Chapter 118

Paper was born, causing Zhaoge to shake, and countless people scrambled for it.

Not only the people of Zhaoge, but even people from other vassal states scrambled to buy paper, preparing to transport it back for sale.

Those who scrambled to buy paper did the first thing: copy the books at home onto paper, which is not only convenient for preservation, but also doesn't require holding heavy bamboo slips every time they read.

As education monopolizers, they knew the value of their own books even better.

It's just that they had just started copying books when they heard that the Prince Qi Mansion announced that fifty more bookstores had been opened in the city, with various paper books for sale, and the price was cheap.

So, the entire Zhaoge was stirred up again.

Fifty bookstores were crowded with people, and there were large queues of people outside.

In a bookstore covering nearly a hundred square meters, various paper books were placed on the shelves.

One person was holding a book, flipping through it quickly, and kept exclaiming: "How was this done? How was this done? The handwriting is so neat, there isn't a single typo, and... and, the handwriting of these books is exactly the same, how was this done?"

"Heavens, so many books for sale, how did Prince Qi do it? How many people did he mobilize to copy books?"

"This absolutely cannot be copying books; fifty bookstores selling at the same time, even if all the people who can write in the city were gathered together, it would be impossible to copy them all."

"Don't you realize that these books are very cheap? Only one tael of silver per book; if it were bamboo slips, it would be at least one hundred taels of silver, and you would have to use a cart to pull them when traveling!"

"Clerk, give me one of every book."

"Prince Qi is benevolent and wise, with merit in the present and benefits for thousands of years!"

The appearance of paper books pushed Yin Qi's reputation to a peak.

Inside and outside the court, there were countless supporters.

And with the outflow of books, his reputation would also be thoroughly spread throughout the Great Shang Celestial Dynasty.

Although Yin Shou was proficient in both civil and military affairs, he was only unknown within the Great Shang Celestial Dynasty, and could not be compared with Yin Qi at all.

The cost of paper is very low, and the cost of books is also very cheap.

However, in order to harvest a wave of wealth, Yin Qi still set the prices of paper and books very high, and only the scholar-official families with considerable assets could afford to buy them.

In fact, ordinary people couldn't read at all, and no matter how low the prices of paper and books were set, they still wouldn't buy them.

Since that's the case, it's better to harvest a wave first.

In this way, after he becomes the Human Emperor, he will have enough money to fully promote education and simplified characters, and then the costs of paper and books will be fully reduced, allowing ordinary people to afford them.

At the same time, the books currently on sale are all contemporary books.

He will also wait until he becomes the Human Emperor to sell books such as medical books and arithmetic books.

In this way, he can harvest another wave of prestige and consolidate his own position.

Of course, various inventions such as glass, matches, cement, and curved plows will also be promoted after he becomes the Human Emperor, because for now, having paper and books is enough.

After all, he is not even the Crown Prince yet, and it is not good for his light to be too bright; he must know when to stop.

Prime Minister's Mansion.

"Father, this Prince Qi is truly a great talent. Inventing paper is one thing, but he can even mass-produce books. Look at these books, the spacing between the characters is exactly the same; they are not copied by people at all."

The speaker was a peerless girl of fifteen or sixteen, dressed in green, with a tall and graceful figure, a cold temperament like a winter plum blossom, and bright eyes like stars, full of wisdom.

She was Shang Qingjun, the youngest daughter of Shang Rong, a famous talented girl in Zhaoge City.

Shang Rong was flipping through the books; he could smell the thick ink fragrance emanating from the handwriting and nodded slowly: "Hmm, it should be made using some unique method."

Speaking of this, he raised his head with a look of confusion, thinking thoughtfully: "I found that Prince Qi seems to have completely changed since he was scolded and forced to retreat by the Grand Historian in public.

He is still the same person, and his personality hasn't even changed.

But he has made many unbelievable things, first the work-for-relief and post-disaster reconstruction for disaster relief, then paper and books, completely whimsical and unbelievable.

You must know that as long as someone succeeds in one of these two things, it is enough to be passed down through the ages.

But he has done them all.

And I have a feeling that this doesn't seem to be all of him."

Shang Qingjun said in surprise: "Father, this is not all of Prince Qi? How is this possible? Could it be, as the rumors say, that Prince Qi is a born sage, like the Three Sovereigns?"

Fuxi in his lifetime, besides founding the Eight Trigrams, also established human marriage, taught the people fishing and hunting, and invented various musical instruments, such as the pottery xun and the qin and se, enriching the spiritual life of the people.

Shennong in his lifetime, his achievements were equally extraordinary.

Besides the widely known tasting of a hundred herbs to create medicine, he also manufactured farm tools, taught people to farm, invented various pottery, established the calendar, and so on.

The Yellow Emperor's inventions were even more numerous, almost involving all aspects of clothing, food, housing, transportation, culture, and military affairs, the most widely known being the south-pointing chariot, sericulture, clothing and crowns, building palaces, and so on.

It can be said that all aspects of the human race now are basically determined by the Three Sovereigns.

For over a hundred thousand years, there has not been much progress.

And the appearance of paper and books, in the eyes of the people, can be completely compared to the inventions of the Three Sovereigns.

Shang Rong's expression was solemn, and he said faintly: "Whether he is a born sage, time will prove everything. Let's wait and see; in the future, Prince Qi might bring us more surprises."

A strange color flashed in Shang Qingjun's eyes, and she nodded slowly.

Prince Shou's Mansion.

Fei Zhong said anxiously: "Your Highness, we can no longer let Prince Qi go on like this; we must rise up and fight back, otherwise the world will probably only know Prince Qi and not Prince Shou."

You Hun also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Your Highness, Prince Qi is playing an outside move; we cannot sit and wait for death. Otherwise, if the hearts of the people in the world all return to Prince Qi, even if you win the struggle for the Crown Prince, the Great King will probably..."

Although he didn't say any more, the meaning was already very obvious.

Yin Shou's expression was cold, and he said faintly: "Then what methods do you have that can allow me to compete for the hearts of the people with the Imperial Brother?"

Fei Zhong and You Hun were both stunned, and for a long time, they couldn't say a word.

Fei Zhong suddenly rolled his eyes and said sinisterly: "Your Highness, since we cannot compete for the hearts of the people with Prince Qi, then we will ruin his reputation; we can..."

"Shut up!"

Yin Shou suddenly shouted sharply, his eyes cold and severe: "The Imperial Brother invented paper and books, which is a merit to the world and a merit to my Yin Shang; how can I do such a villainous thing! I don't want to hear such words again in the future."

Fei Zhong stiffened, and a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

He hurriedly lowered his head: "Yes, Your Highness, this minister is wrong."

After a long time, Yin Shou's expression eased, and he said in a deep voice: "The Imperial Brother has his strengths, and I have my strengths; I cannot attack his strengths with my weaknesses. As long as I win the struggle for the Crown Prince, I believe that with the Imperial Brother's character, he will definitely assist me wholeheartedly. At that time, he will be the virtuous prince of this dynasty, my right-hand man."

Although Yin Qi's name was spread throughout the world, he still believed that he would definitely win.

A mere Yin Qi, he could control.

Besides Shang Rong and Yin Shou, in fact, the entire Zhaoge was discussing Yin Qi, discussing paper and books.

Even Di Yi was shocked beyond measure when he received a cart of books presented by Yin Qi.

At the same time, he also knew that this kind of book was actually printed by woodblock printing, which was like stamping an imperial seal on silk, a genius-like idea.

"Why did he only show his talent until now?"

While happy, Di Yi was also puzzled.

If Yin Qi had shown these talents and achievements early on, there wouldn't be today's struggle for the Crown Prince.

In fact, if printing widely circulated books, woodblock printing is not only more convenient but also more exquisite.

Only for publications like newspapers and novels does movable type printing have an advantage.