The big man has a living father

Chapter 41 Vernacular Movement
After joining the team, Mehefu became the manager of Tongguan Coal Mine.

Sima Xiangru was still very busy.

Because Sima Xiangru started playing the game of pioneering.

The current situation is:

The ultimate goal of more than 10,000 Huns was to mine coal.

Coal mining requires shovels, spades and other tools, which are needed for iron and steel making, and coal is needed for iron and steel making.

Coal miners need housing, and coal is needed to make bricks and cement for building houses.

It takes people to build houses, to make steel, and to mine.

So, Sima Xiangru started playing the Han version of the game of the rich.

Although there are a lot of people, it is difficult to recruit them without enough houses.

But with fewer people, the construction of houses is slow.

How many people are needed for various tasks is another question.

Fortunately, when Huo Hai learned that Sima Xiangru's father-in-law was in the building materials business and proposed to build a coal mine, he had already made some preparations. For example, the carpenters among the Huo family's current retainers made many bellows.

Facing the dissatisfaction of Sima Xiangru who was too busy, Huo Hai said: "I didn't even ask them to make the chairs and benches first. I kneel and sit so uncomfortably every day, but I asked them to make the bellows first. Do you know how much I have contributed?!"

I even, even…I didn’t even have the table to overturn when I was so angry!

(╯‵ ′)╯︵┻━┻

Sima Xiangru: "Although I don't understand what you are saying, I don't believe it. I believe you and I am a cuckold."

Well, this is called word of mouth.

Although he couldn't understand what Huo Hai was saying, everything Huo Hai said was definitely self-consistent, so Sima Xiangru chose not to understand what he meant and simply didn't believe it.

Huo Hai rolled his eyes and leaned closer: "I'll tell you a way, don't tell anyone."

"Aren't you short of manpower and don't know how to deploy it?"

"Your Majesty asked the supervisor to come and learn from us how to burn charcoal and build the stove."

"That's how you are..."

Sima Xiangru was shocked after hearing this: "You mean the supervisor is so stupid that he can't tell the difference between building a wall and making a stove?"

Huo Hai: "Nonsense, I didn't ask you to lie to them."

Sima Xiangru pointed at Huo Hai and said, "Hey! You don't admit what you just said."

Huo Hai: "What I mean is, you want them to learn how to lay bricks, but they don't have to practice after learning? Don't they practice? If they go directly to teach the people, what if something goes wrong? We have to make sure that they have truly mastered bricklaying before we let them spread it around Gyeonggi Province."

Sima Xiangru suddenly realized: "You mean, we want them to repair our house under the pretext of internship?"

Huo Hai said righteously: "Bullshit! Letting them practice is for their own good. Letting them master this technology is responsible for them, for the people, and even more for His Majesty!"

Sima Xiangru: "Don't worry, I understand."

"But we don't lack people, we just can't deploy them..."

Huo Hai interrupted: "Stupid, the supervisors are here to learn the technology, and I am not charging them, which is already a contribution to the empire. Do you think I should provide them with food and accommodation? They must take care of their own food and accommodation."

"First, you arrange for people to go to the villages in the mining area... That's it. Do you understand?"

Sima Xiangru glared: "You still want to sell vegetables at a high price to the people in the workshop of the Supervisory Office? And you also sell ordinary houses at a high price..."

Huo Hai glared at Sima Xiangru: "There is a huge funding gap!"

"These institutions won't achieve anything with this money. Any research project my followers can choose is more promising than the crap they are doing. It's a waste for them to spend so much money. I'll just make use of it."

Sima Xiangru: "Okay, okay, I agree with this plan."

"But Huo Hai, I've been talking to you for so long, can you please get up from your damn kang? You still have the nerve to ask for leave from the Prince's Mansion saying you're busy for more than ten days. I've ridden my horse back and forth to Tongguan three times, for four days in total, and you haven't even left the door. And you still say that you care most about this industry?" Huo Hai, who was lying on his back, laughed awkwardly: "It's too cold, I really don't want to get up."

Sima Xiangru: "Didn't you tell me to come to you for something?"

Huo Hai: "Yes, let's talk business. Which one do you think is better, snow or plum?"

Sima Xiangru: ???
……

Xishi, Huo’s Paper Industry.

There are still long queues at Huo’s Paper Company every day, just like in the past, and they can sell as much paper as possible.

And it’s limited per person.

Every morning, a truck delivers paper to the paper industry.

Every noon, a car would deliver ten times the weight of money to the Huo Mansion.

Recently, many literati and scholars have come to Chang'an. One reason is that they want to see paper, the second is that they have heard the news of the reform of vernacular Chinese, and the third is that the selection of filial and honest officials has completely stagnated this year, but there are rumors that if they can go to Chang'an and enter the Imperial College, they may be able to pass the examination and become an official.

Therefore, a large number of scholars are gathering in Chang'an.

After these people came to Chang'an, their favorite place was Huo's Paper Industry.

The air here is filled with the flavor of culture.

And today, they finally arrived!
Huo Hai and Sima Xiangru set up a small table nearby, with a roll of paper hanging next to it, on which was written the words "New Article Movement".

When a group of scholars learned that the two men, one black and one old, were Sima Xiangru, the world's number one writer, and Huo Hai, the world's number two writer, they all rushed forward to watch the fun.

"Mr. Ma from Sima Company! Can you sign an autograph for me?!"

"Second Master Huo, Second Master Huo, are you free to write a poem today?!"

Huo Hai: "Everyone, stop arguing! Sima Gong and I came here today for some serious business."

Sima Xiangru saw that everyone had quieted down, then he spoke: "Not long ago, Huo Hai proposed in the court to popularize the use of vernacular in writing. I wonder if you have heard of this?"

Some people nodded and some shook their heads, but the vast majority of people nodded.

Sima Xiangru: "In the era of elegant language, because bamboo slips were very heavy, the writing needed to be particularly refined, which led to ambiguity when reading, so vernacular writing may be a way to solve this dilemma."

In response to this, some people nodded and some shook their heads.

But no one shouted.

Because the two people in front of us are the best at writing elegant language. Unless Qu Yuan is brought back, these two will have the final say.

They didn't object to changing to vernacular Chinese, so there was no reason for me to refuse.

Unless an elixir is found to bring Qu Yuan back to life, who can do more to protect the interests of elegant language than these two?
But then again, even if the elixir was found, Qu Yuan could not be saved because he was already in the fish's stomach.

Therefore, no matter what, it seems that these two have the final say in the field of elegant language.

Huo Hai: "But when Sima Gong and I discussed the change to vernacular Chinese, a problem arose."

Sima Xiangru: "So what is the problem?"

Huo Hai: "Listen to me carefully."

"When we write in classical Chinese, we often quote allusions. When we write in vernacular Chinese, we can't write all the allusions and stories again, right? That would not make the article accurate, but would just be a waste of paper."

"So, when we write vernacular articles, we still have to use allusions, but we have to standardize the use of allusions. Otherwise, some people use a sentence to represent an allusion, while others use a paragraph to represent an allusion. In fact, they are telling a story. Wouldn't that make it even more difficult for readers to understand?"

All the readers who were listening nodded.

Huo Hai: "So Sima Gong and I discussed a solution, which is to use four words to condense a phrase to replace a story, and this phrase is called an idiom."

(End of this chapter)