Qin Wang swept across the six realms, how majestic his ambitions are!
He brandishes his sword to dispel the clouds, and all the feudal lords come from the west.
Twenty large characters leaped onto the paper.
“Good, hahaha, good! ‘Qin Wang swept across the six realms’, and ‘all the feudal lords come from the west’, hahaha!!”
Seeing the four lines of poetry Zhao Chen had written, Ying Zheng was delighted.
He hadn’t expected that merely twenty characters could express his ambitions, the ambitions of the Great Qin Dynasty.
These were the ambitions of the six generations of Qin Kings. Now that the Great Qin Dynasty had surpassed the six kingdoms in strength, the grand ambition of all the feudal lords coming from the west would be realized in his hands.
Not only that, but his three-year-old son also shared these ambitions. This was what made him most happy.
After all, he saw the continuation of the Great Qin Dynasty.
At this moment, in Ying Zheng's heart, Zhao Chen would be his successor, the next king of the Great Qin Dynasty.
“Father, you’re here.”
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Rise.”
Ying Zheng waved his hand.
“Son, why did you have Dun Weak summon me here?
But your handwriting is very good. Did you secretly practice?”
Zhao Chen:………………
He glanced at Ying Zheng helplessly, deciding to ignore him.
“Father, what do you think of the paper I wrote on?”
“Hmm, paper?”
Ying Zheng picked up the paper. He had been so captivated by the poem Zhao Chen had written that he hadn’t paid attention to the paper. Now, he took a closer look.
It was very good, even better than silk. The ink didn't smudge, and it didn't bleed through to the other side.
Good, very good.
“Chen’er, what is this paper?”
“Father, this is what I’ve been making these past few days. Paper. How is it? Wouldn't it be much better to use this to write instead of bamboo slips?”
“This wouldn’t be made from something useless like tree bark or bamboo grass, would it?”
“That’s right. It is.”
Zhao Chen wasn’t surprised that Ying Zheng knew this. It would be strange if he didn’t.
“Then it seems that the cost of this paper is very low.”
“That’s right. Wouldn’t it be better to use paper to write books, edicts, practice calligraphy, etc., than bamboo slips?
One piece of paper can hold dozens or even hundreds of characters. It’s easy to carry around, and because it’s cheap to make, even ordinary people can afford it. If that’s the case, more people can read. Won’t that mean the Great Qin Dynasty will have more talent?
If the Hundred Schools of Thought are written and bound on paper, wouldn’t it be faster, easier, and cheaper to spread them? Wouldn’t this allow us to win over the Hundred Schools?
“Haha, good, good. Chen’er, you’ve done a great job this time. Very good.”
Ying Zheng burst into laughter.
The uses of paper were incredibly wide. Besides what Zhao Chen had mentioned, there were many more uses. It could be said that the appearance of paper could truly change the situation and allow the Great Qin Dynasty to attract more talent.
“Young Master, this paper is truly extraordinary.
However, the Hundred Schools of Thought are countless. Wouldn't it take too much manpower to write and bind them all in a short period of time?”
Gui Guzi asked.
You have to understand that the Hundred Schools of Thought had many different schools, and each school had countless teachings. Just the bamboo slips themselves numbered in the thousands.
The workload was enormous.
Let’s not even mention the dictionary he was currently compiling. It only seemed to have a thousand characters, but each character had annotations, bringing the total to over ten thousand characters.
“Teacher, I’ve naturally thought of that.
You’ll understand when you see this next thing.”
Zhao Chen smiled slightly.
“Dun Weak, bring the woodblocks and templates the craftsmen made!”
“Yes!”
Soon, Dun Weak brought over the woodblocks and templates.
Although there were only over five hundred characters, that was enough.
Zhao Chen crouched down and began searching through the woodblocks.
He quickly found the twenty characters from the poem he had written, then arranged the woodblocks on the template, fixed them in place, and brushed them with ink.
“Father, Teacher, watch closely.”
Zhao Chen began to print the template directly onto the paper, three times in a row.
Sixty characters appeared on the paper.
“How is it, my printing method?” Zhao Chen looked at Ying Zheng with a proud smile.
“This… this…”
“A miracle!”
“This is a miracle, Young Master. This is too amazing.”
After watching Zhao Chen’s actions and seeing the three identical poems on the paper, everyone was stunned and shocked.
The impact of movable type printing on them was simply too great.
Gui Guzi even trembled.
This way, the teachings of their School of Statecraft could be printed out entirely, and since the paper was lightweight, it would be easier to preserve. It would also be easier to spread the teachings of the School of Statecraft. How could Gui Guzi not be excited?
Yue Shen and Yan Fei felt the same.
Now, they understood why Young Master had said earlier that the teachings of the Yin Yang School could be widely spread. With paper and this amazing printing technique, all the teachings of the Yin Yang School could be printed out in the thousands. How many people in the world wouldn't know about the Yin Yang School?
Confucius traveled around the kingdoms to teach his three thousand disciples, but only seventy-two of them achieved success.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to take in more disciples.
Nor was it because the other disciples lacked aptitude.
It was simply because of limited resources. The Confucian teachings, when made into bamboo slips, amounted to tens of thousands of volumes.
To cultivate disciples on a large scale would require a manpower and material resources that one Confucian school couldn’t afford, which was very unfortunate.
Now, with paper and printing, everything was solved.
No wonder Young Master said he could attract the Hundred Schools of Thought.
In the face of such temptation, I doubt any school could resist!
Not only that, the appearance of books could entice even more people to come to the Great Qin Dynasty, whether it was for their own teachings or for the sake of learning. Many would willingly come to the Great Qin Dynasty.
No scholar could resist such temptation.
“Hahaha, hahaha! Good, good, good. Chen’er, this time you have made an unparalleled contribution to the Great Qin Dynasty. I am very happy. Say it, what do you want? As long as I can get it, you can have it.”
Ying Zheng's words shocked everyone present.
This promise was terrifying.
If Young Master directly asked for the position of Crown Prince, wouldn’t the King grant it?
On second thought, perhaps the King already had this intention?
Although Young Master was only three years old, the intelligence he displayed wasn’t like that of a three-year-old child.
At this moment, everyone looked at Zhao Chen, wanting to know if he would ask for the position of Crown Prince.
“Father, these are things I should do. As a son of the Great Qin Dynasty, shouldn’t I contribute to my dynasty? However, since…………”
Before Zhao Chen could finish, Ying Zheng interrupted him. He saw the way Zhao Chen’s eyes were darting around and knew he was up to something, so he said,
“Oh, like that? I’m very happy you have this awareness. Then, forget about the reward.”
“Ah, wait, Father, you’re breaking the rules. I haven’t finished talking yet?”
Zhao Chen hurriedly said.
Dad, why are you not playing by the rules?
“Hehehe, go on, what do you want?”
“First, I’ve already promised these craftsmen that I will reward them, and if they can improve the papermaking process and make even more exquisite paper, I will grant them titles of nobility.”
“This is simple. I grant it.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Young Master!”
All the craftsmen immediately knelt down to thank them.
“Second, I want the Luo Net.”
“Hmm? Chen’er, you…”
Ying Zheng was about to ask, but stopped.
He could give him the Luo Net, but not now. Many of those in the Luo Net still answered to Lü Buwei. So, even if he wanted to give it to Zhao Chen, he couldn’t. Besides, Zhao Chen was still too young, and didn’t know martial arts. He wouldn’t be able to control the Luo Net assassins.
Never mind. I’ll clear away all the obstacles for you, and then I’ll hand over control of the Luo Net to you.
“Alright, but you have to wait until you grow up a little and learn martial arts before I’ll give you control of the Luo Net.”
“Hee hee, thank you, Father.”
“Anything else?”
“No, I’ll leave everything here to you, Father. I’ll take my leave.”
As he said this, Zhao Chen prepared to leave. Everything was settled. Now it was time for him to be a hands-off manager.