Chapter 1156 Postscript 12 Confucianism can also be Brahminized
The fence is quite high, and just setting up a stool is not enough. You also have to move a ladder.
As soon as the ladder was brought in and set up, my mother, Wang Yitong, appeared silently.
The maid who had brought medicine to Xie Yan was now huddled behind Wang Yitong, lowering her head and not daring to look at him. She was obviously the informant.
"Where are you going?" Wang Yitong asked.
Wang Sheng was as frightened as a quail, and he shrank his head and replied: "Madam, my husband and I..."
"I didn't ask you!" Wang Yitong interrupted directly.
Xie Yan could only say: "I want to go to the provincial library and check out the chemistry journals in recent years."
Wang Yitong sneered: "You think your own mother has never read a book? You said that you want to switch to science, but you haven't officially started taking classes yet. Do you need to consult chemistry journals? Articles in those journals are not even tested in the imperial examination. Only educated people can understand it. Do you—can you understand it?"
"I understand. If mother doesn't believe it, you can go to the library together." Xie Yan said.
Wang Yitong stared at his son again and again, but did not deny it on the spot, but said: "Okay, I will go to the library with you."
After calling a few servants, the mother and son went out in a carriage.
When leaving the inner courtyard, the younger sister came to the corridor, hid behind the pillars, and quietly made faces at Xie Yan. She looked like Sixth Brother, you are dead.
There is no chaos inside the city, but the real chaos is outside the city.
The carriage went straight to the southeastern city, where the Confucian Temple, Gongyuan, government schools, county schools, primary schools, and libraries were all located in this area. Many shops in the surrounding streets also sold cultural supplies.
Including the capital, the whole country has this layout, and official cultural and educational institutions must be located in the southeast of the city.
The weather is cool today, and there are quite a few people going out for shopping.
They were all stifled by the sweltering heat of the past few days.
Scholars of different ages, from seventy-eight years old to twenty-seven or twenty-seven, gathered in various shops in this area.
There are even many female students, accompanied by their families or invited by their best friends, walking along the street holding various fans, forming a beautiful scenery.
Xie Yan pulled up a corner of the car curtain and secretly admired those ancient beauties.
Wang Yitong thought to himself that it was time to find a matchmaker for his son. But he had to wait until next year for the imperial examination. If he could pass the imperial examination, he would be more confident when marrying someone.
However, my son broke his head and forgot all what he had learned before, and was still arguing about switching from liberal arts to science.
Alas, how can I pass the exam?
The carriage stopped in front of the provincial library, and Wang Yitong led his son in.
The first floor was full of people, mostly students, but there were also quite a few ordinary citizens.
The common people actually have the time to study. It seems that the Ming Dynasty is not bad. Regardless of the poor people at the bottom, and regardless of the fierce fighting among the bureaucrats, the Ming Dynasty is prosperous from a macro perspective.
The Ming Dynasty, after Emperor Dingtai took control of the army, indeed entered its true heyday!
The reason why it looks so chaotic is that firstly, the disparity in development between the coastal and inland areas has brewed very intense regional conflicts; secondly, Emperor Dingtai’s imperial power was threatened and he had extremely low tolerance for various behaviors of officials, so he deliberately created conflicts in his later years.
More intensified.
In fact, if Emperor Dingtai had not acted so tough, all the civil and military officials in the later Manchu dynasty would have been virtuous ministers who were promoted by him.
It's okay to be tough, but Emperor Dingtai was old and sick at the time.
The emperor himself did not have enough energy, so he asked the prince to thoroughly investigate a major case, which naturally made the civil and military people panic. Until the prince died of natural illness and the emperor became even more aged, the ministers who had deep conflicts with the emperor must have more thoughts.
At this time, King Yong also saw an opportunity and secretly colluded with those civil and military officials.
The eunuch saw that the emperor was not long alive, the prince had died of illness, and the grandson was still very young, so he would easily be won over by King Yong and his ministers.
As a result, King Yong, eunuchs, civil servants, military generals, and the four forces joined forces to control the inside and outside, forming a large network just waiting for the death of the old emperor.
The old emperor was unable to resist, so he simply followed the trend and used retreat to advance. He demoted the truly virtuous civil servants, transferred the trustworthy generals to Chang'an and Kaifeng, and let a few absolute confidants stay in Luoyang to protect his grandson when he fled.
Those absolute confidants, especially the generals who led the army, secretly accepted the emperor's orders and pretended to be complicit, creating an illusion for the treacherous ministers that they had control of the overall situation.
A commander of the imperial army who was responsible for escorting the grandson to escape from Luoyang was originally just a viscount due to his ancestor Yu Yin. After the new king succeeded to the throne, he was directly canonized as a county official!
Xie Yan even wondered whether it was because of his experiences in middle age that Emperor Dingtai became prone to stress, which led to his excessively aggressive governance methods in the second half of his life, turning him into a loner.
To put it more bluntly: There are always unscrupulous people who want to harm me!
On the first floor of the library, several students recognized the mother and son. No loud noises were allowed here. They stood up and bowed, but did not speak or make any sound.
When Xie Yan saw his mother bowing in return, he also followed her example and bowed.
Wang Yitong whispered to his son: "You go upstairs. I won't embarrass the gentleman here. I will just read and wait for you on the first floor."
Xie Yan took out his student badge, showed it to the librarian, and then climbed the stairs to the second floor.
Wang Yitong doesn't think his son can understand academic journals, but it doesn't matter.
Anyway, once my son goes to the second floor, he won't be able to run around anymore, and I can just read a book on the first floor.
She was also very depressed at home. She always wanted to go out for a walk, and she finally got her wish today.
Wang Yitong walked to the rows of bookshelves where novels were placed and picked up a realistic novel first.
She behaved dignifiedly and looked calm as she continued to walk forward. Suddenly, with lightning speed, she pulled out a novel about talented people and beautiful women, and used the previous novel as a cover.
Wang Yitong started looking for a seat.
A student next to him stood up and said in a low voice: "Zheng Dan, a student in the residence hall of the government school, wants to meet my wife."
Wang Yitong returned the greeting and said, "Long blessing, young man."
The student gave up his seat and said, "Ma'am, please sit down."
"Thank you."
The student left his name in front of Mrs. Tongpan, happily returned the books and left.
Wang Yitong changed seats with another person in the corner, and finally started reading the novel "The Talented Man and the Beautiful Woman" without any scruples.
The few healthy servants who followed her out were scattered around and pretended to stand reading, secretly preventing anyone from disturbing her.
It was just a novel about a talented man and a beautiful woman, and no one would laugh at her if she found out.
But Wang Yitong has to maintain her image. She had a very strict upbringing when she was a child, and she was not allowed to read novels like this. Now, even though she is married, and even her eldest son has a wife, and there is no one to restrain her, she still has strict requirements on herself.
.
Reading a novel is like being a thief!
When she read about the young lady in the book having a private meeting with the down-and-out scholar, the corners of Wang Yitong's mouth couldn't help but curl up. She quickly looked up and looked around, and found that no one was paying attention, so she continued reading.
However, she then raised her sleeves to cover her mouth to prevent anyone from seeing her giggling like a nympho while reading.
Oops, this novel has a lot of words. I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish it today.
Wang Yitong wanted to ask someone to borrow the books, but after much deliberation he couldn't find a suitable person, and it seemed that the books on the first floor could not be taken out.
After thinking about it carefully, Wang Yitong waved to his maid: "Ask Yu Da to accompany you to buy books. Don't let him see what you are buying. Wrap the novel in leather paper and bring it back."
With that said, he asked the maid to look at the cover.
The maid took the order and left with a serious look on her face. She covered her mouth and snickered after leaving the library.
You know, this lady is known as a tigress!
But Xie Yan went up to the second floor, and after careful questioning, he found out that the academic journals were on the third floor.
He continued up and browsed various books along the bookshelves.
The third floor stores a large number of classics and history collections that were not tested in the imperial examination, as well as a complete set of large official revision histories.
This type of official history, due to its low sales volume, has a small print run. It is often collected in the libraries of wealthy people. Ordinary scholars either go to rich people's homes to borrow it, or they can only go to public libraries to look for it.
There are no changes in the history books of the Five Dynasties and before.
Things changed in the Song Dynasty.
There are a long list of "History of Song Dynasty", "History of Liao Dynasty", "Book of Western Xia", "Book of Jin", "Book of Annan", "Book of Gaoli", "Book of Dali", "Book of Gaochang" and so on.
There are other "Chronicles of the Southeast Asian Kingdoms", "Chronicles of the Barbarians in the Southwest", "Chronicles of the Western Regions", "Chronicles of the Indian Kingdoms", "Chronicles of the Kingdoms of Tianfang", and "Chronicles of the Western Taipei Kingdoms".
…
Xie Yan didn't know what Tianfang was, but he had heard of Arabian Nights.
To be continued...