Chapter 73 "Dream of Red Mansions" with a discerning eye

The ups and downs of He Shen's life are somewhat similar to the characters in "A Dream of Red Mansions".Not only that, He Shen's life has also formed an indissoluble bond with the completion, publication and circulation of "A Dream of Red Mansions".It was precisely because of He Shen's ingenious arrangement that Qianlong lifted the ban on "Dream of Red Mansions". After Heshen became the chief executive of Siku Quanshu, he received an edict from Emperor Qianlong, requesting that books that violated the words and sentences be confiscated, which shows that the idea of ​​controlling culture is deeply rooted.Since He Shen is the spokesperson of Qianlong, he spared no effort in this regard, and tried his best to seize the banned books.Unexpectedly, by chance, He Shen made the famous novel "Dream of Red Mansions", so it has been passed down as a good story for a generation.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" was originally called "The Story of the Stone", and the author is Cao Xueqin.Cao Xueqin is the grandson of Cao Yin, Jiangning weaving during the Kangxi period. His family has been rich for many generations, and he has lived a carefree life since he was a child.The princes of Emperor Kangxi competed for the throne. The Cao family supported the eighth son Yinsi. After the fourth son Yinzhen (Emperor Yongzheng) came to the throne, Cao Yin's family was ransacked.Therefore, after the age of thirteen, Cao Xueqin's life changed from having no worries about food and clothing to suffering from hunger and cold.When she became an adult, Cao Xueqin became even more destitute, and later even ate porridge to make ends meet.Cao Xueqin sees through all kinds of things in the world, and begins to devote all her energy to writing the book "Story of the Stone".In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), Cao Xueqin's only son died of illness. Cao Xueqin couldn't bear the pain of losing his son, and became sick with grief, and finally died.Duncheng, Cao Xueqin's friend, mentioned in the note of the poem "Down Cao Xueqin": A few months ago, Yi Zishang became ill due to sentimentality.

After Cao Xueqin's death, he left behind the manuscripts of the first 80 chapters of "Story of the Stone", and the last 40 chapters are only scattered fragments and partial chapters, which have not yet been formed.This incomplete "Story of the Stone" is as ill-fated as Cao Xueqin's life.Because the description of the relationship between men and women in the book is too detailed, it was called an obscene book by moral people in the society at that time.What's more, the book involved the content of the princes fighting openly and secretly for the succession to the throne during the Kangxi and Yongzheng years, so it was listed as a banned book by the court.

Although "Story of the Stone" is listed as a banned book, the content of the whole book is realistic and meets the reading needs of all walks of life. Therefore, it has been copied and widely circulated among literati, inkmen and common people.Scholars are known to everyone, and this book is known as a strange book.However, it is limited to hand-copied and secretly viewed. Although there are also engraved copies of "The Story of the Stone", after all, it was published by a few bold booksellers at risk and cannot be widely circulated. After all, He Shen has read books and is a person who loves reading.He had heard of "The Story of the Stone" a long time ago, but was unable to see its content, and often felt deeply regretful, because he himself was an official of the imperial court responsible for collecting banned books, so it was not easy to ask others for it.One day, Su Ling'a, Heshen's party member, happened to read "Story of the Stone", and was deeply attracted after reading it.So Su Ling'a spent a huge sum of money to buy the original copy of "Story of the Stone" and kept it at home.It happened that one day, He Shen saw "The Story of the Stone" at Su Ling'a's house, and was overjoyed, so he immediately borrowed it from Su Ling'a, took it home and started reading it.After reading this, unexpectedly, he was also deeply attracted by the storyline in the book.

He Shen seems to have seen his shadow in the book. His life experience is somewhat similar to the Cao family and the Jia family in the book.He was poor at a young age, lost his mother at the age of three and his father at the age of ten, and studied on loan.After inheriting Spyker and becoming a third-class bodyguard, he was lucky enough to approach the emperor as a bodyguard for Luanyi.Later, he won the appreciation of Qianlong with his talent and learning, and he has today's glory.In contrast, Cao Xueqin's grandfather was also a slave, and later retired to Jiangning for weaving. He was a high-ranking official released during the Kangxi period.The Cao family was in decline, and Cao Xueqin also experienced ups and downs when he came to think of it, he had tasted all kinds of hardships, and he saw through the cruelty of the world. Jia Zheng in "The Story of the Stone" is a high-ranking official, and his daughter was selected into the palace as a concubine.And He Shen's son also married the emperor's favorite daughter as his wife.What was said in the book resonated strongly with He Shen.The more He Shen watched, the more fascinated he was, gradually intoxicated by it, forgetting everything around him, until the servant came to call him for dinner, he realized that it was completely dark, and he closed the book, feeling a sigh of relief.

He Shen finished reading the eighty chapters of "Story of the Stone" in just a few days, and couldn't help but be convinced by the author and the book itself. He believed that this was the best novel in the world, and he was still thinking about the content behind it. So he ordered Su Ling'a to look for it on his behalf.However, because Cao Xueqin passed away without completing the rest of the content, Su Ling'a only found some flashbacks and scattered fragments left by Cao Xueqin, and He Shen deeply regrets Cao Xueqin's death. Seeing that he couldn't see the content behind "Story of the Stone", He Shen couldn't let go, so he read "Story of the Stone" over and over again for eighty chapters.The more he read it, the more he felt that it was a wonderful book, so he decided to publish it. Although the emperor ordered it to be banned, he only needed to deal with the whole book like revising the "Siku Quanshu" and delete it. If those unsacred places continue to have an acceptable ending, the emperor will definitely be happy and will not stop them.As long as the emperor's approval is obtained, this book can be published to the world as soon as the banned book label is removed, and I will gain the reputation of being a wise book reader.He Shen couldn't help thinking about the way officials at all levels congratulated him, and he became intoxicated.

Who will do the work of revising and continuing writing?First of all, this person must be talented and able to write novels, otherwise he will inevitably continue to be a dog's tail; secondly, his status should not be too high, otherwise he will inevitably be arrogant and uncooperative.After much deliberation, Heshen thought of Gao E. Gao E was a member of the Yellow Banner Internal Affairs Office of the Han Army. He was familiar with classics and history. He's just a Juren, and he didn't pass the Jinshi exam, so he always feels like a dwarf.He Shen felt that this person was a suitable candidate, so he quietly found Gao E and ordered him to revise and continue writing "The Story of the Stone".

Coincidentally, Gao E also likes the book "Story of the Stone" very much, and has long been familiar with the stories in it.He couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that He Shen, a celebrity in the dynasty, asked him to continue writing "The Story of the Stone".He discussed with his friend Cheng Weiyuan, figured out the original author's thoughts and ideas, and quickly completed the continuation work based on the retrospective concept left by Cao Xueqin. He Shen finished the continuation of the manuscript and read it carefully, but was not satisfied.He thinks the ending of the sequel is too hopeless, giving people a depressing feeling.Although the continuation part is relatively smooth to read, it must not pass the test of Qianlong, so He Shen asked Gao E to rewrite it.He Shen is worthy of being a master at reviewing books. He asked Gao E to rearrange a slightly more happy ending, and at the same time marked the overly sad and depressing words in the original eighty chapters, and ordered him to revise them as well.

After Gao E learned about He Shen's wishes, he felt that the modification would distort the original intention of the author, which was inappropriate, contrary to the author's wishes, and disrespectful to the original author, so he did not want to modify it.Of course He Shen knew that doing so would change the meaning of the work, but it was better than being sealed forever, so he half persuaded and half scared Gao E: I am also a book lover.It is of course respect for Cao Xueqin to continue writing according to Cao Xueqin's original intention, but in this way, this book will never be published publicly, and it will be difficult for future generations to see this book.What's more, if the court finds out, you, Gao E, as the continuation writer, must be blamed for the crime, and Cao Xueqin will never stand up again.Isn't it a lose-lose?Therefore, in order for this book to be handed down to future generations, only by making slight changes to the disrespectful parts of the book, can the emperor's approval be obtained so that it can be published throughout the world.You also helped Cao Xueqin fulfill her wish.If Cao Xueqin knows about it, even if the content is changed, she will be grateful.

Hearing what He Shen said, Gao E felt that He Shen’s words were also reasonable: since Kangxi, the imperial court has been vigorously promoting literary inquisition, and any words that slander the Qing government, even if it is some irrelevant words, such as Huayi, Ming, Qing, etc., They will all be tracked down, which makes people tremble with fear when they write.Moreover, He Shen himself is an official who actively bans books and dare not offend him. Now that he asks to do so, he has nothing to do.Gao E had no choice but to rewrite the ending of the last forty chapters according to He Shen's intention. He made relevant revisions to all the taboos in Cao Xueqin's original manuscript, and changed the title of the book to "Dream of Red Mansions" according to He Shen's meaning. ".

After all, Gao E has extraordinary literary talents, and the tone and artistic conception of his continuation are the same as those of the original work, which is almost unreal.In the rewritten part, the tone has eased a lot, and there are even some places that praise the current dynasty.After reading the new manuscript, He Shen finally smiled. The book was finally revised, but He Shen couldn't rush to present it to Emperor Qianlong, which was too obvious.Therefore, after He Shen got the book, he did not present it to the emperor immediately, but found a breakthrough from the queen mother.He went to pay his respects to the queen mother every day, and chatted with the queen mother when he had the opportunity, and told a story in the book.He Shen was good at words, and he described the story vividly. The more the Queen Mother listened to it, the more she liked it, and she was fascinated by it.The queen mother was dissatisfied with listening to He Shen's talk every day, so she asked He Shen for books to read by herself.Seeing that his goal had finally been achieved, He Shen hurriedly took out the prepared manuscript and presented it to the Empress Dowager, and took the opportunity to express his original intention: "Dream of Red Mansions" is the most wonderful book in the ages, but now it is wrongly banned as a book, what a pity! Soon, Emperor Qianlong found out about this, and he ordered Heshen to re-examine "Dream of Red Mansions".He Shen quickly said that he had reviewed the manuscript several times, and it was all about family affairs, and there was nothing particularly disobedient about it.At the same time, he dedicated "Dream of Red Mansions" to the emperor's royal reading, and requested that if there were no major problems, it would be published so that everyone in the world could read it and benefit from the emperor's grace. The charm of a good book can always impress many people.Emperor Qianlong couldn't put it down since he got the "Dream of Red Mansions" presented by Heshen. He took time to read it every day and was full of praise.So it was decreed that the prohibition of violating books is to correct the morals of the world and punish those who are rebellious and inciting civil upheavals. "Dream of Red Mansions" is just a family matter, it can only be regarded as a book of wit, and the ban has been lifted from then on. Once the ban on "Dream of Red Mansions" was lifted, it quickly spread across the country and became very popular.Gao E also became famous because of this.Soon he won the Jinshi, and the examiner is He Shen, which means that it is worth pondering. He Shen was a strong defender of the literary inquisition during the Qianlong period, but he did not want to but contributed to the handing down of "Dream of Red Mansions", which makes people sigh that the world is unpredictable! The relationship between He Shen and "Dream of Red Mansions" is more than that.One of Heshen's henchmen, Wang Rulong, was originally a salt merchant, and he relied on Heshen's support to become an official.The man is very flattering, very intelligent, and likes to read. One day, Wang Rulong chatted with He Shen about the book "Dream of Red Mansions", saying: Mr. once sent someone to revise "The Story of the Stone" and changed the name to "Dream of Red Mansions".Have you ever thought of the meaning of the words "Dream of Red Mansions", sir?He Shen said: "The so-called skeletons of the well-educated youths are the people who hide their faces in the red building. The red building is the rich family, which refers to the princes and nobles; the people who hide their faces in the red building are the wives and ladies of the officials."The world is impermanent, and the whole novel is just like a dream of the Red Chamber. After hearing this, Wang Rulong said with deep emotion: Mr. really has a good opinion.The Dream of Red Mansions is a dream of Red Mansions. What people in the world pursue throughout their lives is nothing but an illusion.Mr. loves to read this book, and must have some insights. Wang Rulong said this but meant another, and there was something in his words.It turned out that Qianlong was already old at that time, and his death was only a short period of time. Yongyan (Prince Feng Jia, later renamed Yan, that is, Emperor Jiaqing) was the successor Qianlong worked hard to cultivate.He Shen was deeply favored by Qianlong, but his relationship with Jiaqing was not good.Wang Rulong observed Jiaqing and Heshen carefully, and found that Jiaqing was a very well-to-do person, and his joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys were indistinct.And He Shen's arrogance is increasing day by day, and he has been deeply lost in his own power, thinking that Jiaqing will not do anything to him, but in fact He Shen is no longer Jiaqing's opponent.Wang Rulong is grateful for He Shen's support and reuse, and wants to remind He Shen not to be too conceited by talking about "Dream of Red Mansions", otherwise the consequences will be disastrous. How smart is He Shen?He immediately understood Wang Rulong's reminder, but he didn't take Wang Rulong's reminder to heart.Said with a relaxed face: This is very wonderful.Those are just reckless heroes of past dynasties with short-sightedness, so most of them end up like this.He Shen feels that his position is quite stable, and he is different from the reckless heroes of the past, so his ending will be different from them. Wang Rulong didn't say much, he soon resigned like Jia Baoyu and went back to seclusion, he just hoped that if He Shen was brought down by Jiaqing, he wouldn't get himself hurt. A few years later, Wang Rulong's prophecy finally came true.The downfall of the mighty Heshen is the inevitable end of corrupt officials.I don't know if He Shen thought of Wang Rulong's kind reminder in prison, even if he remembered, he can only lament that his life is like a dream of the Red Mansion, right?In any case, the ups and downs of He Shen's fate are somewhat similar to those of the characters in "Dream of Red Mansions". Maybe this is why he has such a deep connection with "Dream of Red Mansions"?