On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the snow had not yet melted, so Du Shenfei, Niu Lixian, and Xie Youlong took care of their luggage, wrapped a few hundred taels of silver, and brought some scattered silver taels to spend along the way. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The three of them walked through Liling County, until Pingxiang County, Jiangnan West Road, and took the road to look at Yuanzhou, but the roads here are all mountain roads, and the sun comes out, the ice melts and snow, and the road mud is mixed with snow water; the road is full of smooth cobblestones, you can't get your feet, and you can't ride a horse, the three of them are overwhelmed, one step at a time, Xie Youlong who fell is covered in mud, and the calf's buttocks are also full of mud, and he falls so that he is on fire, and he uses an axe to cut down the trees on both sides to relieve his anger.

Until Yuanzhou, the road became spacious, the three of them along the riverside road, overnight and early, through Fenyi County, Xinyu County, Wan'an Station, inverted tower shop, straight to the Linjiang Army, only then turned the land route to the waterway, took a big boat, and after a few days and nights, the ship passed through Fengcheng, Shixia, straight to Shengmidu.

Du Shenfei and the calf were bored on the boat first, except for talking to Xie Youlong.

This Xie Youlong is a literati, and he likes to chat with people on the same boat, chatting about literature and geography, which is also quite comfortable. When it came to Shengmidu, another person came up, who was white and clean, with old clothes, looking very poor and sour, and carrying a large package on his back. When this person saw Xie Youlong, he was dressed brightly and looked like a literati, but the strange thing was that this Xie Youlong did not read the Four Books and Five Classics and the Hundred Schools of Thought at this time, but he was holding a Buddhist "Myoho-renge-kyo" and reading it silently.

The man put down the package, sat next to Xie Youlong, looked at Xie Youlong and asked, "Your Excellency is a Confucian scholar, passing through this road, presumably to go to Lin'an Spring Test." ”

Xie Youlong raised his head and laughed: "Looking down at Your Excellency's outfit, if you also take this boat, you must be the same as me, and you will also go to Lin'an?"

The man nodded and said, "Exactly, but I don't know if Your Excellency doesn't read the book of Confucius and Mencius, how can you read the classics of the Buddha family?"

Xie Youlong said with a smile: "My generation has always been a precedent for studying. When he was a child, he started with the Four Books and the Five Classics, and when he was a little longer, he read the Han History, Chu Sao, Han, Liu, Ou, and Su Zhu texts, and read the people of the time to try their art. Try it well, take the ink rolls of the spring and autumn periods, figure out the maturity, and then you can pick up the branch. In the book of Confucius and Mencius, I have already seen it roughly, so I also took a look at the books of Buddhism, in order to learn and hunt widely. ”

The man let out an "oh" and said, "Since Your Excellency has read the Myoho-renge-kyo, dare you ask what this Myoho-renge-kyo means?"

Xie Youlong said: "Since you have been asked by Your Excellency, you will have a little understanding below. "Wonderful Law" refers to the method of multiplication and non-duality, and "Lotus Flower" is a metaphor for where the "wonderful" is, the first is the flowers and fruits at the same time, the second is out of the mud without staining, and the third is introverted and not exposed. ”

The man seemed to want to make things difficult for Xie Youlong, and said, "Since Your Excellency has some understanding of the Myoho-renge-kyo Sutra, you must have read it by heart. Dare to ask Your Excellency, how many 'Amitabha' are there in a "Myoho-renge-kyo"?"

Xie Youlong laughed and said, "I learned that there is only one 'Amitabha Buddha' in a "Myoho-renge-kyo Sutra", including the preface to the title. ”

The man frowned and asked, "Oh, where is this 'Amitabha'?"

Xie Youlong immediately said: "In the twenty-third of the Medicine King Bodhisattva's ability, 'At the end of this life, that is, to the world of peace, Amitabha Buddha and the Great Bodhisattvas will ...... around the residence.'"

The man was astonished.

Xie Youlong stared at the man, and suddenly smiled again: "In the wilderness mountain people, their knowledge is shallow, how can they compare to Your Excellency, full of economy and Confucianism." Since Your Excellency is so well-informed, has learned from the past and the present, and has asked such a tricky and strange question, I would like to ask Your Excellency, have you read the four books?"

The man glared and said, "The four books are the way to settle down and make a living, and the learning of reciting from family to family is passed down by word of mouth, even for illiterate people in the countryside. On this trip, since it is a spring test in Lin'an, how can I not read the four books?"

Xie Youlong said: "Since this is the case, I would like to ask Your Excellency, how many 'Zi Yue' are there in one of the four books?"

The man frowned, unable to answer, and said, "I don't know about this. ”。

Xie Youlong said again: "I forgive Your Excellency and don't bother to remember these trivial matters, but since Your Excellency has gone to Lin'an for the spring examination, the scientific examination textbooks must be familiar with your chest, right?"

The man nodded.

Xie Youlong asked, "Then may I ask Your Excellency, how many words are there in each of the Thirteen Classics?"

When the man heard this, he was taken aback and asked, "Your Excellency's question is very difficult to answer in ignorance. Since you dare to ask, you must be familiar with it. I would also like to ask you, how many words are there in the Analects?"

Xie Youlong laughed and said: "I am not talented in the next place, but I have paid attention to one or two, and the "Analects" is a total of 13,700 words. ”

Even Du Shenfei and Niu Niu were surprised when they listened to their conversation first, they didn't want this Xie Youlong to learn this realm, and he even knew how many words a book was.

The man was speechless for a long time, and said in surprise: "How many words are there in "Zhou Yi"?"

Xie Youlong replied: "Zhou Yi" is twenty-four thousand two hundred and seven words. ”

The man said, "Your Excellency, how many words is Mencius?"

Xie Youlong said with a smile: "Mencius is thirty-four thousand six hundred and eighty-five characters. ”

The man said: "How many words are there in the Book of Filial Piety, the Book of Filial Piety, and the Zuo Chuan?"

Xie Youlong said: "Your Excellency has learned that there are 1,903 characters in the Book of Filial Piety, 25,800 words in the Book of Filial Piety, 196,845 words in the Zuo Chuan, and 10,253 words in the Rhyme. ”

The man was dumbfounded, and said: "What are the words of "Mao's Poems", "Zhou Li", "Rites", "Rites", "Erya", "Ram Biography", and "Guliang Biography". ”

Xie Youlong laughed "haha" and said: "Don't hide it from Your Excellency, "Mao's Poems" is 39,224 words, "Zhou Li" is 45,806 words, "Etiquette" is 56,115 words, "Rites" is 99,102 words, "Erya" is 13,113 words, "Ram Biography" is 44,075 words, and "Gu Liang Biography" is 41,502 words. I don't know if that's right?"

When the man heard this, his face was red, his ears were red, he bowed down, and called the teacher again, saying, "The teacher is so well-read and well-remembered, it is beyond the description of the rich five cars. When the teacher goes, he will definitely be named on the gold list and famous at home. Don't you dare to ask the teacher Taifu, where is your hometown?"

Xie Youlong said: "Under Xie Youlong, he came from Tanzhou. What do you call you?"

The man said: "The little man below is also from Tanzhou." ”

This Xie Youlong saw that this Bian Xiaoxia was also from Tanzhou, and he recognized him as a fellow villager, and the two of them talked about everything, like companions.

The little man over there said: "The teacher went to Lin'an, and it cost a lot." Looking at the teacher's fresh clothes, he must have a lot of wealth. Isn't it poorer than me, I don't know how much silver the teacher has with him, and how much money he spends with him?"

Xie Youlong was taken aback, and thought to himself: "I don't know each other, but I know my name, how can I ask about money again?"

Bian Xiaoxia immediately explained: "The teacher doesn't have to worry too much, but he has never been to Lin'an, he has no experience, and he doesn't know how much money he needs to spend, so he asked Mr. How much silver taels does it take? If it wasn't enough, I might as well go to my cousin's house in Yugan County to borrow a few dozen taels for accompanying expenses. ”