Datang: Let you supervise the country and become an emperor through the ages

Chapter 87

"Father also likes to read this?" Li Mingda's eyes lit up, seeing Li Shimin staring at his manuscript with his eyes motionless, he couldn't help jumping for joy.

"As for it!" Li Fu shook his head slightly, very speechless, but Li Mingda felt that this was a recognition of himself.

"Why not? I thought Father would only like to read those boring memorials, but I didn't expect to like to read stories too. Even Father likes it. I'm relieved!"

The eldest grandson Pingting thought it was true, "When I first heard His Highness talk about "Dream of Red Mansions", I was also fascinated immediately. This story is not only interesting, but also contains a lot of philosophy. I really don't know how His Highness came up with it. of!"

When she said this, the eldest grandson Pingting cast adoring eyes at Li Fu, but Li Fu didn't take it seriously.

[How can you say that this is one of the four great classics, and it can be called the most influential book, so it's normal to attract people! 】

[You must know that Dream of Red Mansions has directly developed into a discipline in later generations, and even as long as you understand the essence of Dream of Red Mansions, it is not too easy to become a Neptune! 】

[Li Er, this old man, is a model of a sea king and a scumbag after all. Reading this kind of book is the easiest to resonate with. 】

[But even Li Er is so interested, it seems that Sizi's idea is right, if it is used to sell books, it will definitely make money, then can I consider earning more pocket money in the future? 】

Li Fu couldn't help thinking about it, Li Shimin originally wanted to continue reading, but was disturbed by Li Fu's inner voice, and then he came back to his senses.

Seeing this, Li Mingda hurried forward to ask for the manuscript, "Father, Ah Fu wants the manuscript in your hand, so we can bind it into a book!"

"Sis, was this book really written by the three of you?" Li Shimin handed the manuscript to Li Fu, and then asked Li Mingda.

Li Mingda was a little nervous, but Li Fu rushed to answer: "Yes, father, it was written by Sizi and Miss Changsun. I just helped organize and bind it."

"Well written!" Li Shimin nodded repeatedly, but looked at Li Fu meaningfully, "You are also good, but you should pay more attention to government affairs when you have time, and don't put all your energy on such mundane affairs."

[Why the hell did it become a vulgar thing?Why didn't I think it was vulgar when I was watching it? 】

Li Fu complained speechlessly, then bound the book into a volume, and when he was about to put it away, Li Shimin cried out.

"Well, show me this manuscript again, I haven't finished it yet!"

Li Shimin was watching the exciting part just now, and when he saw Li Fu put it away, he suddenly felt a little itchy. If he couldn't see it today, he might not be able to sleep even at night.

"Father, this is a vulgar thing. You are the Ninth Five-Year Lord, and you are busy with political affairs. How can you waste your precious time on such a vulgar thing!" Li Fu directly used the same way and returned it to him.

"This..." Li Shimin was stunned by Li Fu, and he wanted to read a book, but he didn't want to confess.

But Li Fu didn't give him a chance to stand still, so he took the book and prepared to hand it to the housekeeper. Li Shimin suddenly became anxious, "Okay, I just said something wrong, give me the manuscript quickly, and let me read it quickly!"

Hearing that His Majesty is willing to admit that books are not common things in order to read books, Changsun Pingting and Li Mingda were very surprised.

"Father, this is only the first edition, this is the manuscript, and we are already preparing to print it into a book, why don't we show it to you when it is made into a booklet?" Li Mingda knew the priorities.

"Are you really going to publish a book?" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise when his daughter said it seriously.

Publishing books in Datang is not a trivial matter. To print books in batches, you have to buy a lot of paper and need a professional printing team, all of which cost a lot of money.

Because of this, the price of the printed book is extremely expensive. The price of a book is not suitable for ordinary people to afford.

Li Shimin told Li Mingda about these concerns, and Li Mingda was stunned.

Although she is a princess and has the support of her eldest grandson Pingting and Li Fu, she can tell that making a book is not as simple as she thought.

In the early Tang Dynasty, papermaking and printing were only at the most elementary stage, movable type printing had not yet been invented, and papermaking was only in the hands of certain people.

Therefore, both paper and printing are ridiculously expensive. They are not really wealthy and aristocratic families, so they dare not talk about making books at all.

Even for the emperor, most of the memorials reviewed on weekdays are still engraved on bamboo slips. This is not only because of the immature and expensive papermaking technology, but also because of the current era.

And this is only a problem on paper, it is even more troublesome when it comes to printing, so at the moment it is only engraving printing, and if one word is wrong, the entire engraving will be abolished.

Although "Dream of Red Mansions" only has the first edition, there are quite a few words. It really needs to be engraved and printed. The workload alone cannot be completed in less than a month.

"Ah, is it so troublesome? It's paper and printing, and skilled craftsmen, so troublesome!"

"This is all secondary. Once you consider printing a book, you must consider the cost. I'll figure it out. If a book is finally finished, it may be less than five taels of silver, and you won't be able to recover the cost!"

"Oh my god, five taels of silver is so expensive, who would want to buy it, ah... so annoying!"

Princess Jinyang started to go crazy. Her original intention was simply to show off, and she wanted her best friend to have a copy of "Dream of Red Mansions", but now she realized that this was not realistic at all.

Five taels of silver is enough for ordinary people to live on for half a year, even wealthy nobles would not be so prodigal, spending five taels of silver to buy a book to read!

"Well, I have a way to help." Seeing Li Mingda's depressed expression, Li Fu couldn't bear it, "At that time, everyone in Chang'an City will definitely have a copy of "A Dream of Red Mansions" The selling price of this book will not exceed twenty dollars!"

"Twenty dollars?" Li Shimin was amused by Li Fu's firm words, "Prince, you'd better think before you speak."

"The manuscript you are writing now probably uses more than a thousand dollars of paper. You actually said that printing a book only costs twenty dollars!"

"Could it be that in order to publish the book, you plan to print it at your own expense and then sell it at a discount? If so, I will be the first to disagree!"

Li Shimin thought that Li Fu was trying to make Li Mingda happy by slapping his face to make himself fat, printing books with his own money, and then selling the books at a low price, showing himself how a prodigal son is made!
"No, Ah Fu. Although I really want to publish a book, I can't use this method. Forget it. Anyway, I already have a manuscript, so I can just circulate it like this." Li Mingda also disagreed.

Hearing what his daughter said, Li Shimin nodded repeatedly, so that he could be the first to read the full version of the book.

(End of this chapter)