Among those who came together to join Zhu Yuanzhang, there were those who were related to Zhu Sheng’s master.
There were only so many scholars in ancient times, and now everyone was a disciple of Zhu Xi, so it was normal for them to have some connections between the master and the disciple. Zhu Sheng didn't want to protect anyone because of this relationship. He was simply worried that Chen Biao's actions were too extreme and would tarnish his good reputation for kindness.
But after hearing Chen Biao's half-angry words, Zhu Sheng gave up persuading him.
Chen Biao was not acting on impulse; he clearly knew what he was doing and why he was doing it, and he had considered the price he would have to pay from the beginning. So, he didn't need to be persuaded.
A benevolent emperor is good, but an emperor can be kind but not weak, and he should also have thundering methods.
Zhu Sheng was completely unaware that he was viewing Chen Biao through a thick filter. He trusted Chen Biao's own judgment more than the wise and benevolent monarch in his mind.
After a little persuasion, Zhu Sheng mentioned Chen Biao's new printing technology, worrying that Chen Biao would spend too much money on these people.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had officially become a player in the battle for the Central Plains, he had Chen Youding entrenched in Fujian, Zhang Shicheng had a solid foundation in western Zhejiang, and the Yuan Dynasty was still in its infancy. Zhu Yuanzhang had many areas to spend money on. There was no need to spend too much on a few chess pieces that others had abandoned.
Chen Biao was originally a little angry because Zhu Sheng had come to persuade him, but when he saw that Zhu Sheng had only given him a little advice and then let him do what he wanted, he felt a little embarrassed again.
"Uh... Actually, I have made a machine that can print more easily... Well, it's hard to explain it in words. Mr. Zhu, let's go to the printing house together?" Chen Biao showed a well-behaved smile.
Zhu Sheng looked at Chen Biao's cute smile and couldn't help laughing: "Okay."
Even if he showed his ruthless behavior, Biao'er was still the kindhearted boy. Zhu Sheng stroked his long beard.
When Zhu Sheng arrived at the printing workshop, the workers were printing literacy cards and number cards.
Chen Biao explained: "These cards were printed for the army. After I started teaching the Hongdu garrison, my lord wrote to me and asked if I could send a group of people to the army to help other soldiers learn to read and count. So I started by printing literacy cards and number cards."
Zhu Sheng observed the printing press carefully.
The printing press has a carved plate on one side, an inking roller in the middle, and a paper press on the other side. When the paper press is pressed, the inking roller automatically fills the ink evenly, and then paper is placed in the press and printing can be done directly.
After observing it for a while, Zhu Sheng understood the principle of the printing press and praised it highly: "With this machine, printing efficiency has increased by more than ten times!"
Chen Biao sighed, "Ten times is too low. The printing efficiency is still not good enough."
Zhu Sheng said, "Biao'er, do you know how many educated people there are? If we build a few more printing presses, perhaps every educated person will be able to afford books!"
Chen Biao continued to sigh, "There are few people who can read because they can't afford to buy books or read them. My craftsman invented the printing press so that people who can't afford to buy books or read books can read and write, not to make it for people who can already read and write."
Chen Biao frowned: "The efficiency is still too low."
Zhu Sheng was speechless.
The craftsman who was printing literacy and numeracy cards looked back, gave Chen Biao a simple smile, and then continued to work enthusiastically.
Zhu Sheng was silent for a long time. He patted Chen Biao on the head and said, "You're right. We still need to work harder. Is there anything I can help with?"
Chen Biao shook his head: "I can't think of any way to improve the printing press for now."
In terms of learning and popularization, Chinese characters are inherently slightly more difficult than alphabetic characters.
For example, after the first printing press was invented in Western Europe, the number of illiterate people quickly dropped by 30%, which shows how low the printing cost was and how high the popularity of books was.
However, with the same technical conditions, the cost of printing Chinese characters is many times higher than that of printing foreign languages. This is because the total number of characters in foreign languages is less than three digits, while there are more than 2,000 commonly used Chinese characters. The labor cost of typesetting is much higher, and the requirements for typesetters are also much higher.
In modern times, many people with lofty ideals have seen the shortcomings of Chinese characters. In order to eliminate illiteracy and enlighten the people as quickly as possible, they have wanted to abandon Chinese characters and create an alphabetic writing system.
Of course, later this group of people soberly gave up this ridiculous idea.
Writing is the carrier of civilization. How could a fabricated script possibly replace the thousands of years of Chinese civilization? If writing were to disappear, how would we face our ancestors and history?
Chinese characters are indeed difficult to learn. If they are difficult, then study them seriously, study them diligently, and spend more time and energy on them.
Alphabetic writing can be used as an auxiliary means to learn Chinese characters, but it can never and will never replace Chinese characters themselves.
In the era of modern Chen Biao, the literacy rate has already exceeded 95%. This example is enough to prove that the ancient Chinese characters can be popularized.
Because the printing cost of Chinese characters cannot be reduced due to their own characteristics, Chen Biao can only reduce the printing cost through materials and design.
"For example, this ink roller is currently made from cowhide, which is expensive and easily damaged."
"And this hydraulic lever... oh, if only there was a better design."
"I changed the layout from vertical to horizontal. Vertical is more suitable for writing with a brush, while horizontal is more suitable for reading books. I also added a lot of punctuation marks."
After introducing the typesetting, Chen Biao looked up at Zhu Sheng.
Zhu Sheng was puzzled: "Why are you looking at me?"
Chen Biao said, "I changed the traditional layout, won't you be angry?"
Zhu Sheng was even more confused: "Why are you angry? Some novels are even printed diagonally."
Chen Biao: "..." There's actually a diagonal script? How can I read it?
Horizontal printing is more suitable for reading and is also more suitable for writing habits after the advent of hard pens. However, Chen Biao did not deliberately reform the reading habits of the people so early.
He didn't have such lofty ambitions, it was simply because this way the printing costs were lower, the layout was more compact, and it was easier to use punctuation.
Chen Biao used horizontal printing for books on popularizing literacy and common sense to reduce costs as much as possible; but when printing books of higher specifications such as classics, history, poetry, and songs, he used vertical printing for all of them and increased the line spacing to make the layout appear more beautiful.
Different books were made for different readers and should conform to the reading habits of the society at that time. Using horizontal and vertical layout to classify books into different levels in the minds of scholars could also prevent scholars from interfering with the general knowledge books he printed.
Chen Biao did not confess his true purpose to Zhu Sheng. He only said that these books could be sold more cheaply, so he chose a more cost-effective method in typesetting.
Chen Biao took out the "Analects" printed during the previous trial printing. This "Analects" was not only in vertical format, but also had no punctuation, which perfectly met the most simple needs of scholars.
"Once the Lord becomes Emperor, he will certainly summon scholars to create officially recognized punctuation for the classics, history, and miscellaneous works. Then, he will publish official textbooks with punctuation," Chen Biao said. "The Lord has already agreed. Mr. Zhu will certainly be involved in the textbook development as well."
Zhu Sheng was so nervous that he broke out in a cold sweat.
To annotate the sages' text and have it become the official version? Zhu Sheng thought he wasn't worthy, but he said, "I'll do my best when the time comes."
What scholar could resist the temptation to annotate the verses of a sage's book? No one!
Zhu Sheng took a deep breath of the aroma of ink and felt a little dizzy.
With a printing press like this, wouldn't the sage books that the lord had sent to punctuate and annotate them soon replace the existing books? Zhu Sheng looked at the printing press and realized clearly that no matter how hard those people struggled, it would be useless.
They may be able to deceive the lord and seize the power to speak to the outside world from the lord.
But the lord has a standard.
Not only is Biao'er's inner thoughts as solid as a rock and not affected by the outside world at all, he also has enough ability and status to protect himself.
As they left the printing workshop, Zhu Sheng said, "Biao'er, the scholars who came this time are just discarded pawns. There will be more people who will come to influence you and the lord. You must be mentally prepared."
Chen Biao said boredly, "Huh? Where are they from? Never mind, it doesn't matter where they come from. Just let them come. I'm not afraid of them."
Zhu Sheng smiled and nodded. "That's right. You're not afraid of them. By the way, does Ji Shanfu know about the printing press?"
Chen Biao shook his head: "Mr. Ji is ill. I'm afraid if I tell him about the printing press, he will stay in the printing workshop and refuse to go home to rest."
Zhu Sheng's smile widened immediately: "Yes, wait until he recovers before telling him."
Zhu Sheng still had a lot of things to do, so after leaving the printing workshop, he got on a carriage and left.
Chen Biao looked at Zhu Sheng's back and always felt that Mr. Zhu's steps were too light and cheerful.
Well, it seems that Mr. Zhu was in a very good mood after seeing the printing press.
Chen Biao scratched his head and returned to the printing workshop , telling the craftsmen to stop printing the cards used by the group of scholars to seize Yingtian Primary School and to focus on printing literacy and numeracy cards.
Chen Biao does not want to use public opinion to force anyone to death.
He knew that if he really used public opinion to force people to death, then after the printing press became popular, there would definitely be people who would use it to form factions and suppress dissidents.
Wars between intellectuals have always been about throwing dirty water at each other. Chen Biao couldn't have prevented this situation from happening, but Zhu Sheng reminded him that at least he couldn't set a precedent and dirty his hands.
This group of people are not worthy.
The war of public opinion came to a temporary end. After those scholars realized that Chen Biao could ruin their reputations in an instant, they didn't even have the courage to go to Chen Biao to reason with him.
Some people who were willing to humble themselves came to apologize, some left in disgrace, and some left after making harsh remarks.
Chen Biao didn't remember a single name.
These people came with great fanfare and acted with great haste, but Chen Biao was so disarmed and abandoned as soon as he returned that he could not even hold out for half a round before leaving in disgrace. They were so embarrassed that calling them "abandoned pawns" was an understatement.
After this incident, Chen Biao's name as "Little Military Advisor" once again became famous throughout the country.
Compared with the group of hard-working advisers under Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Biao's achievements were obviously more dramatic, and the people talked about them more, and the scope and speed of their spread were even greater.
Navy Marshal Liao Yongzhong was injured in the Battle of Poyang Lake and is temporarily resting and recuperating in Yingtian.
His family stayed with the army, so his son did not study at Yingtian Primary School.
Now that the new enrollment season has just passed, Liao Yongzhong's wife is extremely anxious. She hopes that Liao Yongzhong can use his connections to allow her son to transfer to Yingtian Primary School.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang publicly ordered that no one was allowed to disturb the Chen family, Liao Yongzhong never agreed.
After watching those seemingly unattainable "highly respected scholars" bow their heads and admit defeat before Chen Biao even had to exert any strength, Liao Yongzhong agreed: "I will go to the Marshal's Mansion and ask Madam Xiuying to see if she can introduce the young military advisor to me."
Liao Yongzhong thought to himself, the young military advisor is so wise, I wonder if I can ask him to think of a way to rescue my brother.
Liao Yongzhong's elder brother, Liao Yongan, was captured by Zhang Shicheng and swore to die rather than surrender. He has been imprisoned for six years.