This "flash mob" movement was completely fermented after a day.

And the first is to ferment in the group of merchants.

Half an hour, two hundred thousand taels.

What a temptation this is.

It is impossible for any product to reach this kind of sales.

This is against the heavens.

Many businessmen are thinking seriously about this, and they are also wondering if they can also have a joint-stock system, so as to exchange for huge sums of money.

But the interesting thing is that the businessmen who usually think this way are those small and medium-sized businessmen, or those businessmen who hide behind and only collect money.

And wealthy businessmen such as Zhou Feng, Cao Da, and Qin Zhuang have never moved this idea.

Because they all know that this money has to be paid with interest, and once the interest cannot be paid, the Jinyu Building and the Drunken Sky Building will be demolished by those shareholders and there will be no slag left.

And those cloud merchants just want to get that huge sum of money, and then... They don't care what happens then, and it's hard for businessmen to settle accounts with them anyway.

Of course, businessmen are not stupid, you are joint-stock system, who will buy.

It can be seen that except for the tooth line and the five guns, there is no workshop that can be joint-stock at present.

Because they don't have a long-term plan, that is, when they get this more than a huge amount of money, what can they do?

And the reason why Guo Dan dared to do this was because he had a huge plan behind him.

No amount of money can be digested by this plan.

At the same time, ordinary people are also talking about this, but the point of their discussion is not the joint-stock system, but the confrontation between Guo Dan and the imperial court.

At this point, it can definitely be said that in this first confrontation, Guo Dan completely exploded the imperial court, and it can even be said that Guo Dan ripped off the last fig leaf of the imperial court.

You must know that before this, the imperial court declared itself the winner and forced Guo Dan to make concessions on tariffs.

But those people have already told the imperial court with real money that we believe more in Guo Dan than in your new tariff law.

Wanli once said that Guo Dan is a mirror of the imperial court, this metaphor is too appropriate, Guo Dan made the demons and monsters in the imperial court have nothing to hide, so that Wanli is too lazy to discuss this matter with them, Wanli is now a mind to make money, he feels that discussing this matter with the minister is purely a waste of his time, it is better to discuss overseas plans with Guo Dan.

But the court was actually holding its breath this time, they really wanted to do something.

They will be ashamed and courageous.

They want to compete with Guo Dan in all aspects, not just talk about it.

And the biggest headache for them at present is that the imperial court relies too much on five guns in printing technology.

In this regard, the cabinet is very incomprehensible why the printing technology that the Ming court has always been proud of now has to rely on private workshops.

That's.

There is a consensus between the government and the opposition that this situation must be reversed, otherwise the hidden danger will be too great.

On this day, Wang Xijue, Wang Jiaping, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Households, the Household Servants, and Li Zhi and other imperial historians came to Guozijian.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were two major printing departments, namely the ceremonial supervisor and the Guozijian, which were divided into the Guozijian in Beijing and the Guozijian in Nanjing.

Of course, it is not good for them to go to the prison of ceremonies, so they can only come to the Guozijian to have a look.

"Your Excellency, please see, this Analect was printed by our Guozijian, and this one was printed with five guns."

The scribe of the Guozijian took out two Analects and handed them to Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue.

The two kings took one of them and looked at it, and then exchanged and looked at it.

Wang Jiaping said: "In addition to the fact that this cover is not as beautifully made as the five guns, the content does not look very different!" ”

Wang Xijue also nodded.

The bookkeeper said: "My lord is right, if you only talk about books, the difference between the two is indeed not big, but if you talk about the amount of printing, even if the Guozijian and the celebrant are added together, it is far inferior to five guns." ”

Wang Jiaping asked, "Why is that?" Is it because of the lack of craftsmen? ”

The scribe replied, "This is also a reason, but not the main reason, because the five guns are all made of copper and lead, and we are all of wood." This movable type will be damaged after a period of time, and it must be carved with new movable type, and it cannot be used repeatedly in a short period of time, while the movable type of copper and lead can be used for a long time, and can be printed without stopping. ”

Li Zhi said: "You can also use copper movable type!" ”

"...... this?"

The scribe hesitated.

Wang Xijue said: "If there are any difficulties, you can say it, we are here today to solve these difficulties." ”

Shangshu Shixing of the Ministry of Industry suddenly stood up and said, "I know this. ”

Wang Xijue turned his head to look at Shi Xing and asked, "Shi Shangshu, please speak." ”

Shi Xing said: "Actually, my dynasty also cast a version of copper movable type, but in less than three months, more than 300 movable types were missing. ”

"Missing?"

Wang Xijue was a little confused.

Shi Xing nodded and said, "This is because copper is very valuable, so later, all those copper movable characters were used to mint coins." ”

He said it very tactfully, but everyone understands that copper is currency, copper movable type is money, this is a few, that is a few, over time, it will be scrapped, and then it will all be returned to the furnace.

The adults were speechless for a while.

This day and night defense, it is difficult to prevent thieves!

With Shi Xing taking the lead, the scribe plucked up the courage and said: "What Lord Shangshu said is extremely true, and there is another reason, that is, the cost of casting copper movable type is very large, and it is more cost-effective to use wooden movable type. ”

Li Zhi was curious: "In that case, why do the five guns use metal movable type or lead movable type." ”

The bookkeeper said: "That's because they have a very large print volume and can make money, so it is more cost-effective for them to use copper movable type and lead movable type, and as far as the lower officials know, all the profits made in the first two years of the five guns were used to cast movable type." They didn't print much before, but only this year they started printing in large quantities, because they already had a lot of movable type. ”

The five guns are also accumulated steadily, and in the early stage, they blindly threw money into it, and all of them were invested in technology.

Guo Dan knows that information is a big key to capital, information dissemination is blocked, and capital is difficult to develop, there is no upper limit on his investment in five guns, as long as the craftsman comes up with a detailed plan, he will immediately allocate funds.

The imperial court is just the opposite, try to copy by hand as much as possible, otherwise, why raise so many officials.

The more Li Zhi asked, the more annoyed he became, and asked directly: "You just said that the imperial court can exceed five guns." ”

The bookkeeper said: "I can't guarantee this, because they seem to have obtained a new technology now, and the copper movable type has gradually been eliminated by them, and they are now trying to cast lead movable type." ”

Li Zhi said: "So we can't catch up with the five guns? ”

The bookkeeper said, "That's going to cost a lot of money." ”

Song Qi, the head of the household, couldn't help frowning.

It's not that he doesn't want to spend money, the problem is that he knows that if this money is smashed, at most it will have some initial results, but it will soon be abolished, this is the norm of the Ming court, officials have to peel off one percent, craftsmen will definitely not get so much money, they will not work hard, and the metal movable type is placed there, and it may not be there in a year.

Wang Jiaping asked: "Do you think the imperial court should spend a lot of money to improve this printing technology?" ”

The bookkeeper said: "The lower officials think that there is no need for this, because the five guns print those books, newspapers and periodicals, which can be sold for money, but the imperial court cannot profit from this, and the imperial court does not need to print so much, and the five guns also print four books and five classics, which reduces the burden on the imperial court, and the national eunuch does not need to print these books now, and the students can buy them themselves." ”

The adults were silent.

The words of the scribe are very realistic, the production of the five guns is expanded according to profits, and the imperial court does not need such a large amount, and it is impossible to print a large number of confidential documents, if it is not confidential, why not go to the five guns for printing?

But the problem is that the imperial court wants to control public opinion, and printing is the carrier of public opinion, and the imperial court certainly does not want to rely too much on Guo Dan as an enemy in this regard.

It's a very tangled question.

At this moment, I suddenly heard someone behind me say: "Don't worry, adults, I have a plan that may be possible." ”

Everyone looked back and was stunned.

"Jiang gives the matter, Huang Yushi." Li Zhi said in surprise.

The people who came were Huang Daxiao and Jiang Yinglan.

Now that the end of the year is approaching, they have to come back to report.

The two stepped forward to salute Wang Xijue, Wang Jiaping and others.

Wang Jiaping didn't have the heart to greet them, and asked, "What does Huang Yushi mean by that?" ”

Huang Daxiao immediately said: "My lord, Xia Guan thinks that the problem now is not whether the imperial court should improve the printing technology, because the imperial court does not need to print too many books, but that the five guns cannot be allowed to dominate." ”

Wang Jiaping nodded, this is the crux of the matter, the reason why they pay special attention to printing is that the five guns are too powerful, resulting in the publication having to rely on the five guns, which makes them panic and ask: "I don't know what the magic of Huang Yushi has?" ”

Huang Daxiao said: "The imperial court can set up another printing workshop to fight with five guns." ”

......

Coincidentally!

At this time, Guo Dan was also inspecting the printing department of the five guns, because the five guns had been successfully listed and obtained 100,000 taels of funds, which was not the credit of one person, of course, the craftsmen had to be given dividends, and after the shareholding system, some internal rectification had to be carried out to become more standardized.

But the style of painting here is completely different, and there are still entanglements between wooden and metal movable type, as well as cost issues, while the five guns are more concerned about the production process.

It's not just about improving technology, it's about how to use it for mass production.

After all, Guo Dan is not art, his goal is to make money.

This is evident from the scale of which the printing workshop of the five guns, which began as a large mansion, has now expanded twenty-fold and has several thousand staff.

And the printing workshop of the Gojo gun is already a masterpiece.

For example, the Yuan Dynasty merchant Wang Zhen's wheel picking plate is used here.

It is also used to classify characters by radicals.

The word pickers do not need to know how to read words, and they can take out a movable type according to the manuscript and typeset it.

Of course, there will be censorship later.

The printing method has also been greatly improved, and a simple mechanical printing has been used, which although it was brought here from Weihuifu, but in fact a craftsman from Quanzhou, because he had helped a Franco missionary print some manuscripts.

The missionary told him that he could build machinery to help with printing and make it more efficient.

But at that time, he was just a small craftsman, where could he get the money to make a printing press, he didn't need it, he later went to Weihui Mansion, and told him about it, and Weihui Mansion fed back to the capital, and the craftsmen in the capital made it in three days according to him.

In fact, this printing press is very simple, it is a large wooden box, there is a handle that can be pulled back and forth, a disc is connected below, and then there is a large drawer below, the typesetting movable type printing plate is fixed in the drawer, the paper is pasted on the lid of the drawer, the ink is brushed, the lid is covered, pushed into the wooden box, and the handle is pulled back and forth, as if tightening the screw, pressing down, and then the printing is successful.

Although this kind of machine is simple, and the efficiency is not very fast, but there is an advantage, that is, there is no need for skilled craftsmen, it is a person with sound hands and feet can do it, this is the production process, which is completely opposite to art, art is to be talented, is to accumulate.

The production process is the simplest and best, and the best is that a fool can do it.

"Proprietor, you see, this is the Havoc in Heaven comic strip that we have made according to your request, one is in color, and the other is ink."

An old craftsman handed two comic books to Guo Dan.

Because of the improvement of the printing process, Guo Dan has the confidence to launch comic books, in fact, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms has appeared in the past, and the Ming scribes like illustrations very much, and the five guns are further increased illustrations, so Guo Dan thinks you can try comic books.

After being listed as a five-gun gun, it was the first major product to be launched.

Guo Dan took it and looked at it, and said, "This color version is obviously much better-looking!" Why do you have to show me the ink version? ”

The old craftsman said: "Proprietor, this color version of the carved wooden board must be completed by some skilled craftsmen, and the production quantity is limited, but this ink color has to be printed with the latest lead plate, which can be used in printing presses, and is suitable for mass production." ”

As he spoke, he handed over a lead plate.

Guo Dan took the lead plate and looked at it, there was a raised pattern on it, and he could recognize the monkey at a glance, and said, "How did you do this?" ”

The old craftsman said: "The main credit for this is Wang Yin and Wang Zhang, the two of them were responsible for the production of copper coins in the palace, and the original casting lead type technology is also the greatest credit of their two brothers, and now they will cast copper coins for the process of engraving." However, this process is very complicated, the cost is much higher than that of woodblocks, and it is more cost-effective to print in large quantities. ”

"Alas... You can't have both fish and bear's paws! ”

Guo Dan smiled bitterly, of course he prefers the color version, it is really good-looking, very artistic, at first glance, it is from the hands of famous artists, and it is also in line with the consistent style of the five guns, keep improving, and the ink color is more rigid, but he must mass produce them, and said: "Let's make both, if there is no ink, this color can't be sold at a high price!" ”

"I see."

"In addition, at the end of this year, I will give you five thousand taels as a bonus...... Don't be too busy thanking just yet. Starting next year, I will take out a percentage of the profit to give you a bonus, but the bonus will be divided into the first prize, the second prize, the third prize, you must compete with Weihui Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion, whoever can develop better printing technology, who can get the most bonus. ”

When Qiu Jiang heard this, he couldn't help but feel as if he was facing a great enemy.

This former ally turned into an enemy in an instant.

And the irony is that the court over there always wants to compete with Guo Dan, Guo Dan doesn't take the court in his eyes at all, he can only compete with himself.

He also did this because the income of these five gun craftsmen has increased, and life is good, Guo Dan is afraid that they will slack off, and he must create a competitive atmosphere internally to spur them to continue to improve.

Although the three departments can't communicate with each other and help each other as before, the good thing is that this is a one-year calculation, and the technology can still be integrated.