Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 185 Taizu's Notes
Although he didn't know what kind of thoughts and considerations the emperor had in mind when he gave Taizu's relics to him, Zhang Shou put on the silk gloves and glanced at the first piece of paper. His feeling was... the tall and positive image of Taizu that he had built up through various channels, including the anecdotes about Taizu that he had learned indirectly, collapsed completely in one breath.
He thought he might see a note written in pinyin.
If it is more difficult, then maybe it will be a diary written in English, French, other foreign languages or even minority languages. In that case, he will be miserable since he only knows most English words and a few basic French words...
He even imagined that maybe the Emperor Taizu would be smart enough to use simplified characters - of course, the possibility is very small. The Chinese language and culture are inherited from one generation to the next. Modern people who have learned simplified characters since childhood can still recognize most of the traditional Chinese novels, although it is a bit tiring. So, it should not be difficult for ancient people to recognize simplified characters.
But now this note is a combination of various Chinese English and pinyin . Even if you ask a British person who is proficient in Chinese, he will definitely not be able to recognize it!
Moreover, the English of that time was different from that of later times, and Britain, which was in the late stage of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, was still a long way from being a powerful country. During this period, the official language of Europe should be Latin. Even Spain, the first country to claim to be the empire on which the sun never sets, had not yet truly risen. Therefore, it was basically impossible to find a pure Englishman to decipher it.
At this moment, looking at this thick stack of notes filled with Chinese-style English words like "no zuo no die", "no door", "too awful", Zhang Shou couldn't help rubbing his brows, and then pressed down the corners of his mouth, and then took a deep breath, reminding himself to stay calm and not laugh out loud. Otherwise, if the sound spreads, everyone will know that he can understand Taizu's notes!
The letter paper was yellowed but well preserved. It was probably out of the evil taste that no one except the time traveler could understand these notes. And judging from the tone, they were written during the initial difficult years. The Emperor Taizu's initial descriptions were very casual, with laughter and scolding without any scruples, and seemed very much like a diary. But when he flipped through a few pages at random, he found that the handwriting had subtle changes, and it should have been accumulated over time.
"I went hiking on a rainy day, and the lightning and thunder caused my real body to travel back in time. Luckily, I had a backpack with me!"
"If I had known I was going to travel through time, why would I only bring my senior brother's article on the structure and development of artillery in different periods in China and abroad, in addition to a few historical reference books? At least I should have brought all kinds of physics and mathematics textbooks, otherwise how can I open the technology tree? Oh, I regret making a bet with someone and saying that I would retreat to the mountains for two months to write my graduation thesis. Now, I can't go back from this retreat for the rest of my life!"
"It was the chaotic time at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the lady who saved me turned out to be Han Shantong's wife Yang Sanniang. She is such a kind-hearted person!"
"I'm teaching Han Jin'er archery... It's great that I traveled through time in my real body. I also brought my 30-pound bow with me. It's so cool to practice rapid shooting in this backward era! But I brought spare bowstrings, but not many arrows. Arrows these days are terrible."
"Han Lin'er actually fell off a cliff and died? Although that little devil is annoying, even if I am a butterfly, I didn't do anything. When he died, I was still practicing archery with Han Jin'er. Shouldn't Han Lin'er have been drowned by Zhu Yuanzhang?"
"You want me to marry into your wife's family? No way! Although Jin'er is really nice and cute, as a man, I will never marry into your wife's family!"
"After I marry into the family, I will be the Holy Son of the White Lotus Sect? This... They actually want me to replace Han Lin'er and pretend to be the descendant of Song Huizong? These religious people just like this kind of supernatural things! My last name is Zheng, not Zhao!"
"Yang Sanniang came to persuade me personally. I don't need to change my surname. They are willing to marry their adopted daughter Jin'er to me because they believe that I, a man who came from the sky, dressed strangely, and has a strong shooting speed, is the Son of Light in the White Lotus Sect's legend! The so-called marriage is just to reassure Han Shantong, and it will not be publicized to the public..."
"Well, Jin'er came to me and cried several times. A real man should be soft-hearted when necessary. Anyway, only Han Shantong and his wife know about it. Since he won't change his surname, he can marry into the family. But I have to remind Han Shantong not to just focus on inciting others. He should pay attention to his safety. Otherwise, how could he die and Liu Futong still be alive and well?"
Zhang Shou was very interested in the history of Taizu's rise to power before he unified the world. Therefore, although it took a bit of time to decipher the text mixed with English and pinyin, he still read it with great interest.
After Taizu married, he gradually gained prestige among the White Lotus sect members with his eloquence and archery skills, and then emerged and gathered a group of people under his command. However, he tried his best to reverse the situation in which Han Shantong was captured and killed at the beginning of the uprising, but he failed.
After that, during the period when Taizu was fighting in the south and the north, his diary was very brief. He would often record who surrendered today, who he defeated tomorrow, what city he occupied the day after tomorrow... In short, he was recruiting soldiers and absorbing talents, and he was unstoppable.
Although Taizu modestly said in his letter that the direction of his thesis was to discuss the art of war and means of recruiting talents by Ming Taizu to unify the world, and the reference books were all from this time period, and he had the advantage of time, place and people, Zhang Shou still couldn't help but admire him.
There is a huge difference in difficulty between talking about it on paper and actually doing it!
Although the part about unifying the country was incomplete, the specific time could still be seen. He roughly estimated that Taizu was two years ahead of Zhu Yuanzhang in the historical process of unification, and he was in his prime when he ascended the throne, and was less than 40 years old.
However, compared to the part after Taizu ascended the throne, the previous notes were already very detailed. Because as the part after the emperor, Taizu seemed to be careful with his words and sentences. The Chinglish that he was most familiar with disappeared, and more English words were used to replace Chinese characters. He created many weird sentence patterns and had a stronger sense of concealment.
As for the open and covert struggles among the court officials, and even the elimination of various ambitious people, Taizu recorded them briefly. However, he often described the progress of the development of artillery and muskets in great detail; and when it came to shipbuilding and other matters, he wrote about them in great detail. What made him speechless was that Taizu's surname was Zheng, so he named the general who was a pirate when he first went out to sea as Zheng He...
And when he turned to the last page, Zhang Shou finally saw what he wanted to know most.
"The papers and reference books I hid in the plaque of Jiuzhang Hall in the Imperial College should be kept sealed in it forever. I have always liked Li Bai's poems, so I chose two of his poems and used them as keys after regularly shifting them in the Thousand Character Classic. I asked the Goryeo craftsman to build this secret box and seal up my last manuscript."
"When the dynasty changes, both the plaque and the paper in this secret box should have decayed and turned to ashes, right? In this case, I decided to leave this watch as the last evidence left by a person from another time and space. Originally, it should be a mobile phone and a power bank, but an Apple phone without power is worse than a brick. When I saved Jin'er, I used it to hit someone, but it broke. I also used the power bank to block arrows, and the wire strangled someone..."
"Jin'er was injured when she was young, and the doctor said she couldn't have children, so she advised me to marry a concubine and have children to continue my family line. I feel sorry for her. Now she is gone, and my sons have grown up. One of them is very brave and will definitely become a wise ruler in the future. Now that I have abdicated, in order to avoid suspicion and killing between father and son in the future, I have decided to set sail myself."
"I want to bring with me the people who are best at astronomy and numerology, the most skilled craftsmen who are good at design and repair, and a group of male and female orphans, just like Xu Fu in the past, because if I can't go back, they are the hope for the future... Of course, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Europe, and Africa are all too close. As a map lover, I decided to go west, through Malacca, the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Atlantic Ocean, and take the route of Columbus to America. I have lived enough in this life, so why not go further?"
"Since I replaced Zhu Yuanzhang and replaced his Ming with my Ming, why can't I plant the Ming dragon flag on the American continent before Columbus?"
After reading this last paragraph, Zhang Shou couldn't help but take a deep breath. He put the last piece of paper back in place, solemnly put the stack of notes in his hand back into the box, then closed the lid and thoughtfully took out the watch. This was the last thing that the predecessor left in the Ming Dynasty.
Having had wonderful experiences in his previous life, he could of course see that the watch was not a famous one. There were countless scratches on the watch body, metal strap and even the watch cover glass. He didn't know how many hardships it had gone through. But after pondering for a long time, he opened the button and put the watch on his right wrist.
Even if it is to express your respect to the predecessors! Of course, if you walk accurately, it will be a pleasant surprise!
"Master, we have arrived at the Imperial College."
Hearing Ah Liu's voice outside the car, Zhang Shou closed the box, fiddled with the code disk, and got out of the car holding the box. Seeing that it was indeed the university archway, he stuffed the secret box to Ah Liu without hesitation, but directly showed the watch on his right wrist, and said with a smile: "The box contains those heavenly books, you continue to keep it for me, and I will wear this thing as a souvenir."
Ah Liu had excellent eyesight, and in just a moment, he saw that on the dial of the watch in Zhang Shou's hand, in addition to the two needles that seemed to be motionless, there was another needle that seemed to be moving. He blinked his eyes, but in the end, he said nothing.
When he wound up the clockwork, he didn't know what time it was, but there was a sundial in the Imperial College, so Zhang Shou planned to go back and check the clock at an hour. Of course, the most important thing now was to check on the students in the two classes he was in charge of. There was no need to worry about the students in Jiuzhang Hall, but it was hard to say about the students in Banshan Hall. None of those noble children were easy to deal with!
When he passed by the sundial, he took a look and found that it was past one o'clock, so he turned directly to Banshan Hall. When he saw the building that was very different from the Sixth Hall from afar, he heard a familiar voice in the wind. After distinguishing it carefully, he couldn't help but be surprised. Because, it turned out to be Zhang Chen.
"Next, the next question! Two people, A and B, are traveling from the capital to Tongzhou in a carriage..."
Zhang Shou was immediately surprised. Did he take the wrong path? This was Banshan Hall, not Jiuzhang Hall. Why were they suddenly talking about the pursuit problem? And it was Zhang Chen who was talking about it? If he remembered correctly, the eldest son of the Qin State hated doing questions the most. When he arrived at the door of Banshan Hall, he saw a figure rushing out from the side. It was Zhang Lu.
"Teacher, you're back! When someone heard that you and Lu Sanlang were going to court together early in the morning, they wanted to skip class. As a result, Brother Chen was furious, so he asked me and Awu to block the door together, and then said that whoever could answer five questions would be let go. As a result..."
He paused, then said awkwardly: "In the end, Brother Chen gave a total of 20 questions, but even those guys who stayed in the Cuiyun Room for a month or so couldn't answer five of them. Brother Chen, with the support of the Third and Fourth Princes, used the imperial ruler to teach seven or eight people a lesson."
Zhang Chen can do it!
After Zhang Shou had this thought, he suddenly remembered something more important: "How can Zhang Chen remember so many questions?"
"This is all thanks to Awu." Zhang Lu smiled and whispered, "Awu copied all the questions you had done in the past into a manual, which came in handy at the critical moment. Besides, the third prince solved one problem, the fourth prince solved two, and the others were scolded by Brother Chen as being worse than the two children, so they stopped now."
