Tiger Owl

Chapter 331: Revealing the Secret
The southwest of Chaisang City was a hub for handicrafts, with tens of thousands of artisans scattered throughout various workshops. This area was also known as the Hundred Crafts Workshops.

Although it's called the Hundred Crafts Workshop, it's actually the quietest place in the whole city. There are no shouts, no roars, and not even loud knocking sounds. Industries that require a lot of noise, such as smelting, blacksmithing, and shipbuilding, are all outside the city.

The workshop was very quiet, with each craftsman working silently on their own tasks.

Mao Jie, the liaison officer of the Prime Minister's Office stationed in Western Chu, entered a huge house accompanied by Jiang Wan and Ma Liang. Inside the house were hundreds of carvers, all of them focused on carving words on wooden boards, with more than a dozen boards next to each of them.

Mao Jie observed very carefully. He was ordered by Cao Cao to learn about the process of woodblock printing. Mao Jie was also a scholar, and he was equally shocked. Of course, he knew what woodblock printing meant: it meant that the dissemination of culture was no longer monopolized by the aristocracy, and it meant that Western Chu would soon produce a great number of talented people.

Mao Jie walked to a pile of discarded woodblocks, picked up one, and discovered that it was carved from the Book of Songs, but many of the characters were carved incorrectly.

"So it's abandoned now?" Mao Jie asked.

Ma Liang nodded. "Our rule is that if three characters are engraved incorrectly, it must be reviewed, and if it fails the review, it must be discarded."

"Can a mistake be corrected?" Mao Jie pressed.

Ma Liang didn't answer him directly. Instead, he pulled out a carving block from the table of a craftsman dressed in green, asked the craftsman for a moment, and then handed the block to Mao Jie. "There's a mistake in the carving on this block, Mr. Mao. Can you tell?"

Mao Jie took the engraving and searched carefully, but after searching for a long time, he still couldn't find the error. Ma Liang pointed to the character "之" on the far right. Mao Jie looked closely and then discovered that there were tiny gaps around it, as fine as silk threads, which were not noticeable unless you looked very carefully.

"How...how did they do that?"

Ma Liang smiled and pointed to the craftsmen in the room. "The craftsmen all wear white clothes. They are all sculptors. But there are three craftsmen wearing green clothes. They are repairmen and also examiners. They will use a knife to cut out the wrong characters and then make a mold that is exactly the same as the wrong characters. They will then use fish glue to stick it on. Their craftsmanship is so good that it looks like a perfect fit. You can't tell at all that it was added later."

Mao Jie nodded. "I understand. Let's go take a look at the printing and binding!"

Jiang Wan did not refuse. Duke Chu had instructed him that if woodblock printing was to be fully promoted and accepted by the whole world, Cao Cao had to be involved as well. After all, copying books had always existed, and woodblock printing could never replace it. The beauty of calligraphy was warmer and more aesthetically pleasing than printed text. Printing and copying books would always coexist; it was just a matter of which would become the mainstream. Only by getting Cao Cao involved would printing become the mainstream.

"Mr. Mao, this way please, let's go check on the printing and binding!"

Jiang Wan and Ma Liang led Mao Jie toward the printing workshop.
But what truly shocked Mao Jie was his final visit to the Yuzhang County Official School, where thousands of teenagers sat in the main hall, each with a thick set of textbooks behind them, containing all kinds of classic texts.

In the past, copying books was extremely expensive. A single copy of the Analects cost more than ten strings of cash, not to mention the various books from the Hundred Schools of Thought. Only the sons of the powerful and wealthy could afford them. A school had at most a dozen or twenty students. How could it be like this, with thousands of teenagers studying together, the vast majority of whom were from poor families, and each of them had a complete set of books?

Mao Jie turned pale. Only then did he realize that the true power of woodblock printing lay in education and talent cultivation.

"These children."

Mao Jie asked in a trembling voice, "Are they all really from poor families?"

Jiang Wan nodded. “That’s right. Official schools are public schools. We have established more than forty official schools. Every county has a primary school, every prefecture has a secondary school, and Chaisang and Nanchang counties also have higher official schools. Currently, there are more than 30,000 students enrolled, mostly from poor families. Children from wealthy families usually attend private schools.”

"How much will this cost? How can they afford it?"

“They don’t need to bear the cost. The government covers all food, lodging, and other expenses. Our biggest worry used to be books, but now we don’t. Woodblock printing ensures that every student has enough books.” Mao Jie was puzzled. “Why is Chief Secretary Jiang telling me this? Aren’t you afraid of leaking secrets?”

Jiang Wan smiled and said, "This has never been a secret; it has always been public knowledge. Any student would know if you asked. It's just that you haven't paid attention to this before."

"I see!" Mao Jie looked somewhat embarrassed. He was Cao Cao's special envoy stationed in Western Chu, and it should have been his duty to know these things, yet he knew nothing about them.

Fortunately, he had just taken office, so he still had a reason to explain, and even today's visit could be attributed to his efforts.

After the tour, Mao Jie hesitated for a moment, then said to Jiang Wan, "There is one more thing I would like to trouble Chief Secretary Jiang with."

"Mr. Mao, please feel free to ask if there is anything you need me to do."

"I would like to meet our fourth young lady. The Prime Minister has entrusted me with some matters, and I would like to discuss them with her in person."

Mao Jie was Cao Cao's official envoy, while Cao Jie was his political marriage partner, both representing Cao Cao's interests. It was normal for them to need to establish an official communication channel. Political marriages are not normal marriages; they require frequent communication with the bride's family. Mao Jie served as that bridge, helping Cao Jie establish contact with her father.

Jiang Wan looked troubled, and after a long while smiled and said, "I can't make the decision on this matter, but I can convey Mr. Mao's request to Lord Chu."

"Thank you very much!"

After bidding farewell to Mao Jie, Jiang Wan hurriedly went to see Gan Ning and reported to him that Mao Jie had visited the woodblock printing and official schools, and also mentioned that Mao Jie wanted to see Cao Jie.

Gan Ning sneered and said, "It seems that Chen Qun did not tell Mao Jie that Cao Jie has already made it clear to Chen Qun that she will no longer have any contact with the Cao family. Just tell Mao Jie that Miss Cao is preparing to get married and does not have time to see him. We will talk about it later."

"Understood, sir. I will pass on the message as soon as possible. In addition, all 1,800 woodcarving craftsmen we recruited have arrived. Should they be trained in Chaisang first, or go directly to Nanchang County?"

Gan Ning thought for a moment and asked, "Are the resettlement arrangements in Nanchang County ready?"

"Everything is ready."

"Then let's send them directly to Nanchang County for training."

Even the most skilled woodcarvers have never carved words before; they need training, and it takes about a month before they can start carving words.

The Western Chu government divided woodcarvers into three classes of craftsmen. The first-class craftsmen were the most valuable, not only because of their superb skills, but also because they could teach students. Woodcarving repairers were also first-class craftsmen. There were only about twenty first-class craftsmen, and most of them were second-class craftsmen. After all, they were selected from the best of the best from all over the north and Jiangdong.

Gan Ning walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "We should try our best to establish a woodblock printing school. We should not only recruit craftsmen from outside, but also continuously cultivate our own woodblock printing talents."

"Your subordinate understands, and will do everything in our power to advance matters concerning the school!"

(End of this chapter)