Chapter Forty-Eight: The Old Yan Family
"It's just that in this way, the court will inevitably be criticized. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info "Lao Xu is an old oilman who has been in officialdom for a long time, so he is naturally farther than the two of them think.
Kong Yingda was silent, he also knew the consequences of doing so, not everything in the world can achieve the best of both worlds. I want the fish, and I want the bear's paw, and I can't have both, and there are gains and losses, which is a matter of weighing the gains and losses. But now I can't take care of it so much, and now that things have already started, I have to do it anyway.
"In fact, the gossip in the court is nothing more than those imperial historians, don't they just talk about it?" Wang Mai thought for a while and said.
"It's not easy to say, the imperial history is the typhoon, this is their duty, even the emperor has no right to interfere, our country is all powerless civil officials, these people are even more unscrupulous." Kong Yingda shook his head and denied it.
"We can tackle them." Wang Mai said. Aren't these imperial histories equivalent to the uncrowned kings of later generations? The nature of the two is the same, and it is absolutely impossible to offend anyone who controls public opinion. In later generations, those celebrities, enterprises, and even officials, for the sake of their own image, will tackle key problems with the media, and some regularly pay protection fees to these media, at least reporters come to interview, and a lot of money is indispensable.
"PR?"
"Yes, just do their work in advance." Wang Mai said excitedly, "And we still have an old friend in the Yushitai, have you forgotten?" ”
"Zheng Ting." The two looked at each other, "But how can Yushi be so easily swayed?" ”
"I remember that there were several imperial histories in that signature, which shows that they are still very supportive of this matter." Wang Mai recalled, "Before the debate began, we invited the officials of the Imperial Historical Observatory to come and see if there was anything wrong, so that there was room for discussion, and if it really didn't work, it could be corrected, in short, we would close their mouths in advance so that they would not be able to speak afterwards." ”
"That makes sense," both of them turned into laughter, "and you'll be responsible for this matter." ”
Wang Mai patted his chest: "Don't worry." "When the time comes, first ask Lao Zheng about the preferences of these imperial histories, and do what he likes, wouldn't he be able to capture it and not be defeated in a hundred battles.
After chatting for a while, the Yan family, who had been looking forward to it for a long time, finally arrived.
Several people hurriedly tidied up their appearance, which was more formal than seeing the emperor.
Wang Mai looked at the Yan family's carriage with interest, it was really retro enough, the carriage was not a closed carriage, but an oval cover, but this cover looked tattered, I really don't know if it can block the water when it rains. The one who sat in the car should be Yan Silu, and there were two horseback riders next to him, it should be his son, I heard that Yan Silu has three sons, I don't know how old these two are.
Yan Silu looked not young, to say the least, he was in his sixties, but after seeing Kong Yingda and the others, he got out of the car early, and bowed his head to come as a gift to the juniors.
Kong Yingda stretched out his hands and strode forward to help him up.
"When the Yan family saw the Kong family, they all treated each other as disciples, and Yan Silu was the thirty-fifth grandson of Yan Zi, and Kong Xijiu was the thirty-first grandson of the saint." Xu Wenyuan explained in a low voice on the side.
It turned out that this was the case, no wonder this Yan Shilu was in his sixties and would salute Kong Yingda, who was more than ten years younger than him. These two are really a thousand-year-old inheritance, and the relationship between people can be traced back hundreds of years, which is really embarrassing.
It is said that the reason why Confucius liked Yan Hui the most was his happiness in poverty, and Zi said: "A spoonful of food, a scoop of drink, in the alleys, people are unbearable, and they will not change their pleasures." Virtuous and virtuous!" Confucius said that Yan Hui was a person with a simple amount of food, a scoop of water, and lived in a bad alley, and people thought that he must have been sad all day long, but Yan Hui enjoyed it.
The Yan family adheres to the life style of their ancestor Yan Hui, and is particularly frugal. Although the linen clothes on his body were not patched like those of peasants, some threads were exposed at the corners and corners, and they looked very old at a glance.
Lao Xu said before that the Yan family can be said to be full of talents, starting from Yan Hui and continuing to the famous Confucian Yan Zhitui of Yan Silu's father, they are all scholars. Today's Yan Silu father and son are all great Confucians who are proficient in the study of exegesis, what is the study of exegesis? To put it bluntly, it is translation, not a translation of a foreign language, but a translation of ancient texts and ancient rhythms.
This knowledge covers a wide range of subjects, and the ancient materials that need to be studied are simply massive, and the Yan family is very harsh, and there can be no mistake in a word.
Translation has been the case throughout the ages, whether it is translating ancient Chinese into modern Chinese, or translating foreign languages into Chinese characters, it is not simply a literal translation and it is done, this is just the lowest level of work. Literary works, in particular, must retain the beauty of their words, and many of the later translators known to Wang Mai were themselves well-known scholars. But this job, with high investment and low income, low reward and high risk, is often accompanied by greatness but basically no reputation. The masters who are really engaged in this profession have an admirable personality.
After everyone saw the ceremony, they introduced each other again, Kong Yingda invited the three of them to rest under the willow, and Liu Da, Liang San and others served watermelon juice that was cool and relieved of the heat.
Yan's father and son looked at the "hot" chilled watermelon juice in front of them, and were a little stunned for a while.
"Three masters, please drink with confidence, this is not a hot soup, it is an ice drink." Wang Mai opened his mouth to explain. In fact, Yan Silu's two sons, Yan Xiangshi and Yan Qinli, are not very old, and the second son Yan Xiangshi looks to be in his thirties, less than forty; The third son, Yan Qinli, is at most thirty years old. The reason why he is called his master is to show respect for him, and second, he does not know how to call others.
Their family is the same as the old Kong family, so old-fashioned, and there is no official position, and it seems that the popular Erlang Saburo is not respectful enough, and it is straightforward to his name, and the relationship is not familiar enough. Anyway, as the saying goes, it's not strange to have many people, just call the teacher directly. When I meet someone I don't know in later generations, I will generally call him a teacher or a master.
"Thank you Assistant Teacher Wang," the father and son thanked Wang Mai in a uniform manner, "It turns out that this is not heat, but cold, and I have been taught." ”
"Don't dare, don't dare." Wang Mai hurriedly got up and returned the salute, it was trouble in ancient times, but in front of the descendants of Yan Zi with noble character, he didn't dare to be rude.
After the three of them drank the chilled juice, they all praised each other. Liang San next to him hurriedly added it, but Yan Silu refused: "In the hot summer, it is already a good thing in life to be able to taste such a delicious fruit brew, this thing is so valuable, one bowl is enough." ”
Kong Yingda smiled: "Okay, although this chilled cold melon stuffing is rare, it is not a precious thing." The ice is not stored in an ice cellar, but has just been made today. ”
"Summer ice making?" The three fathers and sons of the Yan family were all confused.
"Not bad!" Wang Mai stood up and motioned for Liang San to bring over the ice-making tools, "Three of you, please see, there is half a bucket of miscanthus here, after pouring water, when the two meet, they will absorb the heat and make the temperature around them drop, and then place a copper basin containing water on it, and you will get ice." ”
The three of them watched the water in the copper basin slowly condense into ice, and they were all dumbfounded, and it took a long time before they finally came back to their senses. The three of them gave another salute: "There must be my teacher in the threesome, thank you for the teaching." ”
Wang Mai bowed again. In order to change the minds of the people in the country, it took a lot of careful thought, and almost thought about all the small experiments in their minds, and this miscanthus salt ice is one of them. Saltpeter ore is widely distributed in the country, but the pharmacy is only used as an ordinary medicinal material, Wang Mai bought a few big cars to go home, with this method of making ice, this summer is finally better.
Sitting together, the two family backgrounds naturally inevitably chatted about some short words of the parents, Wang Mai listened quietly beside him, but he had a general understanding of the situation of the two families. Kong Yingda's two sons are now farming in their hometown Jizhou, Lao Kong said simply, how can a son of his status really go to the field to do farm work, and he is not a landlord.
The old Yan family has always served as a civil servant, Yan Silu's father Yan Zhitui was the Huangmen squire of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and he was the emperor's secretary, Yan Silu also served in the secretary province in the Sui Dynasty, and now Yan Shigu, the eldest of the three brothers of the Yan family, is Li Yuan's living room, and is equivalent to a senior secretary, this family is simply a family of secretaries.
In the feudal dynasty, the Confucian family and the Yan family have always been in a transcendent position because of the budding shadow of their ancestors, in a sense, these two families represent the faith of scholars, but it is precisely because of this transcendent status that it is difficult to obtain higher real power. There have been many instances in history where power and faith have been combined, such as the pope of the Middle Ages, the rising Arab empire under the Prophet Muhammad, and the later Red Empire.
The Confucian theoretical academic system is now a typical subjective idealism, if these two schools can be convinced, or not, at least they do not oppose it, they can basically control the wind direction within a controllable range, so Wang Mai has been thinking about how to make them accept the newborn of science.
Lao Kong is still relatively easy to speak, although this guy has always had a cold face and a look of not pretending to himself, but many times, this kind of cold-faced and hot-hearted person is more innovative and hopes to make a career.
The old Yan family is different, this family still retains a lot of ancient style, and the good thing is not to forget the ancestral family law, and if it is not good, it is a little conformist. In particular, Yan Zhitui came up with a set of "Yan's Family Motto", which shows how serious this is a family with parents. It's not that "Yan's Family Motto" is bad, but Wang Mai feels that the scientific spirit mainly lies in doubt, and doubt is a kind of courage, without which great causes cannot be achieved. Only when there is doubt can there be bold assumptions, and it is carefully verified, authority is the natural enemy of doubt, the opposite of logic.
To treat the Yan family, we must carefully consider how to get along.