Zeng Yuan smiled bitterly, "I've been convinced. Even if humans don't promote vulgar characters, they can still improve. However, if they use vulgar characters, they will improve faster. Therefore, it's better to promote vulgar characters. In the future, I won't advise you to use vulgar characters less in the People's Daily. Instead, I'll advise you to use it more because this will allow more people to read the People's Daily. At the same time, I'll admit a mistake. "
"Oh?" Fang Yun looked at Zeng Yuan.
Ceng Yuan's face was slightly red. He coughed lightly and said, "This student didn't realize it at first, but after listening to your words, I realized that this student's support for the complicated orthographic characters was actually using the orthographic characters as a roadblock to obstruct others. Words are a tool. The information contained in words can continuously improve oneself. People's mastery of words can be divided into strong and weak people. The more complicated the tool, the more people who have weak mastery of it, and the fewer people who have strong mastery of it. There are those who are harder to learn and those who are more troublesome to read. The gap between me and those people will only grow bigger. Only a very small number of geniuses can match or even surpass me in the imperial examinations despite being far inferior to me in terms of body, time, family background, and other aspects. Perhaps orthodox characters can't obstruct those geniuses, but it can make most ordinary people more mediocre. Actually, I didn't intentionally obstruct others, but … I did it instinctively. "
Fang Yundao said, "That's why Confucius once said to restrain oneself and return to propriety. Saints have to restrain themselves and follow etiquette to reach the realm of benevolence. You and I are not saints. Naturally, we can't restrain ourselves and return to propriety. Our instincts are naturally to reduce competitors so that our desires can be satisfied easily. This is our nature. Unless we become saints, otherwise, who dares to say that our instincts are bad? Whoever dares to say that our instincts are evil? Whoever dares to say that our human nature is ugly must be a very evil person. "
Zeng Yuan nodded repeatedly at first, but at the end, he coughed lightly and said, "Fortunately, Xun Zi is a quasi-saint."
Fang Yun smiled. Although there were many explanations for Xun Zi's evil nature theory, he didn't treat human instincts as neutral.
Fang Yun continued, "Before the first war of the Two Boundaries Mountain, which was sixty years ago, a shocking piece of news appeared in the 'Wen Pao'. A private tutor used a stick to teach his students. In the end, he killed one student and crippled three others. After the incident, the various countries reflected on this matter. As a result, many places began to relax their education. They reduced the amount of time the children spent in school, reduced the number of Confucian classics in their textbooks, and taught them more poetry, equestrian archery, swordsmanship, and cuju. However, after the first Battle of Two Worlds Mountain, the Sages suddenly came out and stopped this kind of loose education. Do you know why? "
Ceng Yuan frowned and pondered for a moment. Then, he revealed an ashamed expression and said, "Back then, I couldn't figure out why the local government implemented lax education for the common people, but we, the aristocratic families, still forced our children to study crazily. After listening to your explanation, I finally understand. To put it nicely, this is the method of the Holy Clans, the weak and the strong. To put it bluntly, the people in high positions have obviously benefited from a good education environment, but in order to ensure that their descendants can continue to be in high positions, in order to prevent their descendants from being replaced by the lower-class people, they use the most vicious means to cut off the path of advancement for the lower-class people. And the best way for the lower-class people to rise up is to study, study hard, and do everything in their power to study! "
Fang Yun smiled and said, "There's nothing new under the sun. Speaking of this kind of deceit, you've done many similar things in the past. "
Ceng Yuan was stunned. Then, he revealed an ashamed expression and said, "Indeed. Every time we buy some government workshops that have the potential to make money, we spread a large amount of half-truth and half-falsehood before the purchase, so that the common people will think that there's a big problem with the government workshops. If we keep them in our hands, the common people will be implicated. Only by selling them will the common people be better off. Three years ago, when we bought the Yu Zhou government's transport and passenger companies, we spread the news everywhere about how greedy the people in charge of those companies were, and how expensive they were to transport goods and send off customers. This was to test the waters. If the common people found out about our intentions and objected to someone buying the government's chambers of commerce, we'd lay low and wait for the next opportunity. If the common people didn't find out, we'd successfully form a public resentment, believing that the government should sell the chambers of commerce. We'd immediately take over and then find an opportunity to raise the price. What can the common people do to us other than complain? However, since I've followed you, I won't do this kind of thing again. "
"No, we'll definitely do this kind of thing. Perhaps it's not for the sake of pocketing the workshops or making money, but for our own benefit, we'll definitely do something similar." Fang Yundao.
Ceng Yuan was speechless.
Fang Yundao said, "Let's not talk about other things and continue with the 'People's Newspaper'. The things you said at the beginning are very important, so the 'People's Newspaper' needs to make targeted changes. Starting from the next 'People's Newspaper', the content related to people's livelihood, society, and current affairs will all be written in plain language that is easy to understand. Moreover, a large amount of vulgar characters will be used. Not only can the common people understand it, but they will also like it. There won't be any obstacles for them. As for the imperial examinations and cultural aspects, we'll still strictly maintain the use of proper characters. We won't allow vulgar characters to appear. This will reflect seriousness and authority. "
Ceng Yuan immediately said, "Then this student will introduce vulgar characters to a limited extent in the Fang Family's Library and the Academy. Of course, it won't involve children at the moment. It will only target those who are over sixteen or have a literary position. Allowing more people to use vulgar characters to communicate, such as official documents and documents. Not only will it increase efficiency, it will also pave the way for you in the future. "
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "No wonder you became the Ceng family's number one businessman. No wonder people compare you to Ge Baiwan even though you're over thirty. Indeed, I will gradually introduce vulgar characters in Xiangzhou until the entire human race uses my vulgar characters. My vulgar characters will become proper characters!"
A look of shock and reverence flashed across Ceng Yuan's face. He only vaguely knew that Fang Yun wanted to introduce vulgar characters, but now he understood that Fang Yun's goal was far greater than he had imagined. It was as if he was walking the path of Half-saint Li Si.
The reason why Li Si could be canonized as a saint was because of the great reforms he introduced in the Qin Dynasty. Everyone praised the Qin First Emperor for his contributions. In reality, Li Si's contributions in the areas of "writing the same language, carriage the same rail, money the same, and measurement the same" were no less than the Qin First Emperor's. This was because he was the first to write many of the reforms and personally implemented them. This was the foundation of Li Si's canonization.
Therefore, even Lu Buwei had to admit that Li Si was above him in terms of governance.
Ceng Yuan stood up and bowed. "Teacher's talent and aspirations are unmatched. If you can become the sole creator of the next proper character of the human race, your foundation on the Divine Path will be incomparably firm, far surpassing that of an ordinary Half-saint. From today onwards, this student swears to follow Teacher until death. I will cut through all obstacles and clear all obstacles on your path to sainthood! "
"Good!" Fang Yun nodded lightly.
"This student has a suggestion. Why don't you set up a special section in the 'People's Daily' and compare the content of the 'People's Daily' with the proper characters? It's almost like teaching."
"Great!" Fang Yun smiled.
(To be continued.)
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