C26 (1/2)

Chapter 26 - All in one will urge change

”Divine! Divine!” To have such a wondrous talent appear in my heart, this is the fortune of the heavens and the earth, the blessings of all the people … Heaven's Ancestor, please bless us. So it turns out that the foreigners have experienced so many hardships while conquering the sea? ”

”Damn it, damn it!” Why didn't this book be published earlier? We should know the details of the foreigners as soon as possible. How could we let the foreigners bully us like this? But why was it printed before it was finished? ”What about the rest of the article?”

”Shameless, shameless!” This Xiao Letian fellow was too shameless, why did he want to print the book before finishing writing it? And just by looking at the quality of the printing, it could be considered cheap? What exactly happened after that? What happened after they met the Spaniard in the Inca Empire … Eunuch, you damned eunuch! ”

On the second day of the second month in the fourth year of Tongzhi's stay in Beijing, when the Dragon Raises Its Head was about to rise, the men and women of Beijing would eat spring cakes and the children who were ready to open their eyes would also shout out a few words, ”The Dragon Raises Its Head, the Dragon doesn't lift its head, I raise my head.”

However, this year, on the second day of the second month, a strange thing happened. A book called ”Journey to the West” suddenly appeared in every big bookstore in Beijing. Xiao Letian? Look, the literati of Great Qing Dynasty didn't write their own names, at the very least, they had to use their own words. They had never heard of someone using their own name, and it was such a rustic name at that.

However, this Xiao Letian fellow's tone was extremely loud, he had actually placed a wooden board in front of every bookstore in the capital, with a row of large words written on it, almost causing all the scholars present to go crazy.

”I will be the best student of the West for twenty years. ”Who can make a mistake? Five thousand taels of silvers.”

What big words, this stupid book actually dared to say he was the strongest in Western Studies? Even the ideologies of Haiguo of Wei Yuan did not dare to boast to such an extent. Of course, at that time, there were only a few people who were willing to read these books that introduced western knowledge, and they did not take the Imperial examinations, so they did not use them for drinking parties or poetry conferences. Thus, in the Great Qing Dynasty at that time, there were very few people who were willing to learn Western knowledge.

However, there were always exceptions. In the inland provinces, where people did not have a direct perception of the Westerners's power, people would definitely not care about Western Studies. But in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin... In these cities that were forced to switch off their power, the scholars could clearly feel the strength of the foreigners. In their hearts, they looked forward to studying in the West.

For example, the Beijing. The tragic scene of burning the Yuan Ming Yuan four years ago was still fresh in everyone's mind, and people were anxiously hoping to know the secret of the powerful strength of the foreigners. Unfortunately, at that time, there was not a single book that could systematically introduce the politics, economy, culture, history and even customs of the West.

It wasn't that the Western Priests didn't want to interact with scholars from the Great Qing Dynasty, but the East and the West had two completely different cultural systems, each with their own origins. If one wanted to learn from them, one would only have a vague idea. That was the reason why Wei Yuan's Atlas of the Ocean Country was not valued.

To explain the thousands of years of development in the West with the values of the East would always have the feeling of being forced into a corner. This caused the people of the Great Qing Dynasty, who only knew the words of a saint, to be completely confused.

Xiao Letian had already considered this question before, why did he use the form of a book review novel and a story to describe the entire Western history? His goal was to make up for the most important part of his foundation, at least to let the people of the Qing Dynasty understand.

This was a very low standard of understanding, but in those days the literati did not even want to use punctuation marks. Their goal was to keep their knowledge in the High Court and concentrate it in their own little circles. Comprehension had become an extravagant hope instead.

Xiao Letian's tone was extremely arrogant, as he himself firmly believed that the Great Qing Empire's ruling class, who had been handed over to the foreigners twice, would definitely not ignore this book. Therefore, Xiao Letian wanted to use an extremely arrogant tone to advertise, he wanted to use the gimmick of five thousand silver, to thoroughly stir up the literary spirit in the Beijing.

Xiao Letian shamelessly stole the copyright of the famous American journalist Ciro and occupied the name of the book《 Journey to the West》 in advance. In this book, Xiao Letian described himself as a Chinese who was born and grew up overseas. He described himself as a hero who returned after going through countless difficulties and dangers.

Five thousand silvers, exactly five thousand silvers. In Beijing, he definitely could buy a courtyard house with a garden. Don't underestimate those sour scholars who are so tall every day, most of their pockets are even cleaner than their face. In any case, this book was sold very cheaply, he could buy one at ten bosses.

But these scholars were tricked, they fell into Xiao Letian's carefully crafted trap and were unable to escape. When they flipped to the first page and started reading again, they were unable to shake off the influence of this Grand Master of Western Studies for the rest of their lives.

Xiao Letian wrote on the map of the Europa Continent that he had never seen before. The story began with the great adventure of Prince Enrique, from the primitive black tribes on the west coast of Africa, to the distant Indians of the North America, the Inca Empire of the continent … The great picture of the westerner conquering the world appeared in front of the readers.

It could not be denied that Xiao Letian's words were straightforward, vulgar, heavily spoken, and not even the slightest bit refined.

Ever since February 2, the scholars of Beijing had collectively lost their cool, and even the business of the eight main streets had become quiet over the past few days. The top scholars could not come to a conclusion no matter how much they thought about it, and only in the end did they find out that the Beijing had produced a strange book that caused all of the scholars in the city to go crazy.

All the scholars were talking about the same thing in private. ”Did you see it today?” Within three days, every word they were discussing had changed to ”Where does this damn eunuch live?”. ”Let's hurry up and finish our research …”

All of Beijing's scholars were stirred, all of their mouths were filled with the words ”Journey to the West” and all of their mouths were filled with Xiao Letian's name. The people in the teahouse were obviously few in number. When a few of the Eight Flag Lords gathered together, they would be able to discuss whether the earth was round or not.