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Chapter 870 Good things should be popularized
"Pingtou, go and invite Grand Secretary Weng to come here and tell him that I want to ask about the books in Wenyuan Pavilion."

Speaking of libraries, Hong Tao suddenly remembered a place where there were also many books, which was the place with the largest collection of books in the Ming Dynasty. Since he was going to build a library, he might as well do it in one step.

Pingtou is a burly young eunuch, not very old, just 19 years old, but with a face full of flesh, triangular eyes and uneven teeth. No matter from which angle you look at him, he is a vicious person.

The old proverb that clothes make the man and gold ornaments make the Buddha completely fails to apply to him. No matter what kind of clothes he wears, the best guess is that he is a butcher, and the worst is endless.

It is said that he followed the Liaodong border people into the pass. He might be an orphan, or he might have been sold by his parents. In any case, he was eventually stripped of his body by human traffickers and sold to the palace in the sixth year of Jingyang (1610), when he was 7 years old.

When she came here, she didn't know where her hometown was, nor who her parents were. She only had a nickname, Xiao San, which was probably given by the traffickers. After entering the palace, she became a disciple of Wei Zhongxian and was named Wei San.

Despite his poor background, Wei San was quite strong, as if his bones were naturally bigger than others. After being selected into the Cuju team, he gained two more pieces, a big appetite and great strength. He could finish at least two servings of food in one meal, and he could fight with two or three players of the same age without losing out.

Usually, if you have physical talent, your brain is not very bright. But Wei San is not like that. His academic performance is OK, always in the upper middle level. The only thing is that he is not good at getting along with others. He is too aggressive and has poor popularity. Most of the team members don't like him.

After hearing Wang Chengen talk about this kid, Hong Tao gave him another nickname, Flathead Brother. Then he transferred him to be his personal attendant and found him a horse and bow instructor in the Warrior Camp to focus on his martial arts skills.

Over the past decade, Wei San has not grown much taller, but his body has become wider and his martial arts have improved significantly, with a wooden sword in each hand. Two or three officers from the Warrior Battalion are no match for him.

If he was using a real knife... I haven't tried it. The Warrior Camp only teaches killing skills, and it can't compare with real knives and guns. If he was using his bare hands, he could beat one or two more people. It's nothing else, just his strength!

Now he and Wang Chengen are the two generals beside the emperor, one civil and one military, following him wherever he goes like a shadow. With Hong Tao's physique, standing behind the flat-headed brother is 100% equivalent to finding a shelter, and he feels very safe.

"Your Majesty, there are a total of ..."

Weng Zhengchun came very quickly, but he had to be very fast. The flat-headed brother helped to carry the sedan chair and ran over, which made the old man retch. But when he arrived in front of the emperor, he immediately endured the discomfort and began to report his work.

"Grandmaster, please don't rush. Drink some water and take a breath. I don't want to count the number of books in the collection. I just want to ask how many people and how long it will take to copy another copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia."

Weng Zhengchun has been in the cabinet for more than ten years and is nearly seventy years old. He is neither as good at guessing the intentions of his superiors as Ye Xianggao, nor as ruthless as Fang Congzhe. He has not provided any help to the new policies. Why is he still as stable as a rock?

Because he loved books very much, he not only loved to read but also loved to protect them. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would ask for permission to enter the Wenyuan Pavilion to read books, and he would sort out the catalog while reading. Over more than ten years, he had compiled a list of all the books in the Wenyuan Pavilion, which was more serious than the Zhongshufang, which was responsible for managing the royal collection.

Hong Tao did not need the cabinet ministers to help manage the country, and kept them only to appease the court officials. Weng Zhengchun was the most suitable person to stay out of politics, so he had to keep him in position until he could no longer do anything.

"…Your Majesty, do you want to copy another set of the Yongle Encyclopedia?" Perhaps because he was really old, Weng Zhengchun didn't hear clearly, so he asked again. "It doesn't necessarily have to be copied. I just want to know the manpower required for copying, and then compare it with printing to see which method is more cost-effective." Fearing that the old man couldn't hear clearly, Hong Tao raised his voice a lot.

"Emperor Shizong Su once ordered the copying of the Yongle Encyclopedia. Zhang Juzheng selected more than a hundred Confucian scholars, and each of them was only allowed to copy three pages a day. It took six years. Now the original is kept in the Imperial History Bureau, and the copy is kept in the Wenyuan Pavilion. They are all safe and sound. I wonder why Your Majesty wants to copy it again?"

Weng Zhengchun was not hard of hearing, but he was not sure about the emperor's intention and wanted to confirm it again. The Yongle Encyclopedia was a huge work, which was time-consuming and laborious to copy, and few people could read it. One original and one copy were enough for backup. He did not agree to copy another set unless it was necessary.

"Six years? That's too long... Pingtou, can you help me calculate how long it will take to get the Daojing Factory to use movable type for typesetting?" Hong Tao did not answer Weng Zhengchun's question. He frowned and tapped the table for a long time before he spoke.

"...Your Majesty, if we let Daojing Factory work at full strength, it will probably take more than two years, and we can't ensure that every word is correct." Upon hearing this, the flat-headed brother took two steps forward, lay on the table and started calculating, and soon came to a conclusion.

"What if we draw some craftsmen from Ban Yue Tan and Shang Bao? Please note that the normal circulation of these two newspapers cannot be affected!" Hong Tao seemed dissatisfied with the answer and made another request.

"... In this case, it shouldn't be a big problem if we draw 20 craftsmen from each company... It can be completed in about half a year!"

The flat-headed brother started to calculate again. Not only was his body wider than that of an ordinary person, his fingers were also thicker. The way he held the pen to write was very funny, like holding a knitting needle. However, he used the calculation formula very neatly and quickly gave a new answer.

"Then let's do this. Each company will send 25 people, and Daojing Factory will work hard to complete the typesetting within half a year. Another four months for proofreading, and we will strive to print it by the end of next year!

Mr. Grand Secretary Weng, I plan to print and publish the Yongle Encyclopedia. I don't need a lot, just a few sets will be enough. They will be placed in libraries in several major cities such as Beijing, Xi'an, Nanjing, Guangzhou, etc., and people can read them for free.

In addition to the Yongle Encyclopedia, we should print a few copies of the books in Wenyuan Pavilion every year and put them all in the library. What do you think?"

Only after obtaining the exact data did Hong Tao reveal all his ideas to Weng Zhengchun in a consultative tone.

"...Your Majesty, are you serious?" Weng Zhengchun seemed not to have heard clearly. He became a little excited in his anxiety. His old face began to turn red and his hands trembled a little.

"Well, my lord, be serious! If Grand Secretary Weng thinks it is feasible, I will immediately order the allocation of imperial funds to establish libraries in several cities." Hong Tao pretended to be angry and repeated it in a deep voice with a stern face.

"...Plop...I, on behalf of millions of students all over the world, would like to thank Your Majesty for your sentimental gesture. Long live the emperor!" Then Weng Zhengchun's legs went soft and he slipped off the chair, opened his arms, and prostrated himself on the ground.

(End of this chapter)