Chapter 144: You are truly the treasure of my Tang Dynasty
Return to the palace from the palace.
Li Chengqian was not idle either.
He hurriedly ran to the backyard to see Carpenter Zhang.
Seeing him coming, Zhang Carpenter and others quickly stood up and saluted: "Your Highness..."
"No need, no need."
Li Chengqian walked directly to the workbench of Carpenter Zhang and others.
"How's the font doing?"
"According to His Highness's instructions, ten sets have been made."
"Only some unpopular and rare characters were carved by us at the end."
Carpenter Zhang answered truthfully.
Li Chengqian casually picked one up from the table.
The fonts are carved from thumb-sized stones.
There is a word "李" engraved on it.
Li Chengqian took another photo inside and finally pieced together his name.
Apply these three words with ink and print them on the paper.
Li Chengqian was extremely satisfied.
"Little Chuzi."
"My slave is here."
"Anyone who carves calligraphy will be rewarded three hundred coins."
"yes!"
Hearing Li Chengqian's words, the group was extremely happy.
Who doesn't like money?
Even if you work for the eldest prince, you have to make money.
Under the leadership of Zhang Carpenter, everyone once again faced Li Chengqian and saluted: "Let me thank His Highness."
"No need to say thank you to me."
Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "I should be the one to say thank you to you."
"Although this small typeface looks inconspicuous, it is enough to change an era."
"When this thing is actually put into use, everyone in the Tang Dynasty will have books to read and everyone will be literate."
What he invented was vitreous printing.
These people in front of them still don’t know what this will bring to this era.
But in the future, they will definitely understand how great what they did today is.
As the saying goes, if young people are strong, the country will be strong. If all the young people in the Tang Dynasty were literate, why would the Tang Dynasty have no talent to use?
How can we, Greater China, not be strong?
But before that, Li Chengqian had to solve one thing. That is the problem with the sales of printed books in the future.
Li Chengqian would not be so stupid as to hand out free books on the street.
Only a fool can do that kind of thing.
Is Li Chengqian a fool?
Therefore, he had already planned it.
On the afternoon of the second day, he cooked a large table of delicious food.
Then he asked Changsun to rush over and invite Changsun Wuji over.
When Changsun Wuji came over, he looked at the table full of dazzling food.
He did not move, but looked at Li Chengqian suspiciously.
"My great nephew, why did you do what you did today?"
Li Chengqian has become like a little fox in his heart.
He didn't believe that Li Chengqian would show his courtesy for nothing.
Li Chengqian smiled, holding the teapot in both hands and pouring a cup of tea for Changsun Wuji.
"Uncle, you look at what you said, as if I want to harm you."
Changsun Wuji sneered: "The last time you invited me to drink tea, I lay in bed for several days."
He still hasn't forgotten what happened that time.
Li Chengqian was also a little embarrassed.
He didn't expect that Changsun Wuji would hold such a grudge.
He sighed and said: "In that case, I will tell you the truth."
"I want to do something, and I must have my uncle's help."
"Don't look for me."
"I can't help you."
Changsun Wuji stood up and ran away.
Li Chengqian quickly pulled him back: "Uncle, don't leave yet. Listen to what I have to say first."
"What did you say?"
"I don't believe that you kid can really do anything good."
Changsun Wuji knows this guy very well.
What good things can he do?
That is unless the sun rises from the west.
"Uncle, it's going to be a good thing this time, I promise."
“And it’s a great thing that benefits the country and the people.
"
Li Chengqian said quickly: "I have a paper mill now, right? I want to print some books to sell."
"But you also know that my father does not allow me to do business, so I have to come to you for this matter..."
"Find me?"
"Selling books?"
Changsun Wuji looked at Li Chengqian as if he was crazy.
"I said you are crazy, right?"
"Don't you know that books are now monopolized by aristocratic families?"
"If you sell books, I'm afraid you won't even be able to recover the cost in the end."
In this era, the scale of the monopoly on knowledge formed by aristocratic families was quite huge.
In Chang'an City, there are pharmacies, clothing stores, restaurants, butcher shops, and even brothels, etc.
But there are very few bookstores.
Even if there are, the ones sold are mostly unofficial histories and miscellaneous stories.
And because paper is expensive and book printing costs are high, books are horribly expensive.
Scholars from poor families simply couldn't afford it, and it was the aristocratic families who ended up buying books.
This also resulted in the aristocratic family's monopoly on knowledge forming a vicious cycle.
If a scholar from a poor family wanted to read a book, he would either go to a nearby aristocratic family to borrow a book, and then copy the contents of the book and study them.
Or simply stay in the family's home and study with the children of the family.
But the final result is that these children have to be grateful to the family and repay them when they become famous or powerful.
What's more, some, like Cheng Yaojin, were promised to use their children as wives.
This also allows the family to have a large-scale monopoly on talents.
In the Great Tang Dynasty, there are nine out of ten children from aristocratic families.
There were even times when Li Shimin couldn't help himself.
This is why he couldn't wait to let Li Chengqian break the rules.
"Qian'er, uncle knows that you have recently obtained cheap paper."
"But the cost of printing is so high that there is no need to do it."
Changsun Wuji was admonishing from the side.
Of course, it was also because he didn't know that Li Chengqian had developed living printing. If he knew, he would definitely not say this.
Li Chengqian said directly: "If I say that the cost of one of my books is only ten cents, will my uncle dare to sell it?"
"Ten cents?"
Changsun Wuji was stunned.
He looked at Li Chengqian with disbelief.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious."
Li Chengqian directly asked Qingci to take out the template for live printing.
Then, he printed three pages in front of Changsun Wuji.
Changsun Wuji was dumbfounded by that scene.
Changsun Wuji snatched the paper directly, and then looked at the living printing template.
A smile gradually began to appear on his face.
Finally he threw his head back and laughed.
Changsun Wuji looked at Li Chengqian with excitement on his face.
"Do you know what will happen to the world if these cheap books come out?"
"It will break the family's monopoly on knowledge and talents."
Li Chengqian hit the nail on the head with one word.
Changsun Wuji's face was full of admiration: "Gane'er, Gan'er, you are really the most precious treasure of my Tang Dynasty."
"hey-hey."
"I'm doing this for money too."
Li Chengqian hides his merit and fame deeply.
He just pretends to be a philistine who does everything for money.
"Okay, okay, okay."
Changsun Wuji saw what he meant, but he didn't point it out.
"In this case, my uncle will promise you to open bookstores all over the country for you."
I haven't waited for Li Chengqian to be happy.
Changsun Wuji then said with a serious face: "But on this account, my uncle can only give you a 40-60 score."
Four or six points, just four or six points.
What is Li Chengqian afraid of?
Li Chengqian chuckled and said, "As long as uncle is happy, it doesn't matter how much."
Changsun Wuji patted Li Chengqian on the shoulder.
"Okay, that's it. Uncle, I'll leave first. I'll start making arrangements as soon as I get back."