Chapter 20: Defense of speech

Just the day after Liu Chanfang took two sets of glass tea sets that were quite exquisite on the market from Manager Li according to Wang Jinghui's wishes and gave them to the two "silver fish bags" sent to the Commercial Press as senior supervisors in the two courts, Ying Wang Zhao Xu came to the door.

Since Wang Jinghui learned of Zhao Xu's true identity, out of his creed to stay away from politics, he began to gradually alienate from the emperor of the future Song Dynasty. In fact, he was also very busy. In addition to the Commercial Press taking over the publication and distribution of Royal Imperial Books and the just-starting "Shenhuo" coal fire business, he was too busy to give him a lot of money by just seeing patients in civilian clinics. There was still time to talk nonsense with King Zhao Xu of Ying, so Zhao Xu came to him and almost turned away from him. However, unlike the eager-seeking Emperor Zhao Xu described in history books, Zhao Xu didn't mind his alienation. Maybe it was related to seeing Wang Jinghui so busy that he kicked his heels on the back of his head.

Wang Jinghui knew about the visit of King Zhao Xu of Ying, because when he asked Liu Chanfang and shopkeeper Zeng to "bribe" to please the two silverfish bag officials, he knew very well that Zhao Xu would definitely take this opportunity to get a book to meet him. After all, he had not written a policy for him in two months, but just wrote a few poems for him. For this famous utilitarian emperor, it was difficult for Wang Jinghui to satisfy him in this way, so Wang Jinghui thought with his toes and knew the purpose of Zhao Xu coming to him this time.

It is here to care about his plan. If it is in the eyes of scholars of this era, writing a plan for His Highness Ying future emperor is a peerless opportunity to show his talent and learning, but in Wang Jinghui's eyes, he does not read it like this. He does not imagine that the protagonists he has read have planned to establish unparalleled achievements in traveling time and space back to the past. He understands the history of this era. Although he is quietly affecting the people of this era on the one hand, he is even more afraid of being involved in the struggle between the new party and the old party that will come soon.

Zhao Xu, who is still King Ying, is not a fool. Wang Jinghui's alienation makes him feel very regretful and annoyed. Zhao Xu believes that the refusal he made to officials in the past was a joke, but now he feels that this young man who is a little older than him really doesn't want to be an official in his heart. Wang Jinghui's not wanting to be an official is not good news for Zhao Xu and even the current emperor Zhao Shu. Now Wang Jinghui's poems have been spread everywhere, and everyone regards singing Wang's lyrics as a fashion, but Wang Jinghui is usually too busy to find the north or hides in the clinic to treat people. His poems are all transmitted from the palace by Zhao Xu and his sisters, so no one knows him.

Wang Jinghui is most famous now. The medical skills he published are highly praised by people in Xinglin. A few days ago, the minister Han Qi reported to the emperor: "Medical books are like Lingshu, Taisu, A and B Jing, Guangji, Qianjin, Waitai... Please choose medical scholars and imperial physicians to participate in the promulgation." Yingzong Zhao Shu ordered: "The editorial and memorial medical bookstore, and ordered Jixian Academy to directly investigate and supervise the four people including Yuxi and others and be the correction medical bookstore." If this continues, Wang Jinghui will definitely enter the correction medical bookstore with his medical talent, especially in surgical operations. "But this is just what he wishes!" Zhao Xu thought secretly.

What bothered Zhao Xu the most now is that Wang Jinghui has not written a policy for him for two months since he learned his true identity, which made Zhao Xu feel very helpless. What interested Zhao Xu the most was his strategy for making strange ideas. In his opinion, Wang Jinghui's medical skills and business methods are indeed very powerful, but he has been deeply influenced by Confucianism since he was a child. On the contrary, although those seem to make people feel a little uncomfortable, they are reminiscent of them when they think about it carefully.

The infinite policy arguments attracted him more. Unfortunately, looking at Wang Jinghui's attitude, I could not let him start writing again. This was also Zhao Xu's affirmation from the heart that Wang Jinghui had no intention of becoming an official, but this would make Zhao Xu feel very painful. The emperor's actions in the Song Dynasty were cowardly, and the fact that the orders were rejected occurred frequently, which made the emperor very embarrassed, but he had to issue orders to recruit talents again and again: If talents don't come, it means that your emperor is doing something wrong!

Zhao Xu thought to himself secretly: "In the future, as Wang Jinghui's fame becomes more and more popular, the officials in the court should soon submit a memorial to his father and emperor, right? But this guy is clearly not going to get in, and it will definitely be a big trouble when the time comes!" Thinking of this, Zhao Xu felt a little regretful that he had spread Wang Jinghui's poems, so that at least he could make those ministers less excuses.

In this way, Wang Jinghui and Zhao Xu both had their own thoughts before talking in the study. They didn't know how to talk about it after they met. For a moment, the atmosphere in the study suddenly made both of them feel a little embarrassed. Fortunately, the orphan adopted by Wang Jinghui brought them tea at this time, which broke the deadlock between them.

Wang Jinghui stood up and took the tea set from the child, poured a cup of tea for Zhao Xu and said, "There is just the right place for King Ying. I have the dragon and phoenix tulle tea I just arrived here. How about you come and try it?"

After Wang Jinghui came to this era, he thought that the most familiar thing was tea. While he followed his grandfather to learn medical skills, he also inherited his grandfather's hobby of drinking tea. However, when he first saw the tea produced in the Northern Song Dynasty, his heart was almost cold: the tea now is not the tea he knew, but tea cakes, which turned into powder when he drank it, which made him very depressed. The dragon and phoenix tuan tea used to entertain Zhao Xu was the best tea in the Northern Song Dynasty. This kind of tea was paid tribute to the palace every year, and the price outside was extremely high, but these were bought by Liu's accountant and his housekeeper Wang Shun, and they were rarely taken out. Wang Shun knew from Wang Jinghui that the person he met with today was Zhao Xu, the current Ying Wang, and was probably the future emperor, so he did not dare to neglect and dedicated the dragon and phoenix tuan tea.

Zhao Xu slowly took a sip of tea and said, "Brother Wang has good tea, and this dragon and phoenix tulle tea is not something that anyone can drink in the palace!"

Wang Jinghui was very clear about his words. Although the dragon and phoenix tulle tea doesn't taste very good, its production process is complicated, and after being sold from Jiangnan, the price is not something that ordinary people can afford. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang disqualified the Long and phoenix tulle tea because the Dragon and phoenix tulle tea is too expensive. This kind of tea is so painful that the emperor even drinks it. You can imagine how expensive it is.

Wang Jinghui said, "Since Your Highness likes you, you can come to me for tea at any time!" But he regretted it as soon as he said it, and immediately distracted his attention and said, "Your Highness, now the two books "Taiping Guangji" and "Wenyuan Yinghua" undertaken by Commercial Press have been printed. You can ask His Majesty the Emperor to read it!"

After Zhao Xu had experienced the baptism of "Taiping Yulan", he was no longer so surprised by the printing speed. He said, "Brother Wang is very capable. Are these two sets of books printed so quickly?"

Wang Jinghui said: "Printing books like this is a headache for every printing workshop. Even if I use lead movable type here to replace the carved plates used in the past, it is also a bit troublesome. However, this time a master from the Commercial Press invented a very effective hand-cranked word casting machine, which greatly accelerated the printing speed, so that the two books were printed in one month. In terms of speed, it was much faster than when the Taiping Yulan was first printed."

Zhao Xu smiled and said, "It seems that there are always some strange things here, but then again, if it weren't for the movable type printing agency of your Commercial Press, unless the royal family was willing to spend a sky-high cost to carve these three books, I think there is no workshop in the world who dared to submit to the publication of these books! I have always been vigorously promoting this kind of literary governance in the Song Dynasty, and what Brother Wang does will be rewarded by the emperor!" Zhao Xu was not very willing to give up on Wang Jinghui's not wanting to be an official, so he was still carefully testing him in his words.

Wang Jinghui smiled and said, "Your Highness Ying is too famous! In the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, people cast characters on bronze ware to record the history that happened; in the Qin and Han dynasties, they wrote characters on bamboo slips and then wrote books on silk, but later people wrote books on silk, which was very light; however, not everyone could afford this silk, and later craftsmen invented paper, but the paper was very rough at that time. People were reluctant to write books on paper, and it was not until Cai Lun improved the production of paper that people accepted it and have been used until now. Similarly, this book was copied by hand at the beginning, and then it was engraved and printed books. Now I invented the printing of lead movable type, which made books gradually become cheap."

Wang Jinghui said slowly while Zhao Xu listened carefully, but Wang Jinghui seemed to be talking nonsense, which made Zhao Xu feel very puzzled: What does he mean by saying this? Wang Jinghui was not as complicated as Zhao Xu thought. He just wanted to slowly instill in Zhao Xu's importance of invention and creation to society and the country.

Although the Song Dynasty could be regarded as the most glorious era in Chinese history in the invention of new things, it also inevitably discriminated against craftsmen. In the eyes of those literati, the status of craftsmen was just a pariah. These literati who were full of governing the country and pacifying the world and knew how to hold Confucius's stinky feet did not need to think about it carefully. If there were no craftsmen, they would still be sleeping in thatched huts! Since he met this future Emperor Zhao Xu by chance, he would certainly find an opportunity to instill in him the importance of these ancient "inventors".

Wang Jinghui continued: "In fact, only Commercial Press can take over the publication of such a great book. In any company, it will probably cost money. Even if the book is not printed, it will go bankrupt before it is printed! Your Highness doesn't know that Commercial Press has a surplus of 400,000 yuan in the book "Taiping Yulan"! Didn't I agree with Your Highness to start a charity school? This money is intended to be used for those poor children to study. What do you think?"

As for the important position of the craftsmen's inventions, Zhao Xu did not figure it out from Wang Jinghui's words. Instead, the Commercial Press made 400,000 yuan in the publication of a "Taiping Yulan" by the Commercial Press. This was what he was concerned about. However, he never dreamed that Wang Jinghui had given a half discount on the real value, but this was enough to surprise him.

"Taiping Yulan" is a book that Emperor Taizong designated to read every day, but unfortunately, this book is too large that even the royal family is reluctant to pay for the carved version and publish it. Even if the folk printing workshops want to shoot the emperor's horses by publishing such books, they have to consider whether they will end up begging along the street. Zhao Xu never dreamed that Wang Jinghui could make a big profit in this business that was obviously a big loss. Forty.

Wan Guan, who was born in the imperial family, had no idea of ​​money, and he couldn't help but breathe. In fact, Zhao Xu had a little idea of ​​money after he met a wealthy businessman from the Liao Dynasty like Xiao Yuanfeng at an auction held by the Xu Jewelry Store half a year ago. However, this time Wang Jinghui gave him even more stimulation: he could earn 400,000 yuan in a set of books in a month. In order to do business, he is probably invincible in the Song Dynasty. This young man is really extraordinary to make money...

Seeing that Zhao Xu didn't say anything for a long time, Wang Jinghui asked in confusion: "Does Your Highness repent for establishing a charity school?"

Zhao Xu reacted at this time and hurriedly said, "Brother Wang misunderstood! This is a great thing to build a charity school, how could I refuse?! It was just because...oh! Since Brother Wang was good at launching a charity school, I had promised you to help you invite some great scholars to teach in the charity school, although this is included in me! But how are you preparing here with your side?"

Wang Jinghui laughed and said with a hint: "I'm pretty smooth. I bought a piece of land in the suburbs of the city and started building a house before winter. Next year, it will be no problem to let students enroll in school in the summer and autumn! Not only did I build a charity school in the suburbs of the city, but I also prepared a house in the city, planning to collect books everywhere for students to borrow. In the future, such a place will be called a 'library'. All the books in the library can be borrowed."

Zhao Xu thought to himself: "Wang Jinghui doesn't like being an official, but he is quite enthusiastic about promoting the civilized rule. However, the only flaw of this person is that he always mingles with the craftsmen, and he is still a businessman..." Although the Song Dynasty did not particularly belittle the status of merchants, the scholars and officials of the Song Dynasty were not happy with merchants no matter how they looked at merchants. After becoming rich, the merchant class tried every means to invest huge sums of money to get educated their descendants to get rid of the ranks of merchants, or they wanted other ways to whitewash their origins, such as buying a set of "Taiping Yulan" to put it in the storefront of a family, or saying that high-priced books worth hundreds of stagnant were all scrambled by Kaifeng people, and the merchants made great efforts in this middle.

Zhao Xu felt that it was meaningless to go around in circles with Wang Jinghui. He said, "I wonder if Brother Wang has any articles that can be taken out for me in the past two months?"

Wang Jinghui felt that Zhao Xu came to him this time and seemed to be showing off. He wanted to fool him around in circles here, but he didn't expect that Zhao Xu was still a little anxious and went straight to the main body without hesitation. Wang Jinghui said: "I have been very busy all day in the past two months and have not written any articles. There are two poems, but I am still a little unsatisfied, so I cherish it myself."

Zhao Xu said: "Brother Wang, since you know my true identity, you seem to have changed and have become a little alienated from me. This may be because I am the son of the current emperor?!"

Wang Jinghui muttered in his heart: Do you know that you still ask me? It is okay to complain in your heart, but you dare not say that. Wang Jinghui said: "Your Highness, I didn't know your identity before, and I could discuss some issues with you without any scruples, but this is just a crazy talk between scholars. You are the current King of Ying, and you may be the future emperor in the future. The remarks between scholars may be complaining, but it is not a good thing for governing the country. If you are just an ordinary scholar or the prince of an official, it is harmless, but you are the emperor of this country in the future, these remarks will affect your concept of governing the country. Therefore, even if I, Wang Jinghui, is so bold, I, would not want you to be affected like this, so I am unwilling to write a policy again. Please forgive me!"

The reason why Wang Jinghui was unwilling to continue writing policy for Zhao Xu was, on the one hand, because he adhered to the principle of staying away from politics; on the other hand, it was just as he said: He did not want Zhao Xu, who is still relatively young, to be influenced by him too much in his speech and thought. Although some things have been proven to be correct in the 21st century, in this era, if an emperor is too unconventional, the conservative forces below will definitely rebound very well, which will cause trouble. Especially in the Song Dynasty, if officials were unable to take a look at it, most of the memorial to request retirement would make it difficult for the emperor to handle. Wang Anshi threatened strikes many times, and it was even more successful.
Chapter completed!