Chapter 79

"Rumor has it he fled to Chang'an," Li Wan yuan said with a smile.

I reckon this kid won't be back until the autumn examination is over.

"Good job!" Xi Jia's eldest son exclaimed loudly.

"Quiet down," Professor Yu shouted.

However, not many students listened to him.

"Zhang Gong moved too quickly," Li Wan yuan said. The prefectural school in Yan Prefecture is not as good as the county school in Yunyan. Although it's a small place, students don't shout loudly during class. Besides, Zhang Zai usually teaches there.

"No problem," Wang Ju said. Cheng Kan explained clearly: let him endure for a while, then advance the autumn examination, which can be considered a reward, and send all the candidates to the capital in advance. Those who lack self-discipline will be lost in the bustling world of the capital. But those who are self-disciplined, when they reach the capital, will gather with candidates from all over the country, exchange ideas, and greatly benefit Wang Ju. Even if they become good friends, it will have a positive effect in the future when they enter the bureaucracy.

However, the situation at the prefectural school in Yan Prefecture is rare, mainly because it is a border area with backward education, leading to this peculiar situation of a "class for the unruly." Although Yunyan is also a border area, there are few extremely wealthy families, so they don't dare to be arrogant.

"Come to my house after school."

"Okay," Li Wan yuan said.

Wang Ju stopped talking and focused on his studies.

Professor Yu nodded in approval.

The spirit of a top student is something everyone can't emulate.

After school, Wang Ju and Li Wan yuan came to Li's house. Qin Shi happily welcomed them and instructed a servant, "Go and bring Wang Mian and Wang Chu, the brother and sister."

Then she instructed a maid to prepare a few more dishes.

"Mother-in-law, there's no need to trouble yourself. Second Brother only eats simple meals at my place."

"That won't do. There are no adults at your place, but my husband and I are still here."

Originally, Wang Ju was somewhat worried about his mother-in-law's hesitation, but now it seemed fine. To be worldly-wise, how many people in this world are not? Not just women, but men too. So, when you are rich in the mountains, you have distant relatives; when you are poor in the city, no one asks about you.

"Mother-in-law, there's no need to trouble yourself. I mainly came to discuss a few things with Father-in-law."

"He's in the study, settling accounts. Go ahead."

Wang Ju went to Li's study and found Li Yuanwai clumsily using an abacus to calculate, which made Wang Ju anxious. He stepped forward and said, "Father-in-law, let me teach you."

Teaching his father-in-law how to use the abacus.

"Zhang Gong is so clever, he could come up with this method of calculation."

Wang Ju was speechless, but what could he say? It was the teacher's achievement.

"How are you doing at the prefectural school?"

Wang Ju smiled bitterly and didn't answer.

"Sigh, even Cheng Gong."

"Let's not talk about this. Father-in-law, call Zhu Yuanwai and Zhao Yuanwai over."

"Is there something new?"

"No, I just want to discuss the bamboo paper."

Li Yuanwai then had a servant invite Zhu Huan and Zhao Sheng.

"The bamboo paper should be ready this year," Wang Ju said. Bamboo paper is widely available and cheap, but it has a seasonal drawback. New bamboo only comes in for two to three months, and if you miss it, you can't produce it again. The fermentation and drying process is also long. Because it's far away, the three families deliberately bought ten horses as a means of communication. Therefore, the new paper hasn't been produced yet, let alone delivered to Yan Prefecture.

However, the process was largely developed last year, and this year it should be almost ready. It might not satisfy Wang Ju, but it will definitely satisfy others.

"Therefore, we need to prepare a few things."

"What things?" Zhu Huan asked.

"First, prepare four hundred gold pieces. When the new paper is ready, select the best new paper, then find these three people. The first is Chancellor Wen, give him three hundred gold pieces as a writing fee. The second is Zhang Dun, who has a nephew who was the top scholar in Jiayou's second year. This person was ashamed to be on the same list as his nephew, so he resigned from his imperial scholar status and retook the exam in Jiayou's fourth year, ranking fifth in the first class (the top five are all in the first class, and fifth is the last in the first class)."

"I seem to have heard of this person, he might be a magistrate."

"Yes, that's him. The third person is Little Su. Give each of them fifty gold pieces. Have them each write a poem praising the bamboo paper."

Zhang Dun and Little Su are not difficult. These two are currently low-ranking officials, and fifty gold pieces are a thousand strings of cash, which is nearly 500,000 RMB in modern terms, almost several thousand RMB per word.

Moreover, the production of bamboo paper will greatly benefit education.

The difficult one is Wen Yanbo, so Wang Ju added, "If Chancellor Wen disagrees, you can offer more writing fees and explain the benefits of bamboo paper to the country. Even if he only writes a short poem, it's fine."

These three people were carefully selected by Wang Ju.

Su Dongpo is not suitable.

Wang Anshi's student, Li Ding, has a very powerful mother, Qiu Shi. After giving birth to the great monk Foyin, she remarried Li Wen as a concubine and gave birth to Li Ding. After giving birth to Li Ding, she remarried Gao Shi as a concubine and gave birth to the great painter Cai Nu. When Qiu Shi died, Li Ding angrily refused to mourn her. Su Dongpo, who was a good friend of Foyin, learned of this from Foyin and, regardless of their friendship, fiercely attacked Li Ding. This thoroughly enraged Li Ding, leading to the Wutai Poetry Case.

Anyway, from now on, it's all a mess, but this needs to be noted to avoid implicating the bamboo paper.

Han Qi is unlikely, and he, along with Sima Guang and Wang Anshi, are all prominent figures.

Fu Bi is better, but he is very wealthy, with more money than he can count, and is the current chancellor, so he can't be hired.

The final choice of a big figure is Wen Yanbo.

Zhang and Su are one from the conservative faction and one from the reform faction. Their influence in the future will also be significant. Zhang Dun eventually offended Empress Dowager Xiang, but that's too far in the future and doesn't need to be considered for now.

The specifics are not convenient to explain, so Wang Ju only said, "I heard from my teacher that Zhang and Su have excellent literary talent."

"Even if they have excellent literary talent, why do this?" Zhao Yuanwai asked curiously.

"This is the second thing I mentioned. When the new paper is ready, select the best new paper, then print the poems praising the new paper on the edges of the paper, preferably with some ink bamboo. Choose large cities with more than twenty thousand households, find the prefectural school in these cities, explain the future price, and donate the bamboo paper for free."

If a group of scholars were sitting here, they might not understand immediately, but Zhao, Li, and Zhu are all merchants. After thinking for a moment, Zhu Huan said, "To gain fame?"

"Exactly, to gain fame."

"But we can't produce it this year."

" precisely because we can't produce it this year, we need to do this." The concept of advertising is not yet mature, let alone the idea of scarcity marketing.

"Trust me, I guarantee sales will be very strong next year. Trust me one more time."

The last six words left no one opposing.

"Finally, have the three people I mentioned been selected?"

"There are a few candidates."

"Before finalizing, you must notify me."

Currently, it's the research and development phase, and the technology must be controlled. But next year, when production starts, a large amount of money will be invested, so the candidates must be determined after the autumn examination. Otherwise, Wang Ju will leave Yan Prefecture and head to the capital.

In the future, with the complex political struggles, the selection of these shareholders must also be carefully considered.

The families of Emperor Renzong's concubines cannot be chosen, as they will soon be expelled from the palace by the great Emperor Yingzong.

Li Wei cannot be chosen, as a few years later, Emperor Shenzong will seek revenge for his aunt.

Relatives of Ouyang Xiu cannot be chosen, as they will also be expelled from the court a few years later and will have to stay in the provinces, talking to themselves...

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