Chapter 31 The Lost Process of "Yongle Dadian"

The Lost Process of "Yongle Dadian" Twenty-two thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven volumes, divided into 11,095 huge volumes of "Yongle Dadian", Since it was compiled and revised in the sixth year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (AD 1408), it was recorded again after more than a hundred years. This part.But today, only four hundred years ago, this unprecedentedly large ancient Chinese encyclopedia Of course, the original copy has long since disappeared, and the remaining copies, according to recent statistics, include Including the original and photocopied copies copied from foreign countries, there are only more than 700 volumes in total.compared to the original

There are more than 22,000 volumes, and 97% of them are lost. The loss of this great book did not happen overnight.Generally speaking, it can be summarized into three The causes are natural disasters, man-made theft, and plunder and destruction by foreign invaders. "Yongle Dadian" was originally compiled in Nanjing.After completion, it will be stored in Nannei Wenyuan Pavilion. Later, the new palace of Emperor Yongle in Beijing was completed, and the capital was moved to Beijing. It was moved to Nanjing, so it was stored in Beijing until the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, when the three main halls in the palace suffered a fire.

This "Yongle Dadian" was almost burned.Fortunately, Jiajing liked this book, and heard the fire alarm repeatedly in the middle of the night It was only then that he was spared by ordering rescue.After this lesson, he decided to copy another part of "Yongle Dadian", divided into Store it in two places in order to lose one and the other.This re-recording work started in the 41st year of Jiajing and continued It took five years until his own death, and it was not completed in the first year of Longqing after his son succeeded to the throne. According to the reliable records at that time, the two copies of the "Yongle Canon", the original and the copy, were stored in the original text.

Yuan Pavilion, a copy of the emperor's history.However, since Jiajing, the power of the Ming Dynasty has declined, and there are many troubles on the frontier. The emperor was fatuous and didn't like literary affairs, and since then "Yongle Dadian" has been put on the shelf, and no one cares about it.Every year in the palace There is an act of posting books, but it is just a written statement.In this way until the end of Ming Dynasty, when Li Zicheng entered Beijing, "Yongle Dadian" was being The original was destroyed in this war.Jiang Shaoshu's "Yunshizhai Bi Tan" records that the books in Wenyuan Pavilion were burned at that time

Xingyun: "There are very few books in the Secret Pavilion of the Neifu, but the nineteen collections of the Song people are also Song Ban. The books are all upside down, four The circumference is outward, so it is not damaged even though it is bitten by insects.However, the Wenyuan Pavilion is narrow and dark, and those who want to read it must Bing Guan Yi Deng.The ministers of the cabinet have no time to pay attention to this, and those who are called by the emperors of the Hanyuan to study in the middle school have never been able to get it. Peek into the possession of Dongguan.When Li Zicheng entered the capital, he was burned, which is a pity. "

Although the "Yongle Dadian" is not mentioned here, the original copy of "Yongle Dadian" is hidden in Wenyuan Pavilion, and it has been preserved since then. Of course, it was also destroyed.This matter has been verified in the book "Yongle Dadian Kao" written by Guo Bogong.therefore After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, only the "Yongle Dadian" hidden in Huangshicheng was found, and no one mentioned Wenyuan Pavilion again. The "Yongle Dadian", it can be seen that the original copy must have been burned during the turmoil in the late Ming Dynasty, otherwise it would never have been lost.

There is one handed down.Later, when Qianlong edited "Siku Quanshu", it was necessary to use "Yongle Dadian" to proofread In the survey, all the copies used were copied during the Jiajing period, and it can be seen that the original "Yongle Dadian" was lost. It must have been in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. The original version of "Yongle Dadian" was lost. Although the records of various schools are quite different, by the time of the Qing Dynasty, it has been No one has seen the original copy anymore, what they have seen is only the Jiajing copy hidden in Huangshicheng, but it is consistent with each other.

statement.And in fact, the copy hidden in Huangshicheng at this time has long been incomplete. Time has lost part of it. The copy was hidden in Huangshicheng in the early Qing Dynasty, and it was moved to the Imperial Academy during the Yongzheng period.Zhang Tingyu in the book "Cheng The third volume of "Huaiyuanyu" mentioned this matter.He said: "This book was originally stored in Emperor Shicheng, and it was moved to the Imperial Academy during the Yongzheng period. When I was in charge of the courtyard, I was able to watch it.The book is a manuscript, the calligraphy and painting are in regular script, the decoration is exquisite, and the paper and ink are all ancient. "

At that time, very few people in the Hanlin Academy were willing to pay attention to this book, not to mention that it was a public property with so many volumes. People go to check.Until Qianlong was preparing to compile the "Siku Quanshu", someone offered to compile it from the "Yongle Dadian". Only after recording the suicide note, did they seriously send staff to check it, and only then did they discover for the first time that there was a copy of "Forever" in the Hanlin Academy. More than 2,000 copies of "Le Dadian" have been lost.According to Yu Minzhong, the minister in charge of handling the matter at that time, said:

"Check the book "Shuiyue Dadian", which was compiled in the early years of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. There are more than 22,900 volumes, a total of 10,000 volumes. One thousand and ninety-five volumes, the old history of the emperor was preserved, and the classics were restored and moved to the classics library of the Imperial Academy.It has been stored for a long time, and there are many volumes... The minister and others sent staff to the library to check one by one. It is said that when the book was transferred to storage, most copies were missing, and there are nine extant ones.

There are more than a thousand copies, which is far from the original number..." Compared with the more than 11,000 volumes and the 9,000 volumes, although there are more than 2,000 volumes less, but at that time (Thirty-eighth year of Qianlong, that is, 1773 A.D.) It can be known that there are still more than 9,000 volumes.However, after the revised "Four "Kuquanshu" made use of "Yongle Dadian", and this book gradually attracted the attention of the poets at that time. This actually contributed to the bad luck of "Da Dian".Since the "Da Dian" existed in the Hanlin Academy, at that time the hall The princes of the Hanlin Academy in the Tang Dynasty became elegant book thieves, specializing in stealing "Yongle Dadian".Changshu Bingheng Residence In his book "Hexiangguan Suoyan", he once recorded the situation where people from the Imperial Academy stole "Yongle Dadian" at that time: ""Yongle Dadian" There were originally more than 10,000 volumes of "Le Dadian", which were distributed one after another. In Guangxu Yihai (the first year of Guangxu), less than 5,000 volumes were found. Until Guiji (the 19th year of Guangxu), there were only more than 600 volumes.According to legend, when Hanlin was admitted to the hospital, his servant brought a bag of clothes, When you go out, you wear all your clothes, and wrap your books to go out, so people don't realize it.Also close to the embassies of various countries, I heard that every "Ceremony" Outsiders often buy it with ten taels of silver, and the museum staff secretly sell it, and it cannot be questioned, and it will be scattered and died quickly..." The nineteenth year of Guangxu was 1893 A.D. At that time, only a few hundred volumes of the "Da Dian" survived. Seven years is 1900, that is, the Battle of Gengzi. The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, and the essence of the Qing Palace was plundered. It was even burned, so some of the remaining "Yongle Dadian" were robbed and transported back to China by foreign soldiers, and some were burned. It was destroyed, and there are only a few dozen volumes left in China.