"King, Li Zhong is here."

"Well, let him in."

"Yes."

The conversation in the room was faintly heard, but Li Zhong stood respectfully outside the door, not daring to go in directly, or even to stretch out his head to look inside. It wasn't until the beautiful little girl came out of it and said lightly to him, "Go in, be careful", that Li Zhong took a deep breath, subconsciously reached out and flicked the non-existent dust on his body, and then walked in with his feet.

"I've seen the king......"

"Alright, get up."

After Li Zhong finished saluting, Li Yuanjia waved his hand, let him get up, and at the same time asked with a smile: "Li Zhong, how is the movable type required for "University" done?" How much is missing? ”

Not surprised by Li Yuanjia's question, Li Zhong immediately owed a debt, and said in a deep voice: "If you go back to the king, there are still thirty-one words left...... These are not very commonly used Chinese characters, and according to the requirement of making five characters per character, that is, one hundred and fifty-five movable characters need to be made...... At worst, it will take about ten days, and if it is fast, it will take seven or eight days! ”

Before he came, he guessed what the king was going to ask, and Li Zhong was naturally prepared for a long time.

In fact, if you just print the book "University", many words don't need to be made as many as five at all, such as those rare "缗", "Zhan" and the like, it is enough to make one or two. However, in the words of the king, since he has already done it, it is better to do more.

What if other books are to be printed in the future, and there are a lot of these words on a single page?

It's just five movable words, and it's really not much.

Of course, these are just some words that are not very commonly used, and can even be called "rare", some commonly used words such as "politics", "morality" and the like, Li Zhong and they have done at least twenty! And some of the more commonly used, many books are almost full of pages, such as "zhi", "for", "son", "said" and the like, and you need to prepare at least fifty, or even hundreds!

Anyway, Li Zhong and the others have become more and more proficient in the craftsmanship of yin and yang reversal.

Now it is a little more difficult to engrave at the beginning, after all, if the movable metal type is not damaged by man, it can be used for a long, long time, and each word can be reused hundreds of times. Therefore, in order to save paper and ink, Li Zhong and the movable type they made are not large, if you judge by Li Yuanjia's standards...... That is, the level of the number three?

Anyway, even if you are good at writing small characters, you have to write slowly with a thin pen.

So even though Li Zhong's subordinates now have several skilled workers, and they still use the Han Wang style that has given up the beauty for the sake of convenient carving...... Ahem, Songti characters, but it still takes a person a whole day to carve out a word. In addition, some people have to do the work of yin and yang molding, and some people have to do the cleaning and fine processing after casting, and it really takes at least seven or eight days for more than 100 movable types!

Li Yuanjia also knew a lot about this, and nodded when he heard this: "I know, after all the words are done, you will immediately typeset, make a copy and send it to me first, and then decide whether to print it after I have read it." ”

is still the same sentence, even in the Zhenguan period, this book cannot be printed casually.

At least Li Yuanjia didn't dare to print it casually.

Li Zhong naturally didn't ask too much, and immediately bowed down and said, "Yes, big king, remember the little one." ”

"Hmm."

With a slight bow, Li Yuanjia raised his eyebrows at him, and asked about the main purpose of calling Li Zhong over today: "Li Zhong, all the records I asked you to bring, but did you bring them?" ”

"It's been brought, King!"

Without any hesitation, Li Zhong hurriedly handed over a booklet that he had accumulated for several years.

However, Li Yuanjia didn't mean to reach out to pick it up, casually asked him to put the booklet on the table, and asked with a smile: "I won't look at things, I just want to know one thing, that is, when you tried to find an alloy suitable for making movable type in the past, you should have tested every thing you made, right?" ”

"Uh...... Yes, Great King. ”

After a pause, Li Zhong hurriedly nodded again.

When they were studying with that gentleman in Luzhou, Li Zhong and Zhang Wan would also learn something from Li Yuanjia every month, although the time was very short, about two or three days, but after all, they still learned a lot. So they not only know what they mean, but they also use it in their daily lives.

And after seeing him nod, Li Yuanjia's face naturally showed a satisfied smile: "Very good, then you should also keep the alloys made at that time, right?" ”

"Yes, my lord, all of them are there!"

This time, there was no flute, Li Zhong nodded directly: "There is a small warehouse in our movable type printing workshop, which is used to store those alloys that are not suitable for making movable type after they are made, and now there are about more than a hundred pieces...... However, in order to save costs, we don't do much each time, that is, one or two catties. ”

"Haha, good!"

After listening to Li Zhong's words, the smile on Li Yuanjia's face became even bigger.

Not only because he got the results he wanted, but more importantly, he heard the words "cost saving" from the mouth of a Tang Dynasty person, which made Li Yuanjia feel full of satisfaction at this time......

Before he knew it, he had changed a lot.

So for the next ten seconds, Li Yuanjia didn't speak, but the corners of his mouth curled up very obviously, happily enjoying this moment of satisfaction. It's just that his strange reaction made Li Zhong a little panicked, because it was very disrespectful for the subordinates to stare directly at the king, so he didn't dare to raise his head, and he was naturally very worried when he couldn't hear the sound at this time.

"Alas......"

After a long period of heat, Li Yuanjia sighed with satisfaction and said, "Li Zhong, I'll give you a task next, in addition to doing those movable characters during this time, do the work I gave you to do well." ”

"Yes, my lord, please."

"It's very simple, it's to turn out all the alloys I made before!"

Tapping his fingers lightly on the desktop in front of him, Li Yuanjia smiled and said: "But this time it's not used to make movable type, but to try to make them into other things, such as daggers, farm tools or daily utensils, and then test their hardness, toughness, etc., and then see which of them is more rust-resistant......"

……

"Tsk, I'm glad I remembered this!"

After Li Zhong took the order and left, Li Yuanjia opened the pamphlet on the table and subconsciously rubbed his nose.

The booklet is clearly written in willow charcoal pen, which is small, but it is also very clear. And Li Zhong is also very careful, not only recording the raw materials and proportions used in each alloy, but also recording the weight of the alloy made, as well as the reaction with the ink, etc.

Although it is very simple, there are only the most basic digital records, but in Li Yuanjia's eyes, these words are shining with extremely dazzling light......