"Your Majesty, although this imperial examination system is good, there are too few children from the Humble Class. Moreover, the aristocratic families have almost monopolized all the books. Without books, the children of the Humble Class can't afford to read at all.”Zhu Yu's words made Wang Huan and Wang Yu calm down. They were no longer as excited as before.
Once the imperial examination system was implemented, the aristocratic families knew that their status would definitely be affected. If they had no way to oppose it, as long as they raised the price of books so that the children of the lesser families could not afford to study, they would still be in an advantageous position in politics.
"Your Majesty, ever since the appearance of paper, although the price has been constantly decreasing, books are still made by copying. Once the aristocratic families raise the price of books, the imperial examination system may die.”Zhu Yu said worriedly.
"That's right! The price of a book was almost one tael, which was almost a month's food for a family of five. If the price of books really rose, then not many children of the Humble Class could afford to read books.”Wang Huan followed closely behind.
Why did the aristocratic families monopolize education? It was all because of the high cost of education, and the poor children could not afford to study.
It was not easy to study in this era, especially for the Humble Class disciples.
The main reason was that books were expensive. Although the art of making paper was invented a long time ago, its technology had also been greatly improved. The price of paper had dropped, and books were made by writing, so the cost remained high.
Perhaps many people said that they could borrow books because they did not understand Great Qin's reality.
Long Yunfeng knew that the library in his previous life had a dazzling array of books. Whatever books he wanted to read, he could borrow them very quickly and easily. Therefore, it was hard for modern people to imagine the difficulty of borrowing books in ancient times.
In ancient times, when people borrowed books, not only did they travel long distances to get good books, but they also had to be thick-skinned when they came to the door.
Even so, not every book collector was willing to lend their books to others.
Like the aristocratic families, they would sweep away their books and treasure them. They were never willing to look at others easily, let alone lend them to the children of the poor.
As a result, those poor children from poor families could be said to have no way to study.
Long Yunfeng saw that the three of them weren't in a hurry. Instead, he took another sip of tea. He looked confident, which made the three of them feel very strange.
Could it be that His Majesty had a solution to this problem? If there was a solution, it would be even more difficult for the aristocratic families to monopolize politics in the future.
"I know what you're talking about. I have a method called movable type printing. Books are expensive now because they are all copied. However, if you carve words on soil and copper blocks, arrange them according to the contents of the book, paint them with ink, and put paper on them to print them.”Long Yunfeng explained the method of movable type printing, and everyone was stunned.
However, Wang Huan quickly reacted and said excitedly, Your Majesty, this is truly a blessing for all the scholars in the world."
The printing press was invented by the working people of ancient China after a long period of practice and research.
Since the invention of paper in the Han Dynasty, writing materials were lighter and more economical than the oracle bones, bamboo slips, gold stones, and silk used in the past. However, copying books was still very laborious and could not meet the needs of society.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the method of copying and rubbing stone tablets appeared.
In the Sui Dynasty around 600 AD, people were inspired by the engraving of seals and invented the first engraving printing technique in human history.
Engraving printing could print hundreds or even thousands of books, which played a great role in the spread of culture. However, it was time-consuming and laborious. Large books often took several years, and it took up a lot of space to store the plates. Moreover, they were often damaged by distortion, insects, and corrosion.
Books with a small print run and no need for reprinting would become useless. In addition, it was very difficult to correct the wrong characters found in the engraving, and it was often necessary to re-engrave the entire plate.
The invention of movable type printing was a great technological revolution in the history of printing. It used movable metal or clay blocks to replace traditional copying or printing plates that could not be reused.
The method of movable type printing was to first make a single-word positive and negative character mold, then select the words according to the manuscript, arrange them in the word plate, apply ink to print, and then take out the mold after printing, leaving it for the next printing.
The movable type plate making just avoided the lack of engraving. As long as enough single movable type was prepared in advance, it could be assembled at any time, greatly speeding up the plate making time.
After the movable type was printed, it could be disassembled. The movable type could be reused, and it took up less space than the engraving, making it easier to store and keep.
This showed the superiority of movable type. The idea of using movable type printing had existed for a long time. Bi Sheng invented movable type printing and improved the efficiency of printing.
In ancient times, scholars were a very prestigious title. They were a very respectable and prestigious group. If any family had a scholar, it would be a matter of glory for the family.
Once a scholar obtained an official position, he could be exempted from taxes and corvee. He did not even have to kneel before the county magistrate. Even if he encountered bandits, he could escape safely.
It was said that Ji Xiaolan, a scholar of the Great Qing Dynasty, had once encountered robbers on the road and was almost killed by them. However, the robbers knew that he was a famous scholar and immediately apologized respectfully and let him go.
Then why did the ancients respect scholars so much?
Firstly, the ancient society was a hierarchical society.
In ancient China, the social classes were divided into four classes: scholars, farmers, merchants, and businessmen. The first class was scholars, which were also scholars.
Not only could scholars enjoy all kinds of privileges, but they could also become officials. Once they got the title, they would be rich and enter the ruling class. Therefore, the status of scholars was naturally higher than others. It was only natural for them to be respected by the world.
Secondly, productivity was low in ancient times, education was backward, and there were very few people who could read and write. Therefore, scholars were very precious.
In ancient times, there were not one or two scholars in a village. Usually, private schools, letters, bookkeeping, and other writing and drawing had to be done by scholars. In ancient times, it was a great thing for any village or big family to invite a teacher. No one dared to neglect it and had to be polite to the teacher.
Perhaps this was the legendary saying that the rarer something was, the more valuable it was. It was not like the streets were filled with university students now. With more scholars, it would naturally be worthless.
Third, the ancients paid attention to respecting teachers and education. The atmosphere of valuing learning was very high. Reading was a very noble thing.
In ancient times, there was a saying that "all things are inferior, only reading is superior". In the 2,000-year-long Confucian era, reading was the most respected and recognized thing by the government and society. Scholars were also the most respected people.
Fourth, the ancients were superstitious and believed that scholars were the stars of literature in the sky and could not be offended.
They regarded scholars as gods and were respectful to them. Even bandits respected them.
Most of the robbers were born in the wilderness, and they had a deep respect for scholars. If a scholar was willing to stay in the mountain stronghold, it would be a matter of burning high incense. If the scholar was unwilling to stay, they would not make things difficult for them and respectfully sent them down the mountain.
If he offended a scholar, not to mention the government would not agree, even his mother and father would not be able to pass. They would be beaten to death with the soles of their shoes.
Scholars couldn't afford to offend them.
"I have decided to let General Zhu handle this matter. I wonder if General Zhu is willing?”Long Yunfeng said.
"Your Majesty, this, this…I am a martial artist. This matter should be handled by the Prime Minister and Li Situ.”Zhu Yu was instantly dumbfounded. He was only a general. If he was asked to do this, how could he do it?
Shouldn't it be done by a scholar?
Zhu Yu wasn't the only one who was dumbfounded. Wang Huan and the other two had thought that the Emperor would hand this matter over to them. However, even though the cost would be greatly reduced if it was handed over to Zhu Yu, the profit from the book was still considerable.
"I mean that I will guide the craftsmen to carve the template. After printing, the Zhu family will be in charge of selling it.”Long Yunfeng said.
In fact, the deeper meaning of this was to protect Wang Huan and the others. Although Wang Huan was also a member of an aristocratic family, his strength was relatively weak. Li Zhenguo was from the Humble Class and was unable to compete with the aristocratic families.
However, Zhu Yu was different. He was an old aristocratic family of Great Qin and had 300,000 Royal Guards under his command. If anyone dared to touch him, he would wipe them out in a matter of minutes. Those aristocratic families did not dare to be compared to the Zhu family at all.
Long Yunfeng allowed Zhu Yu to participate because he wanted Zhu Yu to attract the attention of the Zhu Family.
Long Yunfeng wanted him to participate because he wanted him to be a target, but at the same time, he wanted him to draw a clear line between himself and those aristocratic families.
Although printing could earn a lot of money, Long Yunfeng wasn't a short-sighted person.
He had plenty of ways to make money.
Although the imperial court also had a printing workshop, he could not allow the imperial court's printing workshop to squeeze out the printing workshops of those aristocratic families. Otherwise, it would be easy for those aristocratic families to be labeled as competing with the people for profit.
"General Zhu, you are an old aristocratic family of the Great Qin Empire, and you have 300,000 imperial guards in your hands. Those aristocratic families can't do anything to you. Although the Imperial Court also has a printing workshop, in order to prevent those aristocratic families from putting the label of fighting for fame and profit on my head, you can only trouble yourself to attract their attention for me.”Long Yunfeng said, then stood up and bowed to Zhu Yu.
"Your Majesty, you can't do that. As a subject, this is the part of a subject.”Zhu Yu saw that the Emperor had personally bowed to him and immediately stood up to hold Long Yunfeng's hand across the table.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]