Seeing Sun Yuanqi asking, Wang Guowei was also a little surprised, thinking that he had said something wrong, and carefully worded: "I said, not long ago, I saw the Tang manuscript "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" in Liulichang, which is very exquisite, but the price is 120 taels of silver. Because the book was not urgently needed by the school, I didn't buy it. What's wrong? ”

Seeing that Wang Guowei and everyone were looking at him, Sun Yuanqi realized that he was a little out of shape, and hurriedly covered it up: "Hehe, I'm sorry I heard Jing'an say the name 'Lao Tzuhua Hu Jing' just now, and I thought it was strange, so I was a little surprised." ”

Wang Guowei didn't think there was it, and he enthusiastically explained at the moment: "Principal Baixi doesn't know about this book, and it's reasonable. As early as the time of Emperor Hui of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Heavenly Master Taoist Sacrifice Wine King Fu in order to argue with Shamen Boyuan, so he forged a volume of "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing", telling that Lao Tzu rode a green ox out of Guguan after the letter, passed the quicksand, entered Tianzhu, changed into the Buddha, and taught the Hu people to Buddhism. Later, it was successively expanded and adapted into ten volumes, which became the main basis for Taoists to attack Buddhism, hoping to improve the status of Taoism and surpass Buddhism.

Because the book caused a fierce conflict between Taoism and Buddhism, in the Tang Dynasty, two emperors, Gaozong and Zhongzong, ordered the destruction of this scripture. In the twenty-second year of Yuan Shizu, he ordered the forged scriptures in the "Daozang" to be burned, the first of which was the "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing". Since then, this scripture has been lost, and it has not even been collected in the "Orthodox Daozang" compiled in the Ming Dynasty.

"Don't talk about Principal Baixi, even ordinary readers don't know that there is this book. The scholars of the Liuli Factory, all of whom are experts in bibliography, naturally know that this Tang manuscript is the only one left, so they ask for a price. ”

Sun Yuanqi seemed to be listening to the lecture, but in fact, he was thinking in his heart: I don't know how much of the Dunhuang testament has escaped now, since even Beijing has it, it is not complete to think about it. In this case, there will be more than one or two people who have the wrong idea, and I am afraid that there are indispensable foreigners who are clever and robbers and two devils who play for the tiger. It seems that he can't wait any longer, even if he postpones going to the United States this year, he will go to Dunhuang for a while, and he will meet the sweeping Wang Taoist

It's just that how to get to the remote and desolate northwest needs to be carefully considered. After all, this is different from the oracle bone, a few pennies a pound, digging underground, people don't care, just find a few simple old farmers can get it. Now many people know that this Dunhuang suicide note is good, if you go blatantly, those Shangguan eyes are red, and the goose is still light, and you have to swallow the belt meat

Sun Yuanqi was thinking nonsense here, but Zhang Yuanji patted the table lightly: "When it comes to buying books, I have a clue"

Hearing the sound of the case, Sun Yuanqi came back to his senses and said, "Mr. Jusheng, please speak."

Zhang Yuanji continued: "In the autumn and winter of last year, Mr. Cai Heqin wrote to him that the collection of Xu's Rongjing Casting Shizhai in Shaoxing was to be sold, and asked if our school had any intention of buying it. Because there were more than 50 cabinets of books in that batch, and the school was not well funded at that time, I politely declined. It's only been a few months, and the books are worth a lot of money, and they haven't been sold yet. If we want to buy books, why don't we ask Cai Heqin to see if we can talk? After all, a family's book collection will be more systematic. ”

Luo Zhenyu on the side interjected at this time: "In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, I and the Shaoxing Xu brothers and others founded the Agricultural Association and the Journal of Agriculture in Shanghai, and purchased land in Kunshan to reclaim land and set up a planting test field. The Xu brothers are wealthy, bookish and studious, and their book collection is the best in eastern Zhejiang.

"Especially my brother Xu Shulan, who is very open-minded. All ancient books are not treasured and kept secret like others, but are allowed to be borrowed by others. Heqin has been in the Xujia school magazine for many years, so he has been studying and improving, and he has finally won the title of the gold list.

A few years ago, he donated more than 30,000 taels of silver alone and founded the Guyue Library in the Gugong Institute of Shaoxing Fucheng for free reading by readers in his hometown. It's a pity that this move also exhausted their family funds, and Xu Shulan died of illness the year before last, which led to the family's poverty, and now they can only rely on selling books to subsidize their families."

Speaking of this, Luo Zhenyu looked sentimental.

Sun Yuanqi was also a little touched, so he said to Zhang Yuanji and Wang Guowei: "You can discuss, if it is suitable, even if the price is a little more expensive, buy them."

After thinking about it, he added: "Since Xianfeng, there has been an invasion of foreign powers outside, and there have been disasters such as hair, twisting, and returning inside, and many long-cherished books have been burned and scattered. If you don't pay attention to preservation now, you will regret it in the future. If there is any good collection of books to sell in the future, we will use the school's deposit to buy it, after all, it is a precious legacy left by our ancestors."

Yan Fu said: "To be serious, the books damaged by the civil strife are more than those snatched by foreigners, after all, foreigners still know how to save them when they rob them, and we still know how to cherish those who have not robbed them; If you trample your own things, no one will feel sorry. If nothing else, let's take the four libraries and seven pavilions in the Qianlong period: in the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French forces invaded and wantonly burned the Old Summer Palace, and Wenyuan Pavilion's "Four Libraries Quanshu" was reduced to ashes. When the bandits troubled Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Wenzong Pavilion, Wenhui Pavilion and their storage of the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" were burned; A large number of Wenlan Pavilion's "Siku Quanshu" were scattered, and the Ding Shen and Ding Bing brothers collected the remnants, and only a quarter of the original book was obtained. Of the three and a half sets of losses, two and a half sets were accounted for by one's own people."

After the meeting ended, Zhang Yuanji immediately sent a telegram to Cai Yuanpei, asking whether Xu's collection of books was for sale. It didn't take long to get a thankful response: no.

Because this large collection of books covers a wide range and is complex, including not only traditional Chinese books, but also Western translations such as translation, arithmetic, chemistry, etc., those who love rare books of the Song and Yuan dynasties are reluctant to buy them, and those who want to buy them as school books cannot afford to pay high prices, so they have been postponed to this day.

Sun Yuanqi was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly sent Zhang Yuanji and Wang Guowei to Zhejiang to discuss the purchase of books. If Zhang Yuanji is to bargain for prices, then as the director of the library, Wang Guowei's task is to carefully check the quality of the books, and not to make jokes about the price of cabbage selling pork in the end. And these two people are from Zhejiang, so they can also stop by and go home to have a look.

Before leaving, Sun Yuanqi found Zhang Yuanji and discussed with him another matter: the establishment of the affiliated school of Jingshi University.

This was a matter of years ago, but it was shelved because there was not enough funding. Now I have a little more money on hand, so I am ready to start the pilot work immediately.

In Sun Yuanqi's concept, the affiliated schools should be a combination of compulsory education and the Hope Project: Jingshi University provided textbooks, funds and teachers, and established some primary and secondary schools in major regions of the country to allow students to attend school free of charge, as well as free school uniforms and free lunches, so as to improve the conditions for running schools in the region; After graduating from junior high school, those who pass the entrance examination and those who have excellent grades enter Jingsei University. In this way, we can not only improve the quality of students at Jingshi University, but also allow more children to enter schools and obtain basic education.

And Sun Yuanqi's favorite place is the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang that Zhang Yuanji is about to go to. You must know that since the Song and Yuan dynasties, this is a place where humanity gathers. The highest honor in the scientific community of New China is academician, and among the 1,800 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, about half of them are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

After listening to Sun Yuanqi's description, Zhang Yuanji thought for a moment and shook his head slightly: "I think this plan is debatable."

"Oh?" Sun Yuanqi guessed that it was because he did not understand the social conditions in the late Qing Dynasty that he was not satisfied with the plan, so he humbly asked for advice, "Please correct Mr. Ju Sheng"

"As you said before, knowledge changes destiny. If you want poor children to be able to go to school, this is undoubtedly a great starting point. Zhang Yuanji praised first, and then said, "But we must take into account two situations: first, our funds are very limited, and it is impossible for nearly 10 million children in the country to go to school, which is destined to give priority to some of the talented students; Secondly, in terms of actual situation, children from scholarly families or families with better backgrounds will be smarter, but these families can afford the tuition fees, and there is no need for schools to bear them, and if they are also free, it is actually a waste of our limited teaching resources. ”

I have to admit that what Zhang Yuanji said is very reasonable.

When Sun Yuanqi lowered his head and thought about the solution, Zhang Yuanji continued: "It's better to change it like this, the school is divided into two classes, using the same teachers to teach, one is for those with relatively wealthy families, and charges tuition; One is geared towards ordinary families and does not charge a fee. The last 20 students in the free class are eliminated each year and transferred to the fee-paying class; Students with excellent grades in the fee-paying class of 20 can also apply for admission to the free class. In this way, we can not only take the rich to help the poor, reduce the financial pressure of the school, but also promote students to study hard and select talented students. ”

Sun Yuanqi originally wanted to say: Will this be detrimental to the growth of minors? I immediately thought that in this era, children can have books to read and go to school, which is actually happiness. As for the "quality education" of later generations, it was still a distant dream for the vast majority of students in the late Qing Dynasty. He immediately agreed to this plan, and then asked: "Mr. Jusheng, where do you think the first affiliated school outside the province should be built?" ”

Zhang Yuanji said with a smile: "Since it is to ensure the quality of the school's students, it is natural to choose the best place for students." If you want to say that the best place for students, it is naturally your Suzhou, Jiangsu, you must know that since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, 112 palace examinations have been held, and 114 champions have been produced, and 28 people have been produced in Suzhou. You say, should you choose Suzhou? ”

Hearing these data, Sun Yuanqi's eyes suddenly widened: there are local specialties in various places, and it seems that Suzhou's native products are the champions

Sun Yuan thought of something again: "By the way, if you set up an affiliated school in Suzhou, I'm afraid you won't be able to find a suitable person to manage it for a while, right?" I often go abroad, you have to deal with school affairs, and Mr. Shuyan is in charge of teaching and editing the journal, and I can't take a break."

Zhang Yuanji touched the beard on his mouth and said with a smile: "I think of a person from the south, it is the most suitable."

Hearing what he said, Sun Yuanqi also smiled and said, "Are you talking about him?" It would be great if I could please him."

"Then let's follow the example of Kong Ming and Zhou Lang, and see if it's the same person?" Zhang Yuanji proposed.

It's rare for the two of them to have this Yaxing, how could Sun Yuanqi refuse, and laughed loudly: "Okay"

opened his hands, only to see that Sun Yuanqi wrote the word "Cai" on his hand, but Zhang Yuanji wrote the word "Heqin".

Glancing at each other, the two laughed.