Zhu Yuanzhang's prohibition seems absurd and difficult to understand, but in fact there is another reason.
The biggest reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang came from a humble background and was extremely suspicious. He always doubted whether officials were really working for him. When he was in a bad mood, he would engage in a few literary prisons to enjoy himself.
For example, Gao Qi, editor of the Hanlin Academy, wrote a poem: "The little dog barks and shadows are empty across the wall. Who comes from the palace in the dead of night?" Zhu Yuanzhang took a look and thought, well, isn't this calling me a dog?
As a result, Gao Qi was cut in half.
Another example is that Zhan Xiyuan, Zhongshu, wrote a plaque for Taixue, with three words "Taixuemen", but the word "men" is missing the last tick.
Zhan Xi was originally a master of calligraphy and felt that writing like this was comfortable and artistic.
But when Zhu Yuanzhang read it, what did you write?
The door is not a door?
Wouldn't it hinder me from recruiting talented people?
Push it out and chop it!
See, creating art involves taking risks.
For another example, Zhao Boning, a tutor from the Peking Prefecture School, wrote in his "Longevity Biao" that "it is down to the descendants to set the standard", Lin Bojing, a tutor from the Fuzhou Fuzhou Prefecture School, wrote "Rituals govern the world" in his "He Dong Biao", and Jiang Zhi, a tutor from the Guilin Fu School, wrote "Zhengdan Congratulations" wrote the sentence "Jianzhong sets the standard". Because the sound of "ze" is the same as "thief", Zhu Yuanzhang thought that these people were cursing him and cursing him, so he killed them all.
It is enough to engage in literary inquisition for the living, but Zhu Yuanzhang also did not let go of the dead.
In the second year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Mencius tablet to be removed from the Confucius Temple.
In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to delete "Mencius", such as "the people are the most important, the country is second, the king is the least", "the king treats his ministers like dirt, then the ministers will treat the king like a bandit", etc., which are obviously Any posts that do not respect the emperor will be deleted.
After deleting it, I saw that ok, one-third of the book was missing. In the future, you readers will be able to memorize more easily.
While Zhu Yuanzhang banned the thoughts of literati, he did not relax the suppression of folk thoughts, so he issued a ban on content such as "but those who learn to sing will have their tongues cut out".
The minds of the literati were not active, and the minds of the people did not dare to move. The market demand is weak, books cannot be sold, and the development of private bookstores is very slow.
In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, the most developed bookstores were not in the capital. For example, the Imperial College, Imperial Hospital, Economics Factory and other official inscriptions were only used to run errands for the court or print teaching materials, and they were not large-scale.
Jianning Prefecture in Fujian Province, specifically, Jianyang at the foot of Wuyi Mountain in northern Fujian within the jurisdiction of Jianning Prefecture, was the "printing center" in the early Ming Dynasty.
As for the content printed by Jianyang Bookstore, in addition to official books, there are also "Da Gao", "Da Ming Code", etc. As for miscellaneous talks, they often need to be reviewed and reviewed again and again, and no one dares to publish them easily.
If there are words like "生" or "泽" in it, or if it belittles the royal family or promotes social instability, then the person who wrote the book may lose his head.
Of course, the one who writes the book is not alone. The one who prints the book will accompany him on the journey.
Luo Guanzhong was really helpless. He went to Jianyang and asked, but he didn't give us the book. Before leaving, he even gave us a few pieces of moso bamboo. That meant that although the bookstore belonged to us, we couldn't control these things.
The belly is empty and powerless.
Unwilling to be reconciled, Luo Guanzhong heard that the emperor issued a Proclamation of Prosperity, and introduced many refreshing policies to benefit the country and the people. There seemed to be a trend of lifting the ban in the capital, so Luo Guanzhong came to the capital after traveling thousands of miles away. Looking for the last glimmer of hope.
However, after going all over the capital, no one was willing to accept his manuscript for printing.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the decadent and old Luo Guanzhong and said: "Since no one will publish a book for you, then I will publish it for you!"
Luo Guanzhong looked at Zhu Yunwen in surprise and said in surprise: "Is what you said true? Can you really let "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" be published and spread around the world?"
Zhu Yunwen nodded seriously.
"But the young master has never read my manuscript..."
"I've seen it, and it's very familiar to me..."
"What?"
"Ahem, what about that? I think you have great talent, and you know the owner of the bookstore very well, so I have decided to book this book! But, Mr. Luo, we need to discuss the cost carefully..."
Zhu Yunwen wiped the sweat from his brow.
The person in front of me is a big shot in the world. He is millions of times better than those who type on the keyboard every day in later generations. I am so excited...
"As long as "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be published, I will not hesitate to waste all my wealth!"
Luo Guanzhong said firmly.
"Squandering all the wealth?"
Zhu Yunwen was stunned for a moment, shook his head repeatedly, and said: "Sir, I printed your manuscript and sold it for a lot of money. Why do I need your husband to contribute the money? I want to discuss it with you, why don't I sell this manuscript to you?" How about selling me the copyright for two thousand taels?"
"What is copyright?"
Luo Guanzhong was a little confused and didn't seem to understand what he meant.
Zhu Yunwen was depressed. There was no copyright statement in ancient times.
If you want to publish a book, you need to pay for it yourself, and it’s not cheap.
For example, your book uses 150 sheets of paper and charges you 30 pieces of paper.
Thirty cents?
Cheap!
Wait a minute, there is still money for work and ink, counting you 240 cash, the cost of wax, counting 215 cash, and the money for work and food for mounting green paper materials, counting 280 cash...
Doing the math again, it would cost at least 700 words to publish a book.
Since you publish a book, you can’t publish just one.
After all, he is a person who has a lot of knowledge, so it should be no problem to get a lot of books, right?
A cart of one hundred books, one calculation, seven or eighty taels of silver
.
Who in the ordinary world can spend so much money on printing? Most people don’t even have money to read books.
For example, Zhu Biao's teacher Song Lian was a standard incorruptible celebrity, but he "came from a poor family and had no way to read the book and write it down by hand."
Song Lian wanted to read a book, so he could only borrow it temporarily and copy it himself, using a handwritten copy.
This can also be understood why Cao Xueqin had no money to publish "Dream of Red Mansions" during the Qing Dynasty. Even for a long time, "Dream of Red Mansions" existed in the form of manuscripts. Of course, this is only one factor.
The cost of bookstores these days is relatively high, but this thing is also hugely profitable...
Cheap books also have hundreds of texts, and ordinary books cost one tael of silver. For example, some books are more expensive, often costing more than three taels of silver...
It’s more profitable than selling grain and pork.
"The so-called copyright means that this book belongs to you. If I want to publish it, I need your permission. If I buy the copyright of this book for two thousand taels, you will receive two thousand taels. In the future, this book , even if it is sold to Ryukyu or North Korea, you can no longer ask me for money."
Zhu Yunwen explained.
Luo Guanzhong was a little angry, the other party must be making fun of him.
Is there any reason why a bookshop would print books for others?
I have never heard of it, and it’s still a sky-high price of two thousand taels.
Could it be that the young man opposite is a charlatan?
It's just that this liar is a little, um, not very smart...
Luo Guanzhong said with a gloomy face: "If this manuscript can be published, Luo will not take any penny. Even if you sell it to the end of the world, it is still your ability."
"Well, is there such a good thing? Haha, it doesn't matter, I won't take advantage of you. Which one of you has some silver on you?"
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xie Jin, Xu Huizu and Xu Miaojin.
Jie Jin took out ten taels of broken silver and twenty taels of treasure notes. Xu Huizu was a miser and didn't know where the money was hidden, so he took out five taels of silver.
Xu Miaojin...
Forget it, her money is all used to buy food, no one can touch it.
Hey, isn't it Liu Changge who hides his head and shows his tail?
What are you hiding from? Come here quickly.
He is worthy of being a commander of the Security Bureau. He carries more than two hundred taels of silver with him and is not afraid of it being heavy.
Zhu Yunwen packed up the money and handed it to Luo Guanzhong, saying, "Sir, although the money is not much, please accept it with a smile."
"You, what are you doing? I just want to see this book come out with my own eyes. What can money do to me?"
Luo Guanzhong took a step back and refused.
Zhu Yunwen handed the silver to Luo Guanzhong and said: "You can only keep what I give you! You want to see this book come out, no problem. However, I want to write a poem as the opening chapter of "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Words!"
