During this period, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi were promoted by Zhu Yuanzhang and entered the Grand Secretariat, becoming some of the Grand Secretaries.

There were originally several Grand Secretaries in the cabinet, but after Zhu Yunwen came to power, he always felt that these Grand Secretaries' ideas did not quite align with his own when it came to doing things.

They were unable to make decisions based on their own ideas and thoughts. After being hinted at by Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Yuanzhang found a way to remove several officials from the original cabinet.

Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi, who are in the Hall of Culture, were originally appointed as Grand Secretaries, and they are indeed handling many affairs of the court.

Therefore, many people know that the cabinet members have formed a trio of three people.

This seems to herald the end of an era and the rise of a new one.

This Zhu Yunwen and the new cabinet of the Three Yangs marked the beginning of a new era.

Upon arriving at the Wenhua Hall, the moment Yang Shiqi saw Zhu Yunwen, he stroked his sparse beard and smiled, saying:

"It seems our Crown Prince has something to entrust to us again. Let me guess... if I'm not mistaken, it's probably about the academy, right?"

Zhu Yunwen pointed at Yang Shiqi and said, "..."

"Calling you an old fox sounds a bit like an insult, but I really can't think of any other word to praise you."

Yang Shiqi laughed heartily. Although he was not yet thirty and not old, he was mentally mature, but always looked old and decrepit.

Yang Pu and Yang Rong are about the same.

After laughing for a while, Zhu Yunwen then said:

"Indeed, as you all know, it's always been difficult to get involved in matters of the academy, even the imperial court faces some difficulties."

Moreover, in the past, the cost of participating in the construction of schools was very high.

But now, everyone knows that the imperial court has nothing but money.

If you have money, you can do these things, and you won't have to worry about not being able to build those schools.

But now there is this problem: the inheritance of culture, as you know, is mostly in the hands of a few powerful families.

These powerful families practically monopolized cultural transmission, so building schools wasn't a problem for them, but ensuring that students across the land had access to books was a challenge.

Do the three of you have any good ideas on how to resolve this situation?

Upon hearing this, all three of them frowned and began to think carefully.

After a moment, Yang Rong spoke:

"Although the imperial court is wealthy, the cost of building schools and providing books alone would be enormous, probably an astronomical figure."

Yang Pu also said:

"That's one problem, and there's another. Even if we have enough funds, how can we produce a large number of books?"

However, the contents of this book were indeed mostly in the hands of powerful and influential families.

The culture and classic texts they possessed would never be easily offered up to the imperial court.

Therefore, even if we wanted to ensure that every school in the land had access to books, we could only use the existing books and those in the imperial library. Even so, the content would still be insufficient.

Zhu Yunwen had actually thought about these two questions as well.

Given the current level of book production, this cost is indeed very high. Even though printing technology can be used to mass-produce a book, the cost is still very high.

For example, the paper needed to make a book is expensive, and then the cost of typesetting and printing is also high.

In short, it was quite expensive, especially since Zhu Yunwen wanted to ensure that all children in the country could read books from a young age, which required a considerable amount of money.

It is by no means something that can be accomplished or done overnight.

Throughout history, many rulers have wanted to accomplish great things, but most of them have ultimately failed because of money issues.

Therefore, Yang Rong and the others wanted to explain this situation to Zhu Yunwen as soon as possible, so that Zhu Yunwen would understand that the cost of producing so many books would be very high.

If you really have to make a decision, then you should plan it out early on, otherwise it's easy to give up halfway.

On the contrary, the losses were enormous.

Zhu Yunwen's response to this was:

"There's no need to worry too much about the costs involved. As I said before, the current imperial court is wealthy, and even if we were to produce a large number of books, it would be absolutely not a problem; it's entirely within our means."

Moreover, once the school is successfully built, tuition can be charged at the minimum standard. Of course, I mean the minimum standard—just a token amount.

Even so, it was still a considerable income. Although it could not make up for the investment in building bookstores and schools in the short term, it could alleviate some of the pressure on the court in the long run.

In addition, regarding the fact that most useful books are in the hands of powerful families, my idea is to first announce this to the world.

Let those who own books at home around the world collect and donate them for this cause. I believe there will be some reasonable people, or some prominent families, who will be willing to make a contribution.

Of course, if you really don't want to donate any books or contribute your family's cultural knowledge, that's fine too. Just use the many usable books available now as basic teaching materials.

I'll gradually collect more books and refine it step by step. In short, these aren't problems at all. I already have solutions.

The main reason I'm here today is to discuss these two matters with you, and then come up with a concrete plan. Once that's agreed upon, the lower-level officials can then begin implementation.

Yang Rongwen gave a wry smile and said:

“Your Highness already has a plan to deal with this, and has already made the decision. Very well, then we will draw up the plan in the next few days and give it to you and His Majesty the Emperor to review. If there are no problems, we will proceed with it directly.”

Zhu Yunwen said with satisfaction:

"That's right. I can only offer some suggestions. You'll have to refine the specific implementation strategies."

Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi all nodded in agreement.

And that concludes the discussion on this matter.

Overall, Zhu Yunwen and the three Yangs cooperated very well in handling these matters.

Even if these things are a bit difficult, everyone can find a solution through discussion and easily resolve the problem.