The grandeur of Nanjing in this time and space also left a deep impression on Zhou Dongtian. Not to mention small counties like Lingao, he once went to Guangzhou for "internship", and the two cities he visited in Hangzhou were called
The walls of the great cities are incomparable.
Zhou Dongtian visited many cities in the old days, and Nanjing was considered a visit here. Even though the Nanjing city wall was in ruins at the time, he was amazed by Ming Taizu's determination and investment in defending his capital at all costs.
The construction of Nanjing's city wall was completely based on the local terrain of Nanjing. Not only the city wall of Yingtianfu in the Yuan Dynasty was used, but also a large number of various hills around Nanjing were used as part of the defense system. In some areas, the mountains were directly used as the basis of the city wall.
Therefore, it has an irregular shape. It is connected to Zhongshan Mountain in the east, Stone Mountain in the west, Xuanwu Lake in the north, and Qinhuai River in the south. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers and has extraordinary momentum. The city base is also luxuriously made of granite or limestone strips.
The two walls are made of stone, and the two walls are built with large bricks. The joints between the bricks are poured with lime, glutinous rice or rice juice mixed with tung oil to form a slurry, which is extremely strong.
At this moment, although there has been no war for many years, Nanjing's city walls and defense facilities are inevitably showing signs of decay. However, the city walls are still in good condition. Even though Zhou Dongtian is not a soldier, he also knows that the existing artillery fire of the army can completely destroy it.
The city wall of Nanjing cannot be destroyed - the artillery fire of the Japanese army in the 1930s was still unable to destroy the city wall of Nanjing, let alone the smoothbore guns of the Fubo Army, which were much backward than the artillery of the Japanese army.
"If the small court of Nanming could resist resolutely, the Qing army would not be able to capture this city." Zhou Dongtian lamented. When the Hunan army besieged Tianjing, the 20,000 hungry and exhausted Taiping troops in the city could still resist for a long time relying on the city walls. Nanming
The conditions were much better than those of the Taiping Army. It was a pity that the small court, tired of party strife, was alienated both internally and externally, and finally surrendered without a fight.
What Mei Lin was thinking about was the Qinhuai River. He gave up the idea of going to meet the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai for the time being. Zhao Yingong gave him some historical knowledge before setting off. He now found that one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai had already become an ancient, and the other seven
Except for Liu Rushi, who was born in 1618 and is over 14 years old, the others are all real little lolita.
"Can you do it?" Zhao Yingong asked, "Even Liu Rushi is too young."
After all, Mei Lin is a modern person, and many things have limits. However, since the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai are temporarily unavailable, he still has to go to the Qinhuai River - what is this famous Ming Dynasty Golden Grotto, which is said to be a place where beauties gather?
It seems that Merlin really wants to experience it. By the way, he can also verify whether the aesthetic taste of the ancients is really special.
The bustling streets make it hard to believe that this is the end of the Ming Dynasty when the Ming Dynasty is about to fall. Although the activities of "building captives" and "rogue bandits" have increasingly appeared in everyone's ears, various places have suffered from disasters year after year, and "sorrows are everywhere."
", "Starving to death" and other such news are constantly heard. Even the terrible news of "changing children and eating" which was not often heard in the past... There are news of famines, defeats, extra factions, civil commotions everywhere, the country
The situation is becoming more and more chaotic day by day. Even in Jiangnan, which has always been considered prosperous, the price of rice has risen to three taels of silver per stone. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the price of rice in Jiangnan has never been so high. However, none of this seems to have happened.
Jiangnan will cast every shadow.
However, many unsettling shadows can also appear here. Those who speak with southern and northern accents are not only officials, gentry and wealthy people, but also many homeless and beggars. There are obviously more such people on the street, and there are more and more people.
There is an increasing trend. In winter, many more corpses "fallen on the road" are picked up by shops in the city than in previous years. There are so many refugees fleeing famine from all over the country, especially from Jiangbei, Anhui and other places, and a large number of them are sold into slavery.
People crowded into the cities outside the city, so that the price of population plummeted.
Cai Yibang, a member of the Qiwei Nanjing branch who had been accompanying the sedan, stopped drinking at this time, slightly opened the curtain of the sedan, and said to Zhou Dongtian: "Master! Sanshan Street is ahead. Please tell me which bookstore to go to."
?”
Zhou Dongtian didn't know how to answer for a while. His purpose was to inspect the local book engraving industry. He had long heard that Sanshan Street in the Ming Dynasty was the book engraving center in Jiangnan at that time, so he came here because of its reputation, but he didn't know which one he went to.
.
After pondering for a moment, he said: "We will get off the sedan here, go to the street and take a look, and tell the sedan to wait here."
"Yes." Cai Yibang responded. Under his command in Nanjing Mandarin, the sedan rolled sideways, and Zhou Dongtian got out of the sedan and stretched his waist. It was hard work for the person carrying the sedan, but the feeling of sitting in the sedan for a long time was also gone.
It feels good. The sedan is not a sofa chair, not even a rattan chair, but a standard hardwood back chair. People sitting in the sedan can only sit upright and cannot move their bodies. To outsiders, it looks majestic and comfortable, but in fact
My waist and legs feel numb after sitting for a long time.
After getting off the sedan, Zhou Dongtian looked at the street. Sanshan Street was much quieter than the busy city he had just walked through. There were not many pedestrians on the narrow bluestone road, and most of them were "dressed" people, most of whom were wearing long gowns.
Occasionally, some of the characters who play short are also servants sent by their masters to buy books.
The two people caught the attention of passers-by on the street as soon as they got off the sedan. Compared with the people around them, they were really different: they had a burly physique, dark skin, and were taller than the average person.
Merlin was a little uncomfortable with it - he had not received any special training from the Intelligence Agency, but had only studied in a short training class for a week before departure. The gown always felt ill-fitting for him, and his bun and headscarf always felt like they were about to fall off.
.I also feel like I don’t know where to put my arms and legs.
Zhou Dongtian is much better in comparison. After all, he serves in the intelligence management bureau. According to the decision of the joint security meeting, the personnel of the intelligence management bureau must undergo certain staggered training, so he has learned in the "farm" system.
.
"Let's go." Zhou Dongtian said to Cai Yibang, "You lead the way and we can take a look around here."
"Yes, sir."
There is a faint fragrance of ink in the air. This is the real fragrance of ink - with the smell of pine smoke. Zhou Dongtian once smelled such a fragrance in the warehouse of the Rare Books Department of a library.
It's the smell of fine Song-printed books. It's more intense than here.
On both sides of Sanshan Street, there are almost all large and small bookstores. They are as big as five bays, and as small as one bay. But no matter how big or small the storefronts are, the eaves of the shops are very high. Looking in from the street, you can
I saw rows of tall bookshelves placed against the wall, filled with all kinds of books.
Each bookstore has a name and a signboard. Most of the bookstores here are "comprehensive bookstores" and sell various types of books. Some specialize in certain categories. For example, religious books such as Buddhist scriptures and Taoism, and some
Those who specialize in "Wei Mo". The so-called "Wei Mo" refers to the Chinese-style eight-legged essays, test poems, policy papers, etc. that are used in every scientific examination. According to the old time and space, they specialize in "teaching aid materials". Although people at that time were familiar with "Teaching Aid Materials".
"Wei Mo" scoffed, but the imperial examinations created a great demand for this industry. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the speed of book publishing was very slow. It took at least three or four years from the completion of the manuscript to the start of publication and printing of a book.
.Only the eight-part essays from the imperial examination that year were compiled and printed basically as soon as the exam was over. This shows the strong demand.
Zhou Dongtian learned from the lecture in the big library that bookstores specializing in selling "Wei Mo" are basically opened by Jiangxi people. In addition to selecting and publishing "Wei Mo", their other main business is to participate in examination fraud.
, serving as a matchmaker between the examiners and the candidates. Except for the less important regular exams and boy exams, they could handle the business of connecting people for almost every level of imperial examination. By the Qing Dynasty, this business even became their main business.
Industry.
Except for some bookstores that sell books on behalf of others, almost every large-scale bookstore has its own printing and printing workshops, and stores a large number of plates. Almost every such bookstore has a front store and a back store model.
Outside the shop, you can hear the sounds of printers rubbing, inking, and brushing bristles in the backyard. Sometimes when the front and backyard doors are open, you can even see the busy figures of the printers and printers.
Zhou Dongtian strolled with great interest, looking at the conditions of various bookstores. This place is somewhat similar to the book market of the cultural market in the old time and space, but it does not have the hustle and bustle of the cultural market. The quiet atmosphere is mixed with the faint fragrance of ink.
The scent of paper made him feel a sense of pleasure.
But such a happy mood will not shake his determination to destroy the printing industry on Sanshan Street with his own hands. According to the traditional printing method, books will always be cultural luxuries that only a few people can possess. The Senate must completely destroy them.
This system is a necessary condition for cheapening and popularizing knowledge.
With such a mood, he strolled into a bookstore, and Mei Lin and Cai Yibang also came in.
This bookstore does not have the largest business among its counterparts on Sanshan Street, but it has a spacious facade - a three-bay facade, tall and bright. The books inside are rich in categories. On the tall bookshelves that occupy three walls, there is a collection of Jufan Classics and History, Wei Mo
House manuscripts, plays and novels, even medical calligraphy and painting manuals, wine and tea scriptures, it can be said that they are all available.
Zhou Dongtian and Mei Lin's appearance and clothing were different from ordinary people. The shopkeeper was very flattering and immediately came to welcome them and asked them to sit down. He also asked the waiters to make tea and put the fruit plate on them, and then asked them their last name and hometown.
"My surname is Zhou, from Guangdong." Zhou Dongtian said, "I studied here while traveling."
"I wonder what kind of books Mr. Zhou would like to read?" the shopkeeper's humble face showed. "The store dare not say that it has all the books, but it is considered to be complete on this street."