The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 196 Dugu Cheng's Shock
But when Dugu Cheng arrived in Yecheng, he was not in a hurry to meet Yang Yu, but wandered around in Yecheng, paying attention to the customs, taxes, public security, and government orders of the Sui Dynasty!Putting aside the interests of the family and looking at various government orders from an objective perspective, he found that the policies of the Sui Dynasty were definitely the most powerful law in history to consolidate imperial power. Many methods of governing the people and officials were unheard of. to the top.

Take this incident of rising food prices as an example. The government not only deprived illegal rice merchants of their right to operate, but also included them in the dishonest list, and punished three generations from participating in scientific examinations. For the people of the ethnic group, this is definitely a severe punishment worse than death. With this group of people as chickens to scare the monkeys, others will have to worry about it in the future. This move has prevented it to a great extent. Businessmen seeking ill-gotten gains.

The management rights issued by the government, and the unified management of the business by the government can also make the business go on the normal track, instead of letting it go.

As the center of the Sui Dynasty, Yecheng had a large population, probably more than one million, and its commerce and trade were very developed and prosperous.

Dugu Cheng walked on the street and looked at the crowds, he couldn't help but feel shocked. This is a scene that you can never see in Chang'an. At least for now, Chang'an, which is panicked and depressed, has fallen behind Yecheng.

He rode slowly outside the crowd, listening to people talking about the scientific examination that will be held this year, he was deeply moved. When the Tang Dynasty was still arguing over whether to hold the imperial examination, the Sui Dynasty had already used mature and fair methods. The system has won over poor people from all over the world, and the great glory and respect have made Yecheng replace Chang'an Luoyang and become a holy place that scholars yearn for.It's a pity... From the vibrant Yecheng to the sluggish Chang'an, Dugu Cheng felt a deep sense of crisis in his heart. The Tang Dynasty was too far behind.The Great Sui not only won military victories, but also developed rapidly in all aspects of the Great Sui, leading the trend of the times.

Dugu Cheng thinks of the scene of the common people living and working in peace and contentment, of the bustling scene of the government organizing the people to build water conservancy and roads, and of countless young and strong men working in the fields, and suddenly feels a burst of emotion. All the young and strong are in armor and serve as soldiers. Those who cultivate the fields are either old people or children, and they are all manpower. However, the Sui Dynasty adopted a policy of elite soldiers and enriching the people. They used a large number of young and strong for production and did not participate in wars. Compared with other princes who can cope with the consumption of long-term wars, they are undoubtedly killing chickens to get eggs and exhausting the river to catch fish.

What shocked him even more was that every household in the Sui Dynasty had a strong farming ox, which was the main farming force that the court of the Sui Dynasty gave to the people for free from the spoils of war. How can the people not support it?How not to love?

Thinking of the prosperity of the Sui Dynasty and the desolation of Guanzhong, Dugu Cheng feels heavy in his heart. One is like a vigorous young man, and the other is like an old man in his sixtieth age. How can this be compared?This made him worry about the future of his family again!
Going around for a few days, I have seen a lot of Sui customs. Unlike Chang'an, which is inclusive and inclusive, Yecheng, which dominates Hebei, is obviously more kingly, and the folk customs are more pure, following the Wei and Jin dynasties. Legacy.Many regimes have established their capitals in Yecheng, and they have been sunk in war many times.

To the west of the imperial city is Tongque Terrace, which is famous in ancient and modern times. This is the highest point in Yecheng, and it is also a royal garden. Famous literati such as Cao's father and son Zeng and Jian'an Seven Sons discussed the past and the present here, leaving many well-known masterpieces Famous, later generations respected as "Jian'an character".Today, this unique temperament still exists in this forest garden. The place where the world's scholars take the exam is set up in the Tongque Terrace. Everyone in the world can feel how much the Sui Dynasty attached importance to this grand ceremony.

When many scholars gathered in Yecheng, Dugu Cheng was like a lonely guest, shuttled through Yecheng alone, like an ascetic who had realized the world of mortals.

Dugu Cheng discovered many interesting things these days, such as bookstores all over Yecheng.

The door of the store is unified with the plaque of "Da Sui Library", and there are No. [-], No. [-] and No. [-] halls engraved on one side to show the difference.

The brushwork is strong and powerful, turning thin and hard into plump and vigorous, the body is broad and magnificent, and the bones are strong and majestic. It is different from the gentle and elegant style that is popular nowadays, but it is in a class of its own.

It is written in regular script from the Han Dynasty.Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the north and the south were divided, and calligraphy was also divided into the north and the south.The calligraphy style of the northern school is simple and strong, but the style is simple and strict. The calligraphy of the southern school is sparse and elegant, and it is better than chido.The Northern and Southern Dynasties, because of regional differences, personal habits, and styles are very different.The northern book is firm and strong, while the southern book is rich and subtle, each is perfect, and there is no distinction between superior and inferior.

But these few characters are powerful, round and thick, majestic and majestic, full of kingly style, which complements the deficiency of today's regular script, and its realm is far superior to that of today's regular script.What shocked Dugu Cheng even more was that the person who wrote the inscription was actually Yang Tong, and it was also stamped with the great seal of the Jade Seal of Chuanguo, which shows that Yang Tong not only has profound attainments in military affairs, politics, people's livelihood, education, martial arts, and literature. , Even calligraphy is at the level of a master. This discovery made Dugu Cheng think of a controversial figure who has been forgotten for a long time and has mixed praise and criticism——Emperor Taizong Wu Yang Guang!

Yang Guang is very conceited, but no one who has come into contact with him can deny his talent.Yang Guang was born with a golden key in his mouth, but unlike many second-generation officials and rich second-generations, he is extremely talented and hardworking. He has worked hard to practice martial arts and studied hard since he was a child.

In terms of martial arts, even if he became the emperor, he still rode horses and shot, went into battle and beheaded generals in the Tuyuhun War.And if the thesis is good, Yang Guang can be called a master of contemporary literature. His poems and songs do not need to be flattered by others, and he is also a top contemporary.

He swept away the gorgeous rhetoric of palace-style poems popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and created a new genre, that is, frontier poetry. His "Drinking Horses and a Journey to the Great Wall Caves" is extremely majestic and magnificent.His spring river flowers and moonlit night, water tune songs, etc. are also very good.

Li Shimin, who has been scolding Yang Guang since then, also wrote "Drinking Horses and a Journey to the Great Wall Caves" and "Moonlight Night on the Spring River", but who can remember a half of the poem?
Yang Guang is capable of literary and martial arts, very good, but he is not omnipotent.

He defeated Yiwu, destroyed Tuyuhun, defeated Turks, conquered Linyi, attacked Liuqiu, etc., but it did not make him an omnipotent emperor all at once.When he was immersed in the ideal of the great cause, he didn't realize that he had lost touch with reality, and went further and further away, eventually ruining himself.

But as far as Dugu Cheng knows, Yang Tong is more capable than his grandfather, and he is a hundred times more domineering. At first, Yang Guang drove the children of Guanlong's powerful and powerful to the battlefield in the name of righteousness. The nobles and the world's aristocratic families are defined as enemies. This strong and domineering style is definitely the No. 1 since the prosperity of the aristocratic family, but he is more chic than any of the princes, and his administrative orders are unimpeded, unlike Li Tang. , It took several days of arguing to compromise and change beyond recognition.The most typical example is the "Da Sui Changping Supermarket" that sprung up like mushrooms after the food price turmoil. This is a large store that sells daily necessities such as grain, oil and salt at a low price. It is definitely beneficial to the people. In Chang'an, it was definitely boycotted by related industrial families whose interests were damaged, and finally nothing happened.

Unknowingly, Dugu Cheng entered the 'Da Sui Library No. 18' with two entourages. It was full of beautifully printed and bound books, and there was an endless stream of people coming and going to read and buy books.

As far as he knew, there were almost twenty such bookstores in Yecheng.Dugu Cheng was very surprised, are there so many rich people in the world?
In these days, knowledge is monopolized by aristocratic families, and the value of a book is incalculable, but in Yecheng, it feels like street food, which can be found everywhere.

This is Dongshi, which is close to the east of the imperial city. It occupies two squares. The inside is very spacious, with many shops, and most of the goods are rare treasures. How can non-rich people dare to enter here?However, here is a three-story bookstore covering an area of ​​five acres. On the left side is a shop selling precious medicinal materials, and on the right side is a dazzling array of jewelry stores. A carved carriage rushes by.

Dugu Cheng walked in.I saw a handicapped man leaning on a weird table drowsy by the door, Dugu Cheng knocked on the table, woke up the man, and asked in a harmonious voice, "Can someone come in and have a look?"

"Yes, yes, guests don't need to spend money to read and copy books here, but if the books are damaged or dirty, they will have to pay to buy them."

The janitor led Dugu Cheng into the shop. The layout inside was simple, with many bookshelves lined up against the wall, and the bookshelves were filled with linear paper books.

Dugu Cheng looked at the labels on the bookshelf and found such things as "The Analects", "Spring and Autumn", "Book of Songs", "Historical Records", "Hanshu", "Later Hanshu", "Three Kingdoms", "Songshu", "Nanqishu" There is no shortage of these Confucian and historian classics, and there are also annotations by famous scholars in the past dynasties. There are all kinds of works and annotations of later generations, including Chuci and Hanfu, and poems and fus of former Wei literati, as well as many works on mathematics and astronomy, and even Pei Ju's "Illustrated Records of the Western Regions" is also listed.

Dugu Cheng was dazzled by reading, his heart was filled with shock, he took out a book casually, a scent of ink came to his nostrils, he took a closer look, and saw that the ink of this book was clearly printed, the handwriting was ancient and exquisite, the rubbings were obviously from famous scholars The strange thing is that there are strange symbols in the shape of tadpoles and small circles on it. After Dugu Cheng read it silently, he found that these strange symbols were used to break sentences. This is very easy to read. Dugu Cheng likes it more and more, even if If there are such books at home, he will also buy a few to read. With this punctuation mark, it is really comfortable to read.

After picking a few books, he asked about the price, but got an answer that surprised him.

"Two hundred dollars for a book? So cheap?"

Dugu Cheng was shocked. Books are rich people’s toys, they are very precious, and they are usually kept by aristocratic families, and they are not easily read by outsiders. Many rare copies are even priceless. It can be said that books are the heritage of aristocratic families. and foundation.

Dugu Cheng was still thinking just now, what kind of person is so bold that he puts these precious things everywhere and is not afraid of others stealing them?And such a beautiful book, how can I say that there should be one set of ten, right?Who knew it was so cheap...

"Who is your boss? Such a precious thing is also sold at a low price?"

The gatekeeper was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is this the first time a guest has come to our city of Ye? Have you seen the plaque at the gate? The word is inscribed by His Highness King Qin himself. Made it, who do you think our owner is?"

"It's...His Royal Highness King Qin?"

"Exactly!" said the janitor, "All the libraries in Yecheng belong to His Highness. In order to promote enlightenment, our Highness used the 38 volumes and more than 8 categories of books moved from Luoyang as a model, and printed 20 books each. Books are sold at more than [-] libraries in the territory of the Sui Dynasty at [-] yuan each. Regardless of old and young women and children, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and so on, everyone can read and buy books... As long as the books are not damaged, you can read them here for a day without any problem. The second floor is The reading room can be read and transcribed by thousands of people at the same time."

"38 volumes, 20 copies per volume? It's unbelievable." Dugu Cheng stared blankly, then shook his head slightly, with an expression of disbelief.

Dugu Cheng stroked the back of the book cover, it was all expensive rice paper.A good piece of rice paper needs to go through [-] processes including soaking, ash covering, cooking, bleaching, pulping, water fishing, adding glue, and flooding, etc., and it takes one year to make it.Therefore, rice paper is extremely expensive, which is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

But the huge number of books here are all printed on expensive rice paper, and a book is at least tens of thousands of words, nearly a hundred pages!Including the cost of expensive rice paper, engraving numerous templates, ink, printing, binding, etc., the cost of a book is at least [-] yuan, but it is only sold here for [-] yuan... How is this possible?
"How did you print it?" Dugu Cheng asked curiously.

"I don't know about that. We are just retired and disabled soldiers who know a few words. His Highness arranged this job for us, so that we will have no worries about food and clothing in the future. We only need to record the number of books sold every day and collect money... everything else I don't know..."

Dugu Cheng was shocked and said: "Your Highness King Qin is really too rich."

The gatekeeper smiled honestly, "Once our Highness lacks money, Li Yuan will cry and beg for money..."

"..." Dugu Cheng sweated profusely.It's just that the words are too real, it is said that the negotiating envoys have already arrived in Yecheng, and for the sake of the Longyou counties and Guanzhong's peace, being blackmailed by Yang Tong must be indispensable.

"Wait a minute, I'll buy some more..."

Dugu Cheng turned around and came out with a pile of books, only to see that the guy smiled so much that his eyes narrowed.

One copy is two hundred dollars, ten copies are two guan, this generous customer bought one hundred copies at once, that is [-] guan, his own consumption can be worth a few days of harvest.

When Dugu Cheng entered the country, he had already exchanged the coins of Tai Sui. At this time, he took out two gold coins, handed them to the waiter, and said with a smile: "Two gold coins instead of copper coins, what do you think!"

The janitor looked at it carefully, and said with a smile, "It's my Tai Sui gold coin, and it can't be faked. Thank you, guest!"

"No need! We've got what we deserve." Looking at the smelling books in the room, Dugu Cheng was worried again. If compulsory education is a slow poison against the aristocratic family, then these high-quality and cheap books are a shining sharp knife. In the Sui Dynasty, if all the people bought books and read books, the aristocratic families would not have the slightest advantage at all.If this exquisite book enters Guanzhong in large numbers, the result can be imagined.

(End of this chapter)