number one scholar in the seventeenth year of Wanli, while Chen Yidian was the Jinshi in the twentieth year of Wanli. There was only a three-year difference in the time when the two became officials. They first met in the Hanlin Academy when they were colleagues. After Chen Yidian saw Jiao Hong's historical skills in the Hanlin Academy, he admired Jiao Hong very much. He became Jiao Hong's disciple when he was in the capital, and since then he has always regarded himself as Jiao Hong's disciple.

Compared to his master, Jiao Hong, he had no ambitions in the officialdom and focused solely on historical research. However, after all, he had become an imperial minister, and Chen Yidian was the real Xianyun Yehe.

After Chen Yidian was admitted to the imperial examination, he served as a member of the Qing Hanlin Academy for several years. This was considered an inspection period in the official selection system at that time. According to Ming Dynasty rules, after the inspection period, officials should leave their Hanlin positions and be transferred to official positions. After Chen Yidian passed the inspection for several years, he was also sent out to work as a minister. This is a position to work as an assistant to the prince. No one else can ask for it. However, after Chen Yidian left the Hanlin position, he directly asked for a leave, and then Ran.

It was not because of the Zhengguoben incident that Chen Yidian did not want to get involved in the court. Historically, when Chongzhen ascended the throne decades later, Chen Yidian had become a famous historian. Emperor Chongzhen reinstated him to serve as Shao Zhan. Chen Yidian directly stated that he would not go and would stay at home. He continued his historical research and lived to the age of eighty-five before dying.

Although Chen Yidian did not like being an official, he was very enthusiastic about history and he truly admired his master Jiao Hong, otherwise he would not have gone to Kaifeng to pick up his master.

He smiled and asked: "Master, what do you think of Wang Jianyang's book?"

"I have never read a book like this before," Jiao Hong said with emotion: "It explains human nature in detail and quotes from many sources, from Europe to the Ming Dynasty, from the savage settlements on the Western islands to our vast Chinese civilization, from Ancient times talk about the future. Before reading this book, I really couldn't believe that someone in the world could write such a work. I heard people talk about this book before and thought it was a deceptive work, so I didn't bother to read it. After reading it, I realized that the world’s evaluation of this book is still too low.”

"Is this book so powerful?" Chen Yidian was surprised by Jiao Hong's high evaluation of this book.

Jiao Hong nodded and said: "I have only read half of "On Nation-States" and I have been convinced by Wang Jianyang. I also think that we, the Great China, should advocate a kind of nationalism, so that we can unite people's hearts and nationalism can solve the problem." Many issues in the country today.”

Chen Yidian smiled and said: "After listening to Master's words, I think I should read this book again."

Jiao Hong said: "After I finish analyzing this book, I will have to make some revisions in my new work. My method of writing history in the past is indeed a bit old."

Chen Yidian took out the tea he brought from his hometown and brewed it for his master. While brewing, he said:
"Before I came to Henan, Mao Ci told me that the new books in the library at home had been dried and were being sorted into categories. In addition, a list of books from Fujian was also sent this spring. I asked Master to go back and take a look."

Jiao Maoci was Jiao Hong's third son. He was still underage and stayed at home to help Jiao Hong manage the library.

Jiao Hong nodded and said, "He can't care about such things. It's time for me to go back to Nanjing."

After Chen Yidian resigned, he traveled all over the world. He didn't stay in his hometown in Jiaxing for a long time. This time he came to Henan to visit the Anyang Oracle Bone Society and take his master back to Nanjing. After saying a few words, Jiao Hong continued to read with his head down, while Chen Yidian stood by and served him tea and water.

After a while, Jiao Hong raised his head and said to him: "Wang Jianyang is leaving in two days. While he is in Anyang now, you can go to the village school and listen to him discuss archeology with others. After the excavation of the Oracle Bones in Anyang, we can study history. I’m afraid the methods will all change, and there’s no harm in learning more new things.”

"Ok."

After the conversation between the two ended, Jiao Hong continued to read with his head down, and Chen Yidian also went out to attend the lecture at the village school with his hands behind his back.

This is the communication mode between the master and the disciple. When they want to talk, they say a few words, and then they each do their own thing without any politeness. Fortunately, both of them have the same weird temper. This kind of communication meets the needs of both of them. .

Three days later, Jiao Hong and Chen Yidian set off back to Nanjing. Wang Wenlong and his party were about to go back, so they simply went the same way.

Along the way, Jiao Hong was discussing archaeological and historical issues with Wang Wenlong.

The main reason was that Jiao Hong wanted to communicate with Wang Wenlong. After reading Wang Wenlong's "On the Nation-State", Jiao Hong felt that Wang Wenlong's sociological research methods were very distinctive, with clear outlines and detailed analysis. The whole writing idea was very rigorous, which was very different from Jiao Hong's past writings. The writing method of argumentative essays between historical books and narratives is completely different.

Jiao Hong's method of studying history was trained in his youth. He had to write the words in a coherent manner and collect historical materials carefully. However, these tasks were just dead work. However, using Wang Wenlong's method to study history was less effective. Contents that have not been recorded by historians before can be discovered from the comparison of different materials. Once logical thinking is introduced into historical research, there are too many directions in which historical research can proceed.

During the discussion with Wang Wenlong, he became more certain that Wang Wenlong's way of thinking was indeed very different from that of historians at that time, and many of what Wang Wenlong said made Jiao Hong feel guilty.

How to express this feeling?

It's like a piano player who has never studied music theory but has practiced his playing skills since childhood and meets a music theory master.

The more Jiao Hong and Wang Wenlong discussed along the way, the more they felt inspired.

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "In fact, writing history is not limited to the styles commonly used in the past. In addition to the chronological and biographical style, you can also write economic history, political history, military history, and even connect them to make an economic and military history, and an economic and political history. , isn’t every connection a new research direction?”

In the past, for Jiao Hong, he could not research the historical materials he had not found. However, in Wang Wenlong's view, Jiao Hong found many historical materials but did not make full use of them. He was just retelling history. What is this research? The causes of many historical events can be found at a deeper level.

Jiao Hong thought carefully about Wang Wenlong's words, and gradually expressed surprise: "That's right. I finally know why Jianyang was able to write so many words that no one before him had written."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "It is possible that many of these contents have not been used by predecessors, but they have not specifically thought about it in this direction, so I took advantage of it. With a little inspiration, there are still many things that have not been studied in the world. ”

(End of this chapter)