Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 19 A great harvest
Everyone at the banquet was stunned at first, and then they started drinking loudly.

"Cheers to Mr. Lu!"

After a brief greeting, Zhou Mingyuan came closer.

"It's getting late, Mr. Lu, why don't you go pick out some books first?"

Lu Beigu is not a stubborn person. Since these are the prizes for winning the championship, he deserves them, so he is no longer polite.

In the library, Lu Beigu walked straight to the bookshelf of the classics.

For Lu Beigu, the most important purpose of choosing books is to help him learn knowledge and improve his grades. As for reselling them for money, it is not within his consideration.

So, after browsing carefully, he selected three books that would be most helpful in improving his Mo Yi level.

One is the note version of "The Commentary on Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Annals" written by Kong Yingda in the early Tang Dynasty. This book is based on "Collected Annotations on the Spring and Autumn Annals" by Du Yu of the Jin Dynasty. It integrates the achievements of Confucian classics since the Han and Wei Dynasties, explains the profound meaning of "Zuo Zhuan" sentence by sentence, and examines the system of names and objects and the historical background. As one of the "Commentary on the Five Classics①", it is the official standard for the annotation of "Spring and Autumn Annals" in the Tang Dynasty.

This book itself is not particularly expensive on the market, but Lu Beigu can tell at a glance that the senior who took notes for this book is of extraordinary skill.

He took densely packed notes next to the book, and the content directly grasped the key points without any nonsense. It was most suitable for him to improve his grades in a short period of time and to deal with the questions on the interpretation of the classics in the "Spring and Autumn Annals" section.

The other book is also the notes made by this anonymous senior when he was preparing for the exam. It is also one of the "Five Classics Commentary" and is called "Book of Rites Commentary".

Because the imperial examinations of the Song Dynasty placed particular emphasis on ritual studies, the Renzong Dynasty took "ritual governance" as its guiding principle. The notes of this predecessor provided extremely detailed exegesis and explanation of the meaning of "The Book of Rites", which could help Lu Beigu quickly grasp the core content of the five rituals of "good fortune, bad luck, military, guest, and good luck", and accurately respond to questions about the details of the ritual system in Mo Yi.

The last one is the published edition of Chunqiu Jizhuan Zongli by Lu Chun of the early Tang Dynasty, which was published during the Yuanhe period of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty. It is in good condition and has no notes on it.

This book was probably created at the same time as "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", representing the innovative ideas of the "New Spring and Autumn Studies" in the early Tang Dynasty. In the book, Lu Chun inherited and elaborated on Danzhu's idea of ​​breaking the tradition of Han Confucianists sticking to "Zuo Zhuan", and adopted "Gongyang" and "Guliang" to reconstruct the ideological system of "Spring and Autumn Annals" with "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians" as the core.

The imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty gradually emphasized practical application of knowledge, and the three scholars in the early Song Dynasty often referred to this book when studying the "Spring and Autumn Annals". This book's summary of the "righteousness and examples" of the "Spring and Autumn Annals" can provide candidates with a clear framework for answering questions, especially when analyzing the writing style of the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and the praise and criticism of historical events. It can go beyond the tedious annotations and directly point to the key points of righteousness and principles, which is in line with the practical turn of Song Confucianism.

In this way, the two notebook versions allowed Lu Beigu to absorb the skills of his predecessors and quickly improve his understanding of "Zuo Zhuan" and "Book of Rites". "Spring and Autumn Collection and Compilation" combined the three commentaries into one, taking into account the three schools while allowing Lu Beigu to understand the source of the thoughts of Song Confucian scholars in studying "Spring and Autumn".

Together with the half volume of Guliang Supplement that he had copied earlier, it could supplement Lu Beigu's knowledge of Guliang School, the least popular of the Three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals.

It can be said that the books he obtained today are enough to make his Mo Yi performance advance by leaps and bounds in a short period of time!

"Are these three books?"

Zhou Mingyuan did not follow him into the library, but spoke after seeing Lu Beigu coming down from the library.

"Exactly."

Zhou Mingyuan nodded, but didn't even look at the three books. He took out a few pieces of paper and asked with a smile.

"By the way, Brother Lu, could you please give a few words to this transcript of 'Tianhe Water'?"

"of course can."

The other party did not expect that he would do something disrespectful, so Lu Beigu was happy to give him face.

Afterwards, Lu Beigu picked up a pen and wrote the words "Respectfully presented to Brother Zhou Mingyuan and so on" on a desk in front of Shuyu Tower.

After leaving the library, Lu Beigu went back and talked with everyone before saying goodbye and leaving as the sun was setting.

In addition to half a handwritten book, three ancient books from the pre-Tang Dynasty, and a top-grade She inkstone, his bag also contained 50 strings of cash worth of Jiaozi banknotes, which can be said to be a considerable harvest.

Lu Guangyu, who was traveling with them, did not show any desire for these things.

The people of the Song Dynasty were very keen on Guanpu② and were particularly open-minded about winning the lottery. Whoever had the ability would win!

So generally speaking, there is really no one who says "whoever sees it gets a share" with a flattering face.

But Lu Beigu felt that after all, it was the other party who was kind enough to bring him to the event. In addition, when he fell into the water before, it was the other party who shouted for help and someone pulled him out.

Therefore, if I take all these gains for granted without any reward, I would feel really guilty.

While resting on the roadside, Lu Beigu stopped under a willow tree and pulled the dark blue She inkstone from his bag. The ice patterns on the inkstone pool shone dimly in the twilight, like frozen tears. "If Brother Lu hadn't introduced me to the calligraphy club today, I would never have had this opportunity." He handed the inkstone to Lu Guangyu.

"I can't do it! I can't do it!"

Lu Guangyu took two steps back and waved his hands repeatedly: "I heard that this She inkstone is worth more than 20 strings of cash. It is too precious for me. Moreover, my writing skills are so mediocre, how can I be worthy of such a fine inkstone?"

"A gentleman in the world is neither right nor wrong, and is always just as righteous as he is. I have yet to repay Brother Lu for saving my life, and now, with his kindness in recommending me to the book club, do you think you are putting me in an unjust position? This small gift is just a token of my gratitude."

After Lu Beigu said so much, Lu Guangyu had no choice but to accept it.

After all, if you insist on not accepting it, it means you are trying to repay the favor later, which is not what a gentleman does.

He accepted the She inkstone and bowed solemnly to Lu Beigu.

"In that case, I will be disrespectful to refuse."

On the way back, the reeds by the stream rustled, startling a few wild herons.

However, Lu Beigu's mood at this moment was very different from when he came.

The problem of renting a house, which was still difficult to solve yesterday, was solved by an article today.

"The words of Emperor Zhenzong's 'Encouraging Learning', 'A comfortable home does not require a high hall; books contain a golden house,' are truly true in this era."

As dusk fell, Lu Beigu pushed open the creaking courtyard door.

In the dim light coming from the kitchen, Pei Yan was hunched over to add water to a clay pot. When she heard the noise, she straightened up suddenly, and the scattered hair on her temples was wet by the water vapor.

"Why are you back so late?" She came up quickly, a tense tone in her voice.

Before she finished speaking, Pei Yan's eyes were fixed on the bag that Lu Beigu placed on the stone table in the yard.

The collision woke up the white cat that was napping under the peach tree.

Tofu jumped over with its tail raised, and stretched out its little paws to curiously scratch the spine of the book that was exposed from the gap.

"Don't make trouble."

He gently moved away the cat's claws and took out three elegantly bound books.

"The prize I won at the book fair."

Then he opened the last book, and as the pages turned, a few dried incense sticks fell down. They were inserted into the book to prevent moths.

Behind this, there were ten Jiaozi banknotes with a face value of "five strings of cash".

Jiaozi is a paper currency that was created due to the inconvenience of using iron coins for transactions in Shu. It was originally used by the public. It was not until more than 30 years ago that the Song Dynasty court established the "Yizhou Jiaozi Office" as a management agency to issue official Jiaozi.

By the time of Emperor Renzong's reign, the face value of Jiaozi was unified into two types: five strings of cash and ten strings of cash. They were generally used for large transactions, while ordinary people still used iron and copper coins for daily transactions.

Pei Yan quickly closed the courtyard door and pulled him into the kitchen.

"Tell me the truth, what's going on with this money?"

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①The Five Classics refer to The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals, while The Commentary on the Five Classics is a work on the interpretation of the Five Classics compiled by Kong Yingda and others in the Tang Dynasty under imperial order. Its compilation principle is "the interpretation does not break the annotations", and the interpretation generally does not exceed the scope of the original book. The work was completed during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, completing the unification of the content of the Five Classics and becoming the standard textbook for the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty. During the Jiayou period of the Song Dynasty when this book was written, it was no longer a standard textbook for the imperial examinations, but it still has important reference value.

② Guanpu is a unique way of shopping and entertainment that was popular in the Song Dynasty. Stores or vendors in the Song Dynasty liked to use Guanpu games to attract customers. After customers took a fancy to a product, they could buy it at the market price or agree with the store owner to gamble in the Guanpu way, pay a little money to participate in the lottery, and take the product if they won, and the money would belong to the store if they lost.

③From "The Analects of Confucius·Li Ren", which means that for a gentleman, there is nothing that he must do, and nothing that he must not do. All actions should be judged by "righteousness".

(End of this chapter)