Chapter 48 Hu Youan wants to give the king something new...
Wen Tao has been very busy recently.
I have to be busy arranging things for my classmates and promoting simplified Chinese characters and Mandarin, especially the latter. It's really exhausting when I'm busy.
In the busy work, learning new fonts and languages is not a difficult task, and can even be considered a pastime.
The simplified Chinese characters commonly seen in modern times by Shen Zhiwei are all square and neatly printed, and the ones she writes now are also those with straight horizontal and vertical lines. In order to be able to translate all the books into simplified Chinese as quickly as possible, Shen Zhiwei simply invented woodblock printing.
Movable type printing is more flexible and can print large amounts of text in a short period of time. It is particularly suitable for printing things like newspapers, new books and examination papers. However, the goal now is not to print any of the above items, but to print existing books.
Especially for some enlightenment books, it is not a matter of printing one or two copies. A set of woodblocks can be used repeatedly many times, which is more advantageous than movable type printing.
Shen Zhiwei absolutely refused to admit it. She felt that the introduction of movable type printing would completely suppress the development of literature.
The current society is a purely liberal arts society. Once literature begins to flourish, thoughts will be liberated along with literature. When thoughts begin to free themselves, the progress of society will accelerate. This is an inevitable outcome.
What Shen Zhiwei fears most is social evolution. Society can evolve at any time, but it cannot evolve while she is still the monarch!
The desperate king of a fallen country was really desperate.
Unfortunately, no one could empathize with her. When Wen Tao got her first woodblock-printed book, she was so moved that tears flowed down her face.
Not only did she cry uncontrollably, but everyone involved in the printing process was deeply moved, with many shedding tears. For a moment, everyone was crying, and Shen Zhiwei was particularly upset.
She just couldn't bear to read such sentimental scenes! It was just a book, why was it so sentimental? It was killing her!
"With this thing, who in the world can't learn to read and write?"
Wen Tao held a book that still had a strong smell of ink. This book contained the contents of nearly ten volumes of bamboo slips. It was much lighter and thinner than bamboo slips, which meant that no matter where he took it, it would not weigh him down. If he encountered robbers on the road, he could hide it close to his body without worrying about the contents being lost.
Over the years, countless famous works have disappeared from the world for various reasons. The knowledge passed down by our ancestors has disappeared like this, which is really heartbreaking for readers.
As long as you carve the woodblocks, you can print as many copies as you want, and you never have to worry about the famous works being lost!
Wen Tao especially wants her teacher Changzi to come to Jingchang to compile books and pass on his ideas forever!
After this idea appeared in Wen Tao's mind, she could no longer control it. In addition to Changzi, countless scholars in this world must want to pass on their thoughts forever. Now that Jingchang has this printing technology, he will no longer have to worry about having no talents to use.
Scholars from all over the world will come rushing here!
Seeing that Wen Tao seemed to have calmed down, Shen Zhiwei quickly said, “This thing cannot be abused, and it cannot be printed on everything.”
Shen Zhiwei thought of the strict modern review mechanism and had an idea in her mind. She was not afraid of being scolded for hindering creative freedom. She just wanted to let the ancient people also have a taste of the most stringent review mechanism!
Having been caught in the rain herself, Shen Zhiwei decided to tear up everyone else's umbrella.
Yes, she was such a petty person. If literature is shackled, it naturally cannot dance gracefully. Want a major ideological transformation and a great evolution of civilization? Think about it, after she is gone, the next monarch will relax the restrictions and write whatever he likes!
The strictest censorship mechanism is the reason why Shen Zhiwei took out woodblock printing.
Shen Zhiwei then told Wen Tao roughly what not to write. Wen Tao took out a small notebook and wrote and drew on it with charcoal to record what Shen Zhiwei said.
A charcoal pencil is charcoal wrapped in a layer of cloth. Wen Tao learned this method from Shen Zhiwei. Shen Zhiwei is probably the only person in the world who likes to write with this kind of hard pen the most.
Compared to a brush that requires ink, charcoal is much more convenient. However, the writing is very sloppy and unclear, and it can only serve as a memory aid.
Shen Zhiwei thought Wen Tao would refute her. Wen Tao was also a scholar and might publish a book in the future. If she didn't allow him to write this or that, Wen Tao would probably be dissatisfied.
Unexpectedly, Wen Tao was not dissatisfied at all, but rather agreed with the rules and regulations set by Shen Zhiwei.
Wen Tao felt that woodblock printing had just come into being and no one knew what its disadvantages were. The fact that the king had set the rules in advance must have been a well-considered decision.
The king has a long-term vision that is unmatched by ordinary people, so she should just listen to what he says.
In fact, in the real ancient times, many things were not allowed to be written. Those that are banned in modern times are all clichés. Ancient and modern times are in the same vein.
Shen Zhiwei felt that he had said something too much, but in fact it was not at all.
There is also a saying that goes, "The devil is one foot high, but the Tao is ten feet high." Things that are forbidden openly will naturally spread secretly.
Because Wen Tao cooperated throughout the whole process, the happy Shen Zhiwei directly gave all the newly printed enlightenment books to Wen Tao.
Shen Zhiwei can have as many of these things as he wants, and he doesn't plan to sell them outside in the early stages, so the first batch was given to Wen Tao purely as a commemoration.
But Wen Tao didn't think so. She believed that this action must have a deeper meaning.
After all, she was alone. If you count the newly arrived Junior Sister Qiong Yu, there were only two of them. If she had to carry a hundred or eighty of the same books, she wouldn't be able to read them all.
Considering her mission of promoting simplified Chinese characters, Wen Tao understood that they wanted her to distribute the books. Books have a relatively single audience, that is, scholars. In the circle of scholars in Jingchang, Wen Tao, as Changzi's last disciple, has a high status and her words are very useful.
So Wen Tao turned around and took the books to hold a literary gathering.
At the literary meeting, most of the people coming and going were officials of Jingchang. Now among the students in Jingchang, there were few people without official positions.
At the literary gathering, Wen Tao used various small games to give out books as rewards. He also specifically mentioned that the book was written in the elegant language that the king had recently intended to change to. In the future, all Jingchang's books would be written in this language, and previous books would also be translated one by one.
Some people wonder why they have to change to this font. They have learned countless different written languages, so why not choose one from the existing ones?
Wen Tao replied that it was because only this font was most suitable for printing.
As she spoke, she took a piece of stone, carved the word "peach" on it, and printed it on the corner of the title page of her book with ink. Looking at the neat square words, everyone suddenly realized that this was the reason.
Because there were so many words in this era, the rejection that Shen Zhiwei thought would occur only appeared in the literary gatherings held by Wen Tao.
Wen Tao's seal completely resolved this slight rejection.
After hearing the story of the seal, Shen Zhiwei had an inexplicable sense of déjà vu. He always wondered why this little story would be included in the textbooks of future generations?
Then a group of students did a reading comprehension exercise and were asked to write down the role of the seal in this event.
Shen Zhiwei felt a little funny.
Everyone in Jingchang was immersed in the trend of learning Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters. The common people in Bian and the vicinity of Jingchang were clearing wasteland and building houses, and it seemed that they had already lived a stable and peaceful life.
All the princes in the outside world who could be kings had done so. Seeing that the emperor had not responded, the remaining ones who had not been kings also began to spread rumors that they wanted to be kings.
When the first snow of winter fell, the land of the Zhou Dynasty was completely torn apart. The emperor was no longer the emperor, but became one of the princes.
Shen Zhiwei's status took a big dive, but she didn't care at all. She thought there was nothing to care about. She spoke as if her high status in the past meant she could rule the world.
At that time, the princes did not listen to her in private, but now they are just making the private situation public.
Shen Zhiwei didn't care, but Gui Yang cared a lot. He went to talk to Hu Youan every day, and every time he told Hu Youan which monarchs of small vassal states had become kings that day.
Then he would occasionally read to Hu Youan about how the princes who became kings looked down on the emperor and how they said those words that belittled the emperor.
Hu Youan was so angry that she was furious every day. She dragged her lieutenants for training every day, making the lieutenants and the soldiers in her camp miserable.
It was not until winter, when the temperature dropped sharply and heavy snow fell, that some villages suffered severe disasters. Gui Yang was busy with disaster relief work, and Hu Youan's ears finally became quiet.
But even though my ears were quiet, my heart couldn't be still.
Hu Youan developed the habit of visiting the Taisheng Cemetery when he had nothing to do in Taisheng. Now that he is in Yongming, he visits the Yongming Pagoda when he has nothing to do.
When the sky gets dark, the Yongming Pagoda becomes clearer. The entire tower emits a faint fluorescence, which is the brightest color in the gray and white world.
"General, do you still want to pick up that night-shining pearl?"
Qiu spoke softly to the woman beside him.
The woman next to him was the deputy general who was recently transferred to his side by Hu Youan, named Chiwei.
Chiwei is in her early twenties. She is slightly shorter than Hu Youan and about the same height as Qiu, except that her waist is rounder. At first glance, she looks like a strong and powerful warrior.
She has eaten more than others since she was a child. If she had not grown up by the sea and had no access to fish and shrimp, she would probably have starved to death.
Chiwei originally worked as a guard at the salt fields. Later, when Gui Yang led his troops to capture the salt fields, he discovered this extraordinary person and recommended her to work for Hu Youan.
After arriving inland, he fell ill due to unfamiliar climate and water, and thus missed the opportunity to capture Taisheng. Later, he made great contributions in attacking Yongming City, and was qualified to serve before Hu Youan.
Hu Youan admired her very much. Not only was Chiwei born with great strength, she was also very smart. Unlike her sturdy appearance, she was very thoughtful and did a better job as a deputy general monk.
Qiu challenged Chiwei several times, but was pinned to the ground by Chiwei every time. Now the person he respects the most is Hu Youan, followed by Chiwei.
Chiwei shook his head and said, "The king doesn't like night-shining pearls, so the general won't pick them."
The last time he went back to Jingchang, Hu Youan asked Shen Zhiwei about it, and Shen Zhiwei said frankly that it was not necessary. He just wanted to leave the night-shining pearl that could easily cause cancer on the Yongming Pagoda. It was in an open area, the radiation was not that great, and it could also serve as a free street lamp.
Shen Zhiwei didn't tell the specific reason, but Shen Zhiwei's dislike for the night light was directly exposed.
Hu Youan would not do anything to make the king unhappy.
"Then what is the General doing..."
Before Qiu finished speaking, Hu Youan spoke.
"Two hundred miles outside Yongming City, there is a small vassal state called Changzhu State. How many soldiers would it take to capture Changzhu?"
"Replying to the General, five hundred will be enough!"
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