In the ninth year of the Republic of China, 4347 in the middle calendar, and 1650 in the western calendar.

The spring is cold.

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

They are relatively late, and some scholars are afraid of missing the time, so they directly choose to spend the New Year in Nanjing.

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

Although many of the lanterns have been removed, they are still excited about the rest.

Zhang Zhaoyong said with tears in his eyes: "When my foolish brother was young, he watched the lanterns in Beijing with his father and brother, and he still remembers the magnificent atmosphere. Now the north is withering,

The prosperity is long gone, and at this time, the Lantern Festival will be seen again, and the real thing is a person. “

"Well, don't say that again." Lee Jixiu also remembered the old days.

Li Jixiu's family is a big landowner, with more than 3,000 acres of land. Not to mention the crowds of slaves, at least they also hugged each other, but now there is nothing. The dozens of acres of land at home were allocated by the local government when they fled back to their hometowns, and they had to cultivate the coarse tea and light rice by themselves.

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

"Who's to say it's not?" Li Jixiu said, "Pingle Town, where Brother Yu is located, had a population of less than 1,000 at the beginning, but last year there were already two or three thousand. Some came out of the mountains, and the rest were all southern immigrants. My younger brother also got married last year, a girl from the south. Although he is just an ordinary farmer, he has also studied in elementary school for three years, and he will definitely be able to educate his children well in the future. “

While talking, a group of young people, hooked shoulders and backs, were still drunken and singing.

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

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

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

Moreover, it is not a serious jade, it is all a medicinal jade, that is, stained glass. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was very valuable, and the officials' court clothes were there, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was not worth much, and the officials secretly exchanged it for real jade over the system.

It's even less valuable now, and it's basically a by-product of making clear glass.

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "This Jinling University is similar to the Guozijian of the former Ming Dynasty, I heard that it is usually very strict with students. These students were drunk and presumably before classes started after the New Year, so they went back to school early to play around. Alas, there are universities in all the southern provinces, when will I have them in Hebei? ”

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

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

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

I saw a group of college students who had not yet started classes, and many scholars who were rushing to take the exam, arguing fiercely in front of the bookshelves.

I just arrived at a new book, and it's called "Oracle Bone Debate".

Perhaps it was too secluded, and for fear of bad sales, the number of copies was not large, and this bookstore only stocked three copies.

For a long time, there are scholars staring at new books, and they will open them again, and then they will cause a sensation.

This book was prefaced by the emperor himself, and the content is about three points: first, the origin of the oracle bone of Daoming is that the oracle bone was discovered by farmers in Henan, and the local officials presented it to the emperor; Second, the gentlemen of the Cangjie Pavilion of the Hanlin Academy, if it causes controversy, all walks of life should not blindly criticize it; Third, the formation of Chinese characters may not be the work of one person, and Cangjie may have been a specific official position in ancient times.

The first ten or so pages, all of which are oracle bone rubbings, are engraved and printed by craftsmen. Although not every piece of these selected oracle bones is completely recognizable, at least sixty percent of the characters are recognized.

Next, it is the oracle bone identification method summarized by Cangjie Pavilion, and then accompanied by specific oracle bone examples, and the corresponding Zhong Dingwen,

Large and small seals, official scripts and regular scripts. From ancient times to the present, the development of a text is clearly placed in front of readers.

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

"Have you ever seen an elephant?"

"Why haven't you seen it? I have it in my hometown, I am from Yunnan! “

"Do elephants really have that long trunks?"

"The nose is so long, if you've ever seen an elephant with your own eyes, you'll know it's exactly like this oracle. As soon as this Cangjie Pavilion was studied, everything was clear. Today's word 'elephant', the top two strokes, are derived from the trunk of an elephant. The word 'day' in the middle is actually the head of an elephant. The long hook below is the elephant's body and last leg. The three handeds on the left are the first three legs of the elephant. The stroke on the right,

It's the tail of an elephant. “

"It's true, it's very clear, that's how the word 'elephant' came from."

"Let me take a look, don't get in my way!"

"…

The shopkeeper of the bookstore saw that there were more and more people, and he couldn't help but say, "Do you want to buy it?" It's delaying my business. “

"Buy, how much?" A gentleman who is not bad for money asked.

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

Thirty taels of silver for a book is definitely expensive, and ordinary books are only sold for a few hundred yuan, or even dozens of yuan.

But this book is a thick tome, and all the pictures have to be engraved and printed, and the illustrated pages have to be overprinted.

In addition, the circulation is also relatively small, and the cost is calculated, and the price of thirty taels of silver is not tricky.

After a scholar bought a copy, he immediately took it outside the store to look through it, and his friend followed him out, and the bookstore suddenly became much brighter.

"I'll buy a copy too." There are also scholars who pay for it.

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

It's a pity that the last one, but no one pays for it anymore, after all, thirty taels is a huge amount of money, and you can buy more than 2,000 catties of white rice.

Li Jixiu and Zhang Zhaoyong had the opportunity to squeeze over and watch the content of the book with other poor people.

After squatting for most of the day, they were hungry and reluctant to go out to eat.

Smoking noodles at a roadside stall, Li Jixiu sighed again and again: "In the past, I only knew how to learn "Shuo Wen Jie Zi", but today I finally became enlightened. You need to know the oracle bones to explore the text, and the Hanlin Academy has done a great thing! ”

Zhang Zhaoyong said regretfully: "It's a pity that I am shy in my pocket, otherwise I will buy a copy and go home, it will definitely be used as an heirloom, even if it falls off the list, it will be worth the trip." “

Zhang Zhaoyong's family is only doing some small business, and he is definitely richer than Li Jixiu, but he can't take out thirty taels casually.

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

"I'm afraid the store won't let it," Zhang Zhaoyong said, "There are a lot of people, and there is ink, and if you don't pay attention, you will stain the book." “

Li Jixiu was a little disappointed, and swore a gambling curse: "When I save money in the future, I will definitely buy a copy of "Oracle Bone Debate" and go home, and future generations of the Li family will be able to understand the mystery of the evolution of words!" “

In another two days, you can choose the seat number of the exam by lottery with the admission ticket.

The two went to the Ministry of Rites to report, and in addition to drawing the seat number, the government also issued them a waist card: "With this waist card, you can go to the library of Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy to read books." Keep in mind that the single-numbered waist card can only be used on a single day, and the double-numbered waist card is used on a double-day, subject to the Datong New Calendar. Books are not allowed to be borrowed, but only to be read in the library. The duration of the waist card is one month after the end of the test. The waist card must be returned, and if it is lost, it must also be reported, otherwise don't want to be an official in the future, and you will be canceled if you are admitted to the top prize. ”

And this kind of good thing?

Li Jixiu said happily: "In the new dynasty and new atmosphere, Your Majesty is still kind to scholars. “

"Yes," Zhang Zhaoyong said excitedly, "I heard that many of the books in the Hanlin Academy and the Qintian Academy are the royal collections of the previous dynasty. Resting in the previous dynasty, you have to be a court official to see it, how can we borrow it? ”

The two of them took the waist card and went straight to the Hanlin Academy, but saw that the library here was already crowded.

In desperation, he went to Qintian Courtyard, where there were finally fewer scholars.

Li Jixiu casually picked up an issue of the internally distributed "Qintian Journal", he had already taught himself mathematics and physics, barely able to reach the level of middle school graduation. But when he opened this academic journal, he seemed to be reading a book from heaven, many symbols he didn't recognize, and it was the first time he had heard of various terms.

Coming to Zhang Zhaoyong's side, Li Jixiu said in a low voice: "Brother Xian, looking through this book, Brother Fool feels that he is a Mengtong. What are the scholars of the Qintian Academy of the current dynasty studying? “

"Who knows?" Zhang Zhaoyong was flipping through a copy of "Atlas of the Four Seas" and read it with relish there.

The author of "Atlas of the Four Seas" is called Julius, a European missionary, and this book was printed and released only last year.

After reading a chapter, Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "In the far east, there is a continent named America. Its land is all indigenous to Fanbang, and there are also civilizations.

There are Mayan people and Inca people, as if I am ancient in China. The most amazing thing is that hundreds of Spaniards can destroy a country and turn that nation into slaves. ”

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

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

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

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

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "The Mughal Kingdom of India today and the Yeerqiang Kingdom of the Western Regions, the founding monarchs are a pair of cousins. They were defeated by the Uzbek Khanate, the cousin with more than a thousand remnants of the army, went south to establish the Mughal state of India, and the cousin with more than a thousand remnants of the army, went east to establish the Yeerqiang state in the Western Regions.

Li Jixiu was surprised: "Is Tianzhu so weak? More than a thousand remnants of soldiers can establish a country there? “

Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "If I go to India, I'm afraid that I can also establish another country outside the territory." “

These two traditional scholars, in the library of Qintianyuan, read books for more than half a month, and their horizons were completely opened, and their world view was almost reshaped.

****

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