dognovel Chapter 133 Old Zhu, this product manager, is really ruthless!
Chapter 133 Old Zhu, this product manager, is really ruthless!
Looking at Wang Qiong, who had come to Ningyang County again, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but laugh and said, "We'll have to think of a way to achieve long-distance communication another day. Otherwise, it's quite tiring for Brother Wang to come to Ningyang today and then to Yingtian tomorrow."
Wang Qiong sighed and said, "Brother Yang wants to compile books such as the Hongwu Zhengyun, but he doesn't say how to compile them faster. Nowadays, all the civil and military officials in the court are burning the midnight oil to compile these books. My job in Ningyang County is actually quite easy."
Upon hearing Wang Qiong's words, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but feel secretly pleased.
Serves you right! You let those gentry and scholars in Jiangnan smear me, so I'll make you work overtime like oxen every day!
After silently complaining to himself for a while, Magistrate Yang had some doubts.
No, were all the officials in the Ming Dynasty this incompetent?
What's so difficult about the "Hongwu Zhengyun"? It's just about determining the initials and finals. It's something that existed before the Ming Dynasty, so why not just use it?
Once the initials and finals are determined, wouldn't the problem of compiling the Hongwu Dictionary be solved as well? At most, there might be some trouble with the phonetic transcription, definitions, and example sentences, but no matter how troublesome it is, it's just a matter of collecting data. Couldn't a few literate people handle it?
There's also "Illustrated Character Explanation," which is indeed a bit more troublesome, but the biggest difficulty in this thing lies in the drawing. In such a large capital city, surely there are a few painters to be found?
Other works like the "Hongwu Calculation Symbols" and "Hongwu Calculation Classic" are basically based on the same principle. They include symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as numerical versions of 1, 2, and 3, plus the capital letters 壹, 贰, and 叁. With the "Hongwu Calculation Symbols," wouldn't the "Hongwu Calculation Classic" be a natural progression?
Seeing Magistrate Yang's bewildered expression, yet his gaze filled with the pitying look of someone with intellectual disabilities, Wang Qiong completely broke down: "Brother Yang, why are you looking at me like that? Am I too stupid?"
Yang Shaofeng quickly changed his expression and shook his head, saying, "How could that be? I'm just curious. How could a few books possibly have all the officials burning the midnight oil to write them?"
Wang Qiong couldn't help but break down again: "Brother Yang, you make it sound so easy! There are more than 30,000 characters, many of which have different pronunciations and meanings. How can we possibly compile a dictionary of all these characters according to their phonetics and rhymes, and then compile it into a dictionary based on their phonetics and radicals? His Majesty is pressing us too hard, wanting it to be completely compiled within a month. How can we possibly manage without all the civil and military officials burning the midnight oil?"
At this point, Wang Qiong couldn't help but sigh again, saying dejectedly, "Of course, even if all the officials in the court worked tirelessly, it would be of no use. More than 30,000 characters is far too many. It would be impossible to finish compiling them in less than two or three years. Otherwise, His Highness the Crown Prince would not have sent me to Ningyang County again."
After listening to Wang Qiong's explanation, Yang Shaofeng finally understood what was going on.
You got it wrong.
What do I ask for?
It is a simple dictionary that allows users to search for 3,000 commonly used characters using initials, finals, and radicals. The remaining books are basically derived from this requirement.
However, after Emperor Zhu Chongba passed it through his hands, the number of characters increased from three thousand to more than thirty thousand, and the demand suddenly increased tenfold.
Tsk tsk, Old Zhu shouldn't be a product manager, otherwise all his employees would be ruined by him.
But this guy is really ruthless; he's treating the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty like cattle and horses!
But at this point, could Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, directly say that Zhu Yuanzhang had misunderstood, which is why he made all the officials work overtime every day?
Obviously not.
Because once this was said, the officials in the court would certainly hate Zhu Chongba and the Emperor for misunderstanding, but no matter how much they hated him, they couldn't do anything to Zhu Chongba and the Emperor. So they could only blame Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, for not making the demands clear in the first place.
It's like when the boss also acts as the product manager and misunderstands the client's needs. The employees will not only curse the boss in their hearts, but also the client for making unreasonable demands.
It's all the same.
However, while employees can resign if they are unhappy, the only way for Zhu Chongba, the emperor's servants, to quit is to move into the eternal home.
After feeling sorry for the officials of the Ming Dynasty for a second, Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, couldn't help but laugh and say, "Brother Wang, it's not actually that difficult to repair it faster."
Wang Qiong's eyes lit up, and he cupped his hands to Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, saying, "Please enlighten me, Brother Yang."
Yang Shaofeng said with a smile: "The most urgent task for the officials at court right now is not to directly compile the Hongwu Zhengyun, but to first search out commonly used characters such as zhi hu zhe ye, ni wo ta, shang xia zuo you zuo, zuo you zuo, zhi hu zhe ...
"After the most common and frequently used characters are retrieved, they will be compiled into the Hongwu Zhengyun, the Illustrated Character Dictionary, and the Hongwu Dictionary. As for the remaining less commonly used characters, we can compile another Hongwu Dictionary. However, there is no rush to compile the Hongwu Dictionary. It can be completed in three to five years, or even ten to eight years. After all, many characters are not used in daily life, and the people do not have a need to learn these characters."
"The same goes for the Hongwu Mathematical Classic. As long as the arithmetic symbols are determined, and the rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are determined, some common examples can be compiled. After all, these books are used for enlightenment or for county schools. It is not required that after learning the Hongwu Mathematical Classic, one can solve arithmetic problems such as finding a rope in a well or the chicken and rabbit problem."
"In this way, the speed of compiling these books can be greatly accelerated, which can be considered as meeting His Majesty's requirements."
Wang Qiong stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng for a moment, then asked, "Is it really that simple?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and replied, "It's that simple. After all, His Majesty only wanted to make it easier for the people to read and write, and he didn't expect all the people of our Great Ming to become great scholars, did he?"
Wang Qiong was overjoyed and bowed to Yang Shaofeng, saying, "In that case, I feel much more confident."
After a slight hesitation, Wang Qiong continued, "If we absolutely must complete the 30,000-character dictionary, does Brother Yang have any way to speed things up?"
Yang Shaofeng was about to say no, but then he thought about it again and said with a smile, "It's not that there isn't one—I've long heard that the literary style in Jiangnan is extremely flourishing, and there are many scholars there. If the court is willing to recruit some scholars in the name of the Duke of Yansheng to jointly compile this work, and promise to make them famous after the work is completed, I'm sure many scholars will be willing to participate."
Wang Qiong nodded, and then began to secretly make plans.
Did I offend this Magistrate Yang?
Will Magistrate Yang still hold a grudge about the time he called him a corrupt official?
Probably not?
After all, so much time has passed, right?