During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the court during this period did not have the position of prime minister.

The prime ministers are all appointed by the three high officials. Therefore, the senior officials of the Central Secretariat, the senior officials of the Central Secretariat, the senior officials of the League, and the senior officials of the League, although the senior officials of the Shangsariat, the Shangsariat, the senior officials of the Shangsariat, do not have the name of the Prime Minister, but they only act as prime ministers.

Because Li Er had served as the Shangshu Ling before ascending the throne, the position of Shangshu Ling was vacant after Li Shimin.

Fang Xuanling, as the Minister of Shangshu Zuo Pushe, is equivalent to the position of prime minister.

Soon, Sun Wuji, a senior official of the Secretariat, Wei Zheng, the Secretariat of the Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Secretariat of the Secretariat, and the Secretariat of various departments were invited.

In recent days, paper, pen, ink, ink, and various books have risen like rockets, and even the court's expenses are very tight.

These people did not go back after going to court, and they all thought about countermeasures in their respective duty rooms.

After all, the funds of each department are limited. If the prices of these things cannot be reduced, I really don’t know how to maintain them.

Paper, pen, ink and ink are essential necessities for office work.

Seeing such a big fanfare, they were a little puzzled. They didn't know what the purpose of His Majesty Li Er summoning them to come?

But they are all old foxes, and after exploring the words, they guessed them from them.

It turned out that they were asking them to discuss the price of paper, pen, ink, ink and inkstone and books by the aristocratic family.

But has His Majesty Li Er found a solution in such a short time?

I thought about it and found it incredible. If there was a way, it should have been announced at this morning's court meeting.

Nowadays, more than half of the paper, pen, ink, ink and inkstone and books are in the hands of aristocratic families.

If the aristocratic family doesn't let go, this problem is really difficult.

However, Changsun Wuji, Wei Zheng and the ministers of various ministries felt that His Majesty Li Er should find a solution.

Of course, others are speculating, but only Fang Xuanling knows it. It seems that His Majesty Li Er is going to launch the plan formulated by Yang Fan!

"I have seen Your Majesty!"

Everyone waited quietly after saluting.

"Don't need to be polite to you all." His Majesty Li Er's sharp eyes slowly passed by everyone.

When everyone was a little scared to see, Li Ercai continued to speak: "I have summoned you to come, it is about the sharp increase in the price of paper, pen, ink and inkstone and various books."

Changsun Wuji, Wei Zheng and others exchanged glances with each other, all with a slight head, with an expression that was indeed like this.

As the Minister of the Ministry of Education, Wei Zheng can be said to be under the greatest pressure.

Menxia Province is equivalent to the General Office of the State Council in later generations, and is responsible for the operation of various departments of the Tang Dynasty court.

Now that these office products have increased significantly, these government departments are naturally the ones who are responsible for the brunt of the price.

Hearing His Majesty Li Er's words, Wei Zheng asked impatiently: "Have Your Majesty found a solution?"

The implementation of the plan involves a lot of confidential things. For now, His Majesty Li Er cannot tell them all.

So he had to say with a careless eye: "There is no good way, but in order to maintain the stability of the court and the smooth progress of this year's spring exam, I decided to increase the allocation from the national treasury, part of it is used to purchase paper, pen, ink and inkstone, and part of it is used to print books for the imperial examination."

Then the conversation changed:

"The imperial examination is the basic national policy of our Tang Dynasty, and this imperial examination reform is even more related to the country of our Tang Dynasty."

"Now, the quality of books on the market for imperial examinations is uneven, and the prices have soared by nearly ten times, which is extremely unfavorable for poor students and the people of the world."

"So, after consideration, I have prepared to establish a new News Department serving the imperial examination, which is under the management of the Ministry of Rites."

"From the future, all the books used in the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were uniformly annotated and published by the News Department of the Ministry of Rites. The content and answers of the imperial examinations of the Four Books and Five Classics were standardized by the annotations issued by the News Department."

"In addition, I have decided to increase the printing volume of these books and promote the world at the current market half price standard. The prices in the future will fluctuate with the fluctuation of prices."

"This not only allows all poor students and people in the world to enjoy the care of the court,

It also makes it possible for people who want to study to afford books. What do you think about this measure? Let’s discuss it now.”

After hearing Li Shimin's words, the officials present couldn't help but take a breath.

Ruthless, His Majesty Li Er is really too cruel!

As the prices of books from the aristocratic family increased, His Majesty Li Er immediately replaced the reference books for the imperial examination.

This move is really amazing!

It can be said that it hit the aristocratic family directly above seven inches.

In this way, all the imperial examination books in the hands of the aristocratic families can be directly abolished, and there will be no absolute monopoly of knowledge.

Moreover, the reference books for the imperial examination were based on the published by the News Department, and the right to print the imperial examination books was indirectly taken to the court.

The conspiracy of aristocratic family to restrict books and bribe poor children will be completely shattered.

This move is really too high!

All matters related to the imperial examination were under the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites, which further strengthened the court's control over intellectuals.

Yang Fan, the Minister of Rites, is also the son-in-law of His Highness Li Er. In fact, His Majesty is directly responsible for all this.

The court can strengthen the control of intellectuals and further deepen the imperial power.

With one strong and one weak, the power of the aristocratic family will inevitably be weakened.

This change is really ruthless, it is no different from a family declaring war.

However, as long as this measure can be implemented in an orderly manner, it will not take several generations to be submissive to the imperial power.

Such surprise will definitely be effective in suppressing the aristocratic families.

The ministers present fell into deep thought in surprise.

Of course they didn't believe that this was the solution found by His Majesty Li Er himself.

Judging from His Majesty Li Er's style of conduct, he should not be so reckless.

Then, a person flashed through everyone's minds.

Could it be that guy Yang Fan?

The more I think about it, the more I think it should be Yang Fan's work.

It is indeed worthy of being a bastard. Is that bastard not afraid of the counterattack of the aristocratic family?

The aristocratic family dare not deal with His Majesty Li Er openly, but a marquis like Yang Fan is still not enough to see the power of the aristocratic family.

This move is very good to the court and the people of the world, but it also has great disadvantages.

If the imperial examination books and other things are sold at half price, it will be a test for the imperial treasury, which is a considerable expense.

If the current taxes in the imperial court were used, it would not be able to support such huge consumption.

Although the tax has increased by more than half this year due to Junyangfang, there are many places that cannot stand the cost!

Although the policy is good, it is a pity that it is unrealistic. In order not to let His Majesty Li Er be in a state of war, Wei Zheng quickly stepped out of the list to oppose:

"Your Majesty, although this time we are seeking benefits for the students in the world, if the income from the treasury is used, it will not be enough to support such a large expenditure."

"From the current printing cost of the Tang Dynasty, if the imperial court sells it at half price of the market price, it may lose several cents of money."

"At present, there are at least hundreds of thousands of scholars in the Tang Dynasty. Because of the imperial examination reform, the people are very enthusiastic about studying. The printing of various books is enough to be at least millions of books. This requires tens of millions of dollars a year. Please think twice before doing it."

In fact, if we look at it based on Wei Zheng's analysis, there is nothing wrong.

Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that His Majesty Li Er had mastered the low-cost movable type printing, and it was just to cheat the aristocratic family, so it kept it confidential.

Today, I deliberately said that the funds were allocated from the treasury were to make the aristocratic families think that the printing cost of the imperial court was very high, so as to confuse the aristocratic families.

His Majesty Li Er could not explain this, so he could only look at Fang Xuanling as if he wanted help.

Because except for Yang Fan, only this Shangshu Zuo Pushe knew the best of all the plans.

Knowing that it was time for him to appear, Fang Xuanling stood up and said, "Wei Xiang's words are wrong. This strategy can further strengthen the fairness of the imperial examinations and at the same time give the people all over the world the opportunity to learn knowledge. This is a national strategy, and I think it is feasible."

"The old minister once heard from the Marquis of Zhongyi that a strong young man will make the country strong. Only by arming the people of the Tang Dynasty with knowledge can I always stand on the top of the world. I agree with this. No matter how poor the court is, we cannot be poor in education!"

As soon as Fang Xuanling finished speaking, as a die-hard fan of His Majesty Li Er, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Li Daliang, also said: "This strategy is a measure that benefits the present and benefits the future. Even if the court suffers a little, the ministers will tighten their belts and give full support."

The others were also very eye-catching and quickly spoke up.

It sounds like His Majesty Li Er wants to ask for their opinions, and anyone can see that His Majesty Li Er has made a decision.

Although they have their own considerations in their hearts, the old fox, as the officialdom, will not oppose it blatantly.

Especially Changsun Wuji, as for putting such an important department in the Ministry of Rites, of course he was unwilling to accept it.

After all, that boy Yang Fan is always incompatible with his family. The greater the power of the other party, the greater the threat to him.

So Changsun Wuji said: "Your Majesty, I believe that it is a good strategy for the country to publish the imperial examination books by the court, and this is a move that benefits the people. I agree."

"But it seems inappropriate to establish the News Department and make it responsible for all matters related to the imperial examination and belong to the Ministry of Rites."

"This will not only cause the Ministry of Rites to be bloated, but also produce a large number of unnecessary official positions and waste treasury expenditures."

"Your Majesty once said that the imperial examination candidates this year and even later have not been selected by the Ministry of Personnel, and some officials of the Ministry of Personnel are not sure how to resettle them."

"Therefore, Weichen believes that the Information Department should be managed by the Ministry of Personnel."

Although Changsun Wuji agreed, he really did not want the establishment of the News Department to belong to the Ministry of Rites.
To be continued...