Li Shimin's concerns were justified. During the Zhenguan period, the forces of the Five Surnames and Qiwang were suppressed.
But in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the power of the aristocratic family rose again, and its power became even more terrifying.
Many official positions above the court are still controlled by aristocratic families.
Because they have enough background, many books, and the best teachers.
After Li Min heard Li Shimin's worries, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Father, this problem you mentioned may be solved by me."
Li Shimin couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but ask: "Yin'er, is what you said true? What method do you use to solve this problem?"
Li Min couldn't help but smile slightly and said: "Father, the solution for my child is to use Chinese Pinyin."
Li Shimin asked in confusion: "Hanyu Pinyin? What is that?"
Li Min picked up the pen and wrote down twenty-six consonants on the paper, and marked the pronunciation behind each letter.
You may not be used to these letters when they first came out, but you will get used to them after using them for a long time.
In fact, in Taiwan, there are letters formed from the radicals of useful words, but Li Min never learned it and was too lazy to exchange it in the mall, so he directly used the letters.
Li Min couldn't help but point to these letters and said to Li Shimin: "Father, look, with these letters, the pronunciation of all Chinese characters can be marked. At that time, they can spell out the pronunciation of a word through the letters, no need for Mr.
, you can also learn by yourself.”
Li Shimin asked dubiously: "Yin'er, with just twenty-six letters, can the pronunciation of all Chinese characters really be marked out?"
Li Min smiled and said: "This is natural. If you don't believe it, father can give it a try."
After Li Min finished speaking, Li Shimin took up his pen and wrote the word Zhenguan.
And Li Min wrote the pinyin on the two characters, zhen guan, and said to Li Shimin: "Father, look, Zhi En - Zhen, Wu An - Guan."
Although it feels weird to spell it out, it can really be spelled out.
In shock, Li Shimin wrote many more words, and Li Min marked the spellings one by one. He could actually spell out every word.
Li Shimin wrote hundreds of words, and finally believed that the pinyin annotation method was indeed feasible!
Li Min smiled slightly and said: "Father, in this way, we can compile a dictionary. In the dictionary, we can not only find out the pronunciation of each word, but also the meaning of this word or the words composed of this word.
In this way, even children from poor families can learn on their own."
A dictionary can indeed enable children from poor families to study on their own.
But a dictionary alone is not enough.
Li Shimin couldn't help but said worriedly: "But if the teacher doesn't segment the knowledge in the book, it will be difficult for beginners to segment sentences. What should we do?"
Li Min smiled slightly and said: "This is easy to solve. You can use punctuation marks to directly segment sentences in the article. In this way, you don't need to learn sentence segmentation at all, you can just read it directly."
As he spoke, Li Min wrote out the commas, periods, colons, quotation marks, exclamation marks, ellipses and other punctuation marks respectively, and explained the uses of these punctuation marks to Li Shimin.
Then write down a sentence: The way of a university lies in being virtuous, being close to the people, and striving for perfection.
Confucius said: "Learn and practice from time to time, isn't that right?"
After writing it, add punctuation marks and it will be clear at a glance.
Li Shimin couldn't help but said happily: "With punctuation marks and dictionaries, more and more children from poor families will be able to pass the imperial examination and become officials. This is really a good way to deal with aristocratic families!"
"But there is another problem now, that is, the price of books is too expensive. Those children from poor families simply cannot afford them. And without books, they have no way to study on their own. I wonder if you have any solution?"
In ancient times, especially before the Song Dynasty, the price of a book was extremely high.
Because in those days, the price of paper was very high.
And because to engrave a book, you need to make a corresponding mold. If you want to engrave another book, you need to change the mold again.
As a result, the cost of books is extremely high.
Basically, only those rich and aristocratic families have a large number of books, and children from poor families simply cannot afford them.
If you want to study, you can only borrow books and copy them.
But if you want to borrow a book, they may not lend it to you.
Or if you borrow a book, you have to accept someone else's favor and get on their boat.
It is through these various means that the aristocratic family exercises cultural control.
After hearing Li Shimin's question, Li Min couldn't help but smile and said: "Father, in fact, this problem is easy to solve. The current papermaking technology is extremely backward. The papermaking method can be improved and the price of paper can be greatly reduced."
"As for printing, it can be improved to movable type printing. Movable type printing is to carve out Chinese character templates one by one. When you need to print, you only need to arrange these characters in a certain order. After printing, these molds will be used next time
It can still be used. In this way, the cost can be greatly reduced!”
After listening to Li Min's words, Li Shimin couldn't help but have a strange look on his face.
Li Shimin couldn't help but squat down, took out a large roll of toilet paper from the cabinet and asked, "Ming'er, is this the kind of paper you're talking about? This kind of paper has a fine texture and is of really good quality. Unfortunately, it falls apart when used for writing.
, this kind of paper cannot be used! Also, if you put such good paper in the toilet, it is really a waste of resources!"
ah?
Seeing this half roll of toilet paper, Li Min finally remembered.
Isn't this the toilet paper I bought from the mall when I went to the toilet in the Hanxiang Palace last time and put it directly into the toilet after using it?
Unexpectedly, my father picked it up and used it as good paper...
Li Min had no choice but to say: "Father, this kind of paper is actually called toilet paper. This is not for writing, it is toilet paper."
Well, the toilet problem in the Tang Dynasty is simply a history of blood and tears for future generations.
The toilet chips used in the palace were scraped with bamboo slices and then used to rub the buttocks. Whether it was hard or not was not up to anyone to say.
The key is that after using this thing, rinse it with water and use it again next time!
This is still inside the palace. If it were an ordinary people's home, it would be used for whatever it comes across.
Use small stones, leaves, branches, whatever you come across.
Only those aristocratic families are slightly better, they use paper or silk.
Moreover, the paper of that era was actually not easy to use. It was hard and astringent and had to be kneaded to make it soft before use. The cost was extremely high, and even the palace could not afford it.
Therefore, when Li Shimin heard the word toilet paper, he didn't know what it was for.