Regardless of the cost of movable type, and such a thing as "distribution discounts", selling a copy of "University" for twenty dollars is really not a loss.

After all, it's only a few thousand words, not many pages.

But if you take into account the production cost of metal movable type, as well as the various costs of Xinhua Bookstore, it will really be a big loss to sell a book for 20 yuan!

The value of movable type printing actually lies in a large number of printing and repeated use, if the number of printing is less, it does not reflect the advantages of engraving.

After all, relatively speaking, the cost of metal movable type made by Li Yuanjia is much higher than that of engraving.

On the other hand, if the engraving plate is used many times, it is easy to be damaged, and only one book can be printed after one molding, so it cannot be reused like movable type, and the efficiency is extremely low. Therefore, in the future, when the printing volume of books is huge to a certain extent, movable type printing will completely replace engraving and become a huge force to promote the development of civilization!

In other words, Gutenberg's movable type printing was so high because it happened to be in a good era.

An era of increased demand for books is the basis for the rapid development of movable type printing.

But the biggest headache for Li Yuanjia is the Tang Dynasty in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, where did he find such a big printing demand? This is not the era of the information explosion of the future, with hundreds of thousands of books published every year! In these days, anyone who dares to "write a book and speak up" is a big bull, otherwise a random person who dares to write something and say it is a "book" will definitely be scolded by the literati.

That is, "miscellaneous books" like "Mathematics", Li Yuanjia dared to throw it out, not afraid of what people said.

So there are very few books, and most of them are copied by hand, where does the business volume come from?

Therefore, in the eyes of Han Lucheng and Li Zhong, their own king is definitely a little feverish in his brain, so he will print 5,000 copies in one go, and each volume only sells for 20 yuan......

Doesn't this make it clear that it doesn't make money?

It's a pity that no matter how the two admonished, Li Yuanjia didn't plan to change his mind, and finally waved his hand impatiently and said, "Okay, just do as I say!" 5,000 copies were printed, and each book was sold for twenty dollars...... Well? That's right! Don't rush to print it first, I'll design a front and back cover for you, and you can print it together. ”

"Cover? Back cover? ”

Hearing these two completely unfamiliar new terms, Han Lucheng and Li Zhong looked at each other, and at the same time looked confused......

……

Near the end of the month, Li Yuanjia finally returned to his Han Palace.

When "University" was printed, he didn't have to keep staring there, but after designing a simple book cover, he asked Li Zhong to find someone to engrave a few engravings - unfortunately, the movable type could not be printed yet.

And what makes Li Yuanjia even more regretful is that now they only have one font and one font size.

Therefore, the front and back covers can only be printed by engraving, so that Li Yuanjia personally wrote the four big characters of "Xinhua Bookstore" in flying white font, and the words "price: 20 yuan" and "ISBN: 2-13-001-001" are printed in the lower right corner of the back cover.

"The beginning of the modern publishing industry, is there any?!"

Thinking that he pioneered the first publishing house in Datang, "Xinhua Bookstore", and also pioneered the precedent of printing pricing and edition number, Li Yuanjia felt very comfortable, as if he had created another piece of history.

And......

"Hehe, it's nice to use Arabic numerals again."

Thinking of the pricing and edition number on the back cover, even Li Yuanjia, who returned home, was still smiling and very happy - those who want to take advantage of the book "University" will not be interested in these two numbers if they buy this "University"? Even if you are not interested, at least when you see the word pricing, the people at Xinhua Bookstore will probably explain to them in detail what they mean, right?

In this way, at least quite a few people will be able to know Arabic numerals...... No, Tianzhu numbers exist, right?

If their curiosity is stronger, the clerk of Xinhua Bookstore can also explain to them the meaning of the edition number - 2 represents the second year of Datang "Zhenguan", 13 represents the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, 001 represents Xinhua Bookstore, and the second 001 represents the first book published by Xinhua Bookstore in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan......

Although this year may be the same book, but the sense of ritual must be expressed!

The more he thought about it, the happier he became, Li Yuanjia saw a group of people officially saluting under the leadership of Fang Fengzhu, and he didn't feel annoyed when he shouted something like "Welcome the king back to his house", and even waved his hand with a smile: "Okay, get up!" ”

After the indispensable ceremony, the subordinates dispersed one after another, and then Fang Fengzhu and the four girls hugged Li Yuanjia back to the house.

I knew his habits, so I took a short rest when I came back, and the people quickly prepared the bath water. After the four girls withdrew, Fang Fengzhu waited for Li Yuanjia to take off his clothes, he lay comfortably in the hot bath water, and sighed with satisfaction.

If you don't ask for a lot of requirements on this day, it's actually quite comfortable.

The real food comes to open his mouth, his clothes come to stretch his hands, and even when he takes a bath, there are people waiting to rub his ashes at any time, and she is a delicate lady of the Guogong Mansion......

To be honest, sometimes Li Yuanjia feels that he is too hypocritical.

This kind of treatment is not even for ordinary people in the future, even those super-rich people don't have it. After all, the rich can buy all kinds of services, but they definitely can't buy this kind of huge suppression at the innate level. In this era, except for the emperor, the crown prince and a very small number of other people, he Han King Li Yuanjia is just awesome and doesn't explain!

It stands to reason that there is nothing to be dissatisfied with on such a day?

But there is no way, Li Yuanjia really misses his own world, misses the Internet, misses TV, misses mobile phones, misses the lights at night, misses Haidilao and Xiabuxiabu, and even misses the road parking lot in Beijing.

Coming to Datang from a colorful world, Li Yuanjia only felt that life was so dull that it made people panic.

At this point, it's really not his hypocrisy.

Even if he doesn't have to be a good baby, and he doesn't have to stay in the palace honestly every day, Li Yuanjia is really not interested in the entertainment of the Tang people. For example, throwing pots, such as polo, and then hunting, I really think it's very boring.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to endure loneliness for so many years, and he wrote an unknown number of books in his study.

So in a sense, whether it is glass, movable type, or even the curved plow and the overturned car, they are all some of the fun that Li Yuanjia has found for himself......

"The King's ......"

"Huh?"

Li Yuanjia's thoughts were diverging, and he suddenly heard Fang Fengzhujiao shouting, and hurriedly opened his eyes to look over, and was suddenly startled. I don't know if it's because I was steamed by the hot water in this bathtub, but I saw my princess's little face flushed, and her eyes were particularly confused: "You and support your body, I'll rub your back......"