As for why Fang Er said this business could only be done by Li Xiaogong and the Emperor, it was easy to understand.
If Li Shimin handled it himself, it would be faultless. However, in this era, commerce was considered a lowly profession. If someone else were to undertake this venture, which could also be used to sway public opinion, Li Shimin would certainly not feel at ease! Even if Fang Er himself were to do it, Li Shimin would likely still have reservations.
Li Xiaogong's grandfather and Li Shimin's grandfather were siblings, making their fathers cousins. Therefore, Li Shimin could trust Li Xiaogong to handle this.
With this realization, Li Xiaogong thumped his chest again. "Brother, rest assured, I'll take this job! Even if it means losing money, I'll do it! Damn it, if it can keep the Seven Great Clans up at night, it's worth losing money for!"
"Hahahaha, come, brother, I'll toast you!" Saying this, he picked up his wine cup from the table and Fang Er's as well. After a gentle clink, he tilted his head back and downed his wine in one go, then handed Fang Er's cup back.
Cheng Yaojin grumbled from the side, "Listen to him, talking as if you have the money to afford losing it."
Fang Er smiled, shook his head, and took his wine cup back to drink.
The matters of the shipwrights and the newspaper were settled. As for how the newspaper would be sold and at what price, that would have to wait until after printing to calculate the costs. With no other distractions, the three began to chat and drink.
For some reason, Cheng Yaojin seemed intent on provoking Li Xiaogong whenever he got the chance. As a result, by the end of the drinking session, the two of them were wrestling in the garden, crushing flowers and plants underfoot. Fang Er didn't intervene; he was used to it. It was rare for Cheng Yaojin to drink with him without getting into a fight. No wonder he was constantly beaten by Li Jing back in Wagang. It was a miracle he wasn't beaten to death.
When it was all over, Cheng Yaojin, with a black eye, was still shouting for another round at Li Xiaogong. Fang Er, feeling quite dizzy, realized he couldn't leave. He asked the servants at the Li residence to prepare a room, and he slept there for the night.
He slept soundly until dawn. Upon waking, he was informed by the Li household servants that both Cheng Yaojin and Li Xiaogong had gone to their official duties. Fang Er, enjoying the peace, drove his carriage back to the workshop.
He first checked the tailoring room, where military uniforms were being produced with great enthusiasm. Then, he went to the printing room. The data for the ship designs had been completely converted. Apart from Ma Tongyuan and Liu Mo, who were attending classes, Zhang Zhimin and the other scholars were there compiling the dictionary. Dozens more students had arrived from various places after receiving letters.
Upon seeing Fang Er enter, Zhang Zhimin and Xue Zhiqian, along with the students, put down their work and came forward to pay their respects. "Greetings, Marquis."
Fang Er waved his hand. "How is the dictionary compilation progressing?"
Xue Zhiqian retrieved a stack of paper from a nearby table. It was a handwritten draft, appearing to be over a hundred pages thick. The characters were not written with a brush, but in small, neat script using pencils, showcasing their diligent work attitude.
Taking a page and casually flipping through it, Fang Er frowned. He had forgotten something after all. If he hadn't come to check, he might not have remembered even when it was printed. Relying solely on pinyin indexing was not enough. They also needed to add stroke counts and radicals.
He asked for paper and a brush. Xue Zhiqian, with some confusion, provided them. It was impossible to recall all the radicals and strokes from memory alone. Fang Er, flipping through the draft dictionary pages, wrote down all the radicals he could see. This took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
After finishing, he pointed to the content on the paper. "Look, each character has a different structure. Add a radical index to the directory at the front of the dictionary. This way, if you encounter a character you don't recognize, or a book without pinyin annotation, the dictionary can still help."
Xue Zhiqian slapped his forehead. "No wonder the students felt something was missing from the dictionary. This is it! The Marquis is truly brilliant!"
The other scholars also began to praise him. "Indeed, we had only heard of the Marquis's great talent. Now that we see it, it is truly well-deserved! Yes, such a simple method, why didn't we think of it! Now, this dictionary is finally complete! Once this dictionary is published, the Marquis will surely be remembered for generations, and we will also earn the title of compilers."
"Yes, yes, hahaha, to be recorded in history, it's just around the corner!"
They chattered excitedly, each with a look of anticipation on their faces. Fang Er waved his hand and then turned to Xue Zhiqian. "The dictionary needs to be expedited, but there's another matter I need you to handle. This Marquis intends to create something called a newspaper."
After explaining this, he briefly introduced the significance of the newspaper and the content that needed to be published. These students had long suffered under the oppression of aristocratic families and had no outlet. Seeing an opportunity to cause trouble for the great clans, they became incredibly excited.
Xue Zhiqian thumped his chest and assured him, "Please rest assured, Marquis. I will begin immediately. Within two hours, the first draft sample can be printed!"
Fang Er nodded. "Very well, once the draft is ready, have it sent to my studio." With that, he left the printing workshop. Xue Zhiqian, meanwhile, selected a few students from the group, entrusted the dictionary compilation to Zhang Zhimin, and personally led his team to work on the newspaper draft.
In the studio, Fang Er used the walkie-talkie to call Zhao Gang over. "The matter of arms will be handed over to others for now. You lead the attack group and work on the steam engine. It will be needed for dredging the river channels and for the Wuyada warship. Hurry up."
Zhao Gang nodded and withdrew from the studio. Fang Er then sat down at his workbench and took out books related to mechanical design. Dredging the river channels wouldn't be enough with just a steam engine. Other equipment would be needed to assist. He intended to create two dredgers to pump out the silt and mud from the riverbed. This way, passage for the Wuyada warship would no longer be a problem.
He flipped through the pages of the books rapidly, searching for relevant information. An hour later, the books were set aside, and he began to design the blueprints. Modern dredgers use rubber pipes. However, such things didn't exist now, and the rubber products in his system space were unusable. Therefore, Fang Er had to design metal pipes, one meter per section, and then connect them to the required length. Although troublesome, it was the best method available at the moment.
Before he had finished drawing the blueprints, Xue Zhiqian arrived with the newspaper draft.