The First Happy King of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 642 Movable Type Printing and the New Press Party

'Crack', His Majesty Li Er, who became more and more angry, simply dropped the pen in his hand: "Come on, beat this bastard out with a stick."

Li Muyun was taken aback, jumped up from the ground and shouted: "Hey, Brother Huang, what are you doing, Brother Huang!"

"What are you doing?!" Li Er said angrily, "I am a bastard who still asks me what I want to do! I chase after me every day to ask for words, and you still ask me what I want to do."

Li Muyun said in astonishment: "Brother Huang, this is what you promised at the beginning. You are the Ninth Five-Year Lord, so you can't count your words, right?"

Li Er was dumbfounded, opened his mouth several times, but couldn't utter a single word. Looking back at the beginning, it seemed that this was indeed an errand he took on impulsively when he saw Lie Xinxie.

Seeing that Li Er stopped talking, Li Muyun waved his hands to the Jinwu who rushed in, signaling them to go down, then walked to Li Shimin's side, picked up the pen that was thrown on the table, and stuffed it back into his hand: "The emperor Brother, you are the emperor, you will never deny your promise, will you?"

Li Er didn't take the pen, and the child put his hands behind his back: "I'm a little tired today, so I won't write."

"Don't, brother, as the saying goes, no one can stand without trust. As the leader of the Tang Dynasty, you have the responsibility to lead by example. If you shrink back because of a little difficulty, how will people evaluate it? Besides, you promised fifteen years ago. If you finished the draft within a few days, now it’s been ten days, and you’re still [-] words short.”

At this time, Li Shimin really wished he could beat Li Muyun out with a stick, but thinking about his big mouth, he probably beat him out today, and tomorrow Chang'an city would spread rumors about his bad faith.

His Majesty Li Er, who was in a dilemma, was like a hard-working writer in later generations. Although his tired hands were cramped, he had to continue. He looked at Li Muyun with eyes that almost wanted to kill, and took the pen that was handed to him.

Seeing that Li Er was full of reluctance but had to continue, Li Muyun took the initiative to change the topic and distract him: "Brother Huang, I want to get a dictionary, what do you think?"

"What dictionary?" Li Shimin's hands trembled, and a large character was wrongly crooked. Li Muyun was too fidgety, which made His Majesty Li Er's face change when he talked about books.

Li Muyun explained: "It is to collect all the characters of the Tang Dynasty and give the most correct explanation for each word. The name is tentatively named "Zhenguan Dictionary."

""Zhenguan Dictionary"?" Li Shimin paused, then turned to look at Li Muyun: "Is this necessary?"

Li Muyun said seriously: "Of course it is necessary. Chinese culture is extensive and profound, and many people spend their entire lives unable to get a glimpse of it. As far as this word alone is concerned, no one knows how many words we have in China, so I think we are very necessary. Make a dictionary and at least unify the words that form the basis of culture.”

Li Shimin frowned slightly and did not speak, and said after a long while: "Your idea is good, but do you know, if it is according to what you said, how big a project will it be?"

Li Muyun rubbed his nose and said with a smile: "The task is not small, but isn't there so many censors in the court? They have nothing to do around them, so it's better to let them do it. In my opinion, they should take care of this matter." very interested."

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, then turned his head and said, "It's not impossible, since you came up with this idea, why don't you take charge of it?"

"Me? I can't." Li Muyun quickly shook his head: "Brother Huang, I don't have enough reputation. It's okay to be a helper for this kind of thing. If it's the host, you'd better find someone with a higher reputation, such as Kong Yingda or Wei Zheng. They really can't do it." It’s fine for you to go into battle yourself, as long as I’m at it.”

Li Shimin also felt that his decision just now was a bit too hasty, nodded and said: "That's true, that's all, let Kong Yingda handle this matter, as the No. but."

"Brother Huang Shengming!" Li Muyun said with a flattering smile, there seemed to be a trace of conspiracy in that smile.

Li Er couldn't help but raise his heart, and thought over Li Muyun's suggestion from beginning to end, but he didn't find any flaws in it. It was beneficial to Datang but not harmful.

If there is a conspiracy, at most it means that the price of printing the book is higher, but that doesn't matter, anyway, the wool comes from the sheep, and when the book is printed in the future, it will still be paid by the book buyer.

It has to be said that Li Shimin is still a gentleman after all, and he miscalculated Li Muyun's insidiousness.

……

Kong Yingda was very happy, no, I should say happy or not.

Since the founding of "Shuowen Jiezi" by Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty, there has been no unified dictionary or dictionary in China. Although "Shuowen Jiezi" has been re-edited in successive dynasties, it still cannot cover everything. Only about 1 characters are included, and there are still a large number of rare characters that have not been included.

Of course, this is not to say that the editors are not dedicated, but because the information is not smooth. After all, manpower is sometimes poor, and it is difficult for one person to compile a book similar to a dictionary to cover everything.

However, Li Shimin spent a lot of money this time, collecting manuscripts across the country. It can be said that all scholars in the entire Tang Dynasty are working together to compile a dictionary. , it is Lao Kong himself.

Every time he thinks that his name will be printed on a masterpiece and passed on through the ages, Lao Kong will feel excited. In Li Muyun's words, he feels like he can't hold his urine.

Although the words were rough, Lao Kong didn't care about these things. After receiving the imperial decree from Li Er, he immediately rushed to Li Muyun's house to discuss with the 'founder' of the dictionary project how to proceed with the next step.

"Mr. Kong, you can just take care of this kind of thing. Why come to me, a nobody." At this time, Li Muyun was about to go to his own village outside the city, but was blocked by Kong Yingda who kicked in and out of the door. with.

Kong Yingda, who just explained to Li Muyun the intention of coming here, was a little displeased, and said seriously: "King Xiaoyao, you are the initiator of this matter, if you say that it has nothing to do with you, I'm afraid it's a bit irresponsible?"

Li Muyun smiled and said: "Uh..., I am not the initiator. I was looking for a word a few days ago, but I couldn't find it after searching "Shuowen Jiezi", so I came up with the idea of ​​making a dictionary. You If you have to say that I am the initiator, it will really put me on the fire."

Kong Yingda hummed lightly, not knowing what he meant, and then said slowly after a pause: "In short, you can't escape this matter, even if the old man doesn't come to you this time, he will come in the future."

Li Muyun stared at Old Kong dumbfounded, as if he didn't know him, this is nothing but extortion, it is similar to the stalking of street ruffians.

Seeing that Li Muyun didn't speak, Kong Yingda showed a smug smile on his old face: "How about it, tell me about your plan. The old man has heard that you have asked for a lot of words from Ouyang and the others during this time, and you have already been born." It's about to drive them crazy, aren't you going to tell the old man what you want to do?"

Li Muyun blinked, thought for a while and said: "If Mr. Kong really wants to know, then follow me to Zhuangzi, and you will know it when you get there."

"Okay, then let's go, take your carriage." Old man Kong was not vague, he left as soon as he said, turned around and got into Li Muyun's carriage.

To be honest, Kong Yingda's behavior completely overturned his impression of the old man in Li Muyun's heart.

In the eyes of Lord Xiaoyao Wang, an old master should have the kind of gentle character, who will not change his face when Mount Tai collapses in front of him, only after reading a cup of tea, a bag of cigarettes, and a newspaper for a long time.

But the one in front of him is as impatient and frizzy, almost no different from him, a young man in his twenties.

At the moment when Li Muyun was stunned, Lao Kong poked his head out of the carriage: "What are you doing standing outside, hurry up and get in the carriage."

"Oh, get in the carriage, get in the carriage!" Li Muyun replied awkwardly, and got into the carriage with satisfaction. With a sound of the whip, the carriage stolen from Li Chengqian slowly moved.

On the carriage, Old Man Kong was restless and always wanted to say something, but when he saw Li Muyun with his eyes closed, he swallowed his words back.

Xin Xin sat beside Li Muyun in a daze, looking preoccupied, turning her head to look at the new master from time to time, and then continued to be in a daze.

Just like that, without talking all the way, the carriage arrived at Li Muyun's Zhuangzi outside the city after half an hour.

Not long after entering Zhuangzi, the old man Kong was stunned. He saw that the manor was full of paintings and paintings, and dozens of carvers were hard at work, surrounded by piles of small wooden strips.

"What are they doing?" The little old man asked curiously after looking at Li Muyun who was beside him who seemed nothing had happened.

"Inscription, their task is to engrave all these characters, more than ten of each font." Li Muyun explained to Lao Kong disapprovingly.

But Kong Yingda obviously still didn't understand what he meant. He walked up to a craftsman, picked up a small wooden stick, and looked at it again and again.

It was the character 'Wang' in official script, which seemed to be written by Ouyang Xun, but Lao Kong really didn't understand why there was only one character. After reading it for a while, he asked Li Muyun, "What's the use of engraving a single character?" ? What do you want?"

This time, Li Muyun didn't explain anything to Kong, but just made a gesture of invitation: "Old Kong, don't be impatient, you'll know later."

Just like that, Kong Yingda, full of doubts, followed Li Muyun to the back of Zhuangzi, and then he saw three busy people.

I saw that these three people were divided into two groups, and one group was two people who were printing something at this time. There was a thick stack of paper beside them. The content on the top page was: Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang, Universe Prehistoric....

These people were printing books, and Kong Yingda was well aware of this, but it was another person who puzzled him.

I saw the man walking among the rows of wooden shelves, holding a small wooden box in his hand, and from time to time he took out something from a small box on a certain shelf and put it into the box in his hand, and then continued Walk among the wooden shelves.

(End of this chapter)