The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

This reminded Li Fu of a beggar...

A beggar who sells books.

This Spring and Autumn Annals really made him read.

"Very good, you are quite thoughtful. Okay, it's not easy for you to go back and forth in this weather, go back and rest first." Li Fu said: "Ask the kitchen to warm you up with a pot of wine."

"Yes." Shitou responded.

He left the house, took off the cloak hanging under the corridor, put it on, and returned to the side yard where he lived.

Li Fu carefully read the book in his hand again.

Now, the textbooks for the academy next year have been settled.

No matter how it is compiled, it will be handed over to the printing house. In one holiday, all the books needed for the new semester can be printed.

Li Fu got up and came to the door.

"Xiao Tao!"

"I'm here." Xiao Tao ran out of the side room and came to the corridor of the main house.

"Come in and talk." Li Fu asked Xiao Tao to come in first.

Xiao Tao flashed into the house and turned around to close the door.

It was very cold outside.

"Change clothes, I want to enter the palace." Li Fu said.

"Okay, then I'll have someone prepare the carriage first." Xiao Tao said.

Xiao Tao left the house and asked someone outside the yard to notify the coachman and guards to wait at the gate of the mansion. A heater was to be placed in the carriage.

Then she returned to Li Fu's house and took out the clothes for Li Fu to wear when entering the palace, as well as the bearskin coat that was necessary in winter to protect him from wind and rain. She then put on a thick cloak outside and wrapped Li Fu tightly.

She stuffed the hand warmer into Li Fu's arms.

"My husband, take this with you, and you'll be warm on the road." Xiao Tao reminded.

Xiao Tao couldn't go into the palace with Li Fu, so before leaving, she prepared everything she could think of, for fear that her husband would freeze on the road.

It's almost the New Year, don't catch a cold.

There are still many social events after the New Year.

Li Fu wrapped himself up thickly, and he didn't feel cold at all when he went out, even though it was snowing outside.

He walked quickly to the door, and the carriage was waiting at the door. He got on the carriage in two steps.

Wu Liangye and other guards rode with him.

When they arrived at the palace gate, he asked Wu Liangye and the driver to find a place to avoid the wind and snow.

Li Fu entered the palace alone and went straight to Liangyi Hall.

Liangyi Hall in winter was even more quiet and solemn in the wind and snow. The eunuchs on duty in the corridor outside the hall were dressed in bulky clothes and changed shifts every hour. In such weather, they had to stand for half a day, and no one could stand it.

Before he reached the corridor, the eunuch saw Li Fu coming from a distance, and he went into the hall to report very tactfully.

"Your Majesty, the King of Jingyang is here."

Li Shimin, who was busy with government affairs, heard this, looked up and frowned slightly.

"What is he doing here in this weather?" Li Shimin said to himself, and then ordered the eunuch: "Let him come in quickly."

At this time, in the Liangyi Hall, apart from Li Shimin himself, there were only two eunuchs serving in the hall.

As soon as Li Fu walked to the corridor, the eunuch pushed open the door and let Li Fu enter the hall.

Li Fu bowed to the eunuch, and the eunuch bowed and gave way.

Stepping into the Liangyi Hall, the door was closed, and a warm feeling came over him.

Li Fu took off his cloak and hung it on the hanger next to him.

An eunuch in the hall hurried forward to tidy up Li Fu's cloak and clothes.

"Brother, it's quite warm in this palace." Li Fu came to Li Shimin with a smile, got close to the brazier, and put the heater in his arms next to the brazier.

With this thing, my hands are not so cold.

"It's not as good as your Jingyang Palace." Li Shimin said with a smile.

"Then I dare not compare Jingyang Palace with your palace." Li Fu said: "There is no ground heating in Jingyang Palace, otherwise I don't have to live in the side yard in winter."

Li Shimin smiled: "Your new house on the farm will be more comfortable than the current house in winter and summer, right?"

"Isn't the purpose of building a new house to live comfortably?" Li Fu rubbed his hands.

"Okay, don't talk about those useless things. It's so cold and snowing outside. If you have nothing to do, you won't come to the palace in this weather." Li Shimin said: "Let's talk about serious things."

Li Fu smiled.

"Okay, let's talk about serious matters."

Li Fu took out a booklet from his arms and handed it to Li Shimin.

"Second brother, take a look at this." Li Fu said.

Li Shimin looked up and saw the book that Li Fu handed over, and reached out to take it.

"Spring and Autumn Annals?" Li Shimin was puzzled: "Why? Have you started reading Spring and Autumn Annals recently?"

"I am a serious person, so of course I have read Spring and Autumn Annals."

Li Shimin was full of doubts.

This is not related to serious people.What does it have to do with decent people?

"After the Mid-Autumn Festival, I found a few craftsmen in Chang'an City to study the printing of books." Li Fu said: "In the past six months, they have achieved initial results in the workshop."

"Printing books?" Li Shimin opened the book: "Did you find someone to make a woodblock?"

"No, this is movable type printing." Li Fu said: "It is more flexible than traditional woodblock printing. Moreover, traditional woodblock printing can only print the content of one page, but movable type is different."

Li Fu explained movable type printing to Li Shimin again.

"To put it simply, it is countless seal characters, arranged according to the content requirements. In this way, a lot of manpower and material resources can be saved. Arranging the content of a page is always much faster than carving a page." Li Fu said: "Although the woodblock can be stored, once it is damaged due to improper operation, the entire woodblock will be scrapped, while movable type only needs to replace the damaged characters."

"Of course, the existence of movable type cannot completely deny the significance of the existence of woodblocks. Different choices must be made in different situations."

Li Shimin was shocked when he heard Li Fu's explanation.

"There is also this book. If you look carefully, you will find that the content of a book has different font sizes. If you print books in the future, you can use different font sizes. The fonts in the book can be as big as you want.

There are several sets of movable type for all font sizes."

"In the past six months, the craftsmen have been firing clay. Now the technology is mature. If the requirements are not high, they can be fired with clay. However, the workshop has begun to prepare lead type. The cost of movable lead type is much lower than that of lead engraving."

"Your workshop on the farm is really full of talented people." Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh.

"What are talented people? It's nothing more than some small ideas that are realized in a specific way." Li Fu smiled and said, "No one thought of it before, but now someone has thought of it, or it can be said that someone had such a wonderful idea before, but due to various restrictions, no one has realized it."