Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

Chapter 169

When the time came, Mr. Meng Xue began to tidy up the books on the table in an orderly manner. Hong Wending also followed the other students in the private school. The students first worshiped the statue of Confucius and then the teacher in front of them. They had a respectful attitude, obviously they had fully integrated into the environment. up.

The gray-bearded and hair-haired Mr. Mengxue straightened his robe and passed through the students with his head held high. His eyes were indifferent, but he lingered on the three new students for a moment.

Although Jiang Wen always said that Hong Wending was a standard out-of-school child, in fact, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most children entered school at the age of 8 to 15.If the aptitude is poor, the weak crown and the upright will also enter elementary school. For example, in "Wei Shu·Liu Lan Biography", it is said that Liu Lan, a native of the Northern Wei Dynasty, "begins to enter elementary school when he is more than [-] years old." up.

For example, the Mentorship Academy in the Ming and Qing Dynasties can study in one place from 3 to 18 years old, and the Confucian Academy can also be in the same school from the age of 8 to Zhiming. People of various levels and levels gather together, ranging from ten people to as many as It is normal for 30 people to be sent to Kaimeng at the age of Hong Wending.

He goes into the villa with his private school classmates every day. When the teacher is giving lectures, he sits upright, and when the order is up, he goes up to listen to the books taught by him one by one. ".After a few days, Hong Wending became the eldest of the children again. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, and he couldn't tell the details of the martial arts practitioners who had been holding knives all the year round. Powerful and repeatedly praised.

The process of going to class every day is actually very simple. The first step for students to learn is to take the scriptures by themselves, go to the teacher one by one, open the page to be studied, and the teacher will point out the sentence to read—because there are no sentence sentences in ancient textbooks, they can only rely on Orally passed down by the school teacher.

The second step is to read it once by the teacher and once by the students, usually three to six times.Then the students went back to their seats and continued to read by themselves, until they recited it. Finally, the teacher talked about it, doing some exegesis on the text of the day, and talking about the general idea.

Because each student's level of understanding is different, the learning progress can only be determined by the student, and the teacher will teach students in accordance with their aptitude.There are students who are diligent, studious, and talented. They go to the book ten or eight times a day, and they can recite more content. They can recite sixty or seventy lines of scriptures;In addition, the husband will talk about some brush and ink calligraphy, big and small regular script, and couplet poems every day, and the longest half day will be over.

This kind of learning method is the same from the prince to the common people. It is recorded in "Listening to Yu Cong Tan" that the prince reads when he is studying. , After returning to the catchphrase in this way, read it a hundred times again, and read it a hundred times with the previous four-day book.For those who are older than six days, it is said that the familiar book is repeated every five days, and it goes back and forth without interruption.

Compared with Jiang Wen's down-to-earth interest-based learning method, this private school uses a rigid method passed down from generation to generation, but objectively speaking, it is more suitable for Hong Wending, a beginner who is just learning.It can be seen from the expression that Hong Wending also cherishes this kind of study time. He reads with his teacher sincerely and never neglects, and he has never shown any timidity in the daily homework exams.

Mr. Mengxue sighed secretly as he was almost at the door as he walked by, expressing his deep admiration for the three new students sent by the Lei family.Although it is true that he accepted Leihuo's generous spending, the student who made him feel deeply moved was unprecedented.

For example, the tallest student among the three, although his foundation was a bit weak when he first came, he spoke calmly and acted calmly, not like a child at all.He started learning books by leaps and bounds, and caught up with half of the students in a few days. Mr. Meng Xue deliberately increased his homework several times, and this student could always recite it backwards the next day.

Since ancient times, hard work can make up for one's weakness, not to mention lack of talent. If a student like this can persevere, Mr. Meng Xue believes that it is only a matter of time before someone in his villa can raise a scholar.

But the youngest student among the three looks weak and weak, but his temper is not small. He taught him three hundred thousand, but he often made things difficult for himself with questions from the Thirteen Classics. When it comes to speaking, there is no teacher.Mr. Meng Xue vaguely guessed that the other party had read these books a long time ago, but no matter whether he had learned them or not, it was already unimaginable for a five or six-year-old child to memorize the books of Meng Xue fluently and master them thoroughly—Mr. Meng Xue also saw Only then did he believe that the ancient sayings of "reciting more than a thousand words a day" and "not looking at them after looking at them" in ancient times are true.

For such an outstanding student, Mr. Meng Xue has no temper. Instead of admonishing and punishing him, he wants to infect the other party with his precepts and deeds, and his moral prestige.Since ancient times, people with outstanding talents must have the ability to stand out from the crowd. Mr. Meng Xue was afraid that he would suppress this budding genius and make the world lose a high-spirited number one talent.

And the last student who impressed Mr. Meng Xue was a character he had never seen before in his life. He went to the library on time every day and fell asleep, and woke up after school. Eyes, no matter how hard the ruler is placed on the body, I don’t feel it, and I can even fall asleep standing up!

The rules of Lingnan Township School have always been based on "Taiquan Township Rituals and Township School" written by Huang Zuo, a great scholar in Lingnan during the Zhengde period. Ten sheets of paper; three times, the punishment is the same as before, and the father and brother are still punished."

Punishment for reciting books is like seeking fish from a tree, and beating with a ruler is indifferent. Lei Hu has no pressure on fines. The third student tortured Mr. Meng Xue so much that his hair turned gray a lot. Why is there such a big gap between the three students who came here?

The tutor sitting in the hall is in his sixties, his surname is Wen, and his surname is Yuqin.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, school teachers were divided into two types: "Meng Shi" and "Confucian classics teachers" according to the content of their teaching.Mentoring teachers are for children, teaching them to recognize characters and memorize memorization; while the content taught by classics teachers is more in-depth, leading students to the road of imperial examinations.

Because he devoted all his energy to repairing classics and documents, Wen Yuqin was only willing to be a teacher who taught easily.But the content taught by the teacher is simple and the training is low, and the annual income is only a dozen or twenty taels, so life is naturally a little harder.

Wen Yuqin, whose beard and hair have already turned gray, didn't care much about the fact that he failed to pass the imperial examination. It's actually very common.

For example, Wen Zhengming, one of the four talents in Wuzhong, is proficient in poetry, calligraphy and painting, but from the age of 26 to 53, he took part in a total of 10 provincial examinations, and failed even one of them. Finally, he was recommended by the Minister of Industry. He was sent to the Hanlin to wait for an imperial edict, but because he didn't have any fame, he was continuously excluded by his colleagues.

Wen Yuqin walked to the door of the private school, and suddenly remembered something, and said to the students of different sizes, "Go back and tell your family that the school will be closed for a day on the second day of February five days later, and you should review your homework at home, don't take it easy! "

Seeing the stern teacher returning, the students who just wanted to jump for joy quickly suppressed their joy and saluted the teacher respectfully. They didn't dare to continue playing until they saw his figure completely disappear from the door.

Fu Ningdie stuffed the books into her book bag indiscriminately, and trotted to Hong Wending's desk, and said in a hoarse voice, "Senior Brother Hong, let's go find Master quickly!"

That's right, Mr. Meng Xue didn't know that the "genius child" in front of him was Fu Ningdie in disguise. The number one scholar is not a rare figure to her, but no matter how strong her family background is, as a woman, she is destined to miss the imperial examination career of.

After all, Xiao Ningdie deliberately confronted the private school teacher every day, but she just recalled the days when her father forced her to study, and she couldn't help recalling the things she had been obsessed with at home.

Hong Wending smiled, quickly packed his things, turned around and woke up the sleeping little stone behind him.

"Huh? Is school over?"

Little Shitou raised his head ignorantly, wiped the saliva from his mouth, and then looked firmly into the distance, "Go, let's eat. Master said that there is a vegetarian restaurant in the temple today that you can eat all you want!"

No matter how poor you are, you can't be poor in education. Jiang Wen threw the three children to study, but one of the three is the son of an imperial convict and the other is a fugitive himself. Naturally, it is impossible to enter the government school in Guangzhou. private school loan.

Private schools in this era are not necessarily inferior to government schools, but they are different from government-private sponsorship forms. From the perspective of sponsors, there are three types of private schools: private schools, private schools, and scattered schools.

Private schools are commonly known as free schools, which are generally established by the township clan. The main source of funding for running schools is the free support of clan members. Sometimes the land rent income from ancestral halls and temples can also be used by clan members to run private schools. Most of the teachers are children from poor families. Village school, family school, family school.This is the most widely popular of the three types in Guangdong, where there are many clans.

The special school is a private school established by one, several families, one village, or even a few wealthy households in a few villages alone or jointly for their children to complete basic education. It is also called a sitting school or a family school. Gentlemen's employment period is as little as three to five years, as long as ten or twenty years, and even three to fifty years. After all, there are many children in high-ranking families.

And like Hong Wending and the others, the school belongs to the scattered halls, and the door halls, teaching halls, school halls, and bookstores run by failed scholars, old schoolchildren, or literati teachers in the village, as usual, charge some tuition fees, and the conditions for entry are more extensive. Leihuo's son had just graduated, so he slipped in by the way.

This scattered museum is by the Zhilan Lake. The three children went out together and walked southwest towards Yuexiu Mountain and Xianggang. They soon came to a temple full of incense and tourists, and began to look for them. The master who disappeared for a few days.

On the other side, because of the clear sky, Jiang Wen and Yan Yongchun's old father walked together and came to the famous Guangxiao Temple in Guangzhou early to offer incense.

Jiang Wen deliberately dressed as a layman today, and wore a hat to cover his hair. After burning incense absently, he came to an empty yard, found a lush linden tree, and sat lazily under the tree. .

As a disciple of the southern Shaolin layman, Father Yan was naturally very devout towards worshiping the Buddha. After he finished offering incense and kowtowed step by step, he found out that Jiang Wen was missing. After searching, he finally found Jiang Wen in front of the Fafa Pagoda in the temple.

"Master Jiang, get up quickly, how could you be so disrespectful in front of the Sixth Patriarch?"

Yan's father hurriedly wanted to pull Jiang to smell it, but he dragged him down first, and sat under the tree in a daze.

"Uncle Yan, this is your fault. Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, said it here back then, let alone the movement of flags and wind, it is just the heart of a benevolent man."

Jiang Wen said slowly and disapprovingly, "Jiang is here to practice Zen and worship the Buddha, and he has neither said anything rude nor acted recklessly. Why do you think I am rude? It is clear that you are rude in your heart."

Jiang Wen put a hand on his shoulder, preventing Yan's father from getting up, "Sit here and listen carefully, do you see something quite Zen-like?"

The so-called Fafa Pagoda is a pagoda body made of gray sand bricks, in the style of a pavilion, with niches and statues of Buddha on each side, which gradually become mottled with the passage of time, making it look extraordinarily simple.

Red corner columns and Cambodian foreheads are hidden on the whitewashed walls of the stone pagoda.The tile surface of the plain body has a beautiful curvature, with an octagonal spire on the top, and the Tasha is a treasure gourd, shining brightly in the sun, looking solemn and extraordinary.

According to legend, Huineng, the sixth patriarch of the Zen sect, was confirmed by the fifth patriarch of Huangmei, passed on the method of clothing secretly, and returned to the south to hide in Sihui and Huaiji counties.After more than ten years, the Sixth Patriarch went to Faxing Temple (Guangxiao Temple) in Guangzhou, and met two monks who talked about the movement of the wind and flags, "one said that the wind moved, and the other said that the flag moved."Huineng said, "It's not the wind, it's not the flags that move, the heart of the benevolent moves."

At that time, Master Yinzong, the abbot of Faxing Temple, heard that his words were extraordinary, and knew that he was the one who had inherited the mind of Huangmei Five Patriarchs, so he asked him to show his mantle, and summoned ten domestic lawyers to shave him under the bodhi tree on the [-]th day of the first lunar month of the following year. .To commemorate the karma of master Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism, to become a monk and shave his head, the abbot Sengfa raised funds to build this pagoda here. It was completed on the eighth day of April of the same year.

Now the pagoda is old and mottled, and the bodhi tree has lush branches and leaves. Father Yan looked up as Jiang Wen showed. For a while, the shadows of the trees on the pagoda were hidden in the blue sky with white clouds floating, and the bells on the eaves rang softly. Suddenly there was a figure sitting in lotus position amidst the floating sea of ​​clouds, and it really carried an indescribable feeling of being out of the world, he then slowly closed his mouth, and his mood gradually calmed down.

"Master Jiang, what you said is really good. This tree seems to make people feel better..."

Guangxiao Temple has a long history, and every plant and tree has allusions to follow. Even the ancient Bodhi tree they lean on is the wisdom medicine Tripitaka who came to Guangzhou from West India in the first year of Tianjian, Emperor Liang Wu of the Southern Dynasty. It was planted in front of the precept altar built by Tuo Luo.

It is said that when he planted the bodhi tree, he made a prophecy: "170 years from now, there will be a bodhisattva in the flesh performing the superior vehicle under this tree, saving countless people." And his prophecy really came true. Under this bodhi tree, he shaved his hair and took precepts, and then opened the door of Dongshan Dharma, and for the first time promoted the theory of sudden enlightenment he founded.

Strict father sat under the tree and squinted his eyes with a smile, like an old farmer taking a nap in the wheat field, "I can't tell you the truth, I just feel that my heart is much more comfortable after being bored for days. The Dharma-nature that came down helped me eliminate my afflictions?"

"What do you say? Uncle Yan, what troubles do you have?" Jiang Wen asked curiously.

"My daughter has been stubborn since she was a child, and she only believes in reason when she does things."

Father Yan sighed slightly, "At the beginning I was able to take her out of Guangdong with all my life, but now that I am old and frail, I can't help her when I encounter problems again, and I always worry about what will happen in a hundred years. something..."

Father Yan still had one thing to say, that is, if Yan Yongchun continued to practice martial arts like this, how could he find his in-law's family in the future?

"Uncle Yan, the so-called children and grandchildren have their own blessings. I think Miss Yan is a person with great wisdom and great blessings. You may wish to relax and let her go on her own."

Jiang Wen still said absent-mindedly: "Hey, I still envy you, Uncle Yan, for your life. Sometimes I wonder if I should retire so early. How nice it is to go back to Linquan and be happy..."

Father Yan glanced at Jiang Wen inexplicably, "Master Jiang, how could you say such things at such a young age? You are so big that you don't want to make a living, but you are like an old man like me for fun?"

Jiang Wen wanted to say something else, another big man, Angzang, walked in from Guangxiao Temple, and came to the two of them in three steps at the same time - I saw that his clothes were well-groomed, except for the one with messy hair. A nondescript little cap.

"Master Jiang, since you asked Fan to go to Guangxiao Temple for a while, why did you hide yourself under the tree?"

Fan Xinghan, who hadn't seen him for a long time, looked at Jiang Wen with a wry smile. He also stretched out his hand to pull Jiang Wen up from the ground, but instead he dragged him to the tree and sat down.

"Master Fan, this is your fault. Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, said it here back then, not to mention the movement of flags and wind, it is just the heart of a benevolent person."

Jiang Wen took it for granted and said slowly, "Jiang has been sitting here waiting for you for a long time, and you have successfully found me, so why do you have to think that I missed the appointment? It's obviously because you don't want to go to the appointment."

Jiang Wen reached out to hold his shoulder, and continued speaking forcefully.

"Master Fan, this place is quite Zen-like. If you don't believe it, you can feel it yourself. If you miss it, don't say brother, I won't share good things with you."

Fan Xinghan sat down against the tree suspiciously, only listening to the whirling shadow of the tree and the sound of the wind. The midday sun shone in from the gaps in the branches, and was finely sifted into a mottled mixture of light yellow and gray black, lightly falling on the bluestone road. It seems that there are some mysterious and weird patterns, changing with the wind, people are in a daze, and they can't help but feel it.

"The world is impermanent, the world is impermanent..."

Fan Xinghan muttered over and over again, but finally he didn't get up, and the team squatting majestically under the tree became three people at this moment.

"Master Fan, as the saying goes, hard can't last long, and soft can't be guarded. How do you deal with the turmoil every day? You still have to combine work and rest."

Jiang Wen continued leisurely, "To be honest, I went to the ancient temple in the South China Sea two days ago, and everyone in the village said that they had never seen Wu Liuqi's general soldiers go out to sea. There are so many weird things in the sea there that even the imperial navy was defeated. Chen Sha, I don’t think it’s possible to go there.”

The matter with the Guandi Association has not been resolved, so Fan Xinghan has been paying attention to Wu Liuqi's whereabouts. Now that Jiang Wen said that the possibility of him going to sea from the south has been ruled out, Fan Xinghan can't help but wonder: "It's not the south, so it's possible that it was from the northwest. Going? In the northwest, it’s not going into the sea, but into the mountains..."

But in the next second, he uttered a word to deny this idea.

"No, it's absolutely impossible to go to Guangxi. It borders the territory of Pingxi King Wu Sangui. The court can only use Guangxi as a barrier between the two vassals. Wu Liuqi, a general who was born in the Pingnan Palace, would dare to go to such a dragon's lake and tiger's lair. break."

Jiang Wen smiled, and said to Fan Xinghan with interest: "I didn't expect you, Master Fan, to have such a view on the general trend of the world. This really impresses me!"

Fan Xinghan said embarrassingly: "Master Jiang, don't tease me anymore. Although I am only a member of the beggar gang, I am in the rivers and lakes, so I don't know anything about the court. Pai, obviously wants to extend his hand into the rivers and lakes."

Jiang Wen nodded slowly: "That's right, this move is no different than enfeoffing the feudal lords of the rivers and lakes, and dividing up the San Francisco. Once the situation is completed, no one in the rivers and lakes will be able to escape from the outside world."

For the weak lord, enfeoffing the feudal lords is to drink poison to quench their thirst, and it is extremely easy to cause a separatist situation in the late Tang Dynasty. However, if the court is extremely strong, there is no need to worry too much about creating a feudal town. Since Yan.

Unfortunately, it is now the second situation. The Qing court, which was lucky enough to enter the customs, has worked hard for more than ten years. Last year, it not only broke the cooperation of Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan, but also fought bloody battles with Li Dingguo at Mopanshan, draining the last of the small court of Nanming. of blood.

At this time, neither Tiandihui's small victory in Wuyi Mountain nor Zao Wou-ki's brilliant moves in Fuzhou City could conceal the growing prosperity of the Qing court. Dongshisanjia, Emperor Yongli and Zhang Xianzhong's adoptive sons worked together, but they failed to reverse the general trend and change their fate against the sky.

Therefore, anyone can see that the threat of the Qing court at this time is not Li Chuang's remnant party and the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, but the San Francisco that was established to clean up the Central Plains. Once these problems are eliminated, there will be no one in the world. It can withstand the iron hooves of the Eight Banners.

Fan Xinghan took off the weird cap on his head, revealing his messy hair—if a beggar like him didn't cover up, he might not even be able to enter the gate of the temple. Like the retreat of Shaolin in the central and southern parts of Guangzhou City, martial arts people from all over the world came to congratulate the old hero Xiluo to wash his hands in the Golden Basin, peace will always be the most important thing in the world—perhaps in this world, a group of people will soon go back to the countryside.”

When the topic came to this point, Jiang Wen couldn't help bringing up the idea just now.

"Master Fan, if there is such a day, wouldn't I also be able to sue Lao Shanlin and quit the sword? I would like to see how an old man like Luo Yuantong quit the world."

The rivers and lakes have never been able to withdraw, but there are a group of people in the rivers and lakes called the elders of the rivers and lakes.

They either have unique achievements in martial arts, or are highly respected, or have well-connected people all over the world, or their seniority is too high to be suitable for fighting with others. At this time, they will announce their withdrawal from the arena. Sinners' affairs, this is the best destination for the old Jianghu.

For example, Wang Weiyang, who had voluntarily refused the Qing court's appointment as the leader of the Green Forest Alliance and Megatron Heshuo's Bagua Sect master, used this method to stay away from disputes and passed on the position of sect master to his disciple Shang Jianming. Apprentice, the old man has retired.

"Haha, Master Jiang, I heard recently that your Wuyi faction has become famous. It doesn't look like you want to wash your hands in a golden basin."

Fan Xinghan laughed loudly and said, obviously he has been concerned about Jiang Wen's news recently, "Although Fan is weak, but you are a chivalrous and benevolent person, and I have the duty to spread it."

Jiang Wen smiled slightly, and said with a sigh of relief: "I'm just paving the way for my disciples. One day they can be alone, and I can let go of them."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a young monk rushing in from the empty courtyard door, driving the three people under the tree with a worried expression.

"How can the three of you sit here? Go, go, this is the place where my master is practicing Zen!"

When Father Yan and Fan Xinghan heard the words, they smiled wryly and wanted to get up and give way. After all, they came to other people's territory, and it would be bad if they really did not obey the rules.

"Little master, this is your fault. The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said it here back then, not to mention the movement of the banner and the wind, but the heart of the benevolent."

But Jiang Wen glanced at it, and said slowly, "It's so spacious under the Bodhi tree, the three of us are like an extra weed growing under the tree. Little master, you said that we took up the position, so it's possible that your master is practicing Zen." No matter how long the grass grows in the place, you have to get rid of it. Are you reciting the sutra of cutting weeds and eradicating the roots every day, and practicing the law that not even a blade of grass will grow?"

Being robbed by Jiang Wen for a while, the little novice couldn't help blushing with anger, but he couldn't drive them away as a matter of course. Fortunately, another voice sounded at this time.

"Three benefactors, can the poor monk practice meditation together under the tree?"

A gray robed monk with a shiny forehead and prominent forehead bone suddenly appeared and chased away the little novice monk with a loud sound.Wearing the ordinary cassock of low-level monks, he walked straight up to Jiang Wen and his party, and asked politely, expressing that he also wanted to sit here.

Jiang Wen raised his hand lazily: "Master, you can do whatever you want, the location here is still very spacious."

After getting the answer, the great monk sat down cross-legged with no expression on his face, and then leaned against the bodhi tree with his eyes closed and chanted sutras, turning a deaf ear to the chatter of Jiang Wen and the others.

"This master, haven't asked for the dharma name yet?"

Seeing that the position was kept and won, Jiang Wencai asked casually.

"The name of the poor monk is natural."

When Father Yan heard this, he got up suddenly, and said to the gray-robed monk, "You...you are the abbot of Guangxiao Temple, the master of nature? A few of us were rude and took the treasure tree by mistake, master, please forgive me!"

After speaking, he pulled Jiang Wen to get up, but was stopped by the great monk.

"Amitabha, the poor monk was invited by Chen Zizhuang's servant to lead the Taoist and lay people to teach here when Chongzhen returned to Guangzhou from Mount Lu for 15 years."

The grey-robed monk’s expression remained unchanged, neither angry nor happy. The bodhi tree in his eyes was neither a beautiful place to watch with colorful flowers nor a cool and pleasant place to go. What he saw was just looking down at the pond. of a shadow.

"Just as the benefactor said, the poor monk is just an ordinary plant born under the tree in the karma and fruit retribution. The difference between each other is that it comes early and arrives late. Donor, you know that I am a natural monk, but I have to avoid it. Isn't it possible that a poor monk has practiced Buddhism for decades, but he has cultivated so that no grass grows beside him?"

After speaking, he stood up first, sighed heavily and walked out the door.

Yan's father stood there confused, but Jiang Wen also stood up slowly, his eyes hard to hide.

"Now I understand, he really took in people from Southern Shaolin..."

(End of this chapter)