Chapter 43 The rice paper in the world is spicy chicken
"Oh? What should I say?"
"Brother Cui please give me some advice!"
“What are books made of?”
"……Paper?"
“Isn’t it just paper that makes books?”
"Not bad, paper!"
The eyes of the old man from the Cui family were shining brightly at this moment.
"Making books without paper is like a skillful woman making a meal without rice."
"Where did the papermaking in the Tang Dynasty come from? Most of it is not the property of my Cui family."
"Today, Mr. Cui is going to do justice to heaven and put the price of this paper..."
"Carry it up!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several old men in the entire hall fell into deep thought.
Then, everyone's eyes lit up.
"Yes, as the price of paper has gone up, won't the price of books also go up?"
"The price of books has gone up... Then how can these poor people afford it? They can't afford to study. Even if they have the imperial examination, what's the use of it?"
"In vain!"
"yes!"
"Brother Cui, you're so tall!"
"How clever!"
The old man of the Cui family laughed loudly, "This papermaking industry has always been the source of wealth for my Cui family. Cui personally manages the Cui family's finances, and he only knows a little bit about it. It is not a big deal."
"Cui... is just doing justice for heaven!"
…
"Brother Cui, Kong Sheng once said... Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, business is at the end."
"We are the heirs of poetry and etiquette. To be honest, we always thought that Brother Cui didn't study. But we just woke up today..."
"Brother Cui, in order to support the country and maintain the integrity of the country, he did not hesitate to join the business of merchants to earn this paper money..."
"Brother Cui, you understand justice!"
"Brother Cui, the national scholar is unparalleled!"
"Hey hey hey... let's see how Li Er can take this move!"
…
After a few sips, he swallowed all the drink in the cup.
Li Sheng exhaled and twisted his neck.
He has been really tired from working at his desk in the past few days.
This made Li Sheng couldn't help but murmur. Could it be that the disease of involution has occurred again... He may be considered wealthy and free now, but if he doesn't start a small business, he is really not used to being idle all day long.
Mian'er walked into Li Sheng's study.
"Sir, the shop in Chang'an is about to open. There has been a lot of traffic in those shops recently. Ying'er and I met yesterday and Ying'er was full of praises."
Li Sheng nodded, "I know this, it will definitely be like this."
Recently, he arranged for Ying'er to open a store in Chang'an.
The reason is naturally...
Recently, His Majesty issued an edict on the imperial examination. Li Sheng was a little surprised. I just told Lao Li about the imperial examination, and His Majesty actually issued it.
Moreover, the promulgated imperial examination syllabus clearly states that the six Confucian arts are etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. Among them, "mathematics" is the one that gives the highest score.
This made Li Sheng very surprised. Could it be that his time travel caused the butterfly effect? It always feels a bit strange.
But think about it, because of the Xuanwu Gate incident in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Er basically had a hostile relationship with most of the people in the Five Surnames and Qiwangli. He always wanted to benefit the reckless heroes in everything he did. This was to recruit talents for himself and to serve as a base for the country.
Renewing the strength of one's own core team will, secondly, draw away talents and change the proportion of officials' origins. This is also a disguised form of cutting down the vassalage from multiple angles.
So follow this idea...
The establishment of imperial examinations is actually inevitable.
But focusing on mathematics, Li Sheng really didn't expect it.
Ancient monarchs were afraid that the people would become superstitious and use the guise of "the emperor's star is fluttering" to attract people to gather rebels, so they often prohibited people from learning mathematics.
However, this situation is not without exception. For example, in the Han Dynasty, there was a great scholar of science like Zu Chongzhi and Zhang Heng, and he became furious without even hearing about the emperor.
In the final analysis, a serious emperor does not worry about the rebellion of the people. Everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, but even ambitious people have no way to show their talents. Learning some mathematics is of no use.
Thinking of this, Li Sheng was relieved - Li Er was obviously afraid of the feudal king playing dirty tricks, but he was not afraid of the feudal king's rebellion.
but,
With such a good opportunity, Li Sheng originally planned to start some business.
Now that the imperial examination has started, young people want to study and take exams to become officials. Naturally... they need to use a lot of books.
Good for the media and paper industry!
For Li Sheng, making paper is as simple as drinking soup.
So soon, Ying'er was asked to go to Chang'an to open a shop.
As for myself...
Li Sheng had to scold himself. Ma De promised to get busy, but in the end, all the administrative operations were left to the maid.
Fortunately, Ying'er has excellent abilities. On weekdays, Ying'er is mainly responsible for shopping for groceries and the like. Naturally, she was assigned a manager position - should be called shopkeeper, which can be regarded as a self-realization for Ying'er.
"Well, Mian'er, I didn't ask you to be the shopkeeper. If you want to go..."
"No, Mian'er just wants to... just want to serve the young master forever... around..."
"Well, I thought you would have objections. In fact, it's okay for you to go. But now I have some tasks and I really need your help."
"Slave, thank you, Master... for your help?"
"Yes, you don't need to help Ying'er recently. The letter I asked you to send to her has already asked her to hire a few more assistants, preferably smart retired maids."
There is a reason why Li Sheng did this. In this era, the role of a maid in a wealthy family is simply a top business talent in his opinion.
First of all, maids serve various wealthy households and have professional abilities in the service industry.
Secondly, even if these maids retire, most of them still have some relationship with their past masters, which is still an invisible channel.
Although most of the maids have never read, this is not a problem for Li Sheng.
It's just about literacy. Li Sheng can just make some cards with pinyin and train them for half a month at most, and he can teach them all the common words.
Mian'er was also startled when she heard what Li Sheng said.
There is no need for Ying'er to help, so what can I do to help the young master?
Could it be... ah, the young master has reached this age? Hey hey hey...
Li Sheng noticed the maid's expression, then looked at the materials in his hand and said seriously, "I will trial-produce a new project in the near future. The content of this project is paper making."
"Master... uh, papermaking?"
Mian'er was suddenly interrupted by Li Sheng and was startled, but then he understood. "There are paper mills in Chang'an and Youzhou. If you need paper, why don't you just ask Mian'er to go out and buy it?"
"You're right. But..."
"Ying'er is busy selling spices recently and is responsible for the perfume research and development task I gave her. She doesn't have time to purchase. As for you... you don't know how to bargain. I don't want to be taken advantage of."
"Mr.. Gongzi..."
"Second, you are diligent and nimble with your hands and feet. Compared with Ying'er who is only literate, you have several more years of experience in writing and reading."
Li Sheng knew that Mian'er was originally a peerless little beauty bought by the mistress of the Wang family in Youzhou, who was planning to be a child bride for her son, but ended up giving it to him because of penicillin.
"So you also know that today's paper, no matter how good it is... has problems such as ink stains, uneven thickness, and easy cracking. All rice papers in the world are just crappy."
"How is this possible?"
When Li Sheng said this, Mian'er felt a little dissatisfied.