However, far water can't save near fire. Right now, he still has a creditor!

After drinking with Tulan and the others for three days, E Heli also sensed that something was wrong. So, he found Zheng Sheng again and asked for the money.

Zheng Sheng waited for his big ride early, and he asked rhetorically, "Is the bald brother in a hurry to go home?" ”

E He Li said: "Don't worry. ”

"In that case, why don't you stay in Jingzhou for a while longer?"

He Li was stunned, "Why is this?" ”

Zheng Sheng coughed, "Brother bald, presumably, you still have to buy a batch of grain and then go back, right?" I wonder if you know the price of food? ”

He Li sighed: "That's true. And, I've inquired about ...... Alas! Zheng Shizi, do you know that this year's one-stone grain has actually risen to 1,820 yuan! Last year, I paid 1,780 yuan! Shizi, although we have already agreed, but the price of grain in the Central Plains has risen, will the price of our horses also rise? ”

Zheng Sheng nodded, "Really?" The price has risen again? But the bald brother knows that in fact, the price of grain varies throughout the year. Generally speaking, the price of grain is high in spring and summer, but after the harvest of new grain in autumn, the price of one stone of grain will drop to about 1,750 yuan! ”

He Li bowed his head, "I see." So, I wait until autumn and buy new grain when it's ripe? ”

Zheng Sheng smiled, "Yes, it's a good deal!" ”

E Heli stared at Zheng Sheng's eyes and asked, "Zheng Shizi, why do I always feel that something is not right?" ”

Zheng Sheng shouted injustice: "Bald brother, I put myself in your shoes, how could I lie to you?" ”

He Li thought about it carefully, "Indeed. So, what about horse money? ”

Zheng Sheng sighed secretly in his heart, at this time he missed Zheng Wen very much, and negotiating with people was really not a pleasant job.

"Brother Bald, if not, I will buy these horses for thirty-five stone of grain per horse. When the grain is harvested in the fall, I will deliver the grain to you directly? ”

"Fifty stones. Don't forget, these are the best foals in my department. He Li didn't think deeply, but the lion opened his mouth.

However, Zheng Sheng did not give in, "Bald brother, don't forget, my Zheng family gave you a discount in the transaction. Thirty stone grain for a good horse, this is the market price. I'll give ...... Thirty-six stones, which is already the highest price! ”

He Li sneered, "What I brought to the prince is a foal that has not been gelding, and they are all the best horses, more than 30 stone grain, how can I buy my horse with only 50,000 yuan?" Forty-eight stones! ”

The two glared at each other.

Zheng Sheng finally said: "Can you and I take a step back in this transaction?" Forty-two stones. Now, I still need more equestrian instructors in my horse farm, and you can all make a small amount of money during your time in Jingzhou. When you leave, I'll deliver the grain, how about it? ”

He Li's face softened, and he agreed to the price.

Zheng Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, he finally got this thing done.

Zheng Sheng waited for the arrival of the middle of April. He's going to redeem!

But before that, there was something else going on in the territory.

Zheng Sheng looked at the shy teenager of the same age in front of him, "Zheng Liu, since you are here, let's go to Qingzhu Academy!" There are Zheng Shang, Wan Yun and many others over there. ”

"Yes!" Zheng Liu bowed respectfully and left.

Zheng Sheng sighed, he had been far away from his family over the years, and he had obviously become much more estranged from his peers.

And his cousin Zheng Qing returned from Youzhou, but he only went home to see the others, and did not come to see him, but sent Zheng Liu to him.

This is enough to show his position. However, do his father and Zheng Qing have the same attitude towards the family?

Zheng Sheng didn't dare to guarantee it.

Therefore, he is very unclear about how many factions his family is divided into. It seems that everyone has their own plans.

Nanyang Zheng's family seems to have lost the slightest cohesion.

Longjing visited again, and he brought a good reply. It's just that he didn't bring Long's collection of books with him.

Long Jing smiled embarrassedly: "My family's collection of books has not yet been copied, and after a while, it will definitely be brought to the prince." ”

Zheng Sheng nodded and smiled, "Of course you can." He knew that this was Long's delaying tactic, and he might even plan to observe this period of time to see if his library could collect books, and then choose whether to "cooperate" with him.

"Last time, Shizi said that people from Qingzhu Academy can read the books in the library at will, and outsiders need to spend money to enter the library to read, right?" Long Jing asked suddenly.

"yes."

Long Jing shook his head and said, "Shizi, a rare and unique book in the world, and the value of a common book is not the same. But isn't it appropriate to be able to see them for the same amount of money? ”

Zheng Sheng said thoughtfully: "That's true. Maybe...... There are some restrictions that need to be set. Tiered, divided into attics, and placed books of different values? ”

He suddenly remembered the plot of some novels he had seen in his previous life, restricting things such as martial arts cheats in the Scripture Pavilion to certain conditions that could only be obtained after certain conditions. Even, it can be exchanged for contributions to the sect. It seems that you can try all of these!

"So, can our Long clan send someone to study at Qingzhu Academy?" Long Jing asked again.

Zheng Sheng was surprised, "Of course you can!" But, what does that mean? Admire learning? Stealing from a teacher? Or is there another purpose?

Longjing left satisfied.

After saying goodbye to Longjing, Zheng Sheng went to the seventeen mile hill to the east to see the construction progress of each workshop.

The southernmost paper mill is already up and running. Now the director here is Zheng Daifu, the director of the original Nanxiang Zheng's paper mill.

Now, in addition to "making" Zheng Zi paper, Zheng Daifu's nearly 100 workers must continue to make Jin paper, which is Zheng Wen's requirement for them. After all, Zheng Zizhi only needs to take up very little of their working time.

But now they made Jin paper, Zheng Sheng is extremely dissatisfied.

Therefore, Zheng Sheng gave them another problem: to make better quality Jin paper. "Even if the quality is not as good as Zheng Zi Paper, we must make progress in this direction!"

So, every time he went to the paper mill, he would ask: How is the new paper?

The paper mill craftsmen worked hard, but progress was slow. Zheng Sheng was not surprised, if they could easily make good paper, it would be abnormal.

Before leaving, Zheng Sheng reminded them a few more words, asking them to continue to work hard in the selection of raw materials and the improvement of the process, and he also vaguely remembered some improvement directions of papermaking.

Not to mention the craftsmen who are worried in the paper mill.

Zheng Sheng walked through the carpenter workshop that was mainly engaged in making tables and chairs, the oil mill that made various oils, and the iron workshop that mainly produced agricultural tools. Finally, he arrived at the main destination of his trip, the movable type workshop of movable type printing on the northwest side of Seventeen Mile Hill.

In addition to the original carpenters, Zheng Sheng also found craftsmen, blacksmiths and coppersmiths who burned pottery and porcelain, and asked them to make movable type of various materials and compare which movable type was the most practical.

Making these small engravings is a novelty for the craftsmen.

However, after studying the wooden type, the blacksmiths and coppersmiths have already "imitated" the iron and copper movable type by making molds first and then pouring iron and copper juice into them.

In the same way, the craftsmen who fired the pottery also made clay movable type.

Zheng Sheng took a few books in his hand and carefully compared the words in the books, but he didn't see that they were printed with movable type of different materials.

He was pleased with the results.

"Anyway, how many copies of the common books have been printed?" Zheng Sheng couldn't wait to ask.

"Shizi, the number of Zhengzi papers in our inventory is only tens of thousands, and now we have to print both ancient and unique books and common books? There's not enough paper! Ren said with a wry smile.

Zheng Sheng frowned, "Have you counted the books sent by Xinye Gong, most of them are annotated by later generations. For a book of this type, only one or twenty copies of each one is enough......"

Zheng Sheng patted his head, he thought bitterly, in fact, there was no place to put ten printed volumes, and besides, it was a waste of the book version that was discharged!

"This is far from enough, the returned books, the books used by the students of Qingzhu Academy, and the books in the library collection, roughly calculated, each need at least thirty or forty volumes."

"It doesn't need so much, students don't need to read these books. As for the library, ten books are enough! ”

Zheng Sheng remembered the few books he had flipped over, all of which were annotated works of the literati of the Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin dynasties, such as new interpretations, exegesis, new meanings, prefaces, notes, and biographies, as well as books with surnames, places, and personal names before a certain famous work, in fact, they were all things compiled by Confucians after adding their own thoughts to the writings of their ancestors, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were their reading notes.

For example, the Book of Songs is divided into four versions: Lu Poems, Han Poems, Qi Poems, and Mao Poems.

Although the world is now learning Mao's poems, the other three are not very popular. However, Sima Xin's collection of these books includes a copy of "Han Poems" from Jiujiang Shaw Brothers.

The biggest difference between these four versions is that each school has different interpretations of the meaning of the Book of Songs. And the reason why Mao's poems will rise and the other three poems will decline, is not that Mao's poems are really much better than the explanations of other poems, this is just the result of Mao's poems "happeningly" being respected by successive generations of Confucians in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

And there are even more nonsense, like Bao Tong's "Analects and Answers", which actually talks about the scene when his ancestor was the prince master of the Han Dynasty.

Explaining the Analects to the prince is indeed a worthy deed, but Zheng Sheng feels that this down-and-out literati just wants to feel the glory of his ancestors again, brag to the world, and express his grief and indignation that he has never met with talent.

All in all, what's the use of these things? Although it is indeed helpful to study the Four Books and the Five Classics by clicking on the questions and explaining the meaning of the text, now Zheng Sheng doesn't even want to memorize the Confucian classics, so how can he be willing to put these books in the library.

However, for the sake of the "big plan", he endured.

Ren Zhi: "...... Shizi, these books are the painstaking work of the great Confucians of all dynasties, how can they be so despised? ”

Zheng Sheng waved his hand, "You know, in Qingzhu Academy, we don't learn the classics of the ancients, only the Chinese. Zheng Sheng bit the last two words to emphasize.