Three Kingdoms: I rely on system loopholes to survive

Since returning to Cangwu, Zhong Ping has been busy all the time again. He can't sleep at night anyway, and he won't die if he can't sleep, so he might as well work hard and make use of the four or five extra hours compared to ordinary people. He can tell others that he has made some achievements in his efforts to convince others, and he is energetic every day and doesn't need to sleep too much.

Although the "Jin Dynasty Papermaking Flowchart (Dumb Version)" and "Popularization of Printing Technology (Children's Version)" awarded by the system seem to treat readers as fools, the operation process is indeed simple and clear, and you can understand it at a glance.

Driven by the little bit of conscience he had left, Zhong Ping finally stopped his exploitative behavior, changed Xiao Kongming's ten-hour work system to eight hours, and took the responsibility of this matter himself.

He built a workshop on the east slope of the mountain and recruited hundreds of craftsmen and apprentices. He ordered the apprentices to carefully dissect bamboo joints, take out the skin and tear it into silk, mix it with rags and ramie, soak it repeatedly to make a slurry, and then sift it repeatedly to make the slurry as thick as milk. He poured it on a mat woven into a fine sieve, shook it gently several times, and applied glue after it dried. The resulting paper was thin and tough, and ink would not bleed through.

The first batch of paper was given to Liu Bei, Zheng Xuan and Cai Yong by Zhong Ping. Cai Yong was very impressed after trying it and wrote a poem to praise the new paper: "It is as bright as silk cut from clouds, and as tough as a weaving of bamboo sticks that has lasted for years. The white strands are bright and elegant, and the flying white makes them shine; the millet and sorghum have drooping grains, and the floating silk makes them strong."

Zhong Ping also improved the current single curtain bed according to the system drawings. He set movable side columns on both sides of the curtain bed to remove or fix the curtain, and added replaceable curtains, which greatly improved the papermaking efficiency and facilitated the mass production of paper.

The type blocks originally used for printing were made of ebony, but after two editions of printing, it was found that the effect was not as good as the fired pottery blocks. In addition, pottery blocks were cheap, so a new batch of movable type was made.

He and Zheng Xuan selected the newly compiled "Jijiupian", "Erya" and "Mencius" as the three essentials for elementary education, which were divided into small-print versions and double-line printing, with clear text and accurate chapters and sentences.

After Liu Bei got the sample books, he immediately ordered the construction of paper mills under his jurisdiction, and ordered Jian Yong and Sun Qian to supervise the inspection. More than 10,000 printed books were distributed to more than 100 rural schools in the county, and the village elders were informed that in the schools, the poor would get half the tuition, the average students would get three times the tuition, and the rich families would be exempt from miscellaneous fees. Among a family, if a student has good performance in one year, his tax will be reduced in the next year. When the villagers heard the news, children rushed to the schools.

"Teacher, recently some people in the clan have criticized the elementary education by saying that Shang Jun fooled the people and that Confucius said, 'It can be made to follow, but it cannot be known.' It seems that there are also some criticisms from your seat. Am I acting too hastily?"

Zhong Pingfan always gives people the impression that he is a master strategist, but only Cai Yong knows that his disciple always has too many concerns. He fights with his friends every day, is troubled by hundreds of worries, and is physically exhausted by all kinds of things. He keeps all his emotions depressed inside and rarely shows them. It is a rare opportunity for him to confide in him a few words.

Cai Yong was full of energy. He immediately unfolded the paper and wrote quickly: "Why do you care about those fools? You are usually very eloquent, why do you let them scold you now? Kang Cheng and I will write a few fu poems for you to boost your momentum, and then we will call them all to a literary gathering. You just need to debate with those old guys. Are we two teachers for nothing?"

"Ah? Will this hurt them too much?" Zhong Ping looked dazed. "Several of them have provided money and goods to the envoy before, and they also quite support the various reforms that the envoy has made before..."

"Hurt your mother's head." Cai Yong rarely uttered a curse word. He put away his pen and threw the short poem he had written to him. "You can curse as much as you want. The envoy will definitely stand on your side. What's the point of hesitating? If you had the momentum you had when you were an envoy, these people would have dared not to jump around. Go away, go away, let those guys open their eyes, and don't tarnish my reputation."

"Ah...Oh." Zhong Ping was at a loss. He walked out of the door holding Cai Yong's fu with a dazed look in his eyes, and even forgot to greet him.

Only when he saw Cai Wan in the courtyard did he come to his senses and took out a small stack of lavender bamboo paper from his sleeve, about ten sheets in total, all cut to the size of a palm, just enough to write two or three short poems.

"If you come across words you like in the future, you can pick them out and put them between the pages of the book as a note, so that you can read them next time."

Zhong Ping first answered Cai Wan's questions about the Zhouyi as usual, and then gave her the gift: "After reading the Zhouyi, why not read Zhuangzi and Shenzi?" Cai Wan skillfully took out a small wooden box, carefully arranged the bamboo paper, and put it in. She put it in her arms, and the silk flower on her head trembled slightly: "Why do you have to read the Taoist scriptures? I would rather study Mozi."

"Of course, I can..." Zhong Ping was a little surprised, "But when did you become interested in Mohist doctrine?"

"Mozi said 'nothing is better than following Heaven' because Heaven loves all and benefits all, and is the most impartial and just. But why are there still droughts and floods? Is it really because we 'do not follow Heaven's will'? Senior brother also said 'all things follow the same principles, and cannot be changed by human will', so is it that Heaven and man are connected, or is Heaven's will constant?"

Cai Wan raised her head, her face full of inquiry.

Zhong Ping thought for a moment and said, "Then you can go read Wang Chong's Lun Heng. I remember my teacher had it. I thought it was 'Humanity is action, and nature is nature'. Was it because Yao and Shun lost their virtue when they encountered floods? Jie and Zhou were unrighteous, and it was a man-made disaster."

Cai Wan's eyes lit up instantly, and she murmured for a while: "Did Yao and Shun lose their virtue when they encountered floods?" But then she felt unsatisfied, so she took out a piece of bamboo paper, took out a charcoal pen and wrote down this sentence, her eyes full of smiles.

She put the bamboo paper away carefully, untied a pair of bells from her waist, hesitated for a moment, and then put one of them into Zhong Ping's hand as if it was too hot: "I give you the bells as a gift as a reward."

"Eh?" Zhong Ping was a little surprised. Now he had a bunch of miscellaneous small things hanging around his waist, which looked quite childish. He lowered his head and left only the small fish filled with mint ointment and the pearls given by Guan Yu. He took off the rest of the ornaments and put them into his sleeves, and hung the bell on the side.

He took two steps, and the bell on his waist rang with each step.

Zhong Ping found it interesting and deliberately circled around Cai Wan's face. The bell kept ringing, and his face was full of joy: "Now that the bell rings, I think of my junior sister."

Cai Wan's face suddenly turned red. She lowered her head and grunted for a long time, then suddenly ran away. Only the bell around her waist could be heard ringing crisply for a long time.

It took Zhong Ping a while to realize what he had just said. He slapped himself and muttered subconsciously: "No, no, I mean to remember that this was a gift from you..."

He spoke incoherently and explained to the air. When he looked up, there was no one in front of him. His ears turned red instantly, and he sneaked out of Cai's house along the wall like a thief.

This appearance scared Guo Yuan who came to the door. Guo Yuan watched Zhong Ping hurriedly walk out of the door and looked inside with a puzzled look on his face.

"It's really strange, no one is chasing him? Could it be that Boheng did something wrong and made the teacher angry?"

(End of this chapter)