Since ancient times, the scholars who "put the family before themselves and then the country" have monopolized the world's talents, and in serious cases, they have been as high as eighty or ninety percent, and have occupied important positions in the state. The scholars are united and advance and retreat together, even the royal family has to succumb, once they encounter a weak emperor, they will develop like a plague and control the important departments of the court!

The existence of the scholar clan is not a good thing for a dynasty, and because of this, the wise and martial Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian created the imperial examination system, in order to curb the growth of the gate lord clan. It is only because the power of the scholars is too strong that the imperial examination system not only does not change the status quo much, but strengthens the power of the scholars. After Yang Guang ascended the throne, he used Yang Jian to deal with the Shi clan to the extreme, however, unlike Yang Jian's gentle methods, the means he adopted was killing, and then he really couldn't find a reason, so he simply borrowed war to consume the elite strength of the Shi clan.

Although the Li family is the biggest beneficiary, after seeing the power of the Shi clan and the energy that burst out, Li Yuan is also deeply jealous of the Shi clan, although Li Yuan did not clearly express the meaning of rejecting the five surnames and seven hopes. But there is no doubt that none of the core members of the current Li Tang Dynasty are members of the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs. Li Tang relied on talents from five families. The reuse is not very useful, making the five surnames and seven wangs far less politically influential than before.

In order to deal with the traditional scholars such as the five surnames and seven wangs, Li Yuan vigorously supported the development of the Guanlong family, but he knew that this was a way to quench his thirst, even if the Guanlong family replaced the five surnames and seven wangs, it would be another five surnames and seven hopes. Li Shimin has a far-sightedness that is not inferior to Yang Jian, and after he ascended the throne, he regarded the gate valve family as a problem of elbows and armpits, and he couldn't wait to get rid of it quickly. He did a lot of things to suppress the gate valve of the world, but because the gate valve family was deeply rooted, the effect achieved was not obvious.

As soon as Li Shimin heard that Luo Tong wanted to cut the roots of the Shi clan, where could Li Shimin sit still.

He has never seen through Luo Tong's talent. From the point of view of temperament, Luo Tong's leadership temperament is something that only those who have achieved great things can have, although they have known each other for less than half a year, but Luo Tong has shown quite powerful potential from the beginning of the three strategies of breaking into the Turks, fighting the court with tongues, and breaking the Turks, to breaking the Tuguhun conspiracy, attaching importance to science and technology, and Tubo. Luo Tong said that he wanted to dig the roots of the Shi clan, naturally what is the root of his Shi clan, and even he said that it is possible to dig the roots, which is why Li Shimin is so out of shape.

When he arrived at the Ganlu Palace, Li Shimin put Luo on the ground and issued a strict order that the eavesdroppers would be killed! Then he looked at Luo Tong with hot eyes and said, "Tell me, what is the root of the Wang family?" ”

Luo Tong secretly rejoiced, it seemed that Li Shimin's mind had already thought of him, and this ancient emperor had already seen the danger of the existence of the scholar clan. It's just that many people in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty are inextricably linked with the scholars, take Cheng Yanjin as an example, he is the son-in-law of the Cui family, even a rough military general, let alone the civil officials, and because of this, Li Shimin did not dare to make a move against the scholars, otherwise, it would be Yang Guang's fate.

"The root of the Wang family is the collection of 10,000 books in the family! If every family had 10,000 books, they would not be in a transcendent position. ”

The scholars are like the Shaolin faction in martial arts novels, even if there is no amazing talent, but everyone recognizes its status as Taishan Beidou, the fundamental reason is that the long-standing Shaolin faction has a treasure trove of martial arts, as long as they open a martial arts cheatbook casually, they can make the world's martial arts become a layman who works for them. But if everyone has a scripture pavilion and everyone has seventy-two unique arts, then, in the eyes of the world, the Shaolin school is a dispensable object.

"Did you know that the number of books in the collection is one of the criteria for determining whether a family is wealthy or not?" It's a pipe dream to have 10,000 books in every house. Li Shimin almost didn't let Luo Tong's innocence stun.

"Books are expensive, but it's the paper that makes them up."

"Well, that's right!" Li Shimin's expression was serious, and he gave a positive answer, he couldn't help but glance at Luo Tong, seeing that he was confident in his chest, he couldn't help but tremble, and tried to ask: "Is it possible that you have a way to reduce the price of paper?" ”

"As far as I know, herbaceous plants such as lotus grass, sage grass, bamboo, reeds, miscanthus stalks, wheat grass, and straw are all raw materials for papermaking, and these things are everywhere, and they hardly cost any money except for the personnel expenses of harvesting! Maybe it's not as good as rice paper, but it's as white as jade, light but not slippery, undamaged, absorbent and inky, suitable for books and paintings! Without the complicated process of rice paper, how high can this price be! When pulping, only the bitter yellow sin is added, and the paper produced and the books can be protected from insect bites and can be stored for a long time. ”

Xuan paper is not inferior to the paper of later generations, the only disadvantage is that the workmanship is complicated, a good rice paper needs to go through soaking, ash masking, cooking, bleaching, pulping, water fishing, glue, flooding and other dozens of processes, after a year to be made. Therefore, rice paper is extremely expensive, and ordinary people can't think of it at home. Even Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was reluctant to waste it, and usually used hard yellow paper to write, and only used rice paper when necessary.

Now Luo Tong actually said that he could use those useless weeds to make new paper equivalent to rice paper, Li Shimin was immediately moved when he heard it, and stood up excitedly, the movement was too big, and he directly bumped into the desk in front of him, overturned the desk, and the things on the desk crackled and fell to the ground.

The guards outside the house thought something terrible had happened and rushed in.

Li Shimin waved his hand to let the guards retreat, and if he hadn't heard of the wolf's name in a place, he asked: "Virtuous son-in-law, this is true!" He didn't know that Luo Tong wouldn't lie to him, but he couldn't help but ask more questions in his heart.

"The material must be right, but I need a papermaking workshop and a good papermaker to practice!"

Li Shimin looked at Luo Tong, who looked determined, and read in disbelief: "Ma Lian grass, Rhizome grass, bamboo, reed, miscanthus stalk, wheat straw, straw" He read it several times, and said in surprise: "Can such a good paper be made from these ordinary things?" He couldn't believe it.

Luo Wenwen said with a heart: "Facts speak louder than words. ”

Li Shimin said: "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that this matter is indeed related to the eternal life of my Tang Dynasty, and I am a little overjoyed." You are right, if this paper is published, all the people in my Datang can have paper available, and all kinds of books and knowledge can be transmitted to all the people's homes through this paper, so that the poor scholars can get the opportunity to turn over. ”

The reason why the scholars are strong is inseparable from their knowledge. The children of the scholar clan, even if they are ordinary people, they all have thousands of books handed down by their families for them to read, so that they can study without worrying about food and clothing, and increase their talents with the knowledge in the books.

The children of the poor family can not afford to buy books or paper, and at the same time they have to run for life, even if they are geniuses in ten thousand, how can their knowledge compare to the scholars?

Faced with this situation, how can the emperors of all dynasties choose? Although they want to promote the children of the poor family, they can only choose the children of the scholar clan with higher talents.

Of course, some people say that reading may not be able to become a talent, but the children of the poor family have not even read a few volumes, and they don't know a hundred words, what are the chances of becoming a talent? Unless it's that kind of demon-level genius, but how many people are there in the world of this kind of demon-level genius?

Moreover, the key to constructing a dynasty is not whether there are demon-level talents in the dynasty, but a group of second-rate talents with a solid foundation. These second-rate talents are the foundation of a country. With a huge collection of books, the major scholars are the production bases for second-rate talents. In the face of these talents, Yang Jian, Yang Guang, Li Yuan, and Li Shimin don't want to use them, although at least four or five out of ten of these big lords can become practical officials, but their loyalty to the court is far lower than their loyalty to their own family. This is something that the emperor can never accept, but he can't do without it, which makes Li Shimin very depressed.

But as long as the cost of a piece of paper is reduced, everyone from the poor family has books to read, paper to use, and has the same learning conditions as the family valve. As long as Datang gets rid of its dependence on the big lords of the family, with Li Shimin's means, don't these big lords of the family still let them be round and flat? Li Shimin thought of this, no wonder he was so excited.

"That is, when I make the new paper and make it into a book, I will buy three books and get one free, so that the books will become worthless, and I will be angry with these bastards of the Wang family." Luo Tong gritted his teeth and said, looking vindictive.

He wouldn't not be ignorant of Li Shimin's thoughts, but sometimes he was too clear in front of the emperor, and there would be no good things.

A new papermaking technique? Used for vindictiveness?

Li Shimin looked stunned! Hurriedly nodded, looked at Luo Tong, and made an appearance of a righteous gentleman: "The paper workshop stinks, and the waste water people drink and water die, and there is not a single one in the whole Chang'an." There is no such thing in the Palace of Paper Craftsmen! ”

Luo Tong was disappointed! But I heard Li Shimin say again: "There is no one in the palace, but there is one in Changle." Changle's fiefdom is Wannian County, she has many workshops, including a papermaking workshop, and tomorrow you can let Changle accompany you to find someone. ”

Luo Tong nodded suddenly, but he forgot that Princess Changle was a little rich woman. In ancient times, the eldest princess was an extremely exaggerated golden finger, Changle had a real seal of 3,000 households in Wannian County, and others worked hard for a lifetime, and the monthly income was not as good as the identity of the eldest princess of Changle! Take Qin Qiong as an example, he is the general of Zuo Wuwei, who has made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty, and the actual seal is only 700 households, less than a quarter of Changle; Luo Shixin is even more tragic, he sold his life for the Li family, and the fief is only 300 households, or a village in Jiangzhou, Hedong, far away from Chang'an, where Luo Tong did not know.