Chapter 44 different ambition

The day after Maoxiang and Dong Xiaowan were sent away, Fang Yizhi and Huang Zongxi set off for Beijing. They crossed the Yangtze River on a river boat, and re-entered the Grand Canal from Guazhou Ferry, where gongs and drums were noisy and dragon boats gathered. After arriving in Yangzhou, they changed to an official boat, and traveled northward via Gaoyou and Huaiyin. The annual rainy season has arrived.After setting sail from Yangzhou, the days were cloudy and rainy, and the sky became gloomy.On the flat fields on both sides of the river, there is water vapor permeating the air. Looking from a distance, it is gray and white.Occasionally, the shadows of a village or a few clumps of miscellaneous trees flashed, and they were so desolate and desolate.On the low canopy, rustling raindrops kept ringing day and night.The damp and musty smell emanated from every corner of the cabin, and it continued to penetrate into the sleeves and collar, making people feel as if they were soaked in invisible saliva, greasy, sticky, and extremely uncomfortable. up...

Perhaps affected by this nasty weather, both friends gradually became a little morose.Originally, in the first seven or eight days, the two were chatting and laughing. They talked about the relationship between Maoxiang and Dong Xiaowan, the fall of Songshan and the martyrdom of Hong Chengchou, and the internal disputes and crises faced by Fushe.However, their opinions are not quite the same.For example: Fang Yizhi was quite enthusiastic about Mao and Dong's marriage, but Huang Zongxi was indifferent or even disapproving; Huang Zongxi showed great respect for Hong Chengchou's death, but Fang Yizhi believed that Songshan's loss was due to the Hong family. His death was nothing more than evasion of guilt. As for the future of rehabilitating society, Fang Yizhi believed that people's hearts had been scattered and things could not be done, but Huang Zongxi still had great hope that after this twists and turns, the confrontation might be resolved. The various factions of the Communist Party of China have eliminated misunderstandings and reunited... In this way, after talking and talking, there is always no agreement.In the end, they had to be silent, and it has been several days.

Now, Huang Zongxi is leaning on the boat canopy and reading a book.From another corner, there was the sound of metal hitting lightly - Fang Yizhi was playing with a diorama telescope he got from nowhere.It was a metal cylinder about a foot long, with glass embedded in both ends.Yesterday Fang Yizhi dismantled it one by one, saying that he wanted to study how it could move distant objects to the front of his eyes.Huang Zongxi didn't quite know how well he studied.But then the binoculars couldn't be installed anymore.Although Fang Yizhi tried to calm down, his forehead was already sweating.It took half the night yesterday and the whole morning this morning, and I haven't finished it yet, and I'm still busy there with his bookboy Fang Li.

"Mizhi is just too curious! He doesn't care if he understands it or not, he just takes it and messes with it. Look at his eagerness, he probably borrowed this telescope from someone, but it's a rare thing. Really break it I don’t know how to pay for it!” Huang Zongxi thought, intending to go over to have a look, but after thinking about it, he didn’t understand this thing, and it was useless to use it, so he still sat there without moving. However, it is not easy to settle down again.The "dud-duk" sound of those parts colliding, as well as the fragmentary chatter of Fang Yizhi's master and servant discussing, kept drilling into his ears, and became more and more clear and loud. Although Huang Zongxi tried his best to restrain his mind, he The line of sight still got lost in the densely packed imitation Song fonts several times.At last he could bear it no longer, turned his face and said:

"If you can't handle it well, let it go first. When you get to the capital, find a waiting edict and have a look!" He said this, but Fang Yizhi didn't know if he heard it, he didn't raise his head, and didn't make a sound, he just pressed his lips tighter, and he still put on and took it off, took it off and put it on again.Seeing that he was not moving, Huang Zongxi had no choice but to bury his head and continue reading; however, he finally put down the book again, stood up, walked slowly to Fang Yizhi's side, and began to look at the pile of strange shapes on the table. , Mysterious parts. "Ah, if you say that these things can be combined, you can move the scenery tens of miles away to the present. It's hard to believe, but it's absolutely true. The person who can invent this thing is not only extremely skilled, it is simply It's so ingenious! It's unbelievable that there are people with such a clever mind in the world!" He thought in amazement.He looked at it for a while, and felt itchy involuntarily. He gently stretched out his hand, wanting to pick up the egg-sized glass lens and take a closer look.But before he touched the lens, Fang Yizhi shouted: "Don't move!"

Huang Zongxi's hand trembled, and he shrank back embarrassingly.He glanced at Fang Yizhi, and saw that he was concentrating on studying a copper ring, turning it over and over again, comparing and comparing, as if he didn't notice Huang Zongxi's presence at all, or even though he did, he didn't It didn't seem like he was in his eyes at all.Fang Li, a book boy who stood by and waited on him, gloated and grimaced.Huang Zongxi's face flushed suddenly, he flicked his sleeves, walked back to his seat angrily, sat down, and picked up the book again.However, even so, Fang Yizhi still ignored him.Huang Zongxi became even more annoyed. "Hmph, you Fang Mizhi, you are so arrogant and hateful! I want to see how capable you are to install this telescope!" He thought angrily.

Who knows, as if answering him, at this moment, Fang Yizhi suddenly cheered: "It's done!" Then, he immediately started to assemble the pile of parts on the table one by one.In a blink of an eye, a retractable telescope that was exactly the same as before was in his hand.He put it on his eyes, tried to look at it a few times, then ran to the window, faced the outside, adjusted the distance, looked back and forth for a while from left to right, and from right to left.Finally satisfied, he thrust the binoculars into Fang Li's hand, folded his hands behind his back, and laughed loudly, walking around the cabin triumphantly while laughing.

"Haha, someone from our side can do it after all! What kind of Western magic weapon, but that's all! Let him do his best, and I can still learn it without a teacher!" He said proudly, and then ordered Fang Li: "Go, present Give Huang Xianggong an appraisal!" He said excitedly to Huang Zongxi: "Brother Taichong, after going through this, I will not only know what it is, but also know why it is! If there is any need in the future, brother You can still make one!" Huang Zongxi didn't expect Fang Yizhi to assemble the binoculars successfully. He was a little surprised and admiring.Even so, he was still annoyed by Fang Yizhi's arrogance and rudeness.Therefore, when Fang Li held the telescope in front of him with both hands, Huang Zongxi turned his face away angrily, refusing to accept it.

Fang Yizhi, who was waiting for his friend's praise, couldn't help but be amazed when he saw this situation.Fang Li walked back and murmured something in his ear.Fang Yizhi asked half-believingly: "I really mean that?" Seeing Fang Li nodding his head affirmatively, he thought about it for a long time, and then suddenly realized that he slapped his head: "Ah, yes, I vaguely said that. At that time, I was about to figure it out, and I felt that there was someone next to me... so it was... oh, damn it!" He stomped his feet remorsefully, walked over quickly, and bowed and apologized to Huang Zongxi.

Huang Zongxi was also interested in this binoculars, but Fang Yizhi cut off his interest and turned off his interest.Now seeing him repeatedly apologizing, the anger disappeared.He took the telescope from Fang Li without a word, fiddled with it for a while, then got up and walked to the hatch, followed Fang Yizhi's example just now, observed the outside for a long time, and then handed the telescope back to Fang Yizhi Chi hands, asked lightly: "Just now I heard my brother say that this mirror can be imitated. Could it be that brother has already grasped the secret of it?" "It's natural—in fact, there is no great mystery." Fang Yizhi said quickly, "I have drawn a picture of the structure of this mirror, and it only takes a few good workers to make it." As he said, he led Huang Zongxi to Where he was sitting, he took out a piece of paper and spread it on the table.Huang Zongxi saw the words "Illustration of the Telescope" written in seal script on it, and a telescope was drawn underneath with a brush, as well as several cross-sectional graphics of it, as well as the styles, sizes, and proportions of each part.Huang Zongxi looked at it repeatedly for a while, and finally sighed:

"Brother She is really smart! Although my generation also studies in the same way, but in this way, it is absolutely inferior!" "Aha, my younger brother is not talented, and the one who is proud of himself in his life is that he still has this bit of 'smartness'!" Fang Yizhi said.Because of his excitement, his already flushed face became even more radiant, "However, Western studies are only detailed in 'quality testing', and when it comes to 'communication', it is often crude and shallow. What's more, his ' Quality testing' is not complete either. The younger brother's ambition is actually not here!" Huang Zongxi glanced at him, but didn't respond. Fang Yizhi didn't realize that his words had aroused his friend's displeasure, he still asked excitedly: "I was born in today's world, I don't know if Brother Society thinks it is a great fortune? Is it a great misfortune?" "Oh, living in a world full of worries, I'm afraid it can only be called misfortune." Huang Zongxi said flatly, Guan Zi walked away. Fang Yizhi's eyes flickered for a moment, and then dimmed. "Brother Zhishe must answer me in this way." He nodded and sighed, "Even my younger brother always sighs because he is tossing and turning in this troubled life and prolonging his breath in this ignorant and chaotic world, until he reaches the middle of the road. Can't sleep at night, crying with sorrow!" He said in a low voice, looking depressedly at the vast rain and fog outside the window, and the team of trackers carrying ropes and struggling on the muddy shore, without speaking for a long time. Huang Zongxi thought that Fang Yizhi would brag about himself in the future, so he deliberately walked away to express that he didn't want to hear it, but he didn't expect the other party to make such a miserable and deep sigh, and was stunned instead. "However, when I think about it, it's not entirely true!" Fang Yizhi suddenly turned his face, and looked directly into Huang Zongxi's eyes sadly and resolutely, "In today's world, there is no doubt that the world is extremely decadent and chaotic, and the disease is terminally ill, and it is impossible to cure it. But In terms of civilization and enlightenment, it is prosperous and prosperous, far ahead of the previous generation! The reason is that it has inherited the wisdom of a hundred generations, accumulated it, cultivated it, and can reach this unprecedented victory. And more Western learning, when it enters China, can be invented with the learning of our country, so that we, born in this world, can gather the wisdom of the ages, compromise between them, and achieve an unprecedented level of learning and insight. It is reflected successively. In this way, it is another great blessing!" "Collect the wisdom of the ages, compromise it?" Huang Zongxi repeated in a murmur, looking at his friend suspiciously, not immediately realizing the full weight of this sentence. "That's right!" Fang Yizhi said resolutely and confidently, "Looking at it from my younger brother, the so-called Confucianists have always had two problems: first, they are poor in theory but not knowledgeable; , in order to respect etiquette, it is better to make strange words and deeds, and to surpass etiquette, both are nothing more than seeking fame, deliberately restraining and correcting their authenticity. As for the imperial examination scholars, they only know how to play stereotyped essays all year round, and they don’t know anything else What he is looking forward to with all his heart is nothing more than the word "Lilu", and he has the heart to learn more? Today, the world is full of talkers, no more than this generation! Only the word "knowledge" is a matter of thousands of years. How can no one let it? So my brother here Make a big wish: if you get money, build thatched cottages, raise talents from all over the world, delete ancient and modern books and classify them. For example, all the classics, nature, physics, articles, economics, elementary school, alchemy, law calendar, medicine All kinds of knowledge are reviewed for their authenticity, published their essence, clarified their order, detailed their beginning and end, and compiled them into a book of hundreds of volumes. It is not only expected to be useful in the present world, but also to preserve the true pulse of civilization and enlightenment for generations to come. In this way, Fang lives up to this seven-foot-high treasure, and he is full of knowledge!" The more Fang Yizhi spoke, the more excited he became, and his loud voice echoed in the cabin.He stopped looking at Huang Zongxi, and began to pace back and forth majestically.The scorching eyes that look at everything, and the arrogant and self-respecting posture make his image so invincible at this moment, he looks like a commander in command of thousands of troops, or an emperor who reigns over thousands of places . Huang Zongxi opened his eyes wide, looking at his friend as if he didn't know him.However, what surprised him was not so much the extraordinary conceit shown by Fang Yizhi at this moment, but rather the path that this talented friend decided to choose—to devote himself to writing, to hide the famous mountain, Waiting for those who come.Yes, this is the road that countless scholars have traveled together since ancient times, and it is beyond reproach.However, Huang Zongxi has always believed that his generation, who were born in troubled times as unfortunate people, has no right at present, and it is impossible to do so.In fact, Huang Zongxi never forgot that he was the son of Donglin party members, and the orphans of the group of loyal ministers and martyrs who were persecuted to death because they resisted the tyranny of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party.Not only did he have a sworn hatred against Ruan Dacheng and his like, but he was also strongly aware of the mission he shouldered.As he grew older and more knowledgeable, he became more and more certain that the root cause of the country's decline to today's situation was that the emperor was incompetent during the Tianqi period, and he reused eunuchs, severely destroying the country's righteousness. .He participated in Fushe and actively worked for the society, in order to re-establish a sense of righteousness among scholars, and use the power of "clear discussion" to push the court to improve the bad governance and prevent the eunuch from usurping power from happening again.Although the situation in the country has gone from bad to worse in recent years and there has been no improvement, Huang Zongxi has never forgotten the behest of his ancestors, nor has he lost the confidence to revive the Ming Dynasty.This time, he traveled thousands of miles to Beijing just to observe and try for himself... "No, he is wrong! The priority now is to be 'rogue bandits' and 'jian captives'! There is still a glimmer of life in Sheji. At that time, as a hot-blooded man, a saint, if he didn’t stand up and shoulder the responsibility of saving the country and the people, it would be shameful and detrimental to his character!” He thought disapprovingly. Huang Zongxi raised his head, intending to express his opinion, but saw that Fang Yizhi had already taken out a thick manuscript from his suitcase, and walked up to him excitedly: "This "Tong Ya" was written by my brother's poor three winters. I think it is worth reading, and now I ask the brother to point it out." Huang Zongxi looked at his friend, and found that the arrogance on his face just now had disappeared, and he was looking at him sincerely at the moment.He hesitated for a moment, had no choice but to temporarily swallow the words that came to his lips, silently took the manuscript, returned to the seat by the window, and browsed page by page.