In which dynasty did the characters in "A Dream of Red Mansions" live?

As early as the late 1920s, Mr. Zhang Xiaoxia drew up a relatively detailed chronology based on the 120 chapters of the novel [1]. This chronology is based on the chronological information provided in the 95th chapter of the novel, that is, Yuanchun "birth"

"Yu Jiashen died in Yimao".

Another example is that Mr. Zhou Ruchang also compiled a chronology "Calendar of Red Mansions" [2] in "New Evidence of the Dream of Red Mansions". This chronology only takes the first 80 chapters, thus discarding the stems and branches clearly given in the 95th chapter.

Chronology, only marking the year.

No matter how it is compiled, the chronology compiled based on the chronological information provided by the novel text is a timetable that cannot confirm the true age of the dynasties at all.

And because the author of the novel deliberately created confusion to conceal the true age of the dynasty, and the chronology is completely based on the information provided by the novel text, there will be situations where certain years cannot be determined.

Therefore, careful readers will often find that there are many "timing confusions" in the novel.

Now, based on Yuanchun's real death date, we can not only restore the true dynasty age of each chapter in the novel, but also clearly discover the "cheating" method used by the author of the novel to deliberately create time confusion.

9.1 Guimao Year (1723, the first year of Yongzheng) From Chapter 95 "Suddenly one day, Jia Zheng came in with tears on his face" (page 1343) to Chapter 108 "So Jia's mother was relieved, Mrs. Xing especially

The family is also a little tolerant" (p. 1487).

It has been demonstrated in the previous article that Yuanchun died after the beginning of spring on the 29th of the Renyin year, and the stems and branches of the year are bounded by the beginning of spring, so Jia Zheng announced the death of Yuanchun in the Guimao year.

Other plots written in the novel can further confirm that it was indeed the year of Guimao.

The ninety-sixth chapter writes: "That year was the time when the capital was inspected. The Ministry of Industry ranked Jia Zheng first. In February, the officials introduced him. The emperor thought that Jia Zheng was diligent, frugal and prudent, so he released the Jiangxi grain road." (No. 1352)

Page) The so-called "Beijing Inspection" was a system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties that assessed Beijing officials and determined rewards and punishments for promotion and demotion.

The assessment time was once every six years in the Ming Dynasty, held in the years of Ji and Hai; in the Qing Dynasty, it was held once every three years, in the years of Zi, Mao, Wu, and You [3].

According to "Manuscripts of Qing History, Chronicles Eighty-Six, Election Six", the method of performance appraisal for three years came from Tang and Yu.

The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty system, but the style was slightly different.

The official in the capital said he was in charge of the investigation, the official in the foreign affairs said he was in charge of the big plan, and the officials in charge of the examination were in charge of it.

In the capital inspection, the son was Maowu You years old, and the officials of the ministries and colleges were evaluated by the superiors. The school was divided into four categories, with "talent, defense, politics, and years" as the swans.

Jia Zheng passed the "Beijing Inspector" and was promoted from "Mr. Zhong of the Ministry of Industry" to "Jiangxi Liangdao". According to the chronology deduced above, this year happened to be the year of Mao.

Chapter 102 describes Tanchun's marriage, but the author does not specify the time of marriage.

However, judging from the context, Baoyu and Baochai had already "consummated their marriage" at this time. According to the arrangement of the filial piety system and Jia Mu and others, Baoyu had already passed the "nine-month service" of observing filial piety for his sister Yuanchun [4]; in addition,

, Chapter 99 writes: "So there are only Li Wan, Tanchun, and Xichun in the garden. Jia Mu also wants to move Li Wan and others in to prepare for the death of Concubine Yuan. Things at home are happening one after another, and she has no time to do this.

"The weather is getting hotter day by day, but we can still live in the garden. We can wait until autumn to move." (Page 1391) Chapter 102 writes: "There are few people in the garden, and the weather is cold. Sister Li Wan,

Tanchun, Xichun, etc. all moved back to their old homes." (Page 1425) Judging from these plots, Tanchun must have gotten married in late autumn.

It is generally believed that the fifth chapter's sentence about Tanchun, "I shed tears on the Qingming Festival and look at the riverside, and the east wind is thousands of miles away, but I have a dream" (page 78), refers to Tanchun marrying away from home during the Qingming Festival.

If this is the author's intention, then the description of Tanchun's marriage time in Chapter 102 is inconsistent with the author's intention.

How this contradiction was caused still needs to be carefully considered, and it cannot simply be judged as "evidence" for the so-called sequel author to reveal his falsification.

9.2 The Provincial Examination in the Year of Jiachen The Year of Jiachen (1724, the second year of Yongzheng) From Chapter 108: "One day, Shi Xiangyun returned home after getting married and came to pay his respects to Jia Mu" (page 1487) to Chapter 120

"The monk still took the jade to the foot of Qinggeng Peak, placed the jade at the place where Nuwa made stones to mend the sky, and then wandered away" (page 1646).

The ninety-seventh chapter writes that before Jia Zheng left home and went to Jiangxi Liangdao, he "really asked Mrs. Wang to discipline his son, and he must not be pampered as before. He must be punished in the provincial examination next year" (page 1377); first

Chapter 119 writes about Jia Baoyu's participation in the provincial examination and his becoming a monk. It can be seen that Baoyu became a monk in the Jiachen year.

According to the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examination was held every three years (one subject every three years), which was called a "big competition".

The rural examination is the name of the rural examination, which is called the examiner in Chinese style.

The rural examination comes first, and it is held every year of Zi, Wu, Mao and You, and is called "Zhengke". When there are celebrations (such as the emperor's ascension, etc.), additional subjects are called "Enke".

If the celebration coincides with the year of Zhengke, Zhengke will be regarded as Enke, or Zhengke will be moved to the front, or Zhengke will be moved to the back, or the rural examination in March will be changed.

Since the hometown examination is usually held in autumn, the hometown examination is also called "Autumn Examination".

The examination means a centralized examination.

The examination will be held later, every year, such as Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei Nian.

If there is a provincial examination enke, the next year's general examination will be called "hui examination enke".