In China, anyone who has been to school should basically have heard of what kind of book "Mengxi Bitan" is. Of course, Lin Yi has also heard of it, because when studying history, the time and author of this book are the necessary contents in the history exam.

"Mengxi Bitan" is a notes-style work written by Shen Kuo, a scientist and politician in the Northern Song Dynasty. In terms of content, "Mengxi Bitan" records and expounds natural science knowledge in more than one-third of the space, which is rare in notes. For example, "Technique" correctly and detailed records of the clay movable type printing technology invented by "Buyi Bisheng", which is the earliest reliable historical material on movable type printing in the world and is highly valued by the international cultural and historical community. "Dialectical" talks about Han Yu's portraits, which made future generations understand a mistake that has been produced and inherited since the Northern Song Dynasty: treating Han Xizai's portraits of the Five Dynasties as Han Yu's portraits.

In addition, some other major scientific and technological inventions and scientific figures in the Northern Song Dynasty were also passed down through the records of this book. For example, Yu Hao's "Mu Jing" and his architectural achievements, the superb watercraft's three-section combination dragon clever method of blocking the dragon gate, Huainan Buyiwei Pu's proficient calendar, Dengzhou native Sun Sigong explained Hong and tornado, Hebei's "Tuan Steel" and "steel filling" technology, Qiang people's application of "smoke" in cold work smelting, and "copper-soaked" production are all precious historical materials in the history of science and technology. Because Shen Kuo himself has high scientific literacy, the scientific knowledge he recorded basically summarizes the scientific development level of the Northern Song Dynasty and his own research experience.

Lin Yi once read a book about "versionary studies", including an introduction to the famous book "Mengxi Bitan". According to the circulating version, it can be seen that the original engraved version of "Mengxi Bitan" was thirty volumes, with more content than the current version, but they were all lost. There was a Yangzhou engraved version in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was re-engraved in the second year of Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty engraved versions are still no longer available today.

The oldest version you can see now is the engraved version of Chen Renzi Dongshan Academy in 1305 (the ninth year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty) collected by the National Library of China. This version is reprinted from the Qiandao version of the Southern Song Dynasty, and can still see the old appearance of the Song version. Its version is very large and very paved, and the version frame is very bounded by a butterfly costume that was popular at that time, and it is unique among the engraved versions of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty Great Master magazine was circulated in an orderly manner: it was once hidden in the Yuan Palace in the Yuan Dynasty. After the Ming Dynasty's Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, he received it and presented it to the crown prince Zhu Biao. Later, he returned to the "Wenyuan Pavilion" in the palace. In the Qing Dynasty, it leaked out of the palace and was collected by Wang Shizhong's Yiyun Ceremony, and the Han Family in Songjiang successively. Later, it was bought by Chen Chengzhong, a famous modern and modern book collector. Chen Chengzhong moved to Hong Kong before and after the liberation. In 1965, he intended to sell a batch of rare copies, including this "Mengxi Bitan". In order to avoid the outflow of precious cultural relics, Premier Zhou personally instructed the Ministry of Culture to assign a special person to negotiate. In the end, when the country's economy was not prosperous, he spent a huge amount of money to buy it back, which became a story about the book. In 1975, the Cultural Relics Publishing House had photocopy and published it.

Lin Yi has a photocopy and published version of this article Publishing House. Unfortunately, this batch is all paperback, priced at 1.60 yuan, and there is no specific printing number. Judging from the online price, the printing volume should be very large, because such a good book is only about 50 yuan.

In addition, there are three main online versions of "Mengxi Bitan" -

In 1928, in the Wuchen year of the Republic of China, the Yan family in Weinan was engraved with white paper fine prints, and a set of six volumes was opened. Now the price of this set of books is around 9,300 yuan.

In 1934, the Jingyinming edition of Hanfenlou, the Republic of China was published by Commercial Press, with a set of 4 volumes. Now the price of this set of books is around 1,500 yuan.

In 2004, the National Library of China recreated rare books series photocopying Yuan editions, with six volumes of one letter. The price was 2,380 yuan at that time, and the current selling price is around 4,200 yuan.

It is precisely because of his deep understanding of this set of books that Lin Yi was surprised to hold this incomplete "Dream of Dreams and Bi Tan".

Because the incomplete thread-bound book in my hand looks like the Song version no matter how you look at it!

So how to identify whether ancient books are versions of the Song Dynasty? Lin Yi’s master, Uncle De, once taught him some methods. Specifically, it mainly starts from three aspects.

1, layout

From the perspective of layout, most of the Northern Song Dynasty engravings were white, with double columns on the left and right or around. Some early engravings used single columns around. In the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, black mouth became popular, and were more common in Jianben. The book title, volume, page number and engraving name are often marked in the heart of the edition, and some even marked the number of words. The end of the official engravings is generally engraved with the title of the proofreader, while the ceremonial engravings are mostly written with the title of the proofreader, while the ceremonial engravings are mostly written with the calligraphy and plaques.

Many of the Song Dynasty engraved versions in the past are particularly pleasing to the eyes and have sparse lines, such as the "Book of Changes" engraved by the Tea Salts of Liangzhe East Road in the Southern Song Dynasty, "Shangshu Zhengyi", "Zhou Liyi", "Zhou Liyi", and "Zhou Zhuan Zhengyi" engraved by Shaoxingfu, all of which are only eight lines. Some Song Dynasty engraved versions are denser. Jiang Biao, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote "Song and Yuan Xingyi", which can be used as a reference for appraisal.

2. Calligraphy font

The calligraphy of the Song Dynasty advocated the style of Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, and the style of the style was popular, which also affected the printing industry. The European style was popular in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and the Huyan style and Liu style gradually gradually became Huyan style and Liu style in the later period, but there were differences in calligraphy engravings in various regions. Most of the Yan styles in the Sichuan version were wide in the gaps and plump in the characters, and the Jian version was mostly Liu style, with strong strokes and hard as bones; the Zhejiang version was mostly Ou style, slender and elegant, with slightly thin characters; Jiangxi versions had both Liu style and Ou style. Xie Zhao, a native of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "There are two types of fat and thin in the Song Dynasty. Those who are fat learn from the eyes, and those who are thin learn from the Ou style." This is the experience of the predecessors.

Three, paper

Papermaking technology in the Song Dynasty was relatively developed, and there were a wide variety of printing papers, roughly two types: bamboo paper and leather paper. The built versions mostly used bamboo paper, which was yellow and thin, and would turn black over time. The Zhejiang version and Sichuan version mostly used leather paper, that is, paper made of mulberry bark and mulberry bark as raw materials, which were white and thick, with both sides smooth. In addition, many places also printed books with hemp paper. There were also printed books on the back of official papers in the Song Dynasty, such as Huang Pilie's "Lingpu Inscriptions", "Beishan Xiao Ji" was printed in the sixth year of Qiandao, and "Luchuan Ci" was printed in grain collection documents. This "official paper" was less circulated, but it was easier to identify.

At this time, Lin Yi started from these three aspects and carefully studied the broken books in his hand. Whether it was layout, font, or paper, almost all of them were from the Song Dynasty style.

"Can this book be earlier than the Yuan issue book treasured by the country?!" Lin Yi boldly came up with a speculation. This speculation made him excited because he knew that if this speculation was correct, the history of the version of "Mengxi Bitan" would be rewritten--and the broken book in his hand would become the earliest version of "Mengxi Bitan".

History is created to make people change. The highest level of Taoshu is to use one's own strength to change known history. For example, in Taoshu, we can find information that can prove whether Qin Shihuang was the son of Lu Buwei, we can find miscellaneous notes about whether the King of Western Chu burned the Afang Palace, or we can find secrets about whether Emperor Yongzheng usurped the throne, or whether Lu Xun had peeked at his sister-in-law's bath, etc. These can change history.

Pulling books is like archaeology.

Why is archaeology attractive? Why are so many people so enthusiastic about digging ancient tombs? Because every time a famous tomb is dug, it is like quietly changing history.

Why is Taoshu attractive? Why so many people like Taoshu, old books, famous calligraphy and calligraphy and letters? Because every small piece of old paper may hide a huge secret.

Lin Yi took a deep breath and held the broken book in front of him tightly. Although Lin Yi didn't dare to determine the specific value of this book at this time, it was certain that it was definitely a good book.

Next to him, Li Weimin didn't notice Lin Yi's actions. In other words, even if he noticed, he wouldn't have any thoughts, because in his consciousness, these broken books were of no value. As Lin Yi said before, selling these ancient books to raise funds for the construction of the school seemed completely whimsical.

But just as Li Weimin packed up these bad books, he seemed to have discovered something.

"Huh, what is this?" Li Weimin couldn't help but be curious.

Hearing Li Weimin's surprise voice, Lin Yi couldn't help but come over and see what was going on.

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Chapter completed!