Pingwangfu.

It's noon, it's lunchtime.

Chu Tianxiu came to the main hall and saw the chief of the dining table, sitting at the head of the dining table, a blue-bearded man about forty or fifty years old, wearing a gold-rimmed brocade robe and a heroic face.

It is the most trusted righteous brother of the current emperor Xiang Yanran, who is in charge of the military and political affairs of the world, the head of the military attaché, the rank of ten thousand stones, the golden seal and purple ribbon, the captain of the power of the government and the opposition, and Li Rong, the king of Ping.

In the Great Chu Dynasty, Li Rong, the king of Ping, was undoubtedly a military god.

More than ten years ago, Emperor Xiang Yanran led an army of 200,000 to conquer the Xiongnu in person, and the royal driver broke away from the main force and was accidentally besieged in the border city by the Xiongnu army.

Li Rong led 1,000 Li disciples and 50,000 iron cavalry to desperately fight into the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Xiongnu heavy cavalry, rescued Emperor Xiang Yanran from the encirclement, and became a legendary existence.

When Chu Tianxiu was still a "little dusk marquis" before, he had seen Li Rong in the palace and had always admired this military god very much.

It's just that I didn't expect that "myself" would one day become King Ping's son-in-law.

However, since Chu Tianxiu entered the Pingwang Mansion, it was the first time he had seen this busy father-in-law in the mansion.

Li Yu and Chu Tianxiu came from Yuyuan together, and they didn't know why Li Rong sent the chief manager of Qian to summon them over for dinner.

However, seeing that the second lady was also there, she looked indifferent.

Chu Tianxiu suddenly felt that some people were afraid that they were going to complain to the prince about the faint paper in the past few days. Only then did the prince ask Mr. Qian to summon them over.

"Yu'er, I've seen Daddy!"

Li Yu saluted Li Rong, glanced at the second lady, and sat down by himself.

Her cold eyes were already full of vigilance.

"Son-in-law, I've seen my father-in-law!"

Chu Tianxiu greeted.

Li Rong nodded slightly and asked the three of them to take a seat.

Since it's already lunch time, of course, it's eating and talking.

The only people who can sit at the table in the main hall of the Pingwang Mansion are the prince Li Rong, the second lady Xie Liyuan, the county lord Li Yu, and Chu Tianxiu, the aunt who comes to the door.

The rest of the Li family in the palace are quite numerous, but they are all side branches, and they can't eat in the main hall of the palace. The rest of the guards and servants were not allowed to enter the main hall at will.

Li Rong was the main seat of the dining table, the second lady and Li Yu sat on both sides of the dining table, and Chu Tianxiu was on the opposite side of the dining table.

Dozens of servants served 36 plates of various meat and vegetable dishes, fine wines, and clear sauces.

"We haven't eaten together as a family for a long time, and it's rare to be at home today, so we just happened to eat together."

Li Rong didn't immediately reprimand Chu Tianxiu for his nonsense, but just smiled at him and asked, "How can you get used to staying in the palace these days?" ”

"Habit, it's like being in the Hou Mansion."

Chu Tianxiu said with a smile.

The second lady couldn't help but show a caring smile like an elder, and said with a slow smile: "The prince is rarely at home, so he doesn't know anything. Xiu'er has been in the palace these days, and she has changed a lot of the previous atmosphere in the Duhou Mansion, and her mind is on business.

No, a new paper was made a few days ago... The Confucian scholars of Jinling are all admired, and they are eager for new paper, and they come to the palace to ask for paper. ”

Chu Tianxiu listened and wondered.

The second lady, the daughter of Prime Minister Xie, has always been very cold and arrogant, and it is not pleasing to the eye when she looks at her son-in-law who is a little faint marquis.

Why did you suddenly say good things about yourself in front of the prince?

Pretending to be a good person in front of the prince?

He couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

"Erniang has an overreputation, the husband is just idle to pass the time, improve the papermaking process, trivial things, Dad is busy with the military affairs of the imperial court, and there is no need to worry about these."

Li Yu was neither salty nor light, and said.

Li Rong just listened and didn't say anything.

He rarely stayed in the palace, and he didn't know much about the things in the palace.

But this matter is full of strangeness, and the little dusk marquis made paper, which makes the Confucian scholars in Jinling City rush to it.

The second lady was unusually approving, but Li Yu was understated.

This seems to be the opposite of their old temper.

He must first understand the ins and outs of the whole matter, so as not to misjudge the situation.

"Son-in-law has been making paper lately?"

Li Rong asked Chu Tianxiu.

"Yes! It is good quality and inexpensive, which is very suitable for pen and ink writing and making into books. Even if it is a small letter, it is clearly visible and will not be as blurry as hemp paper. My son-in-law, I've been working on a book these days, and I'm going to write something. ”

Chu Tianxiu immediately took out a thick paper book from his sleeve and sold it very enthusiastically.

He had nothing to do for the past two days, weaving a stack of hundreds of sheets of paper into a book with hemp rope, and thinking about writing a book for his own amusement.

However, I haven't thought about what to write, but in the lower right corner of the writing, I wrote a "famous poet, novel, and literary scholar, Chu Tianxiu, a little dusk marquis, and a book of love".

"All paper. . . Books made?! ”

Li Rong took the paper book and looked at it.

This book is no more than an inch, less than a pound, but it is as much as a hundred sheets of paper.

The abundance of content that can be recorded in small characters is worth 100 rolls and hundreds of pounds of bamboo slips.

He was deeply struck.

For a person who has never touched a whole paper book, it is unimaginable that such a thin small book can replace as many bamboo slips as an ox cart.

He was pleasantly surprised.

When it comes to making books, Li Rong remembers a rather face-losing incident many years ago.

He once went to visit Vice Minister Wang Su.

The Wang family is also one of the top ten gate valves in Jinling, but it is a scholarly family for hundreds of years, and the family has a very rich collection of books.

Wang Su took him to visit the Wang family's study, and was shocked to see that there were rows of bookshelves in a big room, all piled up with thick bamboo books.

Vice Minister Wang Su also showed off in front of him, saying that the Wang family was full of sweat and cows, and there were 10,000 volumes of bamboo slips, which could not be read.

"King Ping, do you know what it means to be a sweaty cow? Look at my bamboo slips full of several large houses, I can pull hundreds of ox carts with oxen, and I have to pull out a lot of sweat! ”

"Lao Li, now in this prosperous era of Great Chu, the world is peaceful, the sword is in the arsenal, and the horse returns to Nanshan. Even the Xiang royal family used to be martial, but now young people don't mention the matter of soldiers, and they like poetry and lyrics. You also have to know how to dance and ink, otherwise you will be out of step with the young people in the court!. ”

"Brother Rong, the palace still needs to copy more books, so that your children can read more books. After all, it is in this era that there are few opportunities to dance knives and guns, and if you read more poetry and books, it will be easier for your children to enter the career! ”

Vice Prime Minister Wang's proud show-off, isn't this clearly mocking the children of the Li family in the Ping Palace, who can only dance knives and guns, and there are not many books!

"There are so many books in the deputy prime minister's house, Li is amazed, and he is ashamed!"

What can Li Rong say, he can only return depressed.

Since then, this has become a problem in his heart.

invested a lot of money, and in the private school of the palace, I wanted Mr. Jia to teach the children of the Li family scriptures and literature, and compete for a breath in literature.

It's just that Li's literary style is not high, and the children are not talented, and none of them are famous in Jinling City, and they have always gained little.

As for the collection of books in the Pingwang Mansion... Not to mention, he instructed the children of the Li family to go to various mansions in Jinling to borrow books to transcribe.

The children of the Li family couldn't wipe the face of the disciples of the gate valve to ask for books, thinking that it was too heavy to copy books with bamboo slips on their backs, and they had just copied thousands of bamboo slips over the years.

The copied ones are also some bamboo slips from the bad streets, and there are no rare rare ancient books at all.

If all the books in the Pingwang Mansion were to be recorded in the entire paper book, it would undoubtedly be very convenient to send people to copy the books everywhere.

A hundred paper books are 10,000 bamboo slips.

Stacked up, it's less than a box.

Fill a room with a thousand paper books!

The Pingwang Mansion is full of one room, isn't it, it has become the richest collection of books in Jinling!

At that time, he invited Vice Minister Wang to visit the palace to visit the collection of books, and dared to brag in front of himself, what kind of sweat is full of sweat? !

Li Rong touched this paper book, reverie again and again, his eyes were full of admiration, and he couldn't help asking: "Virtuous son-in-law, how much does this paper book cost?" ”

Chu Tianxiu's brows jumped instantly.

He held back for so long, teasing the Confucian scholars and scholars all over the city desperately to build momentum for him, wanting to attract big buyers.

Finally, a super big fish has taken the bait!

It's going to be profitable now.

suppressed the excitement in his heart, and immediately stretched out a slap and quoted a price, "Father-in-law, this paper is sold, and the cost of a piece of paper... It's five...! ”

He thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, showed a very painful expression, patted his chest and said loudly, "Wuwen." This is the lowest cost price of the factory, and I don't earn a penny.

That is, the father-in-law can take this price. If you take it to a bamboo slip shop to sell, it must be 20 wen a piece, and not a penny! ”

"A piece of paper is five copper coins, which is half cheaper than hemp paper, which is very good. A 100-page paper book costs 500 copper coins, which is enough for a civilian's ration for half a year. If there are twenty pieces of paper on the market, this paper book is two taels of silver. ”

Li Rongfei quickly calculated and pondered.

As a lieutenant, he is very sensitive to prices.

But the Ping Wangfu has money, and it won't care about this expense. Ten paper books are only five taels of silver, and a thousand books are only five hundred taels.

He was going to buy a batch of paper books to fill the study of the Ping Palace.

No, that's too petty.

Simply build a book pavilion in the house, and use the five-story attic for storing books.

Build the largest library in Jinling City and hide all the books in the world. Confucian scholars and scholars all over the world just come to my Li Mansion to borrow books and learn skills from the children of the Li family.

At that time, hehe, Vice Minister Wang, and Prime Minister Xie, the rest of the seven major valves in Jinling, such as Cui, Yang, and Zheng, who compared with my Li family, has a strong collection of books, and the cultural context is prosperous!