In the early morning of the next day, Li Yan and Liu Fang came to Liu He's study at the same time, waiting for the eldest prince to assign them various affairs.

When Liu He was alone at night, he also repeatedly compared and pondered the two, and felt that Li Yan's personality was more extroverted and more powerful, and the comments of later generations on Li Yan were also mixed, which made Liu He a little entangled in his heart, and he did not dare to let all his thoughts and secrets be mastered by Li Yan.

This is not to say that Liu He is suspicious, but he feels that if he only relies on Li Yan alone, it will not only dampen the enthusiasm of other people, but also easily get used to Li Yan's dictatorship and domineering after a long time.

Liu He's understanding and views on his own Liu Fang are very limited, and they are still on the surface, but he feels that this person's vision and strategy are not low from Liu Fang's ability to keenly point out the existence of "three troubles" in Youzhou, and he is also enough to compete with Li Yan and Xu Miao in terms of knowledge.

Last night, Liu He asked Li Yan what he thought of Xu Miao, and Li Yan's answer surprised Liu He. Li Yan actually said that Xu Miao's talent is not inferior to Liu Fang, and he is the kind of person who seems to be arrogant but has a splendid chest.

Liu He thought about it carefully and understood. Xu Miao claimed in the banquet that he had gone to the Jundu Mountain to visit the great Confucian Lu Zhi of the time, and with Lu Zhi's vision and knowledge, he was willing to leave Xu Miao in the mountains for a few days, which shows that Xu Miao is not a prodigal child with an empty stomach.

The arrival of Liu Fang and the appearance of Xu Miao gradually increased the number of descendants who Liu He could use and cultivate in the future, and he felt that from now on, he should divide the work among these people, so as not to cause everyone to quarrel because of unclear authority in the future.

Li Yan has a calm personality and a strong desire to control, suitable for doing something to replace Liu He, the most appropriate position is the "organization minister", usually let him take the lead in convening a meeting of all parties or something, and the designation is done properly.

Liu Fang has a cautious and introverted personality, and his literary talent is quite outstanding, so he is suitable to stay by Liu He's side as an "office director", usually drafting all kinds of documents and orders for Liu He, collecting and combing official documents from all over the world, and submitting them to Liu He in order of priority.

Although Xu Miao has not been officially recruited by Liu He, he is a land-sitting household in Jicheng, although he is a little addicted to alcohol, but the flaws are not hidden, and he already belongs to Liu He's dishes in the bowl, and others can't dig them away if they want to.

It is said that Xu Miao is also a master of Danqing, not only a good hand in painting, but also proficient in other piano, chess, and calligraphy. For this kind of guy with a flamboyant personality and not very restless, Liu He feels that it is really suitable to arrange a position of "Propaganda Minister" for him!

By the way, I almost forgot about Tian Chou. This is the first subordinate brought by Liu He since his arrival, and he belongs to the kind of talent whose attributes are very balanced, have no obvious shortcomings, and have a very high "growth value". The most important thing is that Tian Chou's loyalty to Liu Yu is really evidenced by heaven and earth, and the sun and the moon can be seen.

Historical records once recorded that when Tian Chou returned to Youzhou from Chang'an, Liu Yu had already been killed by Gongsun Zhan. Tian Chou was not afraid, publicly set up a sacrifice to mourn Liu Yu, howling and crying in front of Liu Yu's spiritual position, after Gongsun Zan knew the Tao, although he was very angry, but because Tian Chou's reputation was too great, he did not dare to harm him, so he had to put him under house arrest.

Although Chen Shou's evaluation of Tian Chou in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is only a simple "good reading, good at fencing", Liu He knows very well that Tian Chou's life is definitely not simple. If you have to compare Tian Chou with other characters of the Three Kingdoms, then he is the "Youzhou version" of Xu Shu.

Although Liu He left Tian Chou in Sanhuting to continue to carry out the great "agricultural ** movement", he never forgot this good buddy who accompanied him through the most difficult years of his life in his heart. Liu He had already thought about it, and as soon as he found a suitable candidate, he would send someone to Nanyang to welcome Tian Chou back to Youzhou and entrust him with reuse.

Liu He reserved a very important position for Tian Chou, that is, "Minister of Defense". Before Tian Chou did not come back, the very important position of "Minister of Defense" had to be temporarily represented by Zhao Yun. The "Minister of Security" must not only undertake security and security work, but more often than not, he must also carry out anti-espionage and anti-enemy intelligence work, and he must hand it over to a person with a smart mind and a complete range of civil and military skills, so that Liu He can rest assured.

Although Liu He coveted top talents such as Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, Xun You, and Xi Zhicai under Cao Cao, and also saw that Yuan Shao's subordinates now had a large group of strategists such as Tian Feng, Xun Chen, Feng Ji, Xin Ping, and Xu You, he did not feel that the few people he had recruited at present could not bear the heavy responsibility.

Tian Chou is only twenty-three years old this year, Li Yan and Liu Fang are only twenty-two years old this year, and Xu Miao is only twenty-one years old this year.

Of course, it is not enough to have ideas, Liu He wants to prove his unique vision through practical actions, so he is ready to teach Liu Fang and Li Yan hand in hand.

Liu He's brain didn't twitch, right? With that little thing in his stomach, what can he teach Li Yan and Liu Fang?

Well, there really is.

Liu He had already asked people to prepare a few stacks of neatly cut Caihou paper and a few brushes of the same thickness, and after seeing Li Yan and Liu Fang, he got up and distributed these things to them.

"Zhengfang, Ziqi, today I want to teach you some special symbols, as for the use of these symbols, you can slowly understand after learning. I don't care what you have in mind, my request is that you two get to grips with the correct use of these symbols as soon as possible, or I won't be able to leave important matters to you in the future! ”

Li Yan and Liu Fang saw that Liu He was very serious, and the two nodded solemnly, saying that they would definitely recognize and learn.

"First of all, I want to teach you the fancy writing method from 0 to 9, these 10 symbols themselves are not difficult, among which from 1 to 9 is easier to understand, as long as you compare the numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine at a glance, the key is this circle, it means zero, that is, there is no and blank meaning."

Liu He carefully wrote down 10 Arabic numeral symbols with a brush in his hand, and then carefully explained them to Li Yan and Liu Fang, which also emphasized the use of 0.

Liu He remembers that although the concept of 0 has been used in China for a long time, and it has been recorded in many literatures, there is no clear symbol to represent 0, but only a blank space to represent 0 on arithmetic tools such as calculation chips and abacus.

The reason why Liu He taught Li Yan and Liu Fang to learn Arabic numerals today is because the basic mathematical knowledge he has learned is based on Arabic numerals.

Li Yan and Liu Fang were really smart people, and after practicing a few times according to the 10 Arabic numerals written by Liu He on paper, they roughly grasped the meaning and usage of these strange symbols.

However, before they could get embarrassed in front of Liu He, Liu He threw out the five more complex symbols of "+、-、×, ÷, and =", which made Li Yan and Liu Fang memorize again.

After Li Yan and Liu Fang mastered the five basic operation symbols, Liu He began to throw out common Chinese punctuation marks such as commas, periods, pauses, colons, semicolons, and double quotation marks, only to find that Liu Fang and Li Yan did not seem to be as enthusiastic as they were when they learned mathematical characters and operation symbols just now.

Li Yan frowned and said: "If these circled symbols are added to an article in Haohao, it will not only look messy, but also affect reading and recitation, which is a bit of a suspicion of adding to the snake." ”

Liu Fang also nodded and agreed: "Although the number symbols that Fang Cai learned are strangely shaped, if you are proficient, you can also save a lot of writing time, but these punctuation marks in Gongzi's mouth seem absurd and weird, which is really incomprehensible." ”

Liu He didn't debate with Li Yan and Liu Fang, he picked up the pen and wrote ten words without any punctuation on the yellowed Caihou paper, "The people can make it impossible to know it", and then said to Li Yan: "Zhengfang, how do you break the sentence of these ten words?" ”

Li Yan took a look at it and said with a smile: "This sentence is from the "Analects of Taber", which should be broken from the middle and read as 'The people can make it, but not the people can make it known'."

Liu He nodded, and asked Liu Fang again: "If it is according to the positive sentence, please explain what these two sentences mean?" ”

Liu Fang replied with a relaxed face: "What this means is that the country rules the people, just instruct and drive them to do things, and don't let them understand what they are doing." It can also be interpreted to mean that the people can drive them to work, but they cannot let them know our purpose. ”

Liu He nodded and said, "According to the sentence just now, we can put a comma in this place, right?" ”

The two nodded at the same time, looking at Liu He's "tantpole-like" in the middle of "the people can make it" and "the unknowable".

Liu He wrote the same ten words next to this line of words again, and then added commas, periods and semicolons without hesitation, so that the same ten words became like this: "The people can make it; No, let it be known. ”

Liu He read out ten words aloud according to his punctuation sentences, but when they fell into the ears of Li Yan and Liu Fang, the meaning completely changed.

Liu He said: "If you follow my method of breaking sentences, these ten words seem to be understood as 'For the people, those who can make them free, and those who cannot also make them know', I don't know if what I said is right? ”

Li Yan and Liu Fang nodded together, agreeing with Liu He's explanation.

"Don't worry, you two, and watch me write down the third method of breaking sentences!" Liu He came to the momentum, and even wrote the same line on the paper again, and then began to add the so-called punctuation marks on it without hesitation.

By the time Liu He finished tinkering, three lines of identical text appeared on a piece of Caihou paper, but the positions of the circles and dots in the middle of each line of words were different. The details are as follows:

The people may do it; Do not know.

The people may, let it be; No, let it be known.

The people can make it, and let it be; Not to make; Know.

Li Yan and Liu Fang were dumbfounded at that time, they completely understood what Liu He wanted to express, Liu He wanted to tell them that if there was no punctuation as an aid, then in the face of the same text, because of different understandings, there would be multiple meanings. And some of these interpretations and meanings are similar, while others are diametrically opposed!

Liu He was still unsatisfied, pointing to the third line of text with punctuation marks and saying: "Actually, my favorite is this third method of sentence breaking. My understanding of this sentence is that poetry, writing, rituals, and music are the foundation and means of educating the people, and we must do a good job of it. If the people master poetry, writing, rituals, and music, it is a great thing, and they should be allowed to play to their heart's content; If the people have not yet mastered it, we must try to educate them in every possible way, so that they will know the Tao and understand these basic things! ”

By the way, in fact, there is a fourth explanation for this sentence, which is to the effect that: as a ruler of the country, if the people can obey his will and carry out the decrees he has issued, then then let the people go and do not interfere more; If the people are disobedient, everyone has opinions, there is rejection and confrontation, what should be done at this time? Then educate them about what to do and what not to do! ”

After Liu He said this, he looked at Li Yan and Liu Fang, who had been completely petrified, and said with a smile: "Now, I'm going to assign today's homework!" You follow the fourth explanation I just mentioned, work backwards and use punctuation to match, and then mark it for me on paper. ”

"The two of you sit on both sides, copy and mark each other, and don't plagiarize!"

When Li Yan and Liu Fang heard this, they almost fell headlong.

Just like that, can we plagiarize each other?