Shen Yu once talked to Shang Junlin about the difference between movable type printing and Dahuan's existing printing. Comparing the two, the former was far more practical than the latter.
One of the reasons why aristocratic families could stand for so many years was because of their heritage, the knowledge accumulated over generations, and the rich variety of books.
Although Dahuan had opened the imperial examination, the competitiveness of the students from poor families was far less than that of the aristocratic families. Part of the reason was that the students from poor families had less access to knowledge from the beginning than the aristocratic families.
If an ordinary family wanted to cultivate a scholar, it was far from easy to imagine.
The impact of the new printing would be huge.
Unlike the previous printing where all the content was engraved on a board, if a word was wrong, the whole board would be scrapped. The new printing would carve each word separately. When printing different content, the words only needed to be rearranged, unlike the previous printing where only one piece could be engraved.
Shang Junlin could foresee the huge impact of this printing. With this method, books could be printed on a large scale. In a short time, there may not be any changes, but after a long time, the gap between the aristocratic families and the poor families would be narrowed.
Knowledge would no longer be monopolized by the aristocratic families. For the real rulers of Dahuan, it was extremely beneficial.
For a moment, Shang Junlin forgot that Boss Ye felt something was wrong. His whole mind fell on the things in front of him.
If this printing could be popularized on a large scale, the influence of the aristocratic families would become smaller and smaller.
Boss Ye knew that the two came to see the printing, so he took the two inside and let the experienced people demonstrate.
"This method is much more convenient than before," Boss Ye sighed. "The cost of printing a book in the past is simply incomparable to now."
"Yes, this way, the time, manpower, and material required are greatly reduced. In the same time, with this method, more books can be printed." Shang Junlin agreed.
Shen Yu curiously looked around. His understanding of this method was limited to what he heard from others. In his previous life, he didn't see how it worked. This was the first time he saw it.
"What do you think, Your Majesty?" After walking around, the two returned to the front yard.
Boss Ye sensibly didn't disturb the two alone time, but went to the bookstore to work. With the new printing technology, the bookstore sold more kinds of books. Previously, because of the special letter paper, the bookstore had a good reputation among the scholars. This time, there were a variety of new books, and more customers came to patronize.
Shen Yu's favorite snacks were placed on the table. Shen Yu picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. She slightly narrowed her eyes.
"It's really … a pleasant surprise." Shang Junlin took a sip of tea to ease his mood. "But we can't let the aristocratic families know about it for the time being."
The aristocratic families were not in cahoots with each other, but if their interests were endangered, they would unite as quickly as possible and unite against the outside world. The aristocratic families had been entrenched in this land for a long time. If they were really angered, it would bring about a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Moreover, if they knew that all of this was done by Shen Yu, he was afraid that they would all target Shen Yu. They might not dare to do too much because of him, but they definitely wouldn't let Shen Yu go easy because of him.
In any case, Shang Junlin wouldn't let Shen Yu be exposed to danger.
"Is Your Majesty worried about the aristocratic families' counterattack? This matter really can't be rushed. After all, we have a trump card in our hands, so we can take it slowly. "Shen Yu understood Shang Junlin's concerns.
"I'm afraid that A Yu will have to be wronged for the time being. I can't give you the credit for the new printing technology for the time being."
Shang Junlin paused for a moment, and looked at Shen Yu with a somewhat complicated expression. "The aristocratic families' influence in the capital is too big. I can't risk exposing you under their eyes."
He was very dissatisfied. If he could solve the hidden danger of the aristocratic families earlier, why would Shen Yu be wronged now? His A Yu had obviously made such a big contribution, but because of these people, he could only be behind the scenes.
"Even if Your Majesty didn't say it, I would still ask Your Majesty to take me out. I got this method from somewhere else, and the one who really made the results was not me. If Your Majesty wants to reward, then reward these people."
Shang Junlin held Shen Yu's hand on the table. "I will never let A Yu be wronged."
After returning to the palace, Shang Junlin immediately summoned the Prime Minister to the palace to discuss how to popularize the movable type printing technology.
In the imperial study.
Shang Junlin said, "Your Majesty's people have recently developed a new printing technology. Meng Chang, give it to the Prime Minister."
Eunuch Meng sorted out the files about the movable type printing technology and handed them to the Prime Minister.
To be able to reach the position of Prime Minister and become Shang Junlin's confidant at the same time, the Prime Minister's knowledge and political acumen were top-notch.
After reading the files, he didn't speak immediately. Instead, he digested the contents of the files for a while before saying, "This method is really good for Da Huan."
"I know. What I am thinking about now is how to make the aristocratic families less resistant to it. Also, the relationship between Da Huan and your Majesty cannot be revealed."
The Prime Minister immediately understood that the Emperor did this to prevent Da Huan from becoming a target for the aristocratic families.
The Prime Minister could see how sincere Shang Junlin was towards Shen Yu. Because of this, he became more and more emotional. With Shen Yu's ability, if he was in the imperial court, he would definitely be an extremely high official. It was a pity that he had an unreliable father.
Shang Junlin called the Prime Minister to discuss the printing technology. In the end, the preliminary plan was to directly popularize it among the people. When the aristocratic families discovered it, the imperial court would intervene. As long as there was enough time in between, there would be a lot of room for manipulation.
Subei.
Under the unremitting efforts of Fang Jun and the others, they finally found some clues. He Chengyu and Boss Sun's "friendship" became deeper and deeper.
After the successful completion of the first transaction, Boss Sun basically dispelled his suspicions towards He Chengyu. Gradually, he began to tell him more about the inside story and started to introduce him to some "foreign" businessmen.
He Chengyu observed these people. Some of them were from the Northern Desert, and some were from other countries.
"So it's not just the Northern Desert people." At night, He Chengyu and Jiang Huaiqing gathered together as usual to talk about their discoveries.
"Most of the transactions between these people are normal goods. This Boss Sun is hiding a lot of secrets."
He originally thought that Boss Sun was just an ordinary businessman. He didn't expect that the more he interacted with him, the more he realized that the power behind him was complicated.
"The scale of Boss Sun's power today is inseparable from the power behind him. It's like a tie that connects all the forces."
After knowing that Boss Sun had a certain relationship with the Northern Desert people, Fang Jun sent people to carefully investigate the identity of this person. He was an ordinary businessman in Subei. Before the Sun family was handed over to him, it was far from its current scale. No useful information could be found about the history of this person's family. It seemed that he suddenly rose overnight.
After finding a breakthrough, Fang Jun ordered people to follow Mr. Sun's lead and continue to investigate. Maybe they could find more useful information.
Fang Jun called Yaoji and asked, "Have you heard of Boss Sun?"
During this period of time, Yaoji had been investigating cases with the government. Her temperament had changed a lot. She was more determined and her eyes were also very different from before.
Especially after Fang Jiayi's arrival, Fang Jiayi's confidence and calmness greatly shocked her, which also affected her personality change imperceptibly.
"Boss Sun?" Yaoji thought about it carefully. She really pulled out such a person from her memory. "I've seen him before. It was at a banquet. That Mr. Sun seemed to have a high status. Even Lord Hou at that time gave him some face."
At that time, Lord Hou could be said to be the one holding up the sky in Subei. Even he had to give face to someone who was not a simple person.
"Think about it. Is there any more detailed information about this person?"
"Boss Sun doesn't appear at every banquet. Whenever he appears, it's relatively mysterious. Lord Hou pays much more attention to those banquets than others. I'm just a dancer. Except for occasionally being ordered to stay in the hall for a while, I can't get in touch with these people at other times."
After all, with her identity, it was already a surprise that Yaoji could give so much information.
"Who else have you seen? Can you describe them and ask someone to draw them down?" Fang Jiayi suddenly asked.
"Yes."
Fang Jun called in someone who was good at this. The two of them worked together and drew more than ten portraits.
Fang Jun immediately ordered people to check the details of these people.
It was much easier to check these people. It didn't take long for the information about them to be sent to Fang Jun's desk. Fang Jun listed a series of common points through the results of the investigation. The hidden truth gradually surfaced, and only the last line that could connect everything was left.
With Shen Yu's instructions, Boss Ye revealed the movable type printing under the pretext of cooperation.
The cooperation was first proposed by Boss Ye. He looked for bookstores that were not involved with aristocratic families. After all, Shen Yu told him that this matter could not be known to the aristocratic families for the time being.
Boss Ye was a very rational person. His position was very clear. He knew that if there was no Shen Yu, he would not be where he was now. Therefore, he did not object to Shen Yu's request, even if it was unreasonable to share the new printing technology unconditionally in the eyes of many people.
"Today, I invited you to come over because I want to talk to you about a business. I want to publish a book of basic literacy with you and sell it at the lowest price."
When Boss Ye's voice fell, someone objected, "Boss Ye wants to pull us to do charity together? It's not that we don't want to agree, but Boss Ye is also a bookstore. You know that our industry is far from being as profitable as it seems. The price of books is high because of the cost. "
"I know that this is a bit difficult, but to show my sincerity, I am willing to share the new printing method with you."
After listening to Boss Ye's introduction, the people present were stunned.
"This method is really wonderful."
For a long time, someone spoke. They were all running bookstores for many years. They knew the drawbacks of the existing printing technology. Now all kinds of books were expensive. A large part of the reason was that the cost was too high.
Whether it was printing or hand-copying, it was not an easy task.
But if there was the new printing technology mentioned by Boss Ye, many problems could be solved.
"Why is Boss Ye willing to tell us such a method?" After the shock, some people were puzzled. Peers were also competitors. If this technology has been in the hands of Boss Ye, in a few years, Boss Ye's bookstore will be able to suppress them.
"Cooperation always needs to show some sincerity first, right?" Boss Ye smiled faintly. "This Ye thinks that this sincerity is enough. This Ye knows that the cooperation proposed by this Ye is too idealistic, but with the new printing technology, this matter is not so unbelievable. What do you think?"
"Boss Ye is really …" A person stood up and said, "In this case, I am willing to cooperate with Boss Ye."
Several other people looked at each other and no longer objected.
It was not about other things, but the new printing method described by Boss Ye was enough to make people excited.
After the matter was done, Boss Ye sent the news to the palace.
"Your Majesty wants to implement it first among the people. I asked Boss Ye to invite the bosses of the major bookstores in the capital in the name of cooperation and teach them the movable type printing technology. In order to get the greatest benefits in the early stage, they will definitely not take the initiative to tell others about this method."
On the contrary, they will keep the secret for as long as they can.
"A Yu has helped me again," Shang Junlin suddenly hugged Shen Yu, "The prime minister also told me two days ago that if A Yu enters the court, his achievements will not lose to him. I also think so."
"Oh?" Shen Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, "Your Majesty also thinks that I should enter the court?"
"Whether you enter the court or not, A Yu can only be mine."
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