Xu Yi acquired two paper mills and a printing shop in Huating County.

In the Ming Dynasty in 1540, book printing was already a mature handicraft industry.

Historical records in Fujian during the Ming Dynasty.

There have been countless pirated book printers who reprinted all kinds of novels at low prices, leading the trend of the entire Ming pirate circulation market.

Therefore, Xu Yi acquired a printing shop, ready to combine the technology in his hand to iterate the printing machine.

Ding Yiniu, the owner of the printing workshop.

This is also a relatively large printing workshop in Huating County, Xu Yi has just spent a lot of money to "acquire" his printing workshop and himself.

Ding Yiniu still had some respect for Mr. Xu in front of him.

In the past few months, the third son of the Xu family can be said to have earned enough eyeballs in Huating County.

Yinqiao Pills, Medical Insurance, Education, Ming Savings Bank. All these things happened under Ding Yiniu's nose, which made Ding Yiniu, a "little intellectual" who printed books, a little incredible.

Ding Yiniu: "Young Master Xu, I actually don't understand. What are you going to do when you buy a printing shop, are you going to print some books? Ding Yiniu asked what he wanted to ask.

This question began to be pondered by him when he received a silver ticket for the purchase of a printing house in the afternoon.

"If you want to print books, you don't need to buy a printing shop.....

"Leave it to us, can't you?"

Hearing Ding Yiniu's words, Xu Yi picked up the engraving of the printing workshop.

This engraving plate is written on a scripture, because of the printing needs, the engraving is all inverted, so Xu Yi can't see which scripture this is.

"I do need to print a lot of things, but I also need to print a new book every day, can that be done?"

Printing a new book every day, Ding Yiniu was a little dizzy.

In this era, printing books requires engraving plates, and it takes more than a month to engrave a carved plate.

It's a fantasy to create a new engraving every day.

Ding Yiniu: "I'm afraid this can't be done, it takes a long time to engrave each engraving." Making an engraving every day is too tight and too wasteful. ”

Hearing what Ding Yiniu said, Xu Yi also agreed, this stereotyped printing is indeed too slow.

Xu Yi: "Since engraving is so slow, why not use movable type printing, isn't this process hundreds of years old, shouldn't it be very mature?" ”

Hearing Xu Yi mention movable type printing, Ding Yiniu couldn't help laughing.

Ding Yiniu: "Young Master Xu doesn't know, this movable type printing was invented by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty. Although the typesetting is fast, it is time-consuming and laborious, and you still need to read a book and have some pen and ink skills to do it. ”

"How many taels of silver does this person who has read a book have to open a month? The cost of printing a set of books is too high. ”

"If you use engravings that don't typeset, it's a lot easier, and you can get a few farmers from the farmer's house. After a little teaching, you can start printing. And dozens of copper plates are sent away in a day. ”

"There's so much difference in salary, what kind of work can you say?"

Ding Yiniu: "There is another problem, this wood carving, if properly preserved, can be used for decades. ”

"This single movable type block will break down after a year or two, so it is more economical to use engraving to print books."

Hearing this, Xu Yi finally understood Ding Yiniu's confusion. It turns out that this Ming Dynasty does not use movable type printing, which is a matter of cost.

Speaking of this, Xu Yi took out a drawing from his back, which was a new letterpress printing process.

Xu Yi: "I'll pay you to improve the process, don't use wood and mud to make movable type printing plates, use metal to make movable type printing plates, so that you don't have to worry about wear and tear." ”

"In terms of manpower, I hired a lot of scholars here, but because a crazy woman stole my business, they were all idle."

"I hope you can improve your printing technique by following this drawing and making movable type out of metal."

Xu Yi handed a thick printing tool book to Ding Yiniu, hoping that he could use new technology to improve new printing technology.

"In a month's time, I hope to see the finished product of the first printing press."

Xu Yi asked someone to move all the utensils of the printing workshop back to Xu Yuan.

This time, Xu Yi is ready to start doing some technology.

..

A month later, Xu Yuan Printing Workshop completed the research.

The first generation of movable type printing press was finally launched, and Xu Yi named it [Bi Sheng No. 1] in honor of Bi Sheng, the inventor of movable type printing.

The function of Bi Sheng No. 1 is much more advanced than that of the spiral hand printing press invented by the European contemporary, Gutenberg.

In terms of efficiency, each machine can print 1,000 sheets per day.

Although it may seem backward, by 1540 it was already a relatively efficient manual printing press.

After the acceptance of Sheng No. 1, Xu Yi increased investment and manufactured another 30 Bi Sheng No. 1 printing presses this month.

Producing 30,000 newspapers a day, we have the capacity to produce these newspapers.

Xu Yi can initially start the grand chapter of the newspaper tycoon.

Information is money. Looking at the sample of the newspaper in his hand, Xu Yi smiled with satisfaction.

..

The government office.

Li Jingmao is working.

Someone outside the door said that Xu Yi was here.

Li Jingmao couldn't help laughing and scolded, "Didn't I say it earlier, that Xu Yi came, so I let him in directly." What a memorable thing! ”

The scholar hurriedly stepped back and brought a dignified young man with him.

Seeing Xu Yi's confident appearance, Li Jingmao was secretly happy in his heart, and he didn't know what "surprise" Xu Yi brought him this time.

Li Jingmao: "Xu Yi, look at your happy smile." What good news has it brought to the prefect this time? ”

Xu Yi scratched his head embarrassedly and said embarrassedly.

"This time, I would like to tell the prefect three good things that will benefit the country and the people, and I would like to ask the prefect to listen to me in detail."

Hearing that there were three good things that benefited the country and the people, Li Jingmao couldn't help but smile at this time, this Xu Yi really could bring him a lot of surprises.

Li Jingmao: "Let's talk about it quickly, I want to hear what are the three major things that benefit the country and the people." ”

Xu Yi grinned and began his performance.

"First, the census, where each person registers an identification number. Secondly, all the houses in Songjiang Mansion will be assigned door numbers. The area, size, and ownership of all the houses are counted in the register and collected by the government. ”

"After that, the number of houses is counted every five years, and the census is conducted every ten years."

"Second, establish a new type of public newspaper industry, start information circulation, and establish public information channels."

"Third, establish a public postal system in Songjiang Prefecture, and establish a commercial bank for the circulation of goods and letters in the name of the Songjiang Prefect, so as to establish a complete public postal system."