Zhenguan Xiaoxian Wang Li Shen Li Shimin

Li Shimin's voice made Li Shen tremble in fright. He looked up at Li Shimin and then looked around. Just like a computer that has just been turned on, recall why you are here. Then Li Shen said: "I know the crime."

He actually admitted it, and Li Shimin was stunned. The ministers were also stunned. No one expected that Li Shen would admit it like this. Shouldn't it be denied flatly? Shouldn't it be eloquent and eloquent? The picture is different.

"Then tell me what you did." Li Shimin said with a gloomy face.

Li Shen thought for a while, "I went to the Changlai Restaurant yesterday to eat without paying. Two days ago I went to the West Market and saw something. He refused to sell it to me and I robbed it. I also beat Wang Yushi's nephew. Cui Yushi Shi’s brother-in-law.”

"Pfft" Cheng Yaojin burst out laughing. Seeing that the situation was not right, he quickly covered his mouth.

"Your Highness Prince Ji, don't avoid the important and take the easy. In order to improve your reputation, you deceived the scholars in the world. What do you have to say about this?" Cui Renzhi said after hearing that Li Shen said nothing but dandy things.

Li Shen turned to look at Cui Renzhi and said a repeated line: "Why is it you again."

"Yes, I am the supervisory censor. I supervise all the officials for your majesty, and I have the responsibility to report the news. Yesterday, His Highness Prince Ji said that he would sell imperial examination books to scholars, but yesterday they were all sold to businessmen, and the students did not have any. Buy it. Is it a humiliation for us scholars to deceive scholars like this? Or do you look down on scholars?" Cui Inzhi pressed forward step by step.

"They were all bought by businessmen? I really don't know about this. But hasn't it been said in the newspaper, first come first served. Don't scholars know how to read?" Li Shen asked with an innocent expression.

"King Ji, no matter what, scholars are still very important. Then you can print [-] copies of each of yesterday's books and sell them to students." Li Shimin said.

"Yeah. No! Printing books requires a lot of cost. Newspapers are losing money every day. I made two volumes of the ones sold yesterday, a total of eighteen copies.

For example, the Spring and Autumn Period has more than 30 volumes in total. Each volume costs two or three guan, and a copy of Spring and Autumn Period costs more than [-] guan. And I made it into two volumes, each containing ten guan, totaling only [-] guan.

Aye, you said I made a profit or a loss. This time it was because I realized that being a student is not easy, so I sold it so cheaply. Aye doesn’t think that I can still make money by publishing ten volumes of books. "Li Shen's face was filled with grievances.

After Cui Renzhi and other aristocratic families heard this, they were greatly reassured. If Li Shen used the same woodblock printing as them, it would indeed be unprofitable.

You may even have to pay some compensation, but what Li Shen said still needs to be verified, and you can't listen to Li Shen's words.

"Your Majesty, since His Majesty Prince Ji has said it, he should do it. Otherwise, it will be difficult to satisfy the scholars in the world." Wang Weidi stood up and said.

"It's impossible. The newspaper said it's first come, first served. We have to abide by the rules. Let's say 18 copies per book, that's 180 copies. Ten guan for each copy is [-] million guan. My palace doesn't have that much money." Li Shen flatly refuse

"Your Highness Prince Ji, one cannot be unfaithful. Once you say something, you should do it. If you tease scholars like this, aren't you afraid of being laughed at by scholars all over the world?" Cui Renzhi joined the battle group.

"I didn't break my promise. I said I would get it first, and I won't do a business that loses money anyway." Li Shen's veins bulged from the fight.

"Your Highness, please don't offend scholars. Otherwise, it will be bad for Your Highness's reputation if they talk nonsense outside. It's better to spend money and avoid disaster." This is when Wei Ting stood up and seemed to persuade Li Shen, but in fact he added insult to injury.

Li Shen turned to look at Wei Ting, and it sounded like he was doing it for his own good. But the reality is that he is deceiving scholars in disguise. It was mainly the Wei family who spoke. The Wei family had not participated in the previous impeachments. After all, it was Concubine Wei's natal family, and Li Shen also wanted to be called uncle. Now that the Wei family has also left the arena to compete with Li Shen, it can be seen that the family has begun to unite to deal with Li Shen.

Wei Ting was a little flustered when Li Shen stared at him. He was able to have a place in this court only because of Concubine Wei's several recommendations. Otherwise, he would not have his current status. Now that he ends up standing on the opposite side of Li Shen, he really feels a bit ungrateful.

"Master Wei also thinks that I have deceived the scholars?" Li Shen said with a gloomy face.

"Your Highness, I am doing it for your own good. A warrior's sword is a scholar's pen. If a scholar is allowed to write randomly outside, it will not be good for the prince's reputation after all.

It would be even worse if the royal family was implicated. His Highness said this is not the case. "Wei Ting looked sincere.

Li Shen turned his head and looked not at Wei Ting, but at Li Shimin. Li Shimin finally said calmly: "What Wei Aiqing said makes sense. We cannot let your matter implicate the reputation of our royal family. You are responsible for what you do. You must produce [-] copies of each volume as agreed."

"Aye, you can't. 18 copies will cost you a lot of money. I don't have that much money in my house," Li Shen cried.

"Don't worry, you are worth the 10,000+ yuan. The reputation of the royal family cannot be lost." Li Shimin did not allow Li Shen to defend himself.

"Your Majesty, I think ten thousand books may not be enough to quell the anger of the students outside. Now that students from Chang'an City and surrounding areas are here, the book matter is probably spread from ten to ten. I think it is better to add some." Cui Renzhi also became more angry when he saw Li Shen looking like this.

Hear this. Li Shen turned to look at Cui Renzhi with burning eyes. "Master Cui, if you are willing to sacrifice your wealth, why don't your Cui family print some books and sell them cheaply? Don't think that I don't know how much your printing costs."

"Your Highness Prince Ji, my Cui family has not offended the scholars in the world. Moreover, we also have a large family to support, and we are not as wealthy as Your Highness." Cui Renzhi said with a smile.

"I decree that King Ji Li Shen will sell nine kinds of books to the scholars of the Tang Dynasty starting from tomorrow at yesterday's price of [-] copies each. The deadline is three months and must be completed within three months." Li Shimin said to the people below.

"No, Aye. How much compensation will we have to pay? 54 books! No!" Li Shen started shouting, almost rolling around in public.

"Hmph, this is your punishment. Go down, the imperial concubine hasn't seen you for some time. Go and see the imperial concubine." Li Shimin snorted coldly.

Li Shen turned around with a sad face and looked at the civil and military ministers of the court. Then slowly walked out of the hall. Just when everyone was about to talk about state affairs, Li Shen's voice came from outside the main hall: "The immortals and Buddhas have not yet come together, and they only know how to cry alone in the night. The wind is full of sad songs, and the mud attracts bad luck. Nine out of ten people are worthy of it. A white-eyed person is a useless scholar. Don’t be worried about a poem and become a prophecy. Spring birds and autumn insects make their own noises." This is Huang Jingren's "Miscellaneous Feelings" of the Qing Dynasty, which expresses the poverty and anger of being a poet. (The author saw this poem on the product packaging of the store next door.)

Everyone was savoring the wine carefully. Kong Yingda, who was the Imperial College's sacrificial wine, sighed and said: "Hey~ King Ji is really a great talent. Not only did he express his poverty, but even he scolded us scholars as useless, he was so artistic. . If Prince Ji concentrates on his studies, he will definitely achieve something. This sentence, nine out of ten people will turn their backs on you, but a useless scholar can express Prince Ji's mood at the moment." Kong Yingda shook his head helplessly.

"A useless person is a scholar" Li Shimin is also savoring this poem written by Li Shen

(I did not find out how many scholars there were in Zhenguan. I only found that there were more than 640 million scholars in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. But it was not Zhenguan. But we can make some guesses based on some records.

Schools in the Tang Dynasty were mainly government-run. The central government established the Imperial College, which had six schools under its jurisdiction: Guozixue, Taixue, Four Schools, Legal Studies, Calligraphy, and Arithmetic. These schools mainly recruited children of aristocrats and bureaucrats.

It also recruits a small number of civilian students, who are taught by doctors and assistants. The students are called students. Guozixue, Taixue and Simenxue teach Confucian classics, mainly the Nine Classics, and they are recruited according to the official position in the students' families.

The descendants of officials of the third rank and above can enter Guozixue, with more than [-] disciples. The descendants of officials of the fifth rank and above can enter the Imperial College, with more than [-] disciples.

The four schools accept officials and descendants of officials below the fifth rank and common people, with as many as a thousand students. Practical knowledge is taught in law, calligraphy, and arithmetic, and the number of students is limited to eight or nine grades of officials and common people. The number of students is limited to more than ten people. Prefecture schools and county schools are set up locally, and each school has 20-50 students.

In the early Tang Dynasty, there were 360 ​​states and 1557 counties. There are nearly tens of thousands of students a year, and schools in prefectures and counties have to make up the number every year. And this does not include the children of state and county officials.

The total number of civil and military officials in the Tang Dynasty was at least 2. General history records that the Tang Dynasty had a maximum of 18 officials.

Therefore, I personally speculate that there were at least 20 scholars in the Tang Dynasty during this period. There were also many children of businessmen who did not go to academies to study. Twenty gentlemen were invited. The children of merchants in Tang Dynasty were not allowed to take the imperial examination, but they did not say that they were not allowed to study. How can he do business without knowing how to read? There should be quite a few people doing business in Datang.

Archaeological experts estimate that there were [-] shops in Chang'an East City. So I think there was not as little reading in the Tang Dynasty as everyone said. In the imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty, thousands of people agreed to the conditions every year.

The literacy of the people is also very high, and many people know simple daily things. Notices posted by the government and tax collection notices. Wouldn't you be at a disadvantage if you didn't know a few words?

Literacy and reading are two different things. At that time, the nine Confucian classics in the imperial examination were all written in classical Chinese. No one taught me how to recognize the characters and I didn’t know what they meant. )