I

The ninth year of the Republic of China, 4347 in the Chinese calendar, 1650 in the Western calendar.

The spring is cold and cold.

Hebei scholars Li Jixiu and Zhang Zhaoyong came to Nanjing just after the Lantern Festival, waiting to participate in the first examination in early February.

They were relatively late. Some scholars were afraid of missing the time and directly chose to celebrate the New Year in Nanjing.

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

Although many of the lanterns have been removed, the remaining ones still make them excited.

Zhang Zhaoyong lamented with tears: "When I was young, I watched lanterns with my father and brother in Beijing, and I still remember the majestic atmosphere. Now the north is in decline, and the prosperity has long been gone. When I see the lantern festival again at this time, things are different and people are different. stop."

"Oh, don't talk about this again." Li Jixiu also thought of the old days.

Li Jixiu's family is considered a big landowner, with more than 3,000 acres of land. Not to mention the crowds of slaves, at least they were cheering in front of and behind them, but now there is nothing. The dozens of acres of land at home were allocated by the local government when they returned to their hometown after fleeing the disaster, and they still had to cultivate it themselves.

Zhang Zhaoyong forced a smile: "However, Tianjin is still recovering quickly. The population inside and outside the city has increased day by day in recent years, thanks to His Majesty's organization of immigration."

"Who says it's not?" Li Jixiu said, "Pingle Town, where Brother Yu lives, had a population of less than a thousand at the beginning. Last year, there were two to three thousand people. Some came from the mountains, and the rest were all immigrants from the south. My younger brother, last year We are also engaged to be married to a girl from the south. Although she is just an ordinary farmer, she has also attended primary school for three years, so she will definitely be able to educate her children well in the future."

While they were talking, a group of young people came arm-in-arm and sang drunkenly.

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

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

The jade pendant around the waist of a bachelor is similar to the school emblem.

Moreover, they are not serious beautiful jade, they are all medicinal jade, that is, colored glass. In the early Ming Dynasty, it was very valuable and could be found on the court uniforms of officials. However, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it became less valuable and officials secretly exchanged it for real jade.

It is even less valuable now and is basically a by-product of making transparent glass.

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "This Jinling University is similar to the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty. I heard that students are usually strictly controlled. These students passed the city drunk, probably before classes started after the new year, and went back to school early to play around. Alas, all the southern provinces are If there is a university, when can I get one in Hebei?"

Li Jixiu said with a smile: "At least there must be a middle school, otherwise how can universities in Hebei recruit students? I guess that is why His Majesty reopened the imperial examination to give northern scholars a way to prevent 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.

But I saw a group of college students who had not yet started classes, and many scholars who were rushing to take exams, arguing fiercely around the bookshelf.

A new book has just arrived, called "An Examination of Oracle Bones".

Perhaps because it is too unknown, and for fear of poor sales, the number of copies is not large, so this bookstore only purchased three copies.

There are scholars who have been staring at the new book for a long time, and they will open it no matter how rare it is, and then it will cause a sensation.

This book was written and prefaced by the emperor himself. It contains roughly three points: first, the origin of oracle bones was discovered by farmers in Henan and local officials donated them to the emperor; second, the gentlemen of the Cangjie Hall of the Hanlin Academy spent all their sleep and food studying the oracle bones. , if it causes controversy, all walks of life should not blindly criticize it; thirdly, the formation of Chinese characters may not be the work of one person, Cangjie may be a specific official position in ancient times.

The first ten or so pages are all oracle bone rubbings, which were printed by engraving and printing by craftsmen. Although not every piece of the selected oracle bones could be completely identified, at least 60% of the characters were recognized.

Next, the method of identifying oracle bone inscriptions summarized by Cangjie Guan is followed by specific examples of oracle bone inscriptions, as well as the corresponding bell and tripod inscriptions, large and small seal scripts, official script and regular script. From ancient times to the present, the development of a text is clearly laid out in front of readers.

"Haha, look at the word 'xiang'. The oracle bone inscription is really an elephant. Even the trunk and tail are clearly drawn."

"Have you seen an elephant?"

"How come I haven't seen it before? There is one in my hometown. I am from Yunnan!"

"Do elephants really have such long trunks?"

"The trunk is very long. If you have seen an elephant with your own eyes, you will know that it is exactly the same as this oracle bone inscription. After studying it in Cangjie Museum, everything is clear. Today's "Xiang" character, the top two strokes, are the trunk of the elephant. Derived. The horizontal '日' character in the middle is actually the elephant's head. The long curved hook below is the elephant's body and last leg. The three hooks on the left are the first three legs of the elephant. The ones on the right The stroke is the tail of the elephant.”

"It's true. It's very clear. This is how the word 'xiang' comes from."

"Come on, let me take a look, don't block me!"

"..."

When the bookstore owner saw that there were more and more people piling up, he couldn't help but said: "Are you going to buy it? It's delaying my business."

"How much does it cost?" asked a scholar who was not short of money.

The bookstore owner said: "Thirty yuan!"

A book costs thirty taels of silver, which is definitely expensive. Ordinary books only sell for a few hundred yuan, or even dozens of yuan.

However, this "Oracle Bone Research" is a thick tome, and all the pictures must be engraving and printing, and the pages with pictures and texts must use overprinting. In addition, the circulation volume is relatively small. After calculating the cost, the selling price of thirty taels of silver is not deceptive.

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

"I'll buy one too." Another scholar paid.

The bookstore only purchased three books, but two were sold immediately. The shopkeeper was so happy that he was stroking his beard.

It's a pity that no one paid for the last one. After all, thirty taels is a huge amount of money and can buy more than two thousand kilograms of white rice.

Only then did Li Jixiu and Zhang Zhaoyong have the opportunity to squeeze in and watch the contents of the book together with other poor scholars.

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

While slurping noodles at a roadside stall, Li Jixiu sighed repeatedly: "I used to study "Shuowen Jiezi" assiduously, but today it finally dawns on me. You must know about oracle bones before you can explore characters. The Hanlin Academy has done a great job!"

Zhang Zhaoyong said regretfully: "It's a pity that I am short of money. Otherwise, if I buy a copy and take it home, it will surely become a family heirloom. Even if I fail, it will be a worthwhile trip."

Zhang Zhaoyong's family only runs a small business, so he must be richer than Li Jixiu, but he can't just take out thirty taels.

Li Jixiu said: "How about buying some paper and copying it in the bookstore?"

"I'm afraid the store won't let it go," Zhang Zhaoyong said. "There are so many people with so many hands, and there's ink. If you don't pay attention, the book will be stained."

Li Jixiu was a little disappointed and swore: "When I save money in the future, I will definitely buy a copy of "Oracle Bone Examination" and take it home. Later generations of the Li family will understand the mystery of the evolution of words!"

In another two days, you can use your admission ticket to draw lots to select your exam seat number.

The two went to the Ministry of Rites to report. In addition to drawing seat numbers, the government also issued them waist badges: "With this badge, you can go to the libraries of Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy to read books. Remember, the badges are odd-numbered." , can only be used on single days, and even-numbered badges can be used on even days, based on the Datong New Calendar. Books are not allowed to be borrowed, and are only allowed to be read in the library. The badge is valid for one month until the end of the trial . The waist badge must be returned, and if lost, it must be reported, otherwise you will never want to be an official in the future, and your title will be revoked if you get the top prize."

Is there such a good thing?

Li Jixiu said happily: "The new dynasty has a new atmosphere. Your Majesty is still kind to the scholars."

"Yes," Zhang Zhaoyong said excitedly, "I heard that many of the books in the Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy are from the royal collections of the previous dynasty. If you had to be an official to see them in the previous dynasty, how could we, those of us who are taking exams, be allowed to do so? Borrowing?"

The two of them took their badges and headed straight to the Hanlin Academy, only to see that the library here was already overcrowded.

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

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

Coming to Zhang Zhaoyong's side, Li Jixiu whispered: "Brother Xian, after reading this book, Brother Yu feels that he is a ignorant boy. What are the scholars of Qintian Academy in the current dynasty studying?"

"Who knows?" Zhang Zhaoyong was flipping through a book called "Pictures of the Four Seas", reading there with great interest.

The author of "Pictures of the Four Seas" is Ai Julius, a European missionary. This book was only printed and released last year.

After reading a chapter, Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "In the far east, there is a continent called America. The land is full of indigenous people, and there is also civilization. There are Mayans and Inca people, just like the ancient Chinese. In the end, It is strange that a few hundred Spaniards can destroy a country and turn all its citizens into slaves."

"In this way, Spain is all robbers." 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, and Tianzhu is India. The transliteration is just different.

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

Zhang Zhaoyong said: "The Mughal Kingdom in India today and the Yerqiang Kingdom in the Western Regions, the founding monarchs are cousins. They were defeated by the Uzbek Khanate, and the cousin took more than a thousand remaining soldiers and went south to establish the Mughal Empire in India. country, my cousin took more than a thousand remaining soldiers and ran eastward to establish the Yeerqiang Kingdom in the Western Regions."

Li Jixiu asked in surprise: "Is Tianzhu so weak? Can more than a thousand remaining soldiers establish a country there?"

Zhang Zhaoyong said with a smile: "If my Datong Heavenly Soldiers go to India, I am afraid that I will be able to establish another country outside the territory."

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