Although the ambitions of these old fellows are increasingly grand, their minds are equally formidable,

Seeing this newspaper immediately made them think of many things,

The most important point is that it relates greatly to their interests,

Just like the homes of these ministers today, which do not belong to an aristocratic family?

Precisely because of this, all the books in this world are monopolized by them,

And now, if this thing before them comes into being, it will definitely be a huge impact on the books of their family,

After all, to people nowadays, the value of bamboo slips is quite high,

It can be said that the value of one roll of bamboo can equal a month’s worth of rice for a family of three.

It is for this reason that they can effectively control the number of these various clans and maintain methods to ensure that those from humble origins cannot produce noble offspring.

Of course, here we have to clarify, when we talk about "humble origins," it does not refer to the common people.

Many brothers may hear these words and immediately think it means the children of the lowest classes cannot succeed.

In other words, in ancient times, without nobility or power, one could not hope to advance or gain fame.

Here, I must clarify that "humble origins" does not actually refer to the children of common people.

Before, I thought like many brothers do: being poor at home meant being of humble origin,

because in ancient times, poor families were called humble origins.

But later I learned that this was all wrong.

I later came to understand that I was not even worthy of being called humble origin, since in ancient times, "humble origin" corresponded to the gentry class.

And what is the gentry, I assume needs no further explanation.

At least a family with several generations having served as Prime Minister can be called gentry, or in other words, a family with scholars.

These aristocratic families, just like those called by Lin Yi, such as the left and right Chancellors, whose families can be called clans.

"Humble origins cannot produce noble offspring" was actually an instance where a minor seventh-grade official lamented that his children could not become first-grade Prime Ministers.

Here, we can imagine: what position is a seventh-grade minor official?

You must understand, even if a seventh-grade official is the smallest among officials, he still governs a whole county.

Imagine the highest official in a county claiming humble origin, meaning that outside of him, perhaps only the biggest merchants in the county could make such a claim.

I believe brothers now understand which class "humble origin" actually refers to?

If someone like me were placed in ancient society, at most I would be the child of a long-term laboring family. If we dared call ourselves humble origin, even the landlord’s family would be dumbfounded.

From this alone, it is clear how strictly these aristocratic families controlled the books, even a County Magistrate’s child found it difficult to read books.

Not to mention the lowest class of people.

If this thing before them costs less than bamboo slips, their good times may be over,

Their greatest fear may be coming true,

Each of them wore heavy expressions, looking at this paper, feeling uneasy in their hearts for a while.

At the same time, they secretly prayed, hoping that this thing’s price would be higher than bamboo slips,

However, they soon felt relieved, as this thing looked extremely exquisite.

Because of this, they were confident that its price would certainly be higher than bamboo slips,

Otherwise, how could such a fine thing appear?

This thing is not only light and thin, but also very soft, with a great texture to the touch, especially since the words printed on it are very clear.

The most important point is, on this small thing, so many characters are printed, that if on bamboo slips, it would require at least ten pounds of them.

Lin Yi sat at the head, sweeping his eyes over the faces of everyone, reading their expressions, while also plotting in his heart,

These people would probably jump out to stop him, after all, as a man from the future, he clearly understood the blow this paper would deal to them once it came out, utterly humiliating their aristocratic status.

Or even dismantling their families completely within a few years.

And that was exactly what Lin Yi intended to do.

After all, for him, he wanted peace for the entire world,

He desired a nation of Dayou as strong and solid as a wall of bronze and iron.

Therefore, he would not allow the existence of those aristocratic families; he wanted an autocracy, he wanted commands to be executed without fail.

As long as the orders were issued from above, they were to be unconditionally executed below, and the foundation of this depended on whether the officials in his hands came from aristocratic or humble origins,

Or even from the lowest classes of people.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi couldn’t help but sigh internally.

The road ahead of him was still long; bringing children from common families into the government wasn’t something that could be achieved solely with books,

After all, in today’s society, the hierarchy was exceedingly strict.

Everyone’s mindset was deeply ingrained.

Even if he decreed that children from humble origins could take exams and learn, they might not have many respondents.

After all, it was already tough for each household to have enough to eat; who could spare the labor to study?

If the children went to study, who would work the fields?

Because right now, society was such that everyone was striving desperately for that mouthful of food.

Nowadays, saying that one or two people starved to death, that was all too common.

Even starving an entire village or town, that was a frequent occurrence.

It was precisely for this reason that Lin Yi couldn’t help but lament internally about the extensive number of things he needed to accomplish, while he had already planned,

This time, his target was not the children of the lowest class of people, as this could not be done overnight.

It must be done gradually,

[To be continued...]