After Yinzhen finished speaking, he saw that his father, the Emperor, had fallen silent. He understood somewhat what his father was thinking.

He wouldn't have spoken of the matter of enlightening the people if he hadn't dreamt of it for a hundred years, but he had no choice but to speak out.

"Father, the cost of one of these pencils is less than a penny. The lead inside is replaceable, and the cost of the lead is even lower than that of the pencil itself. The pencil produces small print and doesn't bleed through the paper like ink, so writing with a pencil won't be a problem even with ordinary bamboo paper. Writing with a pencil can save a lot of paper..."

After Yinzhen finished speaking, Kangxi nodded in agreement, saying that everything he said was correct.

However, he still had concerns.

Nowadays, the majority of people in the world are Han Chinese. He fears that if the people are enlightened, they will be exploited by those with ulterior motives, and then they will be the ones to turn against him.

"Do you know what happens if ordinary people read too many books?"

Yinzhen nodded; he naturally knew.

He also had an idea about this matter: "Your subject understands, Your subject has another idea."

"you say."

"Your subject believes it is necessary to revise the primers."

Emperor Kangxi asked, puzzled, "Why is that?"

"To be frank, I hope Father Emperor will forgive me."

"I forgive you for your guilt."

"Your Majesty advocates the unity of Manchus and Han people. Your subject believes that true unity of Manchus and Han people requires Han people to accept Manchus and to make them understand that whether they are Han or Manchu, they are all descendants of Yan and Huang."

"People always say that those who are not of our race will surely have different hearts, but if the book says that the Mongols, Manchus and Han people are the same kind, then the people will understand that whether it is the Manchus or the Mongols, they are all from the same ancestor as the Han people."

"Furthermore, I believe that if Your Majesty can make the people of the world feel that they can afford to study by working hard to earn money, then the people will work hard to make a living. The people will have something to look forward to, and they will naturally be grateful to Your Majesty."

Yinzhen knew his father, the Emperor, very well, and had a good reputation.

The gratitude of the people.

Undeniably, Kangxi was slightly tempted, but he still couldn't make a decision.

Yinzhen continued, “Adults have many ideas and are not easy to control, but children are different. They are blank sheets of paper and need the outside world to paint and color them. I think that enlightening the people is like painting and coloring them. The court can control what kind of color to add to them.”

Upon hearing this, Emperor Kangxi was even more tempted.

After a long while, Kangxi said, "We'll talk about this later."

Yinzhen understood that his father, the Emperor, was concerned about this matter, but he couldn't make up his mind, as it was no small matter.

Kangxi: Is there anything else?

You can leave now that everything's alright. I've listened to him ramble on for quite a while, and although it's all useful stuff, it's giving me a bit of a headache.

Yinzhen actually did it.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing I would like to say to you."

Kangxi: "Go on."

He thought to himself, this shouldn't be anything serious.

Yinzhen took a pencil and wrote out the Arabic numerals.

Emperor Kangxi frowned: "What is this?"

Yinzhen said, "Father, these are Arabic numerals."

Emperor Kangxi asked in bewilderment: "Arabic numerals?"

What is that?

Yinzhen explained, "Your Majesty, these Arabic numerals were invented by the ancient Indians and later spread by the Arabs. These characters correspond to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..."

After speaking, Yinzhen also wrote a string of five-digit numbers, written in Chinese characters as 壹贰叁… Yinzhen wrote a long string, while in Arabic numerals it was only a simple short string, which was very easy to write and easy to read.

Finally, Yinzhen said, "Your Majesty, I believe this character is very useful and should be widely used. What do you think, Father?"

Kangxi listened intently. Although he also thought the Arabic numerals were good, they were, after all, foreign, and he always felt that his own were the best.

So he was still somewhat hesitant.

Yinzhen: ...

Yinzhen realized that his father, the Emperor, had fallen ill again, suffering from the disease of believing himself to be the superior nation, the disease of arrogance.

Yinzhen: "Father, I once heard of a village where there were many wealthy families, but only one family remained wealthy. The biggest difference between this family and the others was that they were very good at learning what others had and making it their own, thus maintaining their prosperity."

Yinzhen's analogy was a bit bold, and Kangxi only frowned when he heard it, but he wasn't angry.

Upon hearing this, Kangxi nodded: "Arabic numerals are feasible."

Yinzhen then asked, "What about the promotion of pencils?"

Kangxi hesitated for a moment, then asked Yinzhen, "If I agree, what do you think should be done?"

"Your Majesty, I wish the court to engage in the pencil trade. We can earn less money that way. I want all the people in the land to understand that it is Your Majesty's effective governance that has enabled them to learn and become wise."

It would be a lie to say that Emperor Kangxi was not tempted upon hearing this.

In the end, Yinzhen left the Qianqing Palace, and Kangxi still had to consider it.

Yinzhen was not in a hurry; he trusted his father, the Emperor, and believed he could not resist the "temptation."

While waiting for news, Yinzhen took the Arabic numerals to the Ministry of Revenue.

If Arabic numerals were spoken directly to the emperor in public, those old-fashioned officials would probably start criticizing them as foreign imports and unusable before they even saw their usefulness.

However, the Ministry of Revenue is different. It deals with money a lot, so it is a bit more "vulgar" compared to other ministries.

Because the Ministry of Revenue had a lot of data, once Yinzhen introduced Arabic numerals into the system, they were instantly embraced by the public, who found them increasingly convenient the more they used them.

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