Entering October, even Guangzhou, which is warm all year round, is more or less chilly. By the end of the first year of Daoguang, the "Guangdong General Chronicle" has been drafted and will be finalized after rewriting.

Version. On this day, Yan Jie and Ling Shu also continued to preside over the daily affairs of the Tongzhi Bureau, but the situation on this day was different from the usual crowd. There was a man dressed as a scholar with a baggage, waiting for the two to receive them.

"Sir, I don't know...what do you want to do when you come to our General Affairs Bureau now? The compilation of books in the General Affairs Bureau is basically over now. If you come to our General Affairs Bureau to apply for a job again, there will be no place available?"

"Ling Shu saw that the scholar looked quite sincere, so he took the initiative to ask him.

"Two gentlemen, my surname is Yang and my double name is Bingnan. I am here today because I was entrusted by a good friend during his lifetime to provide your bureau with a new book recording Western affairs." As he said this,

The scholar named Yang Bingnan opened the package, took out a booklet, and said to the two of them: "Gentlemen, please see, my friend's name is Xie Qinggao. When he was young, he wandered on the sea for some reason and was taken to Europe by a Western merchant ship.

America and other continents, I saw a lot of people and affairs between Western countries, and wrote this "History of the Sea". I heard that your bureau compiled the records, and the last part was called "Outside the World Records", which listed all the countries that did business with the Qing Dynasty.

The local customs and customs are listed one by one. The villain thinks that this book may be of some use to the two adults and can make up for many things that we have not seen. In this way, even though the villain is a poor scholar, he can also be of some use to the two adults.

The general secretary of this province has done his best."

"Mr. Yang, your idea... is actually very good. It's a pity that now the Bureau of Public Information... no longer needs your book." Ling Shu saw that there were not many people left in the Bureau of Public Information, so he had to say to Yang Bingnan: "

Mr. Yang, just two months ago, all the content compiled by our General Chronicle Bureau has been compiled. In the past few days, it only needs to be rewritten before the engraving can be started. So you can see that now the general

There are not many people willing to stay in the Chronicle Bureau. In fact, I will tell you that when we wrote "Guangdong General Chronicle" this time, a lot of content was added to the chapter on Outer Bodies, which is unprecedented in history. Your book

Is the book really...really unique?"

"This...should be no problem, right?" Yang Bingnan also said to the two of them: "This friend of mine has indeed been overseas, including England and America. Perhaps a lot of what he wrote is

What doesn’t the people at home know? What’s more, you two don’t know that my friend passed away a few months ago, so I also want to fulfill his wish and let his books be passed down to future generations?”

"Mr. Yang, I can understand how you feel." Yan Jie could only console Yang Bingnan: "It's just that the affairs of the Tongzhi Bureau are too complicated and can't be done by leaving these people now. Even if you take the book

Leave it behind, we will reopen the bookstore, collate, transcribe, and check the authenticity. This all requires time and manpower. It is really impossible to do it now. It is really a pity for your friend. If you need any help in life, I will

You can come to us and we will do our best, but for the rest...why did you come so late?"

"Well, both the villain and this friend are actually ordinary literati. If they can't do some business to supplement their family income, how can they survive just by relying on the thin fields at home? Neither the villain nor my friend know the same people here.

It was only this summer that I learned that the province was compiling a general journal. The villain’s friend only completed the deletions and revisions of this book before his death, that is, in the autumn. It was too late? Since your bureau can no longer

If it is included in his book, then... the villain has no choice but to resign." Yang Bingnan was originally an ordinary scholar. No matter the resources or information, he could not compare with Jiangnan celebrities like Yan Jie and Fang Dongshu. He could not get close to Tongnan celebrities on weekdays.

As a high-level institution like the Zhi Bureau, the opportunity was missed. Seeing that he was unable to help his friend enter the "Hai Lu" articles into the general journal, Yang Bingnan also sighed several times, collected the book, and bid farewell to Yan Ling and the others.

"Homin, I remembered what he said about Western things just now." Ling Shu couldn't help but ask Yan Jie: "What happened to the foreign murderer Ruan Butang arrested before?"

"That foreigner was hanged two days ago." Yan Jie knew the news about the superintendent and told Ling Shu: "The teacher was very cautious in both the trial and the execution of the foreigner's murder case. He should have been the one to hang him as a result.

Yes. So after deliberation by the Ministry of Punishment, there were no other issues, so the hanging was approved, and now the foreign body has been returned to the Americans."

"Yes, I have heard about Ruan Butang's decision on this case. He even agreed to many of the rude demands of those foreigners. Even so, Ruan Butang still decided based on the facts and was impartial. I think only in this way, the foreigners will be convinced.

Take it orally." Ling Shu also heard about Ruan Yuan's verdict and sighed with emotion.

However, the response of the Tranova case in Britain, the United States and other countries was completely opposite to what Yan Jie and others expected.

When the American merchant ship received Tranova's body and brought it back to the country, the people on the "Emily" started to find faults everywhere, and even concocted false plots for no reason to slander Ruan Yuan's unfair conclusion of the case. For example, Ruan Yuan did not let the American crew act as translators.

There was no special lawyer appointed for Tranova, and there were even no Americans present when Tranova was later executed. China had no additional regulations at that time, and even European and American countries did not have clear details of mandatory legal provisions. This became the reason why Ruan Yuan was attacked.

Reason. In the end, there were even completely untrue rumors such as "Tranova was originally innocent but was unjustly killed by Qing officials" and "Tranova was forced to confess his crime due to torture". It is said that even the United States

The then President Monroe was also confused by various rumors and once wrote letters to Ruan Yuan and Daoguang to defend Transnova. However, the two countries were thousands of miles apart. These letters were not sent to Guangzhou at all and disappeared in the long history of history.

.

The country of Millicia, commonly known as Citi, belongs to North American Milliga, bordering Canada and Great Britain...South Asian Millica has Barasi, which belongs to the Lesser Ocean, and there is also the country of Badalonia, which is close to the Fire Land and to the west.

The land of Lima, the most beautiful land, belongs to Greater Luzon, and produces gold and silver. The land of Northern America is very large, and the north of Great Britain is occupied by barbarians. The south of Great Britain is Mirica, and the west of Mirica is also

It was occupied by the barbarians, and there was land there, and there was an island in the East China Sea, named Xiqidiya...

In the spring of the second year of Daoguang's reign, the 334-volume "Daoguang Tongzhi of Guangdong" was finally officially completed, printed and published. The new version of "Guangdong Tongzhi" covers geography, people, construction, coastal defense and other aspects.

Compared with the old records, it has made great progress, especially all coastal defense drawings, which were completed by Li Mingche's actual measurements. The content is complete, clear and credible. The "Outside Tibet" volume also records the trade history of various countries since the Qianjia period.

The geography and customs of the countries in Western Europe and America are included, and many new countries are added that are not found in ancient books. Judging from the compilation of the provincial annals of the provinces in the early years of Daoguang and the "Unification of the Qing Dynasty", "Daoguang Guangdong Tongzhi"

"Zhi" is also China's earliest official geography work recording American historical materials.

Ruan Yuan also took the opportunity of editing "Guangdong Tongzhi" to recruit talents from Guangdong as guests. Within a few years, Ruan Yuan's shogunate had become prosperous. At this time, Ruan Yuan's staff included teachers and students, in addition to his old friend Jiang Fan.

Yan Jie, who later learned from Ling Shu, Xiao Lingyu, also included Fang Dongshu who joined the shogunate for the purpose of cultivating his ambitions, local celebrities Liu Binhua, Wu Lanxiu and others in Guangzhou. For a time, the Guangdong and Guangdong bureaus were full of talents, reaching the level of Ruan Yuan, the shogunate in Fu Zhejiang

Another peak after that.

But unfortunately, the book with the most detailed understanding of European and American countries in Daoguang's early years may not be "Daoguang Guangdong General Chronicle", but "Hai Lu" written by Xie Qinggao. "Hai Lu" contains many stories about Xie Qinggao's personal experience of Western countries.

The Chinese customs and customs were not included in the "Guangdong General Chronicle". Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the Western content in "Hai Lu" was not included in the "Guangdong General Chronicle" in time.

However, Ruan Yuan did not know the details at this time. After the "Guangdong Tongzhi" was completed, the General Announcement Bureau also sent many sample books to the governor. He saw that the content of "Guangdong Tongzhi" was four times that of the old one.

Ruan Yuan couldn't help but be moved. Thinking back to a year ago, at the beginning of spring, Zhang Xi suddenly died of liver disease, and then Ruan An died young. As winter passed and spring came, it was the printing season again, and he had already arrived.

At the age of fifty-nine, I can't help but sigh repeatedly, deeply aware that things in the world are impermanent.

On this day, Kang Shaoyong, Yan Jie and others also came to the governor's house to watch the newly published "Guangdong Annals" together. Seeing that Ruan Yuan's face was filled with more sadness than joy, Kang Shaoyong also took the initiative to step forward.

He advised: "Teacher, now that "Guangdong Tongzhi" has been published and revised, the teacher has made great contributions to the culture and education of eastern Guangdong. Please express my condolences to the teacher for the unpleasant things in the past."

"Lang Gao, how could I not be clear about these things?" Ruan Yuan looked at the disciples and officials, most of whom had gone through many vicissitudes of life and no longer looked young. He looked at his own gray beard and sighed: "

It’s just that the teacher is fifty-nine this year. If he can still survive a year safely, he will be sixty. The teacher’s health is clear to him. When he was young, Emperor Gaozong moved him. He only served as an official for two years.

I became a Jingqing. At that time, I was always worried, fearing that I would be unlucky and lose my life. I never thought that I would be able to go all the way, and now I am in my ears. But I have been a little worried recently, and there are many

I... I haven't finished it yet? Lan Gao, this year I am also thinking of taking stock of all the articles and poems I have left over the years, sorting them into a collection, and then engraving them. However, these articles of mine are of mixed quality, and some

It is a work of careful consideration, and some of it is just random scribblings, so I also thought that it would not be too late to let Boshen and Dunfu in Beijing take a look at it and select the poems that can be compiled, and then engrave them."

"Teacher, your collection of essays should have been engraved a long time ago. To be honest, the students have been waiting for the teacher's collection of essays for many years?" Kang Shaoyong smiled at Ruan Yuan and said: "Teacher is an official and has talents in the world.

Scholarship can reveal great meanings that the sages have not seen before, and it can also understand astronomy and geography, and has a thorough knowledge of China and the West. Many scattered poems are even more beautiful and beautiful, like the rising sun and jade dew. If the teacher's poems cannot be passed down to the world, what will happen to the world's literati and students?

It’s a big loss.”

"Lang Gao, where did you learn these words?" Ruan Yuan couldn't help but laugh when he heard Kang Shaoyong praise him, and said: "Because of my official position, I have never been able to specialize in one class. I still regret it.

The text of the scriptures is only scattered and isolated, and the other notes are a bit careless. I originally thought that the "writing" handed down from generation to generation should be different from the casual "writing". The key is that the "writing" should be

Otherwise, it cannot be called "literary". Looking back now, perhaps less than half of the essays that truly reflect Hanzao are published. Is publishing an anthology of essays like this a source of laughter? But what if this matter were not done until later?

After a few years, I was afraid..."

It turns out that with the development of the Qing Dynasty to the middle period, traditional prose has reached its peak and declined. A large number of prose written by mediocre literati not only has no content, but also has empty style and no rhythm at all. Ruan Yuan is also deeply aware of this

Realizing the shortcomings of prose, he immediately put forward a series of writing standards, wrote two articles, "Classic Yan Shuo" and "Wen Yu Shuo", and put forward the "Distinguishing of Writing Style", believing that an article can only have content that reaches the level of "contemplative writing".

Standards can only be called "wen", while ordinary writing can only be called "pen". He tried to improve the quality of writing by raising standards. At this time, Ruan Yuan looked back on his own writing and found that his requirements were naturally more stringent than ordinary ones.
Chapter completed!