During the day before, the two brothers talked for a long time with Bai Shizhong, the person in charge of the "People's Daily", and listed all the problems they would encounter, and discussed together how to deal with them.

The sales process of "People's Daily" is the same as that of "Ming Pao", which is sent to 100 households, and there are 100 households for sale, but Jinyiwei, who came to get the blank paper today, got a sentence "If you have any questions, you can go to Donghuamen 'People's Newspaper' for consultation" Although I don't quite understand why I want to say such a sentence, all the people who come to get the newspaper still remember it. However, after an hour, their doubts will be answered.

When it first went on sale, there were no problems, and everyone who came to buy the newspaper knew that it was a newspaper for the people. The scholar also took the newspaper to the various teahouses and academies, and the family also walked quickly to the house with the newspaper and showed it to the master. It's no different from the sale of Ming Pao the other day. However, not long after, things changed, and a few or a group of scholars angrily rushed to the hundred households with newspapers, and shouted in their mouths, "It's insulting to Sven, how can it be reasonable, this demon must be eliminated today, so as to live up to our righteousness." ”

The more clever Jinyi Wei immediately went up and said the sentence that was instructed earlier, and the scholars turned around and killed the "people's newspaper", and the brain was not very flexible and panicked all of a sudden, and was surrounded by the scholars is a punch and kick, and the shot was called a heavy, and the strength to eat milk had to be used.

The status of the Ming scholar is very high, once he has a fame, he can see the official without kneeling, if he has the fame of lifting people or jinshi, then the acres of land under his name do not need to pay field tax. This policy was set by the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and this policy has not changed throughout the entire Ming dynasty. There are many reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but the most conspicuous one is the lack of money. There are too many fields that do not need to pay taxes, and the commercial tax and other taxes in the Ming Dynasty are not much at all, or they cannot be collected at all, and the tea tax in the country is 30 taels in one year in the Apocalypse Dynasty, which is a ridiculous number. Daming can be said to be the first tea country at that time, and the tax revenue in a year is so much, which is impressive.

So what is the main tax of Daming? Two, one for the field tax and one for the salt tax. The population of the Ming Dynasty basically maintained a growing trend, which also meant that more and more people were eating salt, but the salt tax was indeed inversely proportional. Especially from the beginning of Wanli, the salt tax fell amazingly, from more than 3 million taels in the Wanli Dynasty to more than 1 million taels in the Tianqi Dynasty, and then to hundreds of thousands of taels in Chongzhen, and then there was no more.

As for the field tax, because the meritorious people do not need to pay the field tax, many ordinary people, especially the clans of the scholars, put the fields under the names of the scholars, so as to "reasonably avoid taxes". Some people with black hearts rely on their own power and power, they lend usury to those farmers who have their own land, after all, the farmers are basically not rich, once they are sick, then they have to borrow money to see a doctor, the more and more money rolls in, the farmers do not come out, so they have to use the land to pay off the debt, which leads to more and more serious land annexation, and finally to the Chongzhen Dynasty, the country needs to pay taxes on the field has been less than 10%, but the total tax has not changed, it is apportioned to those farmers, plus to raise the Liaodong army, and the annual Liaodong salary, In the end, Da Ming really had no money, couldn't raise soldiers, couldn't make weapons, and collapsed.

In addition to these, scholars also have freedom of speech, as long as you don't say rebellion, no one will care about you, after all, the Han Dynasty has never said "**". But once the scholars gather together to read books, whether you are the emperor or the tycoon of the dynasty, you must pay attention to it, send someone to protect it, and not let them be harmed. Even in the Republic of China, the students of Beiping surrounded Duan Qirui's mansion and asked him if he had signed an unequal treaty with the islanders.

At this time, the same is true for the Jinyi guards, this group of scholars did not rebel, and they did not dare to make a move, if they fought back, maybe they would become bacon on the city gate tower in a few days. At this time, he was beaten for a while before he reacted and shouted loudly, "If you have any doubts, go to Donghuamen 'People's Newspaper' to consult." At this time, the scholars turned around and walked towards the "People's Newspaper".

At this time, there were about 100 scholars at the door of the "People's Newspaper". The door is a wooden platform set up overnight, in fact, it is paved with a lot of wooden boards, the platform is raised, the wooden platform is not big, about 3 meters long and 5 meters wide, the height is about 1 meter, there is a table on the platform, on which a copy of today's "People's Daily" is placed, next to the table stands a scholar, about thirty years old, less than 6 feet long (180 out of the nod), the eyes are resolute, the corners of the mouth are slightly upturned, a look of wisdom beads in the hand, there are a few strands of beard on the chin, it looks a little dusty. Wearing a white Confucian shirt, surrounded by wide brims, and a square scarf on his head, he looks like a reading seed. There are also people who recognize him, they are all in a circle, there are always a few familiar faces, and the scholars know his identity after talking to each other-Bai Shizhong is cautious, and he is a person who entered Beijing to take the exam.

The restless atmosphere around the scholar slowly calmed down, and a leading reader, about 30 in his early 30s, stepped forward and arched his hand to Bai Shizhong, "This senior brother, I don't know if this "People's Daily" has anything to do with senior brother. Bai Shizhong replied loudly, "Let the senior brother laugh, isn't it the person who wrote the "People's Daily". The scholar looked serious, "Senior brother is also a person from the Shilin like us, how can I promote this sidewalk." "The face does not change color when it is white", but what the senior brother said was the horizontal article of "People's Daily" and the punctuation in it? "Exactly," replied the group below.

Bai Shizhong slowly glanced at the crowd, and said slowly, "Brothers, the layout of this article has not changed for the article itself, and this punctuation is also convenient for people who are just literate to break sentences, you have all studied poetry and books for more than ten years, and you all know how helpful it will be to study the classics if you don't have to break sentences yourself." Some people began to think rationally, but some people continued to oppose it, and the scholar who had just taken the lead replied, "How can the scriptures be studied in this way, and the sentences are different, and the articles read are different, isn't this tampering with the scriptures and insulting the saints?" As soon as the words fell, some of them applauded on the side, only to hear the scholar continue, "The articles have been vertically arranged for thousands of years, and now you have to be horizontally arranged, which is quite grandiose." This time, the applause was not as enthusiastic as just now, the scholars of this era are still very disciplined, unless they have a deep hatred, they generally do not attack personally, and the scholar's face stiffened slightly.

Bai Shizhong replied slowly, "The vertical arrangement of articles has existed since ancient times, and that is because the paper has not been made, or the quantity is insufficient, and the general text is written on bamboo slips. However, the bamboo slips are heavy, a book often uses dozens of catties or even hundreds of catties of bamboo, due to the recognition of the convenience of paper, since the Tang Dynasty, basically all the words have begun to be written on the white paper, which is a huge change made by the predecessors. At present, neither the horizontal arrangement nor the punctuation marks of the articles in the "People's Daily" have added or subtracted a word to the article, and this change is of the same nature as the change from bamboo slips to paper. Let's talk about broken sentences, each person due to the different broken sentences, the article is different in everyone's eyes, and the truth learned from it is not the same, in order to express what they get after reading, whether it is the previous dynasty or the current dynasty, there are famous people who make annotations to the sage classics, punctuation marks are used for this, and it may also cause the book to not be the original state, then it is necessary for famous artists to break sentences according to their own annotations to the classics, if one person's can not convince the public, then two people, In the end, there will certainly be one person whose commentary is closest to the original intention of the saint. Moreover, the current "People's Daily" is not the work of a saint, it is a way to facilitate the people of the world to read and write. "The Book of Rites and Learning" says: "If the jade is not cut, it will not be made; People don't learn, they don't know. Only by reading the book can we understand the truth and etiquette. Confucius once said, "There is no class in education", even if it is a rural farmer, can be literate, know, it is also a good thing for us to read seeds, if one day, the people of the Ming Dynasty can be literate, that is the great prosperity of Wenzhi, is the pride of my generation of readers. ”

After finishing speaking, he swept everyone again, this time the division was more serious, some people were thinking, some people looked at Bai Shizhong with eagerness, obviously moved by what he just said, and a small number of people still objected, looking at Bai Shizhong's eyes became more and more unfriendly. The leading scholar said, "It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous to slide the world, how can it be possible to let everyone in the world read, isn't this world going to be chaotic, the imperial court opens the department once every 3 years, and all the people who can get fame are the best among the people. ”

"This senior brother, what is the meaning of reading for my generation of scholars, Mr. Hengqu of the Song Dynasty (Zhang Zai (1020 ~ 1077), the word is thick, a native of Hengqu Town, Fengxiang Yi County (now Mei County, Shaanxi), a philosopher, thinker, educator, and one of the founders of science in the Northern Song Dynasty. Known as Mr. Hengqu, honored as Zhang Zi, Feng Xianxian, enshrined in the 38th place of the Confucian Temple. Said solemnly, I thought it was true, 'Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a life for the people, continue to learn for the saints, and open peace for all generations.' This is also why we and other students want to enter Beijing to catch the exam, the reason for the fame, but not everyone reads because of this, such as farmers in the countryside, reading and reading is to understand things, signing a contract can also understand themselves, business literacy is for business convenience, Lehu literacy is to be able to read music, play fairy sound, the purpose of reading is not the same, but they all want to study, since the Tang and Song Dynasty imperial examinations, the era of Shandong family to control the qualifications for reading is long gone, so now everyone is qualified to read, If you want to study, if you don't believe it, you can ask the people on the street casually, or you can tell them that they are not qualified to read for generations, and they are not allowed to study, and see what the result is. Of course, I don't dare to say this to the people. As soon as the words fell, there were a few low laughs from the crowd, and at this time, a group of people watching the excitement next to them applauded, "The scholar said well, if anyone dares to say that we are poor and cannot study for generations, we will beat him to death if we fight for a cheap life." A group of men next to him also cheered, "Brother Li said well" and "That's the reason"

A man who looked quite old in the crowd of onlookers sighed: "If you can let your little grandson read and read in this life, you will die immediately, and you will have the face to see your ancestors and ancestors." As he spoke, his eyes were also a little moist, and he hurriedly wiped his eye frames with the back of his hand, and a few elderly people next to him seemed to feel something, bowing their heads and groaning. The street at the entrance of the people's newspaper gradually quieted down, and both the onlookers and the scholars gathered together felt a little sour in their hearts. Yes, reading is such a noble thing, even if you can't achieve fame and be an official, but as long as you can read, it is a happy thing, and the people are very yearning for reading. Scholars are also thinking about it, it seems that in the previous generations, the elders of the family are also illiterate, and the scholars present are not all from scholarly families.

The leading scholar seemed to have nothing to say, although he could still refute it with many of the ways of the sages he had learned before, but looking at these onlookers and their yearning for reading, it seemed that he couldn't open his mouth for a thousand words, and his own grandfather was just a small master book in the county, not a scholarly family. So he arched his hand towards Bai Shizhong with a complicated face and left without looking back, as if he was in a very uncalm mood, and he didn't even see Bai Shizhong's return gift. The rest of the scholars slowly left.

On the second floor of the teahouse not far from the street, there are three father and son sitting near the window. Finally, my father said, "Hou Zhao, Hou Wei, let's go back too." ”