Looking through several sets of books on the table, Chen Jingke had to admire the ancient craftsmen.
In just two or three months, I have mastered the woodblock printing technique, and the printed books are neat, clean and tidy.
These books are all the works of the printing house under the name of the Ministry of Industry, mainly the Nine Classics and "Treatise on Epidemics and Insects".
Although Buddhism and Taoism were strong in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Confucianism could only be ranked third, but the country was still governed by Confucianism.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty selected scholars based on the Ming Classics subject. The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui system and stipulated that the Nine Classics should be the content of the Ming Classics examination.
This kind of core book was naturally Li Shimin's first choice for mass printing, and in order to establish a unified standard, he published the Hongwenguan annotated edition.
But if anyone really thinks that he published the Nine Classics just to create more scholars, he is totally wrong.
Cheng Huailiang looked around, and when he saw no one around, he lowered his voice and said, "I heard that there is going to be a big quarrel in the court because of the Nine Classics."
Chen Jingke was not surprised and said: "I guess the people making the noise are basically people from noble families."
Cheng Huailiang said: "Yes, they are mainly members of the gentry. Their reason is that each school of thought has its own strengths. To do so is disrespectful to the sages and unfair to the students."
Chen Jingke laughed and said: "These people are so shameless that they dare to say anything. The lack of unified standards is the biggest injustice to ordinary students."
Qin Yan said: "Who makes the noble clan have such great influence? If they say it's black, it's black, and if they say it's white, it's white. I don't know if the saint can withstand the pressure this time."
Yuchi Xunyu said: "I heard from my father-in-law that Your Majesty is determined to do this. Even Kong Siye came forward to support it. I'm afraid the noise among the nobles will not have much effect."
Kong Siye is the prince of the country, Kong Yingda, the right concubine of the crown prince, and the legitimate descendant of Confucius. His goal is to return to his roots and restore the original nature of Confucius' thoughts. For this reason, he was often criticized by the nobles.
Qin Yandao smiled and said: "Kong Siye has long been dissatisfied with the gentry's misinterpretation of Confucius' works. This is a matter known to everyone. He is one of the hosts of the revision of the Nine Classics in Hongwen Hall."
"It's just that all books in the past were copied by hand. The nobles relied on the power of cliques all over the world to control the right to annotate the classics. Even His Majesty was helpless. It was difficult to disseminate the Nine Classics revised by Hongwenguan."
"The emergence of printing fundamentally reversed this situation. It is said that the Press of the Ministry of Industry could print five thousand sets of Nine Classics every day, and the imperial court sold these books to scholars at extremely low prices."
"In the past, if scholars wanted to learn the Nine Classics, they could only ask the nobles for help. Now, they can buy the books at home and study on their own, free from the control of the nobles."
"This is simply killing the nobles. They will definitely not sit still and wait to die. Just wait and see, the fun is still to come."
Another point he did not mention was that the emperor had long been dissatisfied with the gentry headed by Qiwang of the Five Surnames, and ordered the compilation of "Chronicles of the Clan" in the sixth year of Zhenguan.
Now that we have a way to dig into the foundation of the noble clan, we will naturally not let it go.
Cheng Huailiang shook his head and said: "I'm afraid things won't be that simple. Moreover, the noble family does have the right to be proud. It has a long inheritance and a profound family history."
Chen Jingke sneered and said: "Whose ancestors have never produced a capable person? If you look back, we are all descendants of Yan and Huang, and I am still a descendant of Emperor Shun."
Hearing this, Cheng Huailiang and others were surprised and said, "Are you really a descendant of Emperor Shun?"
Chen Jingke said with certainty: "That can still be false. In ancient times, there were eight major surnames: Ji, Jiang, Si, Yao, Ying, Gui, Gui, and Xie. Most of my Chinese surnames originated from this."
"Shun had two surnames, Yao and Gui. He was named Yao because he was born in Yao Xu, and his surname was Gui because he lived in Guishui... My Chen family originated from the surname Gui."
"King Wu of Zhou destroyed King Zhou of Shang Dynasty and established Zhou Dynasty. He found Duke Guiman, a descendant of Emperor Shun, and granted him the title of Chen State in Chen."
"The descendants of Duke Guiman took the country as their surname, that is, the Chen family. There were four branches: one was Guiwan's lineage, which took refuge in Qi; the other was Guiliu, the son of Chen Aigong, who took refuge in Chenliu."
"One is Chen Yan, the eldest son of Chen Mingong, who took refuge in Wuhu, Yangwu; the other is Chen Quanwen, the second son of Chen Minggong, who lives in Gushi."
"Chen Quanwen's lineage was passed down to Chen Yinqi because he had no children, so he adopted Yingchuan Chen Shi as his heir and merged into the Yingchuan Chen family... The former Chen family was founded by his descendants."
"My lineage is the descendant of Chen Yanggong. During the pre-Jin Dynasty, I lived in seclusion to avoid the chaos in Yongjia."
"So if you really look back, the nobles have nothing to be proud of. They are born much more noble than them. What everyone respects is their knowledge, not their bloodline."
Cheng Huailiang and the others were a little excited. They didn't expect that such a big deal would come up in a casual chat.
Chen Jingke's identity has always been the subject of investigation. After all, his appearance was too sudden. There was no trace before, as if he appeared out of thin air.
Now I finally have a seemingly reliable origin. Although there is still a mystery surrounding it, at least there are traces to follow.
So is what Chen Jingke said true?
He doesn't know it himself.
How did he know so clearly about this inheritance relationship? He also had to thank a wealthy businessman in his previous life.
Many wealthy people like to trace their ancestry. There was a man with the same surname in his hometown who was successful in business. He also followed the trend and spent 500,000 to hire experts to help him find his ancestry.
The expert understood the true thoughts of the wealthy businessman. It didn't matter whether he was a real ancestor. What was important was that the ancestor should be prominent enough.
So after looking through various documents, I traced it back to Guiman, a descendant of Emperor Shun, and sorted out a complete line of inheritance.
Chen Jingke and the wealthy businessman were the same Chen family, but they were far away from each other. They were the same family five hundred years ago. But no matter what, they were considered the same ancestors.
Then some of their elders discussed it and solemnly wrote the expert's 'investigation results' into the family tree.
This is why he knows so much in detail, and even brags about it to his friends - in fact, he knows very well that it is complete nonsense, but who cares about the truth or falsehood.
There is a saying that is widely circulated on the Internet: China never distinguishes high and low by blood, only pets are distinguished by blood.
This kind of recognition is caused by cultural factors on the one hand. Chinese civilization has been cultural identity rather than blood identity since ancient times.
On the other hand, if you really look back, which family doesn’t have a prominent ancestor?
Normally, it’s just a joke, but if you really take blood as the standard, then it will really become a joke.
After traveling through time, he also knew that his identity would be investigated, so he simply used this line again.
In order to be more reasonable, the content after the Eastern Jin Dynasty was deleted and changed to secluded from the world due to the Yongjia Rebellion.
During the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of Chen family members did leave their homeland, especially those going south. Most of the Chen family members in the south migrated there during that period.
There were other surnames that moved at the same time. This historical event is known as the Eighth Surnames Entering Fujian.
Therefore, the identity Chen Jingke fabricated seems very reasonable and can withstand scrutiny. No one can find fault with it.
As for where their family finally moved to live in seclusion, this is a secret and cannot be said.
After learning this secret, Cheng Huailiang and the others went home a little excited, believing that their family would have some follow-up operations.
After Chen Jingke released this 'secret', he ignored it and focused his energy on "Journey to the West".
The previous plots have been completed, leaving only the finale.
He planned to follow the standard routine of Shuangwen novels and have an epic battle as the final ending.
As for who the enemy is in this war and how it should be conducted, we still need to think carefully.