I

  Chapter 46 045 [Ancient Prose Viewpoint]

   Zhao Han roughly knew the development of literature in the Ming Dynasty, because the teacher of the professional course had roughly talked about it.

  During nearly three hundred years, Ming Dynasty experienced three literature revival movements.

  At this moment, the second retro movement has long since ended, and the third retro movement is still in its infancy.

   Between the two restorations is the rise and fall of Romantic literature.

  During the Wanli period, the government was corrupt and there were many social contradictions. The publication of "Burning Books" (Li Zhi), which contained a large number of heretical thoughts, laid the cornerstone of the Romantic literary trend of thought.

   Immediately afterwards, Yuan Hengkong, the third public security officer, was born, and popular literature blossomed, opening the most exciting chapter of Ming Dynasty literature.

  There were three kinds of popular literature at that time: Public Security literature, **** novels, and satirical literature.

  A large number of small Huangwen in the Ming Dynasty were mostly produced during this period.

   Two of the police officers and Yuan died, and Yuan Zhongdao, the only one left, suddenly denied and corrected himself. He abandoned retroism and returned to the road (true feelings and authenticity), and seriously fell into retroism (magnificent hypocrisy), and the romantic literary trend of thought came to an abrupt end.

   Thus, the Jingling School was born.

   While absorbing the spiritualism of the Gongan School, the Jingling School emphasizes the style of classical poetry.

  It is difficult to reconcile the two, which led to the poems in the late Ming Dynasty full of ghosts and ghosts, striving for obscurity and treachery, strange characters and dangerous rhymes, which has completely entered the evil way.

  The same is true for articles. Scholars like to study ancient Qin and Han prose, but do not absorb the essence of ancient Qin and Han prose. Instead, he is keen on obscure and treacherous, and especially likes to use uncommon words.

  In the early years of Chongzhen, there was a lack of success, and it belonged to the era when the cultural atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty was the most withered!

  …

  The boat docked at Shitang Town, and Fei Yinghuan was holding the "Current Banknotes of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties" in his hand. He had lost interest in visiting friends and just wanted to stay on the boat and continue reading the article.

   "Master, we're here." Wei Jianxiong reminded.

  Fei Yinghuan had no choice but to walk away with the book in his hand, lingering in the aftertaste of the true interest of the ancient prose, his mind full of "hearing the Tao in the morning, and dying in the evening is enough".

  Zhao Han followed behind, looking at the busy pier, dumbfounded at the moment, thinking: How many super towns are there in Qianshan County?

  Shitang Town, the largest papermaking center in the country in the Ming Dynasty!

  In this town alone, more than 10 million pieces of paper are produced every year, of which more than 300,000 pieces of memorial paper are tributes, specially used as memorial paper for imperial officials.

  There are tens of thousands of paper workers in the town, while the entire Qianshan County has a registered population of just over 10,000 at this time.

   Arriving at the luxurious mansion outside the town, after handing over the name card, Menzi immediately took them to the living room.

   "Brother Dazhao, which gust of wind brought you here?" Fei Zhaojia walked out of the courtyard to greet him.

  Fei Yinghuan said: "Gunzi Tongshi, come to your place by the way."

  Fei Zhaojia is Fei Yinghuan's clan brother, not from Henglin main clan, and the characters of the two clans are not compatible.

  Shitang Fei's is also very powerful, mainly engaged in papermaking business. Fei Zhaojia's family has raised thousands of papermakers.

   After a few pleasantries, Fei Yinghuan couldn't wait to say: "My dear brother, read this book."

  Fei Zhaojia is also quite talented, but unfortunately he is only a scholar. He glanced at the cover, then shook his head and said, "I've read this book, and it's not very helpful for imperial examination articles."

  Fei Yinghuan thought for a while, nodded and said, "Indeed."

  The imperial examination developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty, and every sentence in the Four Books and Five Classics was tested many times, and it was impossible to write new tricks.

   Then you can only ask for strange things blindly, the more strange you are, the more you will attract the examiners.

  If you can use uncommon characters, you should resolutely not write commonly used characters.

   There are many ways to write a word, so choose the complicated one to write.

  The eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties are all sincere and honest, and their words and sentences are relatively straightforward. This style of writing is difficult to imitate. Without a solid foundation and rich experience, it is easy to write mediocre and superficial.

  Imperial examination articles are most afraid of mediocrity. At the end of Ming Dynasty, scholars simply did not read the Eight Great Masters.

   To be precise, the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties were eliminated by the imperial examination...

  Suddenly, Fei Yinghuan shook his head again and said, "This is the case in the rural examination, but not in the general examination."

   "Perhaps," Fei Zhaojia smiled wryly, "I haven't even passed the provincial examination, so I dare not imitate the Eight Great Masters."

  The full set of imperial examination procedures, the rural examination can be called the most difficult, especially in Zhejiang and Jiangxi!

  Scholars from Zhejiang and Jiangxi, if they don’t have outstanding talents, take the provincial examination with the writing style of the Eight Great Masters, they will undoubtedly seek their own death.

  The National Examination is different. You don’t need to deliberately seek strangeness and innovation. It is a good article if you can explain the truth clearly.

  Fei Yinghuan stood with his hands behind his back: "I will be a latent cultivator of the Eight Great Masters, and I will go to the capital to take the exam in two years' time!"

   "I wish you a title on the Gold List." Fei Zhaojia cupped his hands and said with a smile.

  …

   But it was already afternoon when Xu Ying walked out of the examination room.

  Feng Zhixian was not there at the time, and the master favored Xu Ying, but he couldn't make the decision on the admission, and only said that he would definitely help recommend it.

   You should have passed the exam. The county exam is not difficult, and it is useless to be admitted. What is really difficult is the government exam and the road exam (that is, the hospital exam).

  You can be a child student if you pass the government test.

  Passing the Taoist Examination can be a scholar.

  Xu Ying couldn't find her little friend outside the examination room, so she walked home along the Qianshan River, and it was estimated that she would not arrive until midnight.

  While walking, recalling the article, Xu Ying became more and more excited as she thought about it.

  His "Zi Yue" breaks the title: the words of the sages can be enlightened for thousands of years, and a gentleman can govern the country and the world by self-cultivation.

  Master looked at it, and happily asked: "How long has it been since enlightenment?"

  Xu Ying answered honestly: "My boy is poor, and he was enlightened late, only two years ago, and "Mencius" has not yet been finished. Fortunately, today's two questions are from "The Analects of Confucius."

   "You can write such articles after only two years of literacy?" The master became more and more surprised.

  Xu Ying was both proud and shy, and replied: "My mother knows some characters. Before I was enlightened, I could already write more than 200 characters."

  Seeing that Xu Ying was dressed poorly, the master couldn't help but think of his own childhood. He praised and encouraged him: "Be good at studying, and don't disappoint the expectations of the court. With your intelligence, you will be able to ascend to the court and pay homage to the minister in the future."

   "Sir, you are absurd." Xu Ying felt as if she had eaten honey.

  The master watched Xu Ying leave the examination room, and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, the imperial examination is not just about talent. He was also known as a child prodigy back then, but he was still a scholar after half his life. Instead, a fool like Feng Xun became the county magistrate.

  Walking happily along the river, Xu Ying dreamed of being named on the gold list, and then building a big house for her parents to enjoy.

  Walking along, Xu Ying became worried again, looking thoughtfully at the seedlings along the way.

  From the beginning of spring to the present, there has been no serious rain, and today's exam only drifted a little, and even the clothes could not be completely wet.

  Fortunately, there is heavy snow in winter, and the melted snow can replenish water, otherwise the seedlings this spring will not be able to bear it at all.

  I hope there will be a few spring rains. If there is another month of drought, the family may not be able to pay the rent again this year.

  Poverty children always think more, unlike Fei Ruhe who only knows how to play around.

  …

   After staying at Fei's house in Shitang for two days, Fei Yinghuan finally returned home by boat.

  Zhao Han pointed to the countless paper mills at the foot of the mountain, and asked, "My lord, is our paper mill that big?"

   "You're still called son, not daddy?" Fei Yinghuan asked with a smile.

  Zhao Han said: "Respect is in the heart, not in the mouth."

"Tricky," Fei Yinghuan said with a smile, "Our paper mill is not as prosperous as Shitang's. There are only two to three hundred workers in total, unlike Shitang's paper mill, which has hundreds or thousands of workers at every turn." People? And the quality of the paper is not good enough to make a tribute paper, and I have sent people to steal my teacher several times without learning it."

  The workers in the paper mill are all hired workers, also known as hired slaves.

   Moreover, Shitang Zuoben paper has a complicated process. From material collection to paper sale, the production period is as long as one year. It is not easy to recruit people and steal teachers.

   "Daddy, here comes the wine." Jiu Po ​​came over with a jug in his arms.

  Fei Yinghuan took the jug and blew to his mouth, took a sip and said, "Your father was really a juren in his lifetime?"

  Zhao Han replied: "It is absolutely true."

   "Isn't it from a rich family?" Fei Yinghuan asked suspiciously.

   "It's just an ordinary Confucian household." Zhao Han said.

  Fei Yinghuan became more and more confused: "In addition to the Eight Great Masters and Fan Wenzheng, who else have you studied?"

  Zhao Han said ambiguously: "I have learned a lot, but I can't remember clearly, and I can't recite it."

   "Bring paper and pen!" Fei Yinghuan shouted suddenly.

  Qin Xin and Jian Dan immediately came over with the Four Treasures of the Study.

  Fei Yinghuan said: "Which good articles have you read, and write an entry."

  Zhao Han thought carefully for a moment, and was too lazy to think about it any more, so he simply wrote down the table of contents of "Guwen Guanzhi" from memory.

   I must have forgotten some articles, but I should still remember half of them. After all, it was just writing the title, and it was not for him to write the full text silently.

  Fei Yinghuan was lying on the side watching. At the beginning, they were all pre-Qin articles, and he had read most of them—it was so weird and abnormal. Fei Yinghuan didn’t read the prose of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties, but he was very familiar with the ancient prose of Pre-Qin.

  Writing and writing, Fei Yinghuan suddenly said: "I don't even use the ancient Chinese and Han prose, I have studied it seriously, and you start writing from the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties."

  Zhao Han immediately changed the line, and Fei Yinghuan was looking forward to it.

   "Chen Qing Biao", I have read it.

   "Lanting Collection Preface", read.

   "Gui Qu Lai Ci", I have read it.

  Writing all the way to "Beishan Yiwen", after more than ten articles, Fei Yinghuan found that he only knew one or two.

  Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu", such a famous article, Fei Yinghuan has never heard of it!

  Du Mu is not from the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

   Most of the revivalists despise the late Tang Dynasty (except for the late Tang Dynasty school), not to mention the ancient prose of the late Tang Dynasty, even the poetry of the late Tang Dynasty is rarely read.

  Zhao Han just wrote with a dull head, and he wrote hundreds of articles in a blink of an eye. He forgot most of the content, but he remembered a lot of the title of the article, so he threw it to Fei Yinghuan to read slowly.

  Fei Yinghuan's expression became more and more horrified, and he turned his gaze from the paper to Zhao Han, as if observing a monster.

  How could it be possible for a child who has read so many articles to be from an ordinary Confucian household?

  In the Ming Dynasty, there was no "Guwen Guanzhi".

  Fei Ruhe, Fei Chun, Qin Xin, Jian Dan, and Jiu Po ​​are all dumbfounded standing by at the moment. They...haven't read almost a single article.

  Brother is awesome!

  (end of this chapter)