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

Chapter 67 Wushan Poetry Society
The Sanwu area, centered on Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, had convenient transportation and abundant products, and gathered a large number of literati. It was undoubtedly the cultural center of the Ming Dynasty at this time.

At the same time, Sanwu, together with Jiangxi and Fujian, were the places where the most intense exchanges of political ideas occurred in the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, the Donglin Party was born in South Zhili, and the Zhejiang Party was born in Zhejiang. In addition to these two major factions, the Xuan Party in Xuanzhou in South Zhili and the Kun Party in Kunshan also joined the Wanli Party struggle.

Wang Wenlong only wanted to earn a literary reputation and subconsciously did not want to get involved in the party struggle at this time, so he politely declined Ye Chengxue's invitation:
"The students don't know much about the situation in this dynasty. They have little talent and little knowledge. Even if they want to make friends, they don't have much to talk about."

When Ye Chengxue heard this, he laughed and said: "Sir, you misunderstood. This time, you are not invited to give lectures in the academy. Our Wushan Poetry Club invited you to join the club because of the "The Scholars" written by you."

Wang Wenlong was quite surprised. At this time, the novel did not attract the attention of scholars: "You let me join the poetry club just for a novel?"

Ye Chengxue smiled and said: "My peers in Wushan Poetry Club are all people who love novels."

Wang Wenlong was a little confused and asked: "Who are the people in your society?"

Ye Chengxue: "The Wushan Poetry Society has a loose structure. It communicates with other poetry societies on weekdays. Friends from Nanjing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang come to Wuzhong for exchanges and gatherings."

As he spoke, he reported the participants of Wushan Poetry Club:
There are Dong Qichang, Yuan Hongdao, Xie Zhaozhe, Tang Xianzu, Hu Yinglin, Wang Jide...

The importance of these people in the literary world should not be underestimated. Needless to say, Dong Qichang and the three public security officials, opera masters Tang Xianzu, Wang Jide, Lu Tiancheng, and Jiangnan poetry leader Hu Yinglin are all well-known figures.

Wang Wenlong was stunned as he listened. Although he knew that Ye Chengxue had chosen famous figures to show off, the lineup was still too strong.

He tried to ask: "May I ask if there is someone named Feng Menglong in the club?"

Ye Chengxue was quite surprised: "Mr. Wang knows Brother Feng?"

Wang Wenlong thought about it and asked: "Yuan Wuya and Chen Jiru are also in the club?"

Ye Chengxue nodded: "These are all peers in the society."

Wang Wenlong nodded, and he finally confirmed the general information about this poetry club.

Literary associations were common in the Ming Dynasty, and most poetry societies would not leave specific records. However, the Wushan Poetry Society mentioned by Ye Chengxue still left only half a trace in history.

This is also due to the research on "Jin Ping Mei".

Later scholars found that the process of the early circulation of the "Jin Ping Mei" manuscript in Jiangnan was through the exchange of a series of literati. The literati just mentioned by Ye Chengxue all studied individual nodes in the history of the "Jin Ping Mei" manuscript, plus The characters added by Wang Wenlong and the circulation chain of "Jin Ping Mei" have almost been completed.

There has been a debate in later generations that novels like "Jin Ping Mei" would not be borrowed from each other unless they were close friends. So how did the circulation chain of "Jin Ping Mei" form among the letters and articles of literati from various schools?
Only now did Wang Wenlong understand that behind the exchange of novels between these people, there was the same poetry club as a guide.

Thinking about the ideological background of these people, most of the people Ye Chengxue mentioned were literati who called for the eradication of retro ideas, innovation of writing style, and emphasis on realistic writing.

Wang Wenlong also understood why he received the treatment that Ye Chengxue came all the way to invite.

The style of "The Scholars" focusing on ordinary people is really in line with these people's appetite.

The war between various political parties in Sanwu will continue for another 20 years. During this period, the situation is treacherous and very dangerous. Wang Wenlong has no interest in participating in politics for the time being, but being able to join the Wushan Poetry Society will directly lead him to the forefront of the literary world at this time. The greatest force.

Thinking of this, Wang Wenlong nodded decisively: "If so, if I have nothing to do next year, I will go to Suzhou and Hangzhou with my brother and see the world of the vassal." Ye Chengxue was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly took out a flower note: "Mr. It’s great that you are willing to join the club, please read this agreement to join the club first.”

In the late Ming Dynasty, due to the influence of various scripts, people worshiped sworn ties very much, and various folk affairs were often carried out in the form of sworn ties. Businessmen who went out to do business often formed brothers with different surnames, and like-minded business partners had to learn from Liu, Guan, and Zhang. Incense is burned in the temple and the oath of alliance is made. Even if this group of scholars form a poetry club, it is full of ritual feeling.

Wang Wenlong took a look at the document and saw a prose written in the book stating that the purpose of the Poetry Society was to innovate the style of writing.

Just by reading this article, you can see the difference between the Wushan Poetry Society. At this time, the alliance letters used by other associations often used parallel prose format for expression, but the alliance letter of the Wushan Poetry Society was a prose, and The prose is beautiful and lively, and you can tell it is what everyone does.

And after this prose there are detailed terms of joining the club.

Including how many gatherings are held each year, who organizes it, everyone who participates in the poetry club needs to pay gathering fees, and there is even a fee disclosure system.

And Ye Chengxue's ability to recruit Wang Wenlong into the club was not random. The names of the members who had the right to recruit people into the club were listed in a special row. Ye Chengxue, as Ye Xianggao's son, could only be listed at the end.

After Wang Wenlong read the alliance letter, he signed his name at the end, called the accountant, and paid ten taels of silver on the counter to pay all five years of membership fees at once.

The covenant to join the club was made in two copies. One was left with Wang Wenlong, and the other was carefully folded by Ye Cheng.

Ye Chengxue smiled at Wang Wenlong and said, "That's great. The poetry club has another great talent. Ye has fulfilled his mission."

He added: "The Scholars is very talented, but the History of Portugal focuses on history but does not use much writing on literary descriptions. Now that you have joined the society, do you have other works?"

If he wanted to make a name for himself in the literary world, copying two poems and pretending to be one was also part of the title, and Wang Wenlong was also a little tempted.

However, writing poetry also requires context. It would be too blunt to just pick out a piece of cake and copy it out. Wang Wenlong thought about it and replied:

"I returned to the Ming Dynasty not long ago. I have been busy for a few months since I came back. I haven't started to write a poem yet. It's difficult to do it at the moment. Why don't you give me a topic and I will write an impromptu antithesis to try it out."

Wang Wenlong deliberately limited the content to antithetical sentences, so that the problem would not be easily seen even without context. He planned to find two good sentences from Qing Dynasty rhythmic poetry to deal with it.

Ye Chengxue didn't think there was any problem. Writing poetry was a very time-consuming activity. If Wang Wenlong started writing a poem, he would be suspicious.

Ye Xuecheng nodded and said: "When I return to my hometown this time, I am ordered by my father to build a temple in Fuqing and start construction of a pagoda. Why don't you, sir, draw up a pair for this pagoda?"

Wang Wenlong knew that the temple Ye Chengxue wanted to build was the Ruiyun Tower in Fuqing. This tower has become a landmark building in Fuqing in later generations.

People in Fujian revere Buddhism and Taoism, and temples here are public buildings. Ye Chengxue and his son took the initiative to spend money to build temples and bridges, which is a good deed for their hometown.

However, I remember that there were no pairs on the towers of later generations, so I had no one to plagiarize at the moment, so I could only pick out a few pairs from elsewhere.

So he asked Ye Cheng Xuedao: "May I ask what sect this temple belongs to?"

Ye Chengxue said with a smile: "It will take several years for the temple to be built. For rural earth temples, we only need to invite qualified eminent monks to preside over them. It doesn't matter what sect they are."

Wang Wenlong nodded, thought for a while, and then quickly picked up the pen.

(End of this chapter)