Chapter 70

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"Hisss~" Lu Su drew in a deep breath, directly startled by the identical handwriting in these two books and the more than ten thousand words in this book. "How much does this cost?"

"The more you buy, the cheaper the average price. If it's just the two books in your hands, they won't be much cheaper than unique copies," Chen Xi said with a roll of his eyes.

"Then it can't be promoted." Lu Su sighed.

"But if we print a few thousand copies, it will be much cheaper than bamboo slips," Chen Xi said nonchalantly.

"Huh, why are there still typos here? Why don't you correct them?" Lu Su noticed the extra stroke in the character "繁" (fan), and he hadn't yet processed what Chen Xi had said, or it hadn't registered in his mind.

"It's too troublesome. If it's wrong, it's wrong." Chen Xi rolled his eyes and said, "The quick method has its drawbacks, and the craftsmen who make this stuff can't read, so it can only be like this. Besides, if one or two characters are wrong, it's fine. Be tolerant, be understanding. This thing is much better than bamboo slips."

Chen Xi's tolerance and understanding were entirely because the craftsmen couldn't read and could only carve in reverse based on what he wrote. Since they carved an entire page at once, if there was a mistake, they had to recarve the whole thing. As long as it wasn't a key word and there was no more than one mistake per page, Chen Xi pretended not to see it.

As for movable type printing, Chen Xi admitted he had no ability to do it. The craftsmen's skills were a problem, the materials were a problem, and he himself was a problem. Everything was a problem. How could he manage it? It would be better to use woodblock printing. After all, it was a form of social progress. Stone carving wouldn't work, but wood carving would. If wood carving didn't work, metal engraving would. This technology had been mastered in the Shang Dynasty, so it was completely stress-free.

"That's true. Even when copying, there are mistakes." Lu Su nodded. "But if the handwriting and mistakes are the same, it's easy for people to notice the problem."

"Let them notice. Throughout history, who didn't know about this? But who has the paper to do such a thing?" Chen Xi laughed carelessly. The use of seals had been practiced in China for thousands of years. How could they not know? If the technology wasn't sufficient to create movable type printing, it was one thing, but if they couldn't even manage woodblock printing, that would be a joke.

To put it bluntly, if someone could produce paper that could be widely used in the Shang Dynasty, it wouldn't take long for someone to figure out woodblock printing. This could be considered an instinct.

"Can you control the source?" Lu Su frowned. "If you can, using this for enlightenment books is also possible. This way, you might achieve your goal of mass-producing literati. Throughout history, many talented people have been lost due to a lack of books to read. If you give them the opportunity, they will surely repay you. With this thing, in ten years, even if Lord Xuande fights alone against the world, the outcome is uncertain."

"But we can't act now." Chen Xi smiled bitterly. "I don't want to oppose the aristocratic families just yet. If we really publish the books, the aristocratic families will fight us to the death. Wisdom and land will never decay. Even if the land no longer produces value, no country would abandon it, as it would become a castle in the air. As for wisdom, it is the foundation of the state."

"What will you do then?" Lu Su understood this point. His previous words were merely a test to see if Chen Xi had been blinded by the great achievement. He was relieved to see that even with such a great temptation in front of him, Chen Xi still maintained the rationality of a wise man.

"Sell them, a hundred gold for each book. After all, this is a book of ten thousand words. Even at the price of bamboo slips, it's worth a thousand gold. Plus, it's portable and rare. A hundred gold for a book isn't expensive, right?" Chen Xi said casually.

This is the money-making business, the real money-making business. In an era where knowledge is more valuable than life and money is like dirt, as long as you dare to sell, the aristocratic families will buy as much as you have. They never fear a lack of knowledge. When have the aristocratic families ever sold their knowledge?

Throughout history, scholars have often traded land and estates for books when they were short of money. As long as you have books to sell, you can choose land, money, servants, or concubines. This is the absolute hard currency.

However, since the Spring and Autumn period, there has been no mention of selling books, and bookstores have never existed. Most books were gifts, and selling them was considered somewhat indecent according to ancient scholars...

"A hundred gold?" Lu Su roughly looked at the book. This small regular script had about a hundred characters per page, single-page printing, and the back cover was designed with the number 99, which matched the claim of ten thousand words. He nodded and said, "If I had seen this book earlier, I would have been willing to pay a thousand gold for it. I believe others would feel the same. Your price is fair, and you are also benefiting us scholars."

"Alright, from now on, books with 99 pages will be sold for a thousand gold. The 99 pages symbolize the return to one, and the way of heaven has its flaws. This also indicates that we only made money on the last page, as travel expenses." Chen Xi explained expressionlessly, and at the same time, he tied Lu Su to this book. If anyone thinks it's too expensive, they can talk to Lu Su.

"This method is good, but I feel guilty accepting such a great gift without any contribution..." Lu Su, being a man of virtue, felt that he was just making a suggestion and ended up accepting a great gift, which seemed too much of a bargain.

"It's nothing. If you're interested, write something, and I'll print it for you." Chen Xi said casually, giving Lu Su another great reward.

"Since that's the case, I will accept it with gratitude, but I must decline your offer to write a book. I fear I am not capable of it." Lu Su smiled bitterly, but the light in his eyes betrayed his eagerness to try.

Chen Xi chuckled inwardly, delighted. He knew that in this era, no one could resist the ultimate goal of writing a book. Even if they declined, they couldn't let go of it. Regardless of who wrote the book, as long as it was written and spread, people would read it.

In this era, those who dared to write books were mostly great Confucian scholars, already famous throughout the land. Writing a book was almost a declaration of reaching the pinnacle.

However, these scholars' books were mostly copied, with very few copies. It was impossible for everyone to have a copy, so publishing a book was very difficult. Not only did you need the ability, but you also needed the means to distribute a large number of copies. The great scholars had disciples to copy their works, but did you have that? They spent years editing to avoid problems during copying, trying to keep it simple.

Now, Chen Xi's mindless printing was much better. If he said he would publish your book, he would do it. If a thousand copies weren't enough, he would print ten thousand. Even Zhao Yun couldn't resist.

One day, when Chen Xi was bored, he suggested to Zhao Yun to write down his experiences in farming, and he would compile it into a book. When the time came, others could follow the steps. Zhao Yun was so excited that he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.

Chen Xi instantly understood what writing a book meant to scholars in this era. This was the ultimate skill to attract famous ministers. He didn't believe that if he blocked the entrance to the Xun family with ten thousand-word books and published a book for Xun Shuang, the Xun family wouldn't give in.

PS: In the Han Dynasty, 20 taels equal one gold, and one tael is divided into 24 zhu. Therefore, one gold equals 24 zhu x 20 taels, which is 480 zhu. One copper coin is five zhu, so one gold is equivalent to 96 five-zhu coins. If you think there's a problem, you can check the "Book of Han: The Equalization of Standards." I'm just saying that my price isn't expensive...

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