The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Master Zhou is a sixth-rank official with real power. Let alone a mere child asking him to write a preface, he will not write a preface even if a scholar publishes a book. But his luck is different. If it spreads widely, he, the prefacer, will follow suit. Take advantage of it.

"Let me take a look first."

Fang Yun handed the manuscript paper he had written in the past few days to Master Zhou.

When Master Zhou saw it, he was very surprised and asked: "I heard that you almost lost your double armor because of your poor handwriting. Although your handwriting is a little immature, it is not bad. The structure and fonts are all well-known. If you keep practicing for a year, you will be no worse than those taught by famous experts.”

"After the county examination, I realized my shame and became brave. I worked hard to practice calligraphy, so now I can write passable calligraphy." Fang Yun said.

Master Zhou did not delve into it further and continued to read Fang Yun's manuscript of "The Romance of the West Chamber".

"Did you improve the sentence reading? It's easier to read, yes. The two spaces at the beginning of each paragraph are also very novel and easy to read. Your writing style is very suitable for lazy people and suitable for entertainment..."

Master Zhou's voice stopped suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Fang Yun with strange eyes.

Master Zhou didn’t pay much attention to reading the new sentences about Fang Yun. He could even easily understand the paragraph spaces. He didn’t pay much attention to it, because at the level of a scholar, he could quickly understand this book even if there were no novel sentences. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be worthy of being a scholar. He is a judge, and he doesn't care whether he has a sentence or not.

But children or ordinary literate people will be particularly troubled when reading books without sentences.

Master Zhou asked seriously: "Are you using these new sentence readings and new paragraphs to popularize this novel? So that anyone who can read can quickly understand your book without any hindrance? This book of yours is truly The target is the general public?”

Fang Yun said: "My lord is wise, I didn't expect that you are not only willing to accept this method, but also see my intention at a glance. The student admires me!"

Master Zhou smiled and said: "I am the Master of the Academy of Arts. Applying what we have learned is the foundation for Confucian students like us. Otherwise, how can we deal with demons and barbarians? Don't treat me as a few corrupt scholars. However, your idea is feasible, but The premise is that it must be paired with a story that is popular and interesting enough. But since you dare to use it like this, the story will naturally have something extraordinary, so let me take a look."

Master Zhou began to read "The Romance of the West Chamber" seriously. He only read three pages. He raised his head, took a deep look at Fang Yun, and said: "The opening is novel, the structure is tight, and the writing is beautiful. The most important thing is that the story is very smooth and not showy. The literary talent is not long, and people can know what it is about at a glance. If the new sentences are strange, then your story is correct. The combination of strange and correct will lead to no disadvantages!

"Thank you for the compliment, sir." Fang Yun said.

Master Zhou continued to read. Fang Yun thought he would gradually comment on "The Romance of the West Chamber", but he never spoke again and kept reading.

Fang Yun was worried at first, but after a closer look, he realized that Master Zhou was so fascinated by what he was reading that he completely forgot that there was a person sitting next to him who wanted to hear comments. His facial expression also changed with the plot in the book. change.

Fang Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the reason why "The Legend of Yingying" and "The Romance of the West Chamber" have been popular for thousands of years and are still praised by later generations is indeed commendable. Even Master Zhou, an official official who despises popular novels, was fascinated by it, which shows that in the popular novel desert of Shengyuan Continent, the new "The Romance of the West Chamber" will definitely be accepted by hundreds of millions of readers.

Master Zhou turned to the last page of "The Story of Yingying" and read it for a while. A satisfied smile appeared on his face, but there was still a trace of unfinished meaning, as if he couldn't bear to end a good article like this.

"When I was young, I also liked to read novels about strange things. I thought I would no longer be interested in such novels after I won the imperial examination. But after reading "The Romance of the West Chamber", I realized that I was in trouble. Well, if I don't write about strange things, I will write about people's hearts. Writing about men and women in the temple is a true popular novel, suitable for both refined and popular tastes! If you don’t let me write this preface, I will rush to write it. Perhaps hundreds of years from now, the only thing I can let people know is your "The Romance of the West Chamber". "

"Your Excellency, you are so complimentary." Fang Yun said.

"I'm afraid your "The Romance of the West Chamber" was written in anger during those days, right? The Liu family has gone too far." Chief Zhou looked at Fang Yun sympathetically.

"Alas..." Fang Yun didn't say anything and lowered his head, fearing that he wouldn't be able to cover up enough and would be discovered. In fact, "The Romance of the West Chamber" and Fang Yun's encounters were really incomparable.

Master Zhou became more and more sympathetic to Fang Yun.

"Is there another article?" Chief Zhou asked again.

"Yes. That was my old whimsical idea. I have revised it these days. Although it is not as good as "The Romance of the West Chamber", it still has merits. Please correct me." Fang Yun said, "The Romance of the West Chamber" has a higher literary status than "The Romance of the Pillow" It was too tall, so he only regarded it as an added bonus and didn't pay much attention to it.

Master Zhou nodded and continued to read "The Pillow Story".

Seeing the Half-Saint appear, Master Zhou smiled and said, "You are so bold, you dare to write even the Half-Saint."

After reading about the scholar's dream of entering Jingguo, he praised: "Wonderful! Very wonderful!"

After reading the entire "The Story of the Pillow", Lord Zhou did not speak immediately, but thought deeply about it seriously, far more solemnly than after reading "The Romance of the West Chamber".

Fang Yun was surprised. Isn't it the story of a scholar who woke up after a dream and gave up his fame and fortune to pursue the holy way? Why did Lord Zhou react so loudly?

"Good! The purpose of this article is lofty and thought-provoking! How can mere fame and wealth compare to the Great Way of All Saints? Everyone knows this truth, and it has countless meanings in scriptures. It has been repeatedly explained for thousands of years, either by quoting scriptures or using famous allusions. But Self-created novels promote the holy way, It also takes into account the nature of the story and uses Huang Liang's dream to warn future generations, but it is unprecedented! The glory is like a dream, the holy way is true, and the meaning is great! This article may only have the talent of Dafu, but its great contribution to promoting the holy way must still be done. Above the country, this article will be spread all over the world."

Fang Yun was confused. In order to cater to the mainstream thoughts of Shengyuan Continent, he slightly changed "The Story of the Pillow". How could it become "lofty and thought-provoking" in the eyes of Master Zhou? "The Romance of the West Chamber" is so awesome, in the eyes of Master Zhou, is it not as good as "The Legend of the Pillow" which "promotes the main theme"? The former took three days to write, while the latter only took one afternoon to fill in the pages.

Fang Yun recalled the famous novels of Shengyuan Continent in the past. As expected, there were very few themes with the theme of "promoting the holy way". Even if there were, they were mostly passing by, and the conception and story were relatively poor. It was not worse than the story of Huang Liang Yimeng. A few streets, but thousands of years.

Fang Yun suddenly realized that it was not that "The Pillow Story" was really good, but that it happened to fill the gaps in "politics, education and thought" in this era.

On the other hand, although the literary status of "The Romance of the West Chamber" is much higher than that of "The Legend of the Pillow", in the eyes of Confucian scholars, it will never be as good as the promotion of the holy way.

Fang Yun was a little ashamed. The evaluation of "minor words and great righteousness" was too strong. These four words were originally the evaluation of Confucius by the great scholars of the Han Dynasty. Later, they generally only evaluated the saints.

Master Zhou said: "Put your manuscript with me first, and I will personally submit it to Lord Yuan tomorrow. Next month's "Holy Way" has been confirmed, so this article will definitely be included in "Holy Way" a month later. ”

Fang Yun was helpless. He really didn't want to be in the limelight now. He just wanted to calm down and concentrate on making money. Why did he want to be on "The Holy Way" again?

"You haven't read "The Pillow Story" too much, have you?" Fang Yun asked tentatively.

Master Zhou said solemnly: "I have read the "Holy Way" of all dynasties, and I am very clear about the value of "The Story of the Pillow". I can be sure that within three years, there will be a semi-sage who will designate this article as a student of the Ten Kingdoms Academy of Literature. This is a must-read article. , is more than ten times more important than your previous poems about subjugating the country. Novelists have been declining for hundreds of years. The most recent novel that appeared in "The Holy Way" was "Sou Shen Ji" written by the great Confucian Qian Bao more than two hundred years ago. "Song Dingbo's Ghost Hunting".

Fang Yun could only respond in silence, but he was secretly happy that he had gotten a big deal.

Going to "Holy Way" not only rewards you with reputation, you can build a memorial arch, and you can also get holy pages. The number of articles published on "Holy Way" determines the opportunity to go to places such as the Forest of Holy Steles and the Holy Tower in the future, and the highest reward is to go to the retreat place of Confucius or the Holy Land, which is not only of great significance, but also has incomparable benefits. rich.

This is the fundamental reason why Qu Zhengxiang, a bachelor of Qing Dynasty, obstructed Fang Yun.

Master Zhou said, "Wait a minute, I'll get the gift Cai He gave you." His tone was full of envy.

Not long after, Master Zhou came back with a brown paper bag in his hand and said: "The holy page inside is a gift from Magistrate Cai to you. Although your poems were published in "Holy Way", the distance between the two places is very far. Far away, it will take at least a month for your holy page to arrive."

Fang Yun stood up in a hurry, surprised and happy, and said, "Master Cai is really willing to give me holy pages? He doesn't even have a few of them himself, right?"

Master Zhou said with envy: "He only has two in total. They were given to me by Wen Xiang before he came to Ji County, or in other words, they were two that he shamelessly obtained from Wen Xiang. However, your original poem of Zhenguo is worthless." This price.”

Fang Yun carefully took the brown paper bag, then opened it and slowly pulled out a page of paper.

The page itself is as white as snow, but it exudes a faint orange halo, as if it is wrapped in orange light. Fang Yun gently touched the paper, which had a strange feel, as if tiny waves were rolling between his hand and the page.

This piece of paper has an inexplicable attraction, which naturally makes Fang Yun feel close to it.

Master Zhou explained: "This is the legendary holy page, and its function is just like the legend, doubling the power of war poems. If the poems are exquisite and talented enough, they can also turn fiction into reality. The holy page is our It is one of the strongest forces that can help the human race fight against the demons and barbarians, and it is also the most valuable asset that Kong Sheng left to us.”

"How much does the Holy Page produce per year?" Fang Yun asked.

"Obviously, there will be an annual production of 10,000 copies. Some of them will be distributed to the authors of poems and articles published in "Holy Way", some will be given to the living semi-saints, some will be given to the saints' families, and finally they will be distributed to the ten countries. There have been rumors It is said that the Confucius Mansion is secretly manufacturing holy pages and can produce an additional two thousand pages every year. I don’t know the details. "

"How many pieces does Jingguo get in a year?" Fang Yun asked.

Chief Zhou sighed and said: "The Holy Pages are allocated to each country based on a country's area, population, number of great scholars and great scholars. Jingguo was defeated in a big defeat last year, losing three palaces and killing another great scholar. The number of holy pages obtained is slightly less than in previous years. Now Jingguo said that there are four states and one capital, but in fact there are only one capital and three and a half states. In order to ensure the security of the border, Chen Sheng took out some of his holy pages this year. Jingguo..."