After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 677 - 671: On the Great Trends of the World
Because these books are priced slightly below the market rate, especially "Thousand Character Classic," which is cheaper than many introductory books, and she prints them in large quantities without reservation. In places like Shu region, the Two Lakes, and Jiangnan, wherever her Yu State trade caravans can reach, they take this book like a local specialty to sell everywhere.
This extensive distribution has earned Zhao Hanzhang the favor of many scholars and made her name even more memorable.
Aristocratic families monopolize knowledge, but currently, there aren’t many aristocratic families and scholars consciously monopolizing knowledge. More often, they simply treasure the books passed down from their ancestors and are unwilling to disseminate knowledge outside.
They are unwilling to spread their knowledge, but they are quite willing to spread others’ knowledge.
So later, when books like "The Analects" and other introductory books followed the "Thousand Character Classic," they not only kept a printed copy from the Zhao Family Bookstore but were also willing to use some lectures to explain them.
But Zhao Hanzhang thought it was still not enough.
She needed more talent and prestige.
She was bold as well, directly taking out several agricultural books, books on craftsmanship, and military manuals to the bookstore.
Now the Zhao Family’s bookstore and paper mill have opened in Chen County.
Unlike other workshops, the bookstore and paper mill currently only exist in Xiping and Chen County; books in other places are mostly imported from these two locations.
Zhao Hanzhang handed the books to the bookstore, saying, "Print them out, each one three thousand copies, and send them to the manager of the Treasure Pavilion."
The manager of the Treasure Pavilion will have various merchants distribute them.
Fishing, naturally, requires bait to catch the fish.
But this still wasn’t enough. Zhao Hanzhang, while watching her people diligently digging dams and canals, sincerely wrote a letter to the Emperor.
In the face of natural disasters, no place can be spared. Starting next year, the areas north of the Central Plains will face waves of disasters.
This includes the regions of Bingzhou and Jizhou, occupied by Liu Yuan.
The greatest disaster lies in Jizhou.
Drought will begin in Youzhou and Jizhou, and locust plagues will also start there. The army of locusts will move west and south from Youzhou and Jizhou, leaving no grass behind.
Disasters will spread to Bingzhou, Si Province, Yongzhou, Qinzhou, and the northern part of Yu State. The people of six states and the Han people in the northern Yu State will suffer immensely. Having already endured crop shortages for several years, this time, only one in ten Han people may survive.
By right, Zhao Haniani wouldn’t fare any better, but by then, he would get ruthless, not only forcibly collecting grain and horses but also conscripting soldiers. He would lead a large army south, taking advantage of the severe locust plague in the Central Plains to overthrow Western Jin directly.
Thus, the Yongjia reign only lasts five years.
But now, Prince East Sea has died two years earlier than expected, and the Emperor has moved the capital from Luoyang. She is uncertain about the future destiny.
But people can relocate, Luoyang can change rulers, but natural disasters won’t change.
So she must guard against them, not just herself, but the Emperor should also have each region on guard.
However, she wanted to write not only about natural disasters. Even if she harbors ambitions for the world, she doesn’t want to take the Emperor’s place. She hopes he remains firmly seated in that position.
As long as he exists, the world stays stable for another day.
So Zhao Hanzhang wrote to the Emperor about the situation in the world, telling him that although Liu Yuan is ambitious, you have me and General Gou Xi, and for now, he cannot attack. So we should seize this opportunity to develop agriculture, appease the people, stockpile grain, and fortify city walls to prepare for Zhao Han’s potential re-attack from the south one day;
She also told him, as the shared master of the world, the people are still starving, so we can’t spare any effort right now, but that’s okay. We first calm the people, let them farm with peace of mind, stockpile as much grain as possible, and when we are strong enough, we can launch a northward campaign to reclaim lost territory.
Circling back to the same point, focus on calming the people, stockpiling grain, and saving money.
Zhao Hanzhang wrote her suggestions, hoping the Emperor would issue an edict to console the people of the world, especially those in Yan State, to dispel their fears, lighten taxes and levies, encourage more farming, and stockpile grain just in case...
Zhao Hanzhang wrote extensively, finally handing the letter to the bookstore, instructing them, "Engrave it, print more copies, send them to each academy, so when they go to support building waterworks in various places, they can console the people and encourage farming."
The bookstore was stunned upon receiving the letter and asked, "How many copies should we print?"
Zhao Hanzhang replied, "Start with a thousand copies."
The bookstore breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was still quite a number. He was a bit worried, fearing that printing too few wouldn’t be cost-effective.
The craftsmen engraved according to the letter, and Zhao Hanzhang could not help but worry, "If I want to publish public documents in the academy in the future, I’ll need to engrave them piece by piece. It’s time-consuming and wastes materials."
Fu Tinghan responded, "Moveable type printing requires many literate people, and for now, it cannot be widely used. Let’s wait another two years."
He continued, "After another two years, the first batch of students will graduate. They will know most of the characters and can work in the bookstore."
Zhao Hanzhang stroked her chin and said, "In three years, can they still not recognize all the characters?"
Fu Tinghan looked up at her.
"Alright, I’m too impatient. Fine, I’ll wait two more years. But has the bookstore mastered movable type printing?"
Fu Tinghan said, "Hu Jin tried wooden movable type and clay movable type. I had people find him tin, lead, and copper, letting him test them one by one."
In terms of movable type printing, Fu Tinghan and Zhao Hanzhang knew the basic principles, but making it happen was not easy. After all, it’s something that who does it knows the intricacies.
He could only leave it to Hu Jin and the craftsmen to research, seeing how far they could get on their own.
"Currently, clay movable type can be used, but due to the lack of literate people, typesetting is quite difficult. It’s currently only usable in Xiping, and in Chen County, no one can do it yet." Fu Tinghan said, "I’ll have Hu Jin train two craftsmen to be sent to Chen County."
Zhao Hanzhang was just about to mention this when Fu Tinghan brought it up, and she gave him an approving look and asked, "What do you think about me opening a bookstore in Luoyang?"
"Not feasible," Fu Tinghan said, "The paper mill I can help you build, but for the bookstore, I’m really short on personnel."
The craftsmen in the bookstore are the hardest to find and train.
Zhao Hanzhang could only sigh with regret and continued to watch the young students in the academy absentmindedly. These are all talents, needed in various fields.
The bookstore took two days to engrave the letter, then began polishing, inking, and printing...
When Zhao Hanzhang’s letter was sent to Yun City, the printed copies were also placed in the academies of each county and spread from the academies, copied and sent to various places.
Her students, having learned from her example, immediately grasped her intentions after reading the letter. When they were sent to support waterworks construction, they talked to the laborers and short-term workers about the reasons the magistrate was promoting waterworks during this time as they worked.
They told them the magistrate wanted everyone to farm more conveniently. If there were natural disasters in the future, they could respond better. To help you store more grain, the magistrate would reduce taxes, etc.
However, outsiders’ focus was different from Zhao Hanzhang and her students. They immediately focused on Zhao Hanzhang’s perspective on the world’s situation in the first part.
