There is a river in the northwest of Yunmeng Ze that connects the Han River and Yingdu, named Yangshui.
The end of Yangshui is Jinglingyi.
It's just that the name Jinglingyi didn't exist for many years. When the Yun Kingdom was still there, the southwest of Ganyukou was adjacent to the Han River and was called "Tianmen". Most of the local wealthy families used "Feng" as their surname.
However, with the expansion of the Chu State, the Feng family also became a local leader within the Chu State. They were not as good as the Ye family, but they still had their own way of survival.
Relying on Hanshui, Ganyukou, Yangshui, and Yunmengze, the Jinglingfeng clan was considered prolific in "fish and rice" and had developed transportation. It was one of the few local aristocratic clans in Chu that could travel between the Yangtze River and Zhou and Qin.
At the height of summer, the Jinglingfeng clan was once again busy, but unlike the past where they were selling fish, rice and cloth, what they were selling this time were pieces of paper with weird contents.
Paper itself is not expensive to Jinglingfeng, what is expensive is the content on the paper.
In the inner harbor of Ganyukou, young aristocratic people from the Chu Kingdom wearing silk robes were all walking forward with swords in hand. After arriving at the dock, they suddenly started to walk as fast as flying, and their previous calmness was gone.
After a moment, someone shouted with a sword: "Don't make a mistake! Don't fight! Otherwise, don't blame my sword for being sharp!"
"Your sword is sharp, could my sword be disadvantageous?!"
"Here comes an exam syllabus!"
"..."
"What are you looking at? I'm going to Huai River to take the exam, how can I slack off!"
A person came out of the queue and ran away. Not long after, he arrived at the Jinglingfeng family's house. It was a front-yard layout with a backyard. After entering, it was already crowded with people, and everyone was sweating profusely.
The children of wealthy families would obviously not come here like commoners competing for discounted food and rice, but the young people who could come here were obviously not vulgar people, and their ancestry was not too bad.
“The exam content is so rich?!”
A young man looked puzzled. What he got was not paper, but silk that had been translated into flower and bird seal scripts.
After glancing at it, the young man couldn't help but stretch out his fingers and bite his fingernails with his teeth.
The exam syllabus is very detailed, and the exam schedule and various items are staggered.
"I dare to ask my dear friend, the Huaizhong City exam must be conducted in Chu characters."
"I dare not be called a good man."
The steward of Feng's store, who was also sweating profusely from the heat, cupped his hands across the crowd and said, "Gentleman, please read the 'note' below. The words used are 'Chinese characters'."
"It's really true. Wu Jie has such a strong tone and his writing dares to be called a gift from heaven."
The stars are brilliant, these are the words in the Milky Way, and the people of Chu State feel the most profoundly.
They were so crazy that they even asked the emperor of Zhou about the importance of the cauldron, but they didn't dare to say that their own writing was Chinese characters, Hanshu.
"Don't worry about his tone. You still need to practice the vocabulary used in the exam again."
"Gentleman, don't worry, there is a comparison table of commonly used words in Huaizhong City."
Having said that, the manager of Feng's store quickly set up a large piece of silk cloth with a large number of commonly used characters arranged according to the radicals.
Each character has a comparison between "Chinese characters" and seal script. Although the state of Chu uses flower and bird seal script, the seal script of the Central Plains is also understandable.
As children of nobles, those who come here will not be sluggish in education even if their families are in poverty.
"So good."
"Do you have a notebook?"
"have."
Probably because he was prepared in advance, two large boxes of scrolls were actually taken out from the store.
Each scroll, when opened, is filled with dense text, which looks like it was copied manually, which is quite difficult.
In addition to the scrolls, there are also a large number of bamboo slips and wooden slips. These are all carved with knives. The number is even more astonishing. They fill two rooms directly. The bookshelf is not enough. Many of them are piled directly on the
Under the eaves outside.
They are all connoisseurs of reading. When they saw so many bamboo slips and wooden slips, someone was very surprised and asked: "How could the Feng family have so many useful slips?"
"You may have misunderstood that these bamboo slips were not made by the Feng family, but were imported from Huaizhong City. The bamboo slips produced by the Huaishui Bofu have uniform specifications and suitable sizes. Especially the surface is polished with few burrs, which can be said to be top quality."
When the noble children of Chu State heard this, they were filled with disgust. They were not stupid. Since Li Jie already had paper, it was obviously impossible for him to use more bamboo slips and wooden slips.
But it is still in production, and the output is large and the yield rate is high. It is obvious that it is a scam.
But I have to admit that even if I know it is a trap to make the last bit of money, those small and medium-sized families and Tu tribes who cannot afford paper will still have to jump into this trap.
It is a waste of time to cut the bamboo slips and wooden tablets that are qualified in production and processing by yourself.
After the Great War between Wu and Chu, the intellectuals in Chu State had already expanded on a small scale. When Li Jie, a wild dog that King Wu Wei didn't care about, roamed everywhere and bit the people of Chu State, the intellectuals of Chu State suddenly began to expand.
During the exchange, I discovered that the amount of knowledge I had in the past was probably not enough.
Exchanges produce not only market division of labor, but also the dissemination of knowledge and the learning of technology.
The middle and lower-level elites of the Chu State knew very well that the large cart books that had been passed down from family in the past might be just a small book in Huaizhong City.
Just using the Chinese character comparison table can make smart people imagine a lot of things.
For example, the literacy rate of "Chinese people" has definitely gone up, for example, the exchanges between "Chinese people" and "countrymen" have definitely become more frequent, and a lot of new vocabulary has definitely been added.
And these things often improve production efficiency or reduce overall management costs. If they are neighbors with Li Jie, if they fall too far behind, it may be very difficult to become a spy in the future.
Because as soon as the people of Huai Shui Bo Mansion opened their mouths, they knew the meaning of every word. When put together, they just heard the words of birds and animals.
Let’s not talk about the matter of seeking to advance to the next level. From the perspective of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, the middle and lower elites of Chu State are very eager to learn.
"I wonder how much these two are worth?"
"Twenty Yin coins for a scroll of simple books, fifteen pieces of cloth for a scroll of silk books."
“So expensive?!”
"Not expensive, not expensive..."
The manager of Feng's store smiled and waved to the many young people from Chu State, "There is a saying in Huaizhong City, which says: Knowledge is precious, and knowledge is priceless. This is called a 'priceless treasure'. It's only twenty Yin coins, ten linen coins."
Five, how is it considered expensive?”
With his hands spread out, the steward was still very satisfied, but then he heard a snap, and there was an irritable old man from Chu State, and he went up and slapped him.
"Profiteer!"
"Profiteer!"
"Profiteer——"
There was a commotion, but someone with a nimble figure touched a scroll, then shrank his whole body and arched out backwards.
After going out, he shouted to the Feng family servants outside the door: "Something is bad, there are thieves making trouble, and your family has been beaten beyond recognition——"
"ah?!"
The servants outside the door were shocked and hurriedly entered. One of them even cupped his hand and thanked: "Thank you for informing me, gentleman!"
"No problem!"
After that, he quickly ran away and got into a small boat in the inner harbor of Ganyukou.
Shaking off the scroll, it was the comparison table of commonly used characters in Huaizhong City copied from the silk book.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
He laughed loudly, put the silk book away, and shouted quickly, "Go back to Yingdu quickly."
"Hi!"
After the news caused by the Jingling Feng clan reached Yingdu through Yangshui, the kings and ministers of Chu State were very angry and extremely embarrassed.
There is no way not to be angry, and there is no way not to be embarrassed.
"My lords, if the heroes of the Chu State go to Huai River to take the exam, won't the talents of the Chu State be used by other countries in the long run?"
Above the main hall, the Queen Mother of Chu State looked solemn. Her son was sitting there, very serious and well-behaved. The King of Chu State did not have too many thoughts, he was just a very simple child.
Seeing the anger and embarrassment on the faces of the ministers, King Chu was also full of curiosity. He looked up at his mother, but he did not speak directly because of his usual etiquette education.
Probably knowing that her son wanted to talk, the Queen Mother of Chu State blinked her eyes, smiled, and asked her son softly: "If you have any questions, as the king, you can ask your subordinates."
"Um."
The King of Chu nodded. He was still a naughty child. He had not been weaned for long. He blinked and looked down at the ministers: "If you have any doubts in your heart, please clarify your doubts."
"I would like to clear up the doubts for your Majesty..."
"I am willing to clear up the doubts for your Majesty!"
The ministers of Chu State were not vague. Since the boss has an idea now, just let him speak out.
As a child, you should establish a good relationship first, and then you will be harmonious. Now that you have ideas, how exaggerated and strange can you ask questions? Just find some allusions and deal with them, and it will be fine. Maybe it will still be a good conversation.
Seeing that his ministers were so talkative, the King of Chu was also happy, so he said: "The best talents in the country want to go to Huai Zhong City. Our ancestors have said that when a phoenix falls, there must be a phoenix tree. The talents of Chu are phoenixes, and there are phoenix trees in Huai Zhong City. Don't worry.
I also want to go to Huaizhong City to see the Li family sycamore tree..."