Chapter 42 Chapter 41: Returning to the Lonely Study Room

For my father, the "Ouyang Kunlun" who died in a different place on the way across the sea was just a strange name that passed away.The name and the things that happened to him are so bizarre that they seem to only appear in that kind of absurd martial arts novels; The benefactor who came to Taiwan to avoid misfortune from the mainland was also a victim who lost his life because of the double identities of my father.During the first few years of migration after arriving in Taiwan, my father could only live by forcing himself not to remember; A small grocery store, immersed in the life of a peddler who weighs everything and counts pennies and pennies.However, his partners from the same hometown like to gather together and relive the various scenes in their hometown in Shandong. It seems that only by relying on constant aftertaste can everyone be sure that they are still living; only by describing and arguing about the personnel in their hometown The scenery, or even painting it with unique colors or rich details that cannot be confirmed by each other in detail, can be considered (in the depths of the spirit) to retain everything in the hometown.This kind of conversation made my father gradually unbearable. He was always about to be asked: "How did you get here?", "Which army did you come with?", or "When did you get on the ship?" Excuse me when I have such questions.Over time, a small hole appeared in his life - from May 110th to early June in the 38th year of the Republic of China; that is, from boarding the ship in Qingdao until eating in Keelung A large bunch of bananas poured down endlessly, and everything in between disappeared out of thin air.When it was no longer possible to constantly exchange memories with fellow countrymen to comfort each other, my father's fear, confusion and depression did not dissipate, but instead became deeper and deeper into a stubborn and indelible belief; at the core of his consciousness or thinking, he firmly believed He believes that it is his very existence that causes other people in this world to suffer.

Almost in a way of absconding without warning, my father settled the bill and took away what he deserved while a fellow countryman banquet held on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival was in full swing. For capital and profit, he and his mother took the train to go north overnight, and came to stay at Representative Wang's home in Zhulin City.On the way, my mother pointed to the yellow full moon outside the window and said, "This moon always follows us!" My father began to cry.At that time, he could not predict at all: but a few days later, Li Shouwu came, and pointed him to the courage to face the suffering in the world again by a means of being caught off guard.To put it bluntly, it is actually very simple: the job of collating and compiling a "History of Wars in the Past Dynasties of China" allowed my father to get in touch with its huge historical materials - and at the same time - constantly discover: battles, battles and even battles that seem to have been determined to succeed or fail Behind the war events, there are longer-term origins and backgrounds. Those so-called results are all due to various inevitable or accidental reasons; and what is called "reason" is actually another "reason" under the operation of another larger historical system. The result"... so layer upon layer, tossing and turning, when my father had to fall into the pile of old papers in order to make a living, looking for one answer after another that was both effect and cause, both cause and effect, and waited for the answer to be obtained. Learn that it's just a clue to another, bigger problem.This job gradually helped my father get rid of the self-torture of "my existence must cause others suffering" - in a country that has never experienced war, displacement, and never left, he struggled to abandon his homeland, compatriots, and In my eyes, who have never faced any major decisions, this torture should be just a sad joke made by people who overestimated their own importance.But Li Shouwu obviously didn’t think so—for him, his father’s work of healing his wounds by delving into war historical materials was just a part of a longer-term strategy.

"History of War in the Past Dynasties of China" is a large-scale and voluminous project. Even if dozens of people are assembled, it is difficult to complete the work within the foreseeable time.However, from the first day my father went to work, there was only one person, a wooden desk, a bamboo and rattan chair, a file rack nailed from plywood, a map scroll barrel converted from a shell box, and a stack of ten A line of paper, a cup of tea, and an orderly—the orderly does not pass on his orders, but the orders of the "Compilation Committee of "History of War in the Past Dynasties of China"".The members of this committee never showed up, and my father only knew that Li Shouwu was the convener of the committee—and the convener never showed up.The only one who showed up was the orderly; every few days he would bring in a large stack of materials that were at least a foot thick and ask my father to sign for them.The so-called "data" is all kinds of black and white characters.Most of the content can be called "Duanlan Chaobao" type archaeological documents, and they do not appear in any systematic form of classification or sequence at all.For example, the No. 1 and No. 2 data that my father received on the first day were as follows: "Japanese Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu's "Jian Jian Lu" said: "When the fate of the country is at stake, the Beijing government is in vain. Factional strife, such a child's play condemnation, prevents him from pursuing his strategy and absolves him of responsibility.Li Hong's misfortune, it can be said that the Chinese government committed suicide. "", "The King of England arrived in Yingzhou, and the imperial minister Sheng Bao persuaded him to surrender. The King of England refused to follow, but he was sent to Beijing. Before he arrived, he was ordered to kill him on the way. So he was in Weihui Mansion, Henan Province on the ninth day of May in the first year of Tongzhi Zhi Yanjin was killed; he was only twenty-six at the time. King Ying had double scars under his eyes, and was nicknamed "Four-Eyed Dog". "" My father's duty is to transcribe these two words without beginning and end on ten lines of paper, and according to memory (actually, a vague impression) classify them into "the period of the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895" and "the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". The period of various wars", and then individually received a file folder made of dark green horse manure paper and placed it on a plywood shelf.My father will never forget: he processed the first batch of No. 752 documents in four days before going to work.

With such a stable and consistent working method, my father files an average of more than 46,800 pieces of data each year—this is the lowest figure estimated at a daily processing speed of 150 pieces.When more than 184,000 pieces of data were entered into the file—that is, in June 46, the year when my father had been working for four years, I was born, the first orderly retired, and my father passed the commissioned grade. Civil Service Qualification Examination, and noticed that there were two words mixed in with other data at some point, but it was still difficult to classify.One reads: "In the vicinity of the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau and the Gunpowder Bureau, all countries allow their ships not to cruise and berth, and send foreign soldiers to patrol there, so as not to disturb each other. The arms of this bureau are only used to prevent bandits in the Yangtze River and protect Chinese and foreign merchants; there is no Governor and commissioner, there is no need for any countries to be surprised. The 200,000 taels of subsidy will be distributed independently. See the edition of the Central Daily News on February 11, 2038."

The content of the other article is- "After the Zhiyuan ship fought for a long time, the ship was damaged and all ammunition was exhausted. Although Deng Shichang thought that his own ship could not be completely destroyed, he should be destroyed together with the enemy. He said that the first officer Chen Jinkui said: "The Japanese ship only relies on Yoshino. If the ship sinks, our army can survive. Take away its energy. Then the drums rushed towards the enemy ship Yoshino. Before they arrived, they passed the Dingyuan ship, and hit the Japanese torpedoes that attacked Dingyuan. , not a crime of war."

Thirty-five years later, these two words became black and white characters, flashing out line by line from my father's computer screen.The wrinkled face of the old man was also very bright. He "hummed" twice with his nose and said, "Actually, I didn't notice it before." The reason why it cannot be classified into the file is because there are inexplicable contradictions in the content of these two texts.In the first article, the entire paragraph from "Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau" to "no doubt" was originally the 30th day of July in the 26th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1900)—that is, the eight-nation coalition. After the war, Sheng Xuanhuai planned and signed the seventh clause of the "Nine Items of the Regulations for the Protection of Southeast China" with the consuls of various countries.Ordinarily, it should be included in the file of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, but the next two sentences have nothing to do with the Allied Forces campaign, and there is even a "koukou"-like omission, which makes the meaning of the text seem completely incomprehensible.

The situation in the second article is also very similar: the entire paragraph from "Zhiyuan Ship" to "Instant Sinking" was originally about the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.However, after missing two words, Mopanyang in the East China Sea appeared instead of the Yellow Sea where the Sino-Japanese War broke out. My father's initial speculation was that the word "口口" might be the name of a certain ship. This is entirely because "刘车" or "Zhiyuan Ship" and "Yoshino Ship" appeared in the two characters. .However, in comparison with the context, the sentence does not make sense at all, and the meaning of the text is naturally unclear.

Until one day, my father had a sudden whim and went to the Central Library, which was located in the botanical garden at the time, and retrieved a copy of the "Central Daily" dated February 11, 1938. After searching carefully for a long time, he finally read it. There is such an inconspicuous piece of news: all the gold and silver deposited by the central bank have arrived in Taiwan and Xiamen safely, and the treasury receipts and payments are carried out in accordance with the routine, and no individual or unit is allowed to interfere unreasonably.However, it is rumored that there is another 200,000 taels of government reserves in Shanghai, which are purely fictitious rumors.

"The highest authority reserves 200,000 yuan rain" inevitably reminded my father of the "Shangyuan Project".So he read the first article sentence by sentence several times, no matter how he read it, he couldn't help but imagine the words "prevent and suppress bandits in the Yangtze River" as the situation on the eve of the national government's relocation to Taiwan.When he checked the map in the ammunition box again, a corner of the answer appeared: between the "Manufacturing Bureau" and the "Gunpowder Bureau" was the place called Huangnitang.In other words: the two sentences inserted under Article 7 of the "Regulations for the Protection of Southeast China" and the location described in the article form an intertextuality pointing to the gold stored in Huangnitang.

Because of this idea of ​​intertextuality, the second text also reveals an unusual meaning: In the Sino-Japanese War, there was a blood-and-tear-stained story behind the Zhiyuan Ship and the Dingyuan Ship.Deng Shichang, the leader of the Zhiyuan warship, failed to win the battle. When he wanted to die with the enemy, he was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese Yoshino warship.It is said that the pet dog raised by Deng Shichang also fell into the sea at that time and floated among the surging waves. He once bit Deng Shichang's arm with his mouth, not wanting to drown Deng; And then.Unexpectedly, the dog swam back again and bit Deng's braids. Deng then "looked at the sea and sighed, then hugged the righteous dog and passed away."The hateful thing is: Liu Buchan, the commander of the Dingyuan ship, who was saved by the Zhiyuan ship, is a despicable villain. After the war, he lied about another Jiyuan ship "fleeing first", and pretended to lead the Zhenyuan ship to bomb the Japanese flagship. The military exploits of the Matsushima ship.So Fang Boqian, the captain of the Jiyuan ship, was ordered to rectify the law after the war, while Liu Buchan "reported the name of the admiral and released it, and rewarded Hong'e Batulu's name in exchange."

In addition to highlighting the "inhumanity of heaven and earth" that "goodness is not rewarded and evil is not punished", this story also has a regret of surrogate death - if Deng Shichang had not wanted to die with the enemy, he would not have become the scapegoat of the sycophant Liu Buchan , how could Liu Buchan frame another loyal and fighting Fang Boqian? After pondering over and over again, my father finally realized that the reason why these two texts were difficult to file was because someone deliberately fabricated an effect that could not be easily filed, but could only attract his attention. My father once wanted to ask through the newly arrived messenger: who, when and with what motive in the "Editorial Committee" put these two words with other meanings into the generally available Between historical materials?The orderly replied: I am only responsible for sending and receiving official documents, and I shall not interfere with other matters.But one day, my father accidentally read such a newsletter in a newsprint called "Loyalty News" inside the military: "The History of Chinese War History compiled by the Military University "History of Chinese War History" "The work of collecting and compiling historical materials was officially launched last year. The University of the Three Armed Forces has invited more than 20 well-known domestic historians and military strategists to participate in the grand event. It is expected that after completion, the book will consist of seven compilations, eighteen volumes, and five hundred and four chapters. More than 100,000 words, with more than 700 drawings. It will be published around the 60th year of the Republic of China. Li Shouwu, the chief editor, said: "The History of Wars in the Past Dynasties of China" will effectively improve the understanding of our country's history and the nature of war by the officers and soldiers of our armed forces. The awareness of this will enhance the spiritual combat power of the entire army..." To my father, this was completely absurd news.First, where did the "University of the Three Armed Forces" come from?Second, all the data imported anonymously by the "Editing Committee" are still in the file folder. How can there be 5.4 million words in seven editions and eighteen volumes?Third, according to the way and progress he has made in sorting out all the data by himself, by the so-called 60 years of the Republic of China, he had accumulated nearly 800,000 trivial documents that had little to do with the war. How can fragments of knowledge enhance one's spiritual combat power? On the other hand, data that cannot be classified into files will continue to appear from time to time. Whenever the orderly is discharged or discharged, there will be a slight confusion in the handover, and a few data mixed with space-time disorder and falsehood will appear. Word.Based on the basic duties of copying and collecting, my father did not throw away these data casually, and simply created another file for a long time, with the inscription "Preparation". If it hadn't been for the incident on June 8, 1966, when Tiger Sun drove late at night, met three thieves who robbed him, broke a rib, and robbed more than 2,000 yuan, my father would have only I will throw data into the "examination preparation" folder, and I will not be interested in re-picking and checking it. After being beaten, Sun Laohu went to find Master Peng, who soaked mothballs in his unique sorghum wine and rubbed them for a while, and said, "Your brother's background is weak, and I can't pass on the skills I know to you; I see you Just lie on it for ten days and half a month—the ribs grow fast, and they will be reattached as soon as you look away." From then on, Sun Laohu no longer believed in Master Peng's ability, so he went home in a fit of anger and lay down to recuperate.My father took me to visit and found a stack of martial arts novels piled up beside his bed.Seeing my father's face, that kind of self-ashamed and ignorant little person couldn't help but overflow his face, covered the stack of novels with his arms, and said: "Oh! I laughed at Brother Zhang, and I laughed at Dachun." I, alas—we are not scholars, and we read all these idle stories without any knowledge, no knowledge at all!" Just like this, the novels that were originally piled up on the chest of drawers beside the bed were scattered. one place.My father quickly held Tiger Sun down with one hand, and helped tidy up by himself. I don’t have a deep impression of that visit, but I vaguely remember that my father, perhaps in order to resolve Tiger Sun’s cowardice that was either natural or cultivated, seemed to deliberately borrow a set of martial arts novels from him to go home with There is no superiority or inferiority in showing the same way; this made Tiger Sun very happy, and he actually showed gratitude in his speech. Another detail I remember is that when Tiger Sun lamented that his sons were not good enough, he said that freshmen and sophomores were rice worms in the army, juniors 3 and 4 were rice worms in society, and only ten— ——One-year-old Sun Xiaoliu, who ran away from home for the third time and disappeared for several months, is destined to be a parasite of the country and nation.Tiger Sun, who gave birth to a bunch of worms, didn't mention Xiao Wu at all—I guess even if he did, he would shake his head and say something like a girl's family is worthless—the reason why he didn't blame Xiao Wu at the time was because Xiao Wu Wu just stand by the door?When she heard Tiger Sun picking up so many bugs, she looked very unhappy, cleared her throat twice, turned around and left.However, Tiger Sun seemed to have seized the opportunity to complain, and he took out a brown paper seal from under the pillow, shook out a yellow and shiny gold bar from inside, and said to his father in a low voice: "Today is June 1, 2019." Isn’t it the 9th of the month? I was going out early on the 9th of last month to warm up the car, and I saw this in the mailbox—” Sun Huo held a gold bar tightly in his hand, but handed a brown paper envelope to my father, There are a few lines of dog crawling written on it meandering and slanting: "Dad: /Accidentally found this for your use/Xiao Liu". "Do you know what he did outside? Brother Zhang." Tiger Sun opened his eyes and continued, "I don't even dare to think about it!" "Maybe he picked it up?" "If he has that fate, I will be Wang Yongqing!" Sun Huo immediately pointed to the wound on his chest, and said: "I teach people to do this, and nine out of ten have something to do with this stick." Exactly fifteen years later, on the night of July 13th, my father asked me if I remembered going to see Tiger Sun was injured, and I immediately thought of the gold bar.But my father pointed to the "Seven Seas of Thunder" on the table, and said, "The martial arts novel Sun Tiger lent me is this "Seven Seas of Thunder." I glanced at the novel, and then at the two paragraphs on the computer screen, and I seemed to understand—the "Koukoulun" in the text is not the name of the ship with two characters missing, and "Koukou" is just a difference in the paragraph. The case, should the sentence that entered the historical data?Read it as: "bye to send it alone" and "bye to break the head in Mopanyang".Bye Kong——A hero in martial arts novels, a fictional character; he left home at a young age, practiced martial arts that are incomparable to the world, and escorted a batch of secret books called "Martial Arts" to Fujian Southern Shaolin as a wandering monk for the Songshan Shaolin Temple When he was successful, Caiyong and Caiping, two old monks in the pre-fu temple, cut off their necks with their palms. "My "examination preparation file" is actually a code of bits and pieces hidden in the aboveboard historical materials. In order to preserve some facts that cannot be recorded openly, they are mixed into my files in an upside-down manner. I can't read anything from the text; once I can make do with this decoded translation—" My father pointed to "Thunder in the Seven Seas" and the book bag in front of my feet, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said: "You You will understand many things that you should not understand." Judging from the two "examination preparation documents" numbered No. 1 and No. 2, my father immediately thought of what he had learned from Li Shouwu about the "help friend" participating in the "Shangyuan Project".Apparently, the reason why he got this job was not necessarily because of the matchmaking by the representative Wang from the same township, but probably because Li Shouwu took the initiative to instigate most of them; because he had already discovered that his father had been involved in the work before and after the move of the army of the Qingdao Directorate and went to work. The uneasiness between stays, and even a glimpse of what my father witnessed a murder on the ship, these two psychological backgrounds with regret and fear make my father a person suitable for keeping secrets, and even discovering secrets—— The more my father tried to get rid of self-blame and guilt by understanding the truth, exploring cause and effect, the more he fell into the maze-like secrets; and the more secrets he knew, the more Lost the right to communicate with people. In this study room full of loneliness, like a steamer with hundreds of rotten plums, I can only assume that my father first thought of "Ouyang Kunlun" from the appearance and behavior of the character "Bye Kong" From the names of the characters, it can be seen that the names of some characters in "Seven Seas Thunder" hide a trap similar to the lantern riddle "rolling grid".Bye empty rewinds into empty wheel, harmonic Kunlun, mediocre and mediocre rehabilitated into mediocrity and flat material, tone and harmonious talent and quality talent, that is, the bachelor of the old Cao Gang, "Hum Ha Ercai".As for Qiu You, it is a little more complicated-you can use the word "Yang Ou" to cut out its pronunciation, and it is "Ouyang" when you roll up the curtain, and the sound of Qiu is similar to that of Qiu; ".The name Ouyang Qiu comes from "The First National Martial Arts Examination Match Record", and his stories are all contained in "Secret Society Scores Since the Early Republic of China"-if Gao Yang's textual research is correct, the author of this score "Tao Daiwen "It is also Li Shouwu's pseudonym; it can be seen that Li Shouwu not only uses his father's position to transmit and preserve some fragments of information ordered by the library, but also himself as a footnote witness to a huge secret labyrinth. exist. However, when interpreting the apprentice named "Cu'er" in Qiu You's biography, I hesitated for a moment.Using the old tricks of Chinese philology, phonology, and exegesis that are still in my mind, it is not difficult to turn these two characters into the word "Ziyue"-that is our "the more we live, the more we return to the hero". "Master Peng's name.According to the logic of a series of crossword puzzles, Master Peng in reality should be the orphan of the scavenger Qiu You in "Thunder in the Seven Seas". Maybe so.If the plot of the novel is reversed to the real world, in the seventeenth year of the Republic of China, Ouyang Qiu got a copy of "Infinite Life Gong" from a passerby named "Wei San" when he was at the end of his life.According to the "Secret Society Scores Since the Early Republic of China" citing martial arts historical materials, it is said that "Infinite Life Skills" can be advanced to the level of "opening the door of convenience/large capacity" if you practice the third level of "seven hurdles in the river" Xiuwei.On top of this, enter the fourth floor "Peng Bo Yu Jiu Xiao", and the fifth floor "Yunhe Baiyue" can change the shape of the body as you like. Therefore, the second volume of "The Grand View of the Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty, Shuyi of the Qing Dynasty" has Records: A minister named Cao Xiuxian "has a loose belly, so he must fold it once or twice; if he is full, he will fold it once."From this point of view: Master Peng, who is sometimes fat and strong, and sometimes short and hunched, should be a disciple of Ouyang Qiu's "Shuo Quan" in "Speaking of Kung Fu", and his skills can be traced back to Cao Renfu.This point seems to be supported by the seven books in my book bag——Wei Yizheng, Xingsan, known as Wei San Lord, isn't it just the "Wei San" who is suave, carefree, willful and unrestrained, who handed over "Infinite Life Gong" to Ouyang Qiu?Isn't this person—and Li Shouwu, even Qian Jingnong, Wang Xunru, Zhao Taichu, Sun Xiaoxu and others just a group of mysterious figures who were on the same boat with my father?What makes me shudder even more is: there is an irreversible force in the dark that has already arranged and manipulated me, and I read their books without knowing it. "Dad said just now that he didn't know who this "Piaohua Lingzhu" is—" I asked tentatively.The old man shook his head. "Don't you think it's a bit strange? The books written by the people who came to Taiwan with you are all in this bag, but there is no book by Sun Xiaoxu. Isn't this "Floating Flower Order Master" just—" "Impossible." My father continued to shake his head, and said, "When you were not at home this afternoon, I flipped through these books and wondered for a moment. That's right, "Thunder in the Seven Seas" was indeed borrowed from the Sun family. It was purely coincidental." "Why?" "Sun Xiaoxu is actually Tiger Sun's father, Xiao Wu Xiao Liu and their grandfather. He passed away as early as the 55th year of the Republic of China. But this "Thunder in the Seven Seas" was only published in January of the 66th year of the Republic of China." I didn't argue with him right away, because at that moment, I also suddenly had a thought that "maybe ignorance is happier"—and I didn't dare to ask him rashly whether he knew "Master Peng is Yue Zipeng" , "Ouyang Kunlun rescued Mrs. Peng" and even "Yue Zipeng's insider is also an anagram".I guess: maybe he hasn't had time to read all six books other than "Thunder in the Seven Seas" one by one; because of this-if he also believes that "the more you know, the more dangerous it is"-I have to keep silent.Sure enough, just as I was sitting upright, looking like "respecting to be taught", my father shared some words that he really wanted to teach me—and, as I expected, from crossing the sea to settling down, from From martial arts to war history, from wrestling between the Qing Dynasty and Hong Dynasty to the struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, from inventorying military supplies to compiling documents...no matter what this old man has experienced, experienced, felt, and awakened; he doesn't care at all and doesn't ask me to Does this son know something about him? His purpose is just to remind me: behind the world I think is what I think, there is actually a more terrifying and powerful manipulative force that dominates people's encounters and perceptions. , and no one can resist or doubt. My father's argument was actually only a few simple and clear sentences: "The "Hengha Ercai" came down from the "Bao" name and went to the intelligence bureau of the Ministry; the reason why they never attacked me was because I was helping The main reason is that they don't know what I know. Now that you are entangled with this kind of Ouyang Honglian, how can they be suspicious when they are spies? These photos are obviously a warning." I really want to ask him: Honglian and I have been hanging out for ten years, and they have been taking this kind of nasty little photos for almost as long; why didn’t they warn earlier or later, why did they come to warn now? ?Reasonably speaking: Even if Ouyang Kunlun helped the "old man" transport a large amount of gold to Taiwan, and the "Bao" brand Eren would avenge the revenge and kill people, this is the dusty past of nearly 33 years ago. Why is it today? Suddenly came up with a bad idea to send a small photo to test my father or me?Before I could say anything, my father lightly raised his toes, gestured towards the book bag under my feet, and said: "Not only you and my father and son, I am afraid they have already set their sights on Gao Yang." I almost dare not think about it.Since the spring of 1975, when I traveled to Japan with Gao Yang and made friends with him, he also taught a group of idlers and troublemakers to be targeted. These people are like herpes, flu viruses, or dandelions. The habit of clinging and hooking and weaving—could it be because Gao Yang and I occasionally talked about the "Summary of Qimen Dunjiashu" that he also fell into the net? However, who can prove this conjecture?Gao Yang said to me when Mr. Rong was sick, "There is a strange case about seven of their sworn brothers. I have inquired about it for decades, but I know that there are still many reasons why I can't tell the difference." Just when I was thinking of these words, a doctor with silver hair and white clothes but a blurred face suddenly flashed in front of my eyes.No, it’s not a doctor, it’s Wan Defu dressed as a doctor—in the only time I met him ten years ago, he clearly warned the old man who had a big hole in the teaching lamp holder on the back of his head. Big brother: "Rong is always "their" territory," and "Er just came to the door to shake it." A small inference: when Gao Yang was admitted to the hospital due to illness, he was actually still obsessed with the strange case of Wan Yanfang and his seven brothers. Carry it with you, or it may be near the bed.However, he found that his condition was suspicious—clearly sure that "he still has 30 years of life to squander, and he will leave after a sixty years", but he suddenly deteriorated after the diagnosis and treatment; so he suddenly mentioned his early years when I went to visit I came across the old story of Zhao Taichu at Sanmin Bookstore.It's a pity that I didn't notice it for a while—even I looked like I had completely lost my memory—Gao Yang must be quite disappointed, so he never handed over the book and manuscript to me face to face.Next, perhaps because he noticed something strange about the hospital authorities (or the environment inside and outside the ward), he entrusted the book and the manuscript to the editor-in-chief of a literary magazine who was completely unaware, and stated: After leaving the hospital, the original Return it; if you can't get out of the hospital, you hand it over to me.If Gao Yang really made this decision after deliberation, he must have taken a great risk, but it was definitely beyond the expectations of "them" people—I can almost imagine how he designed a surreptitious, A strange trick to deceive people; the process of asking the editor-in-chief to carry a dozen books that are suitable for killing time on the sickbed to visit, and then bring back the seven books and his manuscripts when there is no one around. Thinking about it this way, from Gao Yang's critical illness to his death, "they" must have had certain doubts; that is, whether this historical novelist, who is known for his extensive knowledge, memorization, and careful investigation, knew anything about the strange case. How many?How much did you teach?And what kind of conspiracy did he, I, and even my father have about the trivial knowledge of the grievances and grievances between the old Cao Gang and the center of the state government and the core of power in modern times?If there is indeed a conspiracy, who is the main messenger?What about the mechanism and operation of collusion?These must be "they" who are puzzled.It is also because of this that "they" took action after Gao Yang's death-sent such a stack of photos, and a note with the words "Ouyang Honglian, the daughter of Zhang Dachun and Ouyang Kunpan". Whether or not the photos and notes were written by "the two geniuses" as my father said, the purpose is obvious.On the one hand, this is looking for snakes; waiting and observing the reaction of our father and son, and based on this, we can judge whether we have conspired with Gao Yang, Hong Lian, or even those surreptitious old men?How involved?How much do you know?On the other hand, this is also a warning, which means: no matter whether you have any complicity, how deep you are involved, and how much you know, everything ends here.My father wanted to burn Gao Yang's suicide note and manuscript, probably because of this. "Talk that you are not as good as Gao Yang;" my father continued, turning around and chopping on the keyboard for a while like chopping meat: "So what if Gao Yang is reborn? How can a scholar compete with such monsters and monsters?" What's more, your book didn't read very well!" "That would be too contemptuous—" "You just mentioned Mo Renjie and Chen Guangfu on the "Baixiepu". On the screen, the information marked "Bei 11" and "Bei 12" appeared again. "Preparation 11" is written like this: "Zhang Yongde said to him: "Ai Neng and others have never made great achievements. If you pretend to be a festival axe, you hope that the enemy will flee first, and you will not be responsible for death.Moreover, His Majesty wants to flatten the world, but if the military law is not established, even though there are soldiers and millions of people, how can they be used safely? "Shizong threw a pillow on the ground and called it good. That is to say, more than 70 military officials such as Aineng were recruited, and they were punished and beheaded. Talking about Aineng is not the help of outstanding people. Shizong lived a long life and died, what did he want?" "Preparation 12" is written like this: "The Japanese army invaded Hong Kong and forced citizens to use "military bills" and stopped using banknotes issued by Hong Kong HSBC Bank. The original Hong Kong currency was like waste paper. Chen Guangfu, the representative of Zhou's Paper Factory Committee, collected them and gathered them into papermaking raw materials. .Japan surrendered, HSBC resumed business..." There are actually other reasons why my father did not file these two items.In "Preparation 11", the original text should be implanted in the history of the later Han and later Zhou; They fled, even plundered the supplies and frightened the slaves, causing heavy losses in the later Zhou Dynasty.Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong then borrowed Zhang Yongde's words of persuasion to issue a military order and killed Fan Aineng. What is suspicious is still the few words after the word "口口".In particular, "Sejong's death at a high age" is inconsistent with the context and historical facts—Zhou Shizong died young, and his "magnificent atmosphere, grand scale, and style of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty" can be called the first among the emperors of the Five Dynasties. A leader; but every year is not fake, and the great cause is dead, too?As everyone who reads history knows, how can he be said to have a "longevity"?Because of this suspicion, my father read these three sentences several times, and suddenly discovered that there was a mechanism hidden in the first sentence: "Aineng" is the name of Fan Aineng, a famous general in the later Zhou Dynasty, but because of the couplet, he read the following "non The word "...zhizhu" is reminiscent of the idiom "I can't help".Once this idiom comes to mind, the word "renjie" and the word "mo" are connected together.With my father’s qualifications in joining the gang in the early years, I naturally heard the rumors that Xiang Dihao asked Mo Renjie for boxing scores with huge sums of money. Hui then recalled a bloody case that occurred in the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce in the 34th year of the Republic of China: the 16-year-old young master of Mojiaquan was shot and killed three times by an unknown assassin on a sofa chair in a small reception hall .This news caused a sensation across the country at the time. It was said that the old Cao gang was at odds with the Xiang family, who runs the shipping business, so they sent gunmen to kill people first and set the blame on them, so as to embarrass the Xiang family.Some people think that Sun Shaohua of the Piaohuamen is afraid that once Xiang Dihao gets the boxing score, he will take revenge for being humiliated in the street in the past.Some people even said: Mo Renjie cheated his death in order to seize the opportunity to get rid of Xiang Dihao's bad debts that he paid off for him to read the boxing scores.Some people even suspected that the two families of Xiang and Mo had already linked up. The debts and boxing records were all superficial articles. In fact, they were just looking for a servant to die on their behalf. Those who are good at things add fuel to the equation and fabricate rumors that are extremely unfavorable to the Lao Cao Gang and Piaohuamen—the facts are all there. The case of Mo Renjie caused Sun Shaohua to die of anger in a very short period of time, and the reputation of the Lao Cao Gang plummeted. “这一条是民国五十一一年十月中窜进来的，”家父接着凑脸近前，道：“当时爆出个沸沸扬扬的“周鸿庆事件”——你还小，大概不知道罢？” I don't say anything.因为我还没打定主意要不要告诉他：其实我非但知道“周鸿庆事件”，也在《食德与画品》这本书里读到过：杭州湖墅旺族莫用过一任主厨，叫周鸿庆，拿手的名菜叫“红煨清冻鸭”。周鸿庆声震一时之际，还有知名画家给画过一幅长宽各约数丈的巨幅群鸭彩绘，题上“冰肌玉骨香无汗/水暖春江鸟不知”的七言诗句，“江鸟”二字巧嵌其中，寓一“鸿”字，传为美谈。这人日后如何，我却不得而知；因为我在读到这个段落上的时候，颇为书中形容那巨幅彩绘的工具——“帚笔”——所吸引，一翻检附注，说“帚笔”须具备相当程度内功、且功力必精湛异常者方可运行，“近世唯沪上方公凤梧一人能之而已”。当下转了兴趣，便去寻觅那和方凤梧有关的书；就是《神医妙画方凤梧》了。 “你先看“世宗高寿死，岂其所愿哉？”这雨句——”家父枢弯食指，往屛幕上的字迹敲了敲，道：“周世宗英年早逝，则称不得高寿；既非高寿，这高寿二字必有别解。我再问你：读过南朝梁徐勉的〈故永阳敬太妃墓志铭〉没有？谅必没有，问了也是白问。在这篇墓志铭里有这么几句：“年高事重，志义方隆，宜永绥福履，而奄夺鸿庆，以普通元年十月廿三日遘疾，十一月己卯薨于第。”这里的“鸿庆”所指的便是高寿了。如此再回头：“世宗”是后周之主，隐一“周”字，合以下文“高寿”所射之“鸿庆”，非“周鸿庆”而何呢？两句并起来看，则冒出来个“周鸿庆死，岂其所愿哉？”，再合上前一句“爱能实非人杰之助”怎么看、怎么像是藏了个脱靴摘帽的谜戏，实则说的是“莫人杰”，或者“姓莫的实非人杰”——这一条，逞足我的力气，也委实解它不得。不过，倘或江湖上传言不虚，说莫人杰其实未死，则说不定死的却是“周鸿庆”，于是下文中“周鸿庆死，岂其所愿哉？”这才说得通。对罢？” 听语气，家父并不知道那周鸿庆和“红煨清冻鸭”乃至于他在莫家担任厨作的杂说掌故。换言之：家父凭字解谜，得着了一个明明是正确的答案，但是却没有证据——他手上的拼图板缺了一块——而缺掉的一块证据，却恰恰藏在他不许我读下去的书里。我耸耸肩，道：“我读书少；说对了也是白说，说不对也是白说。你读书多，那么“备12”又怎么解释？” 家父可能很想斥我一回，可兴许是他的考究癖上来了、挡不住了，遂祇白了我一眼，硬呑两口唾沬，道：“这一条虽说与对日抗战的背景有关，却根本不属于战史的材料范围，之所以编进备考档，纯粹是因为它当初是同“备11”写在同一张纸片上的缘故。只不过从这一条上倒可以看出些别的头绪：第一，陈光甫不祇是国府要员，也和民间一些大公司、大行号有极深的渊源，常凭借着洋文呱呱叫的本事，替人办些交涉之类的事；第二，这一条没写完，祇写到汇丰银行复业，这很奇怪。我后来查证了些别的资料，发现汇丰复业之后，曾有很短的一个时期，宣布公开兑现旧港币；那是因为库存现钞够不上应市、新钞又来不及发行。英国人原以为战火惨烈、焚毁无度，也许兑不回多少旧钞，总之是拿来流通应急而已。孰料周氏纸厂赫然押运了一吨多的旧钞来兑英镑，兑得汇丰差一点周转不灵，祇好以银行股票易钞票、另外还延请周氏纸厂的老板出任汇丰董事、兼理总裁职务。你方才说陈光甫买下多少“蛇草行书”的作品，分赠政商名流；其实那些书法作品根本不是陈光甫买的，眞正的买家却是那位隐身幕后的周老板。第三，“蛇草行书”的确如你所言/，是那洪达展自创的一门书法，可是它既骨董、亦非杰作，怎么会有人肯花那么多钱去买了来交际公卿呢？——” “搞政治的懂什么书法？有人捧、有人送，自然有人挂起来当宝贝。”我哼了一声。 “不！这里头另有玄机。”家父托起下巴颏儿，摩挲着花花白白的胡子碴，道：“尤其是这两条文字的内容全然无关、却写在一起；这表示：除非前一条里的“周鸿庆”与后一条里的“周氏纸厂”有什么牵连，否则是说它不通的。此外，众所周知“周鸿庆事件”是民国五十二年十月间发生的事，周氏纸厂兑港币却是民国三十五年秋天发生的事，至于“蛇草行书”大兴其道，更在三十六、七年间，三者可以说风马牛不相关；各见端绪却互无脉理。然而既给写在同一张纸上，依例是不可能无关的。” 他在这么说着的时候，我已经理出了自己的头绪。在我看来，陈光甫（或者他所代表的周氏纸厂老板）之所以会去买一大堆并无艺术价値的烂字画，极有可能是一桩幌子交易——质言之：买方出钱是眞，卖方所供应的却另有其物；只不过那眞正的货物若非见不得人、即非可见之物，才借着“蛇草行书”的买卖掩护之。其次，如果“周鸿庆”早就在民国三十四年被当成是“莫人杰”而遭人射杀于杭州，则到了民国五十二年十月间冒出来的“周鸿庆事件”便显然也是个幌子了——起码，在日本投诚、却让一辆莫名其妙的出租汽车给载进苏联大使馆、以致功败垂成、被遣回中国大陆的倒霉鬼应该不是什么“周鸿庆”，却极有可能是当年诱人为饵、代捐一命的“莫人杰”了。暗中提供数据给家父的人也是趁着闹出“周鸿庆”事件的热潮，才打蛇随棍上、把这一条窜了进来。 然而此刻我所关心的不是什么陈年骨头烂年鳃的谜底，反而是家父这后半生所戮力从事的工作。不论他埋首于这满坑满谷的战史资料是一程多么繁复迷人的探访，也不论这探访之于他是否眞能作为一次不堪回首的逃亡的救赎或治疗；我隐隐然觉得：李绶武当年提供的这份差事是不値得做的！ 从那折返点之后，家父所涉猎、钻研、勾稽、补缀的一切，都是一个看来十分十分伟大的大时代对一个十分十分渺小的小人物的作践、浪掷和虚耗。在那不时会供应一条又一条难以归类入文件的数据给家父的人心目之中，家父祇是一部堪用的机器，负责保管一切有价値的秘密。家父绞尽脑汁、费煞思量，祇能爬梳出一些对于整部《中国历代战争史》全无用处的“备考档”。浸泡在这些彷佛藏匿着许多意义的谜样的文字之中，家父自己充其量也只是一个墨绿色马粪纸制成的档案夹而巳。他永远不可能眞正了解由他所发现、誊录、整理甚至拼凑出来的秘密。 “究竟是谁提供给你这些备考档的？”我冲口问道：“难道你从来不去查一查？你不想知道么？如果就是李绶武，你不觉得他只是在利用你——” “没有谁能利用谁。”家父倏忽提高声量，旋即瞑上眼，深深喘息了一阵，才又平静地说：“如果你说的是部里这份差事，我从临时雇员干到简任一级编审，一干三十四年，最后画成了七百多幅战图；可以了！如果你说的是这份备考档——” “我说的就是备考档。”我站起身，暗里使脚尖勾住书袋的背带，道：“这个一天到晚给你假资料、打哑谜的家伙到底想干嘛呢？有话为什么不明写白说呢？绕那么些个圈子，不是简直要把人逼出个妄想症来了吗？” “要是写明了、说白了，“他们”那一边的人不也明白了吗？”家父睁开眼，鱼尾纹微微朝上扬了扬，似乎是笑了：“至于这一边的，我不知道是谁，也不知道人家是“一个家伙”还是“几个家伙”；我只知道人家很沉得住气，一丝一缕地追查着一些个事情，有了点什么眉目，就窜个一条半条的材料给我，一直到整部《中国历代战争史》初稿编成，那是民国五十六年一月的事。之后，我开始忙画战图的工作，直到退休，其间二十年，再也没有收到过任何一条资料。” 对于家父来说，“备考档里藏着什么重要的讯息？”原本是个不存在的问题，直到他从孙老虎那本《七海惊雷》里看出欧阳昆仑运金遇害的一点苗头，才兴起了翻箱倒箧、彻地钻天的搜检和考证工作。也就是从那时开始，他才赫然发现：备考档已经十年多没有新的进项了。最后一条的编号则是“备33”。 这三十三条字谜当中，可解者不过四、五条。家父遂将《七海惊雷》从头到尾又看了几遍，依旧毫无所得。照他当时的揣测，乃是由于译码的“译本”应不只《七海惊雷》而已；可是书海浩瀚苍茫，教他到哪里去寻觅其它的、也可能根本不存在的“译本”呢？在这个若有知、实无知的阶/段，家父有一个在事后看来固然可称为准确、却也失之简单的直觉：他认为备考档极可能来自不祇一个的、亲近老漕帮的人物，为了追查和老漕帮有关的疑案、而刻意将这些看似藏有机关的字谜窜入战争史料，加上一个能细心盘点材料如家父这样的角色，自然而然将字谜汇集起来；既不易为外人所侦伺，又能够在文献的护伞之下保存起来。一旦字谜累积得够多、相互之间产生了意义性的关系，且为有心钻之硏之者识破揭露，则一谜解而众谜皆解，隐藏在大历史的角落里的另外一种眞相便得以逐渐显影；且正因为它们已经是《中国历代战争史》的一部分，这战争史又是一部由国防部史编局作业、再加上一个三军大学之类的学术单位背书的皇皇巨构，早在民国四十年代末即明订其编数、卷数、字数甚至战图帧数，可见其计划之精详缜密，应须是千金不易一字的定稿，也就不容有心文饰、蔽匿或毁弃者妄加撼动了。 不过，依我的后见之明，家父此一直觉仍过于简单——因为他太看重这一大套由国防部和三军大学领衔编纂的“正史”地位和价値。在我看来，把这些字谜窜入史料的人另有两种目的：第一，设若家父混水摸鱼、囫囵呑枣，未经消化即将字谜原封不动地掺入史料，以致竟尔以此面目出版问世，自然会招引一些眞正笃学深思、敏求好问者挞伐追究，则隐伏在字谜中的机关反而会惹来更多的人注意和探讨，所谓大历史角落里的眞相也才会不期而然地在众目睽视之下浮现。 第二，设若家父不肯放过纤芥之疑、毫末之误，便应当倾力于这些字谜的解译工作。如果能够从他亲眼目睹欧阳昆仑横遭加害的这一个经历举一反三，而又对种种古老的文字谜戏十分熟稔的话，提供字谜的人其实不祇希望能藉家父之手、将大历史角落里被尘封掩埋的一些个疑案悄然不动声色地保存下来，他（们）恐怕还更期待家父能以同样的观点和方法、换一副“幽冥晦暗之地”的眼睛、去重新翻视一遍几千年以来、那表面上十分“光天化日”的历史和现实。 “你知道为什么再没收到那些字谜了吗？” 家父点点头，道：“大概知一点？只不过——我知遍得太晚了。”