prosperous age

"Congratulations to welcome the master back home."

Wei Guangde came out of the sedan chair, nodded to the servants who were waiting for him, and strode into the mansion.

"Zhang Ji, why do I feel like something is wrong in the mansion today? Everyone seems to be very happy."

Wei Guangde suddenly slowed down his pace a few steps into the mansion and asked Zhang Ji beside him.

"Master, there's a letter from my hometown in Jiangxi, saying that the eldest master has passed the imperial examination and is now a scholar.

Congratulations, Master. Congratulations, Master. The young master has passed the imperial examination. He will surely enter the imperial palace one day and join the imperial class with you."

Zhang Ji said to Wei Guangde with a happy face.

"Oh, is this the scholar? Well, has the madam given you the reward?"

Wei Guangde asked casually.

"Madam has already distributed two months' salary as reward money, and everyone has received it. We all sincerely congratulate the young master for passing the imperial examination. I hope that good news will come out in the future, and he will pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar."

Zhang Ji had followed Wei Guangde all the way through the exam, so he naturally knew what to say, and what he said made Wei Guangde look delighted.

The academy examination is the entry-level imperial examination and does not require registration in the capital.

Only the successful candidates in the provincial examinations would be submitted to the capital for filing, because this was considered as meritorious service, and it also served as a basic file for them to apply for the metropolitan examinations in the Ministry of Rites in the capital in the future.

So when he had free time before, Wei Guangde thought that the exams in Jiangxi should be over, but he has been busy recently and forgot about it.

In order to ensure that his son would pass the imperial examination, Wei Guangde arranged for Jiang Yidonggang to go to Jiangxi to serve as the deputy education commissioner, that is, the education official and the academician, just to ensure that his son would pass the imperial examination.

So at this moment, although his face was full of joy, there was not much emotion in his heart.

However, the servants in the mansion, such as Zhang Ji, are different.

Since they are in the Wei Mansion, they are naturally tied closely to the Wei Mansion, and their relationship is one of shared success and shared failure.

In the past, the Wei family lacked foundation, and only Wei Guangde served as an official.

Now, the eldest son of the Wei family has passed the college examination. Next is the provincial examination, and then the metropolitan examination and the palace examination.

In ancient times, as long as a family could continue to produce successful candidates, it would prosper.

After a few years, it will become a family of scholars and gentry.

Moreover, in this palace examination, the son of the first prime minister was directly picked by the young emperor as the top scorer. How could the second prime minister's family, which has a good relationship with the palace, be worse off?

As long as the eldest son of the Wei family can pass the provincial examination, the academy examination and the palace examination will only be formalities. It won't be long before the little emperor is so pleased as to give him one of the top three honors.

As the Wei family prospers, servants like them have someone to rely on. They don't have to wait for many years for Wei Guangde to retire, and then they have to find another master.

As long as you follow the right family, your family will have no worries about food and clothing, and it will also benefit your children's future.

As for the people of Bengshan Fort, they also gained great benefits from the Wei family.

At present, many general flags and centurions of the Jiujiang Guard's Right Army and Rear Army have been occupied by people from Bengshan Fort. These are the people the Wei family trusts more, and they have become a force that cannot be ignored in Jiujiang Guard.

In the Wei Mansion, apart from those from the Duke of Wei's Mansion, there were only a small number of people purchased and recruited from the capital, and most of them came from Bengshan Fort.

If the Wei family continues to prosper in the future, their family will also benefit from it.

This is what was said in ancient times that if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit, and everyone can benefit.

But after all, it was just a passing of the college entrance examination, so the Wei family couldn't possibly decorate the house with lights and celebrations, so they just gave money directly to the servants at home to make everyone happy.

That is to say, if one passes the provincial examination in the future and comes to the capital to take part in the metropolitan examination and the palace examination, then they will be organized in a grand manner.

In last year's palace examination, Zhang Sixiu came second in the first class, so the Zhang family held a grand celebration and Wei Guangde even went to attend the wedding banquet.

"Ah."

Wei Guangde nodded and strode to the backyard. Zhang Ji followed closely behind him and sent him to the backyard door. Suddenly, he whispered to Wei Guangde: "Master, there is something else. I don't know if I should tell you."

"Huh? What's going on?"

Wei Guangde stood outside the courtyard gate and turned around to ask Zhang Ji.

He was still a little surprised, wondering what big thing had happened that made his housekeeper not know whether he should speak up or not.

"It's like this. Didn't the mansion buy a bookstore before?"

Zhang Ji whispered.

"Well, I know about it. Is there something wrong?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

"No, no, I handled this matter myself, there is absolutely no mistake.

Besides, even if there is something going on behind the scenes, that person may not dare to come to the door."

Zhang Ji hurriedly explained.

Although the Wei family invested their money mainly in the business and used it to make money, they still retained the business of lending at high interest rates.

Of course, in this day and age, it is considered a relatively conscientious mortgage.

There is a mortgage and the interest rate is 30% a year, which is much more reasonable than the usury of 50% or even 100%.

Last year, someone borrowed two thousand taels of silver using his family's bookstore and house. By the end of the year, he had not repaid the debt, so he gave the bookstore and the house to the Wei family to pay off the debt. The Wei family then took over the bookstore.

That is to say, printing some storybooks and books, the money is not much, but it is also an income.

"Doctor Zhang from the Imperial Hospital came over a few days ago and said that a colleague of his had compiled a book, but the situation outside was so bad recently that no bookstore dared to publish the book, so he came to your house to ask for help."

Zhang Ji explained in a low voice.

"Doctor Zhang, we have to give him face."

Wei Guangde felt a little puzzled. It was just publishing a book, not a big deal. Even if he had to pay compensation, it would only be a few hundred taels of silver.

Whenever anyone in the Wei residence had a headache or fever, they would go to the Imperial Hospital to ask for permission from Doctor Zhang, whose medical skills were notorious in the capital.

As in later generations, people with a little money and status all respected capable doctors.

You can't be disrespectful, just ask to go to their house when you meet them.

Even though Wei Guangde was only the second-in-command, the medical skills of the imperial physicians in the capital's Imperial Hospital were somewhat rumored to be very strange, but there were still some who had real skills.

This kind of imperial physician with real skills was not afraid of Wei Guangde, and even Zhang Juzheng had to treat him with courtesy.

"He has a lot of books. If he really wants to print them, I'm afraid it will cost several hundred taels of silver just to make the plates. The cost is a bit high, so I'm a bit unsure."

Zhang Ji hesitated.

"Who wrote the book and what is its title?"

Wei Guangde asked casually.

"It seems that he is also the imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital, named Li Shizhen. He has been away from the capital for many years and has been visiting various places to compile this book. I forgot the title of the book. I have to go down and ask him."

Zhang Ji whispered.

"Li Shizhen?"

Wei Guangde muttered, this name is very familiar, the author of "Compendium of Materia Medica".

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help humming, "If Hua Tuo were alive again, all foreign worship would be cured, and foreigners would come to learn Chinese characters to stimulate our national consciousness."

"Master, Master, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing Wei Guangde humming some tune, Zhang Ji asked nervously.

"Ask the person in charge of the contact to come over so I can ask about the situation."

Wei Guangde didn't go into the backyard, but just found a room to sit down.

Zhang Ji also quickly went to find the manager of the bookstore and asked him to explain the situation to Wei Guangde in detail.

"You mean the book comes in a set of sixteen volumes?"

Soon, the bookstore manager was brought to Wei Guangde by Zhang Ji, who explained everything he had learned.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" was written by Li Shizhen between the 31st year of Jiajing and the 6th year of Wanli. The book consists of 52 volumes, 1.9 million words, and a large number of illustrations, so the cost of printing is particularly high.

The book was completed at the beginning of the year, and Li Shizhen went around to raise money to publish it. Unfortunately, with his reputation as the Divine Doctor Li, he was able to raise some money, but the biggest problem now was that no bookstore was willing to publish it.

"The Li family has raised more than 200 taels of silver, but I estimate that the cost of printing and engraving the entire book will be at least 800 to 900 taels, and we need to hire a master craftsman to carve the illustrations, so the Li family is considering printing only part of it first."

The bookstore manager was still talking nonstop, but Wei Guangde interrupted him with a wave of his hand and said, "First, tell me why the bookstore is unwilling to publish the book."

"Master, isn't the imperial court a forbidden academy?"

The steward was stunned and answered immediately.

"The reason why the academy was banned is because we don't like students discussing politics. What does it have to do with your bookstore printing books?"

Wei Guangde asked in confusion.

"If you print books at this time and find something that violates taboos, you will be asking for trouble. So now, apart from the Three Character Classic, Thousand Character Classic, and the Four Books and Five Classics, fewer vernacular books are printed, for fear that some of them may violate taboos."

The steward said hurriedly.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but scratch his nose after hearing this. It seemed that Old Zhang's ban on the academy didn't turn it into a literary inquisition. Why were the people below so scared that bookstores didn't even dare to print books?

“Don’t you dare to print it?”

Wei Guangde asked.

“Generally, we don’t dare to print anything casually, so only old books can be printed and sold.

It was also because of this that Zhang Taiyue came to us and asked us to publish this book, called Compendium of Materia Medica, which is a medical book.

But these kinds of books are not easy to sell. Based on my experience, they are definitely a losing business.”

The bookstore manager continued talking, not noticing the change in Wei Guangde's expression.

Well, writing books in ancient times may seem awesome, but it actually meant losing money.

The ones who make money are Confucius, Mencius and their group, but they don't receive any royalties either.

Of course, storybooks also make money, but the authors don’t make much, and the bookstores mainly make the money.

Wei Guangde naturally would not implement a royalty system at this time. It was meaningless and culture would have no place to spread. If the bookstore was to share profits with the authors, then the bookstore might as well just print the Four Books and Five Classics.

Wei Guangde was not thinking about such a trivial matter as printing a book. Instead, he looked at the steward and asked, "Did Doctor Zhang tell me whether Doctor Li, the author of the book, is in the capital?"

Li Shizhen was too famous, so Wei Guangde thought he should meet him and ask him to help check if he had any hidden dangers in his health. As the saying goes, it is better to prevent problems before they happen, treat diseases if they occur, and strengthen the body if there is no disease.

Let all family members take a look, and it would be best if the relatives back home in Jiangxi can also take a look.

This is a miracle doctor.

"Doctor Li should be in Jinling."

The bookstore manager said hurriedly.

"Zhang Ji."

Wei Guangde nodded and then shouted.

"Master, just give me your orders."

Zhang Ji bowed hurriedly.

"Tomorrow morning, go to Doctor Zhang's house and tell him that we have completed the publishing of the book. We will arrange for a craftsman to carve the printing plate. We will directly produce a thousand copies of this book for him."

Wei Guangde decided the matter directly.

"Master, they only said that 100 copies would be enough. They don't have enough money to print more than that."

The bookstore manager spoke hurriedly.

However, Wei Guangde didn't want to hear what he said.

"It's just that we print a thousand copies. How many tens of thousands of taels of silver can we get if we sell them all?"

Wei Guangde glanced at the manager.

Books are really expensive these days. Wei Guangde estimated that a set of "Compendium of Materia Medica" would cost at least thirty taels.

One thousand sets of books could be sold for a maximum of thirty thousand taels of silver.

The cost of engraving, paper, ink, and labor might cost two to three thousand taels.

But the calculation is not that way, because it is not so easy to sell a thousand books, and it may take a long time.

It may take ten, twenty, or even thirty or fifty years to buy all of them.

"We need to ask Divine Doctor Li to come back to the capital to proofread this book, right?"

Wei Guangde said.

"That's natural."

The bookstore manager said hurriedly that he could see that the master had no intention of making money by printing books.

"Zhang Ji, tell Doctor Zhang to go to Jiujiang and check on my family members and take their pulses. Then, ask him to come to the capital to proofread the books.

After one thousand copies of the book were printed, I gave him 210 copies to give away. I thought he must have many friends, especially those who sponsored the publication of the book.

The rest can be sold in bookstores and shops. Sell them slowly, there is no rush.

Even if I lose something, it’s only a few thousand taels of silver. I can afford it, sir.

For my bookstore, making money is not the top priority. If there is a good book, a classic that can be passed down, I will print it even if I lose money. "

Wei Guangde said.

He really didn't care about losing money on paper and ink. Although he would not write books, if he could publish some classic books and let them spread to the world, then his family would at least leave a name in history, which would be a contribution to the inheritance of Chinese culture.

You can also establish a good relationship with Li Shizhen and ask him to check the health of your family members and provide them with necessary supplements and treatments.

When Zhang Ji and the bookstore manager heard Wei Guangde's words, they naturally knew what their master was planning.

The master doesn't care about profit or loss, so what is there to be afraid of?

"Yes, I will go see Doctor Zhang tomorrow morning to discuss this matter."

Zhang Ji said immediately.

The bookstore manager also hurriedly flattered him, "I will also find the best engraving master in the capital as soon as possible and print the book."

“Well, and those stereotypes, keep them for me after you print the book.

By the way, how were the plates used to print books processed in the past? "

Wei Guangde asked again.

This is the first set of plates of "Compendium of Materia Medica". If it could be preserved at home, even hundreds of years later, family members could easily exchange this set of plates for a large sum of assets.

Heritage, this is the heritage of the old family.

Not only the plates for this set of books, but all the others must be kept and preserved. This is the evidence of the Wei family's scholarly background.

"Many of them were shaved and used to carve books, and those that could not be used were treated as waste wood."

The steward whispered.

"The mansion is not short of that little bit of wood and silver, so keep the engravings in good condition in the future."

Wei Guangde gave the order immediately.

"Master, to make a set of books, even if the wood is very ordinary, a lot of it is needed."

Without waiting for the bookstore manager to finish, Wei Guangde said with disdain, "How many books can you buy with five thousand taels of silver for wood?"

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, the manager immediately stopped talking.

Although he didn't think this stereotype was useful, the master's meaning was too obvious and he had to listen.

"That's it. Don't make the wood too bad. It has to be easy to preserve. Maybe it will sell well and you'll need to print more in the future."

Wei Guangde said this, and the matter was settled. (End of this chapter)