Chapter 811 810【Book of Changes】

After all, Mussolini refused to borrow money, and Kong Xiangxi did not have time to stay longer. He only stayed in Rome for two days before taking a train to Germany to find Hitler.

Kong Xiangxi was pressed for time and had heavy tasks this time. He had to go to Northern Europe after leaving Germany, begging for money everywhere like a beggar. Every time he went to a country, he had to build relationships to become familiar with it. It would be better if the other party had the intention to borrow money, and he would come back to discuss it in detail after attending the coronation of the King of England.

Historically, Kong Xiangxi's loan trip lasted for more than half a year, and he later fell ill on the way. By the time he recovered and returned to China, the all-out war of resistance had been going on for several months.

It seems that Kong Xiangxi worked very hard and indeed obtained initial military expenditures for China's war of resistance. But as China's finance minister, his ability to generate money is seriously insufficient, and his ability to collect money is too good.

Just compare Song Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi. They took over the Bank of China and the Central Bank at almost the same time, and both have the power to issue legal tender. By 1936, the Bank of China controlled by Song Ziwen had 50% more cash reserves, 1.5 times more deposits, 150 times more marketable securities, and three times more total assets than the central bank controlled by Kong Xiangxi.

Even though the Bank of China has a better foundation than the Central Bank, Kong Xiangxi is the Minister of Finance. He has natural financial advantages, but he still can't beat Song Ziwen in banking.

Especially in terms of marketable securities, the gap between the two banks is 150 times, and all kinds of securities issued by the central bank have almost become waste paper. The source of this situation came from Chang Kaishen, who raised military expenses by issuing securities indiscriminately, Song Ziwen often resigned to disobey orders, and Kong Xiangxi always tried his best to cater to Chiang Kai-shek's wishes.

When Song Ziwen was the Minister of Finance, Chiang Kai-shek still suppressed his temper and issued bonds. When Kong Xiangxi became the Minister of Finance, Chiang Kai-shek finally let himself go completely. Kong Xiangxi was frightened by the bond issuance, and he tremblingly tried to persuade Chiang Kai-shek not to ruin China's finance. This happened last year.

Why have foreign consortiums invested in China in recent years?

Song Ziwen made a huge contribution.

After he took over the Bank of China, he vigorously rectified domestic and foreign bonds, allowing the Bank of China's credibility to rise rapidly. Both foreigners and Chinese people are willing to cooperate with the Bank of China. Countries that borrow money from China also go through the Bank of China channel and are determined not to deal with the central bank.

Kong Xiangxi took people to Germany, but Zhou Hexuan stayed in Italy. He wanted to discuss traditional Chinese culture with Pound, and estimated the time to go directly to London to join the mission.

Rome, an apartment.

This was the residence of Pound's mistress, his first wife lived in the seaside villa in La Barro, and his other mistress lived in the Villa in La Barro. The man divided his time into three parts, spending the first 20 days of each month living in La Barro with his wife and mistress, and the last 10 days living in Rome with another mistress.

He is an old man in his fifties, and he lives a very cool life.

The mistress in Rome is called Joanna. She is in her 30s, slightly fat and fair, and looks like a woman in a Renaissance oil painting. She brought the homemade pie, smiled brightly, asked Zhou Hexuan and Pang De to use it slowly, and then exited the study very consciously.

"Zhou, this is a Chinese poem I translated 20 years ago." Pound handed over a collection of poems.

The name of the collection of poems is "Cathay", which is transliterated as "Khitan", but in the eyes of foreigners, it is "China". This is a historical misunderstanding of China by Westerners.

Zhou Hexuan opened the collection of poems and saw that most of them were popular Tang poems. How should I put it, it feels weird to read. If Li Bai and Du Fu knew English, they would probably have the urge to tear up the book after reading this collection of translated poems.

"Mr. Pound, you said you only understand simple Chinese characters, so how did you translate this collection of poems?" Zhou Hexuan expressed his doubts.

Pound explained: "I adopted the manuscript of the Oriental scholar Fenollosa, made some additions, and consulted several Japanese friends." As he said, Pound appeared very distressed, "I know that I can't translate it well." Well, Chinese characters are broad and profound, and each word can express multiple meanings. A poem composed of just a few words is as fascinating as a kaleidoscope, as if it has natural magic power. And English is the poorest language, not only far and away Far inferior to Chinese characters, even French is a few steps ahead of English. Whenever I translate Chinese Chinese poetry, it is always difficult to find the most suitable way of expression. Compared with the original Chinese poetry, my translated version is like As crude as children’s songs.”

Zhou Hexuan consoled him: "This is not only a problem of language and grammar, but also the difference between Eastern and Western cultures. Ancient Chinese poets like to use allusions. If they want to translate them into English poems, they must replace them with allusions that Westerners are familiar with. If they want to do it well, Appropriate and natural, very difficult.”

"Indeed," Pound said regretfully, "so after I finished translating this collection of poems, I never dared to try to translate Chinese poetry again. I felt that my ability was very insignificant."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "You can try to translate ancient Chinese classics. How is your current Chinese ability?"

"I know more than 2,000 Chinese characters, but I can only read and have difficulty in daily communication. Chinese characters and Chinese are really difficult," Pound said.

Zhou Hexuan said: "If you know 2,000 Chinese characters, you can already read Chinese newspapers. But if you want to translate ancient Chinese books, I'm afraid you have to continue to work hard to learn Chinese characters. There are many rare and rare characters in ancient books."

Pang De spread his hands and said, "That's true, but I can't find a good Chinese teacher."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "There are also some Chinese students in Italy. Some international students are financially poor. You can hire them as Chinese teachers."

"This is a good idea," Pound's eyes lit up, and then he asked, "If I want to learn Chinese culture, where do I need to start? Don't mention The Three Character Classic. I have read that book many times. But I always feel that we are still far away from Chinese culture. Where is the core of Chinese culture?"

Zhou Hexuan explained: "The source of Chinese culture is the Book of Changes. Most of China's current cultural customs and traditions, including Chinese people's attitude towards the universe and society, evolved from the Book of Changes."

"Isn't it The Analects of Confucius?" Pound asked in surprise.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Who did you listen to?"

Pound replied: "A Japanese friend."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "The Analects of Confucius is the source of Confucianism, and the Confucian school initially drew nourishment from the Book of Changes. It is said that Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, made annotations for the Book of Changes , these annotations are collectively called "Ten Wings"."

Pound got up and ran to the bottom of the bookshelf. After a long time, he pulled out a thread-bound book and asked, "Is it this one?"

"Yes," Zhou Hexuan nodded and asked, "Do you have a lot of Chinese books?"

Pound smiled and said: "There are many, including Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist. Most of them are placed in La Barro's villa, and there are also some in the apartment in Rome. But Chinese ancient books are too difficult to read, and I can't read many words. I don’t know how to understand them when they are put together.”

Zhou Hexuan opened the "Book of Changes" in his hand, started from "Shutting Hexagrams" and "Preface to Hexagrams", and said: "The preface before the main text of "Book of Changes" is said to be written by Confucius and belongs to the category of the ten wings of the Book of Changes. . And the entire "Book of Changes" was written by King Wen of Zhou. Do you know who King Wen of Zhou is?"

"I don't know." Pang De shook his head repeatedly.

Zhou Hexuan suddenly had a headache and said helplessly: "I think you should understand Chinese history first."

This little old man in his 50s immediately turned into an obedient student. He took out his notebook and said, "You tell me, and I'll remember it."

Zhou Hexuan took the opponent's small notebook and drew a Chinese chronology on it. While drawing, he said: "The beginning was the legendary era of Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. According to modern archaeology, those were prehistoric tribal eras. China's first The dynasty is Xia, which belongs to the early slave country..."

From the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the densely packed dynasty representatives made Pound's scalp numb and exclaimed: "Oh my god, studying history in China is really a hard job."

"You don't need to remember all the details, you just need to have a rough idea." Zhou Hexuan said.

Pound said solemnly: "I will study it carefully in the future."

Zhou Hexuan gave an overview of the dynasties, and then began to talk about the fascinating preface of the "Book of Changes", and explained: "These prefaces sound weird and bizarre, but there are deep meanings hidden in them. You can understand the "Book of Changes" as China The ancient constitution determined the rationality of the Zhou Dynasty's rule and contained the political system of pre-Qin China. The preface of the "Book of Changes" is equivalent to the preamble of the constitution and is the overall elaboration and explanation of the constitution."

"I Ching, Constitution? This is a very interesting insight." Pound said in surprise.

Zhou Hexuan added: "Of course, the "Book of Changes" was not only a constitution in the pre-Qin era, but also a secret manual for divination. You know, politics in ancient times were often combined with divination, whether it was wars, sacrifices, or weddings and funerals. Good luck and dates are determined through divination. Therefore, as the "Book of Changes" developed to modern times, it has lost its role as a constitution and turned into a book mainly based on divination. Through the exposition and development of Chinese thinkers in the past dynasties, the "Book of Changes" has also It can be read as a philosophy book.”

Pound nodded repeatedly and concluded: "So, the "Book of Changes" is a Chinese classic that integrates constitution, philosophy and mysticism."

"Understood correctly. Let's not read the preface and start directly from the main text. Let's talk about the Qian hexagram first." Zhou Hexuan told it completely according to his own understanding. "Qian: Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen. Qian represents the sky and represents the Zhou Dynasty. The emperor represents masculinity and justice. Yuan means the original and natural, Heng means smooth and safe, Li means harmonious and beneficial, and Zhen means stable and firm. Taken together, these five characters mean Zhou The rule of the dynasty is a matter of course, just, smooth, harmonious and lasting. Combined with its symbol "Heaven moves vigorously, a gentleman strives for self-improvement", then we extend these five words to all things, from individuals to countries, it is understandable The world is going round and round, never stopping, and no one can stop it. Individuals and countries should also follow this law, be self-reliant and self-reliant, and work hard to develop."

Pang De clapped his hands and praised: "So that's it! I didn't know how to understand these five words before. If I don't have a good teacher, I may never know the answer through self-study."

Zhou Hexuan continued: "If you look at the words of Qian Gua again, 'Great Qian Yuan, all things begin, and they govern the sky.' This sentence explains the word 'Yuan' in detail. From the perspective of philosophy and divination, Qian is the symbol of the universe. In the beginning, just like the Western God said there should be light, so there was light. From a political point of view, it expressed the rationality of the Zhou Dynasty's rule, which was in compliance with the changes in the laws of heaven and earth. And 'the clouds move and the rain falls, and the crystals "Liu Xing" explains the word "Heng" in detail. From a philosophical and divination perspective, Qian is the sky, which brings changes in seasons and climate, moisturizes all things in the world, and makes the development of the world smooth. And from a political perspective To put it bluntly, the Zhou Dynasty provided guarantees for its princes and subjects, allowing the country to operate smoothly and making the people live happily..."

Just the words "Qian: Yuan Henry Zhen", Zhou Hexuan spoke for more than 40 minutes. In addition, the lines from the ninth day to the ninth day of the Qian hexagram were kept silent for two hours. It was too difficult to understand this thing.

Yao Ci is equivalent to the method of using hexagrams, such as "Ninth day of the ninth lunar month: Do not use the hidden dragon", which means that at the beginning of the development of a person or power, it needs to be cultivated silently and not to use or reveal one's power casually. To use game terminology, it’s: don’t be tough, just be cowardly, keep your growth steady, take advantage of the troop line, don’t fight.

And "Shangjiu: A strong leader has regrets" means that when you are in a high position, or when you are sure of victory, you must not be arrogant or get carried away. At this time, you are likely to suffer a huge failure. The most obvious example is Napoleon's encounter with Waterloo.

After listening to the various lines of the Qian hexagram, Pound was already worshiping and praising: "Chinese culture is really broad and profound. Just the first hexagram of the "Book of Changes" contains so many philosophical principles, and it is still the kind of complete It can be applied to the general principles of life and politics. I believe that as long as you understand the "Book of Changes", you can solve all human problems."

Well, Pound is the kind of lunatic who likes to think about philosophy and solve big problems for mankind.

This guy meets the "Book of Changes" like a hungry man meets delicious food. He didn't even care about his mistress. He took Zhou Hexuan and talked about it all day and night. Even Zhou Hexuan dozed off after talking about it, but this guy was still full of energy.

Zhou Hexuan was very worried that when Pound finished studying the entire "Book of Changes", he would not become a serious scholar, but a divination divination person everywhere.

For example, one day when Mussolini lost the war, Pound held Mussolini's hand and said: "Old Mo, you can't do this, come and let me tell you a fortune! Hey, there are many obstacles, you are like this The sinking is very deep. The flow of water is not full, the risk is taken without losing faith, and the heart is strong, which is the way to stay strong. When encountering difficulties, you should keep your heart and mind, be courageous and fearless, and don't be discouraged by the slightest failure. Come on, old man, you can do it, persistence is victory, and you will be able to turn things around and turn danger into safety!"