At the age of 24, he took the provincial examination and won the bid. Later, after two times, at the age of 3 1, he was a scholar with the third place and the 88th place. Since then, I have started my career. However, his character is so capricious that the Prime Minister Yao Guangyu wants him to work in Yao's hometown, but he can't get rid of it, which makes Yao Guangyu very unhappy. The following year, he was sent to Jingzhou as a government professor in charge of local culture and education, which is a relatively low position. Another year, he was transferred to Nanjing to preside over the provincial examination. After having obtained the township examination, he was transferred to the magistrate of Yiling (now Yichang City, Hubei Province). Now, he can finally show his ability to help the world and people. During his tenure, he actively cared about the sufferings of the people. In addition to helping the good people, he also made great contributions. But after being a magistrate for a year, I returned to Nanjing and became a doctor in the highest institution of learning of the dynasty at that time, participating in teaching and management. Originally, Zang Maoxun's official career can be smooth as long as it is carefully maintained-the social background is extremely rich, his father has been a magistrate for two times and has a group of friends in officialdom; His own father-in-law is also a magistrate. In addition, he himself is a protege of Prime Minister Shen Shixing. As long as these networks are enabled, he can embark on his official career and make a name for himself. But since he became Dr. imperial academy, he has become more romantic, and he has been lingering on the racket. At that time, because of his poetic title, all kinds of people came to make friends with him, and he entertained people regardless of knowledge or ignorance. He often rides with these people, takes all kinds of amusement equipment, and even takes Toy Boy to the suburbs to play. His friend's advice was ignored. Finally, because of his Toy Boy incident, Huang Fengxiang who was drinking in imperial academy seized the opportunity to impeach him. Since then, Zang Maoxun has bid farewell to the officialdom that seems to be incompatible with his temperament, at the age of 36.
Zang Maoxun didn't want to stay in Nanjing, so he took his wife to his hometown Changxing. Because he has been an official since he became a father, his family assets are still solid. When Zang returned to his hometown, his main activity was to amuse himself with poems, and he had close contacts with many literati such as Tang Xianzu, Mei Dingzuo and Yuan Zhongdao, a famous dramatist in the Ming Dynasty, and exchanged poems. Zang Maoxun, his friends Wu Mengyu and Wu Jiadeng, and Mao Wei, the son of the famous writer Mao Kun, are called "the four sons of Xing Wu". At the age of 57, he and Cao Xuequan, Chen Bangzhan and more than ten others formed the Jinling Society. For a time, he was famous in Jiangnan poetry during Wanli period. Several existing poems of Ming Dynasty, such as Qian's Selected Poems of Past Dynasties, Zhu Yizun's Selected Poems of Ming Dynasty and Chronicle of Poems of Ming Dynasty, have all selected Zang's representative works. Although most of his poems entertain friends and show the life interest and feelings of a scholar-bureaucrat, some of his works are still fresh and lovely. For example, "Send Yao back": "The setting sun on the cold river turns your back on you, and you can't see home in the south. Don't blame the bleak, Qian Shan red leaves are like spring flowers. " There are also some poems that express the author's concern about current affairs, such as the harm of tax supervision in Jihai Book Market, the domestic troubles and foreign invasion of the country in Guanhe and Wenjie. But his style, as Mr. Shuofang Xu said today: "He is not far from reality, but the criticism is so euphemistic that irony is almost close to praise."
After the age of 50, Zang showed a relatively active state in the publishing industry. His books are mainly literature, most of which are voluminous. These books include 24 volumes of Gu Yi Ci, 56 volumes of Selected Ancient Poems, 47 volumes of Selected Poems of Tang Dynasty, 65,438+000 volumes of Selected Poems of Yuan Dynasty, Correcting Chai Jin Lu in ancient books, Tang Yuming's Four Dreams, The Story of a Short-lived Flower, Liu Bo Duan Jin and The Story of Xianyou. As far as this part is concerned, the total number of words exceeds 3 million. "Those that have been engraved are not counted now." At that time, relying entirely on block printing, it was not easy to achieve such great results. In addition, some books have been included in the publishing plan, but they have not been put into practice for various reasons. For example, he tried to print a series of historical periodicals from ancient times to the pre-Qin period, but later he failed because he promised to support the early death of his court official Yu Ruoying, and the chess game 10 was not published.
In the late Ming dynasty, the social economy showed a prosperous scene, and industries such as ironmaking, textile and porcelain making were very active. Some factors of capitalism have been exposed in various industries, and so have cultural undertakings. Because of the employment phenomenon, booksellers can hire a large number of helpers to engage in the publishing industry. At that time (the editor of Sixty Songs) had a special workers' dormitory at home, and Zang Maoxun also hired many farmers to help him in his hometown. Zang Maoxun's hometown is near Taihu Lake. Agriculture and handicrafts occupy an important position in the country, and printing industry is also famous for its good technology.
Zang Maoxun has a business mind in the publishing industry. When the competition in the book industry is fierce, in order to open the market, families often try their best to get some precious cheats to attract customers. Zang Maoxun used various relationships to sort out the sources of manuscripts. He took advantage of sending his grandson to Henan to get married, bypassing Liu Chengxi, a royal guard in Huguang Macheng. Using his indirect in-laws with Liu, he was able to see 200 or 300 kinds of Yuan Zaju copied by Liu Jiazu from The Secret of Internal Work and appraised by Tang Xianzu, thus completing the publication of his Selected Songs of Yuan Dynasty. In order to enhance the market competitiveness and reduce the printing cost, he returned to his hometown instead of Nanjing and used cheap rural labor, thus greatly reducing the cost of books. He is also good at speeding up capital turnover. A large number of books have been published, such as "Ancient Poetry" and "Selected Songs of Yuan Dynasty", all of which are the first episode, and the second episode will be released after the funds are returned. He also attaches great importance to advertising, and whenever a new book comes out, he invites dignitaries or literati to promote it.