Every time there is a technological progress, there will always be some occupations eliminated, which is the inevitability of technological progress. It's just that before all this happens, only a very small number of people can perceive it.

In a humble room, a beautifully printed page is printed as the craftsman shakes the wheel of the lithographer. With the repetition of the craftsmen, dozens of pages were printed in a short time.

This is an extremely simple structure of the manpower hand-cranked rotary lithograph, its structure is very simple, the wooden frame and wooden frame, even the rollers are wooden, except for a few gears, there is no "technology" at all, but even so, for Xiao Wu and a few craftsmen who are working, they still seem very surprised, when printing books, they shake the wheel. One person refills the paper, and the other person spends the paper in front, and hundreds of sheets can be printed per hour. This is obviously unprecedented efficiency.

"Boss, this is really fast."

Old man Liang, who had printed books for half his life, couldn't help but be surprised.

"Not only is it fast, but the words printed are also clear, I have printed books for most of my life, and I have never seen such a clear ......"

When a few workers were talking word by word, Shi Yiwen also picked up a piece of paper and looked at it, compared with the books of this era, it was indeed very clear.

"It's mainly the credit of the ink, but this ink can be improved a little more."

Although the ink printed on the paper is clear and black, Shi Yiwen is still not very satisfied, after all, these inks are "soil inks" that "overcome difficulties", which is the West he found from the book - first heat the tung oil in the pot and boil, put in pine smoke, stir well, then add an appropriate amount of rosin powder, maintain the temperature of 70 °C, stir vigorously until there are no grains, infiltrate ginger juice, mix into a paste, and then put it into a container for later use after the temperature gradually drops.

The words printed by such ink are indeed darker and brighter than ink, but some oil stains will inevitably seep out of the edges, which obviously does not meet Shi Yiwen's requirements.

"Childe, look at what you said, just look at the little old man, if nothing else, just because the words printed by our family are so clear, the printed book will definitely sell better and faster than the Jianyang book."

The "Jianyang book" in the mouth of the old man Liang refers to the book printed by Jianyang, Fujian, and the paper, ink, and survey of Jianyang books are worse than those in other regions, so they are naturally cheaper, and after buying so many books, Shi Yiwen of course knows that Jianyang books are synonymous with "bad books", but they are cheap.

"Old man Liang, look at what you said, what is the point of Jianyang's calligraphy, the ink of the printed book is mixed with water, and the words are all gray, so there are black characters? How can that compare to ours? ”

"Childe, it's the little old man who said the wrong thing, the little old man just thinks that our book is so small, and it can be printed so clearly, let's have four pages at the top of one page, even if the Jianyang book is cheap, it can't sell our ......."

"Old man Liang, what you said is that the most expensive thing in this book is paper, our words are small, and the paper used is naturally less, and the words are printed clearly, and the paper used is not bad, and the Jianyang book naturally can't sell our ......."

Whether it is Xiao Wu or Lao Liangtou, they have been working in the bookstore for so many years, and they always know some about the market. After such a book with clear handwriting is printed, it will definitely sell very well, and more importantly, it will not be cheap.

"Hearing you say that, I'm really planning to start a bookstore."

Hearing them say this, Shi Yiwen said with a smile.

"Take a break, I'm just trying the machine and the printing board today."

Looking at the sweaty crowd, Shi Yiwen commanded, and at the same time asked Xiao Wu to bring them tea.

"Childe, in fact, the best business in the world is the business of the bookstore."

The sweaty old Liang Tou looked at the son and said when he was drinking tea.

"Oh? Why is that? ”

"Childe doesn't know? As early as Emperor Gao's meeting, he issued an order, the bookstore does not levy taxes on the printing of books, and it is not a penny to pass the customs or something. ”

Is there no tax on book printing?

Lao Liangtou's words made Shi Yiwen surprised, printing books is not taxed?

But it seems to be ...... It seems that several of his own factories have not paid much tax. It seems that only the oil mill pays a tax of more than a dozen taels of silver every month, and the other soap factories and mosquito coil factories have never heard of paying taxes.

"Why don't you run a bookstore?"

On the way home, Shi Yiwen secretly thought to himself, originally he just wanted to run a newspaper, and even found this house to prepare for running a newspaper, but today's words of Lao Liangtou set off waves in his heart.

Perhaps newspapers can be a rapid channel for the dissemination of new knowledge and ideas, but printing books can also allow people to understand new knowledge more deeply.

"No matter how you lower the price of books, it's always a good thing."

With the idea of opening a bookstore in mind, Shi Yiwen continued to walk, thinking about how to solve the problem of some printing materials as he walked.

Now there are still many raw materials that have not been solved, such as nitric acid, which is inseparable from lithographing, and more refined inks. If these problems are not solved, whether it is the printing of newspapers or books, it will only be a matter of words.

"We have to solve the problem of paper, the current price of paper is too expensive, and if you want to reduce costs, you have to make a fuss about this."

Sometimes I want to do something. It's not as simple as you think, and a lot of things are done from scratch. Many of the ingredients don't come out of nowhere.

While thinking about how to solve these problems, he walked into the deep alley on the side of the road.

It has been a few days since he came to this era, and he did not choose to go home from the main road, but walked into the deep alley on the side of the road. Most of these alleys are connected, and they are easier to walk and closer to each other than the main street.

Walking in the alley, after turning a few alleys. Shi Yiwen saw a woman in cloth in front of him walking slowly with a basket. Perhaps hearing the footsteps behind her, the woman walking in front glanced back, and then buried her head, looking very embarrassed and timid, and quickly accelerated her foot speed from time to time, for fear that there would be a villain behind her.

As soon as he entered the alley, Shi Yiwen saw the woman in the cloth skirt in front of him, following behind the woman, quietly admiring her back, her figure line is very good, the waist is slender, and the body can also support the cloth skirt to a beautiful arc, even if the old dress seems loose, but the excellent figure is still not covered by the cloth skirt. You can also vaguely see the contrast between the white neck and the shabby cloth clothes.

The only pity is that the woman also wears a hat, and a layer of tulle hangs down the hat, so that people can't see her appearance clearly.

Perhaps the woman felt the gaze behind her, and she couldn't help but speed up her pace as she walked. Then he turned into another alley ahead.

When the pretty figure in front of him disappeared, Shi Yiwen felt a little pity, after all, the woman's figure was indeed very attractive from behind, but she didn't know what her appearance was.

At this moment, a woman's scream suddenly came from the alley on the other side.

"Who are you? What do you do in my house? ”

Then I heard a man's voice scolding.

"Hehe, little lady, I've been waiting for you for a long time! Come on, bring this little lady back! ”

"You, what do you want to do?"

The woman's screams were heard again.

"Someone, someone......"