Wenhua Hall is the place where the emperor held sutra banquets on weekdays.
At this moment, inside the Wenhua Palace, officials from the Cabinet, the Sixth Ministry, the Imperial College, and the Hanlin Academy gathered together, and everyone had doubts on their faces.
There was no morning meeting today, and as soon as they arrived at their respective yamen, news came from the palace, asking them to go to the Wenhua Hall immediately, and not one of them should be missing.
The officials of the Imperial Academy and Hanlin Academy had panic on their faces. They were worried that the emperor would not be satisfied with the article written yesterday because it was not published in the Ming Dynasty Daily today.
"Pavilion elders, you have read yesterday's article. It should be fine. Your Majesty will be here soon. Please help me to persuade him!"
"Xiaguan is very upset!"
"It should have nothing to do with you. If it was because of the article, the Cabinet and the Sixth Ministry would not come. At most... Liu Shangshu from the Ministry of Rites would come, haha!"
…
While everyone was talking, a sound of "Your Majesty has arrived" sounded outside the Wenhua Hall, and the crowd immediately returned to their respective positions and stood up.
After some salutes, Chongzhen sat down on the first seat.
"I came to see you all, my dear ones, mainly to talk to you about some ideas!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he nodded towards Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen clapped his hands. Two young eunuchs came in holding a stack of books and gave one to everyone.
The book is naturally "Nineteen Lectures on the Standard Usage of Punctuation Marks" that Chongzhen rushed out overnight.
Looking at the names of the books, the crowd was full of curiosity.
Although they did not know the specific meaning of the symbols, the word punctuation was clearly documented.
"Everyone, take a look at it first, and then we can talk about it after you finish reading it!"
The ministers looked through it slowly.
"Everything I read is punctuated, and the meaning is clear. Some of them are self-evident without needing to be discussed. However, there are many punctuation points in the past dynasties, and there is no system at all..."
The long paragraph at the beginning is nothing more than an expression of one meaning: Although I have done a lot, it is of no use, I want to reformulate it.
Next is the table of contents, and then the specific content.
Lecture 1: When to use the comma.
The pause mark is mainly used for pauses between parallel words, between repeated words that require a pause, and for smaller pauses after certain sequential words...
Lecture 2: When to use commas.
…
Lecture 19: When to use brackets.
…
Each punctuation mark has usage occasions, error explanations, correct examples, etc. It is easy to understand with the wisdom of everyone.
Everyone watched slowly, exclaiming from time to time, and occasionally discussing with each other.
"Your Majesty, who wrote this? Once such symbols become popular, it will be a blessing to all scholars in the Ming Dynasty.
Even ordinary people with little knowledge can easily understand it. There is no need to read it in separate sentences, and there will be no misunderstandings! "
"Master Liu is right. This kind of symbol can help readers get twice the result with half the effort."
"Yes, it can help people accurately express their thoughts and feelings and understand written language, which is a great benefit!"
…
The ministers expressed their praise without hesitation, and they could clearly understand the significance of this punctuation mark after its widespread use.
Wang Chengen smiled and said in a low voice: "My lords, your Majesty compiled this all night long!"
"What? Your Majesty wrote it?"
"Wang Zhongguan, is it really written by His Majesty?"
"This... is a great talent!"
"Your Majesty, I forgive you for being incompetent. I am really surprised. Although these symbols are simple, they have great meaning!"
…
"Your Majesty, I sincerely request your Majesty to allow such symbols to be used among the people!"
After listening to Yuan Keli's memorial, Chongzhen's eyes lit up and he looked at the ministers: "What do you mean, dear friends?"
The ministers looked at each other and bowed in response.
In their opinion, this kind of thing can definitely make scholars get twice the result with half the effort.
Since the poor cannot afford to study, the rich will ultimately benefit.
If they had known that the emperor was going to open several schools in every town over the next ten years, they would have fought tooth and nail to stop it.
There are advantages and disadvantages to having more scholars. A large group will have endless benefits, but the pressure of the imperial examination will be great, and it is no longer easy to fool the people.
There was an inexplicable smile on Chongzhen's lips: "Since you all agree, let's start with Beijing City.
Give Beijing officials half a month to get familiar with it. After half a month, new punctuation marks must be used for anything that needs to be recorded in writing.
Within three months, Ming government officials must learn to use it.
Before the seal is sealed at the end of this year, the entire Ming Dynasty must be promoted, especially places where books are printed, such as workshops, bookstores, and workshops. New books must be retyped and punctuation marks added!
The director of the Department of Etiquette, with the assistance of the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College, is responsible for this matter. This matter is the most important item in your year-end performance appraisal this year. "
The officials' faces were serious. They knew that the emperor valued it, but they did not expect that the emperor would take it so seriously.
Liu Zongzhou, the Minister of Rites, looked serious: "I obey the order!"
“Also, this book can only be printed and sold by bookstores and printmakers controlled or designated by the imperial court to prevent private printmakers from making mistakes in printing and misleading the people.
In addition, the price of this book is five denarii. "
"Five denarii?"
The crowd was a little surprised. It was not high, it was ridiculously high.
We must know that Shu Chongfu, the most popular Jinlu Bookstore, published "The Romance of the Gods" in twenty volumes, fifty illustrations, and about 700,000 words, for only two taels of silver.
And this book only has about 20 pages and 4,000 to 5,000 words. When published in batches, the cost and other factors are taken into account. It is estimated that it will only cost one penny, and the net profit will be four penny.
Not to mention too many scholars in the entire Ming Dynasty, there are millions of people. If everyone has a copy, the net profit will be 400,000 taels, which is a huge profit.
"Your Majesty, is the price too high? If the price is too high, the readers will copy it by themselves, and then they won't be able to sell it!"
“If you don’t worry about copying it wrong, just follow them. Otherwise, how will you deepen your impression and promote it in a short period of time?
Besides, I wrote it myself and got twice the result with half the effort. Five coins is not too much! "
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Liu Zongzhou suddenly realized it and admired Chongzhen's intentions.
After a few more instructions, the officials dispersed, and Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, finally completing another task.
The next step is to find suitable opportunities to promote symbols such as Arabic numerals, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, percentages and decimal points, and unify measurement units.
China has its own set of things for these things, and they are quite advanced and sophisticated, but writing and recording are too complicated.
Regarding these, Chongzhen's idea was to take the essence and discard the dross.
Perhaps it was the pressure of performance appraisal, or perhaps it was the punishment on the Longjingguan battlefield, but the Ministry of Rites acted extremely quickly, and the officials were also discussing with each other.
There is no way, maybe one day their memorial will be sent to the emperor's dragon case. If they make a mistake, it will be a lot of fun.
Not only themselves, but also their family members were forced to learn along with them.
In this tense study atmosphere, the news that Chengguo Gong Zhu Chunchen surrendered to the enemy was printed on the front page of Daming Daily.
This explosive news directly caused the entire capital to boil.
