However, it was too late to say anything now. He had to start all over again. Unfortunately, the popular style these days was cursive script, which was too difficult for beginners. However, scholars liked to follow celebrities. Nowadays, almost everyone could write cursive script, so he couldn't find any decent calligraphy. When he went to the warehouse with Gao Xunzhi to count strategic materials, Xiao Rong saw the books in the corner, and then flipped through them and found a travelogue written more than 80 years ago. Fortunately, the author of this book was good at regular script.

After practicing hard for more than a month, Xiao Rong has made some progress. Although he is still not very good-looking, at least he is not like Jian Qiao in the past, who even suspected that Xiao Rong was a liar after seeing him. …

Taking a piece of paper, Xiao Rong wrote a line of words on it that were slightly larger than usual. After the ink dried, he turned the paper over and placed it on the table. He then gave each of the ten people a piece of wood board and asked them to carve the turned-over words out of the board, and it had to be a positive carving.

The ten men were confused, but they had to obey their superior's orders. They looked at each other, and finally had to start carving.

Gao Xunzhi was stunned by the creaking sound of carving, not understanding what Xiao Rong meant.

If you were to carve a seal, no one would carve such a long sentence all at once.

If it wasn't a seal, why would it be engraved upside down?

Gao Xunzhi didn't understand, so he went to ask Xiao Rong what he wanted to do. Xiao Rong looked at him and pulled out a book from his sleeve.

Fortunately, the sleeves were wide at that time, so even if a book was put in it, outsiders could not see it.

Xiao Rong showed Gao Xunzhi the cover of the book, and then he said what he wanted to do without hiding anything: "Prime Minister asked me before how to keep all the scholars in Chenliu. This is the way to keep them. Carve important books on wooden boards, then brush ink on them, print them one by one, and then bind them into volumes. We don't need to print too many at first, just twenty copies of one book will be enough. When the time comes, we will find a place to build a library so that scholars can borrow and read freely. Of course, we still don't have enough books at this time, so we can borrow the power of others. We can post a notice to tell the scholars in the world that if there are people who are willing to voluntarily donate books that have not been included for us to print, we will reward him with a plaque, and then carve his hometown and family name on the wall of the library so that every scholar who comes to borrow can see it."

At this point, Xiao Rong smiled and said, "I was just saying that. The reward can be arranged at will. If the person who presents the book has real talent and knowledge, we can also offer him an official position. Alas, I'm afraid they will refuse to accept it, which would make us look very embarrassed."

No one knows who started it, but from the emperor to the lowest-ranking scholar, when accepting an official position or the throne, they must refuse three times in a row to show their attitude, and only agree after being asked for the fourth time. If Xiao Rong could really agree on the fourth time, he would not sigh. The problem is that this set of customs has made many people now think that hiding in the city is the most honorable behavior. What is an official position? It stinks, take it away quickly. …

Therefore, whether or not to give him an official position is still under discussion. He does not want Qu Yunmie to become a raft for others to portray a noble character.

Xiao Rong was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he completely forgot that Gao Xunzhi hadn't spoken for a long time.

Gao Xunzhi turned his head stiffly to look at the soldiers who were working hard to carve the wood blocks, then turned his head back to look at Xiao Rong who seemed to have arranged just one more meal. …………

This is totally different from your usual three meals and two snacks!

How much you eat is your business, but if you build a library, you will be an enemy of the aristocratic families and the royal family!

Gao Xunzhi wanted to shake Xiao Rong's head to wake him up, but he didn't move at all.

Because he also thought about how tempting such a library is to scholars. In the past, studying was the exclusive privilege of the aristocratic families. Later, when the poor families appeared, more people read books. Later, the poor families fell into poverty and the small aristocratic families were often massacred by refugees and bandits. Those who could not survive would contribute their abilities in order to make a living.

In fact, compared to a hundred years ago, the scholar class has grown much larger today. All members of aristocratic families are scholars, but not all scholars are necessarily from aristocratic families.

In the era without the imperial examination system, studying was not the path to becoming an official. Many people went to school simply because they wanted to. They loved it, so they chose to be a poor scholar.

Gao Xunzhi was from a poor family. When he was young, he also suffered from a lack of books to read. Friends could borrow books from each other, but friends from poor families were also from poor families. Books were not something that could be bought with money.

He couldn't help but start thinking about how many people there are in this world who are just like him when he was young. He is old, and his temples are already covered with white hair. However, his experience has never been unique. Even if he tells his life story to others, people will cry. But he is really not special. The world is so big, and when a bird flies across the sky in front of you, it means that there are thousands of birds flying past other people.

Feeling a little scared and a little excited, Gao Xunzhi couldn't help but mutter, "It would be nice to build a library. Now that we have so many people, what can the noble families do to us?"

Xiao Rong didn't hear clearly what he said, he looked over in confusion, but Gao Xunzhi had already calmed down his excitement. After all, he was a man who had experienced many ups and downs, no matter what he saw, he could calm down quickly.

He said to Xiao Rong: "If that's the case, A Rong doesn't need to mobilize a large army. Just find a few literate people to copy these books twenty times. It won't take much time."

It's just a waste of other people's time. ...

Gao Xunzhi's expression seemed calm at this moment, but actually underneath the calm surface he was almost ferocious. "From a poor family", because of these two words he had been looked down upon and suffered so much. Now that he had a chance to be proud, he even threw away his usual gentle code of conduct.