"Just something?"
Ma Zhou's eyes lit up when he heard the first half of Li Zexuan's words. When he heard the surprising twist at the end and Li Zexuan stopped talking, he felt as if a hundred claws were scratching his heart, secretly annoyed that Li Zexuan deliberately titillated people's appetites.
Li Zexuan smiled and did not answer the conversation. Instead, he changed the topic and asked:
"Sir, what do you think of this workshop's movable type printing technology?"
When Ma Yiyi heard about this printing technique, he immediately became excited. He said excitedly:
"Of course! Great! With this movable type printing technology, the cost of books will be greatly reduced. In the future, poor scholars all over the world will be able to afford to read. Sir, this is an act of immeasurable merit!"
Li Zexuan asked in confusion: "What? Sir, what you mean is that books are very expensive nowadays? Scholars can't afford them?"
He has traveled so long that he has never gone to a bookstore to buy a book, and he doesn't know much about the book market. Seeing that Ma Zhou was a little too excited, he became curious and asked.
When Ma Zhou heard Li Zexuan's question, he seemed to remember something again, his eyes suddenly turned red. He hammered the pillar next to him angrily and said angrily:
"Not only is it expensive, it's simply a money grab. I have a million-dollar collection of books in the Tang Dynasty, of which seven or eight million are probably in the hands of aristocratic families. The price of a volume in the library is enough to support an ordinary family of three for a year. How can those poor scholars afford it! If my father hadn’t left some books in his collection, Ma would still be an illiterate white man now. He would have been lucky if he hadn’t starved to death. How could he have expected to study!”
The way Ma Zhou is opening his mouth and spouting wildly, he looks exactly like you, an ancient version of an angry young man.
In fact, Ma Zhou was right. The book trade was active in the Tang Dynasty, and bookstores were spread all over the country. Since woodblock printing has not yet become popular, books are still mostly hand-copied, so they are relatively expensive, generally selling for more than a thousand yuan per volume.
Ye Mengde of the Southern Song Dynasty summed up the price of books before the Tang Dynasty with the word "expensive" in "Yan Yu in the Stone Forest". He said: "Before the Tang Dynasty, there was no method of imprinting all the manuscripts. People regarded collecting books as expensive."
It can be seen that at that time, people regarded books as a very valuable commodity and rushed to collect them. Just like modern real estate, they are more valuable than gold. This led to people buying houses crazily.
Li Tai couldn't help but interjected: "Doesn't the imperial court encourage people to copy books? Mr. Ma can copy the books and send them to the government in exchange for money to buy other books!"
After Li Er became emperor, in order to encourage people to donate books widely, he once issued a decree: "Anyone who accepts a small number of books in the third management office will be given a thousand coins."
It means copying a volume of books, and the price of each piece is one thousand coins. It can be said that this is the first time that the unified price has been officially stipulated. Therefore, the price of books in bookstores is generally slightly higher than this price.
Ma Zhou said angrily: "Shit, you can only borrow books if you want to copy them. Those wealthy families with book collections know that you are borrowing books for copying, so they will first charge you a rent of six to seven hundred yuan! Uh, oh, how dare you What do you call this little brother?"
Ma Zhou squirted for a while, and then he remembered that he still didn't know who this little fat guy was.
"Master Liu, you go and do your work first. I'll chat with Mr. Ma for a while!"
Li Zexuan spoke up.
Liu Yidao said yes, backed out, and closed the door.
"Mr. Ma, this is His Royal Highness the current King of Wei!"
Li Zexuan formally introduced Ma Zhou.
Ma Zhou's calves trembled and he almost fell to his knees. He just finished squirting on Li Taigang!
"Meet Wei... Wei Wang... Wang... Palace... Your Highness!"
Ma Zhou said tremblingly.
Although he has some hatred for the rich in his heart, the supremacy of imperial power has been deeply ingrained in his heart.
Moreover, Ma Zhou read classics, histories, works, and collections, and what he wanted to do was to stabilize the country and establish national policies. Naturally, he wanted to sell goods to the emperor's family. Over the years, he has not found the right "sales channel" and has only wandered around states and counties to see where he could get a good price.
Now that he saw Li Tai, His Majesty's most beloved son, his mind became a little more active, but when he remembered that he had just sprayed Li Tai violently, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
Li Tai waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite!"
In fact, he didn't have much interest in Ma Zhou. After all, it was the first time they met, and he didn't know what Ma Zhou's talents were. Besides, Ma Zhou's sloppy appearance really made people unfavorable.
On the other hand, he has a literary museum of his own and has many bachelors under his command. He has no shortage of literati.
Ma Zhou had experienced so many years of ups and downs in human relationships, so he naturally noticed Li Tai's lack of interest in him. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, he had better do his current job well and don't be too ambitious.
Li Zexuan smiled and said to Ma Zhou: "Mr. Ma, when I first set up this printing department in the workshop, I just wanted to make it easier to print books in the future, so I invented this movable type printing technology."
Both Ma Zhou and Li Tai were speechless. This was such a strong reason. To make it easier for you to print books, you set up a printing shop. How rich your family must be!
"But today I met Mr. Ma and listened to Mr. Ma's words. I decided to make this printing department bigger and stronger. From now on, the printing department will be renamed the Ministry of Culture. We will not only print classics and classics, but also publish books ourselves, opening up People's wisdom.
And I have another way to reduce the cost of paper. The ultimate dream of our Ministry of Culture is to make everyone in the world able to read and read! Brother Ma, I wonder if you are willing to sincerely help me? "
Li Zexuan looked at Ma Zhou and said sincerely.
These words are not completely deceptive. He set up the printing department before, indeed just for his own convenience. But now if Ma Zhou can take charge of the printing department, it would be a waste if he still only wants to use the printing department to print books for himself. With Ma Zhou's talent for governing the country, the printing department in the future must be transformed into a department that exports culture.
Ma Zhou's eyes widened and his breathing became rapid. He was really shocked by Li Zexuan's shocking words, "Let everyone in the world be able to read and recognize words!" What a great dream this is!
Angry youth, in addition to liking to squirt, another characteristic of angry youth is that they like to be impulsive. Ma Zhou lived up to his name as an angry youth. His head felt hot, and he patted his chest and said loudly:
"I've done it! As long as I can make everyone in the world able to read and recognize words in my lifetime, Sir, you won't even give me a single wage, and I, Ma Zhou, will do it too!"
At this moment, Ma Zhou had completely forgotten about the ethics of scholars not to engage in lowly professions. Now he just wanted to roll up his sleeves and do something big.
"Okay! Brother Ma is so courageous. Don't worry, with me here, this dream will definitely be more than just a dream. One day, it will definitely be realized by us! And Brother Ma, you will not only be famous throughout the ages, but also rich!"
Li Zexuan also felt proud and burst into laughter.
Li Tai looked hot and interjected: "Sir, why don't you count me as one of them? Tai has many bachelors under his command, who may be able to help you!"
As a member of the royal family, Li Tai also has his due position. Li Er is now suppressing the five surnames and seven hopes and trying his best to promote officials from poor families. Therefore, Li Tai himself does not like people from aristocratic families in his heart. Li Zexuan, the Ministry of Culture, does not want to deal with aristocratic families. A very good tool.
Li Zexuan did not expect these twists and turns. He thought for a moment, nodded and agreed: "Okay, then for the Ministry of Culture, I will give Qingque 30% of the shares. Qingque will remember to bring 3,000 yuan to subscribe for the shares in the future!"
Selling books at low prices should affect the interests of many people, so Li Zexuan thought of dragging a prince into the car to act as a shield.
Li Tai vomited blood and said: "Three thousand strings? You...why don't you go and grab it? I can send a few bachelors to help you. Can you pay less?"
Li Zexuan waved his hand and said, "No, Brother Ma is enough. If you think it's too expensive for Qingque, then give up and find Gao Ming to be your teacher. I think Gao Ming will definitely be willing!"
Nonsense, Ma Zhouneng was thinking, how could he not have talent and learning in his heart? He doesn't care about those bachelors under Li Tai! Maybe everyone's eyes are higher than their heads, and they come here to become uncles without doing anything!
"I am willing! Brother Zexuan, I am willing to pay 3,000 yuan to buy 30% of the shares!"
Li Chengqian's shouts came from outside the door.
Li Zexuan was speechless, saying that Cao Cao had arrived, and Li Chengqian must have been eavesdropping outside for a while!
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chengqian pushed the door open unceremoniously and looked at Li Zexuan with excitement.
… … …
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