Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 170: Almost Invincible! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is Declaring War! ! [Monthly Ticket Request]

"Master Cen! Are you telling the truth?!"

Ma Zhou excitedly approached him and asked, "Did the Crown Prince really achieve a great victory in Shuofang?"

"Really! It's absolutely true!"

Cen Wenben said with a broad smile, "I learned about this through the Xing Tang Chamber of Commerce's information network. His Royal Highness's plan is truly ingenious. Using merchants to transmit information is incredibly fast. Currently, across the more than 360 states of the Tang Dynasty, we have nearly 5,000 self-employed individuals. Next year, we expect to expand to 20,000, and there will be even more in the future!"

"No, no, no, I'm not talking about individual business owners, I'm talking about the great victory!"

"Oops! Look at my brain, I almost forgot the point!"

Cen Wenben slapped his forehead, then apologized, "Excuse me, Lord Ma. The truth is, I've received news from Shuofang. Our two Eastern Palace guards have shown great prowess in Shuofang. Not only did they assist the Shuofang army in annihilating Liang Shidu, they also severely defeated the Turkish reinforcements. The Iron Pagoda, in particular, managed to withstand 40,000 Turkish cavalry with only 500 soldiers!"

"Ah? This"

"Isn't that impressive? Let me tell you, there's something even more impressive! When our Crown Prince was surrounded by Liang Shidu's 30,000-man army, he preferred death to retreat. He fought a bloody battle with 5,000 Liang surrendered soldiers, and upheld the dignity of the Han people of the Central Plains!"

At this point, Cen Wenben became more and more excited, not noticing that the looks from Ma Zhou, Pei Xuan, and Cai Sima had changed as they looked at him. He continued to talk to himself:
"Do you know what the prince said when he swore the oath? He said that we Han people in the Central Plains have dignity, and our Tang Dynasty also has dignity. He said that the prince guards the country's borders, and the king dies for the country!"

"He said that the dignity of a country lies in not ceding territory, not paying indemnities, not paying tribute, and not marrying off princesses!"

"He said blood for blood, tooth for tooth. Anyone who offends the Tang Dynasty will be punished, no matter how far away they are!"

“Hey! Hey hey hey!!”

Seeing that he had been talking for a long time and there was suddenly no movement from the other side, Cen Wenben couldn't help but shout in frustration: "Are you guys listening?"

"Oh, I'm listening! I'm listening!"

Ma Zhou reacted for a moment, then recalled what Cen Wenben had said. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and he couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hahaha! Big news!!"

As he spoke, he pulled Cen Wenben into the workshop and asked excitedly, "Master Cen, how is your handwriting?"

"what?"

Cen Wenben reacted for a moment, realizing he couldn't quite keep up with his thoughts, but still managed to answer, "It's not bad, not too bad!"

"Okay, then. Write some words for me and I'll have them carved. Then we can start printing the newspaper right away!"

"Oh, okay, I'll write it right away!" Cen Wenben seemed to have realized what was happening and nodded repeatedly. Then he immediately asked someone to bring him pen, ink, paper and inkstone and started writing.

Pei Xuan and Cai Sima were confused and could not help but step forward again.

But Cai Sima said cautiously: "Master Ma, what did you just say about printing newspapers?"

Hearing this, Ma Zhou looked at him with a smile and asked, "How are books produced in the Tang Dynasty today?"

"This"

Cai Sima hesitated for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Since the invention of paper in the Han Dynasty, the methods of copying and rubbing have gradually spread."

"And our Tang Dynasty has also inherited this technology, but books are still mainly copied by hand."

"Sima Cai is a man of profound learning, worthy of being from the most powerful family in Jiangling!"

"Uh, sorry to have made you laugh, Master Ma."

"It doesn't matter!"

Ma Zhou smiled and waved his hand, then asked, "What if we apply the rubbing and copying methods to newspapers?"

"Ok?"

Sima Cai was slightly stunned and couldn't help but turn his head to look at Pei Xuan.

Pei Xuan's brows knitted together. After a moment, he suddenly seemed to understand something and said excitedly, "Master Ma, what you mean is that you plan to use Master Cen's calligraphy to carve the contents of the newspaper onto a stone tablet, and then use this stone tablet to make rubbings of it repeatedly, right?"

"No, no, if you carve the words on the stone slab and then make a copy of it, not to mention how big the paper would be, the font would also be reversed. This won't work!" Cai Sima shook his head and denied it.

Ma Zhou glanced at Cai Sima and thought to himself that this man was not stupid and could see through the key at a glance.

He smiled and said, "I wonder if you two have ever heard of the theory of yin and yang? Take a piece of transparent paper with words just written on it and place it upside down on a smooth wooden board. What words will appear on the board?"

Pei Xuan reacted quickly and blurted out, "Reverse characters! The characters on the board are reversed!"

"Not bad!"

Ma Zhou nodded in appreciation and said with a smile, "Suppose the reversed characters we see are the negative side. If we use a chisel to carve along the outline of the reversed characters, then what will the positive side look like?"

"Needless to say!"

Cai Sima spoke first, smiling and saying, "The sunny side is naturally convex."

Soon, he stopped laughing.

His expression froze for a moment, and his thoughts churned in his mind.

The negative side is in reverse characters, and the positive side is naturally in traditional characters. So what is needed for rubbing is traditional characters, right?!
"Genius! Genius!"

Pei Xuan also reacted and danced with excitement.

Cai Sima stared at Ma Zhou blankly for a long time, unable to say a word.

It’s not that no one in the Tang Dynasty understood this simple theory of Yin and Yang, but that no one associated it with rubbing and copying seals.

If we really use this method to make rubbings of books, the efficiency will be increased many times over.

Then the scholars in the world will definitely go crazy about it.

The cultural context controlled by the aristocratic families will be completely overturned.

You know, the reason why the aristocratic families monopolized the court was not because of how big their territory was or how many people they controlled, but because of books.

The so-called noble sons from poor families, even if their families have fallen on hard times, still have a few family heirlooms.

For those from truly poor families, it is extremely difficult to study.

The greatest difficulty is copying books.

But now, with this groundbreaking rubbing technology, there is no need to copy books at all.

In other words, the cultural heritage of the world will be forcibly transferred from the hands of the aristocratic families to the hands of Li Chengqian.

However, when Ma Zhou saw Pei Xuan dancing with joy, he frowned: "What genius?! Such low-level skills are worthy of being called a genius?!"

"Well,"

Pei Xuan looked embarrassed and blushed as he said, "Isn't this amazing?"

"Of course not!"

Ma Zhou said proudly: "This technology can only be used by civilians, we officials cannot use it!"

"Ah? Why can't it be used?"

"Don't you think this technology has a big drawback?"

Pei Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Now that you mention it, it seems there are some issues. For example, the difficulty of carving..."

"No, the difficulty of carving is secondary. The real difficulty lies in damaging it!"

Ma Zhou shook his head and denied it. "Think about it. If we carve the contents of the newspaper on wood and print it out, if the wood gets damaged, we have to replace it with a new one. Even if there's a single wrong word or it gets damaged, we have to replace it with a new one. Is that feasible?"

“That doesn’t seem to be possible.”

Pei Xuan nodded thoughtfully.

Cai Sima glanced at him and asked curiously, "Then according to what Master Ma said, you should have other rubbing techniques, right?"

"It's not that I have a different rubbing technique, it's a technique created by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Ma Zhou corrected Cai Sima, then walked into the workshop, took out a piece of clay, and explained, "If we don't use wood to carve characters, but use this clay in my hand, make a standard blank with the clay, and then use a carving knife to carve the reverse characters, so that the raised characters are only as thick as copper coins, and then use fire to harden them, we can form clay movable type of individual characters!"

"In this way, a single movable type is created."

"There are only so many characters commonly used in the Tang Dynasty. We can burn them all into this movable type. When we need something, we can just arrange the characters and that's it. Even if a single character is damaged, we can quickly burn another one to replace it!"

"So, is movable type printing a more advanced technique than wood engraving?"

Upon hearing this, Pei Xuan and Cai Sima opened their eyes wide, their lips trembled, and they stared at the clay in Ma Zhou's hand.

After a while, he jumped on the spot with excitement.

"Movable type! Movable type! Oh my God!"

"How is this possible! How did they come up with this? It's simply amazing!"

Now they finally understood why Ma Zhou looked down on the technology of woodblock printing, because compared with woodblock printing, movable type printing was a miracle. It not only greatly improved the fault tolerance rate, but also crushed woodblock printing in printing speed.

In this way, even if the people mastered woodblock printing, they would definitely not be a match for the official movable type printing.

Even if someone in the private sector came up with the idea of ​​movable type printing, the cost of manufacturing it would be a huge problem. After all, cheap paper was an official secret.

Jiangling's papermaking technology was already the most advanced in the Tang Dynasty. Compared with Jiangling bamboo paper, the Qingteng paper sold on the market was nothing.

Coupled with movable type printing, it can be said that it is almost invincible.

Thinking of this situation, Pei Xuan and Cai Sima couldn't help but look at each other in confusion.

They finally understood why Ma Zhou wanted to promote newspapers among ordinary people.

Because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is going to declare war on the aristocratic families!
On the other side, Shuofang, Tongwan City.

After three days of preparation, the large-scale blind date event is in full swing.

At the beginning, the men who were on blind dates were very shy, but after Liu Lancheng asked the palace maids to perform their talents, they gradually became enthusiastic.

However, the rules of blind dates have already told them that both parties must be attracted to each other before they can have further contact.

In other words, even if they howled like wolves and tigers in the audience, the palace maids performing their talents on the stage would not belong to them.

On the contrary, the hungrier they appear, the less likely they are to be noticed.

Therefore, most of the rational soldiers behaved politely and uprightly.

This made Li Chengqian, Li Yuan, Chai Shao, Zhangsun Wuji and others who were watching them on the stage couldn't help laughing.

You have to know that these soldiers who are shouting and killing on the battlefield are basically rough guys. The only thing that can make them restrain their desires is beauty.

Of course, it is precisely because of this activity that the army’s cohesion has become stronger.

Now they finally understood what the prince meant by dignity.

Soldiers sacrifice for the country, and the country will take the soldiers into consideration.

This is very rare in all dynasties.

Even when women were distributed, the generals and superiors would get them first, and ordinary soldiers would never get their turn.

Moreover, married generals and officers were not allowed to attend.

This is really great for ordinary soldiers!
Li Yuan smiled and said, "Cheng Qian, you are really good at finding a solution. This activity is fun. If there is a chance in the future, we should hold such activities again. Even if they are not palace maids, ordinary people can also use this method to get married and let single men and women of marriageable age participate in this activity!"

"In this way, the population of the Tang Dynasty will no longer be a problem!"

"Yes, Your Highness, this event is truly wonderful. It's a pity I'm married now, so I can't go and win people over with my virtue! Otherwise, the most beautiful maid would definitely be mine!"

Du Caigan echoed casually, then suddenly seemed to remember something and winked at Xue Rengui, saying, "Commander Xue, why don't you give it a try? You still can't forget your childhood sweetheart!"

"Humph!"

Xue Rengui snorted coldly, then warned: "Madam Du asked me to beat you before, and I only used one-third of my strength!"

"Hey, you kid!"

Du Caigan raised his finger and pointed at Xue Rengui, but didn't dare to say anything more. He turned his head to look at Su Dingfang and said with a smile: "Commander Su, it's normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines. Are you as pedantic as Commander Xue?"

Hearing this, Su Dingfang glanced at him and said lightly: "I'm not interested in women!"

"what?!"

Du Caigan opened his mouth wide in feigned surprise and said, "You have that kind of hobby! I have to stay away from you!"

"Shh!"

Su Dingfang immediately drew his sword, and Du Caigan was so scared that he quickly hid behind Li Chengqian.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but raise his hand to support his forehead, thinking that Lao Du was just a foul-mouthed guy, and he never learned his lesson no matter how many times he was punished.

However, when he thought of what Li Yuan had just said, he couldn't help but sigh:
"Although such activities have certain benefits, they are difficult to promote among the general public because they have a strong sense of family background. For example, aristocratic families often marry among themselves and rarely interact with the outside world. Similarly, the daughters of merchants and officials rarely interact with each other. Even ordinary people are divided into tenants and farmers."

"Therefore, it is basically impossible to promote such activities among the people!"

"Well, Cheng Qian is right. Not to mention ordinary people, even ministers in the court find it difficult to marry the daughter or daughter-in-law of a noble family!" Changsun Wuji nodded in agreement.

Chai Shao, Xue Wanche, Xue Wanjun, including Liu Min, Liu Lancheng and others on the side, all agreed with it and talked about it.

"Yes, it's hard for our children to marry into aristocratic families!"

"Oh, stop talking. I'm already the governor of a state, and my son was humiliated when he asked to marry the daughter of a prominent family!"

"I heard that the son of Minister Fang Xuanling also failed in his marriage proposal!"

"It's difficult! Too difficult!"

Hearing everyone's discussions, Li Chengqian frowned.

When he read history books before, he thought that the power of the aristocratic families was a bit exaggerated, but now it seems that it is not just exaggerated, it is simply incomparable.

Such forces must be eradicated as soon as possible.

Otherwise, all the ministers in the court would want to marry into aristocratic families, and the power of the aristocratic families would only become stronger and more troublesome to deal with.

"Report——"

Just when Li Chengqian was thinking about how to eradicate the aristocratic families, a report suddenly came.

He was slightly startled and couldn't help asking, "What happened?"

"Your Highness, a troop of 5,000 Turkic cavalry is approaching Tongwan City!"

"What!?"

Everyone was surprised when they heard this.

They never imagined that the Turks would dare to send troops to Shuofang.

But why are there only 5,000 people?

Could it be that the Turks want to turn the tables with these 5,000 people?
how can that be!

Just when everyone was in a state of confusion, Chai Shao took the lead and said, "Your Highness, please be at ease. I will be back soon!"

"Wait a minute!"

Just as Chai Shao was about to rise to fight, Li Chengqian raised his hand to stop him, then asked the person who reported it, "Do you know who is the commander of those 5,000 Turkic cavalry?"

"Your Highness, I don't know who their commander is, but according to the scouts, they seem to be pulling a cartload of boxes!"

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but look puzzled.

Five thousand Turkic cavalry, pulling carts full of boxes to attack the city?
What kind of tactics is this?
Could it be that those boxes are some secret weapons?
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but look at Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian was stunned at first, then smiled in realization. "I see. Go open the city gate and welcome them in!"

Everyone was shocked again, and then looked at Li Chengqian in disbelief.

But Li Chengqian smiled and comforted him, "Don't worry, these Turks are not our enemies. They are the Wolf Fang Guards of my Eastern Palace!"

"What!?"

Everyone was stunned.

Chai Shao, in particular, looked at Li Chengqian with an expression as if he had seen a ghost and asked, "What does your highness the crown prince mean?!"

"That's exactly what it says. Those Turkic cavalry are one of the six commanders of my Eastern Palace, the Wolf Fang Guard!"

"But how is this possible? Why?"

"Okay, uncle, I don't have time to explain to you. I have to go meet my hero!"

Li Chengqian smiled and waved his hand to interrupt Chai Shao, then said to Liu Lancheng, "Sima Liu, the matchmaking conference is now in your hands. You must host it well and don't let me down!"

"Don't worry, Your Highness the Crown Prince. I will do my best to ensure your satisfaction!" Liu Lancheng was delighted and bowed respectfully.

Liu Min on the side frowned and looked at Liu Lancheng deeply, having a bad feeling.

At this time, Li Chengqian had already left the event with Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang.

Chai Shao, Xue Wanjun and others were left standing there at a loss, not knowing whether to sit or stand.

Until Li Yuan reminded Chai Shao with a bit of amusement: "Don't just stand there, it will be your turn to be the witness later!"

"Uh,"

Chai Shao's mouth twitched, and he was about to respond to Li Yuan with a forced smile, when suddenly another voice came: "Duke Huo, His Majesty has sent someone to convey the decree!

　[There's still one chapter left. I wrote too late last night and didn't finish it, so I finished it during the day and posted it. I won't let it go, so don't talk nonsense.]

　　[Also, please give me a monthly ticket, please give me a monthly ticket, and thank you to the book friend 5527-ac for the 100 reward. ]

　　
　
(End of this chapter)