[Ming] Wuzong's Chronicle of Rebirth

Du Ruo was a little tired today and didn't really want to see her, so he sent Mammy to invite her back, and asked Mammy to tell her that what happened yesterday was easy and nothing to worry about.

The nanny went and came back and said: "Report to Lord Hou, the girl refused to go back because of what she said, but she wanted to thank her face to face before giving up."

If Du Ruo couldn't do it, he had to ask someone to take her to the side hall to wait. When he went to the side hall, he thought that there was a business in the south of his house, so he could ask for advice.

Entering the side hall, I saw the girl from yesterday sitting quietly waiting. Today, she is still wearing plain clothes, but she has no white hairpins. A silver hairband is enough to cover her dark black hair.With a melon-seeded face, a pair of red phoenix eyes are black and white, and the brows are affectionate.Xu is the reason for the recent family accident. Her face is slightly pale, her figure is thinner, and she has a more romantic attitude.

Seeing Du Ruo coming, the girl hurriedly knelt down to thank Du Ruo: "Xu Beiniang, the daughter of the people, kneel down to thank Lord Hou for saving his life yesterday." She kowtowed again, but Du Ruo hurriedly helped her up with her own hands, "Sister, you don't need to be polite, it's just It's just a little effort." Xu Beiniang didn't let Du Ruo help her up, but Du Ruo was too weak to hold her back, so she let her bend down and bowed three times.

"For Master Yu, it's a little effort, but for the daughter of the people, it's a kindness of rebuilding, and the little girl can't repay it." She was about to kowtow again, and Du Ruo hurriedly asked the strong nanny to help her up. "Sister, get up quickly, you'll kill me."

After the nanny helped Xu Beiniang to sit down, Du Ruo asked, "Is Lingtang feeling better?"

"Mother can sit up by herself today, thank you Lord Hou for your concern." After a pause, he continued: "I shouldn't have come forward to thank you, but there is no elder brother in the family, and my father was killed and passed away. I take the liberty to visit, and I hope Lord Hou will forgive me."

"It's nothing, it's nothing." A little girl came up to pour tea and water, and Du Ruo asked again, "I don't know where my sister's ancestral home is?"

"The daughter of the people is from Hangzhou Prefecture, and her family is engaged in the silk business."

Du Ruo saw Xu Beiniang's behavior and answered, neither humble nor overbearing, which was different from the usual daughters in ancient times, and she felt a little more fond of her.

"I don't know what my sister's plan is now?" Du Ruo was very curious about how she, a weak girl, would deal with such an accident.

"It's just that I have done my duty as a son and daughter. When my mother is in good health and those villains have passed the court, the daughter and sister will help their spirits and return to their hometown." Xu Beiniang has also survived these few days. The family is wealthy and pampered since childhood, when did they suffer this kind of hardship? "There is still a younger brother in the family. From now on, we will only raise the younger brother with our mother and sister."

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and seeing that there was nothing to say, Xu Beiniang was about to leave.

"My sister is busy with housework, so it's inconvenient for me to keep you. Now you and I have met each other by fate. If you have anything to do in the future, just come to me. Although I am young, I can help if I can."

Then Xu Beiniang took out another wooden box and handed it to Du Ruo with both hands: "Thanks to the great kindness of Lord Hou, there is no return. This is our auspicious embroidery. It is not worth a lot of money. It is just an auspicious meaning. May Lord Hou A good man is rewarded with good health, and a prosperous house.”

Du Ruo couldn't refuse, so he took it, and after thanking her, Xu Bei Niang was sent out by the mother.

After waiting for the person to disappear, Du Ruofang opened the box and unfolded the embroidered pieces to see, but saw that the embroidered pattern was of peonies contending for release.Judging from the size of the embroidered piece, it should be a kang screen, which is very light and thin, and it must be made of a rare material.In the light red background, peonies are competing for beauty, and bees and butterflies are flying.Although Du Ruo didn't study the price of embroidery, he could see that it was worth a lot of money when he saw such a piece of work.He put away the embroidered pieces himself, and then handed over the box to the girl who followed her to put it away.

Time passed in a blink of an eye, and soon it was the Longevity Day on the third day of July.

Emperor Hongzhi's birthday has not been held for four or five years, and this year's memorial to the Ministry of Rites was rejected again as usual.This year's Longevity Day, all the officials had no banquet to attend, but Du Ruo, the adopted son, had to carefully present the gift.

If Du Ruo was still in filial piety, it would be difficult to enter the palace to salute, so on the second day of July, Du Ruo made an inventory early, and Du Lin personally sent the prepared gifts into the palace under pressure.After the gift was delivered, Du Ruo just put it away and didn't care about it anymore.

Early in the morning on the third day of July, hundreds of officials and nobles went to the palace to salute the emperor.In the evening, another family banquet was held in the palace, and the Longevity Festival passed like this.The days passed, but the waves caused by Du Ruo's gift did not subside.

The ugly-looking wooden printing press sparked a debate at the court meeting the next day.

This printing machine looks really strange in the eyes of Ming Dynasty people. There is a table-like thing underneath, and a wooden frame with rollers on it.On the table below there is a wooden frame, on which white paper is fixed, and a wooden support protrudes from the side, supporting the arranged lead plates.The whole body of the machine is painted bright red, which makes this eccentric machine look more like the ghost monster mentioned in the legend of Zhiguai.

All the officials in the court looked at this painted red wooden monster, and no one dared to speak.Seeing the censor who kept talking in the past, Zhu Youtang sneered in his heart, "You have never seen this thing before. I saw it yesterday and thought it was good. Let you have a look today." Everyone still remained silent .

Jiang Cong, who was next to him, saw that the time was almost up, and secretly waved his hand to let the little eunuch who just learned how to use the machine yesterday go up and demonstrate it.

The little eunuch ran up in two or three steps, without looking at the officials, he snapped the lead plate closed, put down the roller and rolled it, lifted the printed paper and closed it again, and so on.After a while, a lot of paper was printed.At this time, another little eunuch came holding the lead plate, replaced the printed lead plate with a new lead plate, and took down the printed paper.Everyone held their breath in silence, and after more than half an hour, more than a dozen pages were changed, and many papers were changed.

After the eunuch finished printing, he put away everything and took it down, leaving only the machine in the hall.After a while, several little eunuchs handed out stacks of papers to the officials on both sides one by one.

The sound of publishing books, flipping through, and whispering, the silent hall suddenly became noisy.The officials took a look at the paper book, and found that it was the Three-Character Classic. The handwriting was clear and clean, and the layout was horizontal and vertical, which was different from the usual blurred and skewed engraving.While everyone was still discussing handwriting and typesetting, a few ordinary economically sophisticated adults had already realized the unusualness of this machine.

Not to mention that the printing quality of the printing press is slightly better than that of ordinary book making. The convenience and cleanness of this book printing and the five or six times faster speed are enough to bring about earth-shaking changes in the book making industry.

"What do you have to say now?" Zhu Houzhao often subtly told Zhu Youtang to attach importance to the benefits of technological innovation after coming to the Ming Dynasty.Zhu Youtang didn't think so on the surface, but he was deeply affected in private. He always wanted to let go of all kinds of manufacturing bureaus, manufacturing bureaus, and handyman bureaus.

It's just that Zhu Youtang wanted to do something, but he was always resisted by the court.It is true that Zhu Youtang is the emperor, such a thing cannot be slapped alone.A few days ago, the cabinet disagreed with Zhu Youtang when discussing matters, and a large number of officials spoke out one after another.In fact, it is just that the officials protect their own interests.These bureaus or bureaus, either have the shares of various officials or have filial piety to take. Now if you want to let go, who is willing?It made Zhu Youtang angry again.Today Zhu Youtang used Du Ruo's stuff to kill them.

"Zhu Zhou, I heard that the famous Yongshun Academy in the capital is your family's property. How about you?" Zhu Youtang smiled smugly, and anyone could hear the lightness in his words.

Zhu Zhou's forehead was dripping with cold sweat. He was just a small speech officer and one of the people who wrote a letter a few days ago. How could he not understand Zhu Youtang's thoughts.

In the front is the emperor, and behind him is a row of colleagues and superiors. He is not true if he tells the truth, and he is not true if he does not say the truth.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I do have a stake in Yongshun Academy in my family, but I don't operate it. I... don't know about the printing."

"You don't know." Zhu Youtang smiled and swept across His Highness, "Xu Aiqing, tell me."

Xu Pu was only promoted to be the chief assistant of the dynasty in June, and his temperament was dignified and moderate, which earned Zhu Youtang's trust the most.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is the first time I have seen this printing machine, and I think it is very strange. Now I am very lucky to have this machine, but I don't know how much the cost is." Xu Pu is already in his sixties, his hair is already gray, and his voice is still loud. "If the price is fair, this year, the Lijian and Guozijian, as well as the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Households, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and Qin Tianjian can save a lot of money. Staff can also be cut. .”

Xu Pu's words pointed out three problems. One is that the promotion of this thing will inevitably require the purchase of machines, which will cost manpower and material resources; , the Ministry of Industry, Qin Tianjian, and other printing bureaus in other places cannot be completed in a hurry; third, there are only so many things to do, and machines do things for people, so where can this person go.

Zhu Youtang was not annoyed when he heard this, and asked with a smile: "Jiang Cong, what is the cost of this thing?"

"The cost of this machine is one or five taels if the quantity is large, and two taels of silver is enough if the quantity is less than ten. The lead plates and so on are calculated separately, depending on the number of characters and the engraver." Du Ruo still wanted to make money. , naturally took notes on the price in detail, and also presented it to the palace.

"Reporting to the Holy Majesty, I have some questions." The speaker was Li Dongyang, who had the reputation of a child prodigy when he was a child. He once served as an official lecturer in Zhu Youtang's East Palace. The second theory. Why should the same object be sold as two different things?"

Of course, Jiang Cong had already prepared his argument, "The person who does this has said that it takes effort to make one or two pieces of this thing, so it is naturally expensive. If the quantity is large, the materials are prepared together, and the work is done together, naturally The price will come down. This is the benefit to the people.”

After hearing this, Li Dongyang was about to distinguish when Xu Pu glanced at him and swallowed his words again.

Afterwards, all the officials congratulated each other, chatted about it, and dealt with all kinds of trivial matters, and the morning court was over.

After the court was over, several people walked on the corridor. Xu Pu said: "The emperor is determined to cut down the secret cases everywhere." The salary is not enough to spend, and they are all thinking about these inconspicuous places.

"Xixian, you are at the prince's place. Does the prince have any rumors?" This Xixian is talking about Liu Jian, whose name is Xixian. The prince has not yet left the cabinet to give lectures, and now there is only Liu Jian as his master.

"The prince is still the same, and he has nothing to say. I do know this printing machine. It was made by the young master of Andinghou's mansion. The prince has been talking about it in front of me for several days." Liu Jian also had his own thoughts. He is now the prince's only master, so naturally he is different from the past, and he does not want to be with Xu Pu and others.

Xu Pu naturally saw it, but they just went back to the yamen.