So she had no choice but to bring out her secret weapon—the double-tipped sketching pen. It wouldn't be as fine as a gel pen, and in this era, it was special but not excessively so, so they should be able to accept it, right?
[Host, the little ones are all looking at your pen. Is it too advanced?]
"Advanced or not, am I supposed to not use a good thing just to cater to their sensibilities? Do I look like someone who would inconvenience myself?"
The system originally intended to tease her, but its data suddenly flickered, and it immediately changed its tone. [Master, your notes are all written in simplified characters. If someone sees them, they'll think you've written them incorrectly, missing strokes and parts.]
Yue Fuguang's eyes shifted, instantly understanding!
She replied lazily, "Little Pearl, as you said, they are my notes. They're not for others to see. Who would know I'm using simplified characters?"
[Master, if Dayan were to promote simplified characters, even just among the common people, wouldn't literacy rates likely increase because they're simpler to learn?
Could this potentially break the aristocratic families' monopoly on knowledge?]
"With simplified characters alone, it would definitely be very difficult. But if combined with printing techniques and papermaking, driving down the cost of education, there might be a slim possibility.
Whether it can break the monopoly is uncertain, but it's certain that the number of educated people would increase, and the illiteracy rate among ordinary commoners would decrease."
[It's a pity the rulers of these dynasties all prefer to govern the country and its people with policies of keeping them ignorant. They've never considered why social development is slow, remaining unchanged for decades.
The level of education among a nation's ordinary populace directly impacts economic growth, social progress, and political civilization.
It seems only that great figure from the planet Aqua Blue recognized this point.]
"That's true. Look at them—to ensure all common people could become literate, they simplified the complex, vigorously promoted simplified characters, and achieved remarkable results within a few years.
Decades later, out of over a billion people, only a tiny fraction, due to age, remained illiterate. It's not without reason that they grew from poverty and weakness into the dominant power on Aqua Blue."
After the morning court session, Emperor Mingxi suddenly wanted to see how those two ancestors were getting on with their studies. So, he brought along a group of officials, all of whom would eventually be teaching Yue Fuguang, to the Hongwen Hall.
From a distance, they could hear the Divine Artifact's voice. Simplified characters? They exchanged glances. Could they be a simplified form of writing?
Then, hearing about the function of simplified characters and what the little immortal lord mentioned—papermaking and printing techniques—that could break the aristocratic families' knowledge monopoly!
Emperor Mingxi didn't care what others were thinking; he himself was utterly captivated.
Especially upon hearing the Divine Artifact later discuss the benefits of commoner literacy for dynastic development, he couldn't help but ponder: had their long-standing policy of keeping the people ignorant been wrong?
Thinking carefully, previous dynasties had also ruled this way, and it seemed none had truly endured for a very long time.
Many of the tools they used now existed even in previous dynasties or the ones before those.
Take weapons, for example. If not for the iron smelting technology provided by the little immortal lord, their steel output, aside from civilian use, wouldn't be enough to supply an army of tens of thousands for a year.
As for quality, the old armor and blades, when faced with those made using the new technology, were as fragile as a crisp.
Emperor Mingxi, Huo Ying, Wei Shouyi, and other military officers remembered seeing them and imagining if any of the other five kingdoms were to wield such weapons against the Dayan army...
They were instantly terrified into a cold sweat, thoroughly drenching their inner garments.
At that time, Wei Shouyi even bowed solemnly in the direction of the Yu residence!
Thinking of this, Emperor Mingxi turned and looked at Yu Chongshan, who had come to see his granddaughter, with fervent eyes. The iron smelting technology came from Yue Fuguang's hint to Minister Yu. What about the printing techniques, papermaking, and those simplified characters...
Yu Chongshan, under the fervent gazes of Emperor Mingxi and his colleagues, couldn't help but take half a step back. He glanced towards the Hongwen Hall. The distance was still far, but who knew if the Divine Artifact could detect them?
So he whispered subtly, "Your Majesty, esteemed ministers, let's not even discuss whether we can obtain these things. Even if we could...
We would be digging up their very roots. Wouldn't they retaliate?
My child just survived an assassination attempt for helping the court. Those people surely nurture even more. Can the child still live in peace?
Wouldn't Your Majesty fear driving them away in anger?" Yu Chongshan didn't care about the rest; he seized the opportunity to cast aspersions on those who ordered the hit.
Everyone knew that with the Divine Artifact present, the little immortal lord's safety wasn't an issue. But immortals have tempers, and these two ancestors, in particular, were unpredictable and hard to read.
What if such incidents happened too often? They might not be able to harm her, but they could disgust her!
If the two ancestors were truly angered into leaving, they'd be crying too late!
Yu Chongshan had more unspoken thoughts. The court was full of scions from aristocratic families, many from branch lines, but they still had inextricable ties to their main houses.
His granddaughter was living well now. There was no need to plunge herself into danger for the imperial family.
Emperor Mingxi led the group further inside. He felt Yu Chongshan made sense, yet he couldn't bear to give up these valuable things.
So, since these things couldn't be attributed to Yue Fuguang, they needed to find someone with sufficiently high status to take the heat for her.
But as for the candidate... He quickly ran through his own children in his mind...
[Master, the Emperor is coming. Quickly hide your notes.]
Before Emperor Mingxi's group even reached the door, they heard the Divine Artifact's warning voice.
Emperor Mingxi: This informant! It doesn't give him any chance to steer the conversation at all!
Emperor Mingxi strode calmly into the classroom. The day's instructor, Junior Supervisor Lin Congxue, led all the students in paying respects to the Emperor.
Fortunately, Dayan's current etiquette wasn't like that of the Queue Dynasty, where one had to kneel upon seeing the emperor. Here, kneeling was only required on important occasions.
Otherwise, Yue Fuguang would stand out like a crane among chickens again, becoming the brightest presence in the room.
System: With that big loudspeaker of your internal monologue being broadcast, you'll be the most dazzling presence wherever you go.
"All rise, please."
Emperor Mingxi took the main seat. Ignoring his sons for now, he first looked at the princesses. Seeing his daughters were all well, he then turned his gaze to Yue Fuguang.
He asked with a gentle expression, "Yue Fuguang, have you gotten used to the classes these past days?"
Yue Fuguang wore a troubled expression and answered truthfully, "Your Majesty, studying is quite boring."
Her words quickly won the silent agreement of several young princes, princesses, and the young county lord. Instantly, their eyes shone brightly as they looked at her.
The Junior Mentor truly understood them! She voiced the thoughts they dared not speak in front of their Imperial Father. How brave!
If they had known the Junior Mentor was like this, they should have befriended her earlier!
The Seventh Prince glanced at his younger siblings and raised an eyebrow smugly. The Junior Mentor was now friends with him and the Eighth Sister!
Emperor Mingxi took in the reactions of all the little ones. He was quite worried that one day the Junior Mentor might lead this bunch of youngsters in playing truant.
