The sky is slightly hazy, there is no court meeting all year round during the Tianbao year, and the birdsong and breeze in the early morning make everything look leisurely and beautiful.

Chen Xilie had already played a set of five bird plays in the courtyard, and when he was sweating slightly, he sat in the hall, allowing the servants to comb their hair and rub the acupuncture points on their foreheads, so as to clear their eyes and dispel wind, prevent headaches and tinnitus.

Because of this long period of careful maintenance, although he is over 50 years old, he does not see too many gray hairs.

"Which yamen is Xianggong going to sit in today?" His wife, Wei, asked, ready to arrange the groom.

Chen Xilie closed his eyes and thought about it, and sighed: "Go to the secretary's province." ”

"It's strange, I can't usually go once a month, so why do you go there every two days?"

"There is a Bi Ma Wen, the old man has to be imprisoned, don't make any more trouble."

"What is Bimawen?

"Aweng, I know!" The little grandson who was playing in the hall shouted loudly: "Sun Wukong should not be Bi Ma Wen, he should be the Monkey King and make trouble in the Heavenly Palace!"

Chen Xilie scolded with a smile: "Little urchin, peek at the old man's book? ”

"No, my grandson listened to the story told by Sister A, and Sister Ah also said that she wanted to marry Zhuangyuanlang."

Initial website https://

"Go, the monkey who can't be tethered, there is nothing to marry.

Chen Xilie sent his grandson away, picked it up unhurriedly, got up, and Wei chased after him and sighed: "Oh, how could you be so busy in the past? Xianggong Mo is too hard. ”

By the time the secretary had just arrived, the time had come for the handymen, craftsmen, and regular calligraphers, and there were 7 things. Going around to the official corridor at the back, the officials are still coming one after another.

The fruit tree, blooming and not yet bearing fruit, Xiao Yingshi sat under the tree, boiling tea while closing his eyes and thinking about the article.

"Supervisor Chen." Officials saluted.

In the middle hall, Chao Heng and a few Tang envoys were desperately copying books, Jiang Jiangming was late, and there were more than ten fruit trees in the backyard.

"No need to be polite." Chen Xilie said with a smile, "Take the book and look at it, and call the old man when Xue Bai arrives." ”

"Back to Supervisor Chen, Xue Xiaoshu has arrived, and he was sewing the academy just now."

"So early?"

Chen Xilie was curious about what Xue Bai was doing in that kind of place where his subordinates were staying, so he went over in person.

When I arrived at the Sewing Academy, I saw Xue Bai talking to several craftsmen and regular calligraphers, and one of them was talking endlessly.

"If you do what Zhuangyuanlang said, you should give more monthly salaries, right?"

"Uncle Yin, this is the truth." Xue Bai said: "I first have to mention this request to Supervisor Chen. ”

Far away, Chen Xilie stopped when he heard this, and asked his entourage to summon Xue Bai over.

"Champion Lang came early, at your age, you should also have this enthusiasm for starting a family."

"Lao Chen is worried, and it is already arranged." Xue Bai said.

"Really?" Chen Xilie was quite surprised, stroked his beard and smiled: "I can be worthy of a handsome man like you, don't teach the old man to be disappointed." ”

"It's worthy, but it's actually me who climbed."

"Well, well, young people should listen more to the advice of the elderly." Chen Xilie sighed, "You, you have entered the secretary province, you should stop for a while." As soon as the rumors passed, many things passed, and the so-called 'if you don't have some patience, you can't do the best for the benefit of the world'. Come, the old man will show you the way. ”

The word "leading the way" is not only the road that takes Xue Bai to see things officially, but also the road he intends to take Xue Bai in the officialdom.

Xue Bai was also very knowledgeable, and at this time he did not propose to add a moon to craftsmen and regular calligraphers.

Today I went straight to the book pavilion.

The library is located in the middle of the entire secretarial province, just behind the atrium lobby, separated by a grove of fruits.

"This is the Provincial Book Pavilion of the Secretary, which is divided into four parts of the 'Subset of Classics and History', twelve collection rooms, each with sixteen rows of shelves, and now there are 81,789 volumes of books."

Xue Bai listened to Chen Xilie's eloquent talk, looked at it, and saw a portrait of Confucius posted at the main entrance, and immediately a small official stepped forward, saluted Confucius, and slowly opened the door of the bookshelf.

There are fine clouds of dust floating in the morning light, and at the same time, the smell of books wafts in the face.

Volumes of books are lying quietly on the shelves, not saying a word, but as if silently telling the wisdom of the ancestors in a long time.

Chen Xilie was not in a hurry to go in, waited for the dust to disperse a little, and stood there again and began to describe his exploits.

"Now the old man leads the secretary province with the respect of the left minister, so that Lantai can regain its prestige. But did you know that before the old man, the secretary came back to life? ”

"Eunuch He?

"What about earlier?

"I don't know."

Chen Xilie raised his hand, pointed to the courtyard to the west, and said, "There is the academy over there." In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, Ma Huaisu was booked, and the book catalog was compiled, so that more than 20 famous Confucian people such as Dr. Guozi, Wei Zhizhang, Wang Yu, Yin Jianyou, Wei Shu, Yu Qin, and Wu were proofread.

Among these famous Confucians, Xue Bai only knew Wei Shu.

Chen Xilie said: "Ma Huaisu led the catalog, and the draft compilation was compiled into 200 volumes of "Four Records of the Group of Books", but unfortunately, before it was completed, Ma Huaisu died of illness. Later, Yuan Xingchong took over the completion, but unfortunately the catalog and the book did not match, and it was never said that 'there is often a grudge, and I am thinking about chasing the snow'. ”

Xue Bai looked at it and saw that the west courtyard was empty, and there were not a few famous Confucians compiling books, so he couldn't help asking, "Why didn't Supervisor Chen continue this matter?" ”

Chen Xilie waved his hand lightly, not wanting to answer such an innocent question as a young man, turned his back on his hands, and walked into the library with Xue Bai.

"For every book of four parts, there shall be three, the original, the copy, and the storage. The original is for the saint to see; Copies are to be used as rewards for the borrowing of ministers and officials; Needless to say, the storage of the principal is ......"

After a rough introduction, Chen Xilie took two volumes of books and handed them to Xue Bai, both of which were "Huang Tingjing".

"Look, which is the original and which is the copy?"

Xue Bai had been watching his movements very seriously, and said, "The original and the copy are all based on purple wood, the original book is stamped with a small seal, and the copy is sandwiched with a bookmark?" Is the storage based on white wood? ”

"Not bad." Chen Xilie stroked his beard, looked up at the shelf, and only then did he realize that there were a lot of copies missing.

Xue Bai also noticed it and asked, "What does the school secretary have to do is to copy these missing books?" ”

"No, you have your own regular script hand-copied.

"Then dare you ask me what to do?"

Chen Xilie yawned, and after a while, he muttered, "Let's find Kedou." ”

At this time, the two had been shopping for two moments, and returned to the academy of the West Courtyard, Chen Xilie pointed to the two volumes of "Huang Ting Jing" in Xue Bai's hand, and said, "You can proofread this scripture."

"Don't know when it needs to be done?

"When?" Chen Xilie seemed sleepy, and he didn't answer much, but said casually: "Don't worry, don't worry."

With that, he yawned again and went back to his verandah to rest.

Xue Bai sat down behind the bookcase, spread out the two volumes of "Huang Tingjing", glanced at it, and couldn't help but be surprised. It's not because of the content, the content is nothing more than self-cultivation, but because the handwriting on these two scriptures is too good.

Mrs. Liu was really holding a book and reading it, but she was actually secretly observing Xue Bai's reaction, and she smiled at this time.

It turns out that the original of this "Huang Ting Jing" is Chu Suiliang's imitation of Wang Xizhi's small style.

Looking at the copy again, although it was hand-copied by the regular script of the secretary province, there were a few words that were crossed out and rewritten by Yan Zhenqing, the school secretary Lang 20 years ago, which is "looking for science fighting", that is, finding typos and correcting them.

"Why hasn't this copy been given yet?

"Because there is also Jixian Academy, the secretary province is located in the imperial city, and it is inconvenient for the sage to read books. Then he set up Jixian Courtyard in Daming Palace to share the responsibility of collecting books. ”

"I see."

Xue Bai still checked the two volumes of books in his hand against each other, and the officials of the Western Courtyard were all at ease by making tea, reading, painting, playing chess, or copying books.

Chen Xilie also prepared a soft couch in the official corridor of the secretary province, and he got up after sleeping for more than half an hour, and his spirit became more and more energetic.

After rearranging his clothes, he beckoned the little official and ordered: "I will have dinner early today, and the old man will go back to the house after being approved by the political affairs hall."

"Well, we'll arrange a meeting."

Another entourage helped Chen Xilie up and said, "Xianggong has to keep an eye on a nine-rank official for the past two days, which is really hard. ”

"It's good not to make trouble, now that he has arrived at this idle yamen, he should live in peace for a while."

Thinking that the secretary province would be dispersed after today's dinner, Chen Xilie went all the way to the middle hall and saw Xue Bai talking to a group of officials.

Jiang Jiangming, Xiao Yingshi and others were all stroking their beards and contemplating, but Chao Heng looked very excited, of course, no matter what happened to him.

Chen Xilie stepped forward and said with a smile: "What are you talking about?" Let's eat. ”

"Supervisor Chen, Zhuang Yuanlang said that he wants to write to the saint, increase the secretary of the province, and revive the prestige of Lantai!"

"There's no hurry.

Before Chen Xilie could react, a paper manuscript had already been handed to him.

Xue Bai stood in front of him and said, "I have a few ideas, Supervisor Chen, please see how it is." First, the secretary of the province can compile a collection of books on the basis of the "Four Records of the Group of Books", all the books of the hundred schools of history, astronomy, geography, and medicine

The words of learning and skill are all compiled in one book; Second, instead of being borrowed by the secretaries and officials, the copies of the books of the secretary province should be opened to the disciples of the state and the state, and even the studious people of the world, so as to make the best use of them; Third, I have presented the 'movable type printing' to the sage, and the side may be useless, but the secretary can have a set of printing templates, in addition to printing ancient books, but also publishing the sage's edict to the next generation, and promoting the prosperity of my Tang Dynasty articles......"

Although Chen Xilie didn't understand it very well, he was already keenly aware that none of these three things could be done.

He still has self-cultivation, although he denies it in his heart, he still has a kind smile on his face, and says: "Wait for the old man to take a closer look, and talk about it in a few days, and eat first." ”

Xue Bai was well versed in these ways, and refused to give him a chance to shirk, and said: "We have been talking about it for a while, and we all think it is feasible, why don't you ask Supervisor Chen to write to the sage?" ”

"No." Chen Xilie had no choice but to say: "The three are not trivial, let's talk about this compilation of books, more than 20 years of Confucian inspection for many years, and even the bibliography has not been compiled, how many people do you have to compile a Dacheng book?" How many years does it take? No, you can't.

Xue Bai didn't know whether it was naïve or ignorant, and responded: "Since it is the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, how can it not be done?" If there are not enough scholars, scholars from all over the world can be recruited. We all think that the prince of the country and the scholar of Jixian Palace, Wei Gong, can take on the important task of presiding over this matter. ”

Chen Xilie shook his head, he didn't listen to these at all, and continued: "As for opening the secretarial province for ordinary students to access books, it is even more impossible, what if the books in the secret mansion are damaged at that time? It is not desirable, it is never desirable. ”

"Just take out a copy, and at the same time recruit more officials to manage, if the left minister wants to revive the prestige of Lantai, shouldn't there be more scholars and officials? Since these Dongying students can copy books, but Datang students can't borrow them? Otherwise, if after a hundred thousand years, the books here are decaying and no one cares about them, do you still need to go to Dongying to find the books they copied? ”

"Nonsense, nonsense, recruiting scholars and officials? Why do you have so much money for you to squander? ”

Xue Bai said: "The article is handed down, the paper is dead, the person is alive, the ancestors did not have paper and pencil before, word of mouth, so that the inheritance is not lost." Now that we have pen, ink, paper, inkstone, printing, and this prosperous heritage, why do we put 80,000 volumes of books on the shelf?

Why is there no place for well-educated people to show their talents? Why squander money like mud and sand, and refuse to take out a small part to carry on the sacred learning?

Jiang Jiangming, Xiao Yingshi and others were pondering, but at this time, they were finally moved, walked out slowly, and stood beside Xue Bai, although they did not speak, they had already expressed their support for this matter.

Although Chen Xilie didn't understand what the "movable type printing" was, he knew that it must be something on paper and flashy, and shook his head again and again, and no longer refuted each other, and began to beat Xue Bai.

"Young people are inevitably ambitious, you are new to the career, you must not be contaminated with this style of rhetoric, you should be down-to-earth and do a good job."

Xue Bai had just entered the office, and some of them were idle, so he planned to influence this Chen Xilie in the spring breeze and rain, and said: "I am not talented, I think that these three things can be used to embellish the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty in words, and show the merits of the saint through the ages.

"Yes! Chen Jian. ”

A short old man stepped forward, and it was Chao Heng again.

Chao Heng nodded up and down as he spoke, dancing with his hands, and said in a low tone: "If the saint can agree, a grand event!" We are fortunate to be a part of such a grand event, and we have lived in vain!

"Unreasonable." Chen Xilie snorted, waved his hand and said, "This matter is absolutely impossible, don't mention it more, you will eat." ”

Everyone was immediately disappointed and lamented.

Xue Bai just smiled and honestly ate.

Chen Xilie saw that this erector looked confident, but he felt uneasy, and after eating, he privately summoned him to the room again to admonish.

"Don't get into trouble again, but you know that the aftermath of your big trouble with the Ministry of Rites is still not over, how dare you stir up trouble?

"Why should the left minister be like a great enemy? It's just a book to put forward some small suggestions about the Qingshui Yamen. ”

Chen Xilie was choked up by this understatement, and he was so angry that he almost threw his sleeves, only to feel that his self-cultivation was gradually insufficient.

Glancing at Xue Bai again, he felt more and more anxious, and had to remind: "This time is different from the past, if you dare to bypass your true appearance and write directly to the sage, you will be guilty of a taboo in officialdom." ”

Xue Bai nodded calmly and was about to answer.

Chen Xilie said again: "If you let Uncle Guo write a book, he will exceed his authority." ”

The dignified left minister, but even the warning seems weak and weak.

"Uncle Guo's interference in the affairs of the secretary province is overstepping his authority, but if the uncle leads the secretary province and mentions this matter again, it is not overstepping his authority A word in his ears, Chen Xilie's eyelids jumped, even if he had no more self-cultivation, he finally lost his temper, and threatened fiercely, "Can you still tolerate this matter when you are the right minister?!" ”

Seeing that he was in a hurry, Xue Bai stopped persecuting, slowed down his speech, and said: "In fact, if the sage can approve, all three will be the political achievements of the Zuo Xiang, and then the prestige of Lantai will be greatly boosted, and the students of the world regard the Zuo Xiang as a teacher, and also guide the public opinion in the market, and be the mouthpiece of the Son of Heaven." If Zuo Xiang refuses to ask for such a credit, how can he stop others from reaching out to take it? ”

"Hugh is a rhetorical man." Chen Xilie said with a straight face: "The old man is not such a person who is greedy for power.

He turned his back and looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window, but his old eyes were full of contemplation.

Xue Bai said in a sincere tone, and analyzed: "These three are indeed difficult to achieve in the past, but with the emergence of cheap and easily available bamboo paper, sooner or later it will have an impact on books and academics, and changes are inevitable." Does Zuo Xiang choose to wait and see what happens, waiting for others to take the lead, or take the initiative to cater to the holy will, show his loyalty as a courtier, and take responsibility for the people of the world as a ruler?

"Don't persuade me anymore.

Chen Xilie accidentally pulled off two beards.

When he kept pouring all kinds of truths to Xue Bai before, he was calm and light, but at this moment, he was in a state of mind.

If you think about it carefully, according to the saint's temperament of great joy, if you write a book, you will definitely be satisfied with the saint. The question is, what do the right ministers and the world think about this?

According to what Xue Bai said in the end, the right side can actually be penetrated.

"Don't be impatient, wait for the original appearance to think again, plan before acting.

"I'm not in a hurry." Xue Bai said: "But Zuo Xiang also knows that people such as Yang Zhao, Yuan Zai and others are all hyenas in the officialdom, and they will pounce and bite when they see meat." ”

Chen Xilie didn't mention what he thought, the decision was not in his hands, and he couldn't agree after all, so he had to say with a straight face: "It's all said, don't let you act rashly, you have your own opinions." ”

Chen Xilie was still calm and free when he went out in the morning, but when he returned to the house that day, he was full of worries, and he pondered.

"Why is Aung upset? But Bi Ma Wen didn't stop, and he was going to make trouble in the Heavenly Palace?

"This is Bi Ma Wen." Chen Xilie muttered: "On the contrary, I want to force the old man to go to the west to learn the scriptures." ”

Having said this, he was already a little inclined in his heart to write to the saint and snatch this saint first.

Sleepless nights.

Chen Xilie has always paid attention to health preservation, and he has not tossed and turned like this for many years.

After thinking about it all night, he finally didn't dare to swallow this credit alone from Li Linfu, and got up early the next morning and hurried to the right minister's mansion. At the same time, because he was not worried about Xue Bai, he also sent an entourage to the secretary province to keep an eye on it.

Sure enough, when Li Linfu saw Xue Bai's recital, his face immediately sank.

"I won't live a day!

"Yes, he was supposed to go to the secretary province next month, but he didn't have an official uniform and caused this incident." Chen Xilie stroked his forehead.

Li Linfu's eyes showed displeasure, and he lightly flicked the manuscript in his hand, but muttered as soon as the words changed: "Obey the holy will, you and I can't object, it's better to push the boat down the river." ”

Chen Xilie carefully reminded: "I'm afraid that some people are dissatisfied." ”

"Don't you really think this shaft is stunned? He has an excellent grasp of proportion, and he accepts it every time he sees it. Li Linfu said slowly: "Although these measures will eventually benefit poor students, the first to benefit are the children of the side branches of the family. ”

"So I'm on the table?"

Chen Xilie looked at it and saw that Li Linfu was still pondering.

Although he could push the boat with the current, Li Linfu had to first think about how to make the whole thing under his own control, rather than in the hands of the Yang Party.

At this time, Cangbi hurriedly came and said, "Ah Lang, the people around Zuo Xiang came to ask for a meeting."

"What's the matter?

"Yes, after Xue Bai went down yesterday, he went to see someone........

"Who?!"

"The grandson of Emperor Gaozong, the son of King Xu, Wei Weiqing, the secretary and supervisor, Li Qian and Li Gong."

"The secretary and supervisor?!

Chen Xilie stood up abruptly.

Only then did he remember that he was just a secretary and a young eunuch and a secretary and a provincial scrivener. As for the secretary and supervisor, it is the nobles of the clan, but no matter what, Li Qian is the secretary and supervisor.

"How do you know?"

"Because Supervisor Li went to the secretary's province today to inspect the matter, I learned about it."

Hearing this, Li Linfu's face sank and he became even more unhappy.

Chen Xilie panicked, and said nervously: "Right Minister, that vertical is too cunning!" Can...... We shouldn't let Li Qian go to the book and rob this credit!

There was no time for Li Linfu to think about how to manipulate the matter.

He waved his hand with a cold face, waved Chen Xilie, an incompetent waste, away, and cursed secretly in his heart.

"Waste, not a single one of them can be used."