Xiangye

Chapter 9

This is the social environment of the Yingzong and Daizong dynasties. The commodity economy began to develop greatly and capitalism sprouted.With the improvement of productivity and the abundance of material life, spiritual food can no longer keep up with the demand.

This is a bit like the modern society of the later generations, even if it is a bad movie, it can easily earn hundreds of millions and billions at the box office.The reason is simple, the supply of consumable cultural products is insufficient.The buyer's market has no choice but to accept passively.

Today, the era that Gao Wen lives in also has the same phenomenon.In his opinion, the Fengyue books published in the market, the rural novels are simply unbearable to read, but every time they are published, they are sold at a high price in Luoyang.

Before going out, Gao Wen already figured it out that although Hancheng is only a fifth-tier city, it is very big.

This place is located in the northeast corner of the Guanzhong Plain. The city was built as early as the Xia Dynasty. It has four distinct seasons, a mild climate, sufficient sunlight, high rainfall, and developed agriculture. It is a grain-producing area in Shaanxi.It is also close to the Yellow River, and the water transportation is convenient. It is one of the two transportation hubs connecting Shaanxi and Shanxi, and the other is Huayin County behind Tongguan.

Because of this, the commerce and trade in Hancheng is very prosperous. There are more than [-] people in the city, and there are thousands of floating population on weekdays.A while ago, because of the war in northern Shanxi, there were fewer merchants.Now, as the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars gradually subsided, it should not be difficult to restore the past.There is no way, this place is the only way to enter Shaanxi from Taiyuan.

With a large population and a prosperous market, if "Journey to the West" is printed, it must be able to sell very well.

Walking in Hancheng, Gao Wen was a little surprised, but he didn't expect it to be so big. He walked four or five streets until he was sweating until he came to Dongxue Lane.

This is the core urban area of ​​Hancheng. After passing this street, there is the county government office and Tongguan Road's administrative office at the other end.On the other side, there are the Confucian Temple and the County School, which can be regarded as the political and cultural center of the county, and most of the pedestrians on the street are scholars and businessmen.

Most of the shops on the street are bookstores, restaurants, and teahouses selling the Four Treasures of the Study, which are basically cultural industries.Of course, there is also a silk shop and a rouge shop among them.Especially the rouge shop, it seems that it is out of touch with the strong cultural atmosphere here.Think about it carefully, but it is also clear.In this day and age, reading is a big expense.Those who can enter the school are at least the children of the middle class, and the ancients got married early.It is also a joy to come here to read books and buy some rouge and gouache for the family. The Pomeranian smiles.

Looking around, there are at least four bookstores on a short street.After a little hesitation, Gao Wen went into the largest bookstore called "Linlang Pavilion".

The study room is elegantly furnished, and the camphor wood furniture inside is shiny with paint.Huge bookshelves take up an entire wall, and there are at least a thousand books on them.Opposite the bookshelf is a flower shelf with blue and white porcelain and Shoushan stone ornaments on it.

The floor of the bookstore is covered with bluestone slabs, mopped with a mop until it is as clean as a mirror, and in the center is a round table with a marble top.

It looks like a bookstore.

Obviously, the owner of the shop is a fastidious person. Apart from earning a few pocket money, he opened this bookstore for the purpose of meeting friends through literature, which also shows his good financial strength.

Gao Wen naturally knew the value of the book "Journey to the West" he had copied, so he didn't want to randomly find someone to cooperate with.Judging by the size of this store, it is number one in Hancheng, so you might as well talk to the boss.

There was no one else in the bookstore, only an old man in a green shirt was sitting at the table reading.

This gentleman is about fifty years old, ordinarily this age can be considered an old man in the Ming Dynasty.However, this man has a ruddy complexion, dark hair, a Chinese character face, and clear eyebrows, but he is also dignified.

The old man is obviously a book lover. There are about three or four thread-bound ancient books piled up on the table in front of him. "The Analects of Confucius", "University" and "Book of Filial Piety" are all made of green cloth as book covers, and the binding is very beautiful.

He was looking down at a book. While reading, he stroked the short beard under his jaw with his hand, with a contented expression, and from time to time let out a low and strange cry: "Hiss", "Huh", "Uh", "Sweet."

Gao Wen was curious, so he couldn't help walking up to the old man and looking down.

Before he could see clearly, the owner of the bookstore seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and he quickly closed the pages with agility that did not belong to his age, and pulled a copy of "The Analects" on top.

Gao Wen almost laughed out loud, he couldn't help but think of the time he used to read novels in class when he was in high school.Needless to say, what this old man is reading is definitely not the serious classics of Zi Yue Shiyun.

Seeing the suppressed smile on Gao Wen's face, the owner of the bookstore was also a little embarrassed. He stood up and cupped his hands slightly: "This little brother, are you here to buy books? Last year when we took the Shaanxi Provincial Examination, the collection of essays just arrived. I'll take you to have a look... Uh, the ones from Xi'an Courtyard have arrived..."

When Gao Wen went out before, he was either called a fool Gao at the same time, or was called a "poor man" by the people. This little brother really made him a little unaccustomed.

The so-called Shiwen is the stereotyped essay.No, it also includes official documents such as policy theory, imperial edict, system, edict, etc., as well as test post poems. In one sentence, it is the imperial examination paper.

If a scholar wants to become an official, he must take the imperial examinations, pass the examinations of these subjects, and write good articles.However, it is not enough to be able to write well. ,

Unlike later college entrance examinations where most of the multiple-choice questions had standard answers, the ancient imperial examinations were very flexible, and a lot of time had a great relationship with the taste of the chief examiner.No matter how good your article is, if it doesn't meet the taste of the great master, you will be dismissed.The so-called: his honey, my arsenic.

But if your essay is favored by the examiner, even if it is full of failures and leaks everywhere, it will be accepted, and you will become a superior person.

This point is most obvious in the college examination and the township examination. This is the joke about Fan Jin in "The Scholars" from repeated failures in examinations to sudden ascent to the sky and sudden madness.

Just because the candidate's grade directly depends on the taste of the examiner, it is difficult not to attract the attention of the scholars.Otherwise, even if you are excellent in your studies and don't figure out the examiner's preferences, you will die ugly when you enter the examination room.

Therefore, after the provincial examinations held twice every three years and the Jinshi examinations held every three years, the case files of Chinese-style scholars will be bought by bookstore owners at a high price, and published and distributed for reference by scholars.

The manuscript fee for this kind of paper is mostly not high, only a few taels of silver, or even lower.In many cases, in order to gain fame, Chinese-style candidates do not even take any money, or even post it backwards.

The imperial examination is directly related to the future of scholars, so it is inevitable that people will not care about it.Whenever there is a fresh article released, it will be sold out.It is also the most reliable income for bookstore merchants, which is a bit similar to physical stores that have been impacted by wireless network books in later generations, relying entirely on teaching aids for profits.

"Just take a look at Shiwen Collection." Gao Wen was not in a hurry to tell about the sale of the manuscript, but only set his eyes on the bookshelf that occupied a wall.

"That's right. We changed the emperor in the Ming Dynasty this year. We won't open Enke until the year name is changed next year. The imperial examinations at all levels have to wait until the next year. Besides, once the emperor and the courtiers, who knows that the chief seal official in this place will change. No change. At this time, it’s meaningless to buy time to figure it out.” The owner of the bookstore is a typical scholar who can speak well. Seeing that although Gao Wen was dressed in rags, he was very neat and tidy, and he exuded a bookish air. As a scholar from a poor family, he felt very cordial and talked a lot: "My surname is Yu, and my name is Xingyan. My brother looks strange, but I don't know which school he is studying in?"

Gao Wen: "So it's Boss Yu. I'm Gao Wen, so I'm from Hancheng." While talking to Boss Yu, he looked at the books on the shelf.

Seeing this, I was slightly disappointed in my heart.

There are not many books on the bookshelf, but they are all Confucian classics such as "Four Books", "Five Classics", "Tang Poems" and "Song Ci". .As for romance novels, there are none.

He casually pulled out a copy of "Luoyang Jialan Ji" from the bookshelf and flipped through two pages, feeling a surge of excitement in his heart for no reason. This is a real ancient book of the Ming Dynasty. If it is placed in later generations, it must be a treasure in the library.

I asked the boss how much the book cost, and Boss Yu replied that a set was six renminbi, and asked if he would buy it.

Gao Wen smiled, and said: "I don't study the customs of the Song Dynasty, what do I buy this book for?" He put it back, took out another copy of "Zhu Zi's Family Instructions" and glanced at it, only to feel that it was full of rotten feudal ethics and morals. , smelly.

Just like that, Gao Wen didn't say anything, just read it casually, and when he saw the back, he thought to himself: It seems that this is a high-end bookstore, and the owner is also a gentleman, and he might not even know how to print novels. Did I come to the wrong place... No, didn't the previous boss secretly read idle books?Seen through by me, I still have a panicked face...

"Brother, can you choose a favorite book?" The boss's voice lowered, with a mysterious expression on his face: "Do you want Fengyue's book?"

"what?"

"Keep your voice down, you are all scholars, it's insulting to gentleness, it's insulting to gentleness." Boss Yu said with embarrassment: "Life is short, to put it bluntly, it's just a matter of eating and drinking. , as long as you have a sense of grandeur in your heart, reading it critically can be regarded as a kind of experience."

"Yes, yes, read it critically. As the saying goes, if you don't know the black, you can know the white, the key is to see how you read it. The so-called lecherous sees prostitution, and the wise sees wisdom." Gao Wen smiled softly, and Boss Yu in front of him was born with a good-looking talent, but At this moment, he looked so wretched, reminding him of an encounter in the Computer City, where a five-year-old man approached him mysteriously: "Dude, do you want a disc?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Boss Yu heaved a sigh of relief, and quickly dragged out a thin wooden box from behind a screen, opened it, and found that it was full of small books with ill-bound binding and inferior paper.

What "Jade Boudoir Red", "The History of the Jade Concubine's Love", "Mandarin Duck Needle", "Yi Qing Zhen", "The Wild History of Sexy Marriage", you can imagine the content just by looking at the title of the book, and the author's name is also very uncreative. What Donglu Luosheng, Yanyansheng, Yiling Xiaoxiaosheng.Anyway, they are all born, so it can be seen that the author is a scholar who has no money for food and clothing, and can only earn a living by writing some eighteen bans in exchange for rice.

Among them, the most famous student should be Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, that is, Lord Wang Shizhen, right?
The style of this book is too low, and the story is extremely simple.In fact, the author didn't want to spend too much brains on the story, because the drama is not enough, and the meat is added.

For example, a novel called "Su'e Pian" is about the love story between Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Sansi and her maid Su'e. After reading the whole novel, there is no content at all. Most of the pen and ink are devoted to 43 kinds of body movements of men and women. .Such books, even in the tolerant and open Ming Dynasty, were banned again and again.If a scholar peeks at them, once they are discovered by the instructors and admonishers of the county school or prefectural school, they will be punished.

(End of this chapter)