Start Being a Vassal King Today - Chapter 492

[Chapter 492 Foundation]

“Your Highness, I have found a way to save His Highness from copying books in the future.”

Seeing Zhao Xu, Mi Wen hurriedly said, as if he was afraid of being robbed of credit.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu suddenly remembered that there was one thing that he hadn’t done yet.

But at present, Mi Wen decided to listen to what Mi Wen had to say first.

“What’s the solution, let’s talk about it.” Zhao Xu sat down on the stone bench in the front yard, running around, his feet a little sore.

“Your Highness, do you know that there is a printing method that engraves calligraphy and paintings on wooden boards? You only need to engrave the words in the book on a wooden board, and this wooden board can continuously print the words on paper.” Mi Wen’s eyebrows brightened.

Zhao Xurang was appointed as the head of the Propaganda Department, and he immediately got busy.

At this time, he found that the Propaganda Department needed to post a lot of notices, and there would be a lot of repeated text.

Copying will take a lot of time.

Especially the newspaper office that King Yan mentioned, if they copied page by page, they would not be able to deliver the newspaper in time the next day.

After thinking hard, he suddenly remembered that when he was in the capital, some dudes once said that the pictures of erotic palaces were carved on wooden boards and then printed.

So he walked around Yancheng, and found that there were indeed merchants who made a living in this industry.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu nodded lightly, “Yes, it seems that you have thought about it for a while. What you are talking about is called woodblock printing, but this printing method has serious disadvantages, not to mention time-consuming and labor-intensive storage of a large number of books. It’s convenient, and the slogan needs to be changed frequently, engraving is like using it and then discarding it, simply speaking, it’s too rigid.”

After a pause, he said: “In two days, this king will take you to see the real printing technique. ”

“Real printing technique?” Mi Wen was stunned.

Now, he could finally understand why the officials and generals of Yanzhou acted like well-behaved students in front of King Yan.

Because Yan Wang reminds them how ignorant they are all the time.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Mi Wen suddenly became excited again.

Only by following Yan Wang like this can he learn a lot.

After Mi Wen left, Zhao Xu went to the study room, wrote and drew on a piece of paper, and then had someone send it to the workshop.

On the morning of the third day, Mi Wen arrived as scheduled.

He waved to Mi Wen and took Mi Wen to the workshop.

Today’s Fang District and Bingzhan Division have been completely separated.

The Military Division is equivalent to a military factory, while the workshop is in charge of the business.

As long as it is for civilian use, it is developed here.

The printing technique that Mi Wen mentioned was exactly the craft he had forgotten.

When they arrived at the workshop, Zhao Xu met Yang He.

After saluting, Yang He said a few words in a slick tone, and then led the two of them to a workshop in the northeast corner.

At this moment, the craftsmen in the workshop are casting metal cubes one by one, and the standard characters of Dasong Kingdom are engraved on these metal blocks.

This is the typeface of movable type printing that Zhao Xu wants to show Mi Wen.

Next, he will have the firm build a new workshop in the workshop area.

This workshop will be handed over directly to Mi Wen’s Propaganda Department.

However, this workshop will not use old wooden molds and clay molds, but will use more advanced lead printing.

After all, the typefaces of the original movable type printing are easily damaged and have a short service life.

This improved version of movable type printing comes from the contemporary fifteenth century.

Once launched, the printers at that time made a lot of money.

Because the lead type allowed them to save materials and at the same time increase the speed of printing.

If his estimate is correct, lead printing can allow a movable type plate to print 500 sheets of paper per day, which is definitely enough for the current Propaganda Department.

Even with ten movable type workshops, five thousand newspapers can be printed a day.

Mi Wen circled around the densely carved movable type.

Now he finally understood why King Yan said that the engraving and printing technique he talked about was slow and very rigid.

At this moment, the scene in front of him will surprise anyone who sees it.

The craftsmen have not only a large number of fonts, but also various specifications.

Some fonts are large and some are small, so that characters of different sizes can be printed on the same piece of paper according to requirements.

“Your Highness, this official is really ignorant. I didn’t expect that there is such a magical printing technique in the world. In my opinion, this matter is the gospel for the world’s poor scholars!!” Mi Wen looked excited.

The scholars of Dasong are the same as the contemporary scholars, they are all slightly noble in their hearts.

Therefore, although he was amazed that King Yan could create so many strange things and earn a lot of silver through business.

I am amazed in my heart, but not revered.

But this movable type printing is different. He can see the great value of this printing technique.

With this, there is no need for scholars to copy books at all.

They will be able to have the ability to print books in large numbers, making books cheap.

As a child of a poor family, he has experienced the hardship of not having money to buy books.

Zhao Xu smiled, Mi Wen’s reaction was not what he expected, he said: “I know what you mean, but if you want ordinary people in Yanzhou to be able to afford books, in addition to printing, you need to There is one thing missing.”

“What is it?” Mi Wen suddenly became nervous, as if afraid that a beautiful dream would suddenly be broken.

“This thing is paper, without paper, how to print books, paper is not cheap, and the price of books can’t be lowered either.” Zhao Xu said.

In addition to printing technology and ink, printing also needs qualified paper.

When Zhao Xu asked Yang He to build a printing workshop, he did not neglect the construction of the paper workshop.

From ancient times to the present, the core of papermaking technology is basically the same.

The quality of paper produced by the ancients is also good.

Xuan paper is a unique skill in contemporary my country.

Therefore, the technology of papermaking is not the problem, but the problem is how to improve the efficiency of papermaking.

Simply put, papermaking is divided into four papermaking processes: degumming, beating, papermaking, and drying.

Degumming is to use steaming and soaking to make the grass and trees fibrous in the lye.

The subsequent beating is to beat the fibers into a paste. This process is the most complicated and labor-intensive.

The third step of papermaking is to fish out the pulp with a screen and form a thin layer on the net, which is wet paper.

Finally, put these wet papers in the sun to dry.

Therefore, at present, craftsmen in paper mills can only beat grass and trees into pulp manually or by using animal power.

This is the biggest problem.

However, if there is a steam engine, the most laborious problem in the papermaking process will no longer be a problem.

When he asked Yang He to make movable type, he asked Yang He to buy a private paper mill.

At present, all the things in the paper workshop have been moved to the workshop area. In an independent workshop, paper will be made according to the old method for the time being.

Once the steam engine comes, the paper production capacity of this workshop will increase dramatically.

The foundation of education will be laid firmly.

It’s a little accident, I owe two chapters today, and I will make up for it tomorrow.

(end of this chapter)