The New Legend of White Snake has fifty chapters. It took Li Shen more than ten days to finish dictating. Wu Mei spent three days finishing and polishing it. In the past half a month, Li Shen had two sets of commonly used calligraphy boards carved. Each set has more than 3,000 words. Five or six craftsmen were employed. These craftsmen all came from Li Shen Zhuangzi. Loyalty is no problem. Moreover, Li Shen also paid a high hush fee.
When everything was ready, Li Shen arranged for someone to prepare a special factory building in the papermaking workshop as a workshop for printing books. and recruited workers and craftsmen to prepare for printing.
Inside the Liangyi Hall. Li Shimin is dealing with the memorial with Li Chengqian. Suddenly Li Shimin said: "Gao Ming. Has it been almost a month since there has been any news from Li Shen? Have you ever seen him?"
"Aye, I haven't seen my tenth brother for a long time." Li Chengqian also hasn't seen him for a long time.
"Li An, what is King Ji doing now?" Li Shimin raised his head and asked Li An. Li An is in charge of Li Shimin's intelligence system.
"Back to Your Majesty. Prince Ji has not left the palace a few times this month. He has always been in the palace. I heard... I heard..."
"What did you hear?" Li Shimin angrily shouted when he saw Li An's hesitation.
"I heard that His Highness Prince Ji is telling stories to the servants in the palace. He also asked the servants to record it and prepare to publish a novel." Li An still said it. (The word novel existed in the Tang Dynasty. Even earlier. The author did not write it blindly.)
"You bastard. A majestic prince who doesn't do his job and actually tells stories to his servants. Why can't he still go to a restaurant and be a storyteller?" Li Shimin's blood immediately surged after hearing this. This Li Shen can't be normal. (Storytelling should be called talking in the Tang Dynasty. It is a form of performance. It is similar to the later storytelling. Storytelling is used here to avoid readers’ misunderstanding.)
"Aye, the tenth brother is just young and playful. It will get better after a while." Li Chengqian tried to dissuade him.
"Huh, he doesn't know how much it costs to print a book. Even if the paper is cheap now, printing engravings is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It's expensive. Let's see who he sells to then."
In early September, the first batch of The Legend of White Snake printed by Li Shen was completed. Ready to hit the market. But first there is publicity. Li Shen is planning to add storytelling business to his flavor shop. Storytellers originated in the Song Dynasty. There were only similar performances in the Tang Dynasty, but they had not yet entered public places in restaurants.
Li Shen opened a sect in advance. Li Shen recruited a few eloquent people from Huangzhuang to teach them storytelling. Li Shen actually didn't learn it but just listened to it.
He just stated the request and let them understand it themselves. Several of them were also literate, and after hearing Li Shen's request. After thinking about it for a few days, it seemed to be working. Li Shen felt that it was almost enough, and they would let them improve the rest in the future.
On this day, guests of the flavor restaurant discovered that the layout of the first floor had changed. An opera stage appeared in the hall. There is a table on top. Just when everyone was curious, a middle-aged man came up.
Dressed elegantly, he walked onto the stage holding a folding fan. Pick up the Xingmu and slap it hard, making a "pop" sound. Then he said: "Dear gentlemen, our flavor restaurant will tell stories for you every day from now on. Maybe you have never seen it before.
But it doesn’t matter. As time goes by, you will all know. Some people asked what exactly they were talking about. So let me tell you today. Listen, I think about the time when there was Mount Emei. There are strange flowers and fruits on the mountain, and hundreds of animals live together. Because there are often hunters hunting here. One day there was a hunter... The shepherd boy begged for mercy and the hunter agreed... After thousands of years of practice, he transformed into a human form... He met by the West Lake... He predicted what would happen next. Please listen to the next chapter for details. . "After Mr. Storyteller finished speaking, he patted Xingmu.
No one has ever heard such a good story. I was listening enthusiastically, but the storyteller stopped talking. So they all shouted: "Hey, don't leave. How did Xiaoqing test Xu Xian?"
"Yes, yes. Hurry up and tell me the next thing."
"I'll reward you two hundred dollars if you talk more."
"Reward me with two hundred coins."
Seeing that the situation was a bit out of control, the shopkeeper came on stage and saluted everyone. "Everyone, I've been talking for half an hour. This man can't bear it even if his throat is hurt. Please let me go down and have a rest. We'll talk after noon. Otherwise, we won't be able to talk tomorrow. Please forgive me. Forgive me."
The shopkeeper said so. Diners are no longer bothered. Some are planning to come and listen in the afternoon.
Li Zhengdian was set up in the evening. Li Shimin was tired after a long day and was ready to have a good rest. But I saw Queen Changsun reading a book. Didn't even notice him coming in. It was Li Mingda who called out "Aye" and woke up Queen Changsun.
"Guanyin Maid. What book are you reading that makes you so fascinated?" Li Shimin said with a smile.
"The legend that Shen'er sent to the palace today. I've been reading it all day. It's so well written. Shen'er is really talented." Queen Changsun said it again and took off Li Shimin's coat.
"Li Shen wrote it. Let me take a look. He can also write books?" Li Shimin didn't believe it, so he picked up the book on the table and read it. After a while, Li Shimin put down the book and said: "This Li Shen does have some talents. But they are not used in the right place. What is the use of writing such supernatural novels." Li Shimin was not very interested in this kind of book.
"Forget it if Erlang doesn't like it. Why do you say that Shen'er only has some talents? Folks must like such a wonderful book. Now every concubine in the harem has a copy. They can't put it down. You eat first, I'll read it for a while." Queen Changsun said no. Ignore Li Shimin.
Li Shimin's mind is filled with dark thoughts. Is it just a book? It's all Li Shen's fault. Li Shimin was thinking that Li Shen was already twelve or thirteen years old, so he should arrange something for him to do. So that you don't have to do nothing all day long and tinker with useless things.
After several days of fermentation, the story spread from the diners of the flavor restaurant became popular in Chang'an. Just then the news came out. Datang Paper began selling the legendary original version of The Legend of White Snake. The selling price is only 300 Wen.
During this period, books were too expensive and ordinary people could not afford them. A copy of The Analects of Confucius costs several dollars. If it's the Spring and Autumn Festival with a lot of rolls, it might cost ten guan. Engraving was too expensive during this period. Therefore, many scholars can support themselves by copying books by hand.
Li Shen originally planned to invest only 5,000 copies in Datang Paper for sale. Although 300 Wen is very cheap, 300 Wen is still relatively expensive for ordinary people. Unexpectedly, it was sold out in half a day. Li Shen quickly asked people to work overtime for printing. Moreover, Wang Hongfu also told Li Shen that many businessmen were ordering, at least a hundred copies.
Li Shen had no idea that just one book, The Legend of White Snake, would fascinate the scholars of the Tang Dynasty. Many people who have some savings will buy a copy and take it home to read. In one month, Changan sold more than 20,000 copies. Foreign merchants even ordered more than 150,000 copies. Li Shen himself found it incredible.
Just when Li Shen was feeling complacent, people from the aristocratic family gathered together again. They also bought Li Shen’s books. Although they hated Li Shen deeply. But I have to say that Li Shen’s writing is really good.
"Everyone, do you think Prince Ji is too idle to write a book? And he only makes a profit of 300 liters at a loss. What is he trying to do?" Wang Weiqi had the most say. His Qingyun Bookstore is now unable to sell anything but a few books.
"I'm also thinking about this issue. Do you think he will develop a new printing technology?" Cui Renzhi said.
"Impossible, we are all in the printing business. The craftsmen are also improving. Unless the hand-copied ones are cheaper. The price cannot be so low. I think King Ji wants to be famous and loses money selling. He has money now but doesn't. Fame." Lu Chengqing analyzed
"This is the best. There is news from the clan. Let us promote the marriage of Tubo. By then we will all agree that it will not be a big problem. The clan has had business relations with Tubo for many years. We don't want Tubo to meet the Tang Dynasty's swordsmen. That will affect our business." Cui Inzhi said
"We naturally know this. The Tibetan envoy will enter Chang'an soon, so this matter should not be a big problem." Everyone agreed.
(The word storyteller. I looked it up. It originated in the Song Dynasty. But there were similar performances in the Tang Dynasty. It was called talking. However, the word "speak" is a bit misunderstood. So it was replaced by storyteller)
