Just when the Sino-British Science Cooperation Center was running smoothly, "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" was published directly as a book without being serialized in newspapers and periodicals.
The original author of this book, Mr. Huang Renyu, had just joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force as a captain and staff officer. He originally studied in the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Nankai University, and transferred to the Central Military Academy after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. It is not unusual for the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering major to switch to the military, after all, the national crisis
As a matter of fact, joining the army to serve the country is the choice of many passionate young people.
But what is even more bizarre is what happened later. In the 1950s, the 34-year-old Huang Renyu picked up a book again and entered the University of Michigan, majoring in journalism. After studying for a long time, he changed to the history major. Since there was no new book published in more than ten years, Huang Renyu was in 62
He was fired from his professorship at New York University when he was 18 years old.
The year after he was fired, Huang Renyu's "Fifteen Years of Wanli" was published. It won the National Book Award and was nominated for a good history book. It was selected as a textbook by many universities in the United States. It was like a slap in the face of New York University.
He smoked again and again.
Huang Renyu fought against Japan at home, went to Burma to serve as an expeditionary force, and fought in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He saw illiterate peasant soldiers, worked with senior generals such as Sun Liren, and fought against Lin Shuai in the Northeast, witnessing with his own eyes the national
The apparent strength and rapid decline of the army gave a personal observation of the composition of the people throughout the Republic of China.
Huang Renyu said in his memoirs that what he wanted to write most was the history of the Republic of China, but he was completely unable to write it while he was in it.
The book "Fifteen Years of Wanli" is not so much about the Ming Dynasty as Huang Renyu used the people and events of the Ming Dynasty to write his own reflections on the politics, economy, and culture of the Republic of China.
The core of this book is two words: reflection.
…
Guilin.
Li Siguang stood at the door of Chen Yinke's house. Mrs. Chen Tang Yuan opened the door and said: "It turns out to be Professor Li, please come in quickly!"
"Si Guang is here, sit down quickly!" Chen Yinke came to the living room.
Li Siguang cupped his fists and said, "I heard that you were leaving, Old Chen, so I came here to say goodbye in advance."
"It's still early, I don't even know where to go." Chen Yinke said with a smile.
Chen Yinke came to Guilin to settle down last year, and his wife is from Guilin. He originally planned to move to Lizhuang to do research, but due to illness and exhaustion, and secondly, Guangxi University tried its best to persuade him to stay, so Chen Yinke only lived in Guilin for a year.
Guangxi University is now conducting final exams. Chen Yinke plans to leave during the summer vacation, but he has not yet decided where to go. The Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica invited him to Lizhuang, his eighth brother invited him to Leshan, and his old friend invited him to Chengdu.
Li Siguang took out a copy of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" and said to Chen Yinke with a smile: "Old Chen, this is my farewell gift. I asked a friend to send it from Sichuan."
"The Fifteenth Year of Wanli?" Chen Yinke glanced at the cover and recalled thinking, "No major events happened this year. Why did Zhou Mingcheng use the Fifteenth Year of Wanli as the title of his book?"
"Keep it for yourself and read it slowly. I heard that this book is highly praised in Sichuan." Li Siguang said with a smile.
The two had a very good personal relationship. Chen Yinke was a professor at Guangxi University, who was recommended and invited by Li Siguang. They chatted all afternoon, and it was not until after dinner that Li Siguang said goodbye and left Chen Yinke's house.
Chen Yinke had basically recovered from his illness, but his body was still a little weak. He lay on the bedside and opened "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". After reading it for 20 minutes, he became impatient and subconsciously felt contempt and disgust for this book.
Chen Yinke's method of conducting history at this time belonged to the combination of the Chinese Qianjia School and the Western Ranke historiography. He not only criticized the Qianjia School for textual research for the sake of textual research, but also was accustomed to using the Qianjia School's textual research methods and followed the theories of Ranke's historiography.
Conduct historical research.
It just so happens that "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" embodies the "big historical view", and the "big historical view" comes from the "Annals School", and the "Annals School" was founded in the trend of opposing "Rank's historiography".
To put it bluntly, "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" and Chen Yinke are incompatible with each other. Their historical theories are very different, and they are even academic enemies of each other.
In Chen Yinke's view, "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" is too plainly written and is more suitable as an introductory book on history. And even as an introductory book, "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" is not up to standard because the book is too subjective.
Ranke's historiography, which Chen Yinke admires, requires not to make value judgments on history, and is opposed to any study of history with subjective emotions.
Fortunately, what Zhou Hexuan wrote was not "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", otherwise it would have been simpler and more subjective, and Chen Yinke would never have been able to read it for three minutes.
Chen Yinke read the first chapter of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" with a critical attitude. Although he insisted on academic freedom and did not like to engage in academic factional disputes, after all, he belonged to the "Rankian historiography" school, and Zhou Hexuan had already
Being regarded as the founder of the "Annals School" ten years ago, he must have been dissatisfied with Zhou Hexuan's historical works.
The first chapter is about Emperor Wanli, describing the political reform from the perspective of Emperor Wanli. Many of the contents are subjective conjectures of the author, which is extremely imprecise for Chen Yinke.
The second chapter is about the first assistant Shen Shixing. It is the same kind of subjective speculation, but Chen Yinke gradually sees the interesting points.
Looking at the third chapter again, Chen Yinke couldn't help but smile. The creative intention of this book was exactly as he expected. He did not continue reading, but turned back to the first chapter and read it again, while understanding the author's hidden brushstrokes.
Look for any citation errors in historical sources.
Thanks to Zhou Hexuan's careful revision for several months, otherwise Chen Yinke would have easily found errors in Huang Renyu's original work.
His wife Tang Jun urged him to sleep several times, but Chen Yinke couldn't bear to read the book. By the time he finished reading the book, it was already the next morning. After breakfast, Chen Yinke fell asleep with his head covered, and woke up in the afternoon to continue reading again.
"The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is indeed a subjective conjecture from the perspective of historical figures, but the whole book selects multiple characters such as Emperor Wanli, Shen Shixing, Hai Rui, Qi Jiguang, etc. The identity, stance and focus of each character are
Different, these combined vividly reflect an era.
In particular, the book's discussion of the Ming Dynasty's social economy was refreshing to Chen Yinke. Here, Zhou Hexuan deleted the "numerical theory" in the original work because this theory was too far-fetched, mechanical and one-sided, and instead argued from the perspective of political system and culture.
Another evening, Chen Yinke put down the "Fifteen Years of Wanli" in his hand.
Chen Yinke is a top historian, and he can clearly discover that "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" alludes to the Republic of China. This is extremely difficult for ordinary readers, but it is extremely easy for Chen Yinke.
Who is Chen Yinke?
In later historical online novels, those who write about the Three Kingdoms must mention the "Eunuch Group" and "Scholar-bureaucrat Group", and those who write about the Sui and Tang Dynasties must mention the "Guanlong Group". These concepts were all proposed by Chen Yinke during the Republic of China. He was very good at analysis and summary
Historical political factions are also very sensitive to the culture and economy of previous dynasties, and "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" vividly describes the politics, economy, and culture of the Ming Dynasty.
When Chen Yinke read through "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" for the fifth time, he not only focused on the Republic of China, but also on China's past dynasties from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
At the end of the book, the author's writing intention is fully exposed. He is summarizing the reasons for China's backwardness and discussing China's future development direction. The "Fifteenth Year of Wanli" when the world was at peace, is alluding to the Republic of China at this time, and this
The Republic of China at that time was even more miserable than in the "Fifteenth Year of Wanli".
"In the fifteenth year of Wanli, the second year of Dinghai, on the surface it seems that the world is peaceful and there is nothing to remember. In fact, our Ming Empire has reached the end of its development." - This sentence is connected with the previous analysis of Ming Dynasty society,
When combined with the social conditions of the Republic of China, it is undoubtedly saying: "The Republic of China has reached the end of its development."
Chen Yinke couldn't calm down. After reading this book, he no longer thought about whether the Anti-Japanese War could be won, but thought hard about the future of Chinese society.
After putting down the banknotes and sitting for a long time, Chen Yinke began to write a review: "Reflections on Reading Mr. Zhou's Fifteen Years of Wanli".