Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Picking up the letter, I saw five characters written on the cover: "To the Righteous Men of the World."

To accommodate the reading habits of people at the time, these five characters were written in traditional Chinese characters.

A Gift to Righteous Men of the World

The letter was also written in traditional Chinese characters: "There are two kinds of people in this world."

"One type of person comes from a prominent family. When they go out, they are dressed in fine clothes and carried in luxurious carriages. When they return home, they are surrounded by servants. In addition, they possess tens of thousands of books and vast tracts of fertile land. The books are the classics of famous scholars. The fertile land is private land that is exempt from taxes. Their family has been protected for a thousand years, and their descendants are spread throughout the court and the country. Their power is overwhelming. Even the imperial family cannot arrange marriages with them. Only aristocratic families can grant them marriages. They manipulate things from all sides and are successful in all directions. Most of the knowledge and wealth in the world ends up in the hands of aristocratic families."

"The other type of person is you."

"You enjoy none of the benefits that aristocratic families enjoy. You have no way to access the teachings of the sages of the past; and you are not considered for the government's selection of officials. Among the high-ranking officials in Yanzhou, only a handful come from humble backgrounds."

"Now there is a hero named Huang Chao who understands the plight of scholars across the land. He has sent his elite troops across the border to seize more than ten volumes of books from the Cui families of Boling and Qinghe, all with annotations by famous scholars. In addition, there are several volumes of 'Examples of Jinshi' and a few words on 'The Accumulated Malpractices of Noble Families.' He has reprinted them into books and circulated them throughout the Central Plains. I urge you gentlemen to read them and find some relief from your pent-up feelings."

"The remaining books from the family's collection will continue to be pirated by Huang Chao's army printing plant. Please stay tuned."

"Furthermore, all the classic texts are written in new characters, which are a little difficult to read at first, but become much smoother and more convenient afterward."

"A copy of the old and new handwriting comparison and a copy of the punctuation marks are included. I hope you will learn them and spread them widely, which will benefit the country and the people."

Finally, I wish all of you righteous individuals success in your studies!

Fan Cang was completely stunned.

After regaining his senses, he quickly opened the package, which contained more than a dozen large books.

The Book of Documents, the Classic of Filial Piety, the Zhaoming Anthology, the Exam Precepts for the Imperial Examination... it has everything you could need for the imperial examinations, making it a veritable gift package for the imperial examinations.

Fan Cang couldn't wait and opened the "Examples of Jinshi Strategies" to read it. As a result, he recognized some characters and did not recognize others.

And... this book is actually laid out horizontally.

The words "Huang Chao" are faintly printed in the lower right corner of the book.

Fan Cang recalled the comparison of the old and new texts mentioned in the letter, so he searched through the book and found a booklet.

Open it up and you'll see the truth.

It turns out that the forms of those complicated and difficult-to-use characters were all simplified.

By comparing them in this way, Fan Cang understood.

It's actually true! It's "The Exemplary Strategies for the Imperial Examination" produced by the most prestigious family in the world!

The Zhaoming Anthology and the Classic of Filial Piety contain numerous annotations by renowned scholars throughout history, with very clear markings.

Combined with the tadpole-shaped characters used for punctuation, the reading speed is extremely fast.

The simplified form of the character "Huang Chao" also possesses a kind of simple beauty.

Fan Cang squatted in front of his house, looking at the pages one by one and reading each sentence carefully.

The fallacies and doubts that had troubled me for over a decade of my academic life were gradually resolved in one fell swoop.

Fan Cang only woke up when the sun was high in the sky and he was sweating profusely from the heat.

"A truly enlightening revelation!"

He reluctantly closed the book, went home, and instructed his wife, Liao, to boil water, wipe his body, calm himself down, tidy his clothes, and then return to his study to continue reading.

"My lord, aren't you going to eat?"

"You and the rest of you eat, I'm not hungry!"

I read from daytime until late at night.

Fan Cang suddenly felt his vision go black, and at the same time, a feeling of hunger in his stomach struck, almost causing him to faint.

He rubbed his temples, then took out a jar of sesame oil from the cabinet... it was empty.

It turned out that he had been studying so much, especially late into the night, that he had used up all the oil for the copper oil lamp.

Looking at the empty jar, Fan Cang couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.

This jar of sesame oil was something Fan Cang got from his friend Tian Cheng, and he'd been reluctant to use it.

However, today's harvest was great, and this bottle of oil was well spent, so it was worth it.

His wife and two daughters were already asleep. Fan Cang went out into the yard, took advantage of the darkness, rummaged through the kitchen for some leftovers, ate them, and then went into the study to rest.

At that time, throughout the entire Tang Dynasty, there were countless impoverished scholars like Fan Cang who devoted themselves to their studies day and night.

In Yangzhou Prefecture, there was a young scholar named Li Shan who went to visit his mentor Cao Xian, hoping to ask him for advice on a few academic issues.

Outside the bamboo hut where the teacher lived in seclusion in the mountains, Li Shan discovered a "gift package" and a letter tied to it.

He initially thought it was a gift from another hermit to his teacher, but the words on the letter caught Li Shan's attention.

"To be given to all righteous men under heaven?"

Li Shanxin thought to himself that he could be considered a "righteous man" at least, so he opened the letter and began to read it.

He was a quick-witted man who could read ten lines at a glance. After reading the letter, he was struck dumb.

Upon seeing the four characters "Zhaoming Wenxuan" on the title page of the book, I was even more overwhelmed.

Because what he studied under his teacher Cao Xian was precisely this "Zhaoming Anthology".

Cao Xian devoted his life to studying the "Zhaoming Anthology" and had many unique insights. He was very famous in the Yangzhou area, and many students came to him to become his disciples.

Li Shan was one of them, and one of the best among Teacher Cao's students.

Just like Fan Cang, who was two thousand miles away, Li Shan immediately took out the "Zhaoming Anthology" from his package after reading the letter, squatted outside the bamboo hut, and began to read it until the sun was high in the sky.

Teacher Cao waited and waited inside the bamboo hut, but Li Shan never showed up, which puzzled him.

"Strange, this child is always punctual, why is he nowhere to be seen today? Could he have encountered bandits?"

Upon thinking of this, Cao Xian immediately got up and prepared to go out to find his beloved disciple.

When they opened the door, they saw Li Shan squatting on the ground, engrossed in reading.

When his master came out, Li Shan was startled and quickly got up: "Disciple greets Master."

"Yuanji, if you want to study, go inside and study. What are you doing squatting here?"

"Teacher, someone delivered a package to you containing many rare and extraordinary books. Out of curiosity, I took a look, but I was so engrossed in them that I couldn't tear myself away."

Yuanji is Li Shan's courtesy name, so some people call Li Shan "Li Yuanji," which is a coincidence.

"A peerless masterpiece?"

"This is it."

Li Shan handed over the "Zhaoming Anthology".

Cao Xian picked up the book and looked at it, and thought, "This... how come I can't understand this?"

"Master, you need to take this list of characters and refer to it."

"Character list...wow...amazing, someone actually simplified ancient characters, and the new font looks pretty good too..."

With the help of the word list, Cao Xian read a few pages, and his heart began to beat faster, thumping loudly.

"Yuanji, let's go inside and talk!"

"Yes."

In Cao Xian's study, Li Shan knelt respectfully, listening to his teacher's teachings.

"This copy of the Zhaoming Anthology is exceptionally well-annotated and features numerous works by renowned scholars. It is undoubtedly a copy from a prominent family."

"Are you saying that what's said in the letter is true?"

Cao Xian also looked through the other books, and then said, "Aside from the explanation in the letter, I really can't think of any other possibility. This man called Huang Chao is truly... incredibly audacious and unbelievable!"