Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 163 Discussion with Matteo Ricci

"Shopkeeper Ding, you don't have to worry about the bad business of the bookstore. I have a good business now. I wonder if you are willing to take it."

"Oh, Mr. Zhang, please tell me."

"That's right, this is also inside information, you are not allowed to spread it outside."

"The villain knows it. You can make a fortune silently."

"Yes, yes, that's it. The imperial court is going to compile several large classics right now. I sent a memorial to Your Majesty, saying that now the Great Nine Provinces are connected to each other. The Ming Dynasty is located in Chixian Shenzhou, a small Nine Provinces. For other countries in the world The understanding is not deep enough, so we need to establish a Tongwen Museum to find out what the other eight states are like, especially to find out the details of the Western Yi countries that traveled thousands of miles by boat to the edge of the Ming Dynasty." Zhang Xiao said.

"This is a great thing, but what does such a big thing have to do with the bookstore?"

"Since we are setting up a bookstore, we naturally need teaching materials, you know."

"Young man, I understand. It's just that this Tongwen Museum shouldn't be too big. If we print textbooks, we won't be able to sell much."

"Shopkeeper Ding, if you believe me, just engrave it. The teaching materials I am responsible for compiling are not just for sale to Tongwen Museum."

Matteo Ricci is undoubtedly an excellent candidate. Regardless of his motivation, at least he has a positive attitude and solid knowledge.

Therefore, such an outstanding foreign teacher is currently at Zhang Xiao's home, accepting Zhang Xiao's banquet.

"There's no rush, there's still food later. Today's banquet is a combination of Chinese and Western cuisine."

"Tender and delicious, Zhang Zhanshi, I admire your chef very much for making steak like this. Even the king of Europe only eats beef like this."

"Zhang Zhan, I heard that the Ming Dynasty attached great importance to farming, so the emperor issued a law saying that neither officials nor citizens were allowed to slaughter cattle without permission."

"I understand." Shopkeeper Ding nodded repeatedly.

"Don't worry, the books may not be so easy to sell at first, but they will get better and better in the future. Also, this Tongwen Library has a job, which is to translate some books from all over the world into Chinese characters. There are always some stories in them. It's good to read. I will pick out a few copies, and Shopkeeper Ding can come to you and print them out first."

"Mr. Li, why do you speak so directly? In fact, you can change the question to a more subtle way. Now that you ask this question, I don't know how to answer you."

"So that's how it is. Then thank you Zhang Zhanshi for your hospitality."

Since we are going to set up a Tongwen library, we must hire some reliable lecturers, or at least hire reliable foreign language teachers.

"According to the law, cattle cannot be slaughtered at will. But you also know that if a cattle accidentally falls and hurts its hoof while plowing in the field, it can no longer plow the land. Such cattle can be used for meat. .”

The dishes were served one after another, and Matteo Ricci was not polite. He followed the Romans and ate happily.

"Mr. Li, you must be missing the food of your hometown very much when you are here. Come on, here are pasta and steak."

"But this Western food is still not authentic enough. I couldn't find the right knife and fork."

"That's an honor. Zhang doesn't dare to compare with the king in eating and drinking."

"Zhang Zhanshi, this is the best meal I have had since I came to Daming."

"Zhang Zhanshi, I'm sorry. I'm so grateful for your warm hospitality. I didn't pay attention to some of your words."

"How about it? Is this beef okay?"

"Young man must be following Mr. Zhang's lead. I will print as many copies of this textbook as you say, Mr. Zhang."

After coming out of Dingjia Bookstore, Zhang Xiao quickly accelerated the writing of the novel. Of course, Zhang Xiao also had a more important thing, which was to prepare the Tongwen Museum.

"No need. I am very good at using Chinese chopsticks. Zhang Zhanshi, I often hear you say, no reward for no merit. Zhang Zhanshi entertained me with such a grand banquet today. Does he need my help for something? ?"

"Zhang Zhanshi, I didn't mean to speak so bluntly, I just wanted to show my gratitude more sincerely."

"It's okay, it's okay. Now the court plans to open a new Tongwen School. Mr. Li is willing to be the teacher regardless of the reward. Zhang also admires him very much. But please rest assured, Mr. Li. The Ming Dynasty has always respected teachers and education, and Mr. Li is willing to come to class. Shuxiu is always indispensable."

"Zhang Zhanshi, you are now responsible for organizing this Tongwen School. I still want to ask if you will hire other teachers in the future. Among my missionaries, there are also many people who are full of love for China, and they are also very knowledge."

"Right now, Tongwen Hall won't recruit too many students, so Mr. Li, if you want to invite your colleagues, it's not impossible, but you may not be able to wait for Tongwen Hall's errands soon, but if they are really talented, You don’t have to go to Tongwen Hall to get work.”

"In any case, I am very grateful to Zhang Zhanshi for this opportunity. I will improve my courses and live up to your recommendation, Zhang Zhanshi."

"You're welcome. I handed over the dictionaries you gave me to His Majesty, and Your Majesty is very satisfied. If you want to learn the French language, you may have to use the dictionaries you wrote as teaching materials."

"Zhang Zhanshi, I admire the scholars of the Ming Dynasty very much, because I think Chinese characters, an ancient and complex writing, can be mastered by the scholars of the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, as long as a knowledgeable person is respected by everyone, , and even have the opportunity to become a senior official in the imperial government, which is unimaginable in Europe."

"Are Chinese characters difficult to learn? In fact, Chinese characters seem difficult to learn, but in fact there are rules. I wonder if you have read "Shuowen Jiezi"? "Shuowen Jiezi" contains the knowledge of how to create Chinese characters. Law."

"It sounds like a very magical book. In fact, after I came to Ming Dynasty, I naturally learned to speak, and even learned several dialects. But Chinese characters are really difficult. I really can't understand why Chinese characters are written like this. It takes a lot of effort. It took a lot of effort to roughly learn it." "In fact, you can practice calligraphy, or even practice the older Chinese characters, which is seal script. From seal script, you can better appreciate the beauty of Chinese characters."

"I have seen Chinese calligraphy works with my own eyes. I even saw a calligraphy work, which is completely creating a work of art."

"'Shuowen Jiezi' uses the glyphs of seal script. Forget it, I have more than one copy of this book at home. I'll give you one later so you can study it carefully."

"Zhang Zhanshi, actually I have a bold idea. Chinese characters are so difficult to write. Have you considered using our Latin letters to spell Chinese characters directly? Because of the difficulty of writing Chinese characters, most people in the Ming Empire are illiterate. This is not It is conducive to the development of the empire. I actually have a plan to use Latin letters to phoneticize Chinese characters. I wonder if you are interested in knowing about Zhang Zhan. I wrote this plan into a book called "The Miracle of Western Characters."

"Oh? Mr. Li, would you like to take a look at this plan?" Having said this, Zhang Xiao understood that it would be impossible if he didn't make a big move at this moment, so he handed over a manuscript.

"Mr. Zhang, you are really a genius in language. Did you come up with this plan yourself?" Matteo Ricci sighed as he looked at the Chinese Pinyin plan in his hand.

"That's right." Zhang Xiao also felt guilty, but he couldn't say that he had learned from the academic achievements of later generations. However, Zhang Xiao did not copy it completely, because the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty was based on the Jianghuai Mandarin, which contained some entering tones, so Zhang Xiao still listed the pronunciation of the entering tones. Moreover, this plan puts both types of radicals and Latin letters.

"There is another copy of my manuscript here. Mr. Li, what do you think of this plan?" Zhang Xiao handed over another manuscript.

"International Phonetic Alphabet?" Matteo Ricci was surprised when he saw this title.

"Yes, using this phonetic symbol, it should be possible to record most of the world's languages."

"This is a great achievement. Can I ask how these phonetic symbols are pronounced?"

"No problem, I'll tell you one by one." Zhang Xiao was naturally willing to teach.

I don’t know how long it took, but Matteo Ricci had a rough grasp of Chinese Pinyin and the International Phonetic Alphabet.

"Zhang Zhanshi, do you want to promote these two plans in Ming Dynasty?"

"No, no, no, I just want to promote it in Tongwenkan."

"It's such a pity. If there was such a Chinese phonetic notation scheme, Chinese would be much easier to learn. In fact, Zhang Zhan, have you ever thought about spelling Chinese characters directly using pinyin? It would be much more convenient. Chinese characters are really It’s too difficult to write. To me, Chinese characters are such an ancient hieroglyphic script, just like the graphic scripts of ancient Egypt. Sooner or later, they will become alphabetized.”

"No, no, no, I don't agree with your point of view. Your text seems to only have dozens of letters, but these dozens of letters can form a lot of words, especially some words with complex meanings, which are composed of ten letters. It consists of several or even dozens of letters. Although there are many Chinese characters, the commonly used Chinese characters do not exceed three thousand, and the most basic Chinese characters only number one thousand. As long as you can learn these basic Chinese characters, you can read any article I can roughly understand it, unless it is an ancient document like "Shangshu". Moreover, the creation and use of Chinese characters are very regular. This is clearly explained in "Shuowen Jiezi", including pictograms, referents, and understandings. , pictophonetic, transfer annotation, and borrowing six methods. As long as you can understand "Shuowen Jiezi" clearly, you will know how to learn Chinese characters systematically." Zhang Xiao said as he handed over the "Shuowen Jiezi" from Lu Zhang Presented to Matteo Ricci.

"Since it is a book highly recommended by Zhang Zhanshi, Li must read this book carefully." Matteo Ricci nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Li, I would also like to discuss with you the educational content of Tongwen Guan. Although Tongwen Guan currently only offers foreign language courses, this is far from enough. After all, Tongwen Guan recruits outstanding scholars and officials from the Ming Dynasty. , we must provide them with some different content. Although it will be opened later, we must start planning now.”

"What are the general rules and regulations?"

"In addition to foreign language classes, Tongwenkan will also teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, world history and other courses." Next, Zhang Xiao explained all the courses planned.

"Zhang Zhanshi, it's not easy to offer these courses. What do you need me to do?"

"It's nothing. I just want to trouble Mr. Li to introduce some relevant books. The students in Tongwen Library not only study, but also help with translation. As for the books, Mr. Li will help check them. The focus is to introduce those unique books. .”

"I also really want to do some translation work, but I have no manpower to assist. Now I really want to find someone to help translate a book written by the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, which talks about the concepts of graphics and space. This It is an important branch of mathematics.”

"Oh? Is that the "Elements of Geometry"?"

"Elements of Geometry? That's a good name. Can I use it directly? Do you also know this book, Zhang Zhanshi?"

Zhang Xiao felt a little embarrassed because it turned out that this translation had not appeared yet.

"I used to live in Nanyang, and I can still understand some of your European languages."

"I see, Mr. Zhang, can I ask why you want to return to Ming Dynasty? Is it because of your love for your homeland?"

"Of course it's because the family has fallen into decline. Mr. Li came all the way from Europe. He should have seen and heard something along the way. Nanyang is now occupied by people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, my family was attacked by pirates. , scattered in all directions, and by chance, I boarded a ship heading to the Ming Dynasty."

"Evil pirates, they should all be caught and hung to dry in iron cages at the port."

"Mr. Lee, you should actually know that many of today's pirates are not just pure pirates. Just like in Europe, the English country now encourages pirates to rob Spain's gold and silver ships, and the Ottoman Empire also encourages Barbary pirates to hijack you. The origins of Christian ships and Southeast Asian pirates are also diverse. I still haven’t figured out which pirate force commanded them to come and rob my family. This group of pirates has very sophisticated weapons. Maybe it’s just because of my family. He declined the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines’ request for surrender, which led to this tragedy.”

"I personally feel sorry for Zhang Zhanshi and your family's misfortune. If it was really the Governor of the Philippines, I will write to the Pope and ask the church to condemn such a man who lost his soul for profit. If necessary, the church The sect can excommunicate him."

"Thank you, Mr. Lee, for your kindness, but it's really unnecessary. The Governor of the Philippines still wants to cross the sea to conquer the Ming Dynasty. In his opinion, harassing a Chinese stronghold is just merit. The Pope is probably very busy now, and the German region The Protestant movement is now on the rise, and the Pope must now need the Habsburg family to defend the orthodoxy of the Cross."

"Zhang Zhanshi, how come you are so familiar with things in Europe? Those northern German princes were bewitched and shamelessly converted to heresy in order to get rid of the control of the Habsburg family. However, they will eventually be enlightened by the only truth. Returning to the right path," Ricci said.

"Then I wish you good luck." Zhang Xiao responded casually. However, Zhang Xiao suddenly thought of a problem. If he continued to write his "Assassin's Creed" novel and published it as a book, if Matteo Ricci saw it, this cross-border plastic friendship would be shattered on the spot.

(End of this chapter)