The two major functions of local officials are: the first is the money, grain, tax, and education. The first level of education is to prohibit lewd sacrifices and the second level of schools. Most of the Iron Prisons are foreign immigrants. In addition to paying attention to the spread of the Maitreya religion in Daxing in recent years, there are no lewd sacrifices in the local area. Here, schools are the main content of education.

Since I was outside the school, there was no reason why several magistrates didn’t take a look.

When I turned to the south of the small garden, there was a small shop selling pens, ink, paper and inkstones. A few people glanced at it and found that they were all worthless bargains, so they lost interest. The people living here were iron supervisors, and there were no wealthy families. Naturally, daily necessities, including cultural supplies, were mainly used.

A small shop next to me sells books, calligraphy and paintings. There was nothing wrong with everyone, so everyone went in to see what they sold here. There were not many workers who worked every day and could read, so what books would they read?

On the shelf on the left, there is a row of classics and historical works. There is no shortage of thirteen classics, and it is exquisitely printed, not the goods of small workshops. Below are a few medical books such as "Huangdi Neijing" and "Materials of Materia Medica", with some miscellaneous classics mixed next to them. In another grid, there are historical books, "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Han Shu" are the same as the Thirteen Classics, and the others are exquisitely printed, while the others are obviously bought from outside. Another grid is the collection of ancient and modern essays. The first one is Ouyang Xiu's most familiar "Han Changli Collection", which is also well-printed, while the others are of varying quality, and the common books on the market.

Ouyang Xiu picked up the Changli Collection, looked through a few pages, and saw that it was the most popular version on the market. There was neither proofreading nor new annotations, so he put it down. This Changli Collection opened Ouyang Xiu's literary journey, so familiar that he could not be more familiar with it.

Putting down the books, Ouyang Xiu said to Du Zhongxiao: "It is really not easy to have such books in a small shop here. It's just a fortune-telling judgment. Why are these books beautifully printed while others are good or bad?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "With the school, the Iron Supervisor will naturally print books. It's just that the manpower is limited, so I only made boards for those books."

The woodblock printing used for now is easy to print, but it is not easy to make plates. The iron supervisor has money, but it is limited. There are not many plate makers hired, so they can only start from classics. In fact, Du Zhongxiao remembers a variety of printing methods, but his energy is limited, so he has not tried it. The most highly anticipated movable type printing, although he remembers lead type, but because the casting mold is unclear and the printing quality is not high, it is not used.

These collections of classics, history, poetry and poetry were read by several magistrates, and they could recite many books in a slight manner. After reading them a little, they saw that it was not illuminating, so they did it and continued to go inside.

There is no grid behind it, but a few tables with various books, calligraphy and paintings on it, which looks a bit messy.

Seeing the paintings on the table, Song Qi couldn't help laughing. First, there was a fat baby, riding a big fish underneath, with a big red and green color, and the content was vulgar. The back was a little elegant, with characters, scenery, and text below. When I looked forward, I found that it was a three-point story, several paintings were connected together, telling a small story. Most of the ones were placed together, and most of them were told, and more folk legends were told, and several paintings were combined together.

There is no need to ask, most of the residents here are uneducated workers, and this is what they like. The ladies' landscapes that literati like are boring in their eyes, and no one will buy them here.

However, the few pictures leaning against the wall talk about Kong Rong giving away pears, Wang Xiang lying on Bing, etc. Although they are rough and bad, they ultimately have the meaning of education.

These things cannot be seen by literati. Several magistrates looked and laughed, walking all the way.

At the end, on the tables opposite the door, there were calendars and the like. The court issued a new calendar for several years, especially in recent decades, which have been inaccurate and changed again and again. The calendar here is the latest and there is no fallacy.

When Yan Shu came here, he was interested in two volumes of almanacs. One was a thick volume, one page, one month, with dates marked on it, and the festivals and solar terms of the month, as well as the precautions for the season. The background was flowers and birds, reflecting the climate of the month. Another was also a large volume, with each solar term on one page, marking the farming of the following species and harvesting, and printing some agricultural proverbs on it.

Pointing to these two booklets, Yan Shu smiled at Du Zhongxiao and said, "Yunjudgment, these two books are interesting. In addition, you should print some stories about sages here to educate the people. Just tell some stories for people to entertain, and if you lose your education, what is the difference between them and private merchants?"

Du Zhongxiao bowed: "What I said is that there are not many literati here in the Iron Supervisory Bureau, and they can't print those, so they can only wait for the future."

The main group of people in the Iron Supervisor is the Xiangjun, and most of the people recruited are down-and-out literati. Since the stories of sages cannot be printed, who will be sold to? These things are not distributed for free, so you must first earn the cost of printing the book.

After reading the almanac, I went to the other side, full of various booklets.

Song Qi picked up one of them casually and saw the cover of "The Method of Fertilizing Fertilizer". When he opened it, it was about how to ferment fertilizer, which was detailed, and there was no literary popularity. He picked up another one and it was a plowing field. More than a dozen books were all like this. The iron supervisors lived here, and there was no farming. Obviously, people were not interested in these books and had no trace of reading them at all.

Going forward, the same booklet is still there, but I don’t talk about farming anymore, but I talk about various industrial knowledge instead. There are how to smel copper, how to cast iron, and how to build agricultural tools. Each book has the author’s name, without exception, which is a common saying.

Taoist alchemy techniques are also a kind of elegant interest among literati. Several people were very excited when flipping through these booklets.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The people nearby have a skill, either workers or farmers, who can go to the Iron Prison to print them into booklets and sell them here. Every time a book is sold, they will be paid for them. These books are of varying quality, but they can broaden their horizons and benefit the people in the Iron Prison."

Yan Shu said: "There are all talented people among the people, and doing this is a way."

These are folk books, some of which are exquisite, some are of no value, and most of them are worthless. These booklets have some knowledge that can broaden your thinking and be relaxed. People in the Iron Prison can sometimes find valuable ideas from them and study and summarize them to draw results. The truly valuable ones are written by professional talents in the Iron Prison organization, but those are not sold publicly.

At the end, there were only two booklets near the door. One book "License" and the other book "Mathematical Science" were used by the schools here in the Iron Supervisory School to enlighten. Each is divided into three volumes, corresponding to the school's three years.

"Recognition of Literacy" also uses common sayings and various short stories to teach simple and common words. After reading it, several magistrates understood why the main things sold on the other side were. Using this teaching material to recognize words, wouldn't you only be able to appreciate those?

"Mathematical Science" starts with simple recognition of numbers, talking about the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and to the simple multiplication and square formation, with the "Nine-Nine Multiplication Table" attached to it. These are common knowledge, and the rare thing is to be summarized into a book. However, the foreign numbers used in it make people feel simple.
Chapter completed!