() After all the ministers in the palace had exited, Zhong Jinwei said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have something else I want to tell you."
Wen Tiren was the only one in the Wenhua Hall. He was one of the few people who knew Zhong Jinwei's origin, so Zhong Jinwei's way of speaking was not surprising to him at all.
Emperor Chongzhen stopped and said: "Master Zhong waits for a while and lets Wen Qing drive out the notice first. The hungry people are waiting for the preserved meat without delay."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, his face turned a little red, but Emperor Chongzhen understood the importance clearly: "I almost forgot, but fortunately, your Majesty loves the people like a son and always remembers it."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled: "If it weren't for Master Zhong's reminder, I would still know that my people are hanging on a thin line between life and death in the capital."
After finishing speaking, he stopped being polite to Zhong Jinwei and asked the chamberlain to move the desks and prepare the four treasures of the study so that Wen Tiren could issue the announcement as soon as possible.
Wen Tiren did not chat with them, but took advantage of this interval to come up with ideas. When Zhong Jinwei had nothing to do, he took advantage of the characteristics of the people of the imperial court and went over to watch the excitement and see how Wen Tiren wrote the notice.
After grinding the ink, Wen Tiren grabbed the pen with his right hand, held the sleeve of his right hand with his left hand, and started writing directly on the spread rice paper.
Zhong Jinwei stretched his neck and looked at it curiously. The traditional Chinese characters were generally understandable.
The husband who founded the state belongs to our barbarians, but now he dares to risk his power and invade our capital territory, causing the place to be ravaged, the lives of the people to suffer, the heartache and gnashing of teeth. However, the country is short of money and unable to provide disaster relief...
"Etc., etc."
Wen Tiren was writing according to his own thoughts, when Zhong Jinwei shouted from the side.
Emperor Chongzhen was immersed in reviewing the memorials, and when he heard the sound, he looked up.
Wen Tiren and the chamberlains in the palace also looked at him in astonishment.
"Uncle Zhongxing, do you think I made a mistake in writing?" Wen Tiren asked.
"no no."
"Then my hand is not good at writing in block letters?" Wen Tiren was confused. There was no problem with the content, so it should be because the handwriting was not good, but it seemed impossible. His own handwriting was famous.
Zhong Jinwei thought to himself that even if you, old man, can't write that well, I guess no one can write it well: "Not really."
"Then what do you mean, I don't understand." Wen Tiren stopped writing, put down his brush and looked at Zhong Jinwei.
Emperor Chongzhen felt strange after listening to their conversation, so he got up and walked around the imperial table to see if there was any mystery in the notice written by Wen Tiren.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't see the reason, so he said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, if you have any ideas, please tell me quickly."
At this time, Zhong Jinwei did not dare to imitate later generations and say: "Guess!" Instead, he analyzed them in a formal manner: "Your Majesty, do you think this announcement is for the common people of the entire capital?"
Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren both nodded, yes, is there any problem with this?
"All the people in the capital can read and have good literary skills?"
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren both shook their heads. Although for the entire Ming Dynasty, the literacy rate of the people in the capital should be only slightly worse than that in the Jiangnan area, but they dare not say that all the people in the capital can read. Half of them can.
It’s amazing to know him, and I’m really embarrassed to talk about his literary skills.
"So if this notice is sent out, will the people understand it?"
Wen Tiren spoke: "There will be a special person to explain it at the announcement place so that the people will know it."
"I think this is too laborious and inefficient. It is better to just write simple and clear vernacular, so that people can understand it at a glance and hear it. In this way, the content of the notice can be conveyed to every common person in the shortest possible time.
"
The reason why Zhong Jinwei had this idea was because when he was reading Wen Tiren's writing just now, he had a hard time reading it before he remembered it.
Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren looked at each other and had to admit that what Zhong Jinwei said made sense, but it seemed that no notice had ever been written in vernacular in all dynasties.
The first priority at hand is to mobilize the people of the capital as soon as possible to participate in disaster relief. Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while and said: "Then follow what Master Zhong said and try to tell it in plain language."
The things that Zhong Jinwei said were basically unprecedented in all dynasties. Emperor Chongzhen had heard it many times and didn't think it was so shocking.
Wen Tiren looked at Zhong Jinwei with a half-smile but not a smile, and then said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I am not good at writing such notices, but I think Uncle Zhongxing is very good at it, and I am willing to make way for him."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, a smile appeared on his lips: "Master Zhong, how about you write it?"
Zhong Jinwei quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, my writing style is too bad. You don't know that in later generations, I wanted to earn some refining fees, but was criticized for my poor writing style. I really can't write."
Zhong Jinwei resolutely refused to do it. His writing style was only known to a small group of us. If he wrote it himself and then posted it on the street, wouldn't it make everyone in the capital laugh?
Emperor Chongzhen did not force Zhong Jinwei to write it, he just joked with him. In the end, Wen Tiren came to write it.
The ancient people basically used vernacular, so if you want the ancients to write in vernacular, there is no problem. Soon, Wen Tiren finished writing and called it a day. After Emperor Chongzhen checked it, he asked his chamberlain to take it and copy it into multiple copies, and posted it overnight.
.
Emperor Chongzhen watched his chamberlain exit the palace gate with the original notice. He turned to Zhong Jinwei and said earnestly: "Master Zhong, you have been here for many months. It's time to take the time to supplement the current literary classics."
Zhong Jinwei's face turned red. Compared with the ancients, this thing should be the shortcomings of all time-traveling men. Wen Tiren also joined in the fun: "Your Majesty, it would be better for me to teach Zhong Xingbo."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Jinwei quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, no, you are busy with your work, I will go back and let Archie teach me."
Let his wife teach him. It is estimated that the Ming Dynasty will have more wives to keep strict control in the future. Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren both made fun of him.
After relaxing for a while, Emperor Chongzhen was about to return to his throne. Wang Chengen, who was serving in the palace, looked at the sky and then said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it's late, it's time for dinner."
As soon as Zhong Jinwei heard Wang Chengen talk about eating, he immediately remembered the problem he had encountered during lunch, so he said: "Your Majesty, I remembered that there is another thing that I want to tell your Majesty."
Wen Tiren interrupted at the side: "Your Majesty's dragon body is the most important thing. We can discuss the matter of Zhongxing Bo tomorrow."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard that Zhong Jinwei still had something to do, he ignored the dinner and said, "Okay, Master Zhong, just tell me if you have anything to do."
"Your Majesty, in these troubled times, the most important thing is to take care of the dragon's body!" Wen Tiren still advised.
Zhong Jinwei heard what Wen Tiren said made sense: "Your Majesty, you'd better eat first, this is not in a hurry."
Emperor Chongzhen saw that both ministers were concerned about his own health, and heard that Zhong Jinwei said that he was not in a hurry, so he stopped forcing it. However, he was still very curious about what Zhong Jinwei wanted to say. After all, everything Zhong Jinwei said was unheard of every time.
"In this case, you two will have a meal with me. I will be dining here today. You can chat while eating."
After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he asked Wang Cheng'en to inform the Superintendent of Shangshan about the meal. Then he walked back to the imperial table and sat down: "Master Zhong, what did you say?"
"Your Majesty, the thing is like this. I went out to eat at a restaurant at noon today and found that it was very troublesome to redeem my money."
Emperor Chongzhen grew up in a deep palace, and was not groomed as a prince when he was older. He temporarily replaced his brother in this position. It has only been two years since he took the throne, and he has mostly fought with Wei Zhongxian, so he has not yet had a deep understanding of the use of money.
Regarding specific matters, he had never eaten out or paid with money. Therefore, he was not very impressed by Zhong Jinwei's words.
Wen Tiren had experienced it in the past, and reminded Zhong Jinwei: "Uncle Zhongxing, did you use money to go to a restaurant?"
"Yes." Zhong Jinwei looked at Wen Tiren.
"Your Majesty, when people go to restaurants to dine, they generally pay with copper coins. Although it is troublesome, it is acceptable." Wen Tiren first introduced the general situation to Emperor Chongzhen.
Emperor Chongzhen also became interested after hearing this: "What's the trouble with using copper coins, and what's the trouble with using silver coins?"
Wen Tiren knew that of these two people, one came from a later generation and the other grew up in a deep palace. Neither of them understood it very well, so he had no choice but to educate himself first: "Your Majesty, please allow me to explain in detail."
"The trouble with using copper coins is that there are many types of copper coins currently circulating in the market, but they are of different colors, so their values are also different. The more copper they contain, the more expensive they are, and the less copper coins they contain, the cheaper they are. So what kind of copper coins should you use?
The checkout at the restaurant is always slightly controversial. Apart from the cost, other minor disputes are the wear and tear of the copper coins, but generally we don’t care too much about this type of thing.”
Zhong Jinwei already understood it, but Wen Tiren made it even clearer when he explained it in detail.
No one had told Emperor Chongzhen this in detail, so he was listening carefully. When Wen Tiren mentioned copper coins, he asked, "What about the silver coins?"