After that, he shouted to the outside of the hall: "Bring in the things and present them to the king!" ”

As soon as the words fell, several attendants immediately walked into the hall carrying five boxes.

Seeing this, everyone immediately held their breath and stared at the five boxes, which were artifacts comparable to the five-colored stones that filled the sky.

When the box was placed in the main hall, as the waiter gently opened the box, the ministers immediately straightened their waists, and then pushed up their knees to see it.

At this moment, everyone's eyes widened, and then eagerly looked at the paper in the box. Although they didn't know what paper was used for now, since this thing was comparable to the five-colored stone, and even a gift from the Black Emperor, it was absolutely extraordinary.

It's just that when the box was completely opened, when everyone saw the two blue and three white things in the five boxes, everyone showed a trace of hesitation in their hearts, as if this paper was not as shocking as the five-color stone.

At this time, Gong Yin came to the box, and then took a book from each of the boxes where the blue books were stored, then held the books in one hand, bowed his head slightly, and said, "Please take a look." ”

"Bring it in."

"Yui."

Soon, a waiter walked from the side of the Wang Tai to the side of the Tooth, and after taking the book from the Tooth's hand, he bent down and came to the side of the King Tai with the book in both hands, and presented the book to the King of Chu.

Wait for the king of Chu to take the book and open it.

At this time, he said: "King, since the successful production of paper, the minister has found many uses for paper, which can be used to replace bamboo slips, toilet chips, pasting windows, wrapping things, and so on.

Ranchen believes that the most important role of paper is to replace bamboo slips. Therefore, today's minister not only brought three boxes of blank paper, but also brought two boxes of classics made of paper, one of which is the "Book of Songs" and the other is "Lao Tzu". ”

At this time, Xiong Huai roughly flipped through the "Lao Tzu" in his hand, nodded and praised: "Good, good, the widow used to read the classics of various families, and the book of "Lao Tzu" counted more than 5,000 words, which is the number of words in the classics of each family. However, even so, the book "Lao Tzu" also uses two to four rolls of bamboo slips, nearly two hundred bamboo slips, which together weigh about ten catties.

Books made of paper, though only a small amount, contain 5,000 words. With this kind of saying, when the widow looks at the classics again in the future, he doesn't have to hold the heavy bamboo slips to read. ”

"My lord, the benefits of a book made of paper are not only that. He smiled smugly: "The cost of the two books "Lao Tzu" and "Book of Songs" produced by the minister is roughly the same as a blank volume of 100 bamboo slips. ”

"What?" Everyone in the hall was shocked to hear that the cost of these two books was so low.

In the shock of everyone, Qu Yuan was the first to react, and then asked: "Sir, are you sure that the cost of these two classics is not comparable to a volume of classics, but to a volume of blank bamboo slips." ”

He nodded when he heard this, he knew why everyone was shocked, the reason why the classics were extremely valuable was that the price of the bamboo slips themselves was not low, and more importantly, the classics were scarce and difficult to copy.

After printing, especially large-scale printing, the cost of the latter two is almost negligible.

And this is the fundamental reason why he and the king of Chu have the confidence to let books replace wooden slips, otherwise, relying only on manual copying of classics, the books will be difficult to replace bamboo slips in a hundred years.

At this time, after Qu Yuan opened his mouth, he had been paying attention to Yin Jin Juntong of Taifu, who had already spoken, and after seeing that he had already nodded with a smile, he was anxious about the township studies in various places, and suddenly his spirits were greatly lifted, and then he walked quickly to the front of the teeth, and bowed and said: "Sir, is this really the case?" ”

Seeing Jin Jun's anxious appearance, he knew his difficulties, so he nodded again and said, "The king is in front, how dare the old man lie about it." ”

As he spoke, he saw that everyone looked at him expectantly, and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, I think everyone is also doubting what he said, but I believe that by tomorrow, everyone will no longer doubt it."

Because the craftsmen of my Chu State are already in full force to make classics, starting tomorrow, Taifu's store in Yingdu will sell all kinds of classics. As for the price, according to the number of words, it costs 30 yuan per 10,000 words. ”

As he spoke, he took out a book from the box where the books were stored again, and then took the book and raised it to the ministers: "Gentlemen, it is also said that the two classics in the hands of the old man now, of which the "Book of Songs" is only sold for one hundred and twenty yuan, and the "Lao Tzu" is only sold for fifteen yuan. ”

"Fifteen Money..."

"Thirty money..."

"Thirty yuan for 10,000 words, that is to say, the "Zuo Biography", which used to be worth a lot of money, is now only six hundred yuan."

""Yi Chuan" only costs fifteen dollars!"

"The Analects cost thirty-three dollars."

"The Rite costs three hundred dollars."

······

"No, there's something wrong with that." At this time, Sima Jingque, who had not spoken in the court, suddenly shouted: "Gong Yin, the prices of the various classics you said are unreasonable, such a classic and esoteric classic book as "Lao Tzu", and "Yi Chuan", which is known as the first of all scriptures, why is it only sold for fifteen yuan?" And the "Book of Songs" for the introduction of young Mengtong costs 120 yuan? ”

Speaking of this, Jing Que stared at him with blazing eyes and said, "Gong Yin, this Sima thinks this is unreasonable. ”

As soon as Jing Que opened his mouth, the lively hall was immediately exploded, and people who believed in various schools opened their mouths for their families.

"Yes, this is unreasonable, why can your "Mozi" be sold for more than 230 yuan, while my Confucian classic "Analects" can only be sold for 30 yuan. The difference between the two is ten times, Gong Yin, the method of selling by the number of words is too unreasonable. ”

"Yes, this price is unreasonable..."

At this time, Xiong Huai saw that the ministers in the hall were originally distinct, but now they were completely chaotic. Instead of being hostile to the opposition, the reformers united with another group of ministers of various factions to argue with each other over whose classics were of higher value, and this continued from the gates of the main hall to the throne.

Seeing this, Xiong Huai couldn't help but sigh: "This ideological struggle is even more fierce than the conflict of interests. ”

Then, Xiong Huai heard all kinds of voices asking for the price of his own classics and asking for too high the value of his own knowledge, thinking of the Internet literature of later generations, a question suddenly popped up in his mind: "If Lao Tzu also knew that books were charged according to the number of words, would the "Tao Te Ching" in later generations be turned into a huge work of 500,000 words? ”

After his thoughts diverged for a while, Xiong Huai calmed down, and then coughed lightly twice.

However, the coughing sound instantly became drowned out in the arguments of the ministers.

Seeing this, Xiong Huai had no choice but to stretch out his hand and knock on Wang's case a few times.

"Knock knock..."

At this time, the ministers heard a strange noise, turned their eyes, but saw the king of Chu knocking on the table expressionlessly, seeing this, the ministers immediately saluted and said: "The king, the ministers are out of order." ”

"It doesn't matter." After Xiong Huai waited for the hall to be quiet, he comforted him lightly, and then said: "Ladies and gentlemen, two days ago, Gong Yin reported that the widow's paper could make books, and then Gong Yin asked the widow's classics how to price.

The widow thought that this paper secret recipe was given by the Black Emperor, and the widow did not want to use the Black Emperor's reward to make money, so the widow decided that all the classics made of paper in my Chu State would be sold to the people of the world at cost price, whether it was my Chu people or people from other countries. ”

Seeing that this price was set by the king of Chu, and that the king of Chu wanted to spread the reputation of the Black Emperor, everyone had no choice but to worship: "The ministers are stupid, and the king is shengming!" ”

Xiong Huai smiled and spoke again: "As for some virtuous people who think that the price of their classics is too low, the widow thinks that this is a good thing!"

Zhu Qing think about it, in the future, people in the world will study the classics of various universities, and it will only cost fifteen yuan to learn "Lao Tzu", but it will take six hundred yuan to study "Zuo Chuan". ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately reacted, yes, in order to promote their own doctrine, of course, the cheaper the classics are sold, the better, and it is best to give them away for free in Taifu's stores.

As soon as he thought of this, the person who was originally proud of the extremely high price of his classics suddenly turned black. And the price of his own classics was too low, but suddenly he became happy.

And just when some people were thinking about how to reduce the cost of promoting their own theories, as the makers of paper, they frowned at the moment, and secretly said in their hearts: The book "Mozi" is worth more than 200 yuan, and most of the people who believe in the Mohist theory are poor families, and it is impossible to buy "Mozi" with 200 yuan.

In order to promote the Mohist doctrine, it seems that in the future, the children of the Mohist family will have to hand over more Yulu.

Just as everyone was thinking, Xiong Huai coughed lightly twice again and said: "Zhuqing, the successful development of paper is a grand event in our Chu country, and it is also a prosperous era in the world. In order to promote paper, in order to invigorate, in order to spread the fame of the Black Emperor.

The widow decided to name the paper Wahuang paper, and two months later, the widow personally sacrificed to the Black Emperor with a heavy salute, at that time, the nobles with the title of seven doctors and above in the country needed to come to Yingdu to participate in the sacrifice. ”

As soon as the ministers heard that the king of Chu was preparing a state sacrifice to the Black Emperor because of the appearance of the paper, they immediately bowed down in unison: "King Shengming." ”