The literary era since 1979

Chapter 57: I will hold up the sky if it falls (Please subscribe)

A few days after returning from Beidaihe, the training institute was closed for holiday.

A month later, the students returned to school.

Fangyan took all the clothes, bedding and other things home and spent the whole morning packing them up. Then Yang Xia called him to the backyard to help.

There is an old well in the backyard of the slum, but the water in it is not drinkable. It is bitter and can only be used for washing clothes, watering flowers, and watering the yard. Of course, it also has another use, which is to soak watermelons.

The watermelon was put into a large wooden barrel filled with water, and then the barrel was hung with a thick hemp rope. With a dull "bang", it sank into the well water.

"The college entrance examination is coming up in a few days, right?"

Fangyan glanced at Suya who was packing watermelons.

"number 7."

Su Ya nodded. "Speaking of this, I have to thank you. I was planning to give up applying to Yan University this year, but thanks to you for helping me publish my poem, I have an alternative plan..."

"So you want to make another sprint?"

"Well, if I have this opportunity, I must give it a try!"

"come on!"

After Fang Yan encouraged her, he turned to Yang Xia and said, "Mom, I have something to do. I need to go out for a while and will be back in the evening."

"Remember to come back early!"

Yang Xia shouted, "Let's eat watermelon at home tonight."

Looking at Fang Yan's hurried back, Su Ya thought the same thing as Yang Xia said: "This kid just came back, and before he could even sit down, he left again. I don't know where he's going."

Houyuanensi Hutong, the Shen family residence.

Fang Yan sat in the study and spoke out all his thoughts in front of Shen Yanbing, from the spirit of reform to Shang Yang's Reforms, and he wanted to combine reform literature with historical literature.

"Sure enough, Old Ding and the police were right about you."

"teacher?"

"Originally, I was prepared for you to choose a spy war theme." Shen Yanbing said with a smile: "After all, the topic I asked is really difficult. I don't know if it's too hasty for you, a young man who has no experience in writing novels, to start writing this."

Then he patted his shoulder and said, "But your performance is beyond my expectation. Shang Yang's Reforms, it's amazing that you can come up with it."

"Teacher, what do you think?"

Fangyan looked at the old man who had the final say over life and death.

"It is good to use history to guide the present and combine it with the international situation!"

Shen Yanbing's eyes were full of admiration.

"But, teacher, will writing this be..."

Fang Yan repeated the concerns of Jiang Zilong and others.

"Your worry is justified, but don't worry too much. You are not the first person to redress Qin Shi Huang's injustice."

Shen Yanbing said: "For example, the great man wrote 'I advise you to stop cursing Qin Shi Huang', which clearly stated that we should look at Qin Shi Huang and the Qin Dynasty in two ways, with merits being merits and faults being faults. We should return to an objective evaluation of Qin Shi Huang and the Qin Dynasty."

After taking a sip of the bitter medicine, he said, "Besides, you wrote about Qin Xiaogong and Shang Yang, and the reforms of the Qin State. What direct relationship does it have with Qin Shihuang?"

"If you say that, I feel relieved."

Fangyan felt relieved.

"But are you sure you can handle this subject?"

Shen Yanbing looked at his handsome face, feeling somewhat worried.

"Teacher, this is another concern of mine."

Fangyan said bluntly that he needed a lot of information.

After all, although the overall story structure of "The Rise of the Great Qin Empire" can be used, some details that are inconsistent with history should be changed as much as possible, such as the death of Long Jia in battle.

"Well, I will ask the institute to do its best to cooperate and help you."

Shen Yanbing thought for a while and said, "As for the information, it is more important to have quality rather than quantity." Then he started writing down a list of books.

Fangyan took a look at the first and second books. They were undoubtedly "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Strategies of the Warring States". But when he saw the third book, which said "Letters of the Warring States Strategists", he was stunned for a moment:

"Teacher, what is this book?"

"This was newly unearthed from the Mawangdui Tomb in Changsha a few years ago."

Shen Yanbing explained that it was a silk book similar to "Strategies of the Warring States" without a title. After being sorted out, it had a total of 27 chapters.

Published by Wenwu Publishing House in 1976.

Although its content is not as rich as that of "Strategies of the Warring States", and the historical events involved are limited to the middle and late Warring States period, and it does not cover the entire Warring States period like "Strategies of the Warring States", its value is also very high.

"This can be used to supplement or correct the errors in The Strategies of the Warring States," he said kindly, "This copy of the Bamboo Slips from the Qin Tomb at Shuihudi was also newly unearthed. You are very lucky. Many important cultural relics related to the Qin State have been discovered in recent years."

"I am even more fortunate to have you, my teacher."

Fang Yan raised his lips and said, "Otherwise, even if I had so much information, I wouldn't know where to start."

"You, you, look at me carefully." Shen Yanbing didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"hey-hey."

Fangyan smiled and continued reading.

Qian Mu's "History of Qin and Han", Wang Qichong's "History of Qin"...

“You don’t have to read all these books.”

Shen Yanbing said, "Choose one or two books from them, but it's best to read the Qin Ji Shi. Ma Feibai was one of the first famous historians of the Qin and Han dynasties to overturn the verdict on Qin Shihuang. He was also one of the scholars who affirmed Qin Shihuang's achievements, and he also spoke highly of Shang Yang's methods."

As he spoke, he directed Fangyan to get a book from the bookshelf.

"Teacher, I feel like I may not be able to finish reading these books by the end of the semester." Fang Yan said with a wry smile, "Not to mention writing a novel."

"You are quite self-aware."

Shen Yanbing narrowed his eyes, "Then do you still want to write about Shang Yang's Reforms? It's not too late to change back to the spy war direction now."

"Teacher, I won't change it!"

The dialect tone is full of determination.

Shen Yanbing stared at him with great satisfaction. "In fact, you are not required to read these books thoroughly. You are not an expert in Qin history, and what you write is not a historical work, but historical literature."

Fang Yan asked, "Teacher, do you mean that literature is literature and history is history, and history must be based on historical facts, but historical novels can be fictional and imaginative?"

"Ruzi can be taught."

Shen Yanbing then took out Yao Xueyin's "Li Zicheng".

Sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, from character creation to structure creation, I taught him step by step how to write historical literature. Suddenly, I felt an itch in my throat:
"Cough, cough, cough."

"Teacher, please drink water."

Fangyan was startled and brought a cup of tea.

"I'm old and useless."

Shen Yanbing shook his head and sighed: "I get out of breath if I talk for a while, and I get out of breath if I sit for a long time. If we continue like this, our progress will be too slow!"

"Teacher, I'm not in a hurry. Your health is the most important thing."

Fangyan advised him to go to another place for recuperation, such as Beidaihe.

Shen Yanbing couldn't help but be tempted, but after thinking about it, he refused: "Forget it, in addition to guiding you in writing, I also have to write my memoirs. I can't stop, and there is a lot of information I need to check."

"Teacher, I'll come and help you when I finish my novel."

"You, take care of yourself first. During this time, write the outline and the beginning."

"Don't worry about this. I already have some ideas."

"I've been talking for so long, but I still haven't asked you what the name of this novel is?" Shen Yanbing cast an inquiring look.

"What do you think of "The Great Qin Empire: Fission"?

Fangyan asked tentatively.

"The Great Qin Empire?"

"Yes, the Han Dynasty has always called the ancient Roman Empire 'Da Qin'. Since there is such a 'Da Qin Empire' in the West, why can't the Da Qin in the East also be called an 'Empire'?"

"This name does make sense, but this 'fission' doesn't seem to mean reform. Is there any deeper meaning?"

"I think Shang Yang's reforms were about completely breaking with and fighting against the old forces of Qin, so it was called 'fission'."

"You're not without reason."

Shen Yanbing nodded with satisfaction.

"Besides, calling it this is more powerful than 'reform', 'change of law', and 'revolution'," Fang Yan added.

"You."

Shen Yanbing looked at him lovingly, "Just decide on it first. The name is not the most important thing, the content is."

Then he reminded her, "Don't worry about anything. Now that you have made your choice, you must go all out. Literature requires bold writing. The sky won't fall. Even if it does, I am still here."

"Teacher, didn't you say that I shouldn't say it..."

Dialects make fun of us.

"I said so many things, and you only remember this one sentence?"

Shen Yanbing couldn't help but laugh: "If you commit this kind of trouble in the future, just go ahead and do it. Don't worry."

"is teacher!"

Fangyan was overjoyed.

As expected, it’s good to have a teacher to protect you!

　The Mawangdui Han Tomb Silk Book "Letters of Warring States Strategists" was unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 1973 in Changsha in 1975: the Shuihudi Qin Tomb Bamboo Slips were published in 1978 and the paperback book was published in .

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)