Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 21
After New Year's Eve, the first day of the new year, I wonder if God also thinks that there should be a new look in the New Year. The sun, which has been shrouded in clouds, rain and snow for many days, finally peeked out of the clouds again.

The weather continued to improve over the next few days.

The fourth day of the first month.

On a special day, Zhu Yuan, who has always made himself go to bed early and get up early to maintain a good schedule, woke up earlier today than before, and couldn't fall asleep anymore.

It was still dark outside.

Xieyi and Liubai, who were sleeping in the east wing of the small courtyard, noticed that the lights were on here, so they hurriedly got up and came to take care of them. After washing up, Zhu Yuan sat at the desk in the west room of the main room and looked at the few pages of the manuscript written before going to bed last night. .

However, the first thing that caught his attention was a pen pressed on the manuscript.

That day, Zhao Xu and the other two directly brought back the six artisan households from Jiang Zuosi, and the next day they also found the graphite that Zhu Yuan needed, not just a little, but a whole cart.

After Zhu Yuan ordered, the craftsmen began to work.

Zhu Yuan didn't expect much at first, thinking that ten days and a half months to figure out a usable finished product would be considered good. Unexpectedly, he far underestimated the manual ability of ancient Chinese craftsmen.

According to Zhu Yuan's narration and sketch drawings, it took only one day for a group of craftsmen to make the first batch of usable pencils.

The next day, the finished product that perfectly reproduced the shape of the pen in Zhu Yuan's memory was also declared complete.

At first, Zhu Yuan thought that the nib would be a problem, so he gave the craftsmen several options, steel or copper, and even took some gold for the craftsmen to try.After all, gold is soft and easy to work.

As for the width of the nib, Zhu Yuan does not insist on it. Not to mention the previous 0.3 mm level, he is very satisfied if he can achieve [-] mm.As a result, the craftsmen produced a bunch of nibs made of various materials ranging from two to three millimeters thick to the level of a hair for Zhu Yuan to choose from.

Now pick up the pen in front of you.

Except for the flexible steel silver pen clip on the cap, the rest of the pen body is made of copper, but the weight is very light. The two ends of the pen and the interface between the pen cap and the pen body are also plated with a circle of sterling silver, which makes the whole pen body more beautiful. .

In fact, craftsmen are still painting other pens, making patterns or engraving characters. It is conceivable that the finished products will be more beautiful in the future.

Zhu Yuan is eager to use this one, but it still looks good.

Pulling off the pen cap, the rhombus-shaped silver steel nib was still engraved with two words: Jingwei, just like those pens in memory.

This is when Zhu Yuan saw the finished product and felt that everyone was so good. He tried a higher difficulty and carved characters on the tip of the pen. At that time, he was still flipping through "Shan Hai Jing". Wei' word.

Xing Tian's murderous intent was too strong.

The two Zhao Xu came back that day and said that Lao Zhu also wanted a set, and Zhu Yuan considered whether to engrave the word "Xing Tian" on the pen prepared for Lao Zhu.But just thinking about it, he didn't want Lao Zhu Wu's "Ganqi" to hurt himself, so he didn't plan to engrave a word, at most he painted it and drew some patterns.

After all, if possible, Zhu Yuan didn't want to give it away at all.

The craftsmen were still not baffled, and even on the current steel nib, they successfully engraved words on it.

Zhu Yuan pinched both ends of the pen body, twisted it lightly, saw a section of thread exposed, and then screwed it on again.No need to look, the inside is a leather ink sac, and the feed is carved from sandalwood.

If there are any shortcomings, there is probably only one left, and it has nothing to do with the pen itself, but the problem of ink.

At first Zhu Yuan tried to use daily ink directly, but it was quickly blocked, and then he realized that the ink of this era is far less delicate than that of later generations, and there are various sundries such as colloid added in it.

So let the craftsmen to ponder.

Take the initial tobacco material, grind it repeatedly, without adding colloid, mix it into ink, and then filter it many times.

The problem of ink clogging has been solved, but the brand new ink is easy to smear, the requirements for the paper are relatively high, and the color is not dark enough.

At present, two craftsmen are preparing ink suitable for fountain pens according to Zhu Yuan's instructions. They think that better ink for fountain pens will come out soon.

Zhu Yuan can only make ends meet now.

After all, the problem of good paper is not a problem for him. The rewards from years ago included a hundred knives of various papers.

Zhu Yuan didn't feel it at first, but later he went to the warehouse to see it, and half the room was piled up. At that time, Zhu Yuan seemed to see Lao Zhu holding a whip in his hand and shouting: "Write, write hard for me, write your knowledge Write it all down!"

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuan smiled wryly, and then glanced at the pencil in the pen holder on the corner of the table, needless to say.

But Zhu Yuan didn't like the name Pencil, because lead is poisonous and it's too easy to mislead.In case someone actually hears the name and makes a pen out of lead, that's not so good.

Therefore, the pen is still a pen, and as for the pencil, Zhu Yuan changed it to a charcoal pen.

Looking back, Zhu Yuan cleared his mind and opened the manuscript in front of him.

This is the "production" article of Zhu Yuan's Economics.

Hearing about the killing of Cui Ji and others on New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuan no longer dared to perfunctory Lao Zhu's request for him to compile the contents of the original discussion into a book through Zhao Xu's message.

Zhu Yuanzhang was able to cut off 62 heads at one time because of him, which is a pity.But if he feels that he treats him sincerely, but Zhu Yuan treats him perfunctorily, then he will never be soft-hearted if he cuts off his 'talent'.

Therefore, Zhu Yuan planned to get this book out as soon as possible.

Of course, considering the original plan, Zhu Yuan will still only limit the content to the topics discussed that day, and at most expand the various examples to be more detailed, but they will only come from history, and there will be no new things.

As for 'allocation', try not to mention it.

After re-reading the few pages written last night, Zhu Yuan sorted out his thoughts and began to write.

During the period, Xieyi sent a pot of tea over, seeing Zhu Yuan concentrating on writing, pouring the tea quietly, and then quietly left.

I wrote two or three pages slowly while thinking and writing, and before I knew it, the sky was already bright.

Just looking at the light from the window screen, Zhu Yuan could tell that today was a sunny day that would surely satisfy Lao Zhu very much.

Xieyi appeared again, reminding Zhu Yuan that breakfast was ready.

Zhu Yuan got up, stretched his body, put on the fur robe that Xieyi brought over, left the main room, and turned to the west wing of the courtyard.

There were originally two rooms here for people to live in, but they were changed into a restaurant by Zhu Yuan's order.

Xieyi went to the kitchen to serve breakfast, Zhu Yuan washed his hands in the hot water brought by Liu Bai, and while drying them, he remembered something, and said to the girl next to him: "About sending letters home, Xieyi and you Have you said it?"

Last night, Xieyi told herself that if possible, she wanted to send a letter to her family in Yizhou to report her safety.

Zhu Yuan's answer was temporarily inappropriate.

A few days ago, Lao Zhu killed dozens of people because of him, and those people were just scapegoats. Although the mastermind behind the scenes was not implicated, it was considered a settlement.

At this time, if Zhu Yuan asked someone to send letters to Yizhou for the two girls, those people would have nothing to do with Zhu Yuan.

Liu Bai tried his best to endure, but he still couldn't hide his disappointment, but he said sensiblely: "Young official, I already know."

Zhu Yuan handed back the towel to Liu Bai, and said, "In two or three months, let's wait for spring, those people have forgotten about us, if you want, you can bring your family over."

Xieyi confessed their identities last night, and Zhu Yuan could imagine that even if the families of the two women escaped unharmed at the beginning, it would not be easy in the still turbulent Shandong.

Liu Bai put the towel on the shelf, and when he heard Zhu Yuan's promise, he turned around with a grateful expression: "Little official, slave..."

The girl got stuck for a moment.

After all, I even belong to petty officials, how can I be grateful?

Seeing Liu Bai's appearance, Zhu Yuan said, "If you want to thank me, don't act like a food-protecting kitten in the future. I want to block Qingqiu and the others from talking."

Liu Bai didn't expect Zhu Yuan to see his little thoughts clearly, his face turned pale immediately, he shook his head in panic and said, "Young official, slave, I don't dare anymore."

As he spoke, he knelt down softly.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuan imitated the action of occasionally seeing Xieyi lecture blank, and knocked on the door of the girl's head with a smile: "Get up. In fact, you should say that you know you are wrong, and dare to do it next time."

Blank obviously can't handle this stalk.

However, seeing the smile on Zhu Yuan's face, she also realized that the little official was not really angry, so she stood up cautiously.

Just as he was talking, Xieyi came in with a plate.

When Liu Bai saw that Xieyi came in alone, he felt that he should learn from Xieyi without any trace.Obviously both of them were blocking the other two, why was she the only one who was taught a lesson by the petty officials!

Zhu Yuan's breakfast is very simple, a porridge with white fungus and lotus seeds, a tray of steamed buns, and two boiled eggs ordered by Zhu Yuan himself.

But I haven't finished eating yet.

There was only a small bowl of porridge in the cup, and I ate three of the six buns, and I didn't touch the eggs today.

Some want to drink milk.

However, there are no conditions in this day and age, and goat milk is available. Zhu Yuan tasted it once, but he is not used to the taste.

After breakfast, Zhu Yuan was about to return to the main room, and Xie Yi, who was packing the tableware, mentioned something: "Little official, Sister Qingqiu and Sister Luoshui said that they have finished proofreading three books."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuan sat down here again: "Let them bring it to me to have a look."

Xieyi and Liu Bai left with the tableware together, and returned with Qingqiu and Luoshui after a while.

Qingqiu sent a copy of "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and a copy of "Tao Te Ching", while Luoshui took out Zu Chongzhi's "Zhushu".

Lao Zhu had sent some of the book list a few days ago, and he was still collecting the rest.

According to the original plan, Zhu Yuan asked a few girls to proofread these books so that they could be read more easily.

Inside the restaurant.

Seeing the little official picking up a book and flipping through it, Lu Bai, who was on the sidelines, suddenly wanted to pout again.

Let’s just say that the day before yesterday, the little official asked Zhao Xu to pick a piece of Taihu stone from the garden and send it over. He called the four of them to teach a method called “sketching” on the piece of Taihu stone with a newly made charcoal pencil in the south room. 'Painting techniques.

The four girls all have painting skills, and the little official only demonstrated it once, and they realized something.

Then each drew a

In the end, the little official gave the four paintings a score, saying that the full score is [-] points, Luoshui gets [-] points, freehand brushwork gets [-] points, blank space gets [-] points, and Qingqiu gets only [-] points.

Although in the end the little official gave his painting [-] points and praised the four of them for being better than his own, but Qingqiu, who was the last of the four girls, still had a pitiful expression on his face. For the time being, it is considered the most beautiful face among the four girls, Liu Bai thinks that the little official must have been charmed at that time.

The nine-tailed fox on Qingqiu Mountain can eat people.

Humph.

So he 'punished' Qingqiu to proofread another copy of the Tao Te Ching.

Is this a punishment?

Obviously it's a reward!

Because of helping small officials to proofread books, but the four of them are scrambling to do something.

Seeing that the two girls had already delivered three books, they had not even finished proofreading one book because of the many daily tasks, so Lu Bai felt that he was really useless.

Zhu Yuan roughly flipped through a few pages of "Zishu", and then changed to "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" edited by Qingqiu. Seeing the vertical version of the text, it is much easier to read after adding punctuation, and nodded very satisfied.

After reading a temporarily unknown text, Zhu Yuan also remembered a joke, and said to the four women: "About mathematics, do you know that everything in this world can deceive us, only mathematics can't."

The other three were still a little stunned, but Luo Shui answered in an eloquent way: "Little official, why?"

Zhu Yuan smiled and said: "Because, mathematics, if you don't know it, you won't know it."

Luo Shui understood in seconds, burst out laughing, and quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth, his eyebrows and eyes curved.

The other three women didn't know whether they really understood or not, and quickly either covered their mouths with handkerchiefs or lowered their heads slightly and let out a chuckle.

Zhu Yuan didn't make any serious distinctions either, and picked up three books with a smile, left the dining room, and returned to the study in the main room.

Xie Yi and Liu Bai quickly followed, seeing him sitting at the desk again, and said in a free hand, "Young official, are you really not going to the southern suburbs today?"

Zhu Yuan shook his head.

The day before yesterday, the palace sent a special message to ask Zhu Yuan if he would like to attend Lao Zhu's enthronement ceremony. As a fifth-rank official of the imperial court, if he nodded, it would be easy to make arrangements there.

And also pointed out.

Because of Zhu Yuan's health, he doesn't need to participate in various tedious etiquettes with all the officials, he only needs to watch the ceremony.

Frankly speaking, Zhu Yuan really wanted to go.

The founding emperor's enthronement ceremony, ordinary people may not necessarily encounter it once in several lifetimes.

However, thinking about how hard it was to get a promise of seclusion from Lao Zhu at the beginning, since it is a seclusion, of course it is best not to go out, even if you go out, it is at most limited to the island in the middle of the lake.

This is called seclusion.

Zhu Yuan could imagine that if he took the initiative to break this state, then Lao Zhu would definitely not have to abide by it.

So in the end it was rejected.

There is no reluctance there.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuan turned his head and noticed Liu Bai's expectant expression, and said with a smile: "I won't go, you can, go and prepare to go out now."

But Xie Yi shook his head: "If the petty officials don't go, how can the slaves go?"

Zhu Yuan waved his hands: "Go and prepare, look at Liu Bai, if you don't go today, she will remember you for a long time, there are Qingqiu and the others, and Zhao Xu, well, Mr. Dai will definitely join in the fun , Let’s all go, I happen to be alone at home enjoying the peace.”

He wrote: "Since that's the case, I will serve the officials at home and let them all go to watch the ceremony."

Liu Bai immediately said: "If you don't go freehand, you won't go either."

Zhu Yuan rubbed his forehead pretending to be displeased: "It seems that you are the masters of this house, why don't you continue to drag me here?"

The two maids stopped immediately, looked at each other, and wished Zhu Yuan a blessing: "Little official, do you want to keep two little maids to serve?"

Zhu Yuan nodded: "Okay, leave two of them in the south room to watch, and I will call them when I have something to do."

In the main room here, because the manuscript is being written, except for freehand and blank space, even Qingqiu and Luoshui are not allowed to enter, let alone those little girls.

Xieyi agreed, didn't dare to say any more, and left with Liu Bai.

When the two girls went out, Zhu Yuan did not start writing immediately, but picked up the "Tao Te Ching" that had not been opened just now, and after browsing for a while, he quickly found an article.

"The way of heaven, is it like drawing a bow? The high one restrains it, the low one lifts it up, the surplus damages it, and the deficiency makes up for it. The heaven's way is to make up for the deficiency when there is excess damage. The way of man is not the same, and the damage is not enough to serve. There is more than enough. Who can have more than enough to serve the world, only the Taoist. He does not rely on the saints, does not rely on the achievements, and does not want to see the virtuous and evil!"

After rereading and savoring for a while, Zhu Yuan picked up the pen and quickly wrote two lines of Xingkai on a piece of white paper, which was much more beautiful than his calligraphy.

The way of the sky is more than damage but not enough to make up for.

The way of man is to sacrifice enough and give more than enough.

Zhu Yuan's economics is fundamentally about 'production' and 'distribution'.

Originally established and Daosheng.

There are two fundamentals in the study of economics, and the two fundamentals of 'production' and 'distribution' are also fundamental.

The root of 'production', Zhu Yuan plans to quote a later famous saying in the future.

The root of the way of "distribution" that makes Lao Zhu think about it but has not heard it is exactly the two sentences written by Zhu Yuan at the moment.These two simple sentences from the "Tao Te Ching", in Zhu Yuan's conception, will generate a huge social distribution system that covers the entire planet with one light and one dark in the future.

(End of this chapter)