On the tenth day of February, a new issue of "Talking about the Past and the Present" was released on time.

This publication, produced by the Repair and Inspection Department of the Hanlin Academy, has a circulation of 100,000 copies per issue, and has become the most influential and authoritative publication at present.

The most important thing is that this publication has the ability to "make stars", which makes scholars all over the world flock to it.

Like many students who are weak in English in later generations, some students are not poor in learning, but they are not good at rote memorization. In the current era of the Four Books and Five Classics, it is necessary to polish the students' talent and agility and let them devote themselves to this kind of dull sage learning.

Even if they are talented, even if they can use it flexibly, even if they have real statecraft. But in the imperial examination, it has suffered repeated setbacks.

Xu Wei is a typical example, obviously talented, and was crowned by later generations as one of the three great talents of the Ming Dynasty, but he was unable to be promoted in the township examination.

It's just that with the birth of "Talking about the Past and the Present", these aggrieved students have a stage to display their talents, and many talented scholars have gradually emerged and even been reused.

Like Liu Yongquan of Jiangxi, who failed to take the imperial examination, he was regarded as a guest by the governor of the river with his "Flood Control Policy", and he even asked the imperial court to reuse him.

The list goes on and on.

Unconsciously, many buried scholars were given the opportunity to show their talents, and with their strong rise, they in turn promoted the authority of "Talking about the Past and the Present".

The talents who have emerged in the past few years have all appeared in "On the Past and the Present", and then they became famous. If anyone who claims to be a great talent, but his article is not found in "On the Past and the Present", he will definitely be ridiculed by others.

Now it is the period of the examination, and it is the New Year of the Beijing Chacha, and the scholars and officials from all over the world gather in the capital. The new issue of "Talking about the Past and the Present" has just been released, and it was sold out on the same day.

Such a hot sales scene, in addition to the popularity of the world's scholars, the quality of this issue is indeed higher than that of the previous period.

The biggest attraction of this issue is not in the current affairs chapter, but in the fable "Stone Beasts in the River" arranged in the back: Cangzhou Nanyi Temple is near the river, the mountain gate is in the river, and the two stone beasts are sunk. Reading more than ten years old, the monk raised money to rebuild, and asked for two stone beasts in the water, but he couldn't get it. I thought that I was going down the river, I counted the boats, dragged the iron and palladium, and found more than ten miles without a trace.

……

It is said that there is a temple in the south of Cangzhou near the river bank, and the outer gate of the Buddhist temple collapsed in the river, and two stone beasts in front of the door sank into the river together. After more than ten years, the monks raised money to rebuild the temple, and searched for two stone beasts in the river, but they could not find them. The monks thought that the stone beasts were going down the river, so they rowed a few small boats, dragged the iron palladium, and searched for more than ten miles downstream, but found no trace of them.

When a lecturer who was teaching in a temple heard about this, he smiled and said, "You people can't find the truth of things, and this stone beast is not a piece of wood, how can it be carried away by the flood?" The characteristics of the stone should be hard and heavy, and the characteristics of the river sand are loose and light, and the stone beast is buried in the sand, and the deeper it sinks. Isn't it ridiculous to go down the river to find them? "Everyone was convinced that this was the right statement.

When an old river soldier heard this, he smiled and said, "Any stone that falls into the river should be searched upstream." Because the stone is characterized by being hard and heavy, and the river sand is characterized by being loose and light, the water cannot wash away the stone, but the impact force of the river hitting the stone will definitely wash the place under the stone against the water into a hole, and the deeper it is, when the hole extends to half of the bottom of the stone, the stone must fall into the hole. As the stone washed many times like this, the stone would flip forward many times, and the stone beast would go upstream. It would have been absurd to go downstream to look for stone beasts; Wouldn't it be more ridiculous to look for them in their place? ”

The monks followed the words of the old river soldiers, and sure enough, they found the stone beast in the upper reaches a few meters (inside) away. Since this is the case, there are too many situations in which we only know one thing and don't know the other, so how can we make subjective judgments based on a certain truth?

……

Fables, of course, are meant to be taught through simple stories, so as to achieve the goal of mission.

In this "Stone Beast in the River", through the views of monks, lecturers and old river soldiers, the truth is revealed as if the cocoon is peeled off.

As soon as this fable came out, the other sections were overshadowed, especially the current affairs version, which was a cliché and did not cause repercussions among scholars.

"This is the real fable, what were the first few issues!"

"This stone will go up, is it true?"

"The governor of the river said it was true, but did you say it was true or false?"

……

Without controversy, there would be no hot spots. It is in this kind of controversy and incredulity that the new issue of "On the Past and the Present" seems to be extremely popular, and the major bookstores have been sold out.

It's just that all the buyers noticed a strange thing. Anyone who buys "Talking about the Past and the Present" will get a copy of "Suncheon Daily".

No one would refuse a free lunch, and when they saw this soft-papered, well-printed newspaper, many scholars chose to take it home and read it carefully.

It's okay not to look at it, but it's very interesting at first glance. Although it is mixed, this thing called "Suncheon Daily" is spreading at a rapid pace, and has even become a topic of conversation among many people.

"There is a stone in the general alley of Jinchengfang in the west of the city, which is shaped like a dog, and it is suspected that it was transformed by a loyal dog in the general's mansion in the past."

"In the north of the city, Juxianfang Berlin Temple, the hundred-year-old locust wood in the courtyard has withered for several years, and now there is a flying rainbow falling into the tree, and the dead wood is alive, which is the auspicious omen of heaven and earth."

"In the Xiaochun Building of the White Paper Workshop in the outer city, there is a female surname Su Ruoruo, who looks like Su Xiaoxiao, and her talent is unique, and she is suspected of being a reincarnation."

……

In some of the tofu blocks, there is a lot of specious information, and they are all things that can arouse people's curiosity. It's just that you want to deny it, but you can't, because the information published can be verified.

People in this era are still relatively simple, and after reading the newspaper, many people choose to go to Jiangjun Hutong, Berlin Temple, and even go directly to Xiaochun Tower to see Su Ruoruo's style.

Especially this unknown Su Ruoruo, almost in the blink of an eye, crowded into the list of famous prostitutes, curious people like carp crossing the river, they all want to see this prostitute who looks like Su Xiaoxiao.

In addition, Shuncheon Daily also rubbed the popularity of the examination and published the information of Xie Yuanlang in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, so that ordinary people can also know some powerful reference situations.

However, the largest page of "Shuntian Daily" is used to publish a book called "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", whose author is pseudonym Jin Yong.