Chapter 642: The ebb and flow of the tide create the wind at the ferry
Zhao Yi secretly took out Zhao Xin's autographed letter from the envelope with pride, glanced at it, and couldn't help but say "huh". His son Zhao Tingyan, who was sitting behind him, couldn't help but lean forward to take a look, and he also showed a look of surprise.
The content of Zhao Xin's letter is actually nothing. It is mostly in vernacular, and most of it is praise. He said that Zhao Yi "has a stratagem for managing the world, but he has not used it to its full potential", and that Yuan Mei was "talented and learned."
, don’t bother to live under someone else’s side,” etc. In fact, with his current status, he doesn’t have to be like this, but in order to give Wang Zhong face and boost the momentum for the new imperial examination in Beihai Town, he must cooperate with him.
Of course, if it were just these, it would only make Yuan and Zhao secretly proud. The most important thing was that his handwriting aroused Zhao Yi's interest, which was quite refreshing.
You must know that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all those who achieved success in the imperial examinations were good at writing regular script, which is Guange style. Although this thing is the same as thousands of hands and has no personality, it is an introductory skill for scholars to settle down and make a living.
What surprised Zhao Yi was that Zhao Xin's letter was written in small regular script throughout. Although it didn't look like it was written with a brush, it still showed the meaning of the brush, and it had the flavor of European regular script. Every word
Although the strokes are slender, the handwriting is strong and powerful, full and compact, and occasionally indulges in stretching, and it is like a spear and a spurge. It can be seen that it has been worked on for many years. For this word alone, it is easy to be a scholar.
Well, if Zhao Xin's father were here, he would definitely feel very happy. He used a big slap to force his son to copy the pen calligraphy for ten years, and finally his efforts were not in vain. In fact, Zhao Xin's father planned to let Zhao Xin work in the system.
Those with good calligraphy will definitely be valued; however, Zhao Xin really didn't like the atmosphere and resigned after staying there for two years.
At this time, Yuan Mei, who was on the side, also felt something was wrong, so he came over and looked at it for a moment, and couldn't help but marveled. He couldn't help but asked Xu Dayong: "Forgive me for being ignorant, this is the first time I have seen such writing. May I ask, sir?
From whom did you learn calligraphy?”
How could Xu Dayong know calligraphy? His spider-like calligraphy was something he had learned assiduously in the past few years. Seeing his confused look, Yuan and Zhao stopped asking.
Compared with Zhao Xin's polite words, the content of Wang Zhong's letter was much more detailed. He first elaborated on the contents of the new imperial examination in Beihai Town in early August. The general principle is to "correct the source, promote the classics, and the text must be useful."
Twelve words.
Yuan Mei couldn't help but smile when he saw it. He said to himself, Wang Rongfu. After struggling for a long time, it turned out that what he did was Gu Ningren's trick. However, he thought again, Wang Zhong, Jiang Fan, Hong Liangji, Jiao Xun, Duan Yu
Cai, aren't Liu Taigong and others who have taken refuge in Beihai Town all descendants of Gu Yanwu!
Since the Patriarch has been so powerful, Wang Zhong and others will naturally adhere to it unswervingly.
It is said that in Gu Yanwu's work "Rizhilu", the criticism of the imperial examination system and the eight-legged essay takes up almost one-third of the space. The first seven volumes are directly related to the eight-part essay; volumes 16 to 17 are dedicated to the imperial examination.
Interpretation at the institutional level; Volumes 18 to 21 are essays on art, which discuss in detail the methods of making meaning and the stories behind the articles.
Some people in later generations said that Gu Yanwu opposed the imperial examination. In fact, he was opposed to the imperial examination after the mid-Ming Dynasty.
Okay, let me tell you, listen, what are you thinking about back then...
Since the imperial examination system in ancient China was formed in the Tang Dynasty, the two subjects of "Ming Jing" and "Jin Shi" have waxed and waned with each other in the imperial examination system. Debates over the meaning of classics and poems and poems have also been ongoing. Until the early Northern Song Dynasty, they were still not well understood.
Solution. The "Ming Jing" subject takes Confucian classics as its content, focusing on classics and commentaries; the "Jin Shi" subject takes poetry as its content and pays attention to rhetorical articles.
During Wang Anshi's political reform, he completely reformed the imperial examination, abolished the "Ming Jing" subject, and changed the examination content of the "Jin Shi" subject to focus on classics, meaning and policy theory. So far, the Jin Shi subject has unified the world. Of course, this guy's private goods are not the same.
Young, he used his "New Meanings of the Three Classics" as the scope of questions and the basis for evaluation in the exam, seeming to put himself in the position of a saint.
After the Song Dynasty moved south, Neo-Confucianism emerged, and the number of fans of the four schools of Lian, Luo, Guan, and Fujian soared. Driven by Zhu Xi and his disciples, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism came to the forefront, and Zhu Xi's "Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books" replaced Wang Anshi's "New Meanings of the Three Classics"
", became the new imperial examination syllabus. However, the changes at this stage still put the imperial examination's foothold on selecting talents who have the ambition to run the country and help the world and are truly talented and practical, which is what Zhu Xi said "
Knowing what their nature is and what their duties should be, everyone should be humble enough to do their best."
When Lao Zhu came to power in the early Ming Dynasty, he naturally continued to use his family's textbooks as exam syllabuses. However, the standards at that time were different from those later. Gu Yanwu also highly praised it and believed that only in this way can real talents be obtained.
In the early Ming Dynasty, there were three exams for Jinshi subjects. The first exam was three "Four Books" questions, the second exam was about one essay, and the third exam was about one policy. Who can't be a troll? You have to find a solution after the trolling.
Okay. I've passed the other three stages and it's not over yet. There are five more stages to pass, namely riding, shooting, writing, arithmetic, and law.
However, during the Chenghua period, the "eight-legged essay" appeared. The so-called "gu" is actually a duality, requiring one positive and one negative, one virtual and one real, one shallow and one deep.
As soon as the examinee comes to write, he must first decipher the meaning of the question, saying three sentences, which are four parts; two to four sentences in the middle, taking over the theme and clarifying the meaning, which are four parts; and then he has to explain why the saint said this, so
I have to collect two sentences and call it the origin; finally, I will make a conclusion.
In fact, such regulations are mainly to unify the standards for judging papers. Otherwise, the examiner will go crazy if he writes a 3,000-word essay every now and then. As long as the first three sentences are not correct, it will be useless no matter how good the subsequent writing is, and he will be passed directly.
.
The development of eight-part essays in the Ming Dynasty can be divided into three periods. The eight-part essays from the early Ming Dynasty to Chenghua are called Jingyi essays. They have not yet broken away from the old system of "Song and Yuan Jingyi", and are mainly interpretations and annotations.
The period from Chenghua to Jiajing was the finalization period of the Eight-part essay, and the integration of ancient prose techniques and the emphasis on "taking ancient prose as contemporary prose" opened the heyday of the Eight-part essay in the Ming Dynasty.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, after Longqing and Wanli, due to various reasons such as political corruption, fierce party struggles, and the prevalence of Xinxue, the respected status of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism began to waver, and traditional Neo-Confucianism also began to shake.
It began to become disorganized, and the Eight-Part Part Essay also underwent major changes.
During this period, there were many schools of Zhiyi. Although they were all colorful and colorful, they were of no use to national politics. They focused on writing skills and strayed from the truth. For a time, the literary nature of the eight-legged essay was brought into full play. Tang Xianzu, Gu Xiancheng,
Yuan Hongdao, Tao Wangling, Dong Qichang, etc. are too numerous to mention.
The mentality of sitting and talking has played a very bad role in this, especially the "Zhejiang School". For example, Wang Ji once said that doing business is virtue, and it is not two things. This means that,
As long as you can pass the exam to become a scholar, or even become a Jinshi, being immoral can become virtuous; in this case, corruption, party strife, or even harming the country and the people have nothing to do with morality.
As for the late Ming and Qing dynasties, it was even more complete. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties naturally needed to use Neo-Confucianism and eight-legged essay to constrain their thoughts. Through fame and fortune, the literati gave up their personality and became slaves. The moral achievements and literary integrity of the scholars became
It was a one-person affair, with scholars focusing on hunting for subject names, reading and writing for exams, and ignoring classics and history. Some people even didn't know who Su Shi was.
As a result, those literati who are based on the study of classics and history and abide by the classics and uprightness cannot conform to the prevailing literary style of the time when they create eight-legged essays, so they will fail repeatedly.
Just like Wang Zhong, Hong Liangji, Liu Taigong, Jiang Fan, Jiao Xun and others, it is easy for them to become scholars, but when it comes to being promoted to Jinshi, it is difficult for them to survive. It is not that their talents and learning are not high enough, but because they have a good understanding of eight-legged essays.
Their value orientation is different from that of the mainstream, and there is no room for accommodation in the ideological differences between the two parties. If people like them want to pass the imperial examination and show their ambitions, they can only compromise and bow their heads.
Whether it was Yuan Mei or Zhao Yi, both of them hated this situation, but they were powerless. What the Manchu emperor wanted was a group of obedient minions, not people with independent ideas. As long as the officials followed his baton, they would be fine.
Well, it is the emperor's credit to bring benefits to the people! Corruption is nothing, just kill a few, and there will be others waiting in line.
Yuan Mei read Wang Zhong's letter very slowly, so much so that Zhao Yi had already finished reading Zhao Xin's letter, and he had only read the second page. It was said that he and Wang Zhong actually knew each other, and they had been together before.
It was eight years ago when Wang Zhong visited Xiaocang Mountain and saw a couplet in the study that actually read: "This place has high mountains, lush forests and bamboos, and one can read three tombs, five classics, eight ropes and nine hills."
"
Wang Zhongna is known as a person who "doesn't read anything without reading". In fact, he doesn't look down on Yuan Mei at all, and he thinks that he is so big!
So in the subsequent conversation, he teased Yuan Mei, saying that he heard that Brother Xian had read the tomb code Suoqiu, and he was really well-read. Today, I came here specially to borrow this book. I wonder if it is okay? Of course Yuan Mei couldn't take it out, so he was a little confused.
Feeling embarrassed and losing face, after Wang Zhong left, he quickly asked someone to remove the couplet.
In short, Wang Zhong made it very clear in this letter. Of course, the eight-legged essay should be used as the standard for answering questions when opening courses in Beihai Town. However, candidates do not have to speak for the sages and sages, as long as they are beneficial to the country and the people's livelihood.
First place. And he stated that King Zhao intended to relax the standards and increase the proportion of people who passed the exam.
Yuan Mei read the letter and handed it to Zhao Yi. After reading Zhao Xin's letter, he began to make plans. He really wanted to see what Beihai Town was like and what a big iron ship was like. He would go to Beihai by the way.
Come and enjoy the scenery of the North Country.
Even though this old man is already 78 years old, he has no time to spare and often goes out for sightseeing. Especially when his son Yuan Chi was born at the age of 63, the burden of having no children was gone. He has been to Guangdong and Guangxi as far away as possible.
I climbed Mount Huangshan when I was 68 and climbed Mount Tiantai when I was 77. I am in good spirits.
At this time, Xu Dayong saw Yuan Mei thinking deeply and said nothing, so he asked: "What does Mr. Jian Zhai have to ask?"
Yuan Mei smiled lightly and said, "I wonder when your Majesty will send a ship to pick us up?"
"Mid-May, no later than the end of May."
"So early?"
"What I mean is that after the scholars arrive, it is best to familiarize themselves with the environment of Beihai Town. In addition, we should take them to visit various places in order to understand the various systems of our Beihai Town."
Yuan Mei nodded after hearing this, and was about to ask about the ship again when Zhao Yi suddenly interrupted: "I would like to ask, when will King Zhao lead his army south? Now that you have occupied a corner of Shandong, what are your next plans? Could it be that you want to imitate
It’s an old story from three years ago, and we landed at Dagu Port again?”
Xu Dayong knew that this man had done military preparation and knew a little about military matters, so he said in a deep voice: "Mr. Oubei, military matters are about soldiers who are not afraid of deceit. Please ask me the specific time of entering the customs."
, what should I say? But what I can tell you is that the Manchus have already begun to flee westward."
"Escape to the west?" Yuan Mei and Zhao Yi looked at each other in shock, thinking that when they met Qinggui a few days ago, they never heard the other party mention it at all.
Zhao Yi said anxiously: "Where are you going to escape to? The Western Region?"
Xu Dayong said with a proud face: "Mr. Oubei, now that our Beihai Town has captured the entire Mobei Mongolia, it is impossible to go to the Western Regions. They can only go south from Xining and enter Tibet."
"Go to Tibet?!" Zhao Yi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly slapped the table and said: "No wonder it has been half a year since the imperial court conquered Gorkha, and there is no mention of paying tribute at all!"
Yuan Mei didn't know much about military affairs. He only knew that the imperial court appointed Fukang'an as Fuyuan General last year and that he would go into hiding after sending troops. He turned to Xu Dayong and said, "What do you mean, brother Xu?"
"That's right. Gurkha is the escape route left by your Majesty to the Manchus."
Except for Xu Dayong, the five people in the room couldn't hide their shock when they heard this.
Yuan and Zhao both let out a sigh in unison. They didn't expect that the Qianlong Dynasty, which seemed to have great martial arts, had reached such a stage. The vicissitudes of the world were really like a dream. Although they had already seen through the world and did not care about the officialdom of the court, no matter how they said it, they
They were also Jinshi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they all served as officials in the Hanlin Academy. Now that the building is about to collapse, I feel all kinds of emotions in my heart.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! But then again, now that we have reached this point, we must consider the future of our children, so we have to get on the big ship of Beihai Town no matter what.
Zhao Yi raised his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly shook his head and said, "I once heard that your Majesty claims to be of the lineage of King Zhao of the Ming Dynasty. How can you let the Manchu dignitaries escape?"
Xu Dayong said: "If Duke Ou Bei wants to know, it is better to go to Beihai Town and ask your Majesty in person."
Zhao Yi nodded heavily, cupped his hands and said, "That's exactly what I mean!"
After that, the three of them finalized many details, including when and where to board the boat, how to contact them, how many disciples, relatives and friends Yuan and Zhao would mobilize, etc. Beihai Town had to prepare at least two or three months in advance.
Sure enough, when Yuan Mei proposed that she also wanted to go to Beihai Town, her son Yuan Tong was immediately shocked. He thought to himself that this is not carrying you on your back to climb Tiantai Mountain, where you can still catch your breath halfway when you are tired; that is taking a boat.
When you go to sea, you are really going to encounter rough waves and narrowly escape death!
They discussed for more than an hour. Yuan and Zhao were old and couldn't bear to talk for a long time. They felt that they had asked almost all they could ask, so they took their leave.
Xu Dayong and Shen Guisheng also wanted to leave. Although Yinshan Temple had bribed the abbot with money, it was not a place to stay for a long time. They took two of their subordinates and left Yinshan Temple with four others.
The two old men walked slowly, and Xu Dayong had no intention of accompanying them, so he said goodbye to them outside the mountain gate, walked quickly down the mountain, went straight to Xijin Ferry, boarded a fast boat from Caobang, and left.
Yuan Mei and Zhao Yi walked slowly down the stone steps with crutches and the support of their sons. Halfway there, Zhao Yi suddenly proposed to take a rest at the small pavilion halfway up the mountain. Yuan Mei readily agreed. After that, the four of them came to the pavilion.
They all sat down in silence, each thinking their own thoughts.
Yuan Tong and Zhao Tingyan were thinking about what kind of official position they would get if they passed the imperial examination in Beihai Town; Yuan Mei was leisurely and contented. He had been to the capital as far north as possible in his life. He had only heard that it was a bitter cold place outside the pass, but in Xu Dayong
But inside the mouth is a different scene, which is fascinating.
Zhao Yi looked at the gurgling eastward river under the solitary peak of Garlic Mountain, and for some reason he suddenly remembered the past 135 years ago when Zheng Chenggong vowed to fight the Northern Expedition and defeated the Qing army in Zhenjiang.
"Ji Su came to the river and vowed to destroy the Hu, and his army of a hundred thousand devoured the Wu. Let's try throwing a whip across the natural chasm... Alas!"