My Father in Law is Lu Bu

Chapter 720

Yangzhou's exams, Lord Qiao's Notes and the printing technology set off huge waves in the entire Han Dynasty.

“Where are you going Old Li?” One farmer called out to his fellow villager. It was the busy farming season but Old Li put down his hoe and wore his only mended shirt. He was clearly going to the city.

“Where else? I'm going to the city!” Old Li replied.

“What for? Are you visiting relatives?” The farmer was confused. If it was to visit relatives, Old Li could do it on another day.

“I am going to buy books for my son.” Old Li declared.

The farmer started to laugh. “Old Li, stop joking around. How can you buy books with your family's financial situation? Can you even afford it?” He was not saying this to mock his fellow villager. He was persuading Old Li as books were expensive. Even if Old Li sold all of his fertile land, he would not have so much money.

“Why would I lie to you?” Old Li was anxious. The people from the countryside also cared about face. “I want to buy three books for my second son. This way, he can study and become an official in the future. At the very least, become a village chief.” Old Li said. To him, a village chief was already a very high position.

“Haha. Become an official? Are you drunk? Are you not afraid your wife would slap you?” The two men's conversation quickly drew in a crowd. They all began to laugh at Old Li's wishful thinking.

Old Li's face became red as the others laughed at him. “I am telling the truth! Why do you not believe me? Have I ever scammed you?”

“Haha!” The others already thought of Old Li as a joke.

“What's going on here?”

At this point in time, the village chief himself appeared. His rank may be low but he was still in charge of several hundred households and is an official. From the farm tools they used to the seeds they plough. All of it were obtained from this village chief. Because of that, they all respected the village chief.

“Village Chief. Old Li must have had too much to drink. He is talking about buying books and making his son an official. Isn't this ridiculous?” One person explained. They treated Old Li like a fool.

“Becoming an official (官)?” The village chief shook his head. Even he himself was just a minor official (吏 li) . It was a huge difference between this and an official (官员 guanyuan)

“See. I said that Old Li is drunk. Even the village chief never heard of this before! How could he know?” The villagers was now certain that Old Li was dreaming as the village chief don't seem to agree.

“I did not drink!”

“Enough.” The village chief clapped his hands. “Becoming an official is not easy but what Old Li said is right. There are indeed books for sale in the city. Old Li should indeed be going to buy books.” The village chief added.

The others were shocked. “Old Li. Did you strike it rich?” Books were luxury products that only the wealthy could afford. A single books was worth several gold while an entire acre of fertile land was only worth two thousand coins.

“Where would I get the money? My wife sold our hen and a dozen eggs for a hundred coins so I can buy books.” Old Li replied.

The villagers were shocked. Selling a hen that can lay eggs was a big deal but Old Li trying to buy books with a hundred coins was more shocking.

The village chief nodded at this. “If you choose wisely, you can get two or three good books with that money.” The village chief himself had bought books. Though he was illiterate, having books at home gave the impression of a scholarly family. He even sold some of his own property in the city just to get the money to buy a cart of books.

“That can't be right. How can you buy three books with only a hundred coins?” The villagers were skeptical.

“How can I the village chief, deceive you?” The village chief's expression darkened.

“No, no! We do not dare doubt you!” The others quickly replied. Though they showed respect towards the village chief, it was obvious that they still did not believe him. РаΝȱ𐌱ĚⱾ

“You will believe me once Old Li comes back with books!” The village chief waved his hand. “Old Li. The city is far away. You should take Brother Cheng's ox cart.

“How can I…?” Old Li hesitated. Ox were precious in the village so no one dared to ride on the ox cart.

“Whats wrong with that? Brother Cheng is going to the city anyway. Just go with him.” The village chief said generously. Old Li then left with the ox cart after thanking the village chief.

“Alright. Disperse.” The village chief said to the other villagers.

The villagers also went back to their farming since it was a busy season.

Soon, the sky began to turn dark and the villagers start to talk again.

“Why hasn't Old Li come back yet?”

“Maybe he did not manage to buy a book and did not dare to come back!” A lot of people had this thought.

“Of course. It is buying books! I used to work for the Wu Family in the city. You know the Wu Family?” One of them suddenly said.

“Master Wu? The one doing tea business?” Another one asked.

“Yes. Master Wu is extremely wealthy but even he had to beg his grandparents if he wants to buy a book. He had to go through so much difficulty just to buy a book. I heard it costs over ten gold!”

“So expensive?” This was an astronomical number to the poor.

“That's right! That is why it is so ridiculous that Old Li said he is going to buy books!”

“Don't say that. Maybe someone made a mistake and end up giving Old Li a book! Haha!” Another began to laugh. In the ancient era, there were no such things as television or computer. This kind of gossip is pretty much their only source of entertainment. This matter with Old Li could last them half a year.

“Old Li is back! Old Li is back!” Someone suddenly shouted while the other villagers were laughing. He came back with Brother Cheng on top of an ox cart.

“Old Li! Did you not manage to buy books?” One person asked.

“I've got nothing to say to you all!” Old Li turned away and ignored them.

“See! I told you he failed to buy anything!” The villagers concluded. If Old Li managed to buy books, he would be very proud instead of leaving silently. Because of this, the villagers kept laughing and ridiculing Old Li.

After some time, Brother Cheng could no longer take it and sneered. “All of you mock Old Li but you are all clueless!” These villagers all did not know that Old Li was the one who benefits the most out of their actions.

This is because Old Li bought three books. However, Old Li refused to say anything as he also learned that his son could enroll in a school after farming season ends in two months. He stayed silent so that his son could get a head start over the others from the same village.

“This Old Li! It's such a waste that he is from the same village as us!” One person said with hatred after hearing this. Old Li was so selfish.

“That's right! At the end of the day, I am his brother-in-law! He should at least tell me!”

Brother Cheng looked at this brother-in-law with contempt. Where was he when people were mocking Old Li?

“Brother Cheng. Is all this true? A book only costs about thirty coins?” Some of the villagers were still in doubt.

“Do I get money for lying to you? Look. I even bought two for myself.” Brother Cheng said with disdain.

“Brother Cheng. Can you even read?” Someone started to laugh.

“I can learn!” Brother Cheng replied angrily.

“Haha. Brother Cheng! Can you still go to school at your age?” The villagers laughed and left as Brother Cheng angrily brought the ox back to the shed.

These villagers all laugh around and were uneducated. However, they were not stupid. There were only benefits to giving their children education. The moment they returned home, they immediately gathered their wealth to go to the city and buy books the next day.

The following day, people from all over gathered to buy books. At the end of each book was a quote from Qiao Xuan. “Reading enlightens the mind. It is what the sages learn and what prospers the world.”

At this moment, Liu Mang found Qiao Xuan to be pleasant to look at. With this phrase, scholars from across the land all looked at Qiao Xuan with high regard. Some even started to revere Qiao Xuan as a sage on par with Confucius.

Qiao Xuan was smiling from ear to ear. His reputation was rock solid.

“Milord. Isn't it a loss to sell books so cheaply?” Mi Zhu, the Minister of Revenue was troubled as there were no profit to it at all. The paper alone cost fifteen coins and they haven't included the price of the ink yet. Yet, Liu Mang was only selling it at thirty coins. If they include the cost of the manpower needed to print the books you could even say that they were selling at a loss.

“Zifang. Education has always been a money losing business.” Liu Mang said without worry. As long as the people become wise, the loss is worth it. The books were not to earn money but to earn talent. If even one additional talent emerge from this, the business was worth the money.

“Milord. Setting this price in Yangzhou makes sense but why are you selling this at the same price in Yanzhou and Xudou?” Mi Zhu was confused. You could argue that you are making your people wise by selling in Yangzhou. However, Yanzhou and Xudou were Cao Cao's territory. This was helping the enemy.

“Haha! I wish Cao Cao would buy all the books!” Liu Mang laughed. The more books sold outside of Yangzhou, the better it would be for Liu Mang.

The people were ignorant and happy because they have never studied. Once they have read books, their thoughts and ideas would be different. An uneducated person would simply marry a wife, have children, and herd animals and they would be happy. But if they read books, they would want greater success like those of scholars.

In Yangzhou, there was the exam that the poor can take. If they do well, they can become officials. However, there were no such thing elsewhere. This is not because the other rulers can't see the benefits of this. It is because the exams directly challenge the noble's privilege. In the past, it was the nobles who could be educated and have a superior advantage over the common people. As long the nobles were not idiots, they would definitely become officials. The exams that allowed anyone to become officials naturally offended the nobles.

Liu Mang was not afraid in offending the nobles because Yangzhou and Jiangdong nobles have all but ran away, killed or directly surpressed. The nobles were powerless and could not say anything.

But in other territories, the nobles still had power. In Jingzhou for example, Liu Biao hated Cai Mao but he could not kill Cai Mao. This is because the Cai Family was powerful. Killing Cai Mao would cause a huge turmoil and Liu Biao still needed to rely on the nobles.

If they dared to hold exams to appease the commoners, the nobles would quickly turn on them.

So what happens if the common people from these territories receive education? They would become dissatisfied which will lead to one of two choices. The first was to leave their territory and move to Yangzhou to make a name for themselves. The other was to rebel against the nobles in their own territory. Regardless of which choice they make, it would be beneficial for Yangzhou.

This was why Liu Mang sold the books cheap. This was a cultural war.

Just like this, an endless stream of books printed from Yangzhou flooded the markets across the land. What used to be the exclusive privilege of the nobles are now easily obtainable by the poor. From that day onward, anyone without books at home would no longer be able to leave their homes without feeling embarassed.

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