"Your Highness, Wei Chen wants to know how to spell the word "Wei Chen"!"
"Your Highness, I would like to know how to spell the word "know" in pinyin?"
"His Royal Highness, why don't you spell the four words "His Royal Highness the Prince".
…
Officials from various ministries began to ask Lin Fan questions, and Lin Fan spelled out the pronunciations of the Chinese characters for them one by one. All the officials were amazed.
"Awesome! It's really amazing! These twenty-six pinyin letters can really spell out the pronunciation of words!"
officials lamented.
"You have also seen that this pinyin is really so magical. Moreover, this pinyin only has twenty-six letters. If you want to learn it, you can learn it in one day!"
"Think about it. The Ministry of Rites is looking for some fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys in the capital. It doesn't matter if they don't know how to read. The Ministry of Rites teaches them pinyin, and then prints a large number of pinyin books for these children to teach them.
Isn’t it possible for children as young as 20 years old to learn Pinyin?”
Lin Fan asked.
"This! Of course!"
"This is great. Even the Ministry of Rites only needs to select a few smart teenagers, teach them Pinyin, and then let them teach other children to learn Pinyin!"
"That's right! In this way, the Ministry of Rites hardly needs to do anything. Once those teenagers learn Pinyin, they can teach more teenagers to learn!"
"At this rate, tens of thousands of people can learn Pinyin in up to two weeks, and then they can go to various places to teach children Pinyin!"
"During this period, our Ministry of Rites can start printing simplified Chinese books with pinyin. In two or three months, most of our children in the Ming Dynasty should have learned pinyin!"
"That's right! In this way, we can let the teenagers who are fifteen or sixteen years old read first. After they are almost ready to read, we can teach those children!"
…
The officials of the Ministry of Rites were the most excited. In their opinion, the emergence of this pinyin solved their most difficult problem and also saved the court a lot of money in disguise.
"People from the Ministry of Etiquette, don't be too happy. You don't need to learn illiteracy, but you have to do other things."
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
"Your Highness, what should I do?"
Xue Bingtian asked.
"Write a book!"
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
"Write a book?
Your Highness, do you want us to compile books in simplified Chinese?
This is easy, I will choose a book by a sage and change the text into simplified Chinese when I get back!"
Xue Bingtian said with a smile.
"Haha! This thing is so simple. We can compile a book in three or two days, and then let the printing workshop print it. Within a year, we can compile a hundred books at least!"
"Spring and Autumn! The Four Books and Five Classics must be re-edited. Don't worry, Your Highness the Prince!"
All the officials from the Ministry of Rites said with a smile.
Lin Fan said in a deep voice: "The Four Books and Five Classics must be re-edited, but you can just leave these things to your inferiors!"
"Besides, this is not a top priority. After all, even if I show those children the Four Books and Five Classics, they won't be able to understand it. The most important thing right now is to rewrite the books!"
"Rewrite the book?"
"Your Highness, if my understanding is correct, by rewriting the book, do you want us to write an unprecedented book?"
Xue Bingtian asked.
"Yes! This book must be unprecedented!"
Lin Fan said in a deep voice.
As a person from later generations, he knew very well that learning classical Chinese was difficult, boring, and boring, and few people in later generations could understand it.
But if it were written as a short text, with stories about famous people, or stories that persuade people to do good, then many people would read it!
In particular, stories for children must be simple and easy to understand, and their thoughts must be correct. For example, stories about the twenty-four filial piety can be selected and used for children to learn.
"Well... Your Highness, this is a bit difficult for us. There is no problem if you ask us to write some articles, but if you ask us to write books, it will be too difficult!"
"Yes, it only takes one or two thousand words to write an article, but it takes tens of thousands of words to write a book. If you don't have one or two years, you can't write a book!"
"Besides, books can't just be written casually. They must be worthy of being praised through the ages. Otherwise, the literati will laugh at them if they are written!"
"His Royal Highness, we are willing to work together to write a book, but we must be given one year. We also ask for your permission."
…
Officials from the Ministry of Rites said one after another.
Lin Fan rolled his eyes at them and said: "You guys are all stupid. The new book I want you to write is for children aged six or seven!"
"You wrote the Spring and Autumn Period, the Four Books and the Five Classics. Tell me, how do children learn?
Do they understand?"
"So, you have to write a very short story. Moreover, I didn't say you have to be original. You can completely use the stories of previous generations to build upon them!"
"For example, you can adapt The Twenty-Four Filial Piety and compile the stories into vernacular so that children can understand them."
“Vernacular?
What does it mean?"
Xue Bingtian asked in a deep voice.
The words they wrote were all about shortening what they wanted to say and then writing them in classical Chinese. Therefore, many people knew the words but could not read the words in the book.
However, this is also the stubbornness of these literati, who consider themselves noble. Those who are not knowledgeable enough are not worthy of reading the giants they wrote!
"For example, if you want to say something or tell a story to your children, it can't be told in the language of the book, right?"
"You must tell the story to your children in the simplest and most simple words. For example, the story about "Walking on the Ice and Seeking Carps" in "Twenty-Four Filial Piety" can be told like this.
…
In front of hundreds of officials, Lin Fan described the story of lying on the ice asking for a carp in vernacular. Moreover, the story was told vividly and vividly, which was much more touching than the original text.
Among the officials, several older ones cried when they heard it.
And more officials were sighing at His Highness the Prince's ability to narrate stories. It was too simple and direct, but if you listen carefully, it has quite a charm!
"This! So the story can still be told like this!"
"Your Highness, is this the book you want us to write?
This is too simple, there is no ink at all!"
"Yes! It's so straightforward. Even an old man who has never learned how to write can say such words. It's really insulting for me to write such an article!"
"Your Highness, we refuse!"
I was so moved that the officials of the Ministry of Rites refused to write such a story.