Smuggling Daming

Zhou Zhong had some misunderstandings about the ancient prospecting technology. He thought that the ancient people knew nothing about geology, and all prospecting was based on luck. In fact, this kind of thinking was wrong, because as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in the book "Guanzi" I just introduced some basic methods of prospecting. Later books such as "Natural History" and "Ground Mirror Map" all have special introductions to prospecting, and most of the statements in them are in line with scientific principles. It can be said that the ancients understood geology. A big contribution.

It is also because of the ancient Chinese's understanding of geology, so although there are not many talents in prospecting in Ming Dynasty, they are not without. For example, Wang Shouren knew a scholar with expertise in prospecting. After expressing concern about the prospecting matter, he immediately introduced this person to Zhou Zhong.

On the official road leading from Songjiang Mansion to Jiangyin County in Nanjing, Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren were sitting in a large carriage. The two chatted while walking, but the content of the chat was about a person, that is, the master prospector recommended by Wang Shouren before. His surname is Xu Mingna, and his style name is Nanshan. He lives in Jiangyin County, Nanjing. Except for studying behind closed doors and teaching a few disciples, he spends almost all his time traveling around Daming. This time Wang Shouren knew that the other party happened to be at home, so Only then did he recommend the other party to Zhou Zhong, intending to let this person serve as the prospecting officer sent by the Governor's Mansion to Nanyang.

Originally, according to Wang Shouren, if he wanted to invite Xu Na to come out of the mountain, he only needed to go to Nanjing by himself. After all, although Xu Na was proficient in geography and prospecting, his scientific research was not going well. Although their Xu family is a famous family in Jiangyin, Xu Na is a concubine, so they are not well-known in the family and in the countryside.When Wang Shouren traveled to Jiangyin.He got acquainted with Xu Na by chance.He was very interested in his knowledge on geography and prospecting, and the two talked for several days, which made Wang Shouren very fruitful. In recent years, the two have often exchanged letters.

It can be said that apart from being proficient in geography and prospecting, Xu Na is just a side branch of a big family who is not valued, and he only passed the examination of a scholar in middle age, which is nothing at all, so as long as Wang Shouren personally invites him to go out to the governor If the government works.Xu Na would definitely be very willing, after all, this is much better than his struggling in the imperial examination.

It is precisely because of this that there is no need for Zhou Zhong to invite Xu Na in person, but after hearing Wang Shouren's introduction to Xu Na's family, Zhou Zhong suddenly became interested, and immediately decided to invite Xu Na together with Wang Shouren. Jiangyin is not too far from Songjiang, and it is now the spring of March, so it is a good time to travel.

Speaking of the Jiangyin Xu family, it is a well-known family in Nanjing.There is a collection in the family called "Wan Juan Building", and the collection of books in the building is countless.Moreover, the Xu family is generous and generous to the scholars in the countryside. Those scholars from poor families can borrow them from the Wanjuan Building. This is very rare for scholars in the Ming Dynasty. After all, books in this era are all It is a valuable item, and most people are not willing to lend it out.

In addition, the Xu family produced several well-known scholars, such as Xu Yi, father and son Xu Yuanxian who have passed away. He was able to compose poems at the age of ten, took part in the provincial examination at the age of 26, and passed the No.3 exam, and became famous for a while, but Xu Yuan died at the age of 29, leaving a son named Xu Jing, who was also the same He is very smart, and this Xu Jing participated in the imperial examination with Tang Bohu, but because of being implicated in the fraud case in the imperial examination, he could no longer participate in the imperial examination for the rest of his life.

It is also worth mentioning that a more famous person appeared among Xu Jing's fifth grandsons. This person is Xu Xiake, a famous geographer in Chinese history.When Zhou Zhong learned from Wang Shouren that Xu Na was the younger brother of Xu Jing, he immediately thought of Xu Xiake in his mind. Out of admiration for the most famous geographer in Chinese history, Zhou Zhong decided to come there himself. After all, Xu Na can be regarded as Xu Xiake's ancestor. Even the reason why Xu Xiake gave up his official career and chose to travel all over the great rivers and mountains of Ming Dynasty in the future may be influenced by Xu Na.

"Brother Bo'an, I heard that Xu Jing has passed away. I don't know where he is buried?" Zhou Zhong in the carriage asked Wang Shouren. , and there are no test papers for Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, that is to say, they have already failed the rankings. Since they failed the rankings, it is even more impossible to keep leaking the questions. Had to hit [-] big boards each, Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were also sent to the county government as small officials, and they were never allowed to participate in the imperial examination, which resulted in the tragedy of the two.

But now with the influence of Zhou Zhong, Tang Bohu has come out of the fraud case in the examination room, not only has his reputation restored, but he has also been promoted by Zhou Zhong to be the magistrate of Malacca. There will be a possibility of promotion.However, Xu Jing, the other protagonist of the fraud case, passed away as early as the second year of Zhengde. tragic character.

Xu Jing is a good friend of Tang Bohu, and Wang Shouren is also acquainted with Tang Bohu. At the beginning, they both took part in the examination in the same year, so Wang Shouren also knew Xu Jing. Now when Zhou Zhong asked about Xu Jing, he also sighed He said: "That's right. His Majesty had just ascended the throne, and Brother Zhifu wanted to go to the capital to find out the news. Unfortunately, he has been in poor health since the fraud case hit him, and finally died in Beijing. Later, the Xu family transported his body to Jiangyin for burial. , because brother Zhifu felt that he had failed to cleanse his stigma and was ashamed of his ancestors. Before he died, he asked his family members not to bury his body in Xu's ancestral grave, so the descendants of brother Zhifu buried his body Buried on the sand hill in Jiangyin."

Hearing that Xu Jing didn't even enter his ancestral grave after his death, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but feel a little sad for Xu Jing's experience. At the beginning, Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were the most promising candidates among the southern scholars, but Because of a little turmoil in the officialdom, their fate was greatly reversed. Although Tang Bohu's later life was bleak, he at least left his reputation as a poet and painter, but no one cared about Xu Jing who suffered the same. , and even died in obscurity, if Xu Xiake hadn't appeared among his descendants, I'm afraid Zhou Zhong would never have known Xu Jing's name.

Maybe Xu Jing's experience was too heavy, so Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren didn't talk anymore. Among them, Wang Shouren looked out the window and meditated, while Zhou Zhong was thinking about his experiences in the past few years. A little dull.

The carriage rattled along, and soon entered Jiangyin County. When the carriage passed a low earth mountain, Wang Shouren, who had been silent all this time, suddenly pointed to the earth mountain beside the road and said, "Look, sir, this is the burial mountain." On the other side of the sand mountain is the residence of the Xu family, and the Wanjuan Building of the Xu family is also there, and I was lucky enough to enter the Wanjuan Building to borrow books in the building."

Hearing Wang Shouren's introduction, Zhou Zhong hurriedly asked the driver to stop the car, and then said to Wang Shouren: "Brother Bo'an, since you and Xu Jing are old acquaintances, I also feel very sympathetic to what happened to him. After passing through Sand Mountain, how about going up the mountain to pay homage?"

"That's right!" Wang Shouren clapped his hands and praised when he heard Zhou Zhong proposed to pay homage to Xu Jing. In fact, he wanted to propose to pay homage to Xu Jing just now, but because Zhou Zhong was his boss, and Zhou Zhong He didn't know Xu Jingsu well, so he was afraid that it would be rash to mention it, so he didn't open his mouth. Now that Zhou Zhong proposed it on his own initiative, he was naturally very willing.

The surrounding area of ​​the sand mountain was very desolate. Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren got out of the car to have a look, and found that there was no place to buy or sell sacrifices, but they didn't force it. They immediately took out a pot of wine from the carriage. There were also a few fruits to relieve fatigue, and then the two of them walked up the sand mountain path, and Zhou Zhong picked another bouquet of wild flowers on the way.Speaking of which, both Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren were people who valued their intentions rather than their forms. As long as their intentions were reached, the form of worship was secondary.

The Sand Mountain is not high, and even saying it is a mountain is a bit of an exaggeration. At best, the Sand Mountain is just a taller mound.Zhou Zhong was young, Wang Shouren was both civil and military, and his health was better than Zhou Zhong's. The two asked their men to wait at the foot of the mountain, and soon came to the top of the sandy mountain. As a result, they saw a small hut in a clearing on the top of the mountain. The tomb, the construction of the tomb is very simple, there are only a few big characters "Xu Jing's Tomb" written on the tombstone in front, and nothing else.

Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren put the fruits and wild flowers in their hands in front of Xu Jing's tomb, and then sprinkled the wine in the jug in front of the tomb. A simple worship was completed, but Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren's hearts were not clear. It's all heavy.

"With the financial resources of the Xu family, Brother Zhifu's tomb should not have been so simple, but before he died, he insisted on asking his sons to bury him hastily, and he didn't even write the epitaph. He was punishing himself on purpose. Ah!" Wang Shouren looked at Xu Jing's tombstone for a long time, and suddenly sighed.

After listening to Zhou Zhong, he sighed again. Through Wang Shouren's introduction and the understanding of later generations, he can also feel the grief and humiliation of Xu Jing before his death. Even death has failed to wash away the grievances and reputation, which is simply the cruelest punishment in the world for a scholar like Xu Jing. (To be continued..)