Zhou Zhong has some misunderstanding of the ancient prospecting techniques, he thought that the ancients were almost ignorant of geology, and prospecting all relied on luck, in fact, this idea is wrong, because far away in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the book "Pipe" introduced some basic methods of prospecting, and later "Naturalist", "Geoscopic Map" and other books have a special introduction to prospecting, and most of the statements are in line with scientific principles, which can be said to be a major contribution of the ancients to geology.

It is also the understanding of geology by the ancient Chinese, so although there are not many talents in prospecting in the Ming Dynasty, it is not nothing, for example, Wang Shouren knows a scholar who has expertise in prospecting, and he immediately introduced this person to Zhou Chong after hearing Zhou Chong's concerns about prospecting.

On the official road from Songjiang Mansion to Jiangyin County, Nanjing, Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren sat in a wide carriage, the two chatted while walking, but the content of the chat was about a person, that is, the prospector recommended by Wang Shouren before, this person's surname is Xu Mingna, the word Nanshan, he lives in Jiangyin County, Nanjing, usually in addition to studying behind closed doors and teaching a few disciples, the rest of the time is almost all over the Ming Dynasty. It was intended that this man should serve as a prospecting officer sent by the Governor's Office to the South Seas.

Originally, according to Wang Shouren's meaning, if he wanted to invite Xu Na out of the mountain, he only needed to go to Nanjing by himself, after all, although Xu Na was proficient in geography and prospecting, but the road to scientific research was not smooth, and now he was just a showman, and although their Xu family was a Mingmen family in Jiangyin, Xu Na was a concubine, so he was not famous in the family and the countryside. When Wang Shouren traveled to Jiangyin. I got acquainted with Xu Na by chance. He was very interested in his knowledge of geography and prospecting, and the two talked for a few days, which made Wang Shouren also very fruitful, and the two often exchanged letters in recent years.

It can be said that in addition to being proficient in geography and prospecting, Xu Na is just a side branch of a big family that is not valued, and he is only a talent in the middle age, which is nothing at all, so as long as Wang Shouren personally invites the other party to go out of the mountain to serve in the governor's palace. Xu Na would definitely be very willing, after all, it was much better than struggling with the imperial examination.

It is precisely because of this that there is no need for Zhou Chong to invite Xu Na in person, but after Zhou Chong heard Wang Shouren's introduction to the Xu Na family, he suddenly became interested, and decided to invite Xu Na with Wang Shouren, anyway, Jiangyin is not far from Songjiang, and it is now in March, which is a good time to travel.

Speaking of Jiangyin Xu, it is a well-known family in Nanjing. There is a library building in the family called "Ten Thousand Volumes Building", and the collection of books in the building is innumerable. And the Xu family is bold, very generous to the readers in the countryside, those who are poor can go to the Wanjuan Building to borrow, which is very rare for the readers of the Ming Dynasty, after all, the books of this era are valuables, and ordinary people are not willing to borrow at all.

In addition, the Xu family has produced several very famous scholars, such as the deceased Xu Yi, Xu Yuanxian father and son, among which Xu Yi has been a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, and Li Dongyang has a good friendship, Xu Yuanxian is a famous prodigy in Nanjing, ten years old can write poems, twenty-six years old to participate in the township examination, on the third place in the examination, a time famous, but unfortunately Xu Yuan's life is short, died at the age of twenty-nine, leaving a son named Xu Jing, who is also very smart, and this Xu Jing is with Tang Bohu to participate in the imperial examination, As a result, because he was implicated in the fraud case in the scientific field, Xu Jing, who could no longer participate in the imperial examination for the rest of his life.

It is also worth mentioning that among the fifth grandsons of Xu Jing, there was an even more famous person, this person was Xu Xiake, a famous geographer in Chinese history. Zhou Chong learned from Wang Shouren that Xu Na was Xu Jing's brother, and immediately thought of Xu Xiake in his heart, out of admiration for the most famous geographer in Chinese history, so Zhou Chongcai decided to come in person, after all, Xu Na is also the ancestor of Xu Xiake, and even the reason why Xu Xiake gave up his career in the future and chose to travel all over the great rivers and mountains of the Ming Dynasty may also be influenced by Xu Na.

"Brother Bo'an, I heard that Xu Jing has passed away, I don't know where he is buried?" Zhou Zhong on the carriage asked Wang Shouren that the fraud case in the scientific field that year was completely false, and even in the admission test papers that had been decided, there were no test papers of Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, that is to say, the two had actually fallen off the list, since they had fallen off the list, it was even more impossible to have a leak on the list, but unfortunately the other scholars who fell off the list were very fierce at that time, so Emperor Xiaozong had to play fifty boards each, Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were also sent to the county government as small officials, and they were never allowed to participate in the imperial examination, which caused the tragedy of the two.

However, now with the influence of Zhou Chong, Tang Bohu has come out of the fraud case in the field, not only regained his fame, but was also promoted by Zhou Chong to the prefect of Malacca, it can be said that he is deeply used by Zhou Chong, and there will definitely be a possibility of promotion in the future. But as the other protagonist of the fraud case, Xu Jing, he died as early as the second year of Zhengde, and he did not redress his grievances in his life, nor did he recover the damaged reputation of the Xu family, which can be said to be a downright tragic figure.

Xu Jing is a good friend of Tang Bohu, Wang Shouren is also familiar with Tang Bohu, they were all in the same year to participate in the examination, so Wang Shouren also knows Xu Jing, and now I hear Zhou Zhong ask about Xu Jing, I saw that he also sighed and said: "Yes, His Majesty has just ascended the throne, and Brother Zhifu wants to go to the capital to find out the news, but unfortunately he has been in poor health since the blow of the fraud case, and he died in Beijing at the last time, and later the Xu family transported his body to Jiangyin for burial, because Brother Zhifu felt that he had not been able to clear the stigma on his body, Ashamed of his ancestors, before he died, he asked his family not to bury his body in the ancestral grave of the Xu family, so the descendants of his brother buried his body on the sand mountain in Jiangyin. ”

Hearing that Xu Jing did not even enter the ancestral tomb after his death, this made Zhou Chong can't help but feel a little sad for Xu Jing's experience, Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were the most promising people in the southern scholars, but because of a little turmoil in the officialdom, but their fate was greatly reversed, although Tang Bohu in later generations was bleak at night, but at least left a reputation for poetry and painting, but no one cared about Xu Jing who also suffered, and even died in obscurity, if it weren't for a Xu Xiake among his descendants in later generations, I'm afraid it's impossible for Zhou Chong to know the name of the Xu Jing at all.

Maybe Xu Jing's experience was too heavy, so Zhou Chong and Wang Shouren didn't talk anymore, among which Wang Shouren looked out the window and pondered, while Zhou Chong was thinking about his experience in the past few years, and the atmosphere in the car was a little dull for a while.

The carriage traveled in a row, and soon entered Jiangyin County, and when the carriage passed a low dirt mountain, Wang Shouren, who had not spoken, suddenly pointed to the dirt mountain next to the road and said: "My lord, please see, this is the sand mountain where the straight husband brother is buried, and on the other side of the sand mountain, is the settlement of the Xu family, and the Xu family's Wanjuan Building is also there. ”

Hearing Wang Shouren's introduction, Zhou Chong also hurriedly asked the coachman to stop the car, and then said to Wang Shouren: "Brother Bo'an, since you and Xu Jing are old acquaintances, I am also very sympathetic to what happened to him, now that we are passing through Sand Mountain, why don't we go up the mountain to pay respects?" ”

"That's right!" Wang Shouren heard Zhou Chong propose to worship Xu Jing, and he also praised it at the moment, in fact, he wanted to propose to worship Xu Jing just now, but because Zhou Chong was his boss, and Zhou Chong did not know Xu Jing, so he was afraid that it would be a little reckless to bring it up, so he did not speak, and now since Zhou Chong took the initiative to bring it up, he was naturally very willing.

The surroundings of the sand mountain were very desolate, Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren got out of the car to take a look, and found that there was no place to buy and sell sacrifices, but they did not force it, and immediately took out a pot of wine from the carriage, which was originally intended for them to relieve fatigue on the road, and there were also a few fruits, and then the two went up the hill along the path of the sand mountain, and Zhou Zhong picked a bunch of wild flowers on the way. Speaking of which, Zhou Chong and Wang Shouren are both people who value the meaning and do not emphasize the form, as long as the intention is reached, the form of worship is secondary.

The sand mountain is not very high, and even if it is a mountain, it is a little lifted, and at best, the sand mountain is just a tall mound. Zhou Chong is young, Wang Shouren is both civil and military, and his body is better than Zhou Chong, the two let his subordinates wait at the bottom of the mountain, and then soon came to the top of the sand mountain, but in a clearing on the top of the mountain, they saw a small tomb, the construction of the tomb was very simple, and the tombstone in front of it only had a few "Xu Jing's Tomb" four big characters, and nothing else.

Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren put the fruits and wild flowers in their hands in front of Xu Jing's tomb, and then sprinkled the wine in the pot in front of the tomb, and a simple worship was completed, but Zhou Zhong and Wang Shouren's hearts were heavy.

"With the financial resources of the Xu family, the tomb of the straight husband and brother should not have been built so simply, but before he died, he insisted on asking his sons to bury him hastily, and he didn't even write an epitaph, he was deliberately punishing himself!" Wang Shouren looked at Xu Jing's tombstone for a long time, and suddenly sighed.

Zhou Zhong sighed again after listening to it, through Wang Shouren's introduction, as well as the properness of later generations, he can also experience the grief and humiliation of Xu Jing before his death, after all, years of hard work but was turned into a grievance, and even death failed to wash away the grievances on his body, and his reputation was not restored, which is simply the most cruel punishment in the world for a scholar like Xu Jing. (To be continued......)