Datang: I am the prince of salted fish, I impeach Li Er at the beginning

Chapter 169

It was some younger officials who discussed the court rewards.

They gathered in front of Chengtian Square, under the decorative lamps, discussing in low voices.

On the side are all kinds of lantern riddles hung up during the Lantern Festival.

These lanterns were originally hung inside the Chengtian Gate, but they were moved outside specially to let the officials of the imperial city feel the festive atmosphere.

I never thought that with the existence of these lanterns, it seems to give those officials in red robes a platform for communication.

Many people gathered under the lantern, either to appreciate the lantern, or to discuss the imperial government's decree.

What Li Zhi saw was a group of young officials gathered together.

While envious of the general prisoner's treatment, they also complained quietly why they couldn't encounter such a good thing.

Even if someone explained the reason for this heavy reward, many people still speculated in a low voice, saying that this is the special treatment for the craftsmen to make the royal family happy and to be good slaves.

At first, Li Zhi listened with gusto.

It's quite interesting to see other people picking lemons.

But later, the discussions among these officials became more and more excessive, and Li Zhi lost interest in continuing to eat melons.

"I don't have any skills, so I blame the department where I work for poor welfare and maliciously speculate on others."

"Tsk tsk... No matter what era people are in, they will always have this kind of pink eye disease."

Li Zhi shook his head and walked away, not paying attention to the discussion over there.

As for the craftsmen these people talked about, Li Zhi probably knew it well.

Most of the rewards were Shi Lei, Zuo Wenhao and Zu Xuanhao.

Shi Lei and Zuo Wenhao's rewards were obtained from Li Shimin himself.

It should be that the decree was just issued in the past two days, and the things were rewarded.

As for Zu Xuanhao, I'm afraid it's just as those officials speculated.

The birth of glass made Li Shimin's face swell, and it was a product of happiness.

Li Zhi didn't have much interest in getting to the bottom of this.

The only thing that interests him is... how far the paper machine has come to perfection.

"Why don't you... go and see the general?"

While walking, Li Zhi forgot to go west, hesitating whether to take this trip.

After thinking about it for a while, he still didn't choose to turn that way, but walked straight towards the view wind gate.

"Compared with the machine itself, I care more about the price of paper and the incidental impact of the appearance of the paper machine."

"In that case, why don't I just go to the market and have a look?"

"It just so happens that I haven't gone out for a long time, this time I'll go to Dongshi for a couple of laps."

"While learning about the market of the paper industry, strolling around by the way, it's good to relax."

Thinking of this, Li Zhi came to Jingfengmen and asked the captain on duty for a carriage.

After leaving the city gate, the sixteen guards drove straight to Dongshi.

On the way, the bored Li Zhi chatted with the guard driving the car.

"Do you know the name of the place that sells pens, ink, paper and inkstone? Is it the study or the ink studio? I forgot what the name of the place is."

The guard looked a little nervous, his expression was very stiff, like a wooden man.

Hearing Li Zhi's question, he thought Li Zhi was talking to someone else.

Like an organ man, he looked left and right and found that there was no one else in the car except himself, so he realized that he was asking himself.

The guard's neck froze for a moment, and he responded in a blunt tone: "Ah... I'm just a warrior, I don't know anything about literati, Your Highness seems to have found the wrong person."

"Huh?" Li Zhi asked in surprise, "Shouldn't this be common sense to you, why would you say that?"

Poor, rich and military, without a certain amount of wealth in the family, it is impossible to be a guard of the imperial city.

The middle class like them happened to be the group of people who could afford pens, inks, papers and inkstones.

Li Zhi thought he could hear the answer he wanted to know, but unexpectedly the guard said he didn't know?

"We vulgar people get headaches when we see pens and paper, so how can we take the initiative to understand?" The guard smiled wryly, "Your Highness, you have found the wrong person. I really don't know."

"Oh! I only practice martial arts because I don't want to study." Li Zhi nodded thoughtfully, and couldn't help laughing: "So, I really did find the wrong person, and you're just a scumbag."

After that, Li Zhi smiled and told him: "When you get to Dongshi, ask someone. I plan to buy the four treasures of the study. I don't know where to buy them. I'm afraid I need you to help take me there."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty good at finding shops."

It may be that Li Zhi's tone of voice was very kind, and the guard's tense posture gradually relaxed.

As soon as he relaxed, he became interested in talking, and he even mustered up the courage to joke with Li Zhi.

"Speaking of which, pen, ink, paper and inkstone are still too far away for us."

"Although our ancestors have military merits, and our families are relatively well-off, it is rare for us military families to abandon the army and start writing."

"First of all, there is no one to teach, even if someone teaches, the teaching is very blunt, making it difficult to arouse interest."

"The second reason is that we know that even if we study, we will not have a future, so we simply give up."

"Compared to those tortured twists and turns, the real military achievements make people feel more at ease."

"At least with His Majesty here, no one dares to rob us of our military achievements, so we can feel at ease."

This person is okay when he is nervous, at least from the outside, he is quite majestic.

But once he relaxed, he immediately became a chatterbox, talking a lot.

But Li Zhi didn't feel disgusted by it.

On the contrary, he was quite interested in what the guard said.

"I feel that reading is boring. I can understand this matter, but why are you so sure that reading will definitely have no future?"

As soon as these words came out, the guard's expression became a little bitter.

"The gap is really too far! Whether they are from the scholarly family or the official family, they all have sufficient background and can read sage books that we have no access to at all."

"And what about us? If we can read Tongming Suan or Zhenguan Law, then we should burn the incense."

"But even if you have read through these two books, what will you do?"

"If you can be a county magistrate, you will be in the sky, and it can't be higher."

The current knowledge monopoly is very serious.

Let alone a classic like "Spring and Autumn", without access to it, you can't even read "The Analects of Confucius".

Apart from those miscellaneous books, the middle class in the Tang Dynasty had access to only the "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" which taught people to learn mathematics, and the completely open "Zhenguan Law".

As for other books.

Either it is in the hands of the gentry, or it has become the treasure of the official family.

It is not so easy for others to learn.

(End of this chapter)