Zhang Siwei and his fellow villagers sat here for a while and then went back. Although the Hanlin Academy was relatively quiet and time could pass by drinking tea and reading the official newspapers, it was not possible to be away from work for a long time.
After the two men left, several more people came to visit. After all, Zhu Ping'an's official position was still there, and it was of the sixth rank. In this huge Hanlin Academy, there were only nine people with higher ranks than Zhu Ping'an, namely the president, the reader, the lecturer, the reader and the lecturer of the sixth rank. The other editors and reviewers were of lower ranks than Zhu Ping'an.
These people visited and showed respect, but there was still sympathy or gloating in their eyes. Like Zhang Bo, these people knew the Hanlin Academy very well, and they also knew the job of Zhu Ping'an, the "best in the Hanlin Academy".
However, Zhu Ping'an has always been calm, which made them a little disappointed. They also wanted to see Zhu Ping'an's worried expression.
After these people left, Zhu Pingan made himself another pot of tea, and went to the first, second, and third floors of the library again. The library had servants responsible for cleaning, so the floor and bookcases were very clean, but the books were a little messy.
On the third floor, Zhu Pingan saw the Yongle Encyclopedia, which was not available in later generations. The Yongle Encyclopedia of later generations has been baptized by history and war, and only more than 700 volumes have been preserved to this day. However, on the third floor, there is a complete set of the Yongle Encyclopedia, a total of 22,937 volumes, divided into 10,095 volumes, which fully occupied the third floor of six rooms.
Zhu Pingan remembered reading some novels on Qidian before, such as "I have my own library" and "I have an encyclopedia in my head". Now seeing this set of "Yongle Encyclopedia", Zhu Pingan felt like he had discovered a treasure. This is the most complete and largest encyclopedia in the world. Chinese history, geography, art, philosophy, religion and other encyclopedic documents before the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty are all in this set of books. This set of books can almost be said to be a treasure ship full of China's thousand-year-old civilization and culture, and now this ship is right in front of him.
Just now, Zhang Bo and the others thought that this was the worst job in the Hanlin Academy, but when he saw the books and classics in this building, especially the Yongle Encyclopedia, Zhu Pingan felt that this was the best job in the Hanlin Academy.
Unlike modern libraries, the Yongle Encyclopedia does not use a combination of Chinese pinyin and Arabic numerals, but uses the "Hongwu Zhengyun" as the basis for sorting, because there was no such thing as pinyin at that time. According to the "Hongwu Zhengyun", you can easily search for the books you need from the 10,000 volumes of the "Yongle Encyclopedia".
Zhu Pingan took the first volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia from the first bookcase and looked at it carefully. He found that this set was just a copy. The outermost layer of the book was a layer of yellow silk, which was a thick and delicate rice paper cover. There was a rectangular bookmark on the yellow silk, and the bookmark read "Yongle Encyclopedia". There were also two lines of small characters on the surface listing the volume number of this book.
After receiving it, Zhu Ping'an found that there was dust on the book. It can be seen that this book, or to be more precise, this set of "Yongle Encyclopedia" has not been read by anyone for quite some time.
This is probably the first volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia. After Zhu Pingan opened it, he found that it probably recorded the background of the compilation of the Yongle Encyclopedia. The first page was an edict of Emperor Yongle:
"All things from ancient times to the present are scattered in various books, which are voluminous and difficult to search. I want to collect the things recorded in various books extensively, and use rhyme to organize them for easy research. In this way, searching for things will be as easy as taking something out of a bag... ... I hope you will follow my instructions and collect all the books of classics, history, miscellaneous books, and hundreds of schools of thought since the beginning of writing. As well as the information on astronomy, geography, yin and yang, medicine, calculation, monks, and Taoist skills, and compile them into one book. Don't think it's too cumbersome..."
well
After reading the edict, Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but sigh. It is said that this set of "Yongle Encyclopedia" took several years during the Yongle period, and more than 20,000 court officials and Confucian scholars participated in the compilation. It is said that after it was completed, more than a hundred calligraphers took six years to copy a set of copies!
The Yongle Encyclopedia, which took so much effort to create, has been covered in dust! The Yongle Encyclopedia, a forgotten treasure.
After putting the book back in its place, Zhu Pingan walked several rows along the aisle, chose a bookshelf, and opened it to read.
This is a military book. The page that Zhu Pingan opened has an episode, and it shows a crossbow. It can be seen that it was painted with a brush, but the shape is realistic and very delicate, and the arrow on the crossbow almost bursts out of the book.
Out of curiosity, Zhu Ping'an turned a few pages forward and discovered that the title of the volume was: Divine Arm Bow!
"The Shenbi bow is actually a crossbow. It is made of mountain mulberry for the body, sandalwood for the bowstring, iron for the barrel, steel for the trigger, hemp rope for the ties, and silk for the strings. The bow is three feet three inches long, and the string is two feet five inches long. The arrow can be shot as far as more than three hundred and forty steps. The bow can stand on the ground, and when the trigger is pulled, it can penetrate armor 300 steps away..."
This volume describes the Shenbi bow in great detail, from material selection to production to usage to the deployment of troops. The illustrations in the volume separately draw every tiny structure of the Shenbi bow, and every tiny detail is drawn in great detail. Zhu Ping'an can be sure that through this book, he can copy the standard Shenbi bow.
What a great book! Very practical.
After Zhu Ping'an finished reading the volume on the Divine Arm Bow, he put the book back to its original place, then walked several rows and selected a book to open.
This book is about geography, and has extremely rich illustrations. Mountains, rivers, city walls, etc. are depicted in great detail. Of course, it cannot be compared with current maps. In Zhu Ping'an's eyes, this book describing the geography of Shandong contains quite a few errors, but one cannot expect too much from it. Overall, it is still very standard.
If the emperor read the entire set of geography, he could store his own kingdom in his mind while sitting in his study.
If it wasn't lunch time and Zhang Siwei hadn't called him upstairs to go out for lunch, Zhu Ping'an would definitely have been so immersed in the "Yongle Encyclopedia" that he would have forgotten to eat and sleep.
"Let's go find Wensheng to have lunch together. We probably won't have the chance if we go in the evening. The Dali Temple will also host a welcome party for their new Jinshi candidates." Zhang Siwei took Zhu Ping'an out to find Wang Shizhen behind Zhu Ping'an's building.
"Are you saying that our Hanlin Academy will also hold a welcoming banquet for us tonight?" Zhu Ping'an asked with a frown. Why is there another banquet? He has drunk a lot of wine these days, but he doesn't want to drink anymore.
"Yes, this is the custom. Although they say it's a welcome party for us, in fact, we have to pay for it..." Zhang Siwei said with a frown.
Well
That's not the point.
His eyelids twitched a little. Why did he feel that something was going to happen at the dinner? Zhu Ping'an rubbed his eyes and followed Zhang Siwei out of the Hanlin Academy and headed towards the Dali Temple. (To be continued.)