Chapter 51: The Return Journey

In the final half-day spent in Chengdu, Lu Beigu went nowhere.

It was not that he was like Guan Ning, who "read on as usual while a carriage with a ceremonial canopy passed his gate," but rather he feared that if he went out to play, his heart would wander.

He simply sat in the room and took stock of all the gains he had made during this trip to Chengdu.

The gains already in hand were: a jade pendant given by Li Pan, which might be used to ask him for some less troublesome favors; a manuscript of notes on poetry and fu composition given by Zhao Bian, which, as long as he kept studying it and delved deeper into its content, would be enough for him to use until the prefectural examination; and a copy of Master Taishan's annotated version of "The Subtle Meaning of Exalting the King in the Spring and Autumn Annals" given by Zhang Fangping, which would suffice all the way to the Ministry of Rites provincial examination.

The gains not yet in hand were, first, Li Pan's promise that once Li Pan was promoted to Assistant Administrator of Luzhou, as long as Lu Beigu passed the prefectural examination and became a juren, he would definitely obtain a quota to attend the Ministry of Rites provincial examination; and second, the letter of recommendation Zhang Fangping wrote to Ouyang Xiu, so that if he could pass the county examination and then the prefectural examination, he could go to see Ouyang Xiu when he reached Kaifeng.

In short, the gains were abundant, making the trip worthwhile.

However, although the future was bright, Lu Beigu did not forget that the road ahead remained quite difficult and tortuous.

After all, others could help with things within the rules, but the rules themselves would not change for him.

Under the current imperial examination system of the Great Song, everyone needed to compete fairly and defeat their opponents.

Therefore, everything ultimately depended on one's own strength!

If one's strength was insufficient, everything else was empty talk!

In the bamboo satchel, red begonia-colored Shu brocade protected Lu Beigu's books; he placed them one by one on the table and calculated his study progress based on the ratio of pages or scrolls already studied to the total.

Poetry and Fu: Zhao Bian's manuscript of notes on poetry and fu composition (progress approximately 10%).

Spring and Autumn Annals: 12 scrolls of Master Taishan's annotated version of "The Subtle Meaning of Exalting the King in the Spring and Autumn Annals" (progress approximately 1%), 10 scrolls of "Collected Commentaries and Examples of the Spring and Autumn Annals" (progress approximately 25%), an anonymous notebook version of "The Righteous Meaning of the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals" (progress approximately 10%), and "Supplementary Annotations on the Guliang Commentary" (progress approximately 50%).

Book of Rites: 3 scrolls of "Key Points of the Book of Rites" (progress approximately 75%) and an anonymous notebook version of "The Righteous Meaning of the Book of Rites" (progress approximately 10%).

Judging by the urgency of the subjects in the county examination, the first thing he needed to study was the 3 scrolls of "Key Points of the Book of Rites" lent to him by the Academic Supervisor; this book excerpted the key Frequently Examined Passages of the Book of Rites in the examinations and included corresponding templates for written answers, making it suitable for quickly improving scores in the written section on the Book of Rites; he had basically read only this book and nothing else on the way to Chengdu, and he was almost finished studying it.

As for the Spring and Autumn Annals, he definitely did not have time to study such a massive work as "The Subtle Meaning of Exalting the King in the Spring and Autumn Annals" before the county examination, so the focus had to be on finishing "Collected Commentaries and Examples of the Spring and Autumn Annals" first; at the very least, this would give him a complete understanding of the Spring and Autumn Annals, ensuring that no matter what Spring and Autumn-related questions appeared in the written section, he could answer them.

"Supplementary Annotations on the Guliang Commentary" was merely a half-fascicle booklet, so it required little time to study and should be finished if he found time; it belonged to supplementary material.

As for the anonymous senior's notebook versions of "The Righteous Meaning of the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals" and "The Righteous Meaning of the Book of Rites," these two sets of books were also quite substantial and definitely could not be finished before the county examination, but they could be studied alongside "Collected Commentaries and Examples of the Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Key Points of the Book of Rites," which were more closely aligned with the current examination situation, serving to mutually verify each other.

As for poetry and fu, his current level was already barely sufficient to cope with the county examination, and Lu Beigu believed that since Zhao Bian had already given him a systematic method for dealing with poetry and fu examinations, he only needed to follow the manuscript of notes on poetry and fu composition, continuously studying and advancing his progress, and his level in poetry and fu would naturally improve accordingly.

As for reciting the classics, that was simply reading and memorizing the Analects every morning; there was nothing more to say.

No preparation was needed for policy essays; Lu Beigu trusted himself.

Staying in the room at Qingyang Palace, he read "Key Points of the Book of Rites" all afternoon, ate something simple in the evening, lit the lamp and continued reading; after all, the accommodation fees here, including lamp oil, food, and other expenses, had been prepaid by Li Pan.

Staying up late by lamplight was actually a quite expensive expense for ordinary students in this era, so Lu Beigu would not be polite with Li Pan.

Of course, eye exercises still had to be done; there were no glasses in this era.

He didn't want to become myopic before even passing the jinshi examination.

Reading until nightfall, Lu Beigu heard the commotion of the four attendants returning after eating and drinking their fill, then blew out the lamp and rested.

After a good night's sleep, the whole group set out on the return journey the next day.

Unlike the bumpy overland journey when they came, on the return trip, the coachman drove the government carriage back alone, moving slowly.

They boarded the boat at Hejiang Pavilion in the south of Chengdu and traveled downstream by water.

Hejiang Pavilion shared its name not only with Hejiang County but also had a historical allusion; it was here that Du Fu once wrote, "The window holds a thousand years of snow from the western peaks; the door moors ten thousand li of boats from Eastern Wu."

The "western peaks" referred to the Min Mountains west of Chengdu, and because they were covered in snow year-round, they were described as having "a thousand years of snow."

As for "ten thousand li of boats," it did not literally mean boats that needed to travel ten thousand li to Eastern Wu, but rather that there was a bridge called "Ten Thousand Li Bridge" next to Hejiang Pavilion.

Li Pan, who was about to be promoted, was in a good mood; although passenger boats charged by cabin class, with a single cabin costing one guan for three days and a multi-person cabin costing one guan for five days, he waved his hand generously and booked single cabins for everyone.

The passenger boat was large; the single cabins had not only beds but also a fixed small table, so Lu Beigu, who did not suffer from seasickness, could continue his hard study on the boat.

In summer, the river water swelled, and the flow was faster than before, so the time required for their return journey was greatly reduced.

The passenger boat traveled downstream along the Min River, passing through Shuangliu, Xinjin, Meizhou, Qingshen, and other places, and on the third day arrived at Jiazhou, where the Min River merged with the Dadu River and the Qingyi River in front of the Great Buddha, forming the confluence of three rivers.

The river waters surged, and the Great Buddha lowered its eyes in compassion; although this was only a momentary scene, it left travelers on the river feeling deeply shocked.

Even Lu Beigu, who had been burying his head in hard study inside the cabin, was called out to appreciate this sight.

Afterwards, the passenger boat continued eastward down the Yangtze River from Jiazhou, passing through Qianwei and Rongzhou; after another five days, it entered the territory of Luzhou. This section of the waterway was particularly treacherous due to the rapid currents of the Yangtze, so navigation was extremely cautious.

In the Luzhou section, many dangerous shoals required boat pullers to tow the vessels, and capsizing accidents were frequent during the flood season; Li Pan even considered whether to go ashore and return by land.

Fortunately, the journey was full of scares but no disasters; after spending another half-day, they arrived at Hejiang County.

To be honest, Lu Beigu felt that apart from having slightly fewer people, Hejiang County was not much worse than Luzhou City.

The reason was simple: the geographical location of Hejiang County was excellent; it was the confluence of the Anle Creek and the Yangtze River. As the starting point of the "Ancient Lychee Road," which the Tang Dynasty used to courier lychees to Yang Guifei, the Shibao Water Post on the east side of Hejiang City had always been the distribution center for materials in Chuannan; not only were materials transported out from the vast mountains in the south via the Anle Creek required to be transshipped here, but it was also a must-pass point for travel from western Sichuan to eastern Sichuan via the Yangtze River.

And upon disembarking, Lu Beigu, who had been studying hard all the way, finally completed his study of the entirety of "Key Points of the Book of Rites"!

(End of this chapter)