"The oldest script, oracle bones!"

Baiguan couldn't help frowning, and looked at the ghost-like oracle bone in Fan Zheng's hand suspiciously.

"Impossible, isn't the oldest text Jinwen?" Yang Wei frowned, he thought that Oracle Fan Zheng must have made it up in order to get rid of his crimes.

The officials nodded one after another.

As Yang Wei said, scholars worship writing as if it were a god, believing that it is the beginning of civilization, and everyone has always believed that the earliest recorded writing is the golden script of ancient times.

Jin Wen is a text cast on bronze, and the ancients called copper gold, so it is called "Jin Wen". In the Great Song Dynasty, Jin Wen is considered to be the earliest recorded writing, which is recognized by the whole world.

However, Fan Zheng actually made a traditional Chinese medicine keel, and just a few strange notches on it were said to be the oldest text, which was said to be an oracle bone inscription.

Fan Zheng explained: "The keel is naturally not the bone of a real dragon, but the fossilized bones of some ancient animals, which have the effect of calming the nerves, calming the liver and latent yang, and astringent and astringent, and each keel is extremely old. ”

"Yes, the keel does have a long history!" Su Song on the side testified for Fan Zheng.

"So what?" Yang Wei sneered.

Fan Zheng looked around and said loudly: "As we all know, metals have also been evolving, such as bronze in the pre-Qin period, iron tools later, and iron and steel now. When the golden inscription appeared, humans could already make metal, and it was already extremely powerful, but when humans could not make metal, how could they record words? ”

Facing Fan Zheng's rhetorical question, Baiguan was suddenly surprised, if words had been created before humans created bronzes, it would naturally be to find the hardest and most common items around them and engrave words on them for long-term preservation. ”

"Carapace and oracle bones!" Zhao Xu blurted out.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, it is the carapace and bones, the ancients recorded the text on the turtle shell and hard bones, which is the most primitive writing in existence, the oracle bone inscription." ”

"Oracle, why is there no oracle bone in existence?" Cai Jing asked rhetorically.

Fan Zheng said solemnly: "Because with the appearance of Jin Wen and Shujian, the oracle bone inscription has gradually been eliminated, and the oracle bone has gradually been abandoned and buried in the soil. ”

Cai Jing didn't believe it at all: "You just took out a medicinal herb with words engraved on it, and you dare to claim that you have discovered the oracle bone inscription, it's too child's play!" ”

He admitted that Fan Zheng had a bit of literary talent, but just by relying on a medicinal herb engraved with words, it was determined that it was an oracle bone inscription, which was naturally unconvincing.

Fan Zheng waved his hand, immediately presented a number of oracle bones, and said solemnly: "After Fan learned that this may be ancient characters, he immediately ordered the world's doctors to send all the keels engraved with words to Kaifeng Mansion, and now hundreds of oracle bones with words have been collected. ”

"And hundreds of oracles!"

The officials of the Manchu Dynasty couldn't help but be shocked, if Fan Zheng's words were true, it would be a major event that shocked the literary world.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Not only that, Fan found that most of these keels were unearthed from Anyang, not far north of Kaifeng, and the local doctors have been ordered to rush to Anyang overnight to excavate the oracle bones here." ”

"Anyang! The old capital of Yin Shang! Su Song's heart moved, and he blurted out.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, if Fan's speculation is correct, these oracle bone inscriptions are handed down from the old capital of Yin Shang, and the Yin Shang period is the outbreak period of Jin Wen, and these oracle bone inscriptions have gradually been buried, and they have not seen the light of day until today." ”

Su Song nodded and said: "From the time, place and shape of the text, it can be the right number, if there is no accident, the oracle bone inscription is indeed the oldest text." ”

The old and new parties fell silent for a moment, and the people who could rank in the court were all scholars who had read poetry and books, but they saw that the inscription of the oracle bone inscription, although it was very different from the existing Chinese characters, was also quite related, and even in the same line.

Baiguan couldn't help but glance at Fan Zheng strangely, the oracle bone inscription is a traditional Chinese medicine keel, which others can't touch at all, plus Fan Zheng is proficient in poetry, and his natural literary style is extraordinary, which finds that the person with the oracle bone inscription must be proficient in medicinal materials and literary talent, I am afraid it is none other than Fan Zheng.

This credit, others can't snatch it away if they want to, Fan Zheng is simply fed by God, and he can't help but make all the officials envious, jealous and hateful.

Lu Dafang suddenly sneered: "Even if the oracle bone inscription is true, you find that the oracle bone inscription is meritorious, but it can't erase your crime of indiscriminately transforming the text." ”

The significance of the oracle bone inscription to the text is indeed very great, and it is even more unforgivable for Fan Zheng to randomly adapt the text to create simplified characters, not to mention the ghost-like doctor's body.

Fan Zheng retorted: "Fan took out the oracle bone inscription not to ask for merit, but to tell you and others, although the text is sacred, but it has not always been fixed, from the oldest oracle bone inscription, to the golden inscription, the text has changed a lot, before the Qin Dynasty, the text used in the world is called the big seal, the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the first emperor ordered the promulgation of the same text, unified the world's writing, more convenient small seal to replace the big seal, and our words today are not the same. ”

Baiguan nodded slightly, although Fan Zheng messed up with the evil formula, but no one refuted his knowledge, and the current text itself was evolved from Xiao Seal.

"The text that the Great Song Dynasty is currently promoting is evolved from the small seal, which has perfected the pictograms, sideways, pretends, transfers, etc., so that the text is more perfect, and more standardized, but it has a shortcoming that no one can deny, that is, it is too cumbersome, since the text has been changing, doctors need to write too many medical records, overwhelmed, and decided to create simplified words, why not!" Fan Zheng said loudly.

"Words keep changing?" The hundred officials couldn't help but be silent, they wanted to refute Fan Zheng, but they had to admit that what Fan Zheng said was correct, from the oracle bone inscription to the golden inscription, from the big seal to the small seal, and then to today's traditional Chinese characters, the text has indeed been changing.

"The essence of the word is to record, and today's words seem to be full of meaning, but there is one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, there are too many strokes, not only doctors, but also scholars are overwhelmed, Fan believes that it is time to make the text return to the original oracle bone inscription as simple." Fan Zheng said unabashedly.

Baiguan frowned, when the oracle bone inscription was first created, it was indeed much simpler than the current text.

Fan Zheng continued: "The simplified character not only retains the structure and writing rules of the traditional script, but also reduces the writing rules of the people in the world. ”

Listening to Fan Zheng's undisguised ambition, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were in an uproar again.

"Official, please look, Fan Zheng has finally revealed his wolf ambition!"

Yang Wei jumped up at the moment and said angrily.

Fan Zheng disagreed: "People have diseases that need to be treated, when the text has a disease, it naturally needs to be treated, such as today's text is extremely cumbersome, so that the world's Mengxue students suffer from it, simplified characters came into being, and moreover, traditional Chinese characters are not the most primitive words, how to think they are orthodox, and they cannot be changed." ”

Zhao Xu couldn't help but have a headache, Fan Zheng was obviously about to convince the ministers, but he still wanted to continue to anger this group of stubborn ministers.

Seeing that the old ministers were about to run away again, Zhao Xu hurriedly said: "Okay, don't argue uselessly, the top priority is to go to Anyang, find out the oracle bone inscription, and let me trace the origin of the Chinese script." ”

Yang Wei and the others turned stupid and began to study the oracle bone inscription in their hands.

Everyone knows that once the oracle bone inscription is confirmed, the origin and development of the text will be completely confirmed, which is a remarkable discovery in the Great Song Dynasty literary circle, which made a group of scholars put aside their disputes and began to look forward to the appearance of the oracle bone inscription.

Anyang, in Xiaotun Village.

This small village, which was originally unknown, is now surrounded by doctors and families.

"This is the place where you dig the keel!" Su Dun asked the head of Xiaotun Village.

The discovery of the oracle bone inscription this time was of great significance, and Fan Zheng did not dare to slack off, and directly sent Su Dun, one of the three masters of the doctor's law change, to preside over the excavation of the oracle bone inscription.

Nowadays, doctors are squeezed out by many scholars, and Su Dun is not only the three masters of doctors, but also the son of the world-famous Su scholars, and he is also a little thin among scholars.

Facing the famous forensic doctor Su Dun, the village chief of Xiaotun Village did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly said: "How can the old man deceive Su Gongzi, it was discovered here, and all the keels have been sold to the doctor." ”

Su Dun continued to ask, "In addition to the dragon bone, what else has been unearthed?" ”

The village chief of Xiaotun Village suddenly changed his face and spoke in a hurry.

Su Dun's face froze: "Su is nicknamed Forensic Doctor, if you have any concealment, you can't hide Su Mou's eyes, the keel is related to the origin of words, if you delay the big thing, I'm afraid the court won't be able to spare you." ”

The head of Xiaotun Village panicked and said: "The old man doesn't dare to hide it, in addition to the keel, there are also some clay pots." ”

"Really?" Su Dun didn't believe it at all.

In ancient times, most of the people who could control the oracle bone inscription were the people in power at that time, and it was impossible to have only some clay pots! In addition, Anyang is the capital of the world's merchants, and the legacy it left behind cannot be so simple.

The village chief's face suddenly showed a trace of panic, and he reluctantly explained: "In addition to the clay pot, there are also bronzes, and some gold and silver. ”

Su Dun suddenly realized, no wonder the village chief chose to hide it.

"Gold and silver are considered to be your rewards, but the bronze must be handed over, and it is necessary to compare the oracle bone inscriptions." Su Dun naturally didn't care about the gold and silver handed down by Yin Shang that were not of high purity, all he valued was the oracle bone inscription and the gold inscription on the bronze needed to crack the oracle bone inscription.

"Thank you, Lord Su!" The village chief said happily.

Although the bronze is more valuable, it is not easy to sell, only gold and silver are what he values, but he didn't expect Su Dun to look down on it.

At that moment, the two couldn't help but despise each other in their hearts, and happily reached a deal.

Soon, all the bronzes excavated in Xiaotun Village were taken out, and looking at the golden inscriptions that were almost the same as those on the oracle bones, Su Dun breathed a sigh of relief, with these golden inscriptions, the speed of cracking the oracle bone inscriptions would be greatly increased.

"There must be other keels in these places! Summoning the order, immediately gather all the surrounding villagers, and make every effort to explore this place, all the expenses of the doctor! "Su Dun immediately said decisively.

Now that Fan Zheng is being attacked by the ministers above the court, he can completely break the situation by excavating the oracle bone inscription one day earlier.

Hearing Su Dun's generous assurance, the village chief was overjoyed, and immediately summoned the nearby villagers to speed up the excavation.

As pieces of oracle bone inscriptions were excavated, Su Dun looked at the mysterious symbols on the turtle shells as if he had found a treasure, which was the oldest text.

As the excavation progressed, a huge Yin Ruins appeared in front of everyone, and the news spread far and wide, whether it was the appearance of oracle bones or Yin Ruins, which made the world in an uproar.

"Yin Ruins!"

"Oracle!"

In Kaifeng City, as new oracle bone inscriptions came back, the entire literary world was a sensation.

The appearance of Yin Ruins at the same time as the oracle bone inscription is enough to prove that before the discovery of bronze artifacts, the hard turtle shell was used to engrave the text.

"In ancient times, Fuxi used turtle shells to play gossip! I thought it was a myth and legend, but it turned out that the ancients really used turtle shells to record civilization. Su Shi looked at the oracle bone in his hand and couldn't help but say excitedly.

He is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and he is Su Dun's father, so he naturally got the latest oracle bone inscription for the first time.

"Then Brother Su, can you agree with the simplified Chinese characters created by the evil doctor Fan Zheng." Cai Bian on the side asked.

Su Shi was silent and said: "From the oracle bone inscription to the golden inscription, from the big seal to the small seal, and then to the words we write today, it can be seen that the text has been evolving. ”

Prior to this, although Su Shi had a good relationship with Fan Zheng, he was also opposed to simplifying characters, and the appearance of the oracle bone inscription shook his mind, because their characters were also the characters before the change.

Cai Bian couldn't help but sigh, he was used to writing traditional characters, and naturally he didn't like simplified characters without beauty, but he had to admit that traditional characters were not without shortcomings, that is, they were too cumbersome.

"If writing is always evolving, why can't it be simpler?"

This thought involuntarily appeared in Cai Bian's heart, and suddenly Cai Bian felt like a great enemy, and quickly shook his head, wanting to throw this crazy idea out.

However, not only him, but also many people in the New Party quietly put aside their prejudices and no longer impeached Fan Zheng.

After all, Wang Anshi said boldly back then, the sky is not enough to be feared, the ancestors are not enough to be afraid of the law, and people are unsympathetic, and now Fan Zheng has come up with empirical evidence to prove that the text has been evolving, if they continue to impeach Fan Zheng, wouldn't it be a denial of the spirit of the new party's change of law.

Even the sad discovery of the old party, with more and more oracle bone inscriptions coming, the entire Great Song Dynasty literary circle almost fell into a frenzy of studying oracle bone inscriptions, and no longer had the heart to pay attention to Fan Zheng's unauthorized creation of simplified characters.

(End of chapter)