I

Zhu Cizhao, the fourth prince of Zhu, is still working as a librarian in the Imperial Academy.

After a few years of hard work, he has obtained the establishment of official staff, and he is still a first-level official. After two years of working, he is estimated to be able to be a ninth-rank official.

This guy is quite heartless, if he hadn't been greeted by the emperor, and if his mother hadn't been Concubine Tian, ​​he would probably still be a fifth- or sixth-level official now. Of course, he also has some advantages. Due to his reading of miscellaneous books and frequent writing of review articles, he is now a well-known literary critic.

"Little Zhu, a new book has entered the library." Qin Daiwen shouted.

Zhu Cizhao closed the book: "Come, come!"

Qin Daiwen is Zhu Cizhao's master, and has become the only rank official (ninth rank) in the library of the Imperial Academy.

Zhu Cizhao took the servants out, came to the yard downstairs of the library, and asked, "What book?"

"Two sets of "History of Ming Dynasty", please stamp and sign for receipt." The official who sent the book replied.

Zhu Cizhao, who had a hippie smile, suddenly became serious: "It's printed so soon?"

The official said: "How fast? It took more than a year to proofread and typesetting."

The compilation of history books in the past dynasties basically copied two sets of original and copy by hand, and then collected them in the imperial palace and court. It was not until many years later that it was gradually passed on to the people, and it was difficult for ordinary scholars to read.

So don't make fun of the Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty who didn't read history. Before they became officials, they might not have even seen official history.

Take the "History of Ming Dynasty" compiled by the Datong New Dynasty as an example. The complete set has a total of 3.3 million characters, and how many brushes have to be copied. Zhao Han was willing to spend money and let it be printed and published directly. After one and a half years, 2000 sets were finally printed.

Except for the 120 sets in the official collection (most of which are sent to universities in various places), the rest are all sold among the people, and each set of "History of Ming Dynasty" is priced at 300 taels of silver.

The price is too expensive, and it will definitely not be sold out in a short time.

But there is absolutely no worry about selling them. There are a lot of book collectors all over the country, and they buy them one after another after hearing the news.

Zhu Cizhao stamped and signed for the receipt, and asked the handyman to take it back to the library. After the selected bookshelf was put away, he quickly found the "Ben Ji" section, and directly looked at the Ben Ji about Chongzhen.

When his father hanged himself, Zhu Cizhen was still young and didn't have much memory. Many years have passed, and he can only know what his father looks like from "History of Ming Dynasty".

After reading Chongzhen's Benji, Zhu Cizhen found nothing, the main content was all state affairs.

If you want to understand Chongzhen, you have to read "Records of Chongzhen".

"Records of Chongzhen" was also compiled by the Datong New Dynasty, and together with relevant historical materials, it has been placed in the reference room of the "Ming History Editing Group".

"Come on, move things!"

Speaking of Cao Cao, when Cao Cao arrived, the Ming History editorial team really sent materials, and there were more than forty large boxes.

Zhu Cizhao sat there to sign for the receipt, then let the handyman move in, and then took two officials to sort them out. The finished book needs to be placed on the relevant bookshelf, and some manuscript materials are carefully sorted out before being bound and put in the warehouse for safekeeping.

The "Records of Chongzhen" is mixed in here, with many manuscripts revised repeatedly, and the original copy was copied after the manuscript was completed.

"History of the Ming Dynasty" and "Records of Chongzhen" were compiled, and many historians of the Imperial Academy received awards. Take Qian Qianyi as an example, the scattered ranks were directly capped, and he was awarded the Special Jin Guanglu Doctor (Zheng Yipin). The next time you write a book and make meritorious service, you will definitely not lose the title of Prince Shaobao.

For the next two weeks, Zhu Cizhao did nothing but work in his spare time, and read "Records of Chongzhen" seriously.

Before finishing the whole book, Zhu Cizhao already had symptoms of high blood pressure.

What kind of stuff was the imperial court in the late Ming Dynasty all about?

Civil servants, military generals, and eunuchs are all outrageous one by one.

At the end of the book, there is also a comment written by Zhao Han himself: "Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was diligent in political affairs and self-willed. With the attitude of a middleman, he fell when he was unable to save the country. The death of the Ming Dynasty was caused by the failure of finances and taxes. It stems from the corruption of the system. The Ming Dynasty really died because of the party struggle? The party has been united and the division has existed since ancient times, so why did the Ming Dynasty die so quickly? I can get a glimpse of the Wanli abolition of the government..."

Rather than commenting on Chongzhen, it is better to comment on why the corruption of officials in the late Ming Dynasty accelerated.

Before Wanli slackened his administration, no matter how fierce the party struggle was, he could still maintain it without collapsing. Since Wanli lay flat, Daming has completely slipped into the abyss. Officials retired, resigned, or died of illness, the emperor did not allow new officials to take office, more than half of the central officials were vacant, and local officials were also absent in various ways.

No matter how greedy the officials are, it is better than no officials at all!

Daming in the last years of Wanli almost became an anarchic society. There was a problem in the state and county, and the governor of the state and county could not be found. There were problems in the provinces, and the central government could not find a minister to take responsibility. Ever since, the eunuchs and gentry stepped forward to fill the power vacancy of the court and the government, and quickly controlled all aspects of the country.

Land annexation has intensified exponentially, and the court's income has been crazily reduced. Wanli also likes to send mine supervisors and tax envoys to completely disrupt the business environment across the country. Industry, agriculture and commerce are tantamount to a complete regression.

Zhu Cizhao always felt that Daming's death was caused by treacherous ministers. Now that he finished reading "Chongzhen Records" and Zhao Han's comments, he finally got to know him better.

His father, Chongzhen, was just an ordinary helmsman, but he wanted to steer a broken ship full of holes. While sailing and repairing, there are still water bandits around. When the crew was repairing the ship, they also removed the nails, planks, and sails of the ship, hoping to take them back to their homes after landing. What's more, flirting with water bandits. Or, the crew members were busy fighting among themselves and took the initiative to pull the water bandits onto the boat to harm their opponents.

Daming's wrecked ship sank unjustly.

"Husband came back so early?"

"Well, nothing happened today."

Zhu Cizhao is already married, she is the daughter of a bookseller, and the couple are relatively affectionate.

As for his two elder brothers, Zhu Cihong was the county magistrate of Chunhua in Shaanxi, and Zhu Cijiong was the governor of Duyun Prefecture in Guizhou.

And the older sister, Aimee Zhu, is still unmarried due to special reasons. She learned painting skills from her relative Zhu Da, and now she specializes in illustrations for novels. Of course, it is not as good as famous ones, so the fee is relatively low, but it is basically no problem to support yourself.

"Where's sister?" Zhu Cizhao asked.

"Study..." The wife rushed out suddenly as she said, but it was the son who pissed and muddled into mud balls and threw them on the wall, smashing the snow-white courtyard wall beautifully.

"Wow woo woo woo~~~~"

A child's cry came from the courtyard, and Zhu Cizhao was angry and funny.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Sister, it's me."

"come in."

Aimee Zhu is painting a portrait of a Bodhisattva, and her employer is an old lady from a well-to-do family. This kind of business doesn't make a lot of money. After the cost of drawing paper and paints, the profit is only a catty or two of eggs.

Auntie Zhu put down her brush, looked up and said, "I'm going home very early today, don't you want to stay in the Imperial Academy to read?"

"In the past few days, I've read all of Dad's memoirs." Zhu Cizhao said.

Aunt Zhu was taken aback for a moment, and remained silent.

Zhu Cizhao said with emotion: "It's not easy for Dad. The world is in chaos and the people are in dire straits. It's not all Dad's responsibility."

Aimee Zhu asked: "Didn't the Imperial Academy compile the book to make Dad a villain?"

"There are good and bad," Zhu Cizhao explained, "I heard that "Chongzhen Shilu" has been revised more than ten times before and after, and His Majesty said that it should be edited to be pertinent and true. The father in the book is diligent and frugal, and he is considered a good emperor. The person is unknown."

Auntie Zhu sighed: "Oh, how can you be a good emperor if you are self-willed and don't know people well? Let's not talk about that, the third brother has a letter from his family today. He has been transferred to Guiyang to work, and he also gave him a new mailing address."

"Third brother has been promoted?" Zhu Cizhao said happily.

"Forget it, it doesn't count, the rank has not been promoted, but he has been reused. The superior who promoted him is the nephew of the eldest brother's teacher...the teacher when he was in Beijing." Zhu Yu said.

Zhu Cizhao had nothing to say for a moment. Although the brothers and sisters had perished, they enjoyed the blessings of the Zhu family most of the time.

After sitting for a long time, Zhu Cizhao finally said: "It's just my sister who is suffering."

"It's good to be alone, I'm used to it." Aimee Zhu smiled.

Zhu Cizhao quickly changed the subject: "Many people came from Nanjing, including a few from France and Persia, who were allowed to visit the Imperial Academy. These people don't do serious studies, they just ask for painting skills every day. It seems that they The current emperor is also a foolish emperor, he doesn’t ask about common people but only about calligraphy and painting, just like Song Huizong.”

Auntie Zhu said: "Master often says that there are merits in Western painting, which must not be underestimated."

Aimee Zhu's master is Zhu Da. Strictly counted according to seniority, Zhu Da belongs to Aimee Zhu's great-uncle.

Zhu Da was ordered by the emperor to communicate with missionary painters and integrate Eastern and Western painting methods, and some results have been achieved. He is different from his own painting style in history, and also different from Castiglione's painting style. He has absorbed certain techniques of European oil painting, and loves to create thick, bold and unrestrained freehand brushwork.

Last year, Zhu Dajin presented a "Ten Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers", which is now hung in the emperor's Qianqing Palace.

And Li Zhicheng, a missionary painter who also accepted the emperor's order and combined Chinese and Western styles, miraculously approached Castiglione infinitely, delicate, solemn, elegant, and noble, and was deeply loved by dignitaries.

The siblings chatted for a while, and Zhu Cizhao's wife called for dinner.

The family also employs two servants, a cooking woman and a sweeping maid.

After dinner, we went back to our rooms.

Aimee Zhu continued to paint Bodhisattvas, while Zhu Cizhen went to write novels.

This old man has read too many miscellaneous books, and he does not want to engage in literary criticism anymore, and plans to write a great work by himself. Such an idea was born in the early spring of this year, when someone serialized "Fengyue Baojian" in the newspaper, which aroused Zhu Cizheng to have a heart for comparison.

Once "Fengyue Baojian" was serialized, it is said that Nanjing paper is expensive, but it is also said to be passed on and recited.

The protagonist's name is Jia Baoyu, who was born with a piece of precious jade in his mouth, and the story is also about Nanjing in the old dynasty.

Everyone is guessing who the author is, but the newspaper only signs "Anonymous" when it is serialized. This arouses readers' curiosity even more, guessing whether it is a descendant of a certain nobleman from the previous dynasty, or a certain clan member from the previous dynasty.

Zhu Cizhen was writing in the room, when suddenly Zhu Yu knocked on the door and said, "Fourth brother, the Dragon Boat Festival will be in two days, and you will have to go to the palace to worship the festival, so don't go out to hang out again, you forgot about it last year."

"Understood." Zhu Cizhao replied.

(An update today.)