Wentang

Chapter 736 Archaeology
Ouyang Tong moved into Weishui Academy to study after learning from Wang Ji—in order to maintain the academy’s admission requirements based on merit, he was not an official student of the academy, but just studied with Wang Ji and listened to other teachers’ lectures.

In the future, you still have to take the entrance exam. If you fail to pass the exam, you can't call yourself a college student.

Although everyone knows that this is a cutscene, but having this cutscene and not having this cutscene are two different things.

Ouyang Xun also kept his word, and gave all the books in his family's collection and his own experience to the Institute of Chinese Characters.

Yue Shan immediately organized manpower to proofread the transcription, and the next step was to make engraving and large-scale printing.After the copying was over, he was going to return the original to Ouyang Xun, but was told that he didn't need it and gave it to the academy.

He felt that this matter was a bit abnormal, these things were the heritage of a family, how could they not be used?
Ask people to inquire and get a very helpless answer.

No successor.

Ouyang Xun has four sons, the three older sons are mediocre, and even a bit unworthy.If he is still alive, some people would dare to use this batch of books to sell them for money. One can imagine what will happen when he is dead.

Ouyang Tong, the only one with talent, was too young and was born of Xuxian, unable to compete with his three elder brothers for the family property, and couldn't keep it even if he wanted to.

Originally, Ouyang Xun had already resigned to his fate, anyway, it's useless to worry about things like this.It's better to look away, after he dies, what these sons like to do, he won't be able to see anyway.

Who knew that the youngest son, Ouyang Tong, came into Yue Shan's eyes and became a disciple of the great Confucian Wang Ji, so the situation was naturally different. He wanted to make long-term plans for the inheritance of Ouyang's family and for his youngest son.

Donating the collection of books to the Institute of Characters can protect these books on the one hand, and accumulate some human capital for Ouyang Tong.

This is not over yet. After donating the book, he called his four sons together to separate them, and invited famous people who had made good friends to be witnesses.

All the family property was given to the three older sons, leaving a small courtyard and a shop in a remote corner of Chang'an City to the youngest son Ouyang Tong.

And emphasized that from now on, the four brothers will go their separate ways and never give up.

Before the four sons said anything, the friends they had made with each other were shocked and tried to persuade them.

As a father, it's fine if you don't teach them how to be brothers and sisters, why do you take the initiative to let them cut off contact?How will their brothers get along with each other in the future.

But Ouyang Xun was determined to do this, and it was useless to persuade anyone. In the end, the matter was settled like this.

The three elder brothers happily divided up the family property and lived the days they dreamed of.

Ouyang Tong brought his mother, Mrs. Xu, to live in a small courtyard, and Mrs. Xu also runs the shop in person, selling needles and threads for people to sew and mend.

Ouyang Xun himself doesn't have to worry about no one to support him, he is still a retired baron of the imperial court, and he is a treasure. As long as he is alive, he is a treasure, and his three sons are rushing to support him.

But according to the custom, he still lived in the eldest son's house, and the eldest son took care of him until his death.

Knowing what happened, Yue Shan was filled with emotion, this is the truth in the world.

Ouyang Tong deservedly escaped the catastrophe of genocide alone at the age of 13, and then climbed to his current position step by step by relying on his ability.

During this period, he commanded soldiers and fought wars, and served as a civil servant for the emperor's herdsman. He is a man of all talents in civil and military affairs.Don't look at the old age but the brain is not confused at all. At the critical moment, you can make up your mind and make a choice.

Ouyang Tong seems to have suffered a great loss when the family was separated, but he also jumped out of the shackles of the family and has since then leaped into the sea.

After Wang Ji heard the news, he planned to take Ouyang Tong's mother and son to live in the academy, but was stopped by Yue Shan.

"How can you get the fragrance of plum blossoms without going through a bit of cold. This is a kind of tempering and training for him. Today's poverty will become the most precious wealth in the future."

"Ouyang led the arrangement like this with his own deep meaning, and you will only break his plan if you act rashly."

Wang Ji was not the kind of person who would not listen to persuasion, so he immediately dismissed the idea, but since then he has become more serious about teaching Ouyang Tong and has stricter requirements.

……

Let's talk about the oracle bone inscriptions.

Wang Ji invited more than [-] calligraphers, historians and masters of gold and stone in one breath.

At first, these people didn’t really believe in the reason why the ancient Yin Shang inscriptions appeared in the world. They had never heard of the Yin Shang oracle bone inscriptions before, and it was really doubtful that they suddenly appeared.

But out of trust in Wang Ji and Yue Shan, he still came.

After seeing the oracle bone with his own eyes and confirming that the marks on it were not forged, his attitude took a 180-degree turn, which was not much better than Wang Ji and Ouyang Xun who saw the oracle bone for the first time.

With the participation of more than 30 celebrities, the work of cracking the oracle bone inscriptions finally started.

"In the past, we believed that the development of writing was first in bronze inscriptions, then seal scripts, then official scripts, and even regular scripts, running scripts, and cursive scripts."

"But there is something contrary to common sense. Everything has a process of evolution. Bronze inscriptions cannot be so perfect as soon as they are born. So what did the characters look like before the bronze inscriptions?"

"No one of us has studied this issue before, thinking that the birth of characters is like bronze inscriptions. Now this theory can be overturned, or it needs to be revised. Oracle bone inscriptions are the origin of characters."

"Text pays attention to shape, sound, and meaning, and the oracle bone inscriptions should be the same, so our research direction is these three aspects."

"First of all, determine the shape of its characters. The oracle bones have been buried in the soil for thousands of years, and they will inevitably be destroyed. We must find a way to eliminate all difficulties to determine the shape of the characters."

"Then there is the meaning of characters... The development of Chinese characters is in order, from oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions, to seal script, to official script, to regular script. I want to find out the evolution process of that character and finally determine its meaning."

"The last thing is the pronunciation, which is the most difficult. There have been several major changes in the development of thousands of years of writing. The accent has changed even more. No one knows what the accent of the ancients thousands of years ago was like. I can slowly figure out the rules..."

"A single text is the most difficult to decipher. It is best to find its original text, and it is the best to decipher in the entire article..."

Yue Shan told everyone about some methods and requirements for deciphering oracle bone inscriptions that he knew in his previous life. After reaching a consensus, the research work started.

Originally, these people were all ready to start from scratch, but it was only when they started working that they realized that Yue Shan had already provided a translation with hundreds of words.

Although I was surprised how he cracked it, but a sentence from the fairy child explained everything.

Although this identity has brought many hidden dangers to Yue Shan, it is really useful sometimes.All the abnormalities can be attributed to the gods, no one will say anything, and no one will doubt it.

With the translation of several hundred words as a reference, the speed of deciphering is much faster, at least skipping the initial stage of knowing nothing and relying on guessing.

Not long after the work started, another problem appeared, the sample was too small.

Although the School of Medicine has tried its best to collect oracle bones that have been circulated outside, the number is not as large as expected. So far, less than 100 yuan has been collected.

Such a small number cannot meet the needs of research, and more samples are urgently needed, so the excavation of the ruins has been put on the agenda.

But the excavation of the ruins is not that simple. Archeology is a very deep knowledge, and Yue Shan has no research on this aspect.

Others in the research institute don't do much research on this aspect, and the only goldstone expert who knows something about this aspect of research only stays on rubbings.

Naturally, the living cannot be suffocated to death by urine. As a traveler, Yue Shan, who has watched many Tomb Raiders, TV dramas and novels, thought of a group.

"Captain Mojin? What is Colonel Mojin? It sounds like a military position. Does Tang Dynasty have such an army?" Wang Ji asked suspiciously.

Yue Shan rubbed his nose and said hesitantly, "It's...the tomb robber."

"Tomb robbers are tomb robbers. What are you talking about, captain gold? There are many tomb robbers imprisoned in the prison, and it is not easy to ask some of them to come here in your capacity." Wang Ji said.

Yue Shan asked in surprise, "Don't you think it's against ethics and morals to use grave robbers?"

"Who said that? Tomb robbers deserve to die. It would be an advantage for them to use their craftsmanship to contribute to Chinese civilization. It can be regarded as waste utilization, so it violates ethics and morals." Wang Ji said in surprise:
"Why didn't I realize that you still have such pedantic ideas before, but your identity as the founder of Xinxue does not match."

Yue Shan quickly explained: "I don't have such an idea, I'm afraid you will."

Wang Ji said: "Don't be so pedantic as others think, at least our new school is not like this, you can rest assured to find the grave robber."

Only then did Yue Shan go into the palace to find Li Shimin, explain the plan, and ask for two orders.One is to extract the tomb robbers from the prison, and the other is to dispatch a battalion of government soldiers to accompany the protection inspection team.

After getting the handbook, he first went to the Privy Council.

Naturally, no one would dare to make things difficult for a big boss like him, and the dispatch of troops was finalized smoothly. A battalion of elite imperial troops will arrive at the military academy early tomorrow morning to stand by.

Then he went six more doors.

The people from Six Doors welcomed him very warmly. Although he was no longer the commander-in-chief, the friendship from before was still there, and besides, a powerful leader like him would be confessed wherever he went.

It's just that with the love from back then, the six doors are more concerned about his affairs.

Hearing that he was looking for a tomb robber, he was still a master among the masters, so he immediately pulled out the files and found dozens of masters for him to choose from.

Don't think that there are too many tomb robberies. Most of the tomb robberies are cross-regional crimes, and they are basically under the jurisdiction of the six sects.Most of the tomb robbers in the entire Tang Dynasty were imprisoned here, and the number was naturally indispensable.

Naturally, not everyone wanted Yue Shan, and tomb robbers were divided into different classes.

Some tomb robbers are really vicious and will do anything without any scruples.Some tomb robbers are unwilling to hurt people purely for money; some are even very superstitious, thinking that tomb robbers are harmful to morality, and they will use some of them to do good deeds.

There is still some room for forgiveness for the latter two, and the former must not be tolerated.

In this way, they picked and picked, and found ten master tomb robbers.

In the Tang Dynasty, the punishment for tomb robbery was very severe. To move the tomb was exile, to dig it up was more than three years, and to move the coffin was the death penalty.If you dare to move the tomb of a famous and powerful family, you will definitely be sentenced to death.

These ten tomb robbers are all of the type who have already been sentenced to death, and they are waiting to be executed.When he suddenly got a chance to survive, he naturally grasped it like a life-saving straw.

Yue Shan made dozens of very harsh demands on them, and they all agreed without hesitation, and they were also grateful to Dade.

After that, there is the selection of former archaeologists. In addition to some famous figures of the Institute of Chinese Characters, many ordinary staff are also needed.

For the academy, this was nothing at all, and dozens of students interested in history were easily selected.

Then Yue Shan forged a ruins site and asked them to conduct simulation experiments.

After all, tomb robbery and archaeology have some similarities in exploration and excavation, but they are actually two completely different things with different requirements.

The purpose of robbing tombs is to seek money, and there is a saying of catching the big and letting go of the small, that is, as long as the most valuable ones are ignored, it will cause huge damage to the ruins.

The so-called explorers in the West in previous lives were actually grave robbers.

Archeology is to restore a piece of ancient history, and no detail can be missed. It is necessary to protect the ruins from damage as much as possible.

It would be a disaster to directly let the tomb robbers enter the ancient ruins of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and the necessary training is very necessary.

It is not only the tomb robbers who are trained, but also those students, who are the real main force of archaeology, and the tomb robbers are just tool people.

It took more than a month for the whole training work to be completed, and the effect is very obvious.Not only let them know what is going on in archaeology, but also invented many useful tools for different situations.

When everything was ready, the archaeological team set off for Anyang, Daoxiang Prefecture, Henan Province under the protection of the Forbidden Army, to conduct the first real archeology in history.

Originally, Yue Shan was the most suitable person to lead the team, but Li Shimin would definitely not let him leave Beijing, so he could only let a famous person from the Institute of Characters lead the team.

After sending the archaeological team away, Yueshan turned around and devoted himself to the research.

Although the oracle bone sample is insufficient, oracle bone research has stalled, but there are other research work that can be done.

For example, the evolution process from bronze inscriptions to seal scripts and then to official scripts... figuring out these will help to deduce the meaning of oracle bone inscriptions.

And don't forget that this is the Tang Dynasty, not the modern society more than 300 years later.

The oracle bone inscriptions were discovered too late in the previous life, and too many things were lost in the long river of history, including various ancient languages ​​and folklore.

For example, the method of "yin" in poetry and fu that is often said has been lost, and later generations can only speculate based on a few records.

The discovery of oracle bone inscriptions 300 years in advance was of great help.

There are still many primitive tribes living in the primitive forests in and around the Tang Dynasty.They speak the oldest language, and spread the oldest legend...there may be clues from the Shang Dynasty thousands of years ago.

Although Datang's technological level is far behind that of the previous life, it really has an advantage over the 21st century in the study of oracle bone inscriptions.

Generally speaking, the study of oracle bone inscriptions is not just about oracle bone inscriptions, but a systematic work involving many aspects.

Naturally, the required manpower is also very large, and it is simply impossible to complete it with only [-] to [-] people in the research institute and those dozens of students, and more people will be recruited in the future.

But right now Yue Shan is not planning to expand the team, at least until he gets more samples and makes staged progress in Oracle, he is not going to make a big deal of it.

He had to ensure the leading position of the Huaxia Character Research Institute in this matter, so that he could truly release research in this area and allow more people to join in.

The reason is very simple, you can't trust those aristocratic families.

If the news had been spread in advance, those aristocratic families would have gone crazy digging the ruins, even if the imperial court prohibited them from digging secretly.In the end, irreparable damage was caused to the remains of the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

It can only be made public only if the research institute obtains the right to speak and become the only authority, and let the aristocratic family understand that even if they study it privately, it is useless.

While Yue Shan was concentrating on studying the characters, the imperial court continued to make big moves, and several successive big news attracted the attention of the whole country.

(End of this chapter)