The Song Dynasty invented movable type printing, but then for nearly a thousand years, engraving printing has always been dominant, and it has never been allowed to develop movable type printing, which has to be said to be for a reason.

In particular, the high requirements for typesetting workers made Li Yuanjia extremely envious of Gutenberg, the originator of movable type printing in Europe.

Why are you so happy, workers only need to know dozens of letters, and our typesetting workers must know tens of thousands of Chinese characters? Why is it so simple to store their characters, while the storage of Chinese characters requires a racking of brains?

Why?

After yelling in his heart for a long time, Li Yuanjia stopped complaining with a bitter face.

No way, who let the ancestors invent the square word?!

So after complaining, Li Yuanjia took his mind back - the key now is how to solve the problem of typesetting workers!

If you want to play movable type printing, you need to know at least a few thousand words.

But in this era of the Tang Dynasty, unless it is like Li Zhong, who is originally a child of a family, loyalty does not need to be considered at all, and it was Li Yuanjia who taught him to read and write at the beginning, and promoted him to the position of manager of movable type printing, otherwise if you change someone casually, who would want to do this kind of thing for you?

If you know thousands of words, you can be called a reader!

After muttering for a long time, Li Yuanjia's eyes narrowed, and he made up his mind: "Li Zhong, go back and look for it in the Zhuangzi, if there are slightly smarter children, pick a few and send them to the palace!" I'll find someone to teach them to read and write, and then let them take care of the words! ”

“…… Yes, King! ”

Li Zhong, who was surprised and delighted, was stunned for a moment before he bowed down gratefully.

His biggest headache is the problem of manpower, and he must be able to read most words. To be honest, because of this incident, Li Zhong couldn't sleep at night for several days! Because he knows that as more and more movable types are made, the methods of using movable types are gradually getting started, and sooner or later the king will let them use these things to print books, after all, after spending so much money to make them, they must be used!

But when that time comes, who will use it?

Rely on him Li Zhong alone to pick words and typeset? Not to mention that tired people can't do much, and now he has become the manager of the movable type printing workshop, how can he be willing to do it?

Therefore, after listening to the words of the king, Li Zhong was so happy.

However, after a slight pause, Li Yuanjia spoke again: "Get up...... Li Zhong, I can give it to you, at the latest in three years, I can give it to you! However, three years ...... In three and a half years' time I'm not only going to see at least fifteen hundred movable type, but I'm also going to see that you can use it well, and you can do it? ”

"Fifteen hundred movable type?!"

After listening to Li Yuanjia's words, his heart sank, and Li Zhong, who had just gotten up, immediately understood what he meant.

Two thousand movable type, of course, does not mean two thousand alloy movable type, but refers to 1,500 Chinese characters! If you make 20 movable characters in one kanji according to the minimum standard, it is at least 30,000! And considering that many of the previous ones have to be copied a hundred or fifty, that is to say, at least 40,000, or even more than 40,000!

There is no doubt that this task is definitely not light!

At the end of the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, they had to make the number of movable types at least 45,000, which means that they also needed 40,000 movable types, an average of more than 10,000 per year!

Even if those boys can get out of the school right away, this is too difficult......

"What? Not confident? ”

"No, there is!"

Just after the king glanced at him obliquely, Li Zhong's blood suddenly surged, and he immediately straightened his waist and answered loudly.

"Hehe, good!"

Raising his eyebrows, Li Yuanjia smiled: "Then I'll wait for what you hand over in three and a half years!" And don't forget, in addition to the 1,500 movable type, as well as the method of storage and picking up words, the subsequent printing must also be done for me, at least there can be no more problems such as too slow speed and uneven color, understand? ”

"Understood, King!"

Taking a deep breath, Li Zhong nodded again.

Even if all the movable types have been made, the craftsmen have all recognized the words, and there are countless problems that need to be solved if you really want to start printing!

For example, after the movable type is typeset, some words are printed in a dark color, some are printed in a light color, and some are not even printed at all; For example, after printing a few or more than a dozen sheets, the movable type will appear crooked, or even the typesetting will be messed up; In addition, printing now needs to be manually put up one by one, and it needs to be pressed manually, which is too inefficient in the words of the king......

In short, there are too many problems that need to be solved, is three and a half years really enough?

Li Zhong didn't know the bottom in his heart, but he didn't dare to refute Li Yuanjia's order.

Three and a half years......

Do it hard!

Li Zhong was nervous in his heart, but Li Yuanjia didn't care about his feelings at all - in three and a half years, he was already very rich!

If you can't do that, why enjoy such high benefits?

Every month, Li Yuanjia had to throw hundreds of pieces into the movable type printing workshop, except for the metal and various ores used to make movable type, and all the craftsmen and miscellaneous servants were not low. Especially Li Zhong, that month was enough to live a good life in Chang'an City and feed a family, which was something that most of the servants in the palace couldn't think of!

With so many benefits, how can you do it without contributing?

And three and a half years is the final bottom line given to them by Li Yuanjia, if he is still not satisfied by then, then the manager of the movable type printing workshop can only be replaced, and Li Zhong ......

Hehe, it's enough to be a typesetter!

Sometimes Li Yuanjia also felt it, as if the longer he lived as this prince, the more cold-blooded he became. Not to mention the Li Zhong in front of him, it is Han Shan, who has been serving by his side for more than ten years, and he has recently raised the idea of preparing to let him "retire" and come to this Zhuangzi to retire.

and Qin Qiong, the prince of the Wing Kingdom not long ago, although he didn't know what illness the other party had, and knew that even if he made a move, there was a high probability that he would not be able to save it, but watching Qin Huaidao take away those jars of wine, Li Yuanjia was also impressed by himself again.

This kind of thing, he would never have done it when he was a doctor in his previous life!

But now......

Not only did he say what he said just now, but after he finished speaking, Li Yuanjia still felt taken for granted in his heart, and he didn't think that there was anything wrong with letting Li Zhong, who had been in Zhenguan for 12 years, spend more than three years perfecting movable type printing!

When Gutenberg was alive, wasn't it only the 14th century?

In Europe at that time, the level of science and technology was probably not much higher, so why could Gutenberg do it, but our craftsmen couldn't?

So Li Yuanjia didn't care about Li Zhong's thoughts at all, he was all focused on movable type at this time: "Even if it is all done after three and a half years, the cost of this movable type is too high!" If we want movable type printing to really work in the future, we have to find a way to solve the problem of large-scale production of movable type......"