"Well? It's getting late. I have to go back. Old Tu, have a chat with the young sir today. The young sir should be a trustworthy scholar. You can let him organize the collection of books."
Yuan Fei raised her head, looked at the sky, suddenly stood up, made a leap, and was thirty steps away. With a few leaps, she disappeared into the mountains and forests.
Yuan Fei left without any hesitation or delay, very decisive and neat.
"Truly a sword-immortal and fairy maiden." Hong Yi watched Yuan Fei's movements and praised her, but became more and more curious about this woman's mysterious identity.
"Sir, please have a look at my collection of books." Old Tu seemed to want to show off his collection of books. After a couple of words, he immediately invited Hong Yi to visit his collection of books in the stone cave.
A stone cave on the southern side of the valley was obviously where the foxes lived. The stone cave was large and wide, with a circumference of five or six hundred steps and a height of five or six people. When walking in, it was like a hall, and one did not feel constrained at all.
There were many small holes chiseled on the stone wall of the cave, and in each hole, an oil lamp was burning. The oil did not know what kind it was, carrying a fragrance but no smoke. The light was also very bright, and the flames did not flicker.
And all around the stone cave were wooden bookshelves, on which were placed volumes of books of all kinds, large ones, small ones, handwritten copies, lithographic copies, woodblock prints, and the paper was also of various kinds, including bamboo paper, sandalwood paper, silk books, parchment scrolls, and even iron certificates of imperial grants!
Besides the dozens of large bookshelves on the four walls, countless yellowed books were piled up in the corners of the cave. There were incomplete ancient books and scriptures.
The books in this entire stone room保守估计保守估计 were at least a hundred thousand volumes.
So many books could not be compared to the "Langhuan Bookroom" of the Marquis of Wuwen Mansion, which was known for its collection of books. Hong Yi had only been to the "Langhuan Bookroom" of the Marquis of Wuwen Mansion when he was young and his mother was still alive. At that time, he was astonished by the large number of books there, but after his mother died, he was no longer qualified to go.
And usually when Hong Yi read books, he either saved up silver to buy them, or borrowed them from everywhere and copied them when borrowed.
However, good books could not be engraved in bookstores, and it was also difficult to borrow them. Now, seeing so many books all of a sudden, his face immediately showed an expression as if he had entered a treasure trove. He also forgot why a nest of foxes would have so many collection of books.
"The Great Buddhist Canon? The Avatamsaka Sutra? The Rebirth Sutra? Why are most of them Buddhist scriptures?" Hong Yi walked to a large bookshelf, took out a book, opened it, and it was a Buddhist scripture, woodblock-printed, with an ancient seal on the back, and the seal was "Great Zen Temple". It was an ancient book that could be worth a lot of money if sold in a bookstore.
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After flipping through a few more books, the backs of the books also had the seal of "Great Zen Temple".
"These are the books of the Great Zen Temple." Hong Yi said, "And these books, including history, philosophy, literature, scriptures, etc., are all placed together without any classification. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find them when reading."
"Well, I actually don't know much about this. I don't know much about the classification of books either." Old Tu's fur turned slightly red, as if feeling a little embarrassed.
In fact, what Hong Yi said was still relatively mild. The collection of books of ordinary scholarly families with good reputations were classified carefully and neatly.
But the books in this stone room were in a mess, just like a nouveau riche who got rich, wanted to decorate his home as a scholarly family, then bought many books and placed them randomly.
"Actually, these books were brought out from the temple when the Great Zen Temple in Zhongzhou was suppressed and the temple was destroyed." Old Tu sighed, "Such a large Great Zen Temple, with tens of thousands of monks. Every autumn, there were thousands of monks who went to the countryside to collect rent. The halls were layer upon layer. One could ride a horse to light incense for the Buddha and Bodhisattva in the morning. The ever-burning lamps burned day and night, and it was brightly lit all day and all night. Unfortunately, it was attacked by the army. The glorious temple was burned to the ground, and the treasures were looted. Alas, success and failure, rise and fall, are really like a dream."
"Riding a horse to light incense.... So, Old Tu, you moved from the Great Zen Temple in Zhongzhou to the Western Mountains of Yujing City." Hong Yi finally understood the origin of these foxes.
The Great Zen Temple in Zhongzhou was located in the middle of the Great Qian Dynasty. It was a thousand-year-old ancient temple and was at its peak. Many books recorded the magnificence of this temple. It was said that in this temple, the little monks who lit incense for the Buddha and Bodhisattva in the morning had to ride a horse to reach the statues in the halls layer upon layer. That's why there was the saying of "riding a horse to light incense".
At the same time, this temple was also a sacred place for martial arts, cultivation, and wealth.
Buddhist temples did not have to pay taxes, had a lot of farmland, and the incense was very prosperous. After a thousand years of accumulation, it was as rich as a country.
Unfortunately, twenty years ago, because the Great Zen Temple conspired with the remaining elders of the previous dynasty to rebel, it was cleared by the army and the thousand-year-old temple was burned to the ground.
It was said that after the wealth accumulated for a thousand years in this temple was looted, the finances of the Great Qian Dynasty became unprecedentedly stable.
These things were recorded in the notes of many scholars. Hong Yi knew them very clearly.
"These foxes must be the fox tribe living near the Great Zen Temple. After all, the monks did not kill, so it was safe to live there, and they could also learn a lot. But foxes are foxes after all. Although they are spiritual, understand the truth, and know how to cultivate, they are not as good as humans."
At this time, Hong Yi had a clear understanding of the fox demons in his heart.
"I wonder if sir can organize a classification for me? This library is the treasure of my Pure Fox Tribe. When those little foxes can understand the words, they can come in and read. It can also be considered a scholarly family. With this room full of books, at least my fox tribe will not be muddled all their lives and be like beasts that only eat raw meat and drink blood."