The magistrate has two major functions, the first is to collect money and grain, and the second is to educate. The first level of indoctrination is the prohibition of obscenity, and the second is the school. Most of the iron prisons are immigrants, except for the spread of Maitreya Buddhism that has flourished in recent years, there is no obscenity in the local area. Here, the school is the main content of education.

Now that they are outside the school, there is no reason for several Zhizhou not to take a look.

Turning to the south of the small garden, there is first a small shop selling pen, ink, paper and inkstone. A few people glanced at it, but they were all worthless bargains, and then they lost interest. There are iron supervisors living here, there are no rich and noble families, including stationery, which is naturally mainly for daily use.

There was a small shop next to it that sold books, calligraphy and paintings, and there was nothing to do, so everyone went in to see what was sold here. There are not many literate workers who work every day, so what books will they read?

On the shelf on the left side of the door, there is a row of scriptures and historical anthologies. There is no shortage of the Thirteen Classics, the printing is exquisite, and it is not the goods of a small workshop. Below are several medical books such as "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing" and "Materia Medica", with some miscellaneous classics mixed next to them. In the other compartment, there are historical books, the "Historical Records" and "Han Shu", like the Thirteen Classics, are beautifully printed, and the others are obviously bought from outside. Another grid is a collection of ancient and modern anthologies. The first one is Ouyang Xiu's most familiar "Han Changli Anthology", which is also printed beautifully, and the others are uneven, common books on the market.

Ouyang Xiu picked up the Changli Anthology, flipped through a few pages, and saw that it was the most popular version on the market, with neither proofreading nor new annotations, so he put it down. This collection of Changli essays opened Ouyang Xiu's literary road, and he couldn't be more familiar.

Putting the book down, Ouyang Xiu said to Du Zhongxiao: "It's really not easy to have such a book in a small shop here. It's just a matter of luck, why are these books beautifully printed, while others are good and bad? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "With a school, the iron supervisor will naturally print books. It's just that the manpower is limited, and only the boards for those books are made. ”

Now popular engraving printing, with woodblocks. It is easy to print, but it is not easy to make plates. The iron supervisor has money, but there is a limit in the end, and there are not many plate-making craftsmen invited, so they can only start with the classics. In fact, Du Zhongxiao remembered a variety of printing methods, but his energy was limited, and he didn't try any of them. The movable type printing, which was most highly anticipated, was not used because of the unclear pattern and low printing quality.

These collections of scriptures and poems are all read by a few Zhizhou, and they can memorize many books backwards. I flipped through it slightly, and saw that there was nothing eye-catching, so I just did it and continued to go inside.

There is no lattice in the back, but a few tables with various books, calligraphy and paintings on them, which look a little messy.

Seeing the paintings on the table, Song Qi couldn't help but laugh dumbly. The first is a big fat doll, with a big fish riding underneath, the color is red and green, and the content is unbearable. The back is more elegant, there are characters, there are landscapes, and there are words underneath. When I looked at it, it turned out to be a three-point story, several paintings linked together, telling a small story. Most of them are placed together with these, mostly telling folklore, and several paintings are intertwined.

Needless to say, most of the residents here are uneducated workers, and that's what they like. The lady's landscape that the literati like is not interesting in their eyes, and no one will buy it here.

There are a few leaning against the wall, talking about Kong Rong making pears and Wang Xiang lying on the ice, although they are shoddy, they have the meaning of edification after all.

These things couldn't get into the eyes of literati, and several Zhizhou laughed while watching them, and walked all the way over.

At the end, on the tables opposite the door, there are calendars and the like. The imperial court promulgates a new calendar every few years, especially in recent decades, the calendar has been inaccurate, and it has changed again and again. The calendar here is up-to-date and not fallacious.

Yan Shu came here and was intrigued by the two almanacs. One is a thick volume, one page for January, with the date indicated on it, and the festivals and solar terms of the month are indicated, as well as the precautions of the season. In the background are flowers and birds, reflecting the climate of the month. There is also a large book, one page for each solar term, marked with agricultural tasks such as planting and harvesting, and some agricultural proverbs are printed on it.

Pointing to these two booklets, Yan Shu smiled at Du Zhongxiao and said, "Yun Juan, these two books have some meaning. In addition, you should print some stories of the sages here to educate the people. Just tell some stories for entertainment, and lose education, how is it different from folk businessmen? ”

Du Zhongxiao arched his hand: "What Xianggong said is true." It's just that there are not many literati here, and they can't print those if they want to, so they can only wait for later. ”

The main group of people in the iron prison is the Xiang army, and most of the people recruited are down-and-out literati, and the stories of the sages and sages cannot be printed, so who will they sell them to? These things are not distributed for free, and the cost of printing books must be earned first.

After reading the almanac, I went to the other side, full of various pamphlets.

Song Qi picked up a copy casually and saw that the cover read "The Law of Fertilizer". When I opened it, it talked about how to make manure, but it was detailed, full of colloquialisms, and there was no literati popularity. Pick up another one, it's ploughing. More than a dozen books, all of them. There are iron supervisors living here, and there are no farmers, and it is clear that people have no interest in these books, and there is no trace of reading them at all.

Going forward, it is the same pamphlet, but instead of farming, it talks about all kinds of industrial knowledge. There are how to smelt copper, how to cast iron, and how to build agricultural tools. Each book has the author's name on it, and without exception, it is a colloquialism.

Taoist alchemy is also an elegant interest among literati. A few people flipped through these pamphlets, but they were also very interested.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The people in the vicinity who have a skill, whether they are workers or farmers, can go to the iron prison and let people print them into a booklet and sell them here." For each book sold, give them a penny. These books are of mixed quality, but they can broaden their horizons and benefit both the people in the prison and the people. ”

Yan Shu said: "There are all capable people in the people, and it is also a way to do this." ”

These are folk books, some of which are subtle, some of which are of little value, and most of them are worthless. These pamphlets are informative, open-minded, and casual. Sometimes the people in the iron prison can also find valuable ideas in it, conduct research and summarize the results. The real value is written by the professionals of the Iron Supervision Organization, but those are not sold publicly.

In the end, near the door, there were only two booklets. One copy of "Literacy" and one copy of "Arithmetic" are used for enlightenment by the school here in the Iron Prison. Each is divided into three volumes, corresponding to the three years of the school.

"Literacy" also uses colloquialisms and various short stories to teach some simple and common words. After a few governors saw it, they understood why the opposite side was mainly selling those things. Isn't that all you can appreciate when you use this kind of textbook to read and write?

"Arithmetic" starts with a simple recognition of numbers, talks about the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and then a simple multiplication square, followed by the "Ninety-Nine Multiplication Table". These are common knowledge, and it is rare to summarize them in a book. However, the foreign numbers used in it make people feel simple.

Apart from these two books, there is only one thing at the door. When I picked it up, it turned out to be "Baiting Supervisor". This is the newspaper of the Iron Supervisor, which is published every ten days, and talks about the major and minor affairs of the Iron Supervisor. It's all in colloquialisms, and there are only a few simple texts that can be called articles.