The Tang Dynasty: Wu Zetian made me her imperial tutor

what--

The exclamation from Xianju Palace was quite loud.

Needless to say, Wu Zetian and Li Lingyue shared the same attitude towards powerful clans: they must be suppressed.

Upon hearing that there was a way to reduce the power of the powerful clans and render them powerless to resist the imperial court, the two were both surprised and delighted.

When Wan'er and the maids heard those words, they couldn't help but gasp in surprise and quickly shut their mouths to avoid being scolded by the Empress Dowager.

Wu Zetian was a strict person, but at this moment she was eager to hear the plan, so she did not immediately reprimand Lu Jun, but pressed her for a solution: "What's the plan?"

Lu Jun noticed Wan'er's nervousness and her eyes darted around.

He asked the Empress Dowager, "My method is somewhat difficult to understand. Could you give me an analogy, like asking a question to a court attendant?"

Wu Zetian was taken aback at first, then nodded: "Okay."

She trusted Lu Jun completely. Although she didn't understand why, she thought of how he often answered questions in a simple and persuasive way. She had asked him the same question before, which she found very interesting. Therefore, she didn't mind at all and readily agreed.

Lu Jun smiled and said to Wan'er, "Your Excellency is wise; I would like to ask you first..."

"If you were given a liter of salt, which you could mix however you like, how could you taste it and not find it salty?"

Wan'er was worried about being punished when she was suddenly called on to ask a question, which surprised and made her nervous.

He immediately realized that Lu Jun was trying to help him out of a difficult situation.

The Empress Dowager personally promised the eunuchs to participate in the discussion, and the matter from earlier would not be pursued.

She felt a sweet warmth in her heart, but her face remained calm: "If you mix it with sugar, you won't find it salty, right?"

While answering, I also expressed my feelings.

"Good idea!" Lu Jun smiled slightly.

Then he asked the maids, "Excuse me, ladies, do you have any other methods?"

The maids, realizing their mistake, were both grateful to Lu Jun and intrigued by the question. Eager to answer, they rushed to provide their responses.

"You can also use vinegar!"

"Tasting the bitter brine first can also mask the other flavors."

"I have a solution: bite into a handful of Sichuan peppercorns, and your mouth will go numb so you can't taste anything."

"I have a solution too. Put an ice cube in your mouth first, wait until your tongue goes numb, then taste it and it won't taste salty."

"You can also chew on ginger, pepper, dogwood, or mustard, all of which will make your tongue spicy without you tasting the saltiness..."

There were many opportunities in the palace, and the maids had all secretly tasted the imperial dishes and snacks, each with their own little tricks for survival.

With Wan'er included, I've thought of everything from sweet and sour to bitter and spicy.

Li Lingyue listened with great interest and said to Lu Jun, "Chu Yu, why didn't you ask me?"

"Tsk!" Wu Zetian turned around and glared at her. "Still joining in the fun! Even if I asked you, what good ideas do you have?"

Despite her words, she actually liked her daughter to stay because Li Lingyue was lively and could act as her mouth double.

At this moment, she also realized that Lu Jun was making excuses for the maids, but she didn't seem to mind at all, thinking to herself:

"Chu Yu is a charming young man. If he can offer me a brilliant plan, I will not hesitate to give the maid to him, let alone spare her."

Li Lingyue pouted: "Is it that difficult?"

Chao Lujun said, "Chu Yu asked, 'How can you taste it and not find it salty?' She didn't say I had to taste it myself. Can't I just have someone else taste it?"

"Better to sacrifice a fellow Daoist than myself," she's a princess after all, with a unique and cunning way of thinking...

Wan'er snorted inwardly, "She's deliberately showing off her cleverness to Chu Yu, without even asking you!"

Lu Jun bowed once in a circle and smiled:

"What my sisters said is all very good, but the princess's method is even more ingenious. Although I was the one who set the question, I didn't expect it either."

"Besides your methods, I have another plan: simply pour salt into the Luo River."

"A liter of salt may seem like a lot, but when mixed into the surging Luo River, it becomes negligible."

"Moreover, the Luo River is flowing, so no matter where you scoop a mouthful to taste, it won't taste salty."

"Oh!" came a sudden realization.

Wu Zetian, Li Lingyue, and Wan'er all heard it at the same time—

Lu Jun likened powerful clans to salt and the Luo River to bustling people, thus minimizing the influence of powerful clans by mixing them in.

"My third method, as I mentioned before, is technology."

"Powerful clans have many advantages. First, they can recruit retainers and control private armies in fortified villages, thus becoming a force to be reckoned with in times of chaos."

"After the unification of the Central Plains, the private armies of the fortified villages were abolished, and the retainers mostly existed as tenant farmers, with their advantage shifting to land ownership."

"Implementing tax reforms at the right time can weaken their advantages in land ownership and population, but it cannot eradicate those advantages."

"Their descendants always produce outstanding individuals who occupy important positions in the court and maintain the family's interests."

"No matter how many people are admitted through the imperial examinations or how many more official positions are created, the number is ultimately limited, and those who rise to power are mostly from powerful families."

"Because the cost of studying is too high!"

Powerful clans do not perish easily. The Sui dynasty's conquest of the Jiangnan gentry and Huang Chao's massacre of officials and nobles did indeed cause them heavy losses.

But the roots of the powerful clans remain, and their branches have long since spread throughout the world. Kill one branch, and another will rise up. After a few generations, they will rise again.

Although the family register was a treasured possession of the aristocratic families, the cost of reading books was the real barrier to entry for them.

Lu Jun asked Li Lingyue, "Does the princess know how much a single volume of Confucian classics costs?"

Li Lingyue naturally didn't care about such trivial matters and shook her head.

Lu Jun said:

"The price of a book depends on two factors: the cost of paper and the cost of copying it."

"People usually use ordinary white hemp paper to copy books. In the capital, it usually costs sixty coins per sheet, and each sheet contains fifty sheets."

"A scroll of a book usually has about twenty sheets of paper, so the cost of the paper is about twenty coins."

"The cost of copying books is the main expense. If the bookstore hires someone with good calligraphy, each scroll can fetch several hundred, or even a thousand coins!"

"Confucian scholars should read the Lesser Classics, the Middle Classics, and the Greater Classics. Although they do not need to master them all, they should buy them and study them at home."

"If we count the minor classics, there are 14 volumes of the Book of Changes, 20 volumes of the Book of Documents, 14 volumes of the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, and 15 volumes of the Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, totaling 63 volumes."

"The Zhongjing contains the Mao Shi in forty volumes, the Zhou Li in thirteen volumes, and the Yi Li in seventeen volumes, totaling seventy volumes."

"The Great Classic of Rites consists of seventy volumes, and the Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Annals consists of thirty-seven volumes, totaling one hundred and seven volumes."

"In total, two hundred and forty volumes!"

"This is just the Confucian classics. To learn literature, you also need to buy the sixty volumes of the Wenxuan and countless works by famous poets and writers throughout history."

"If one wants to study politics, one needs to be well-versed in ancient and classical texts, and one must buy history books to read, which are vast and numerous."

"For example, the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) has 130 volumes, the Book of Han (Hanshu) has 115 volumes, and the Book of the Later Han (Hou Hanshu) has 92 volumes..."

"I will not list them one by one."

The cost of paper depends on the material.

Lu Jun calculated the price based on ordinary white hemp paper, but in reality, the scholars preferred to use Shanxi rattan paper, which was much more expensive.

When Wu Chengsi was copying the poem about peonies, he spent 10,000 coins just because he bought rattan paper from Shanxi.

Lu Jun only listed the volumes of the basic Confucian classics, the Wenxuan, and the three ancient histories. Although he did not continue listing the rest, everyone already had a general idea.

To raise a Confucian scholar, not to mention that he had to be freed from farm work from a young age and supported for free, the cost of his education alone would be several hundred strings of cash.

Even if you buy paper to copy books, you still need to practice writing for a long time before you can do it, and you still need to buy books first.

Even if a branch of a prominent family declines, at least they still have a collection of books to read, so they don't have to buy or copy them again.

Ordinary people...

Li Lingyue grew up in luxury, and Wan'er, though raised in the inner palace, still had her family's collection of books; neither could truly understand the hardships they faced.

After listening to Lu Jun's explanation, the two remained silent, thinking to themselves, "It's really not easy for ordinary people to get an education."

Wu Zetian's father was a timber merchant, and her family was never short of money when she was young, so she didn't have any direct experience of it.

Only then did he sigh, "Books have always been expensive, it's just the way things are. Ordinary people can barely save a few bushels of grain each year, how can they afford to send their children to school..."

The question was asked to Lu Jun: "What technology can change this?"