Zhao Han had a rough idea of the development of literature in the Ming Dynasty because his professional course teacher had briefly talked about it.
In nearly three hundred years, the Ming Dynasty experienced three literary restoration movements.
At this moment, the second retro movement has long ended, and the third retro movement is still in its infancy.
Between the two retros, there was the rise and decline of romantic literature.
During the Wanli period, the government was corrupt and social conflicts abounded. The publication of "Burning Books" (Li Zhi), which contained a large number of heretical ideas, laid the foundation for the romantic literary trend.
Immediately, the public security officer Yuan Hengkong was born, and popular literature blossomed, opening the most exciting chapter of Ming Dynasty literature.
There were three types of popular literature at that time: public security literature, erotic novels, and satirical literature.
A large number of minor pornographic texts in the Ming Dynasty were mostly produced during this period.
Two of the three policemen died, and Yuan Zhongdao, the only remaining one, suddenly denied and corrected himself. He abandoned the path of returning to retroism (truth and authenticity) and seriously fell into the retroism school (glorious and pretentious), and the romantic literary trend came to an abrupt end.
Thus, the Jingling Sect was born.
The Jingling School absorbed the spiritualism of the Gongan School while emphasizing the genre and laws of classical poetry.
It is difficult to reconcile the two, which leads to the poetry of the late Ming Dynasty being full of ghosts and ghosts, striving to be obscure and strange, with strange words and sinister rhymes, which has completely gone into evil ways.
The same is true for articles. Scholars like to study the ancient texts of Qin and Han Dynasties, but they do not absorb the essence of ancient texts of Qin and Han Dynasties. Instead, they are keen on obscurity and weirdness, and especially like to use uncommon words.
In the early years of Chongzhen, there was no connection between the youth and the youth. It was the most declining era of Ming Dynasty!
…
The boat docked at Shitang Town. Fei Yinghuan was holding "Eight Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasty's Notes" in his hand. He had lost interest in visiting friends and just wanted to stay on the boat and continue reading the article.
"Master, we're here." Wei Jianxiong reminded.
Fei Yinghuan had no choice but to hold the book and walk away, wandering and reminiscing about the true meaning of ancient Chinese literature. His mind was filled with the thought, "It is enough to hear the Tao in the morning and die in the evening."
Zhao Han followed behind, dumbfounded at the moment, thinking: How many super towns are there in Qianshan County?
Shitang Town, the largest papermaking center in the country during the Ming Dynasty!
In this town alone, more than 10 million pieces of paper are produced every year, of which more than 300,000 pieces of memorial paper are tribute papers, specially used as memorial paper for imperial officials.
There were tens of thousands of paper-making workers in the town, and at this time, the entire Qianshan County had a registered population of only over 10,000.
When they arrived at the luxurious mansion outside the town, after handing in their name cards, the doorman immediately took them to the living room.
"Brother Dazhao, which gust of wind brought you here?" Fei Zhaojia walked out of the courtyard to greet him.
Fei Yinghuan said: "Quuzi Tongshi, I stopped by your place for a walk."
Fei Zhaojia was Fei Yinghuan's clan brother. He was not from the main clan of Henglin, and the two generations were not even close to each other.
The Fei family in Shitang was also very powerful and mainly engaged in papermaking business. Fei Zhaojia's family had thousands of papermaking workers.
After exchanging a few words, Fei Yinghuan couldn't wait to say: "My dear brother, please read this book."
Fei Zhaojia was also quite talented, but unfortunately he was only a scholar. He looked at the cover, shook his head and said, "I have read this book, but it is not very helpful for imperial examination articles."
Fei Yinghuan thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's true."
As the imperial examination developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty, every sentence in the Four Books and Five Classics had been tested many times, and it was impossible to write new patterns.
Then you can only blindly seek weirdness. The weirder it is, the more attractive it will be to the marking officer.
If you can use uncommon words, try not to use common words.
There are many ways to write a word, so just choose the complicated one.
The Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song dynasties were all true to their feelings, and their words and sentences were relatively straightforward. This style of writing is difficult to imitate. Without a deep foundation of skills and rich experience, it is easy to write mediocre and superficial writing.
The most fearful thing about imperial examination articles was mediocrity. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, scholars simply stopped reading the Eight Great Masters.
To be precise, the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties were eliminated by the imperial examination...
Suddenly, Fei Yinghuan shook his head again and said: "This is the case in the provincial examination, but not in the general examination."
"Maybe," Fei Zhaojia smiled bitterly, "I haven't even passed the provincial examination, so I don't dare to imitate the Eight Great Masters."
Of the entire imperial examination process, the provincial examination can be said to be the most difficult, especially in Zhejiang and Jiangxi!
Scholars from Zhejiang and Jiangxi, if they do not have outstanding talent and learning, take the provincial examination with the writing style of the Eight Great Masters, they will undoubtedly be asking for death.
The national examination is different. There is no need to deliberately seek strange things and new ideas. If you can explain the truth clearly, it is a good article.
Fei Yinghuan stood with his hands behind his hands: "I will become a cultivator of the Eight Great Masters, and I will go to the capital to take the exam in two years!"
"I wish you the title of gold medal." Fei Zhaojia cupped his hands and said with a smile.
…
But it was already afternoon when Xu Ying walked out of the examination room.
Magistrate Feng was away at the time, and the master was very fond of Xu Ying, but he could not make the final decision on the admission. He only said that he would help recommend her.
You should have passed the exam. The county exam is not difficult, and there is no point in getting admitted. The really difficult ones are the government exam and the Taoist exam (i.e., the college exam).
If you pass the government examination, you can be a child.
Those who pass the Taoist examination can become a scholar.
Xu Ying couldn't find her friends outside the examination room, so she walked home along the Qianshan River. It was estimated that she would have to wait until midnight to arrive.
As she walked and recalled the article, Xu Ying became more and more excited as she thought about it.
His "Confucius said" is as follows: The words of the sage have taught for thousands of years, and a gentleman governs the country and brings peace to the world through self-cultivation.
After looking at it, the master asked happily: "How many years have you been enlightened?"
Xu Ying answered honestly: "My family is poor and my enlightenment came late. It has only been two years. I have not yet finished studying Mencius. Fortunately, I am lucky. Today's two questions are both from The Analects of Confucius."
"You have only been able to read for two years, and you can write such an article?" The master was even more surprised.
Xu Ying was both proud and shy at the same time, and replied: "My mother knows some words. Before I was enlightened, I could already write more than two hundred words."
Seeing Xu Ying's shabby clothes, the master couldn't help but think of his childhood, and praised her and encouraged her: "Study well, and don't let down the expectations of the emperor. With your intelligence, you will surely be able to become the prime minister in the future."
"Sir, you are so complimentary." Xu Ying felt as if she had eaten honey.
The master watched Xu Ying leave the examination room and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. The imperial examination was not just about talent. He was also known as a child prodigy back then, but he was still a scholar after half his life. Instead, a idiot like Feng Xun became a county magistrate.
Walking happily along the river, Xu Ying dreamed of being named on the gold medal list, and then building a big house for her parents to enjoy their happiness.
As she walked, Xu Ying became worried again, looking thoughtfully at the seedlings along the way.
There has been no serious rain since the beginning of spring, and today there was only a little bit of rain during the exam, and even the clothes couldn't get completely wet.
Fortunately, it snows heavily in winter, and the melting snow can replenish water, otherwise this spring's seedlings would not be able to bear it at all.
I hope there will be some spring rains. If the drought continues for another month, my family may not be able to pay the rent again this year.
Poor children always think more, unlike Fei Ruhe who only knows how to play around.
…
After staying at Fei's house in Shitang for two days, Fei Yinghuan finally took a boat home.
Zhao Han pointed to the countless paper mills down the mountain and asked, "Sir, is our paper mill as big as this?"
"You still call me Young Master, not Dad?" Fei Yinghuan asked with a smile.
Zhao Han said: "Respect is in my heart, not in my mouth."
"Slippery," Fei Yinghuan said with a smile, "our paper mill is not as prosperous as the one in Shitang. There are only two to three hundred workers in total, unlike the paper mill in Shitang, which often has hundreds or thousands
People? Moreover, the quality of the paper is not good, so I can’t make tribute paper. I sent people to steal it several times but still failed to learn it.”
Workers in paper mills are all hired workers, also known as hired slaves. Their status and deeds are in the hands of their employers. You can't poach people even if you want to spend money.
Moreover, the process of making Shitang zouben paper is complicated. From the collection of materials to the production of paper for sale, the production period lasts for up to one year. It is not easy to poach people and steal teachers.
"Dad, the wine is here." Jiu Po came over holding a wine bottle.
Fei Yinghuan took the wine bottle and blew it to his mouth, took a sip and said, "Did your father really be a great leader during his lifetime?"
Zhao Han replied: "It's absolutely true."
"Isn't he from a rich family?" Fei Yinghuan asked suspiciously.
"Just an ordinary scholar." Zhao Han said.
Fei Yinghuan became increasingly confused: "Besides the Eight Great Masters and Fan Wenzhenggong, who else have you studied?"
Zhao Han said ambiguously: "I have learned a lot, but I can't remember it clearly and I can't recite it."
"Bring a pen and paper!" Fei Yinghuan suddenly shouted.
Qin Xin and Jian Dan immediately came over holding the Four Treasures of the Study.
Fei Yinghuan said: "What good articles have you read? Write down an entry."
Zhao Han thought carefully for a moment and was too lazy to think about it any more. He simply wrote the table of contents of "Gu Wen Guan Zhi" from memory.
I must have forgotten some of the articles, but I probably still remember half of them. After all, I just wrote the title, and I didn't ask him to write the entire article silently.
Fei Yinghuan lay aside and watched. At the beginning, they were all Pre-Qin articles, most of which he had read - it was so strange and abnormal. Fei Yinghuan did not read the prose of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, but he was very familiar with the ancient pre-Qin prose.
As he was writing, Fei Yinghuan suddenly said: "You don't need to use the ancient Chinese writings of Qin and Han Dynasties. I have studied them carefully. You can start writing from the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties."
Zhao Han immediately changed careers, and Fei Yinghuan was looking forward to it.
"Chen Qing Biao", read it.
"Preface to the Lanting Collection", read.
"Returning Letters", I have read it.
After writing more than ten articles until "Beishan Yiwen", Fei Yinghuan found that he only knew one or two.
Fei Yinghuan has never heard of Du Mu's "A Fang Palace Ode", which is such a famous article!
Du Mu was not from the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Most of the retro-renovationists despise the late Tang Dynasty (except for the late Tang Dynasty school), let alone the ancient prose of the late Tang Dynasty, and even the poetry of the late Tang Dynasty are rarely read.
Zhao Han just kept his head down and wrote hundreds of articles in a blink of an eye. He had mostly forgotten the content, but he remembered a lot of the titles of the articles, so he gave them to Fei Yinghuan to read slowly.
Fei Yinghuan's expression became more horrified, and he turned his gaze from the paper to Zhao Han, as if he was observing a monster.
How could a child who has read so many articles come from an ordinary Confucian household?
There was no "Gu Wen Guan Zhi" in the Ming Dynasty.
Fei Ruhe, Fei Chun, Qin Xin, Jian Dan, and Jiupo were all standing around dumbfounded. They... had barely read any of it.
