I

  Chapter 669 666 [Scholar Candidates]

  The ninth year of the beginning of the Republic of China, 4347 in the Chinese calendar, and 1650 in the Western calendar.

   Spring is cold.

  Hebei scholars Li Jixiu and Zhang Zhaoyong came to Nanjing just after the Lantern Festival, waiting for the first examination in early February.

  They were relatively late, and some scholars chose to spend the New Year in Nanjing directly for fear of missing the time.

  The lantern festival will last for ten days, and Li and Zhang still have the opportunity to watch the lanterns.

  Although many lanterns have been withdrawn, the remaining ones still make them excited.

Zhang Zhaoyong said with tears in his eyes: "When I was young, I used to watch the lanterns with my father and brother in Beijing, and I still remember the magnificent scene. Now that the north is withered, the prosperity is long gone. When we see the lantern festival again at this time, it is true that people are not everything. stop."

   "Oh, don't talk about this again." Li Jixiu also thought of the old days.

  Li Jixiu's family is considered a big landlord, with more than 3,000 mu of land. Not to mention the crowds of servants, at least they were huddled together, but now there is nothing. The tens of acres of land in the family was allocated by the local government when they fled and returned to their hometown, and they had to cultivate it by themselves for basic food.

  Zhang Zhaoyong squeezed out a smile: "However, Tianjin is still recovering very quickly. The population inside and outside the city has increased day by day in recent years, thanks to His Majesty's organization of immigration."

"Who says it's not?" Li Jixiu said, "Pingle Town, where Brother Yu lives, had a population of less than a thousand at the beginning, but last year there were two or three thousand people. Some came from the mountains, and the rest were immigrants from the south. My youngest brother, last year I've also made a marriage, a girl from the south. Although it's just an ordinary farmer, I've also attended elementary school for three years, and I'm sure I'll be able to educate my children well in the future."

  While talking, a group of young people came with their shoulders crossed, and they were still drunk and singing.

  Zhang Zhaoyong said: "Brother, look at the jade pendants around their waists, they are all students of Jinling University."

   "These young people had a good time and a good future." Li Jixiu couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

  The jade pendant on the waist of a university scholar is similar to the role of a school badge.

   Moreover, it is not any serious and beautiful jade, but all medicine jade, that is, stained glass. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was very valuable, and it was found on officials' court clothes. In the middle of Ming Dynasty, it was not very valuable, and officials secretly replaced it with real jade.

   Now even less valuable, basically a by-product of making clear glass.

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "This Jinling University is similar to the Guozijian in the former Ming Dynasty. I heard that the students are very strict in normal times. These students go through the market drunk, and they probably have not started classes after the next year. They go back to school early to play around. Alas, all southern provinces If there is a university, when will I be able to have it in Hebei?"

  Li Jixiu said with a smile: "At least there must be a middle school, otherwise how will the universities in Hebei enroll students? I guess it is because of this that His Majesty reopened the imperial examination to give northern scholars a way and prevent southerners from monopolizing the imperial court."

   "That's how it is, Your Majesty is wise." Zhang Zhaoyong also laughed.

  The next day, the two went to the bookstore together.

   But I saw a group of college students who hadn't started classes yet, and many scholars rushing to take the exam, arguing fiercely around the bookshelves.

  A new book just arrived, the name is "Oracle Bone Research and Debate".

  Maybe it is too rare, fearing that the sales volume will not be good, and the number of publications is not large. This bookstore only buys three books.

  Scholars have been staring at new books for a long time, and they will open them even if they are out of the way, and then cause a sensation.

The preface of this book is written by the emperor himself, and there are roughly three points of content: first, the origin of oracle bones is revealed by farmers in Henan, and local officials presented them to the emperor; , if it causes controversy, all sectors of society should not blindly criticize it; third, the formation of Chinese characters may not be the work of one person, and Cangjie may be a specific official position in ancient times.

  The first ten or so pages are all oracle bone rubbings, which were printed by craftsmen engraving. Although not every piece of these selected oracle bones could be fully recognized, at least 60% of the characters were recognized.

  Next, it is the oracle bone inscription identification method summarized by Cangjieguan, and then it is paired with specific examples of oracle bone inscriptions, and is accompanied by the corresponding Zhongdingwen, Xiaozhuan, Lishu and regular script. From ancient times to the present, the development of a character is clearly placed in front of readers.

   "Haha, look at the word 'elephant', the oracle bone inscription is really an elephant, even the trunk and tail are clearly drawn."

   "Have you ever seen an elephant?"

   "Why haven't I seen it? I have it in my hometown, and I'm from Yunnan!"

   "Elephants really have such long trunks?"

"The nose is very long. If you have seen an elephant with your own eyes, you will know that it is exactly the same as this oracle bone inscription. After studying it in the Cangjie Museum, everything is clear. Today's 'elephant', the top two strokes are the nose of an elephant. Derived. The horizontal character "日" in the middle is actually the head of an elephant. The long hook below is the body and the last leg of the elephant. The three strokes on the left are the first three legs of the elephant. The one on the right The strokes are the elephant's tail."

   "Really, it's very clear, that's how the character 'Xiang' came from."

   "Come on, let me take a look, don't block me!"

   "..."

  The shopkeeper of the bookstore saw that there were more and more people accumulating, and couldn't help saying: "Can you buy it? It's delaying my business."

   "Buy, how much?" A scholar who is not short of money asked.

  The shopkeeper of the bookstore said: "Thirty yuan!"

  A book is thirty taels of silver, which is definitely considered expensive. Ordinary books only sell for a few hundred coins, or even dozens of coins.

  But this "Oracle Bone Research" is a thick tome, and all the pictures have to be engraved and printed, and the pages with rich pictures and texts have to be overprinted. In addition, the circulation is relatively small, calculating the cost, the price of thirty taels of silver is not deceptive.

  After a scholar bought a book, he immediately took it outside the store to browse, and his friends followed suit, and the bookstore suddenly became much brighter.

   "I'll buy one too." Another scholar paid for it.

  The bookstore only bought three copies, and sold two copies at once. The shopkeeper was so happy that he stroked his beard.

  It’s a pity that the last book, but no one pays for it. After all, thirty taels is a huge sum of money, and you can buy more than two thousand catties of white rice.

  Li Jixiu and Zhang Zhaoyong had the opportunity to squeeze past at this time, watching the content of the book with other poor scholars.

  Squatting for most of the day, they were hungry, so they reluctantly went out to eat.

   Sucking noodles at a roadside stall, Li Jixiu repeatedly sighed: "I used to only know how to study "Shuowen Jiezi" hard, but today I finally suddenly became enlightened. You must know oracle bones before you can explore writing. The Imperial Academy has done a great job!"

  Zhang Zhaoyong said regretfully: "It's a pity that the money is too shy, otherwise, if you buy a copy and take it home, it will be a family heirloom. Even if you fail the ranking, it will be worth the trip."

  Zhang Zhaoyong’s family is only doing some small business, so he must be richer than Li Jixiu, but he can’t easily spend thirty taels.

  Li Jixiu said: "Why don't you buy some paper and copy it in the bookstore?"

   "I'm afraid the store won't allow it," Zhang Zhaoyong said, "There are too many people with mixed hands, and there is still ink. If you don't pay attention, the book will be dirty."

  Li Jixiu was a little disappointed, and swore: "When I save money in the future, I will definitely buy a copy of "Oracle Bone Research" and take it home. The future generations of the Li family will all understand the mystery of the evolution of characters!"

   After another two days, you can draw lots to choose the test seat number with the test admission ticket.

The two went to the Ministry of Rites to report. In addition to drawing seat numbers, the government also issued them a badge: "With this badge, you can go to the library of the Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy to read books. Remember, the badge with a single number , can only be used on a single day, double-number waist badges can be used on both days, subject to the Datong New Calendar. Books are not allowed to be borrowed, only read in the library. The waist badge is valid for one month until the end of the examination The waist card must be returned, and if it is lost, it must be reported, otherwise you will not be able to become an official in the future, and you will be disqualified if you are admitted to the number one scholar."

   Is there such a good thing?

  Li Jixiu said happily: "The new dynasty has a new atmosphere, Your Majesty still treats scholars well."

"Yes," Zhang Zhaoyong said excitedly, "I heard that many of the books in the Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy are from the royal collections of the previous dynasty. They were left in the previous dynasty, and they had to be court officials to see them. How could we let those who take the exam Borrow?"

   The two of them took their badges and went straight to the Hanlin Academy, only to find that the library here was already packed.

   In desperation, I went to Qintianyuan, where there were finally fewer scholars.

  Li Jixiu picked up an issue of "Qintian Academic Journal" issued internally. He had already taught himself mathematics and physics, and he could barely reach the level of graduating from middle school. But when he opened this academic journal, it seemed like he was reading from heaven. He didn't know many symbols, and it was the first time he heard of various terms.

   Coming to Zhang Zhaoyong, Li Jixiu said in a low voice: "Brother, reading this book, Brother Yu feels like a fool. What are the scholars of Qintian Academy in the current dynasty studying?"

   "Who knows?" Zhang Zhaoyong was flipping through a copy of "Pictures of the Four Seas", reading it with great interest.

  The author of "Illustrations of the Four Seas" is Julian Ai, a European missionary. This book was only published last year.

After reading a chapter, Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "In the far east, there is a continent called America. The land is all foreign aborigines, and there are also civilizations. There are Mayan people and Inca people, as if I am an ancient Chinese. Most It is strange that a few hundred Spaniards can destroy a country and turn its citizens into slaves."

   "In this way, Spain is also a bandit." Li Jixiu said.

  Zhang Zhaoyong continued to look down, and soon exclaimed: "The emperor of India at this time is actually a descendant of the Mongols."

  India is Tianzhu, and Tianzhu is India, the transliteration is just different.

  Li Jixiu said: "Genghis Khan swept the world, and the Mongols are naturally everywhere."

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "Today's Mughal Kingdom in India and the Yeerqiang Kingdom in the Western Regions, the founding monarchs are a pair of cousins. They were defeated by the Uzbek Khanate, and the cousin took a thousand remnants of soldiers and went south to establish the Indian Mughals. country, my cousin led a thousand remnants of soldiers and ran eastward to establish the Yeerqiang Kingdom in the Western Regions."

  Li Jixiu was surprised: "Is Tianzhu so weak? Can a thousand remnant soldiers establish a country there?"

  Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "If my Datong Heavenly Soldiers go to India, I'm afraid I can establish another country outside the region."

  These two traditional scholars read books continuously for half a month in the library of Qintianyuan, their eyes were completely opened, and their worldview was almost reshaped.

  (end of this chapter)