Chapter 1170 Postscript 26: Dancing for the Sages of the Chinese Past

Chapter 1170 Postscript 26·Dancing for the Sages of China

It was early summer.

Xie Yan got up early in the morning and dressed up. Minister Chen arranged two maids for him and invited a master who specialized in shaving.

We are going to visit the Confucian Temple today!

Xie Yan has begun to grow a beard, which is hairy and short, and can only be seen when you get close. Those hairy beards were also carefully shaved clean.

Then he shaved his face, trimmed his eyebrows, and even trimmed his sideburns.

When he washed his face again, the master shaving master had left. The maids tied up Xie Yan's hair and then carefully put on the Confucian cap.

There are two types of Confucian caps in the Ming Dynasty.

One is the Dongpo cap from the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Officials who passed the imperial examination can wear it, and ordinary people can also wear it if they like.

The other is a modification of the Dongpo cap, which is shorter and more compact, and looks simple and neat. It is exclusive to Confucian scholars who did not pass the imperial examination.

Xie Yan wore the second type today.

The Confucian robe he wore was all white, implying a clean life. This was actually the Confucian robe of the Song Dynasty, also called a white robe. The swan is a swan, which means a lofty ambition.

The jade waist badge was hung.

Several maids looked at him with shining eyes. He was indeed a handsome young man in a white robe!

"My dear, you look even better today." Yanyan couldn't help but admire him, and blamed herself for not being beautiful, otherwise she might be able to please Xie Liulang.

She was brought by Old Lady Xia from Shaanxi. She was already eighteen years old, and it would be time for her to get married in a few years.

Generally, she would marry a male servant of the Chen family and continue to work here.

If she married outside, she might lose her job.

Among the young maids of wealthy families, only a few who served their masters closely could be used as confidants. More ordinary maids would be dismissed in their twenties, and go home to marry and have children when their contracts expired.

Anyway, they could be recruited at any time. Teenage girls were more pleasing to the eye, and it was more face-saving to serve tea and water to guests.

Of course, the maids doing odd jobs in the outer courtyard were not so particular, and they were mainly strong women in their thirties and forties. These strong women were strong, worked quickly, and were not pretentious, so they were more pleasant to use.

Xie Hong and Chen Duan were waiting outside, and Xie Yan packed up and walked out quickly.

The Confucian Temple was in the southeast city.

They first sent Xie Yan to the Confucian Temple, and then went out of the city to the East Suburb Wharf.

Xie Hong was going back to Hebei, and Chen Duan was going back to Shaanxi. In two or three months, there would be the provincial examination, and they had to go back to their hometowns in advance to prepare.

The streets outside the Confucian Temple were crowded with people.

Xie Yan was particularly eye-catching. He was a young man, wearing the clothes of a Confucian scholar who had not passed the imperial examination, but he had a jade Bai Ze waist badge hanging around his waist. There were many people who had these elements, but he was the only one who had them at the same time.

"But is it Mr. Xie Chaozong?" A young scholar came up to chat.

Xie Yan responded with a salute, "I am indeed a humble scholar."

The young scholar was in his thirties, with a Yaoyu Baize hanging around his waist. He was considered young and promising among scholars.

The two chatted for a few words when another scholar came over.

Xie Yan could only keep responding, perfunctorily, and then slowly moved towards the gate of the Confucian Temple.

Finally, a clerk from the Ministry of Rites came and shouted, "All scholars, please line up first and arrange according to the scholar level..."

The royal scholars of the Ming Dynasty had five levels, namely: jadeite, rose, hibiscus, green jade, and Yaoyu.

In the Song Dynasty, "jadeite" was used to refer to jade, but it was unclear what kind of jade it was.

Today's jadeite, that is, the kind of jadeite in later generations, was named by Emperor Taizong himself, in order to encourage expansion to the south.

The reason why jadeite scholars were ranked first was that, in addition to being beautiful, jadeite was hard and difficult to carve with ancient technology.

Not easy, it was a luxury!

The rose waist badge is not just opal, its main body is Hetian jade, with a piece of top-grade opal gem in the middle.

The hibiscus waist badge is not an ordinary hibiscus stone, it is carved from the finest pink Dushan jade.

Senior scholars arrived one after another, including administrative bureaucrats. But it was difficult to identify them from their clothes, because they were not wearing official uniforms today, and they all wore sacrificial dresses.

Although Xie Yan was invited to attend the formal meeting, he did not receive any special treatment when worshipping the Confucian Temple.

Because there were too many people, he could not even enter the inner courtyard, and could only follow a group of jasper scholars to worship in the open space inside the gate of the Confucian Temple.

The lower-level Yaoyu scholars even lined up outside the gate of the Confucian Temple.

Xie Yan had heard from his father and brother that the Confucian Temple in Daming was not the Confucius Temple.

Confucius's biological father and a large number of Confucius' disciples had long been asked to leave the Confucian Temple. Instead, the sages of all dynasties were invited in, not only Zhang Heng and Shen Kuo, but even the much-criticized Cai Lun.

The last person that Emperor Taizong personally ordered to be invited into the Confucian Temple was Bi Sheng, who, like Cai Lun, made important contributions to cultural dissemination.

There were also ancient mathematicians such as Zu Chongzhi and Liu Hui.

There were also astronomers such as Jia Kui and geographers such as Pei Xiu.

There were also many cultural sages, including Wang Xizhi, Wu Daozi, Li Bai, Du Fu and others.

The tablets in the Confucian Temple were quite crowded.

There was only one scholar enshrined in the dynasty, and that was Zhu Guoxiang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

Generally speaking, the emperor should be enshrined in the Imperial Temple, and no matter how outstanding his civil and military achievements were, he would not be enshrined in the Wenwu Temple.

The one who invited Zhu Guoxiang into the Confucian Temple for worship was Zhu Ming's good grandson, Emperor Yanchun Zhu Tang, who reigned for 18 years.

Zhu Tang has done many similar operations, such as canceling the Yellow Emperor era, adding magical stories to the history books of the dynasty, and building the Ziyun Pavilion to worship the 48 founding civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty.

He even wanted to invite Zhu Ming to the Wu Temple, but there were too many people who opposed him.

So why was there no big opposition to Zhu Guoxiang entering the Confucian Temple?

Because there were many disciples of Lao Zhu!

At that time, a large number of science scholars, science scholars, and science students had fierce debates with opponents. The science scholars, who had never been very prominent, suddenly united and burst out with great power. They used rigorous logical thinking to easily refute those literati who quoted classics.

"Please step forward, the main offering official!"

"Please step this way, the sub-offering official."

"Please step forward and follow the accompanying worship official."

"Please move forward, the jade scholar..."

The ushering students from the Ministry of Rites began to arrange the positions of the participants in the sacrifice under the accompaniment of elegant music.

Xie Yan lined up with other jade scholars and moved forward a little.

Everyone was in place, Tong Zansheng shouted, "The ceremony is over!"

Then he changed the song, and Yin Zansheng stood up and led the offering officer to the kowtow position.

The main offering officer and the sub-offering officer recited the offerings one after another, praising the achievements of the Chinese sages of all dynasties, explaining the significance of this sacrifice, and finally wishing the prosperity of Chinese academics.

"Kneel!" Tong Zansheng shouted.

Xie Yan stared at the Jade Scholar in front of him, and he did whatever the other party did, and quickly knelt down with him.

"Kowtow!"

Since Xie Yan traveled through time, he has never knelt down and kowtowed to anyone.

At this moment, he had no psychological burden. The sages of all dynasties in China are enshrined inside, and it is reasonable to kneel down, anyway, they are not living people.

"Kowtow again!"

"Kowtow three times!"

"Get up!"

"Dance and dance to entertain the sages!"

Xie Yan followed the crowd to do radio gymnastics, twisting his body and dancing square dance for the sages of all dynasties.

"Collect!"

"The ceremony is over!"

The class leader has already run to the outside: "Exit in order!"

Xie Yan imitated the others, took a step back while bowing, then straightened his back and turned around to walk out slowly.

It was quite interesting. Not only was there a dance segment, but there was also music accompaniment throughout the whole process, and the music changed seven times.

Walking out of the streets where the Confucian Temple was located, Xie Yan heard someone shouting: "Gentlemen with invitations to the academic conference, please go to Wencui Street, the carriage is ready. Gentlemen without invitations, please be sure to avoid Wencui Street, it is almost blocked!"

Xie Yan did not go directly to the car, but first found his entourage and carried the box with the scale over.

He chose the nearest car and showed the invitation to the driver.

The driver subconsciously looked at him twice more, and then looked at the invitation carefully, and then smiled and said: "Xie Xueshi, please get in the car."

The car was empty.

Because the senior scholars were the first to attend the sacrifice, but the last to leave.

After waiting for several minutes, someone finally came.

"Brother Deguang, please."

"Brother Duanzheng, please first."

"Brother Shaoyin should go first."

"..."

Several people outside the car were being polite to each other, and no one got on the car first after a long delay.

"Then I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry."

Finally, someone opened the side door of the carriage, and the curtain was half opened. A Dongpo scarf came in first, followed by half a head.

Before the head was completely in, Xie Yan was seen sitting inside.

This was a little old man, who was confused by Xie Yan, and quickly retracted his head and asked the driver: "Is this the carriage to the Imperial College?"

The driver smiled and said: "Sir, you didn't find the wrong carriage. The young man inside is also a bachelor."

"Brother Deguang, what happened?" asked the scholar next to him.

The little old man laughed: "There is someone inside, and it's still a teenager."

After that, he got into the car and sat next to Xie Yan, looking at him carefully with interest.

One after another, a few more people came in.

The old man bowed to Xie Yan: "I am Gu Yu, with the courtesy name Deguang, and I am a writer and painter. What is your name?"

Xie Yan bowed in return: "Junior Xie Yan, with the courtesy name Chaozong."

Before the old man could speak, another old man who had just come in said: "You are Xie Yan? I heard that this grand event was started because of you. Someone used your achievements to build a damping balance, which helped many people in physics and chemistry break through the bottleneck."

"And he was scolded badly." said another old man.

These old men are all engaged in literature, history, and art.

They don't know about Xie Yan's academic achievements, but they can accept Xie Yan more because of this, and even have a kind of appreciation for the genius boy.

A genius born with a natural talent, a young scholar, how romantic it is to say!

Literati like this tune.

They didn't even have time to introduce themselves, and they sat in the carriage and talked about it.

"Those science scholars are even more conservative than us. They don't care for young geniuses, but criticize and abuse them. Isn't this destroying academic seedlings?"

"They are more serious about seniority than us."

"On the 17th day of the first lunar month, I was invited by the younger generation to attend a literary gathering, and I met a bachelor of mathematics who came to present a paper. Haha, I heard that he made great achievements, but he was too unorthodox to present his paper. The mathematics department has brought shame to the literary gathering!"

"I have read that paper too."

"You are a gold and stone researcher, can you understand a mathematics paper?"

"Who hasn't learned mathematics when they were in school? That paper is outrageous. It assumes that a straight line has multiple parallel lines. If his paper is valid, then we learned geometry in high school in vain?"

"Is it really that outrageous?"

"No wonder the School of Mathematics doesn't publish papers. It's nonsense."

"..."

These old men just complained a few words and didn't criticize Wang Daqing all the time. They were more laughing at the joke of the School of Mathematics!

While talking, two more people came in and finally filled the carriage.

"Sit down, all the scholars!"

The driver reminded, whipped the whip and stepped on the accelerator.

Everyone brought servants with them. The traffic was bad today. The servants didn't take the carriage, but ran behind the carriage.

On the way, they introduced each other, and Xie Yan didn't remember everything at once.

Gu Yu, whose courtesy name is Deguang, is a painter, calligrapher, and expert in Qin and Han history.

Liu Ke, whose courtesy name is Xianzhi, is a historian, Confucian scholar, and contemporary Confucian scholar.

Fan Zhuang, courtesy name Duanzheng, is an archaeologist and epigraphy expert.

Wei Zizhi, courtesy name Shaoyin, is a painter, calligrapher, and religious scholar.

Wu Songnian, courtesy name Bojian, is a painter, calligrapher, and is also proficient in garden design and courtyard decoration.

The last two to come up were two science scholars.

Xin Bingwen, courtesy name Zhouchen, is a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer.

Tan You, courtesy name Zongji. Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and geographer.

Because they did not study chemistry, Xin Bingwen and Tan You did not have any bad feelings towards Xie Yan, but rather admired Xie Yan's damping paper.

Tan You pointed to the box at Xie Yan's feet: "I heard that you were invited to explain the molecular theory, and these are all chemical experimental equipment?"

"It is considered to be." Xie Yan laughed.

Xin Bingwen laughed: "Yes, it is, no, it is not. What do you mean by considered?"

Xie Yan explained: "It can be used for chemical experiments, and it can also be used for physical experiments."

Tan You asked: "The more you talk, the more curious I am. What is it in it?"

"Balance." Xie Yan said.

"Did you make the damping balance yourself?" Xin Bingwen asked.

Xie Yan replied, "Yes. But it is a little different from the damping balance of Nie Xueshi."

How different can it be?

The two stopped asking questions.

The address of the Daming Imperial Academy is in the city, but it belongs to the administrative agency and editorial department, and the building area is not large.

This time, the conference was held on the site of the Imperial College outside the city, and all the students of the Imperial College were given a few days off.

But many students of the Imperial College did not leave the school, and they were allowed to lie outside the doors and windows to listen. After the meeting, some academic lectures were organized, and the scholars gave lectures to the students of the Imperial College.

One carriage after another slowly left the city, and many servants followed behind, and gradually they saw the Imperial College building.

Martial law was imposed nearby.

Because Empress Dowager Ye, the little emperor, the eldest princess, the Minister of Rites and other dignitaries would come to attend the opening meeting in the afternoon.

Many scholars took carriages to the dormitory area of ​​the Imperial College.

Many of the students from the outer dormitory (self-funded preparatory students) had been driven away, and the dormitories were vacated for the invited scholars to live in. These self-funded students all had money from their families, so even if they had no place to live temporarily, they could find an inn by themselves.

Of course, there were also many scholars who were particular about their lives. They paid for themselves to live in the high-end rooms of the inn, and were unwilling to come to the Imperial College to squeeze into the dormitory with servants.

Xie Yan and his followers were arranged to live in a dormitory, and they had to bring their own bedding and mats.

After putting the box under the bed and guarding it with an attendant, Xie Yan and another attendant went to the cafeteria.

The scholars had free meals.

During the meal, Xie Yan got to know several more people, including a chemist who was not very enthusiastic about him.

Not long after the meal, someone shouted, "The imperial carriage is here!"

Many scholars happily ran to the school gate to greet them, and Xie Yan also went to watch the excitement, wanting to see what the young queen mother looked like.