Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 206
On the outskirts of Liyang, near the paper mill, a printing workshop has been built in the past few days.

It took only one night for Bai Lixian to translate all the more than 5000 commonly used characters from Xiaozhuan script into regular script, and then Xiangzhuang asked Gongshuche to arrange engravers to carve the characters. Hundreds of engravers worked day and night, using only In less than two days, more than 5000 commonly used characters were all carved into font models, and hundreds of commonly used characters such as Xiangzhihu were carved.

Then it was typesetting and printing, and by the afternoon of the third day, the first thread-bound book in the history of Chinese civilization, "Wei Liaozi 42 Chapters", was officially born!
Bai Lixian and Wu She each held a copy of "Wei Liaozi 42 Cantonese", and they couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion.

Both Bailixian and Wu She are very clear about what borrowing books means to a scholar!
It is no exaggeration to say that book borrowing is the life and everything of a scholar. However, because bamboo slips and wooden slips are not easy to make and are cumbersome, the copying and dissemination of book borrowing has become a big practical problem. Huang Huang's masterpiece "The Analects of Confucius" can only be circulated in a small area, and many books are even rare copies.

As for the hundreds of thousands of volumes of slips collected in the Xianyang National Library, Xiang Zhuang specially set aside hundreds of ox carts to go to Jiuyuan. After leaving Jiangdong, at least half of the hundreds of thousands of volumes of slips are orphans, including another great work of the Confucian school, "Shangshu".

With so many lonely books, scholars all over the world had no chance to read at all, but now, with paper and printing, and this thin thread-bound book in their hands, scholars all over the world have the opportunity to read all the books collected in the Daqin National Library. Hundreds of thousands of books have been borrowed, because this thread-bound book is inexpensive and not heavy!

With these thread-bound books, book circulation will become very easy!

"General, this is a big event!" Wu She was so excited that his voice changed.

Bai Lixian even bowed deeply to Xiang Zhuang, and said solemnly: "General, you have done a great thing for the scholars in the world, and for the scholars in the world... thank you, General!"

"You are serious, you two gentlemen are serious, and this is also the credit of Mr. Gongshu." Xiang Zhuang waved his hand, and then ordered Mr. Gongshu, "Mr. Gongshu, I have to trouble you to borrow and print more than 100 books such as Zhuzixue Then bind it into a book, each kind of book needs two hundred copies, and the general is still waiting for urgent use."

"Here!" The bus transporter gave a bow, and took the order to go.

Bai Lixian smiled slightly, and suddenly said: "General, this is a great gift!"

The more than 100 kinds of books selected by Xiang Zhuang are all classics, but even the Shusun family, the largest old family in Jiangdong, may not be able to collect half of them. There are unique books like "Shangshu" , It is entirely conceivable that when the uncle Sun Guan, the uncle of the Uncle Sun family, receives these books, what kind of surprise will it be?
For aristocratic families who inherit poems and books, borrowing books is almost their lifeblood!
"Really?" Xiang Zhuang touched the beard on the corner of his lips, and said calmly, "I hope so."

This batch of books will definitely be warmly welcomed by Jiangdong aristocratic families, gentry clans, and even clans. Xiang Zhuang’s move will definitely achieve the goal of winning people’s hearts. Not to mention buying all the aristocratic clans, gentry clans, and clans, at least buying most of them is not a problem. However, these aristocratic families, noble families and even clans did not know that the appearance of book lending would completely change their future destiny.

Originally, according to the original historical trajectory, after more than [-] years of evolution in the Han Dynasty, these aristocratic and noble families would eventually form the embryonic form of aristocrats. The nobles were completely controlled by the gentry, while the commoners completely lost the possibility of entering the center of power.

In the Western and Eastern Jin Dynasties, a deformed power structure has been formed in which there are no poor families in the upper class and no noble families in the lower class!

To use the terminology of later generations, this deformed power structure is called class solidification. A society with class solidification has no hope and will inevitably weaken and perish.

History has proved the correctness of this conclusion. Since the superstructure of the country has long been controlled by a small group of gentry children who are attached to various powerful families, a large number of capable children from poor families cannot rise to the top and cannot serve the country. He has all the abilities and enthusiasm, but he is not reused by the court at all.

This deformed power structure eventually led to the long-term weakness of the Jin Dynasty, which in turn led to the tragedy of the Wuhu chaos. If it hadn't been for the birth of Wu Mourning King Ran Min, the Chinese bloodline would have been cut off long ago.

Then it wasn't until Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty implemented the imperial examinations that there was no precedent in history, and the clan system finally collapsed!
If Qin Shihuang is the first emperor through the ages, then Sui Yang is the well-deserved second emperor through the ages. Although Emperor Sui Yang’s contribution to Chinese civilization is slightly inferior to that of Qin Shihuang, he is not far behind. The promotion of imperial examinations to eradicate the cancer of the powerful is one of them. , The second is to build the Grand Canal that runs through the north and the south, so that the north and the south of China are completely integrated from then on!
It has to be said that for the two emperors Qin Shihuang and Sui Yangdi, the evaluation of later history books is extremely unfair.

However, the reason why Emperor Sui Yang was able to carry out the imperial examinations was that there was a very important prerequisite, that is, there were a large number of poor students. If there were no cheap books, if there were not a large number of poor students, Emperor Sui Yang would be There is no chance to implement the imperial examination system.

Now, book lending has appeared ahead of schedule, and in the not-too-distant future, there will inevitably be a large number of poor students emerging, so is there a chance for the aristocratic and noble families to form a powerful system?The answer is obviously no. Even if the aristocratic and noble families tried their best to control the power center along the original historical track, Xiang Zhuang would never agree.

In the future Great Chu Empire, the selection of talents will directly enter the imperial examination system!

The farming warfare system of the Great Qin Empire will further evolve into the farming and reading warfare system of the Great Chu!
The Great Qin Empire implemented a pure farming and warfare system, rewarding farming and military exploits, and appointed a large number of titled farmers and soldiers as officials in various counties.

Facts have proved that this will not work. The reason why the riots of Chen She and Wu Guang quickly got out of control in a short period of time, and finally formed a blaze of flames in the Kanto, is the main reason for Hu Hai and Zhao Gao's perverse behavior. It is also not unrelated to the county and county officials who were born as soldiers.

Therefore, the plowing warfare system must be further improved to become the plowing and reading warfare system.

In addition to rewarding farming and military exploits, you also need to reward reading. You can get titles by plowing the land hard, paying more food, fighting bravely, and killing more heads. You can also get titles if you study well. Of course, if you want to pass In order to obtain a title by studying, you have to pass an exam, which is actually an imperial examination.

In the future Great Chu Empire, obtaining a title and becoming an official will be two different concepts!
In the future Great Chu Empire, obtaining a title means that you have a noble status. In addition to receiving a Dai salary from the imperial court, you can also obtain various privileges corresponding to your title, such as exemption from various Yao slaves, One of the most important privileges shared by all ranks of titles is the selection of officials.

That is to say, after a nobleman has a title, he has to take another exam before he can become an official!
In this way, the children of the aristocratic and noble families can rely on the shadow of their parents to become nobles for nothing, but the children of the common people can also obtain titles and become nobles by serving in the army, farming, and studying, but no matter whether they are the children of the aristocratic, the noble, or the common people. The children of the clan, if they want to be officials, they must take the exam!

Of course, just like the cheating phenomenon in the national examination in later generations, such a selection examination cannot be truly fair. The children of the aristocratic and noble families obviously enjoy more resources and are more likely to be selected, but these are not within the scope of Xiang Zhuang's consideration. Because he knows that it is absolutely impossible for any system to be comprehensive and perfect.

Xiang Zhuang was alone in his thoughts, Bai Lixian and Wu She wisely did not disturb him.

But Huyan Zhengde, who was striding forward from the front, didn't realize it, cupped his hands at Xiang Zhuang, and said loudly: "General, Xiang Tuo is here to plead guilty!"

"Huh?" Bailixian and Wu She were slightly taken aback when they heard the words, and Xiang Tuo pleaded guilty?

Xiang Zhuang also recovered from his contemplation, and asked casually, "Huyan, what did you just say?"

Hu Yanzhengde said: "Report to the General, Xiang Tuo has come to plead guilty, and he is outside the east gate of Liyang!"

Xiang Zhuang pondered for a while, and immediately brought Xiang Bailixian and Wu She straight to the east gate of Liyang. Still far away, Xiang Zhuang saw a young man standing with his chest bare and his shoulders on his shoulders. In the cold wind, the weather is still very cold now, the man's body has already been bruised and purple, obviously from the cold.

Xiang Zhuang recognized at a glance that this man was Xiang Tuo!
The weather is extremely cold now, but Xiang Tuo held his head up and his chest upright. The captain behind him wanted to put him in a tiger skin cloak several times, but Xiang Tuo sternly refused.

Seeing this scene, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

It seems that the Xiang family is not all idiots like Xiang Bo, Xiang Han, and Xiang Ying. At least this Xiang Tuo in front of him is a wise man. Because of Gao Chu's assassination case, Xiang Tuo was able to cross the river himself Pleading guilty with a thorny spine is enough to show that he is a person who knows the general situation and considers the overall situation. Xiang Shi is not without talent!

"A Tuo!" Xiang Zhuang strode forward and said anxiously, "What are you doing?!"

"General!" Xiang Tuo didn't call Xiang Zhuang "Aji" like before, but turned over and knelt on the ground on one knee, then cupped his hands and said, "The last general is not strict in governing the army, and has no way to control his subordinates, so that Gao The first general was almost killed by the captain of the last general's bodyguard, and when he crossed the river today, the last general made a special trip to plead guilty, so please punish him!"

"Get up, A Tuo, get up quickly." Xiang Zhuang said, "Get up and talk."

Xiang Tuo untied the thorns on his back, handed both hands, and said with shame on his face: "General, please punish!"

****************************
PS: Mom has surgery tomorrow, and there are still a few days of delay, sorry.

(End of this chapter)