"Dr. Kong, please come in." Lin Xuan welcomed Kong Yingda in, while thinking about the purpose of Kong Yingda's visit this time.
Arriving at the hall, after both parties sat down, the maid brought tea.
"I wonder what Dr. Kong is here for this time?" Lin Xuan asked.
Kong Yingda said: "I am here to deliver books to Lord Marquis this time."
Lin Xuan happily asked: "I wonder how many books Dr. Kong has written this time?"
"What we are sending this time are the remaining seven volumes of the Four Books and Five Classics." Kong Yingda said.
The Analects, Mencius, Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean are the four books.
The Five Classics are: "The Book of Songs", "Shangshu", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes" and "Spring and Autumn"
Among them, The Analects of Confucius and Spring and Autumn Annals were written by Confucius.
Lin Xuan smiled and said: "Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Kong. I will arrange printing as soon as the books arrive."
"The old man has brought the books and they are on the carriage outside." When Kong Yingda said this, he hesitated to speak.
Lin Xuan noticed Kong Yingda's expression and asked with a smile: "Dr. Kong, do you have any concerns?"
"I would like to ask, have the previous books been printed?" Kong Yingda asked.
"Oops!" Lin Xuan patted his forehead and said, "I'm sorry, the book has been printed a long time ago. I planned to send it to Dr. Kong before, but then I forgot about it."
Lin Xuan didn't lie to him. When it was printed, he took some back, just to give to Kong Yingda.
"Master Hou, don't blame yourself, just print it out." Kong Yingda said.
"Dr. Kong, wait a moment." Lin Xuan quickly told the maid to go to the study and get the book.
Not long after, Chunyue sent the book over.
Lin Xuan asked Chun Yue to send the book to Kong Yingda and said, "Dr. Kong, this is the printed book. Check if there are any problems."
Kong Yingda took the book and picked up "The Analects of Confucius" with some doubts.
It stands to reason that the newly rewritten "The Analects", with punctuation marks added, should be thicker than the previous one.
However, the Analects of Confucius in his hand not only did not become thicker, but actually became thinner.
Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Kong Yingda opened the book.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Kong Yingda cheered excitedly.
He finally understood why it was thinner than before.
The characters on the book are much smaller than those printed on previous engravings.
Even with some punctuation, there are still more words on a page than before.
Block printing involves engraving characters on wooden boards. If the engraving is too small, the engraving will be damaged if you are not careful.
Movable type printing is different. Although it cannot reach the size of later books, it is still much smaller than woodblock printing.
Kong Yingda naturally understands that the more words there are on a page, the lower the cost of the book will be.
"I wonder how much the Lord Marquis plans to sell this book for?" Kong Yingda asked.
What he is most concerned about is the price of books. Unlike aristocratic families who want to monopolize knowledge, Kong Yingda hopes that books should be as cheap as possible.
Only in this way can more people learn Confucianism and the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.
"Because the number of words in books is different, the selling price will naturally be different. Take "The Analects of Confucius" as an example. I plan to sell it for fifty cents a copy. What does Dr. Kong think?" Lin Xuan asked.
"Fifty Wen per book?" Kong Yingda looked at Lin Xuan in disbelief.
It's not that it's too expensive, it's that it's too cheap.
How much did the previous Analects of Confucius cost?
Is it four hundred coins or five hundred coins?
This is directly ten times cheaper.
Lin Xuan nodded and said, "Yes, it's fifty cents."
"I represent all the scholars in the world. Thank you so much, Lord Marquis!" Kong Yingda stood up and saluted Lin Xuan.
"Dr. Kong, aren't you trying to hurt me?" Lin Xuan quickly stood up and moved away.
Kong Yingda said with a serious look: "By doing this, Lord Marquis, there will be countless more people in the world who can read. I will treat you as a courtesy."
"Dr. Kong is so complimentary. This is done according to His Majesty's request." Lin Xuan said with a smile.
Some credits can be claimed, while others cannot.
The credit for inventing movable type printing is enough. If you take all the credit on yourself, you will only go too far.
"Your Majesty is truly a wise king." Kong Yingda praised.
"Yes, yes~"
…
Lin Xuan sent Kong Yingda away, and Cheng Chumo and others came over.
"Why are you here again?" Lin Xuan said speechlessly.
"You don't seem to welcome us." Yuchi Baolin said unhappily.
Lin Xuan rolled his eyes and said, "Tell me, what's going on this time?"
"We just came to see you." Cheng Chumo said.
"Is everything okay? If you want me to do anything later, don't blame me for not agreeing." Lin Xuan curled his lips and said.
Cheng Chumo was so pissed off that there was no way he could come to him if nothing happened.
"So, you agreed?" Cheng Chumo said in surprise
"I don't even know what you want to do, so I promise nothing." Lin Xuan said angrily.
"Hehe." Cheng Chumo chuckled and said, "Isn't this the King of Wei holding another poetry gathering? Let's tell you."
Lin Xuan waved his hand and said, "No, I won't go."
He knew how much he weighed, and he only had those poems in his mind.
The poetry meeting held by Li Tai had a topic on the spot, so who knows what the topic will be.
The poem about plum blossoms he wrote at last year's poetry meeting, strictly speaking, had nothing to do with snow at all, it was just about using snow to call plum blossoms.
If the poem hadn't been so good, I would have been laughed at on the spot.
"Zichu, if you don't go, we will definitely be laughed at if we go." Cheng Chumo said.
"Yes, we were laughed at by them many times before, and in the end we never went there again," Li Dejiang said.
"Then don't go. Anyway, you often didn't go before." Lin Xuan said.
Li Tai clearly knew that they, the children of military generals, could not write poems, so he invited them there just to serve as foils.
Cheng Chumo and the others must know that they want to go now because they think they can compose poems and want to be in the limelight.
If Lin Xuan had read 300 Tang poems, he wouldn't mind accompanying them. The problem is that he hasn't read them at all. He just learned some from the texts when he was studying.
As for other classic poems, he only knew some of the classic poems, but he had never read the complete poems, so even memory enhancement was of no use.
Moreover, many poems are critical. If you write them randomly, you will get into big trouble.
"Zichu, it's okay if you don't go, but can you write a poem for us?" Yuchi Baolin said.
It's one thing for them to want to be in the limelight, but what's more important is that they were often ridiculed before, and they want to take revenge.
Lin Xuan said angrily: "The topic will be set at the poetry meeting. Even if I write it for you, if the topic doesn't match the topic then, won't it make people laugh?"
Although plum blossoms have nothing to do with snow, they do have the word snow after all.
When the time comes and people ask you to write about spring, if you write about autumn, no matter how good your writing is, what’s the use?
"Zi Chu, what do you mean, if we know the title in advance, you will be willing to help us write poems?" Cheng Chumo asked in surprise.
Lin Xuan was stunned and asked: "Is it possible that the questions will be given in advance this year?"
If the topic is given in advance, it is possible to hire someone to write it, and the poetry meeting will not seem to have much meaning, right?
"Although the questions were not given in advance, many people have already made guesses about the questions, and they are surprisingly unanimous," Cheng Chumo said.
"Guessed? What is the topic that others guessed?" Lin Xuan asked curiously.
Cheng Chumo whispered: "There are rumors outside that because the Queen was ill before, the title this time may be in praise of the mother."