"Studio?"

For this term of later generations, Li Shimin sounded a little confused. Li Mu also said that it was smooth, but fortunately, it was not difficult to explain, and said: "The studio is where the minister works on weekdays. When the minister was working, he didn't like to be disturbed, so he cleaned up a few rooms and opened them up, right next to here. ”

Li Mu led the way in front and took Li Shimin and the three to his studio. A few carvers were at the door of the studio, and when they saw Li Shimin and others, they didn't recognize them, and when they looked up, they lowered their heads and went to work again. They are just craftsmen, except for the officials of the Ministry of Industry, they have never seen any officials, and today Li Shimin and others are all ordinary clothes, and they can't see their identities, but they can only judge from their bearing that they are high-ranking officials and nobles.

The craftsmen leaned against the wall, lest they upset the nobles.

Although Li Shimin came for the new type of ploughing, he was also very curious when he saw these carvers knocking and beating, so he stood still. Li Mugang opened the door of the studio, looked back and saw that the three of them were watching the carver carving movable type, and hurriedly walked over and said, "Your Majesty, the studio is here, you come here." ”

When several craftsmen heard Li Mu call him 'Your Majesty', they knew that the noble man in front of them was the emperor, and they all quickly put down the tools in their hands and knelt in front of Li Shimin.

Li Shimin pointed to the movable type engraved on the ground and said, "What are you carving?" ”

A craftsman stammered and replied, "Hui, Hui Your Majesty, we just did what Hou Ye told us, and I don't know what Hou Ye wants to do." ”

"Li Mu?"

"Ah, Your Majesty, this ......" Li Mu smiled embarrassedly and said, "This is a small invention of the minister, and its main function is ...... Uh, didn't you let your ministers practice calligraphy? Chen thought that practicing calligraphy would not happen overnight, and he was afraid that he would not be able to practice it well within three months, so he came up with this method. With this thing, the minister does not need to practice calligraphy, you can also understand the minister's folds. ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin frowned slightly and said, "How do you use this thing?" ”

"I'll show you." Li Mu squatted down and picked out a few carved movable characters, which were the first sentence of the thousand-character text, 'Heaven and earth are yellow, and the universe is desolate'. Li Mu arranged them in order, then went back to the studio to take out the paper and ink, applied the ink to the movable type, and then covered the paper on it, and with a light press, the eight characters were clearly left on the paper.

"It's rubbing!" Li Shimin suddenly realized that although there was no printing technology in the early Tang Dynasty, the inscription was prevalent in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and there was already a technology for rubbing. Li Shimin pointed at Li Mu and said, "Look at you lazy, let you practice calligraphy, you just want to be opportunistic!" ”

"Your Majesty has wronged the minister!" Li Mu immediately called out Qu and said: "Your Majesty, after the minister fainted with the wine of Confucius that day, he came back to reflect on this matter, and felt that His Majesty was reasonable, and the matter of culture and education is also the foundation of the country." The minister thought, what can the minister do for cultural and educational things? The ministers have no ink on their chests, they don't understand the scriptures, and it is impossible to be as high as Confucius to worship wine. But the minister was unwilling to give up, and after thinking about it, the minister thought of this method. ”

"The minister thinks that if you want to flourish culture and education, the first thing is 'books'."

"Books?" Li Shimin was puzzled: "Why did you suddenly mention the book?" ”

"Your Majesty, do you think, why are most of the people in the imperial examination from the scholar clan? All because the scholars can receive a good education from an early age, their families have a collection of books, and when they are still children, they can read books, while the children of the poor family do not have this condition. If this situation can be changed, so that the children of the poor can also read the books early, the chances of the children of the poor family becoming talents will be greater. ”

"This thing invented by the minister can change the dilemma that books can only be copied. You see, these movable types, although they are engraved according to the thousand-character text, can be turned into any article by changing their order. You only need to apply ink, and then brush it so lightly, you can rub as many sheets as you want. It can rub the four books and five classics, and it can also rub the thousand-character text. With this thing, you can break the monopoly of books by the scholars, so that everyone in the world has books to read! ”

Li Shimin understood and was shocked, he didn't expect this small movable type to be so useful, and said: "You are very right, why didn't anyone think of it before?" ”

Li Ji smiled: "This kid is capable of this kind of cleverness, Your Majesty, have you forgotten about the horseshoe?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes!" Li Shimin stroked his palms and said: "This thing is similar to a horseshoe!" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji smiled and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is not mistaken, this kid is indeed a talent." Whoever wants to study in the future will count on him, and he will be rich again. ”

"No, no, no." Li Mu waved his hand again and again and said, "You misunderstood me, I didn't think about using it to print books to make money." ”

"Oh?" Li Shimin was quite surprised and said, "Why is this? ”

Li Mu said solemnly: "Your Majesty, I will name this set of things movable type printing. This movable type printing technique can print a large number of books in a short period of time. That's the good side, but it also has a bad side. Your Majesty, do you think that if there is someone with bad intentions who uses it to print something that is not conducive to Your Majesty and the Tang Dynasty, and it is widely disseminated, what impact will it bring? ”

The minister thought that movable type printing should be in the hands of the imperial court. The imperial court should set up a special yamen to manage this matter. Whatever His Majesty wants to print, it will be done by this yamen. Not only can books be printed to open up the wisdom of the people, but also His Majesty's policies can be disseminated in all directions. There is no need to worry about the use of this technique to deceive people, only in this way can we make good use of this movable type printing technology and make it reflect its true value. ”

Li Shimin nodded, looked at the eldest grandson Wuji, and said, "What do you think of the auxiliary machine?" ”

When it came to business, the eldest grandson Wuji also became serious, thought for a while, and said: "Your Majesty, although what Li Mu said is true, this movable type printing technique, like the horseshoe, is very easy to imitate. Even if it becomes the exclusive management of the yamen, I'm afraid it will be difficult to keep it secret. ”

Li Mu said: "This is very easy to solve. Since movable type printing is difficult to keep secret, it is not secret. However, it is permissible to send an edict to all counties in the world, and it is considered illegal for anyone to publish books without the permission of the government. If there is a printing need from the people, the government can help with printing. In this way, the imperial court can also have an additional income. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji bowed his head and said: "This is a foolproof strategy." ”

Li Shimin was overjoyed and said: "Since this is the case, according to what you said, set up a printing supervisor, under the department of your Ministry of Industry, who is specifically responsible for this matter." You come up with a charter and come to the road tomorrow, and you have to ask the minister of housing, the criminal department, and the civil department to discuss the specific matters. ”

"The minister commands."