Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 92: The Foundation of the Nation Has Decayed (IV)
"Your Highness, everyone, inside this row of rooms are all the Yellow Books from the Hongwu Dynasty. During the Hongwu Dynasty, the Yellow Books were compiled three times (Zhu Laosi did not recognize the reign title of Jianwen. Therefore, the Yellow Book compiled in the third year of Jianwen was called the Yellow Book compiled in the thirty-fourth year of Hongwu). A total of 253,766 volumes."
"Yes, Zhang Yong. The Yellow Book of the Hongwu Dynasty is more than 200 years old, right? Are there any worm-eaten and rotten pages, or any cotton threads that bind the books and become moldy and broken?"
"Your Highness, this situation does exist. However, during the Hongwu Dynasty, the state had strict discipline, and the local governments strictly followed the regulations of the court when revising the Yellow Book. Pepper and alum were mixed into the paper pulp. The cotton threads used to bind the books were double-stranded and double-bound. The rooms where the Yellow Books were placed were paved with lime to prevent moisture. As for this warehouse, it was originally built to face north and south so that the sun could alternate between east and west to dry the books. Moreover, the clerks in the Yellow Book Warehouse had to take turns to move the Yellow Books outside to dry them on sunny days. In short, over the past two hundred years, the Yellow Books of the Hongwu Dynasty did have some cases of paper rotting and cotton threads getting moldy. But this situation only occurred in 10% of cases at most."
"Well, very good. What about the Yellow Book of the Yongle Dynasty? How many of them are rotten or damaged?"
"Well, Your Highness, I am ashamed. Perhaps it is because we did not take good care of it on weekdays. The damage rate of the Yellow Book of the Yongle Dynasty is about 20%."
"When I was still in Beijing, I heard that the Yellow Books from the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties were of the best quality. Although more than two hundred years have passed, most of them can still be read and verified. They are called 'Bronze Yellow Books'. However, it seems that only the Yellow Books from these two dynasties are 'Bronze Yellow Books'."
Although the ministers of the Ming Dynasty did not have the habit of kneeling at every turn like the ministers of the Qing Dynasty, when they heard Zhu Youdong's murderous question, not only Zhang Yong, but also Zhang Shipei and others behind him, almost felt their knees go weak.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both ruthless people. If they disagreed with someone, they would kill your whole family, nine clans, or even ten clans. Therefore, officials in these two dynasties were relatively honest. They used whatever quality of paper the court said they wanted to use. They used whatever cotton thread the court said they wanted to use. Therefore, in terms of the quality of the Huangce, the quality of the Huangce during the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties was the best. This resulted in the fact that although the Huangce during these two dynasties was the oldest, the preservation rate was the highest!
After Yongle, Renxi Dynasty only lasted ten months, so let's not talk about him. Zhu Youdong and others came to the house where the yellow books of Xuande Dynasty were stored. Generally speaking, the quality of the yellow books of Xuande Dynasty was just so-so. It was not easy to find a rotten one by randomly flipping through less than ten yellow books. But it was not easy to find one that was intact... Then, Zhu Youdong and others clearly felt that the quality of the yellow books steadily declined during the Zhengtong, Chenghua and Hongzhi Dynasties. When it came to Zhengde Dynasty, hey , hey, there was nothing to say except hey.
"I don't want to look at the records of the Jiajing and Longqing dynasties. Lead the way and let's look at the Yellow Books of the 10th and 20th years of the Wanli reign."
"Uh... I obey your command."
Zhang Yong led the way, and everyone followed in a line, and soon arrived at the easternmost end of Huanzhou. From the color of the walls and the grayish white, one could tell that the houses here were newly built.
"Huh?"
"What do you want to say, Otomo?"
"Your Highness, I have just read through it and I feel that the younger the yellow books are, the worse the quality is. Originally, when I saw the yellow books from the 10th year of Wanli, I thought they would be worse than those from the Zhengde Dynasty. But..."
"Are you trying to explain why the quality of the Yellow Book improved suddenly in the 10th year of the Wanli reign?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me, but this is the truth. That is why I am confused."
"Hahaha, what's there to be confused about? In the tenth year of the Wanli reign, don't you think about who was in power?"
"The tenth year of Wanli, oh, so that's how it is... Hey~~~"
Everyone present was smart, and after Zhu Youdong gently pointed it out, everyone understood it instantly. But after understanding it, they all sighed helplessly like Cao Huachun.
The tenth year of the Wanli reign was the last year of the life of the political strongman Zhang Juzheng. There is no need to explain the rest.
Looking up at the roof, Zhu Youdong clenched his fists gently, as if he had spent a little time to gather up his courage, and then said to Zhang Yong: "Take me to the house built in the 20th year of Wanli."
"Well, Your Majesty... Since there is really no place to store the new Yellow Book on Huanzhou Island, the Yellow Books for the 20th year of Wanli and later are on Yingzhou Island. This requires going on board again and again. Your Majesty has been busy all day, why not..."
"I'm not tired. It's just a matter of getting on and off the boat a few more times. It's okay."
"Uh, His Royal Highness..."
"Why? Are you afraid that the situation will be too bad and I will get angry?"
"Uh..." After thinking helplessly for a while, Zhang Yong looked at Li Shizhong and Liu Zhaosun, who were both burly and fierce-looking beside Zhu Youdong, with swords hanging from their waists and their right hands always on the hilts. He agreed very naively: "In that case, please, Grandson."
With a "squeak", the door of the house opened. What hit me was the extremely unpleasant musty smell that was present in all the houses in front. In this case, the officials of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue seemed to have known about it and moved their feet lightly before opening the door to occupy the periphery. Therefore, this musty smell attacked and mercilessly enveloped Zhu Youdong and his subordinates.
"How dare you treat the Crown Prince like this!"
The one who got angry was naturally Liu Zhaosun - although Li Shizhong was also from a military family, the Li family had already become an aristocratic family after being conferred the title. Only Liu Dadao's adopted son still retained the straightforward temper of a soldier.
"Hey, Zhaosun, don't get angry." Zhu Youdong, still smiling, greeted Liu Zhaosun and explained to the administrators of the Yellow Book Library: "Didn't the Yellow Books of the Zhengde Dynasty that we saw earlier have many moldy ones? But those things have been rotting for nearly a hundred years, and the moldy smell has almost dissipated. The Yellow Books of the 20th year of the Wanli Period have just started to rot. The smell is a little stronger, but it's normal, normal."
Zhu Youdong walked into the house with his hands behind his back, pacing leisurely. Cao Huachun, Wang Chengen, Zhang Shize, Li Huaizhong and others behind him had quickly gone from surprise to anger, and their cheeks were all red.
This is the Yellow Book sent in during the 20th year of the Wanli reign! But what has become of it? Large areas of it are moldy and worm-eaten, and many books can be seen with densely packed insects gnawing happily. Many shelves look empty, but when you get closer, you are even more shocked: the entire book has been completely eaten by insects, leaving only a mark of the book on the shelf, and nothing else.
"Zhang Yong, what's going on?"
The one who shouted this could only be Zhang Shipei, the Minister of Finance of Nanjing. The Minister had to ask before Cao Huachun and others: This is to absolve himself of responsibility - Your Highness, I didn't know the situation in this place was so bad before. In this way, even if the Crown Prince holds him accountable, it will only be a crime of negligence - the Minister has many things to do, and it is normal for him to fail to supervise. Come on, come on, three glasses of wine as a penalty, and it will not happen again.
On the other hand, this is also a protection for subordinates by superiors: when I ask questions, I am not blaming you, but giving you a chance to explain.
"Sir Zhang, please allow me to report that since the country implemented household stickers in the fourth year of Hongwu, no matter whether it is household stickers, yellow books, or even fish scale maps, the paper is not uniformly produced and distributed by the state, but is produced by each county. The Yellow Book Library only issues paper standards. Since Yongle, the quality of the paper used in the yellow books submitted by various places has deteriorated. It is not just in recent decades. The Yellow Book Library has also reported to the Ministry of Public Administration many times, and the court has also issued strict orders many times to require various places to strictly control the quality of paper. But... I was assigned to this Yellow Book Library in the 25th year of Wanli. When I came here, the yellow books of the 20th year of Wanli had already begun to mold and were moth-eaten. Although I tried my best to save it, the paper itself is not moisture-proof and insect-proof. This, I really have no way. And... and..."
Zhu Youdong turned around, still smiling and saying gently: "And what? Go on."
Zhang Yong's teeth shivered uncontrollably. "Moreover, the paper quality of the batch that was just put into storage in the 30th year of Wanli is even worse than that of the batch in the 20th year!"
