Weiyang Palace, Shaofu as a room.

Under the guidance of Yang Chengyan, Liu Ying unexpectedly found that the courtyard in front of him, which covers an area of only ten zhang and does not show abnormalities at all, is surrounded by no less than 100 light and dark sentinels and patrol guards.

Walking into the courtyard with an indifferent expression, what caught his eye was a craftsman standing or sitting, holding a wooden board in his hand and carving words on the wooden board.

"How?"

"What are the difficulties in printing and engraving?"

The question was an understatement, but it caused Yang Chengyan's brows to wrinkle, and a touch of bitterness immediately hung on his face.

"Your Majesty."

"It should not be difficult to carve words on wooden boards."

"There are only a few craftsmen who are good at carving, and many are not literate······"

With a worried face, he saw Yang Chengyan shaking his head, then turned sideways, picked up a piece of wood from the corner of the pile of discarded wooden boards, came back to his senses, and handed the wooden board to Liu Ying.

"Your Majesty, look."

"All the craftsmen who carve words here are almost illiterate; The words carved on the wooden board are also strokes and engraved in scriptures. ”

"However, these engravings are easy to obtain eight rows and fifteen columns, a total of one hundred and two crosses; But if there is a word carved by mistake, the whole board will be invalidated. ”

"In the past few months, dozens of such craftsmen can be said to have forgotten to sleep and eat, working day and night, and they only got the engraving of the first eight chapters of the "Cangjie Chapter······"

Hearing Yangchengyan's words, Liu Ying's expression couldn't help but dim, lowered his head, and saw the wooden board that Yangchengyan handed over, and sure enough, as Yangchengyan said, it was just that the word "heir" of 'Cangjie made a book and taught the heirs' was wrongly carved, which made the entire wooden board invalid.

Especially now, the text of the Han Dynasty is the Qin seal, that is, the small seal often said in later generations, although it is simpler and neater than the Western Zhou Dynasty seal, but it is still not related to the 'simplified Chinese'.

According to the summary of later researchers, the development and evolution of Chinese characters is based on the large seal as the starting point and the regular script as the final version.

Among them, the Chinese script has undergone a development and evolution process from the large seal to the small seal, to the official script, the cursive script, and finally to the regular script.

Even though 'Kaishu' eventually became the most simple and convenient font in China, on the eve of the new era in later generations, Huaxia script still underwent the evolution from 'Kai Zheng' (traditional Chinese) to 'Kai Xing Ti' (simplified Chinese).

In the process of the evolution of Chinese characters from large seals, small seals, to official scripts, cursive scripts, and finally to regular script and regular script, the Qin small seals that are now used in the Han Dynasty are only in the second stage;

——A considerable part of the characters in Qin Xiaozhuan have not even completely departed from the category of pictographs such as 'oracle bone inscription'!

In addition, today, even the senior craftsmen who can rank among the Shaofu are still in a state of illiteracy that 'does not know a single big character', so it is no wonder that the scrap rate of the engravings carved by these people is outrageous.

For this problem, Liu Ying naturally expected it, and she already had a general direction to solve it in her heart.

First, it is natural to take the initiative to speed up the process of writing evolution, so that Qin Xiaozhen, who is now in the Han Dynasty, can enter the next stage of the evolution of Chinese writing as soon as possible: Lishu.

But this direction, even if we put aside the natural laws of the evolution of words and the time it takes, just the impression that it happened decades later made Liu Ying have to rule out this direction for the time being.

Speaking of this historical story, we have to mention that today, the fourth son of the former emperor Liu Banghuang, who is still the king of the country: Liu Heng, the acting king.

In the original history, the Han Emperor Zuo experienced the inheritance of Taizu Liu Bang - filial piety Liu Ying - former young emperor Liu Gong - later young emperor Liu Hong, and in the fifth generation, it was passed back to Liu Bang's son, Liu Heng, who was the acting king at the time!

As for the changes that occurred during this period, Liu Ying was not deeply impressed - after all, in his previous life, Liu Ying had not done any profound research.

Liu Ying only vaguely remembered that in a certain yawning history class, the teacher once said: After Liu Heng, the acting king, became the fifth emperor of the Han family, he seemed to be doing well;

Not to mention the praise of 'filial piety', he even fished out the temple number of 'Taizong'.

In Liu Ying's impression, this historical story about 'Lishu' happened during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Han Dynasty, that is, Emperor Xiaojing.

At that time, Emperor Taizong Liu Heng had died, Xiaojing Liu Qi was on the throne, and Empress Xiaowen Dou Yifang naturally became the queen mother of Xiaojing Liu Qi.

said that this filial piety queen Dou Yifang loved Huang Lao's doctrine all her life, and sneered at any other school;

I also happened to hear that there was an old Confucian, whose name was: Yuangu, who had despised the Huang Lao's doctrine that he believed in, so he summoned the old Confucian Yuangu into the palace.

When the old Confucian Yuangu was called, the Empress Dowager Dou happened to be accompanied by Liu Qi, the Son of Heaven, to watch the beast fight next to the beast circle in Shanglinyuan, and when she saw Yuangu coming, she asked directly: I heard that it was you, who once said that Confucianism is the best?

Yuan Gu didn't answer, and the Empress Dowager Dou asked again: Compared with the Confucianism you studied, is Huang Lao's theory better or worse?

The situation has developed to this point, and anyone with a discerning eye can see it: Empress Dowager Dou heard that the old Confucian Yuan Gu slandered Huang Laoxue, so she was dissatisfied;

embarrassed Yuan Gu in person, but he just wanted Yuan Gu to be soft and say a few good words to himself, and the matter was over.

Unexpectedly, when the old Confucian heard this, he couldn't wait to put his head behind him, pointed his nostrils to the sky, and replied to the Empress Dowager Dou with great contempt: Huang Lao's doctrine is just something for women to learn!

Seeing that Yuan Gu was so uninteresting, Empress Dowager Dou was immediately furious, and immediately replied: What is compared to what Sikong and Chengdan learned?

After that, the Empress Dowager Dou was still furious, and saw a wild boar in the beast circle in front of her, so she ordered the old Confucian Yuangu to be thrown out of the beast circle and duel with the wild boar.

If it weren't for the critical moment, Liu Qi, the son of heaven, who had always served as a background board on the side, threw his sword down, I am afraid that in the history books, after the first emperor Yingzheng's 'burning books and pit Confucianism', there would be an additional allusion to 'Empress Xiaowen of the Han Dynasty was cruel and unreasonable, driving the wild to swallow Confucianism', that is, 'driving Confucianism and swallowing Confucianism'.

And in this incident, the most strange thing is the sentence that Empress Dowager Dou replied to: Ande Sikong Chengdan Shuhu?

Regarding Yuan Gusheng's contempt for 'Huang Lao, but the family's words', even if the Empress Dowager Dou replied, she should also criticize Confucianism and Confucius, and why should she take an inexplicable 'Sikong Chengdan Book' as a counterattack against Yuan Gusheng?

In her previous life, Liu Ying had never understood the crux of this question, and she had never even cared about the answer to this question.

After all, he didn't take this for the final exam······

But after traveling back to this era and clearly knowing the potential meaning of 'Sikong Chengdanshu', Liu Ying realized later: why did the historical Empress Dowager Dou choose to use this sentence to go back and forth.

——At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the mainstream text: Xiao Seal, there was also a text that was not so recognized by the mainstream: Lishu.

The reason why Lishu is called 'Lishu' is because this font, which appeared at the end of the Warring States Period, was originally mainly used to record the criminal responsibility files of prisoners and related judicial records.

In other words, the title 'Lishu' already carries a certain degree of contempt and insult - a text specially used for criminals and convicts.

As for why Empress Dou mentioned 'Sikong Chengdanshu' inexplicably in front of Yuan Gusheng, it is precisely because of 'Sikong Chengdanshu', that is, the most solid supporter of Lishu, is the Confucianism from Yuan Gusheng.

In this way, this inexplicable conversation between the Empress Dowager Dou and Yuan Gusheng can be completely explained.

- Empress Dowager Dou asked: How is Huang Laoxue?

Yuan Gusheng replied contemptuously: It's just something for women to learn.

Empress Dowager Dou refuted angrily: That's better than you scum who worship Lishu!

As the saying goes: take a peek and know the whole leopard.

From this incident, it is not difficult for Liu Ying to judge that there is a certain degree of contempt for the obviously more convenient and advanced script of Lishu in the Han Dynasty today, and even in the mainstream literary circles of the Han Dynasty in the next hundred years.

How can the words given to prisoners and criminals be used to record the thoughts and philosophies of the sages, and even appear on any formal occasions?

- This is simply the collapse of Lile!

This means that in the context of today's times, if Liu Ying's mind is really patted, he will not care about the implementation of the official book, and not mention whether the matter can be done, I am afraid that Liu Ying himself will have to bear the extremely huge pressure of public opinion first.

Combined with Confucianism's resolute defense of Lishu, if it is not speculated with the greatest malice, Liu Ying's move to promote Lishu may even be misunderstood as a clear proof that 'the Son of Heaven is a good Confucian'!

And in this era, it is absolutely impossible for a 'good Confucian' son of heaven to get the support of the court, or even to make the court feel at ease······

That way, things are simple.

Since it is not advisable to subjectively accelerate the evolution of words, the rest is to reduce the scrap rate of carved plates through the transformation of thinking······

Thinking of this, Liu Ying looked at Yang Chengyan's gaze, and couldn't help but bring a touch of meaning.

"Hmmm······"

"But the word is misadjusted, why not make the carved plate cut into pieces, and only adjust one word in one piece; And then the carved blocks are combined into a whole board? ”

Hearing Liu Ying's words, Yang Chengyan first subconsciously frowned, and a look of 'how can this matter be so simple' immediately appeared on his face.

But after a short while, he saw that Yang Chengyan's face was stunned, and his dull eyes gradually took on a strange color.

In front of Yang Chengyan, seeing that Yang Chengyan had already shown an epiphany, Liu Ying also smiled faintly, and between her eyebrows, she finally brought a touch of relaxation.

What Liu Ying didn't know was: in fact, the main reason why the historical engraving printing technology evolved into movable type printing was because the scrap rate of engraving plates was too high and it was extremely inconvenient for printing.

——In the era of engraving printing, a carved plate can only print a fixed book, and if you want to print a new book, you need to make a new carved plate.

The new carved plate is the same as the old one, only this new book can be printed, and if you want to print other books in the future, you still need to make a new carved plate.

In the early days of engraving printing, there were only a few books in the world, but the four books and five classics of Confucianism, the allusions of the sages and so on; It is not so troublesome to fix the book with fixed engraving printing.

But later, when folk literature began to rise, and people made a reading book at every turn, and raised a large number of silver stamps in their hands to be printed in batches, problems began to appear.

——As private capital, no matter how rich these people who want to publish books are, it is impossible to be the same as the four books and five classics printed by the central government of the court, and one printing is 1.8 million copies;

It's a little bit of money at a scholar's house, and he accidentally writes a book that he thinks is very good, so he wants to print a hundred and eighty copies and pass them on to his relatives and friends, and by the way, show off his family background and literary accomplishments.

In this case, it is obviously a bit more than worth the loss to customize a new carved plate for such a book with a circulation of only 180 copies.

- Craftsmen are illiterate, but it is the norm in thousands of years of Chinese history!

After all, under the smear of Confucianism's 'strange and skillful skills', it is impossible for any literate person who can read and write to 'condescend to the dignity' and go to the company of wood and iron.

The carved plate required for printing must be carved out by these craftsmen one by one, just like this, the problem faced by Yang Chengyan is the same: as long as there is a character and a certain stroke carved wrong, it will lead to the entire carved plate invalid.

As the secretary of the Shaofu, with the personal support of Liu Ying, the son of heaven, and the unconditional support of the entire Shaofu, Yangchengyan can naturally bear the high cost of carving plate production;

But for those folk 'publishers' who have spent most of their wealth to customize a set of carved plates, and expect this set of carved plates to make money every day, and have no worries about food and clothing all their lives, a set of books without circulation is obviously an absolute disaster.

In this context, movable type printing came into being, the cost of publishing folklore dropped significantly, and reading materials began to rise······

However, the development process of Chinese civilization from engraving printing to movable type printing, from the appearance of copying and rubbing stone tablets in the Xiping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (172-178 AD) to the appearance of movable type typesetting and printing in the Song Dynasty, also took hundreds of years······

At this moment, Liu Ying stood in this 'China's first engraving and printing research institute', with a light cloud and a light breeze on her face.

But in fact, Liu Ying made movable type printing appear on the land of China thousands of years earlier than in history.

After euphemistically 'mentioning' Yang Chengyan, Liu Ying did not describe further, only patted Yang Chengyan's shoulder with a smile, and gave a 'I am optimistic about you' look, and left the Shaofu studio with his hand.

Liu Ying believes that after the ideological barriers were broken, the transformation from engraving printing to movable type printing could not stump Yang Chengyan, a senior talent born as a Qin military craftsman.

As the Son of Heaven, Liu Ying does not have so much energy to promote the leapfrog development of Chinese civilization.

——At present, there is also a battle to destroy the country related to Liu Han's national fortunes, which requires Liu Ying, as the Son of Heaven, to keep an eye on it at all times······

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