Chapter 29 What books to read even if you know the title
Since Lu Yao came back from the palace, he had been locked in the study all day long. He finally felt Pan Wen's pain. Looking at the Four Books and Five Classics in front of him, Lu Yao shook his head. How could he bother to read? There was no one in his restaurant.
Regardless, although I taught the craftsmanship of brewing to the servants, I was still a little worried without seeing it with my own eyes.
My friend Pan Wen came to the Lu Mansion several times but could not get in. He had no choice but to go back to study.
On this day, there was a knock on the study room where Lu Yao was staying.
Lu Yao was still curious, who could enter the Lu Mansion at such an important moment for him? It was not easy!
When he opened the door and saw, good guy, he can definitely come in.
The visitors are the two brothers Su Shi.
When the servants at the door heard that they were going to visit Lu Yao, they immediately drove them away without thinking.
Su Shi said, "Wait a minute. Go and ask your master and young master if I can come in."
The servant also went in doubtfully and reported.
Su Shi had a great reputation in Bianliang, and he was a famous figure in the imperial examination. He must have sought out Lu Yao for such things as studying.
Lu Hao personally went out to welcome him and brought him into the Lu Mansion. He took the two brothers to the door of the study before leaving.
At this time, Lu Yao was unkempt and his hair was messy. He felt that he couldn't go out anyway and no one would come to see him, so he didn't need to dress up so well.
Who knew Su Shi was here?
Su Shi smiled and said: "Brother Lu Xian is really eclectic."
Of course Lu Yao knew that Su Shi was mocking him for being messy. He had seen everything anyway, so it didn't matter how he dressed up.
He quickly led the two of them into the study.
When Su Che looked at the Four Books, Five Classics and The Analects of Confucius placed on the desk, he sighed: "There are still a few months until spring, but Lu Erlang is still diligent."
Lu Yao thought to himself, how can I not be diligent? Compared with you who have read the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood, it is just a waste of time to sharpen your skills.
Su Che added: "It's not like my brother, who has to wait until the days before the exam to barely read a few books."
Su Shi suddenly became unhappy and said, "What's wrong with me not studying? When I was in Meizhou, I saw that you studied hard and didn't do as well as I did."
Su Zhe was angry. There was no way that someone with talent could be better than him with only 1% effort. So what could be done?
Su Shi patted Su Che's shoulder happily and said: "Brother, I'm not telling you, the book is not called reading just because you hold it in your hand every day. You have to understand the meaning. Even if I read it once, I can understand it thoroughly.
, and it’s not enough for you to just read and not think about it. You are still not as good as me when it comes to reading, why don’t you learn from your brother.”
Lu Yao looked at Su Shi blankly, I know you are awesome, but not everyone is as awesome as you. How about giving us a way to survive? We won't even let you read the book, and we will just let you be the number one scholar.
When Su Shi saw the look in Lu Yao's eyes, he knew that he had scolded Lu Yao as well. He immediately handed over his hands and said, "Brother Lu Xian, it's no wonder. I just said this to Zi You. With your talent, studying every day will be different."
, you want to integrate the knowledge in the book into your own body, and achieve the state of unity between man and book, am I right?"
Lu Yao "..."
He didn't want to pay attention to what Su Shi should do.
"Okay, okay, actually, I came to Lu Mansion today to bring some news. The government has decided that Uncle Ouyang will be the examiner for next year's scientific examination. Why don't the three of us guess what Uncle Ouyang will do today?
kind of topic as a policy statement."
The topic of the policy discussion suddenly became clear in Lu Hao's mind. The article Su Shi wrote during the scientific examination was spread to later generations and was called "The Theory of Loyalty and Honesty in Punishments and Rewards". Doesn't that mean that he already knew what the topic of the policy discussion was. As long as he followed this topic
Just write an article in advance.
I'm so happy. I'm still reading some books. If I don't read them anymore, what's the use of this book when the questions are already there?
"What do Lu Xiandi have in mind?" Su Shi asked.
Lu Yao smiled and said: "Brother Su's suggestion is excellent. How about we write down the questions we guessed on paper?"
Su Shi nodded, "Very good, let's get started."
Lu Yao pretended to think and then wrote the word "punishment and reward" on the paper.
Su Shi, on the other hand, wrote: "Observe his words from top to bottom."
Su Che wrote "River Shu".
Su Shi shook his head when he saw the two words written and said: "I think the question written by Lu Xiandi is the most likely to be tested."
He added: "During this year, there were two major problems. One was the river dredging written by Ziyou. The Yellow River burst its banks several times, which was a top priority. Its treatment of emergencies can be used as test questions. The other was what I called the upper and lower rivers.
"In terms of inspection, officials have been in high places for a long time, and they know very little about the people. They have shown good intentions but the people are against them, but they have to make a thorough investigation from the bottom up, and their policies are appropriate."
The phrase "up and down" also comes from a sentence in "The Doctrine of the Mean". There is another sentence before it, "Kite flies to the sky, fish leaps into the abyss." It means that the upper and lower are distinct, and what Su Shi means is that Song Renzong has always been in a high position, and he has nothing to do with it.
The people are completely out of touch and have no idea what policies are good for the people.
Lu Yao touched his chin and felt that what Su Shi said was somewhat meaningful. If he hadn't learned about the test questions in advance, he would have almost believed it.
Lu Yao laughed and said, "Since Brother Su doesn't believe it, why don't you write an article based on the topic I guessed?"
Su Shi smiled and said: "It's simple, I'll write it right now."
With dragons flying and snakes dancing, Su Shi wrote hundreds of words. Lu Yao found it a pleasure to read. He must keep this piece of paper.
"How about Brother Lu Xian?" Su Shi asked.
Lu Yao read it carefully. He mainly wanted to learn how to write policy papers. He found that it was not as difficult as he thought. He only needed to write down his own thoughts and then use allusions to prove that his thoughts were correct. This was easy to do.
After reading it, Lu Yao put the strategy into a wooden box and kept it well.
Su Shi didn't know why Lu Yao did this. Didn't he have to read it carefully every day?
Su Shi felt that he would be at a disadvantage if he wrote the article and Lu Yao didn't, so he said, "How about brother Lu Xian also write an article with my title?"
Lu Yao gained confidence at this time. He knew how to write. Isn't it just to make it transparent? There are many ways for later generations. Just write a few words to let the people know what the court's policy is. A newspaper can solve it.
The allusions are also very simple. He has read the Four Books and Five Classics several times in the past few days, and many of them can be quoted.
Su Che stood aside and asked, "You two write to each other, what about me?"
Lu Yao and Su Shi laughed at the same time: "Write it yourself."
Su Che looked aggrieved and just wrote it by himself.
Lu Yao also wrote as soon as he picked up the pen. His handwriting in later generations was not bad, but he was a little uncomfortable because he had never been exposed to a brush. He wrote a lot in the past few days and gradually got used to it.
The calligraphy written by Lu Yao at this moment is also very good. The characters are flat and square, with square frames and round strokes. It is quite similar to Zhao Mengfu, but it lacks some charm.
Zhao Mengfu was from the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhao Xi had not yet appeared. When Lu Yao wrote Zhao Ti, Su Shi was amazed. He did not expect Lu Yao's handwriting to be so good. It was time to ask for a copy of the calligraphy to take back.
Lu Yao wrote almost a thousand words eloquently, clearly describing the matter of going to the countryside to review, reflect the facts and the newspaper. Su Shi became very interested and couldn't help shouting, "Brother Lu Xian, this matter of the newspaper is really wonderful. Not only does it let the people know The clear meaning of the court's policies can also open up public opinion so that everyone can understand the actual facts. How did you come up with this method, Lu Xiandi?"
Lu Yao smiled and said, "That's what I just had a sudden inspiration."
After Su Shi thought about the newspaper in detail, he still felt that something was wrong, "Not to mention that paper and ink are expensive, even engraving is also expensive. As Lu Xiandi said, one edition per day costs an unknown amount, and the selling price It will not be cheap, and only literati and high-ranking officials can afford it, which refutes the original intention of creating newspapers."
"If I could reduce the cost of paper and engraving to a minimum, and let a newspaper cost five cents a piece, do you think anyone would buy it, and also hire someone to read the newspaper in the busy city every day? Someone is listening."
Su Shi was shocked. If these two costs could really be reduced, not only newspapers would be cheaper, but even books would be cheaper.
Today's printing is still mainly based on engraving. The movable type printing technology invented by Bi Sheng should have appeared in the past few years, but for some unknown reason it has not spread yet.
An engraving requires a carpenter to carve it carefully, which often takes several days, and the labor involved is quite a lot. Moreover, the cost of paper is extremely high nowadays, which also makes books very expensive. Literati spend a lot of money just to buy books. It costs at least several dollars to buy a book now.
This is also the reason why people cannot afford to read. One book costs an average family half a year's income, which is really too expensive.
Some scholars can only afford to study by selling farmland at home. In ancient times, farmland was generally not for sale, and you would only choose to sell your farmland unless you couldn't survive.
If Lu Yao could really solve this problem, he would really be a benefactor to all the literati and students of the Song Dynasty.
"Brother Lu Xian, can you really do what you say?" Su Shi asked excitedly.
Even Su Che on the side stopped writing the strategy. This issue was more important than the strategy in his hand.
"Since that's the case, I already have a solution in mind." Lu Yao replied.
Su Shi quickly pulled Lu Yao and ran away, "Brother Lu Xian, please show me today. I'll see how you can reduce these two costs and how you can buy a newspaper for two cents."
Lu Yao was a little helpless. Su Shi was too hasty. There must be time to prepare this thing. Even the ** characters printed with movable type would take a long time to be carved by craftsmen. It would be impossible to do it today.
"Brother Su, please listen to me." Lu Yao spoke, and Su Shi stopped.
"Brother Su, I won't be able to see the results today without any preparation, but I can explain the principle to Brother Su and you will understand why the price of the white paper I can make is low."
"It's Shi Menglang, Brother Lu Xian, tell me." Su Shi felt a little disappointed. Thinking about it carefully, he couldn't do anything he thought of today.
"I wonder what materials are used to make paper now?" Lu Yao asked.
"Trees or small bamboos." Su Shi replied.
"Both materials require manual felling, and small bamboo is difficult to process, so it is expensive. If I say that paper can be made from rattan, straw and dead wood, the cost will be much smaller. What if? I use this kind of paper to print newspapers, how much do you think it will cost?"
"Can straw be used to make paper?" Su Shi couldn't imagine it at all. Straw is very cheap. You can get a lot for one penny, and the cost is almost negligible. But as Lu Yao said, besides labor and manufacturing costs, this paper
There will no longer be any fees except for some items, and the cost of a piece of paper will be reduced to less than one penny, so it is really possible to buy a newspaper for five pence.
"It's absolutely possible. I'll just wait until the end of the year to build it for Brother Su to have a look at. Please wait and see."
The tears in Su Shi's eyes were truly a blessing to the Song Dynasty and to the literati.
