Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the second day, Ju Ming moved with his entourage from the dormitory where the foreign students lived to the VIP dormitory.

He lives next door to Chen Yuan, and they share a yard.

Chen Yuan also had followers, four of them in total.

Among these four personal followers, only one has read a book, and the remaining three are all bodyguards.

There was no other way, so he first went from Fujian to Jiangdong, then from Jiangdong to Lianghuai, then went to the Central Plains and Guanzhong, and now he came to Hanzhong. If there were no bodyguards by his side, he would have been robbed by bandits long ago.

What's more, people still need to carry luggage and travel.

The three bodyguards were practicing with their guns and sticks. Bai Sheng and Shi Biao were so excited that they couldn't help but want to ask for advice on martial arts.

So, these five rough guys mingled together, wielding knives and sticks all day long, feeling uncomfortable.

Bai Sheng learns things very quickly and knows all kinds of moves and skills at a glance. But I couldn't calm down. I practiced and practiced, and when I felt that I had a rough idea, I stopped to rest and chat with the three bodyguards.

Shi Biao was just the opposite. It was difficult to learn the moves, but it was even harder to learn the secrets of the moves. What Bai Sheng learned in ten minutes would take him two or three days to ponder, leaving Chen Yuan's three bodyguards speechless.

On the fourth day, before Chen Yuan finished writing his article, he plunged into the academy's library.

However, "Journey to the West" spread first, and the manuscript was divided into more than ten copies, and a group of lay students took turns reading it. There are even those who are keen on novels. They light up the lamp at night and copy, hoping to copy the entire "Journey to the West".

This matter was quickly discovered by the principal.

One of Min Wenwei's hobbies is to inspect the academy. When he meets students who are working hard, he will praise and encourage them; when he meets students who are having fun, he can scold them for half an hour without criticizing them.

At night, he patrolled from the upper house to the inner house, and then from the inner house to the outer house.

It was already midnight, and he found that there were three dormitories with lights still on.

Min Wenwei walked to the door and peeked in through the crack in the door. I saw four lay students in the room, three of them were studying, and one was writing an article.

Do poor students know how to work hard?

Min Wenwei felt greatly relieved. If everyone could study hard into the night, why would they worry about not being able to improve their knowledge? Yangzhou Academy will surely produce Jinshi again!

I walked to another dormitory and took a peek and found three people studying inside.

It is not easy for poor students to learn, so Min Wenwei is not going to bother him. He was about to leave silently when he suddenly heard someone in the room say: "Why haven't you finished reading yet? I've been waiting for an hour!"

There were two timekeeping systems in the Song Dynasty, twelve o'clock was the main hour, and twenty-four o'clock was the hour.

"Wait a minute, I'll watch it again and it's almost over."

"Watch it again? You bird!"

"Hey, hey, don't grab it, or the manuscript will be torn."

"Hurry up and hand it over!"

"..."

Min Wenwei felt something was wrong. No matter how eager to learn, he wouldn't fight for books, right?

"Bang bang bang!"

Min Wenwei said solemnly: "Open the door!"

The room fell silent instantly, the oil lamp was blown out, and the four students lay down on the bed as quickly as possible.

"Open the door!" Min Wenwei scolded again.

The sound of snoring suddenly sounded in the room, and one after another, the snores were like thunder, one after another.

Min Wenwei said angrily: "If you don't open the door again, we will all be expelled from the academy!"

The snoring stopped immediately and the door opened.

Min Wenwei said: "Take it out!"

The four students quickly fetched books, which were all books by sages such as "Mencius" and "The Analects of Confucius".

Min Wenwei just sneered, walked straight in, pulled out a stack of novel manuscripts from under the pillow, turned around and asked, "Do you want me to search for it myself?"

The students had no choice but to hand over the remaining manuscripts and wait anxiously to be scolded.

Min Wenwei said: "Go to bed early!"

The four students rushed to bed as if they had received an amnesty.

Min Wenwei went to two other dormitories, collected all the novel manuscripts, and returned to his room filled with anger.

"Hold the lamp!"

At a command, the servant lit the oil lamp.

The students glued the novel manuscript together with rice. Each chapter was glued into one copy, and each copy was numbered.

Min Wenwei put them away according to the numbers, and then stayed up late to read. He wanted to see what could make students forget to eat and sleep.

The opening chapter was modified by Ju Ming. It was written first that Pangu opened the sky, then that the Gonggong leader touched Buzhou Mountain, and then that Nuwa made five-color stones to mend the sky. A five-color stone was left in the world, and in the country of Aolai in the East China Sea, an innate stone monkey was born.

When he first read it, Min Wenwei was full of disdain and felt that such words were unpalatable.

With a critical eye, Min Wenwei continued reading. As he read, the oil lamp gradually dimmed, and he turned it on. After reading to the end, I simply changed the wick.

"Ooooh!"

With the sound of a cockcrow, Min Wenwei suddenly woke up and found that he had actually seen three or four o'clock in the middle of the night.

He quickly turned on the lamp to sleep, and his mind was filled with Sun Wukong.

The next morning, the dean was still sleeping soundly. For the first time, he failed to inspect the campus on time.

It wasn't until around eight o'clock in the morning that Min Wenwei finally woke up. Get dressed and wash up, go to the school for a walk, then go to have breakfast, and then hurried back to the house... to read a novel.

The romantic novels of the Song Dynasty are all short stories, and in terms of literary quality, they are even inferior to the legends of the Tang Dynasty.

There are also some storybooks. Except for opera lovers, no one reads them because they can just watch the opera.

When the novel "Journey to the West" was released in the Song Dynasty, it was like a 21st century science fiction blockbuster thrown in front of audiences in the black-and-white silent film era. Even a great scholar could not withstand that kind of impact, let alone a small principal.

I read it day and night for several days.

Min Wenwei finally finished reading "Journey to the West" and felt that the aftertaste was long, so he opened it and re-read it. He also picked up his writing brush, made notes while reading, and wrote down his own reflections on reading.

From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the mainstream Confucian thought was to refute Buddhism.

Especially Neo-Confucianists and psychologists. When they were local officials, more than one or two destroyed Buddhist temples. Temples that were not approved by the imperial court were demolished, and the wood and stone materials were demolished to build schools. All temple fields were confiscated and converted into school fields.

But if you don’t know the Buddha, how can you evade the Buddha?

The more ruthless the Confucian scholars are in evading Buddhism, the deeper their understanding of Buddhism will be. Their Buddhist attainments may even be as good as those of eminent monks.

There is a temple nearby on the mountain where Yangzhou Academy is located. After Min Wenwei's uncle was deposed and returned to his hometown, he wrote inscriptions and monuments for the temple and even donated money to build a new temple.

Although Chen Yuan criticized Wang Anshi for his worship of Buddhism, he often visited Buddhist temples and studied as many Buddhist scriptures as Wang Anshi.

The same is true for Er Cheng, who criticized Su Shi for worshiping Buddhism, but they themselves were also studying Buddhist scriptures.

The difference is that Er Cheng, Yang Shi, and Chen Yuan only read Buddhist scriptures and did not introduce Buddhism into Confucianism. Su Shi and Wang Anshi, however, quoted a lot of Buddhist theories and used them as nourishment for Confucianism.

When Min Wenwei read "Journey to the West" for the second time, he realized very keenly that this was not a novel about Buddhism, but about the unity of the three religions!

The Taoist color was too strong, even though he couldn't understand many of the contents.

The story of the original "Journey to the West" had already taken shape in the Yuan Dynasty, but it must have been greatly added or deleted later. The version that was eventually handed down to later generations contains a lot of Quanzhen Religion ideas. There are even more than ten poems in the book that are directly copied from the Quanzhen Religion Taoist Scriptures, and many more poems are written according to the Taoist scriptures.

Therefore, some scholars infer that the span of "Journey to the West" from story formation to finalization spans as long as two hundred years. During this period, many authors made additions and deletions, and the finalist was probably Yan Xiyan, the founder of the Yanzu sect of the Quanzhen sect.

The author of "Journey to the West" is signed as "Master of Huayang Cave", and Huayang Cave is the Maoshan Mountain where Yan Xiyan established his Taoism.

Although Ju Ming changed some plots, he copied the poems in the novel intact. Min Wenwei also read the Taoist Scriptures, and his sense of déjà vu was so strong that after repeated readings, he suspected that the author of the novel was a Taoist priest.

Moreover, he was a Taoist priest who preached the unity of the three religions - Quanzhen Sect had not yet been established at this time.

Calling the students who had peeked at the novel, Min Wenwei patted the manuscript and asked, "Where did this book come from?"

One student said bravely: "It was written by Zhu Chenggong."

Min Wenwei was obviously stunned for a moment, then started to think about it and sneered: "It is unimaginable that a young man can understand the three classics. How can he have time to read the Taoist scriptures? It must have been written by his father, and he entrusted his son to preach the Taoism. "

Another student couldn't help but ask: "Chief Shan, isn't "Journey to the West" about Buddhism?"

"Buddha's Skin, Taoism, and Confucian Soul," Min Wenwei opened the manuscript he had taken notes on. "It is written clearly in it. The Bodhi Patriarch here, 'talked about Taoism for a while, talked about Zen for a while, and the three schools of thought cooperated this way'. There are also Here, "We also respect the monks, we also respect the Tao, and we also cultivate talents." Isn't it talking about the unity of the three religions? There are many such descriptions in the book. You have shallow knowledge and only know how to read stories, but you don't know what's going on inside. What do you get?"

The students couldn't answer, they just thought the novel seemed very profound.

Min Wenwei added: "You can't read this kind of novel, and you will definitely not understand it. When one day you succeed in your studies, become an official in the imperial examination, you can read it while studying. Go ahead and study hard from now on."

The students retreated in fear, and then asked around to find out who had copied the manuscript in private.

You copy a little, I copy a little, the students piece it together here and there, and only half of "Journey to the West" is pieced together.

Min Wenwei sighed alone: ​​"The Zhu family and his son are not ordinary people!"

He has read the couplet written by Zhu Ming and admires it greatly. He is letting the craftsmen carve it and hang it at the main entrance of the academy from now on.

As for Ju Ming's little-known father, he was not only a reclusive scholar, but also practiced Buddhism and Taoism. He was probably as good as Yi Chuan Weng (Shao Yong).

Min Wenwei is actually very tolerant towards academics, as long as he doesn't talk nonsense in front of his students. As long as it didn't affect students' studies, Taoism and Buddhism were none of his business. When his uncle was inscribing inscriptions and carving steles for Buddhist temples, he was still there helping to grind ink.

Calling his nephew over again, Min Wenwei asked, "What are Mr. Chen and Zhu Chenggong doing these days?"

Min Zishun replied: "I went in and out of the library in the morning and talked about knowledge in the afternoon. Mr. Chen's article has not been written yet. I wrote it several times and tore it up and discarded it. I said I was not very satisfied."

"After they write the article, come and tell me immediately!" Min Wenwei ordered.

Then, this guy started to revise the manuscript, and deleted the scene where the Jade Emperor was scared and ran away to make it more positive. Let's just say that Sun Wukong defeated Nantianmen and was unable to enter the Lingxiao Palace.

The plot modified by Ju Ming was changed by Min Wenwei... just to avoid violating the taboos of the Tian family.

After correcting the manuscript, Min Wenwei led his entourage down the mountain and went straight to the magistrate's mansion.

Last year Song Huizong ordered a nationwide search for precious Taoist scriptures.

Min Wenwei did not have precious Taoist scriptures, but he felt that "Journey to the West" could be a substitute. Officials will definitely like this book after reading this book, and they may even give him a small official position.

The Min family must have more officials. Now there are only a few Yin officers and tribute officers, not even a serious Jinshi officer.

He also dreams of becoming an official. As long as he becomes an official, he will instantly become free and unrestrained and no longer stick to any right or wrong path. He's been living in the academy for more than twenty years, and he's already had enough!