The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"The third is naturally the monopoly of knowledge and the right to speak."

Chen Huai'an calmly said, "Perhaps my words were somewhat presumptuous, Your Majesty. Please forgive me."

Li Shimin gave Zhang Anan a look, and the latter understood. He dismissed the people in the hall and personally took out a plate of pastries and presented it to Chen Huai'an.

"I know you love this, so don't feel embarrassed. It's just the two of us today, so feel free to speak."

Chen Huai'an didn't stand on ceremony, picked up a piece of pastry, and chewed it: "First of all, the aristocratic families have stood for nearly a thousand years. Over such a long period of time, they have thousands or even tens of thousands of volumes of books, most of which are kept secret and only available to their own family members."

"Another problem is that books are too expensive."

"A well-preserved handwritten copy of a classic text is worth as much as several acres of fertile land. Even if an ordinary farmer sold all his possessions, he still couldn't afford a complete set of scriptures."

"More importantly, they are the ones who interpret Confucian classics."

Chen Huai'an sighed and said, "So this raises a problem: no matter how talented you are, if you are not born into a prominent family and do not rely on one, you will never have a chance to get ahead."

"The imperial examination system may seem to have opened up a path, but in reality, the passage to the upper class was still firmly controlled by aristocratic families."

Li Shimin nodded slightly: "I understand everything you've said. After all this build-up, tell me your purpose."

Chen Huai'an smiled and pushed the papers he had brought forward: "Your Majesty, I am dismantling the foundations of the powerful families' interests. Do you... have the courage to dismantle their control over knowledge?"

Li Shimin raised an eyebrow slightly, picked up the paper Chen Huai'an pushed towards him, and looked at it: "What does this mean? This... um?"

Li Shimin suddenly felt something was wrong; the texture of this paper was very different from ordinary paper.

Ordinary rattan paper and hemp paper are yellowish in color and feel somewhat rough, but this paper is whiter and has a delicate texture.

"This is......?"

"This is paper made by me. The raw materials are mainly bamboo and paper mulberry bark. It is made through a series of complex processes. The cost is only 30% of that of rattan paper and hemp paper, or even less." Chen Huai'an spoke casually, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

Li Shimin could no longer remain calm and exclaimed, "The cost is only 30% of the original, or even less?"

Are you sure?

Chen Huai'an: "Your Majesty, when have I ever lied to you? From the Beauty Pass, the Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword), horseshoes, the iron-forging method, to refined salt, have I ever uttered a single boast?"

Li Shimin was speechless for a moment, followed by an indescribable excitement.

Don't underestimate a small piece of paper. Books are expensive nowadays, partly because most of them are handwritten and paper is expensive to produce.

If we had Chen Huai'an's papermaking technique, the price of paper could drop immediately.

In this way, many more people will be able to afford to buy and read books.

How could Li Shimin not know everything Chen Huai'an said?

How could he not know how terrifying the monopoly of powerful families really is?

However, he really didn't have any good ideas, so he could only openly and secretly promote people from poor families to weaken the control of the powerful families.

Chen Huai'an is the most typical example.

But there is only one Chen Huai'an, while there are countless poor students.

"Huai'an...I..."

"Your Majesty!" Chen Huai'an raised his hand to stop Li Shimin from speaking, his smile undiminished. He then pulled out another sheet of paper from the stack and gently pushed it in front of him: "Your Majesty, cheap paper alone is not enough."

Li Shimin looked over in confusion, his gaze falling on the paper.

The paper was covered with neat, densely packed characters, the strokes were clear, and the ink was even, so it didn't look like it was handwritten.

Even more astonishing is that the characters on it are all the same size and the layout is neat, making it look even more pleasing to the eye than the official manuscript.

"This is... woodblock printing?" Li Shimin asked in surprise.

Woodblock printing appeared in the early Tang Dynasty, but it was mostly used to print Buddhist scriptures. Li Shimin had seen it before.

However, engraving is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Printing a book requires engraving a complete set of plates, which is extremely costly. Printing a small quantity would be unprofitable.

"Only woodblock printing could surprise Your Majesty?" Chen Huai'an pointed to the paper. "Your Majesty must see clearly, this is not woodblock printing, it's movable type printing!"

"The type is made by firing clay into individual molds, which are then arranged and assembled. After printing, the type can be disassembled and reused. The type for one book can be disassembled and used to lay out the type for the next book, saving time and effort. The cost is more than ten times lower than that of woodblock printing."

"With this new, low-cost paper, the cost of printing a book can be reduced to less than one-tenth of the cost of a handwritten copy today."

"..."

Li Shimin's breath caught in his throat, and he gripped the paper tightly in his hand.

Less than 10%?

Li Shimin's chest heaved violently as he instantly grasped the key to the matter.

If book prices drop to this level, and if the Ministry of Works uses movable type printing as Chen Huai'an described, books will be continuously printed.

Now that the imperial court is carrying out large-scale work relief programs, people have money in their hands and can buy books for their children to read.

By then, how will aristocratic families still monopolize books? How will they still monopolize the interpretation of classics?

And wouldn't he himself... truly be able to create a golden age?

The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more his eyes burned with passion, and his heart surged with emotion.

But then, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and he sighed, "These things are certainly good, Huai'an, you have done a great service, I will not forget it."

"However, with your intelligence, you should be able to figure this out; this is not something that can be easily given away."

"The powerful families are pushing you to your death, and you are pushing them to their death in return. Not only are you taking away their interests, but now you are also going to completely break their monopoly on books and knowledge."

"If things go wrong, the world will descend into chaos!"

"Huai'an, you are a genius of unparalleled talent. Meeting you is my good fortune, and meeting me is your misfortune."

Li Shimin felt somewhat dejected and was in a bad mood.

He knew perfectly well that what he held in his hands was enough to bring about earth-shattering changes, but he could only watch.

Being an emperor is not easy; even emperors have their own set of limitations.

Li Shimin's imperial power relied on these powerful families; to touch their fundamental interests was to undermine the very foundation of his rule.

It's the same principle as the land tax reform; everyone knows it's good.

However, it was all in vain.

You need to be able to use it.

In the early Tang Dynasty, paper was expensive, and books were all handwritten. Confucian classics, laws, and knowledge were almost entirely passed down from generation to generation by aristocratic families.

Children from poor families couldn't even afford or access books, so naturally they couldn't compete with aristocratic families for official positions.

Improvements in papermaking, coupled with the promotion of printing, fundamentally dismantled the barriers built by these aristocratic families.

Forcing it will only alienate everyone.

How did the Li Tang imperial family rise to power? Who in the court doesn't know?

Even He Ming, who was just a kid back then, understood this principle.

"Your Majesty, what are you saying? Whether others would tolerate me is another matter." Chen Huai'an chuckled. "You treat me with sincerity, so naturally I will treat you with sincerity in return."

"Your Majesty, please don't worry, I have a plan!"

Li Shimin: "..."

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"......"