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 and take a look, also showing surprise.
The content of Zhao Xin's letter is actually not much. It is mostly written in plain language and mostly contains words of praise. He said that Zhao Yi "had a stratagem for managing the world, but he did not use it to its full potential." He also said that Yuan Mei was "talented and learned." , don’t bother to live under someone else’s roof” and so on. In fact, with his current status, he doesn't have to be like this, but in order to give Wang Zhong face and give Beihai Town's new imperial examination momentum, he must cooperate.
Of course, if it were just these, it would at most 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.
To Zhao Yi's surprise, Zhao Xin's letter was written entirely in small regular script. Although it didn't look like it was written with a brush, it still had the meaning of a brush, and it had a touch of European regular script. Although the strokes of each character are slender, the handwriting is strong and powerful, full and compact, and occasionally indulges in stretching, like a spear and a halberd. It can be seen that many years of effort have been put into it. As far as this word alone is concerned, it is easy to win 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's father planned to let Zhao Xin work within the system, and he would definitely be valued if he had good calligraphy. However, Zhao Xin really didn't like the atmosphere and resigned after staying for two years.
At this time, Yuan Mei on the side also felt something was wrong, so he came over to look at it for a moment, and couldn't help but marvel. He couldn't help but asked Xu Dayong: "Forgive me for being ignorant, but this is the first time I have seen such writing. May I ask who you learned your calligraphy from?"
How does Xu Dayong know calligraphy? His spider-like calligraphy was something he learned assiduously over 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 principles were these twelve words: "correct the original source, promote the classics, and the text must be useful."
Yuan Mei couldn't help but smile when she saw it. She said to herself, Wang Rongfu. After struggling for a long time, it turned out that it was Gu Ningren's trick. However, he thought again, weren't Wang Zhong, Jiang Fan, Hong Liangji, Jiao Xun, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong and others who had 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 "Rizhilu", 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 system. level of interpretation;
The divisions are inherent, the duties should be performed, and everyone bows down to do their best. "
When Lao Zhu came to power in the early Ming Dynasty, he naturally continued to use his own textbooks as exam syllabuses, but the standards at that time were different from those later. Gu Yanwu also highly praised it, believing that only in this way can real talents be obtained.
In the early Ming Dynasty, there were three examinations for Jinshi subjects. The first examination consisted of three "Four Books" questions, the second examination involved one examination of theory, and the third examination involved one examination of policy. Who doesn’t know how to be a troll? There needs to be a solution after spraying. In addition, the three levels are not over yet. There are still five levels to pass, namely riding, shooting, writing, arithmetic, and law.
However, during the Chenghua period, the "eight-part essay" appeared. The so-called "stock" is actually a duality, which requires 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 comes up with a three thousand word essay at every turn. As long as the first three sentences are not correct, it will be useless no matter how good the subsequent sentences are. You will just pass.
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" ushered in the heyday of the Eight-part essay in the Ming Dynasty.
However, after Longqing and Wanli, due to various reasons such as political corruption, fierce party disputes, and the prevalence of Xinxue, the respected status of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism began to waver, and traditional Neo-Confucianism also began to disintegrate. As a result, the eight-part essay also underwent major changes. .
During this period, there were many schools of Zhiyi. Although they wrote colorfully, they were of no use to national politics. They focused on writing skills and ignored reality. For a time, the literary nature of the eight-legged essay was fully exerted. 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 karma is virtuous karma, not two things. This means that as long as one can pass the exam to become a scholar, or even become a Jinshi, one who is not virtuous will become virtuous; in this case, corruption, party strife, or even harm to 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 imprison their thoughts, and through fame and fortune, the literati gave up their personality and became slaves. The moral achievements and literary integrity of scholars have become a matter of one family. Scholars focus on hunting for scientific titles, reading and writing for examinations, ignoring classics and history. Some people don't even know who Su Shi is.
As a result, those literati who were based on the study of classics and history and abided by the classics and uprightness were unable to fit in with the prevailing literary style of using themes and strange things when creating eight-legged essays, so they would fail repeatedly.
Just like Wang Zhong, Hong Liangji, Liu Taigong, Jiang Fan, and Jiao Xun, it was easy for them to become scholars, but they couldn't survive when it came to being promoted to Jinshi. It’s not that their talents and learning are not high enough, but because their value orientation towards Eight-Part Essay 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 express their ambitions, they can only compromise and bow their heads.
Whether it is Yuan Mei or Zhao Yi, both of them hate this situation deeply, but they are powerless to do anything. The Manchu emperor wanted a group of obedient minions, not people with independent ideas. As long as the officials followed his baton, it was the emperor's credit to benefit the people! Corruption is nothing, just kill a bunch of people and there will be others waiting in line.
Yuan Mei read Wang Zhong's letter so slowly that Zhao Yi had already finished reading Zhao Xin's letter, and he had only read the second page. It is said that he and Wang Zhong actually knew each other, and they had been embarrassed in front of each other. That was eight years ago. Wang Zhong visited Xiaocang Mountain and saw a couplet in his study that actually said, "This place has high mountains, lush forests, and bamboos. It is possible to read three tombs, five scriptures, eight ropes, and nine hills."
Wang Zhong is said to be a person who "doesn't read anything". In fact, he doesn't look down on Yuan Mei at all. He thinks that he is a big clove of garlic!
So in the subsequent conversation, he teased Yuan Mei, saying that he heard that Brother Xian had read Suoqiu, a tomb code, and he was really well-read. I came here specially to borrow this book today. Is it okay? Of course Yuan Mei couldn't take it out, so she felt a little embarrassed and lost her dignity. After Wang Zhong left, she 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 saints and sages, and it is 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, she began to make plans. He really wanted to see what Beihai Town was like and what a big iron ship was like, and he would go to Beihai Town to enjoy the scenery of the North.
Even though this old man is already 78 years old, he can't sit still at all 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 as far as Guangdong and Guangxi. He climbed Huangshan Mountain when he was 68 years old and Tiantai Mountain when he was 77 years old. He was 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 so that they can 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 The old story from three years ago, disembarking from 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 a soldier who is 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."
"Fleeing 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.
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's been half a year since the imperial court conquered Gurkha. Even Uncle Wang was taken to the capital and imprisoned, but he didn't propose anything and declare himself a vassal!"
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 let out a sigh in unison. They never expected that the Qianlong Dynasty, which seemed to have great martial arts, had reached such a stage. The vicissitudes of the world are really like a dream. Although they had already seen through the world and did not care about the officialdom of the court, after all, they were both Manchu scholars and had served as officials in the Hanlin Academy. Now that the building is about to collapse, I feel all kinds of emotions in my heart.
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 pondered 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 Ou Bei Gong 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 take 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 suggested that she also wanted to go to Beihai Town, her son Yuan Tong was immediately shocked.
He said in his heart that this is not carrying you on his back to climb Tiantai Mountain, where you can still catch your breath halfway when you are tired; that is going out to sea in a boat, where you will really 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 everything they could ask, so they said goodbye.
Xu Dayong and Shen Guisheng also want to leave. Although Yinshan Temple has bribed the abbot with money, it is not a place to stay for a long time. They took two of their men 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 suggested that they go to a small pavilion halfway up the mountain to take a rest, and Yuan Mei readily agreed. Afterwards, the four of them came to the pavilion and sat down. They were all silent, each with 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 there was a different scene in the mouth, which was 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 swore to destroy the Hu, and his army of a hundred thousand devoured the Wu. Let's try throwing a whip across the natural chasm... Oh!"
