Brother, stop curling up! You're curling up like the founder of the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 191 The Overt Scheme is Too Ruthless, Liu Bei, You Lack Military Morality (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)
South of Luoyang City.

Outside Kaiyang Gate, in front of the Imperial Academy lecture hall.

A crowd gathered around the newly erected stone tablet inscribed with the Thousand Character Classic, discussing it animatedly.

Although some stubborn old scholars who were unwilling to accept new things thought this was heresy, more people saw the convenience of simplified characters for memorization and writing, as well as the literary charm of the Thousand Character Classic, which covered astronomy, history, geography, birds and beasts, agricultural knowledge, moral norms, idioms and proverbs.

Those who could stay in Luoyang and understand the Thousand Character Classic stele were not from poor families.

Even for these families, teaching their children and nephews to read and write is not easy.

Learning to read and write requires a lot of effort.

By saving time on literacy and writing, and then using that time to learn other knowledge, even those with less aptitude will achieve greater success.

Zhou Xingsi, a genius of all time, wrote an extraordinary article that has been passed down for over a thousand years and is still admirable.

Since this time the purpose was to enable the common people of the seven counties of Siyong to learn to read and write, Liu Bei did not, as before, write poems that were either anonymous or unique copies, but instead directly signed the "Thousand Character Classic" in the name of the Han Dynasty.

In addition to the names of Liu Bei, Cai Yong, and others, representatives of craftsmen and Zhuang people were also selected.

Those who were unable to leave their names on the stone tablet will have their names recorded in the biography of the Thousand Character Classic.

Even if someone's name is Er Gou, the inscription on the monument will include something like "Er Gou of Jingzhao participated in lifting the stone."

This is why Liu Bei was able to complete all the writing, verification, and stone inscription within thirty days.

When the stakes are high enough, efficiency becomes unimaginable.

If the paper we make now weren't unsuitable for writing and preservation, the appearance of this "Thousand Character Classic" stone tablet would have caused a paper shortage in Luoyang.

Although it wasn't as expensive as paper in Luoyang, various types of bamboo and wooden slips became scarce.

Liu Bei always prepared for multiple scenarios.

Just when Luoyang was experiencing a shortage of bamboo and wooden slips, the Lingyan Army suddenly transported a large number of bamboo and wooden slips into Luoyang.

In addition to bamboo and wooden slips, there were also prepared pens and ink.

Occasionally, the soldiers of the Lingyan Army would also have a treat to earn some extra money.

After all, for the past month, all four thousand Lingyan soldiers that Liu Bei had deployed in Luoyang had gone to make bamboo and wooden slips, so they naturally deserved some compensation for their hard work.

The reason for this is that the Lingyan Army also needs to start promoting simplified characters, and these bamboo and wooden slips are what the Lingyan Army will use in the future.

It's a good time to sell the surplus.

The writing brushes and ink were mass-produced by Liu Bei's official workshops in Chang'an, but Liu Bei stored them in large quantities.

Since arriving in Chang'an, the eunuch Bi Lan has devoted himself to the management of craftsmen. He does his best to fulfill any request Liu Bei makes.

Although there are many skilled craftsmen among the common people, they are far inferior to Bi Lan, the former servant who made ingenious items for Liu Hong, in terms of vision, knowledge, and management skills.

In today's world, the transmission of knowledge often relies on high-ranking officials and nobles.

This is precisely why Liu Bei only executed the ringleader and not exterminated his entire clan.

Just like Yuan Wei and Yuan Ji's relatives, although they were not pardoned, they were not imprisoned. Instead, Liu Bei assigned them to different workshops or government fields based on their different levels of knowledge.

Compared to the majority of commoners who were still in a state of ignorance, these people from official families, even a maid in the household, could possess knowledge that ordinary commoners did not have.

While killing can eliminate problems at their root, it also severs the transmission of knowledge.

In this era of scarce knowledge, anyone who possesses knowledge deserves to give the other person a chance to reform.

Of course, bandit leaders like Yuan Kui, Yuan Ji, Yuan Yi, and Tao Qian could not be forgiven.

Liu Bei would strike a balance based on different circumstances.

And in Ye City.

Yuan Shao has been so shocked by the series of news that his mind has gone blank.

After defeating Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao happily enthroned Liu Yu as emperor. He then proudly became the Grand General in Ye City, hosting lavish banquets for famous scholars, where learned men and women were his companions.

Then he imagined how agitated, uneasy, and angry Liu Bei would be upon learning that Liu Yu had declared himself emperor, yet he was powerless against Yuan Shao.

If it weren't for the fact that people couldn't go to Luoyang, Yuan Shao would have loved to see Liu Bei's powerless rage.

result.

Before he could enjoy his triumph for long, Zhang Jin returned limping, accusing Yuan Shu of being rude.

Then came the news that Yuan Shu had declared himself emperor.

After Zhang Jin was beaten, Yuan Shao was secretly delighted after comforting him. He even imagined Yuan Shu's impotent rage based on Zhang Jin's description, which made Yuan Shao feel secretly pleased for a long time.

After all, Yuan Shu often referred to Yuan Shu as "the son born of a maid," which made Yuan Shao wish he could throw Yuan Shu into a pigsty to eat excrement and drink urine. Now, he could make Yuan Shu impotent and furious. Isn't that great?

Unexpectedly, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor!

On the day he learned that Yuan Shu had declared himself emperor, Yuan Shao smashed several exquisite porcelain pieces.

Porcelain was already precious, but it was still not as precious as Yuan Shao's anger.

I just helped Liu Yu become emperor, and I even appointed you as Grand Commandant, second only to me. What more could you possibly want?
What do you mean by declaring yourself emperor at this time?
Is the intention to place the Yuan family in an unjust position?

I, Yuan Shao, am from a distinguished family, I receive the Han's salary, I am loyal to the Han, and I serve as the Great General of the Han.

You, Yuan Shu, directly usurped the throne and declared yourself emperor, usurping the Han throne and establishing your own rule, and now you want to ruin the entire reputation of the Yuan family?

If you declare yourself emperor, will the Yuan family's followers and former officials all over the world listen to you, Yuan Shu, or to me, Yuan Shao?

If Shouchun weren't so far away, Yuan Shao would have really wanted to lead his troops to destroy Yuan Shu.

Not to mention that Ye City is far away, even if troops were to be dispatched from Yan Province, they would have to pass through Yu Province, which is controlled by Liu Bei, to reach Shouchun. Yuan Shao's reach would be too far away.

After much persuasion from Feng Ji, Yuan Shao finally believed Feng Ji's words: "With two emperors suddenly appearing, the one who should be most anxious now is Liu Bei. My lord, you can sit back and wait and see."

However, Feng Ji never expected that it was Liu Bei who instigated Yuan Shu to declare himself emperor.

When Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, not only was the Yuan clan's power divided in two, but it also deterred Yuan Shao from making any rash moves.

The advantage of having three emperors is that as long as the other two sides fight, the third side has the opportunity to reap the benefits.

Although Yuan Shu has the audacity to declare himself emperor, he absolutely dares not fight Liu Bei at present.

Declaring oneself emperor is one thing, attacking Liu Bei is another; the two are not comparable.

Yuan Shu only wanted to become emperor, not to die. As long as Liu Bei did not send troops to attack Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu would only stay in Jingzhou and Yangzhou.

Now that Liu Biao and Liu Dai have both developed ambitions, it would be a good thing for Liu Bei to let them fight each other with Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu dared not fight Liu Bei because he knew he couldn't win. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, dared not fight Liu Bei because he feared that a mutually destructive battle would allow Yuan Shu to gain an advantage.

Liu Bei's victory in defeating the rebel forces of three provinces with 20,000 troops still instills great fear in the rebel generals of Yan Province, and Yuan Shao, who knows Liu Bei's methods, will not easily provoke him.

For Liu Bei, this was a rare window of opportunity for development.

That's why Liu Bei went straight for the big move, first releasing the simplified Chinese version of the "Thousand Character Classic" stone tablet.

Liu Bei was happy.

Yuan Shao was unhappy.

When Yuan Shao learned that Liu Bei not only did not attack Yuan Shu, but also erected a simplified Chinese "Thousand Character Classic" stele in Luoyang, he was so shocked that he didn't even know why he broke the porcelain. His brain seemed to shut down completely.

Liu Bei, what are you trying to do?
Shouldn't you quell the rebellion when Yuan Shu declared himself emperor?

You even erected a stone tablet in Luoyang, imitating the one erected during the Xiping era.
Do you aspire to be a great Confucian scholar?
If you wanted to be a great Confucian scholar, you should have said so earlier! As long as you support me, I'll let you be a great Confucian scholar for life!
You are a great general and an imperial uncle. Shouldn't you first quell the false emperor Yuan Shu and restore the Han dynasty? What strange and ingenious tricks are you tinkering with?

Upon seeing the Thousand Character Classic and simplified characters copied by the spies, Yuan Shao had to admit that this ingenious skill was of great benefit to literacy and writing.

The Thousand Character Classic was compiled by Zhou Xingsi at the behest of Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, to educate his royal children in Chinese characters and calligraphy. The simplification of characters greatly improved the efficiency of literacy and writing.

Yuan Shao, who came from a family that had held high office for four generations, naturally understood the value of simplified characters and the Thousand Character Classic.

Although there aren't many books on simplified Chinese characters now, their potential is unimaginable once they are widely adopted.

However, what puzzled Yuan Shao was that although there were many spies in Luoyang, it was not easy to smuggle the simplified Thousand Character Classic to Ye City.

The spies' reply was: Liu Bei issued a military order to all checkpoints: anyone bringing the simplified Chinese Thousand Character Classic from Luoyang should not only not be stopped, but should also be given assistance.

The most outrageous thing is that after one of the spies was discovered, Liu Bei actually sent him a complete set of simplified Chinese characters for the Thousand Character Classic, and even thoughtfully prepared a carriage for the spy, instructing him to deliver it to Ye City and hand it over to Yuan Shao.

He even gave the spies gold and silver, instructing them not to cheat or slack off on the way, and to deliver the complete simplified Chinese version of the Thousand Character Classic safely to Yuan Shao's residence.

The items were good, but Yuan Shao was not happy at all.

Because Liu Bei lacked martial ethics.

In short: Yuan Shao intended to use this simplified Thousand Character Classic to cultivate his confidants, then record all existing classics in simplified characters and finally put them under his name, Yuan Shao.

In this way, Yuan Shao could not only cultivate his own loyal followers, but also gain greater prestige.

How did the Yuan family rise to power?

Isn't it all thanks to Yuan Liang's "Meng Shi Yi"?

Why are his students and former officials spread throughout the land? It's because there are so many students seeking knowledge from him, all of whom are his students.

Now that the simplified Chinese Thousand Character Classic has appeared, Yuan Shao can cultivate a large number of disciples in a short period of time!

This temptation was too much for Yuan Shao to resist.

Anyone with ambitions to seize power cannot ignore the practical value of the simplified Chinese Thousand Character Classic.

In particular, Yuan Shao came from a family with a long history of aristocracy, and he knew better how to strengthen the Yuan family's power.

Only by continuously cultivating disciples and former officials could the Yuan family continue to grow and prosper.

The problem is: this was sent by Liu Bei!
Let's promote it; Yuan Shao always feels inferior to Liu Bei.

If we don't promote it, Liu Bei's followers and former officials will only grow larger and larger.

What's even more frightening is that if these powerful families in Hebei secretly went to Liu Bei to ask for something more, and Liu Bei generously gave it to them, then Hebei might very well have a powerful family with even more disciples and former officials than the Yuan family.

The biggest advantage of powerful families is that they have a large number of literate people.

At that time, a large number of classic texts will be copied, and then a large number of disciples will be recruited.

If we wait another ten or twenty years, won't Yuan Shao also be sidelined by the new powerful clans?
The thought of this possibility sent a chill down Yuan Shao's spine.

Are we going to end up benefiting other powerful families?
Liu Bei's strategy was an open one; he directly opened up the patents so that everyone could share them.

If you don't want it, someone else will.

Valuable things will not be rejected by intelligent people.

If you have a quick hand, you will have it, but if you have a slow hand, you will not have it.

Whoever promotes it first will have the advantage.

This saves Liu Bei the difficulty of promoting simplified characters.

When Qin Shi Huang unified the written language, although it brought blessings to later generations, it encountered great obstacles in his own time.

Unifying the writing system was tantamount to eliminating the writing systems of the six other states, so naturally there were many opponents.

Liu Bei is not trying to eradicate writing, but rather to take advantage of the situation: if you don't promote it, others will.

Although the aristocratic families and powerful clans were the first to benefit from simplified characters, this was exactly the effect Liu Bei wanted.

If ordinary people were to learn this directly, it might take decades to see any results.

If the aristocratic and wealthy families learn from this, then when these families fall into decline, the literate retainers and students they have trained can also become teachers.

Liu Bei clearly understood one principle: as long as the patents were opened up and the monopoly was not broken, simplified characters would spring up like mushrooms after rain in various prefectures and counties, which would be much easier than Liu Bei promoting them on his own.

The advantage of chaotic times is that, in order to maintain their rule, various forces will constantly update their knowledge and technologies in order to have a greater chance of winning in future competitions.

Therefore, throughout history, revolutions in knowledge have often occurred in times of chaos.

Just like the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, because it was so chaotic, all sorts of different schools of thought, families, and sects competed for influence.

In times of prosperity, a large number of vested interest groups will emerge, which, based on seniority or personal connections, will hinder the development and innovation of new knowledge and technologies.

"Yuan Tu." Yuan Shao took a deep breath, suppressing his disgust for Liu Bei: "Select trusted men to copy and print the simplified Chinese Thousand Character Classic, and we will also erect a stone tablet outside Ye City."

“Those who come to copy should be treated well. Those who do not wish to be officials should be asked to copy the records in the mansion into simplified characters. I will then petition His Majesty to grant them official positions and salaries.”

"Although Han Fu is dead, there are still many people in Hebei who are quite dissatisfied with us, especially those who have passed down their family traditions of studying the classics and consider themselves superior. I want them to know that even a maid in my household can read faster than their sons!"

Feng Ji said with delight, “My lord, this is a brilliant plan. I am from Nanyang, and you are from Runan. Few of our relatives and friends come to Hebei. If we rely too much on the powerful families and clans of Hebei, they will surely be controlled in the future. Although many of them are former protégés and servants of the Yuan family, there are quite a few like Han Fu who want to turn against their master.”

"Liu Bei intended to humiliate our lord in this way, but little did he know that our lord is lacking in such a thing. If this thing were used to secretly cultivate scholars from humble backgrounds as his disciples, even the powerful and influential families of Hebei would have to bow down to our lord. If they dare to cause trouble in the future, our lord could also use these scholars from humble backgrounds to eliminate them!"

"Once our lord has pacified the world and ascended to the throne, no powerful clans will be able to shake his foundation! Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Yuan Shao laughed loudly: "Yuan Tu understands me best!"

(End of this chapter)