Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 364 Super Project
"They are actually paper books. There are so many of them, at least seventy or eighty!"

He looked at the piles of paper books stacked in front of the desk in his study, and then looked at the pile of bamboo slips next to it that was obviously much higher. In contrast, he suddenly felt that the bamboo slips and books were simply unsightly.

"Even in my Huangfu family, there are definitely not so many paper books, and this paper..."

He stroked the white papers with a hint of excitement, and his hands were very careful, as if it was not a book but a delicate girl.

"This paper is so smooth, it is a hundred times better than the Analects that I copied on Caihou paper at home. It is a treasure, a truly rare treasure! No wonder only two people were able to move all 132 books. I never thought that I, Huangfu Han, would be able to see so many paper books in my lifetime. This trip to Yanmen was not in vain."

Huangfu Han's face was full of joy. He knelt on the ground, picked up book after book gently, and put it down gently. In his eyes at this moment, it seemed that these were not books, but a pile of rare treasures, which made his hands tremble with excitement.

He looked at the bamboo slips beside him, then at the paper book in his hand that exuded a fragrant smell, and there seemed to be a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

However, this hesitation quickly disappeared and turned into incomparable determination.

“For these books, I’ll risk it all!”

He stood up, rushed out of the door, and without even taking the carriage, he ran towards the prefect's mansion. Where was there any trace of the gentlemanly and refined appearance he had shown before?

Liu He took a short rest at home to sober up. Just as he was about to go out to the training ground, he heard an urgent voice behind him.

"Liu Taishou...Brother Xianzhao..."

Liu He turned his head and saw a man running wildly with messy hair. It was not until the man ran closer that Liu He could see his face clearly.

"It turns out to be Brother Qing Leng, what are you doing..."

He looked at Huangfu Han's expression, which was really disrespectful and completely different from the style he had displayed before.

"Brother Xianzhao, I... I really... have a..."

Liu He looked at him gasping for breath and frowned slightly.

"Could it be that the people Liu sent to serve you made you angry? I will immediately order a replacement. You don't have to worry about this little thing."

Unexpectedly, Huangfu Han waved his hands repeatedly: "No, it's...it's a book...book..."

"Books? What happened to the books? Weren't they already delivered?"

Liu He had absolutely no idea what Huangfu Han was going to do.

"Paper books, those paper books... Brother Xianzhao, do you have any more?"

Liu He suddenly realized that this was the reason why he came here.

"Yes, but there are quite a lot sent over this time, which should be enough for Brother Qing Leng to read for some time. Why are you asking for books so soon?"

Most of those paper books were exchanged from the system, some were brought by Cui Jun, some were copied into books after buying paper, and a few were purchased from the market.

It has to be said that in this era, the price of a paper book was so high that even Liu He could not afford it. A book could cost at least hundreds of thousands of coins, and at most tens of millions of coins. It was really expensive. Even this was hard to come by. If Anhan Trading Company had not grown bigger and bigger and attracted more and more business travelers, even Liu He might not have had the opportunity to buy a paper book. In normal times, let alone ordinary people, even some local powerful families might not have a paper book at home.

Seeing Huangfu Han's expression, Liu He knew what was going on, as he knew that he was probably frightened by the number of paper books he had sent to him.

"There are not many paper books in Liu's study, about a hundred or so. Most of them have been sent to my brother's house this time. I wonder if my brother has any other instructions?" When Huangfu Han heard that there were still dozens of books, his eyes lit up immediately.

"Can you lend them all to me for reading?"

Huangfu Han stared at Liu He with anticipation, causing Liu He to get goose bumps all over his body.

"Well, Brother Qing Leng wants to study, so naturally I have no reason not to lend it to him. But..."

Huangfu Han was delighted when he heard the first half of the sentence, but the word "but" made his heart jump to his throat.

"As long as you borrow these books and read them, Brother Xianzhao will obey your orders!"

He said firmly.

"Haha, Brother Qing Leng, you are too polite. What can I ask of you? I just have to read these books one by one. The 132 volumes should be enough for you to read for a month or two. Why are you in such a hurry to borrow other books?"

Huangfu Han said without hesitation: "With paper books, what do we need those bamboo slips for? They are heavy, the handwriting is not as clear as paper books, and it is also very inconvenient to read. If I had these one hundred or so paper books, I could stay at home for a year and concentrate on reading and taking notes. To be honest with you, Brother Xianzhao, I have had a dream since I was a child. I have been thinking about it for more than ten years, thinking about it day and night, and I want to complete it."

"Oh? I wonder what it is?"

Seeing that Huangfu Song's attitude towards him had changed 180 degrees, Liu He wanted to take the opportunity to have a good chat with him to find out what kind of character this nephew, whom Huangfu Song valued more than his own son, had.

Huangfu Han's eyes suddenly became full of longing.

"Since ancient times, there have been more than a million volumes of ancient books, classics, and various schools of thought. However, up to today, nine out of ten are missing. I feel deeply regretful."

Looking at Huangfu Han's regretful expression, Liu He also felt a sense of empathy.

When I was studying history in my previous life, I often encountered a situation where ancient books were lost. This book was lost, and only a few fragments were left. Although it was related to wars, the biggest problem was that the books were too concentrated, making them inconvenient to disseminate and easy to be damaged.

A fire, natural disaster, war, or even just a move or children playing around may cause a batch of books to be damaged or even disappear, and some of these books may be the only copies left.

The monopoly of knowledge seems to have created a group of high-ranking "masters". It seems that when we talk about a certain era, there are many great scholars who are respected by people at that time, which makes the culture of that era very prosperous. But if we think about it carefully, are these great scholars really first-class in history? In fact, it is not necessarily the case. It is just that there are too many illiterate people in those times. Among a hundred people, only two or three people who can read and write are considered intellectuals.

This seemingly prosperous cultural period was actually very fragile and vulnerable. A slight blow would cause it to completely collapse, and a large number of books, documents, and works would be lost.

As Liu He thought about this, he began to nod his head involuntarily. This made Huangfu Han feel that Liu He also agreed with his point of view, and he spoke even more excitedly.

"I have made up my mind to collect all the books in the world, regardless of their school or sect, whether they are legitimate or unofficial. I will copy as many as possible, and then classify and compile them, write prefaces and annotations, and try to complete the incomplete ones, so as to pass on as much wisdom of the sages as possible to future generations, so as not to let down the life of scholars like us in this world."

Huangfu Han said it lightly, but his dream scared Liu He, a man from the 21st century.

"This man is very ambitious. If we really do what he says, the project will be much larger than the Yongle Encyclopedia and the Siku Quanshu. It can definitely be called a super-large project!"

He couldn't help but say, "If that's the case, having paper books would really be twice the result with half the effort."

"That's right! So when I saw these paper books next time, I was so excited that I thought of looking for Brother Xianzhao. First, for the books, and second, I wanted to ask him something!"

Huangfu Han looked at Liu He seriously.

(End of this chapter)