The Lone Star of the Tang Dynasty

He had just issued an edict to reform the atmosphere, announcing that women would be allowed to participate in the imperial examinations and become officials, which was not only related to a major change in the imperial court system, but also had a profound impact on the change of social atmosphere.

Soon after the edict was issued, the queen devoted herself to the marriage of her son Li Changge.

This made Li Er quite stunned, worried that this move would attract criticism from scholars and people with intentions all over the world, thinking that the words and deeds of the imperial court were inconsistent.

At present, the situation in Chang'an City is delicate, and the undercurrents of various forces are surging, Li Er thought to himself that maybe everyone would not have time to take care of these trivial gossip, and he really didn't have the extra energy to think about this issue.

At the same time, the charcoal affair made him happy and worried.

originally thought that the charcoal launched by Yun Shangyou could become a small source of revenue for the national treasury, and at the same time support poor students, but the reality surprised him.

It turned out that the craftsmen of Chang'an City have joined the ranks of charcoal making, so that the cost of charcoal pencils, which can be used for half a month, has plummeted to only one penny for every five! This huge profit margin has triggered fierce competition in the market, so that the city is full of pen-making people, and even many ordinary people have started a side business to produce charcoal. Today, the price of charcoal has fallen to a penny each, and the booming business has returned to normal. As for the other merchants engaged in the pen and ink business, Li Er didn't even dare to imagine how bleak their situation was.

However, in this series of changes, Li Er also found some positive phenomena.

First of all, the cheap charcoal greatly reduced the cost of cultural popularization, and the literary style in Chang'an City became unprecedentedly prosperous. Poetry clubs, piano clubs and other talent competitions are frequent, and the scholars have more opportunities to show their talents.

Secondly, in the past, when many poor scholars went to Beijing to take the exam, they were often underwhelmed and in a difficult situation. Now, due to the low price of paper and pencils, many slightly wealthier people in Chang'an have begun to hire scholars who have failed to enter the list or have not yet entered high school to teach their children literacy and reading at home. Although the number of students admitted to the imperial examination was limited, many of the scholars who were not selected did not become passive and decadent because of this, but found a way out and solved the livelihood problem by teaching and educating people.

It didn't take long for Li Er to be pleasantly surprised to find that almost everyone in Chang'an City began to read and write, from children to adult craftsmen and farmers, all of whom were affected by this trend. The cultural quality of the entire Chang'an City has been significantly improved, which can be regarded as an unexpected and huge achievement that he inadvertently gained in the process of implementing the new policy.

Although the children of the poor family came from humble backgrounds, their families still have traces of being officials and continuing the tradition of reading. Since the Wenjing period of the Western Han Dynasty, the literacy rate in the land of China has shown a downward trend, and in the Western Jin Dynasty, although the poetry culture flourished for a while, the literacy rate fell to a new low in the era when the family gate lord controlled the dynasty. In the troubled times of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the literacy situation deteriorated even more, which is worrying.

At the height of the Sui Dynasty, with population growth and improved economic conditions, the literacy rate of the common people rebounded slightly, but it still could not reach the heights of the Han Dynasty.

And now, in Chang'an City under Li Er's rule, there has been an unprecedented miracle - almost everyone in Chang'an is literate. If this phenomenon can be spread throughout the country, it will mean that all the people in the world will have the ability to read and write, which is undoubtedly a very high praise for the emperor's level of cultural governance.

From ancient times to the present, the criteria for evaluating the achievements of emperors are nothing more than people's livelihood, civil governance and martial arts. Nowadays, the wealth of people's livelihood can be called against the sky, and in terms of cultural governance, the feat of national literacy has surpassed the prosperity of Yao Shun, which makes Li Er excited, as if the reputation of "the first emperor of the ages" is within reach.

The source of all these changes comes from the significant reduction in the cost of paper and pencil and the restart of the imperial examination system, and behind this, it is inseparable from the promotion of his son Li Changge.

Thinking of this, Li Er couldn't help but be shocked: if Li Changge failed to inherit the throne, he was afraid that he would be scolded by future generations. Now the question is no longer to consider whether to change the crown prince to let Li Changge succeed him, but the situation dictates that he has to make this decision.

Fortunately, Li Changge has an easy-going temperament, not like the princes and princes in history who deliberately cultivated party henchmen and accumulated popularity. He inadvertently showed the demeanor of an emperor. This made Li Er feel very lucky, fortunately it was his son, although the matter of changing the prince was important, it was not impossible to operate. If you were someone else, the problem might have become much more tricky, and you might even need a meditation position to avoid turmoil.

In the face of such a situation, Li Er understood that no matter what, it was necessary to ensure that Li Changge could succeed to the throne smoothly in order to continue to push forward this series of reform measures and achieve long-term peace and stability in the country.

After solving the problem of Wenji......

The improvement of martial arts is equally important, but as Li Er, who has personally led soldiers and horses for many years, he knows that the cultivation and accumulation of martial arts is not an overnight thing.

Therefore, in the face of the high morale of the current scholars and the positive trend of literacy among the people in Chang'an, Li Er decided to seize the opportunity to take further action while the iron was hot.

So, he summoned several confidants and ministers for a secret discussion.

Fang Xuanling saw the wit and put forward a creative suggestion.

In view of the fact that during the previous imperial examination, many scholars from far away could not arrive in time to take the examination in time due to the long distance, Li Er might as well use this as an excuse to hold a special supplementary imperial examination.

The purpose of this temporary imperial examination is to provide a fair opportunity for those who missed the first exam, and it also reflects the state of the scholars during this period. One of the subjects that was screened and eliminated most fiercely in the last imperial examination can be used as the key assessment content of this imperial examination. In this way, it will be clear which scholars have worked the hardest and made the fastest progress during this time, and the imperial court will be able to select more diligent and potential talents.

In addition, this move can further win the hearts of scholars, stimulate their enthusiasm for studying more diligently, and play a positive role in promoting the cultural and educational atmosphere of the whole territory of Datang, so that more people can realize the value of reading and literacy, and make efforts for it.

Listening to Fang Xuanling's strategy, Li Er was deeply satisfied, and decisively made a final decision: "This plan is feasible!

A new imperial examination feast is about to kick off in Datang......

"What?!Your Majesty is going to hold the imperial examination again?!" Xie Zhongyuan heard the news, as if he had been struck by lightning, and his whole body was shocked.

He and his friend Gao Ziyang have not had an easy time recently, due to the soaring prices of pen, ink and paper, the two missed the opportunity of the last imperial examination, and there is not much left to entangle, so they can only be frugal and struggling in Chang'an Province.

They regretted missing the time, but later they fell into the dilemma of not being able to buy new books and even the pen and ink needed to copy old books, and seeing that the dream of the imperial examination became unattainable, they either sat back and waited for a year to repeat the study, or gave up the road to the imperial examination. However, fate suddenly took a turn for the better, and a novel stationery called "charcoal" appeared on the market in Chang'an, each selling for only two yuan, even if it was fried to seven or eight or even ten yuan in the second-hand market, it was far cheaper than the traditional pen and ink on the market at a sky-high price. This gave them hope again, so the two studied harder, looking forward to the opportunity to turn around in the imperial examination next year.

Unexpectedly, during this period of time, a shocking news spread throughout the ...... of Chang'an City