Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 846 Great minds think alike
Although he had been led by the emperor to wander around the Ancient and Modern Collection Library for more than half an hour last night, and had read many of Emperor Taizu's letters, when he asked himself, the Third Prince found that he could only remember three places clearly. When he got up early to confirm with the Fourth Prince, the Fourth Prince swore that he remembered five places.
However, when he revisited this place, he had only walked a few steps when he felt someone pulling his sleeve. He turned around and saw the Fourth Prince looking at him with frustration. The man muttered in a very low voice: "Third brother, all the bookshelves in this ancient and modern collection library look the same. I thought I remembered the location and the serial number of the bookshelf, but now I guess I can't find it anymore."
"I'm sorry, now I probably don't remember a single thing."
The third prince was at a loss for words. He glanced at Liang Jiucheng, who was walking forward with Zhang Shou as if he hadn't noticed anything, and then he lowered his voice and said to his fourth brother, "Actually, I just realized after I came here that I was wandering around in the dark with my father last night. In fact, I didn't understand many directions, so I probably didn't remember them." It's okay to say you didn't remember them!
The fourth prince was originally filled with guilt, but when the third prince confessed this, he was immediately overjoyed - of course not because the third prince had forgotten, but because his third brother had not concealed anything from him. He immediately followed the third prince with his head held high, and vowed in his heart that he must remember a few places today, but then he thought of a big problem.
My father didn’t come with me today. How can I find those letters from Taizu that were hidden so deeply?
But just when the Fourth Prince was struggling, he saw Liang Jiucheng reaching out to the bookshelf and taking down a book that looked exactly like any other book. He then placed it on the desk with ease, "Master Zhang, this is the handwritten letter of Emperor Taizu. Don't be fooled by the thick stack. Some pages only have one or two lines of words."
"But these papers are quite old, and you have to wear silk gloves to read them. Although predecessors have copied them in the past, and I have done the same, these originals that have been treasured for many years should be able to show the essence better."
Chinese English mixed with pinyin, and the essence... The real essence is the drawings of artillery and muskets left to you by Emperor Taizu, not this diary that is most likely a private complaint of a time traveler.
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, but of course he would not turn a deaf ear to Liang Jiucheng's advice. He immediately put on his gloves and opened the exquisitely bound letter of Taizu with a solemn pilgrimage expression.
This notebook is really handwritten, and it is authentic, because people who can write English letters so badly are quite common in later generations. These notebooks look very old, and probably to avoid damage, they are pasted one by one on special hard paper, so they look thick, but there are not many pages.
After Zhang Shou glanced over the content on the first page, he cursed in his heart - how bored!
Because it was different from the time traveler's diary in the Taizu's handwritten notes that described his origins and his pursuits in his later years, this thing was completely a travelogue. Calling it a travelogue was really giving Taizu face, because it said that today Cao Guogong invited me, the emperor, to dinner, and after dinner, everyone went to drink wine together, and then made a scene in a certain building, causing a huge commotion.
In order not to arouse suspicion, he quickly turned to the second page, and found that it was also a diary of a day trip to the minister's house... Now, knowing what was going on, he flipped through the pages leisurely, occasionally frowning and pointing at words such as a or an that seemed to have appeared in math books, but generally speaking, he read slowly at the beginning and quickly at the end.
It fully reflects the characteristics of someone who is reading this kind of heavenly book for the first time - he reads slowly at the beginning because he wants to study it carefully, and he reads quickly at the end because he is completely confused and cannot see clearly, so he quickly skims through it.
And just by scanning the entire thing, he was very sure that this neatly bound volume of Taizu's notes was a diary of the emperor and his old meritorious officials' eating, drinking and having fun. It might be of corresponding value in the study of historical figures, but as for the current troubles of the current emperor, it was of no help at all.
However, after reading to the end of this copy of Taizu's notes and comparing it with the one he got from the secret box, Zhang Shou gradually discovered a difference, that is, the proportion of English is slightly larger, while the proportion of Chinese English and self-made grammar is smaller. Of course, grammatical errors and sentence reversals are quite common.
There were many words that he had forgotten how to spell, and the Taizu didn't bother to use circles to replace them, unlike in the Taizu's handwritten notes, where they were often referred to in pinyin, just like a primary school student writing an essay. If he was right, the things in the secret box were the real secrets of the Taizu, and as for the things in the Gujin Tongjiku... most of them were probably these things that were boring.
But people don’t think about this. Once the boring stuff is deciphered, the secret box in the plaque of Jiuzhang Hall will be successfully unveiled. By comparing the two, people will be able to understand at least half of it, right?
Speaking of the papers and reference books that Taizu mentioned in his previous letters, he never found them in the secret box!
Liang Jiucheng saw Zhang Shou's appropriately confused and distressed expression, but he remained calm. Seeing the Fourth Prince rushing up to ask the teacher what he thought, Zhang Shou just smiled bitterly and shook his head. Seeing the Third Prince's face full of disappointment, he sighed softly, then solemnly put the tome away, climbed up the ladder and put it back in its original place.
Zhang Shou watched the people's movements that were truly like a pilgrimage. Although he couldn't see clearly what the third-level bookshelf looked like, there was one thing he was sure of, that is, there was absolutely no trace of dust on it.
If the other bookshelves in the ancient and modern collection were also spotless, he would have nothing to say.
But if only Taizu's letters were treated in this way, then even for an outsider like him, finding Taizu's letters here would not be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but only a matter of time.
The Fourth Prince was not surprised that Zhang Shou "gained nothing". After he finished flipping through the first set of notes, he deliberately dragged the Third Prince behind him, muttering as he walked: "Father was so serious last night, but judging from the skilled look of Eunuch Liang, he must know exactly where these Taizu notes are. If that's the case, why do he need us to write them down?"
Before the Third Prince could answer, Liang Jiucheng, who was a dozen steps ahead , seemed to have a thousand-mile ear. Without even turning his head, he said, "Fourth Prince, I have been working in this Gujin Tongji Library for decades, from cleaning the bookshelves at first to organizing the collection later. Although there are a vast number of books here, the location of each book is remembered in my mind."
"After all, there is no Sikuquanshu (Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature) here, which is enough to fill an entire library. It mainly contains rare and unique books from the Song Dynasty, as well as classics that survived before the Yuan Dynasty. There are only a few thousand of them."
The fourth prince almost popped his eyes out. Not only because he spoke in a very low voice from such a long distance, but Liang Jiucheng actually heard him, but also because Liang Jiucheng claimed that he could remember the location of all the books clearly!
So, he, who had always been regarded as the number one naughty kid by Zhang Shou, had no time to care about the important business at this time. He looked around and suddenly rushed to a bookshelf. He stuck his butt out and struggled to pick out a book from the bottom. When he saw the cover, he looked around and caught a detail that he had not noticed last night because of the dim light.
It turns out that the corners of this bookshelf are engraved with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches and the number of layers to distinguish them!
He did not think about whether such a large collection of ancient and modern books would be enough with only sixty bookshelves with the combination of heavenly stems and earthly branches. He just shouted loudly: "Eunuch Liang, here is the third book from the left on the third layer of the Wumao bookshelf. Do you know what book it is?"
Liang Jiucheng didn't seem to expect the Fourth Prince to suddenly do something naughty. After a slight pause, he said calmly, "It's Pei Songzhi's Annotations to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, which has a total of 65 volumes. Since the Fourth Prince said it was the third book from the left, it should be volumes 19 to 27."
The fourth prince looked down with wide eyes, and flipped through the book in disbelief. When he was sure that it was correct, he could not help but quickly pick up the book and put it back in its place. He did not care that the third prince was looking at him with reproachful eyes, and chased after Liang Jiucheng. Then...then Eunuch Liang finally enjoyed the treatment of the naughty child's ten thousand whys.
Zhang Shou, who was standing by, saw that Liang Jiucheng was getting impatient at first, but gradually he could no longer stand it and was about to flee. He finally stepped forward calmly and said, "Eunuch Liang, Zheng Yan is just like that. He is very annoying when he pesters people."
As Zhang Shou spoke, he dragged the kid over to him. Without waiting for anyone to protest, he said word by word, "If you really want to learn, it's very simple. Starting tomorrow, you should recite all the formulas in the math textbook in alphabetical order. I guarantee that within three years of practicing like this, you will be able to achieve the ability of eunuch Liang to remember everything he sees."
Three years... If I really had to carry it for a year, I would probably be exhausted to death!
The fourth prince finally had a sad face and acted like a good boy - who told him that reciting the formula backwards was too scary? The third prince was happy to learn a lesson this time. Seeing Zhang Shou continue to chat and laugh with Liang Jiucheng, he stepped forward and gently tapped his fourth brother's head, with an expression that said, "Please pay more attention."
After this little episode, Zhang Shou quickly flipped through four more letters. Apart from the first essay about eating, drinking and having fun, these letters included: "The proud acceptance of an adopted son", "A meritorious official giving up his military power with a toast", "A prince cannot be crowned king without merit", "A prince is delighted with being demoted and inheriting a title"... They all described the reactions of court officials and the people.
Anyway, these notes are useless, in fact, a lot of their contents are of historical value. But to say they are useful, it is hard to say that the emperor is just boasting about them in a very good mood!
Zhang Shou thought that since Liang Jiucheng was observing him reading ten lines at a glance but obviously gained nothing, he should stop there. However, he did not expect that he was so persistent that after finishing reading five letters, he continued to lead the way and took out another letter as thick as several bricks for him to review.
No one said anything, and the Third and Fourth Princes were still following behind him obediently. What else could he say? Helplessly, he could only open the book and quickly flip through the pages. In fact, it was so fast that he himself didn't have time to figure out what was going on. However, when he turned to a page with a map in the middle, he was stunned.
The fourth prince, who was craning his neck to look at the scene, shouted rashly, "Hey, there's a map? Was this also drawn by Emperor Taizu?"
The Third Prince pulled the Fourth Prince behind him and gave him a warning look. He then said softly, "It is said that the teacher has been to the Arms Bureau and seen those globes and maps. Do you have any impression of this map?"
Zhang Shou wanted to say that he had no impression, but that was impossible. After all, the shock to him at that time was quite huge. After returning home, he even thought about whether he could make a globe in the same way, but he finally gave up the idea. So, at this moment, he stared at the map for a long time, and finally reached out and clicked on it.
"These are somewhat similar to the maps I saw at the Arms Bureau. This should be the Ming Dynasty, and here..." He looked up at the concentrating Third and Fourth Princes, then smiled and poked the huge continent in the east, "This is the Haidong Continent."
The Third Prince's expression was relatively calm at this time, while the Fourth Prince's face was filled with excitement. He wished he could lie on the map and almost started his journey of a hundred thousand whys again.
Fortunately, Zhang Shou reacted very quickly. He picked up the man and handed him back to the Third Prince for custody. He then looked at Liang Jiucheng and said, "Since there is a globe and a map in the Armory, you should have deciphered the map a long time ago, right? Could it be that it still doesn't help you decipher this note?"
Seeing Liang Jiucheng shaking his head and sighing but not saying anything, Zhang Shou said very frankly: "In that case, I will tell you the truth. Now that Eunuch Liang is teaching that blond boy in my house, I suggest that we make a song out of the alphabet and the corresponding pronunciations, and then spread it out to see if we can find some children who are suitable for learning Western characters and languages."
"Since we have waited for so many years, why not take advantage of this opportunity to train more translators who are proficient in various languages and let them go abroad for training. In the future, we will not have to worry about translating books imported from overseas. These few Taizu's handwritten notes will eventually be clearly deciphered. Although the Taizu secret box was set with a very complicated code, I am more inclined to believe..."
"These notes were written by the erudite Emperor Taizu in a Western language. The reason why they cannot be deciphered is probably because Emperor Taizu did not have a deep understanding of them."
Zhang Shou even expected Liang Jiucheng to suddenly change color and get angry after hearing such words. After all, these eunuchs were obviously the undisputed supporters of Emperor Taizu. However, the result was that the other party nodded in agreement: "Master Zhang, what you said is very good. The emperor and I also think that the Western characters used by Emperor Taizu were probably not learned well, so no one can recognize it!"
