Although he didn't know what kind of thoughts and considerations the emperor had in mind when bestowing Taizu's relics on him, Zhang Shou put on the silk gloves given by the emperor 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 those 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 a bit 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 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 mixture 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!
What's more, 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 such as nozuonodie, nodoor, and too awful, Zhang Shou couldn't help rubbing his eyebrows, 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 spread out, everyone would know that he could 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?"