Translation of Eight Sages of Xu Jiang in Luo Zhong

Translation:

Sima Guang said in the article "Preface to Rites" that there were five people who were good at doing good deeds. In his book "No Bullying", Lu Nangong recorded the story of three people. All these are not adopted by historians because of their humble origins. Recently, when I was compiling national history, I tried to include these five people in the biography of filial piety, but I failed to do so. I hereby write down these five personnel strategies here.

The five people mentioned by Sima Guang are all from Xia County, Shaanxi Province (now Xia County, Shanxi Province). First, Mrs. Liu, a doctor, was in mourning for her parents and did not drink or eat meat for three years, which is difficult for today's literati. His younger brother, Yongyi, is especially famous for his filial piety to his parents, his love for his brothers and his prudence. When there was a flood in Xia county, hundreds of people were drowned and died. Yongyi stood at the door with a bamboo pole. Anyone who saw someone and something drifting to the door would salvage it.

There was a monk who left tens of thousands of money in his home. The monk died unfortunately. He went to the county office to tell his story and asked the government to help him return the money to his disciples. The local people borrowed money from him, stating that they would pay the interest according to the principal as scheduled, and if some families were poor and could not repay it, he burned the loan contract.

Third, Zhou Wenxi, whose elder brother is addicted to drinking, does not do his job properly, and relies on his younger brother for a living. When his brother was drunk, he often beat Wen Zhen, and the neighbors who were fond of beating injustice expressed deep sympathy for Wen Zhen's experience and went to appease him. Whenever this happens, Wen Zhen gets annoyed and says to them, "My brother didn't hit me. Why do you want to sow discord between our brothers?"

Fourth, Su Qingwen, who served his stepmother diligently, is famous for his dutiful son. He once said to his wife, "You should serve my mother carefully and patiently, or you will be driven away." Stepmother was widowed when she was young and had no son. Later, she came to Sujia to settle down and finally died here. Fifth, the pavilion is good at painting. The court decided to build Jingling Palace and recruited famous painters from all over the country to the capital to paint for Jingling Palace. After the completion of this matter, the court ordered the selection of the best among them, leaving them to the Imperial Academy, granting them official positions and paying them salaries. Tai Heng ranked first, because his father was old, he insisted on resigning and returning to his hometown to take care of his parents.

Lu Nangong said that Zhou Wenxi, Su Qingwen and Taiting were all from Jianchang Nancheng (now Nancheng, Jiangxi).

the sixth is Chen ce, who once bought a mule, but was not saddled or ridden, or carried the goods, and couldn't bear to sell it to others in the market, so he asked someone to feed it in a thatched cottage outside the village and let it die of old age here. His son colluded with a treacherous broker, and some horses passed by here suddenly died and were in a hurry to buy them again. They took this opportunity to deliberately wear out the back of the mule and take it to the market to sell it, and tried to boast about how the mule was. Soon, it was sold.

when Chen ce heard about it, he rushed to catch up, met the buyer, and truthfully told the truth that people could not ride on backpacks. After hearing this, the officer person couldn't help but have doubts. The passing officer person suspected that Chen Ce could not bear the mule, so he hid it. Chen Ce asked the officer to put the saddle on the mule's back. It took a whole day, but it didn't stop, and he was kicked by the mule. At this time, the officials understood the true feelings and sent heartfelt thanks to Chen Ce from the heart. Chen Ce immediately returned the money to the official, who returned the mule to Chen Ce.

On another occasion, a man went to Chen Ce's house to buy light and soft silverware with pepper eye ornaments, but Chen Ce did not sell it. The man was a little angry and asked him, "I obviously saw this kind of thing in your house, so why don't you sell it to me now?" Ce replied, "Yes! This kind of silverware has been stored in my house for a long time. I heard that you bought it for your daughter as a dowry. How can you harm you with such expired and scrapped goods? " After that, he threw the silverware in his house into a blazing charcoal fire basin and burned it. He said to the buyer, "I bought this thing from a pledgee, but I'm afraid it's not genuine. I'll show it to you for verification."

Seventh, Wei Zheng. One day, when he went to the market to buy abalone, the broker danced with the weighing hammer and deliberately weighed a few kilograms. After the fish seller left, the broker said to Wei Zheng, "You only bought five kilograms, but I secretly weighed ten kilograms for you, so you have to buy me a drink." After listening, he was very surprised. Busy to catch up with the fish seller, ran a few miles before catching up, and paid the fish that was given to him according to the weight. So he invited the broker to the hotel for a drink and said to the broker, "If you want to drink, why bully the poor fish seller?"

Eight is Zeng Shuqing, who intends to buy a batch of pottery in the south and sell it in the north. After I bought it back, I didn't transfer it to the north. One day, a man who was doing pottery business with him came to buy goods. Uncle Qing promised to sell them and paid for them. He asked by the way, "What are you doing buying these pottery now?" Answer: "I learned from you and did it according to your original idea."

Uncle Qing immediately said categorically to him,' You can't do this. I didn't ship this batch of pottery to the north for sale because of the recent disaster in the north. Now, how can I delay you without telling you? "So uncle decided not to sell his inventory to him. And uncle Qing's family is poor, and even his wife's hunger, cold and food and clothing are difficult to take care of. Alas, the above eight people are really good people!

Eight Sages of Xu Jiang in Luozhong is from Rongzhai Essays written by Hong Mai in Southern Song Dynasty.

Original text:

Sima Wengong's Preface to the Rites, five books about Yan's kindness, and Lu Nangong's book "No Deception", three books, are all humble and not seen in Shi's family. To repair the history of the country, it will be passed on in filial piety without success, and it is here to talk about discipline.

The books of Wengong Office are all from Xia County, Shaanxi Province. Liu Taitai, a doctor, lived in mourning and did not drink and eat meat for three years, thinking that it was difficult for scholars in this world. His younger brother Yongyi, You Xiaoyou Lian Jin. There is a flood in Xia county, and the number of people who die is hundreds. Always hold the pole to stand at the head of the door, and others who are beginners in logistics will do their best. A monk died with tens of thousands of money in his room, and Yongyiyi County confessed itself. Please return the money to his children. If the villagers are in debt, they will be destroyed.

Zhou Wenxi, whose brother is addicted to alcohol and raises his brother for a living, sometimes gets beaten up by his brother, but his neighbor feels aggrieved and says angrily, "My brother has never beaten me, so why don't you alienate my brother!" Su Qingwen, a stepmother, often says to her wife, "If you do something for my mother, you will be chased away!" Stepmothers are few and childless, so they are safe for life. Those who say that Taiwan pavilions are good at painting, the imperial court repairs Jingling Palace, transfers painters from all over the world to the capital, and when they are finished, they are ordered to choose those who try their best, leaving Hanlin as the official, and winning the first place. Resign from one's elders. Returned to the fields.

all the books in Nanguo Office are from Nancheng, Jianchang. Chen Ce said, if you try to buy a mule, you can't bear to be saddled, and you can't bear to move others. You are ordered to raise it in the wild, and once it dies. His son and his cunning plan, because of the loss of the horse by the official, broke the back of the mule to show off Jia. Since it is sold, it is unbearable to report it. Officer person doubt policy love also, secret. Please try to use a saddle, and you can't be overwhelmed all day long. Thank you again. Some people buy silverware from the policy. If Luo Qi is the one, the policy is not with Luo Qi. The man said, "I have seen your money, so why bother?"

Ce said, "Of course, those who have pledged money but don't have it have been a long time, and the silk is too fragile to be employed. When I heard that the public wants to marry a woman, I can safely treat it as a disease!" Take what is due and throw it into the blazing charcoal with silverware, saying, "I'm afraid of receiving the pledgee or getting the untrue silver, so I'm going to test it publicly." If you are in danger, you will buy abalone, and your balance will be thick and clean. When the fisherman went away, he left the whole body. Please say, "I bought only five pounds, which has been doubled by the public. I am willing to buy me wine." The whole surprise, the number of people chasing fish returns, and the reward is straight.

He drank the mellow wine again and said, "What you want is wine. Why do you bully people?" Zeng Shuqing said that buying pottery was easy for the north, but failed. Someone sold it together, and uncle Qing paid the price and asked, "What is it now?" The man said to him, "Seek your ears before serving the public." Uncle Qing said, "No, there's a new famine in the north, so I don't do it. Why don't I tell you about the mistake?" It is no longer sold. And uncle Qing's family is poor, and his wife is hungry and cold. Alas, these eight people are virtuous!

Extended information

Rongzhai Essays is an ancient classical Chinese note novel, which is recognized by historians as a must-read book for studying the history of the Song Dynasty. Rong Zhai's Essays, Shen Kuo's Mengxi Bitan and Wang Yinglin's Notes on Sleepy Learning are the three most valuable notes in the Song Dynasty.

it is divided into essays, sequel, three strokes, four strokes and five strokes, * * * with five episodes and 74 volumes. Among them, the first four episodes have 16 volumes each, and the author died because the book was not completed, so the five strokes is only 1 volumes. According to the author's self-report, the writing time of Rongzhai Essays has exceeded nearly forty years. It is the crystallization of his wisdom and sweat for many years of extensive reading and practical application.

It is a book with rich content and accurate discussion. It covers a wide range of fields, including hundred schools of thought, his poems and literary works, the system of laws and regulations, medical divination, ephemeris, etc., and it is highly praised for its accurate textual research and analysis, accurate discussion and evaluation.

The most important value and contribution of Rongzhai Essays is to verify some historical facts of the previous dynasties, such as political system, events, years, figures, etc., to re-evaluate, discriminate and correct historical classics, put forward many insightful views, and corrected many long-standing fallacies, which not only has an important position and influence in China historical documents, but also has great significance for the development of China culture.

The Summary of Sikuquanshu promoted it as the crown of note novels in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Rongzhai Essays is a notebook with high value that Mao Zedong likes to read in his life. On July 28, 1944, Mao Zedong wrote to Xie Juezai and said, "Rong Zhai Essays will be sent in another letter." He cherishes this book so much that it affects important cadres.

Xie Juezai's diary on July 31st recorded his experience in reading Rong Zhai's Essays, and then recorded his reading and application on September 2th, 29th and 3th, October 1st and 4th, from which it can be seen that Rong Zhai's Essays is an important reference for enlightening thinking.

On October 3, 1959, Mao Zedong visited Beijing, and among the limited books he named to bring, was Rong Zhai's Essays. In 1972, Mao Zedong gave this book to Zhou Shizhao, a friend of his youth and a classmate of Hunan First Normal University. Rongzhai Essays is an "old friend" in Mao Zedong's spiritual life, and it is also a book that bears witness to Mao Zedong's promise of "never too old to learn".

On August 26th, 1976, Mao Zedong's condition began to deteriorate. Even so, on September 8th, the day before Mao Zedong's death, someone else read Rongzhai Essays for him for 37 minutes, fulfilling the promise of "never too old to learn", and this book became the last book read by a great man Mao Zedong in his life.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Eight Sages of Xu Jiang in Luozhong