Dao Fruit

"This must be Qiu Xiuman. I am Meng Bufan, the sixth in the family. I am known as Meng Laoliu. I have met Xiuzan."

As soon as the young man recognized Qiu Yan, he immediately strode over. When he reached a few feet in front of the horse, he stopped, crossed his arms, calmed his expression, and bowed respectfully. No one else can find any flaws in this salute gesture, but just by looking at it, one can feel the respect in it.

It is a kind of respect from the younger generation to the elders, similar to the way a disciple meets his teacher.

"You're welcome, Mr. Meng Liu." Qiu Yan got off his horse and returned the greeting, followed by Yan Yongjie.

When Meng Bufan heard this, he smiled and said: "Xiu Zhuan is a great sage, so you must not call me like this. I am called Yuqi, so why not call me my cousin, Xiu Zhuan." After saying that, he looked at me again. Yan Yongjie praised him: "What a big man from Yan. Just by looking at him, you can tell that he is different. I don't know how to call him?"

"Your Majesty, Yan Yongjie, is a nameless person, not worthy of mentioning." Yan Yongjie replied with clasped fists. Although he had some reputation in the land of Yan, he didn't think that anyone would know him in the land of Sanjin.

"It turns out to be the Sword King of the North!" Unexpectedly, Meng Bufan was in awe. "I've heard of the Sword King's chivalrous act when he broke into the bandits' stronghold alone. I'm truly lucky to see him today."

At this time, Yan Yongjie couldn't help but be a little surprised: "I didn't expect that Mr. Meng Liu would have heard a certain nickname. I'm really ashamed. Yan can never bear the name of chivalry."

"You're welcome, Master Yan," Meng Bufan shook his head. Then he added, "I'm just talking. But I left you two here. In fact, I came here on behalf of my father to greet Qiu Xiuzan. Please come into the city." As he said that, he looked at Yan Yong Jie smiled and said, "If father knows that Master Yan is here, he will definitely be happy."

As he spoke, Meng Bufan turned his gaze and fell on the carriage behind him. The wind blew and the curtains lifted, revealing several figures.

"It seems that the road is not very peaceful. I hope you can listen to me when I'm trying to catch the wind and wash away the dust at night." As he said this, he took two steps back and made a "please" gesture.

Next, the Meng family led the way and led Qiu Yan and others into the city.

The Meng family is the number one family in Daizhou, with a long heritage and has survived several dynasties. From a small surname at the beginning, it became a famous family in the world. It is a legend. It also has extraordinary prestige among the common people and merchants inside and outside the city. When the Meng Mansion is doing business, other people will take the initiative to avoid it. Therefore, when entering the city, there was no obstacle at all, and even the soldiers guarding the city gate were smiling.

"It's different when you have power." Looking at the surrounding situation, Yan Yongjie couldn't help but sigh. He used to travel around the world and saw similar scenes many times, but he always stood on the roadside to watch. Only This time he experienced it personally, and he was still the one who was respected. However, he also understood that he was just taking advantage of it. "It seems that the Meng family really values ​​Brother Qiu."

After thinking about it, he turned his head and glanced at Qiu Yan, but there was no wave on the latter's face, showing that he was already familiar with this kind of battle.

"I seem to have missed a lot of things over the years." Thinking silently, Yan Yongjie shook his head.

As soon as we entered the city, we discovered that the prosperity of Daizhou's business was beyond imagination. Even Qiu Yan couldn't help but patrol back and forth, while Meng Bufan turned into a tour guide and introduced the shops and pavilions along the way one by one, making him look extremely familiar. He can tell a lot about the origin and information of each shop.

As he was talking, he suddenly said: "I heard that Xiuzhan compiled some topographies and maps to describe the scenes on the frontier. I wonder if Daizhou can be compared with those places to distinguish its advantages and disadvantages?"

"Each has its own merits," Qiu Yan replied, "However, just a cursory look here in Daizhou shows that merchants are prevalent and everything is dazzling. It is difficult to see such a scene in other places."

Speaking of which, Qiu Yan has seen many border cities. Among other things, Qingchang County, his former hometown, is located on the edge of southern Xinjiang. Yuanning Prefecture can also be called a border. As for Wuxin City where the Wuxin Army is stationed, it is even more It is a node from the Central Plains to the Land of Five Marshes.

In addition, during this period of time, I was leading troops in Northern Xinjiang, and I also had a lot of knowledge about the frontier fortresses in Northern Xinjiang. I also saw a lot about places like Dingchang City, but compared with this generation of state cities, they all have different.

Those cities are more or less mixed with a strong military atmosphere. Although they also have merchants coming and going, their main functions are defense and border protection. And this Daizhou is not owned by a military strategist. There are shops in the city. , workshops and merchants gathered everywhere, revealing a strong commercial atmosphere.

"The shops here really have everything you need." Looking at it, even Yan Yongjie could tell something about it.

"Of course," Meng Bufan laughed, "not only these things, but also under the initiative of my Meng family, this city has also put a lot of effort into educating saints."

"Educated by a saint?" Yan Yongjie became confused. Although he was a hero in the world, he was not proficient in Confucianism. He also knew the theory of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. Of course, people in the world could make a lot of money by selling goods, but strictly speaking, in aristocratic families, From the perspective of a wealthy family, it is considered degrading to politeness. Even if it is done, it is done in secret.

At first glance, this generation of state capital is dominated by merchants, and it should have no connection at all with the saint's teachings.

Noticing his expression, Meng Bufan smiled slightly, showing a bit of pride, and pointed to the corner of the street: "Look, you two, this is one of the sources of preaching the saint's teachings."

The place he was pointing to was a large-looking attic with the word "Mingquan" written on the signboard in front of the building. When he got a little closer, he could smell the aroma of ink.

"This is... the Carving Library?" Looking at it and smelling the smell in the air, Yan Yongjie knew what to do.

The so-called Engraving and Publishing House, as its name suggests, is a place where books are engraved. In fact, it is the Engraving and Printing Bureau, which engraves classics into engravings and publishes them on a large scale.

This name also has historical reasons.

Before the advent of engraving and printing, its technologies were not gathered together, but were scattered across various industries, mainly in three aspects - engraving, sealing and printing.

Engraving characters on various utensils has been one of the carriers of civilization inheritance since ancient times. From the earliest tortoise shells to later bronzes and bamboo slips, it has become more and more mature.

The history of seals is equally long. From royal seals, official seals, to personal seals, and even seals used in Taoist inheritance, whether they are humane or magical, they are constantly enriched and developed. This is actually the most primitive of engraving.

Brushing ink on wood or stone slabs with words engraved on it is called printing, which can be divided into two types: printing and rubbing, each with its own merits.

The invention and discovery of any kind of technology cannot be a flash of inspiration. Even a person favored by luck cannot create something out of thin air that can reverse the pattern of humanity. Without exception, it requires a long period of preparation and preparation. Accumulation, only knowing the innovation that can be achieved overnight, and ignoring down-to-earth learning and reference, is either ignorance or ulterior motives.

Only when the opportunity comes, can accumulation be accumulated and show the brilliance of humanity.

This opportunity sometimes even comes from across the starry sky and from other continents.

Engraving, sealing and printing, these three technologies cannot be called printing, but without them, printing would be like a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water.

Qiu Yan once saw some clues in the Spring and Autumn style of writing in historical records. He knew that when printing appeared, it actually triggered a turbulent wave in humanity, and there was also a bloody storm hidden in it. If the aristocratic family had not become powerful and joined forces with the Taoist sect, this turbulent wave would probably have been There's a lot to destroy.

Even so, with the development of technology to this day, some things can no longer be reversed. The most obvious point is the rise of humble families.

The fortunes of the poor scholars, who had difficulty obtaining knowledge due to restrictions such as single copies of books, slowly turned around. The entire class gradually grew stronger. In conjunction with the imperial examination system, a trend was brewing in the court, but it had not yet spread.

Of course, this is also subject to the shortcomings of engraving and printing itself. Although it is convenient, it requires a heavy workload to engrave and print one edition of each book, and the requirements for technology and supervision are not low. It even takes several years to deal with those vast and heavy classics. Only time will make it complete.

In addition, some aristocratic families deliberately control public opinion, mentioning the value of authentic handwriting and belittling the status of engravings, in order to maintain their monopoly on knowledge and learning to a certain extent.

However, there is a gap in this monopoly, and that is the academies of various schools of thought.

For an academy with the inheritance of sages and sages, even aristocratic families would not dare to be too presumptuous and would choose to win over and cooperate with him most of the time. So this time, as soon as Qiu Yan showed the aura of a master, some aristocratic families extended an olive branch to him.

"There are many such engraving libraries in the city, and more than half of them are funded by our Meng family, in order to carry forward the teachings of sages and sages in the border areas," Meng Bufan said as he walked, paying attention to Qiu Yan's expression. "There are many precious engravings in these libraries, many of which took more than ten years of work to carve..."

"That being said, it is indeed intentional. No wonder Mr. Meng Liu said that it is for humane enlightenment." After hearing this, Yan Yongjie couldn't help but feel a little admiration.

"Where," Meng Bufan shook his head, "my ancestor once said that the barbarians were cruel because they were uneducated, so they did this. With the help of the geographical location, books and goods could often be traded to the barbarians. Subtly, Enlightenment, unfortunately, is progressing slowly. After all, there is no one in charge of the overall situation. If a great sage can establish an academy in this city, I think it will be able to get twice the result with half the effort..."

As they talked, several people came to a red painted door with the word "Meng Mansion" written on the door plaque.

The accompanying carriage changed direction as early as halfway, and only Qiu Yan and others were led here.

With a creak, the door slowly opened, and a majestic-looking middle-aged man came forward with square steps.

"I met Qiu Xiuzhan..."

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