Chapter 165: Buying Books

Chen Xin calmly sent the waiter away, then walked with an unhurried air along the covered corridor and into Liu Minyou's room. The moment he shut the door, his expression switched to one of excitement. Lowering his voice, he said, "This is the Qinhuai River. I asked the waiter — the brothels are concentrated in two places: one called Pearl Market, the other called the Old Court. We're about the same distance from both. Shall we go take a look this afternoon?"

Liu Minyou was tidying his small bundle. Without interest, he replied, "Go by yourself if you want. I'm going to buy the *Illustrated Odes of Jinling* this afternoon, then come back and rest, see which places look good, and pick one or two to visit tomorrow."

"Has Pan Jinlian already turned the tables and become the master?"

Liu Minyou denied it. "Not at all. She asked me if I'd ever been to a brothel. I said no, and she was quite surprised. I just have no interest in those places."

Chen Xin rubbed his forehead. He too had felt somewhat tired the whole journey. After thinking it over, he said, "In that case, I might as well go look at some books this afternoon too."

The group hastily ate lunch at the inn. Chen Xin left only one personal guard to watch the luggage and gave everyone else leave. Nie Hong and Pu Zhuang took their men off to amuse themselves. Then he sent Zhou Laifu and his shop assistants out to survey the market. Chen Tingdong went off on his own to visit an old friend.

After sending these people off, Chen Xin strapped a short Japanese sword to his forearm, concealing it inside his sleeve. He took only Hai Gouzi with him. Having been on the battlefield several times, Chen Xin now felt a sense of insecurity if he went unarmed in daily life. On this trip, he had brought not only the sword but also a newly made hand cannon. However, the gun was still very crude, lacking a safety mechanism, so he normally dared not keep it loaded. His other personal guards all carried Qi-family sabers or short Japanese swords. In the late Ming, many traveling merchants bore swords and blades, so as long as one did not flaunt them too conspicuously, no one paid any attention.

Once Chen Xin was ready, he went out with Liu Minyou and Song Wenxian. Just as they reached the doorway, they saw the Foolish Monk still standing there blankly. Liu Minyou went up and asked, puzzled, "Foolish Monk, why didn't you go out with them?"

"Squad Leader Nie and the others vanished in the blink of an eye. I don't know the way. I don't dare go alone."

Liu Minyou had no choice but to say, "Then stick with us, and don't get lost. Only, we're all going to bookshops to look at books, which will be terribly dull for you."

The Foolish Monk, however, did not mind the dullness and immediately fell in behind them. The group crossed the Huaiqing Bridge and reached the main street behind the Examination Hall. Because it was so close to the Examination Hall, there were many bookshops and inns there, and even more shops selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Most of the passersby looked like scholars, but there were also quite a few New Humans dressed in outlandish costumes, and here and there a red-haired, blue-eyed Westerner, also attired in Great Ming dress. The people around paid them no particular notice, not gawking as if at monsters.

Liu Minyou chose a bookshop called Ink Charm and walked in. Inside, bookshelves were crammed with every kind of book. After making some inquiries with the shop assistant, Liu Minyou began searching a bookshelf for the *Illustrated Odes of Jinling*. Chen Xin, having no specific goal, wandered around aimlessly for a while, then asked the assistant if they had anything for a military man to read. The assistant led him to an inconspicuous bookshelf.

Chen Xin surveyed it. There were still quite a few books here: Qi Jiguang's *New Treatise on Military Efficiency*, *A Practical Record of Troop Training*, *Miscellanies*, and *The Zhizhi Hall Collection*. There were also Yu Dayou's *Zhengqi Hall Collection*, *Supplement to the Essentials of the Martial Classics*, and *An Account of Coastal Pacification*. Other works like *The Art of War*, *The Essentials of the Martial Classics*, *Wu Zi*, and *The Six Secret Teachings* were also present. Chen Xin had the assistant fetch a copy of the *Zhengqi Hall Collection* and leafed through a few pages at random. The content was too extensive; he decided to buy it and read it carefully later. After scanning the shelf again, he also bought the *Essentials of the Martial Classics*. The *Zhengqi Hall Collection* was sixteen volumes, and the *Essentials of the Martial Classics* was twenty volumes — already a sizable stack.

The shop assistant promptly handed over another volume, saying, "My lord, this *Record of Arms* is also a supreme treasure of military science. See if it suits your lordship's taste." The assistant, accustomed to welcoming and seeing off customers, had a keen eye. Judging by Chen Xin's manner and the books he was examining, he guessed him to be a military officer, and so immediately addressed him as "my lord."

Chen Xin hesitated a little, worried that he might not finish reading so many books if he took them all back. But he accepted it nonetheless. As he opened it absent-mindedly, an illustration immediately caught his attention. It depicted the shape of a cannon, with the rammer, powder scoop, shot turner, and cleaning rod all shown on the same page. The drawing was exquisite and vividly lifelike.

"A red-barbarian cannon." Chen Xin hastily flipped back to the beginning. "Among the five arms, firearms are the superior skill, and the great cannon is the vanguard, for nothing surpasses it in shattering strongholds and breaking formations... The casting materials of these Western divine engines are costly, refined, and of fine workmanship. They vary in size, and their models differ... There are roughly three kinds." Chen Xin turned to the next page. It was an illustration of a cannon mounted on a slope at roughly a forty-five-degree angle. The muzzle had a sighting scale, with the plumb bob pointing exactly to the middle of the scale's arc. The illustration was captioned "Method for Elevating the Divine Engine to Six-tenths."

He hastily skimmed through the rest. This was the thirteenth volume of the *Record of Arms*, titled "Treatise on Western Fire Assault Divine Engines." The author was one He Rubin, a name Chen Xin had never heard. The book classified red-barbarian cannons into three types: battle cannons, assault cannons, and defense cannons. The red-barbarian cannons were also named using the terms the Portuguese employed, such as great serpent cannon, half-serpent cannon, and falcon cannon, each with different specifications. The most distinct was a type of assault cannon; judging by the illustrated trajectory, it appeared to be a high-trajectory cannon of the mortar type. In addition, there were Frankish cannons, great Frankish cannons, great bird guns, and other models. Finally, there were different formulas for priming powder, cannon propellant, and gun propellant.

What was especially rare was that He Rubin described in detail the dimensions of the red-barbarian cannons and Frankish cannons, listing the barrel lengths corresponding to various bore diameters, and even the dimensions of individual small components. The more Chen Xin read, the more astonished he became. The description of firearms in this book was far more exhaustive than the *Catalogue of Divine Engines* by Zhao Shizhen that he had bought last time. And from what he had heard, Sun Yuanhua's *Western Method Divine Engine* had not even materialized yet. Clearly, the *Record of Arms* had been completed earlier. Why, then, did this He Rubin have no fame whatsoever?

He looked up at the shop assistant. The assistant seemed to know what he was about to ask and explained attentively, "This He Rubin was a Suzhou man. He served as an Assistant Regional Commander of Zhoushan and Vice Regional Commander of Ningbo-Shaoxing. This book was completed in the thirty-fourth year of the Wanli reign. It is also a classic of military science. This edition here is a new printing from the first year of the Chongzhen reign."

Chen Xin nodded. No wonder the book mentioned the great defeat of the bandit atmosphere using Western cannons at the Battle of Ningyuan. This volume must have been revised in the new Chongzhen first-year edition. He immediately bought the book. The shop assistant brought over the other volumes as well. The scope covered was vast: all kinds of equipment, marching, encampment, offensive warfare, weather, terrain — even medicine was recorded. Chen Xin felt as if he had found a priceless treasure. The shop assistant cheerfully brought over a wrapping cloth and helped him bundle the books. Chen Xin grabbed the Foolish Monk and made him carry them. The stout monk effortlessly slung the bundle over his shoulder with one hand.

Chen Xin himself kept the thirteenth volume, "Treatise on Western Fire Assault Divine Engines," and began reading it carefully by the doorway.

Over on the other side, Liu Minyou had searched for ages without finding what he wanted. The shop assistant was busy attending to Chen Xin, the big customer. Knowing that Liu Minyou was only buying a single volume, he paid him no attention at all.

"Mother of god, finally found it," Liu Minyou shouted. Holding a copy of the *Illustrated Odes of Jinling*, he laughed out loud.

Liu Minyou also felt as if he had found a treasure. He had the assistant fetch it. Song Wenxian happened to come over just then. The shop assistant beside him placed several books on the counter. Song Wenxian smiled and said, "I'll pay for them together."

Liu Minyou thanked him, took the *Illustrated Odes of Jinling*, and also went to the doorway to examine it carefully. As he read, he said, "There really is a 'Robe-Blackening Sunset.' This one... this one, let's just skip it."

Chen Xin, standing beside him, casually remarked, "Good not to see it. These things are just like celebrity former residences — a broken-down house and they call it a scenic spot."

Liu Minyou continued flipping through the book and cursed, "What a rip-off. This 'Level Bank Viewing the Lake' — after what Chen Tingdong said, I've lost all interest in seeing it."

Chen Xin suddenly shouted, "What a rip-off indeed! The *Record of Arms* actually describes a bird gun fired by a steel wheel. I thought I was the first to invent it. Got all excited for nothing."

Liu Minyou let out an "Eh?" The flintlock was a project he was leading in development, and he had felt a considerable sense of achievement about it. Hearing this, he hurriedly leaned over to look. Chen Xin pointed to a passage in the book: "For bird guns using a match-cord, there is the water-shedding bead-release. For those using a flint, there is the steel wheel striking..."

Liu Minyou stared blankly, then looked at Chen Xin. "Does that mean they already have flintlocks in Jiangnan?"

"Who cares. Probably Fujian or Guangdong has them, but we don't have time to go there and recruit people anyway. We'll work on our own. I refuse to believe ours won't be better than theirs."

Liu Minyou glanced at the bundle the Foolish Monk was carrying and said in surprise, "You bought this many — can you actually finish reading them all?"

"Why would I read them? Let Liu Pojun, Zhu Guobin, Lu Chuansong, and the others read them. We'll take these books, organize them, and combine them with the original drill manual — instant military academy textbooks. Haha, I just thought of that."

Hai Gouzi grinned foolishly. "Brother Lu is going to curse again."

Just then, Song Wenxian sauntered out from inside, carrying several books himself. Hai Gouzi went up to help him carry them, but he politely declined. The group had lingered so long in the bookshop that it was nearly time for the evening meal. They proceeded along the street looking for an eating house. Passing a pastry shop, a fragrant aroma wafted out. Liu Minyou looked in curiously — it was bread. The shop also had other pastries, such as zhi cakes, sesame balls, osmanthus cakes, black-and-white cakes, and sweet dew cakes. Among them, the osmanthus cake was made from osmanthus flowers picked and sold when they bloomed each year; once made into cakes, their fragrance spread in all directions.

Liu Minyou couldn't resist buying a few and gave one to each person. They had barely taken a bite before the Foolish Monk had finished his. Liu Minyou had no choice but to give him some counterfeit copper coins made in Weihai and told him to buy his own. The shopkeeper examined the copper coin and actually showed a pleasantly surprised expression. Such fine copper coins were not commonly seen, and he hastily put it away.

The group ate as they walked, casually finding an eating house by the street. They went in and ordered dishes. By the time Liu Minyou and the others had finished one cake, the Foolish Monk had also finished the three cakes he had bought afterward.

While waiting for the food, Chen Xin and the others each took out their books and began reading. Chen Xin's book was the shortest, only thirty pages. He skimmed through it, put it away, and then picked up one of the books from the pile beside Song Wenxian.

"*The Tale of the Ideal Swain*? What's this book about?" Chen Xin asked, looking at the cover.

Song Wenxian smiled. "My lord, just read it and see."

Chen Xin flipped to a random page. The first line that met his eye was: "As Empress Wu caressed and toyed, her passions stirred and surged. She then pillowed her head on the Turtle-Ridge Wandering Immortal Pillow, and used the Crescent-Moon Mat to cushion her waist as she lay on her back. Aocao used his hands to lift the Empress's feet and placed them at the mouth of the valley. The Empress used both hands to guide him. At first, it was exceedingly difficult and tight, unable to enter..." Beside it was a vividly lifelike erotic illustration. Chen Xin couldn't help laughing. "An ancient action film, huh."

Song Wenxian asked, puzzled, "This book is about Empress Wu. The Tang dynasty can certainly be called ancient. But what is this 'action film'?"

Liu Minyou, listening to the two of them talk, snatched the book over for a look and also laughed. He asked Song Wenxian, "Mr. Song spent a long time in the capital. Why did you wait until Nanjing to buy this?"

Song Wenxian stroked his beard and said with a straight face, "The capital doesn't have this illustrated edition, so naturally it's inferior. The production of the Jiangnan bookshops is also more exquisite."

Chen Xin picked up Song Wenxian's other books and looked at the covers. They were *The Unofficial History of the Embroidered Couch*, *The Tale of the Foolish Old Woman*, *The Carnal Prayer Mat*, and *The Monk of the Lampwick*. He guessed the content was much the same. He praised, "Mr. Song frequents the pleasure quarters, yet seizes every moment and place to study, constantly striving for perfection. Truly a model for our generation."

Song Wenxian looked immensely pleased with himself, without a trace of embarrassment. "The pleasures within cannot be conveyed by words."

Liu Minyou asked, "Why no *Jin Ping Mei*?"

Song Wenxian laughed. "I read that book long ago. Much of its boudoir pleasures are plagiarized from *The Tale of the Ideal Swain*. How can it compare to the charm of this illustrated edition?"

Liu Minyou: "..."

The food arrived quickly. The taste of Nanjing cuisine was much like that of Suzhou and Hangzhou — very mild. Although it preserved the fragrance of the ingredients, for these people accustomed to the heavy flavors of the north, it was truly hard to tell good from bad. They wolfed it down and headed back to their lodgings.

By the time they returned to the inn, it was almost dark. Nie Hong and the others had also come back. The inn's waiter brought hot water. Chen Xin washed his face, then rinsed his mouth with the green salt he had just bought, using his fingers to scrub his teeth all over.

Chen Xin figured that Xu Xinsu probably wouldn't be back for another two days, and he had no idea what to do tomorrow. He went to Liu Minyou's room to discuss it with him. Liu Minyou had already lit the oil lamp and was reading the *Illustrated Odes of Jinling* by its light.

"Have you picked any scenic spots?"

"Mm, I've looked at three. They seem pretty good. See which one you think is best. The first is 'White Egret Spring Tide,' the second is 'Misty Luan on Ox-Head Mountain,' and the third is 'Dawn View from Swallow Rock.'"

Chen Xin grabbed the book and flipped through it himself. He said, "'White Egret Spring Tide' is only eight li from the city — quite close — but as the name implies, it should be a springtime scene. Since it's autumn, we might as well skip it. I don't know about Ox-Head Mountain, but it's thirty li from the city, so a round trip in one day would be difficult. 'Dawn View from Swallow Rock' is just outside Guanyin Gate, but we came by boat — what's so interesting about that river surface?"

"You're just like Chen Tingdong. Nothing is ever good. Fine, where do you suggest we go?"

"Is there anything closer?"

Liu Minyou thought for a moment. "The Bao'en Temple."

Chen Xin opened the book and found the entry for the Bao'en Temple Lantern Pagoda. Surprised, he said, "It's actually a night scene. In the direction of the Treasure-Gathering Gate?"

He immediately went to the window, pushed it open, and looked south. Sure enough, there was a bright spot. Their floor was the third, just high enough to see the pagoda top of Bao'en Temple. The spire of Bao'en Temple was pieced together from colored glaze, and under the glow of the lamps lit within the temple, the glaze at the spire's tip shone with dazzling brilliance, flowing with radiant colors.

Both of them watched, clicking their tongues in amazement. Liu Minyou said, "According to this book, it was expanded during the Yongle reign. When those foreign barbarians came, they all had to kneel before this pagoda, and none failed to be overcome with admiration."

Chen Xin chuckled, returned to the table, and continued flipping through the book. After a while, he finally stopped and said, "Look, aren't these two scenic spots quite good?"

Liu Minyou looked and saw they were "Qinhuai Fisherman's Song" and "Qingxi Pleasure Boat."

"You really can't stop thinking about the Qinhuai River."

Just then, the sound of drums, zithers, and singing rose from the river channel outside. Chen Xin laughed, "The Qinhuai evening song is so famous — of course I can't stop thinking about it."

The window of the neighboring room creaked open, and the silly monk's broken-gong voice rang out: "Sing your mother's song — are you letting people sleep or not?"

Note: The Bao'en Temple Glazed Pagoda was destroyed during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom war.