See Hou Ye! Bi Sheng's father and son saluted Li Zhang tremblingly, they never dreamed that they had just arrived in the capital, and they met a big man like Li Zhang, and the other party still came to the post house to see them in person, which made Bi Sheng's father and son feel flattered, and they didn't know where to put their hands and feet.

"Mr. Bi doesn't have to be polite, I don't know if you have time now, I can take you to the newly built movable type printing workshop for a turn, there are some problems that you still need to solve." Li Zhang said with a smile at this time.

"The movable type workshop has already been built?" Bi Sheng also raised his head and looked at Li Zhang in surprise when he heard this.

"Almost, in fact, when the order was issued to you, the imperial court had already begun to prepare for the movable type printing workshop, and now not only has it been built, but the movable type has also been built, but there are still some problems that have not been solved." Li Zhang replied with a smile.

"Really! That...... What kind of material did the imperial court use to make movable type? Bi Sheng asked with surprise and some worry when he heard this, he was really afraid that the imperial court would also use clay type, and the same problem would definitely arise at that time.

"Copper, now the imperial court is making copper movable type, but the cost is too high." Li Zhang also said helplessly at this time, in fact, movable type does not have to use copper, as long as you use some soft metals, such as lead, tin, etc., but lead is toxic, and tin is easy to pulverize at low temperatures, so the best way is to lead tin alloy, but the output of lead in this era is smaller, after all, this thing is not very useful, Li Zhang can't find so much lead for the time being, so he simply uses copper.

Hearing that the movable type was actually made of precious copper, Bi Sheng's eyes couldn't help but light up, but it was normal to think about it, the imperial court would definitely not use clay movable type in order to save money like himself, thinking that the movable metal type of his dream had been realized, which made Bi Sheng also excited, and even a little eager to see it with his own eyes.

Li Zhang also saw Bi Sheng's thoughts at this time, and invited their father and son again, this time Bi Sheng agreed without hesitation, and then Li Zhang personally took them out of the post house in a carriage, and the group came to the east side of the imperial city, and the famous Guozijian is also here, of course, there are still many Goolan courtyards that are more famous here, I heard that Zhao Kuangyin personally ordered the establishment, and I don't know what he thought at the beginning?

In the direction of the northeast corner of Guozijian, the movable type printing workshop is set up here, when Li Zhang came here with Bi Sheng, the officials in charge of managing the workshop also immediately ran out to greet him, although this workshop was suggested by Li Zhang, but it was led by the Ministry of Industry, and it was usually managed by the officials of the Ministry of Industry, of course, the entire workshop Li Zhang also contributed a lot.

"Director Zhao, this is Mr. Bi, who invented movable type printing, you will also work together in the future, and you will take them to visit it today!" At this time, Li Zhang introduced Bi Sheng's father and son to the Ministry of Industry official who managed this place, and said that although the other party's surname was Zhao, he had nothing to do with the royal family, but he was also from Hubei, and he was half a fellow countryman with Bi Sheng.

"Master Hou is polite!" I saw that Director Zhao also said to Li Zhang very politely, and then smiled at Bi Sheng, "Director Bi is polite, in Zhao Meng, he is the head of this printing workshop, and the appointment of the Ministry of Industry to you has also come down, and he is the same as the head of the official worship of the nine products, and he co-presides over the affairs of the movable type printing workshop!" ”

"Nine...... Nine products in charge! Bi Sheng's eyes widened in surprise when he heard the other party's words, because he really didn't expect that the imperial court would really award him an official, and he was a nine-grade official, although this grade was very low, but you must know that the county lieutenant and the lord of a county were only nine-grade, and he didn't even have the opportunity to see the county lieutenant of Qishui before, but he didn't expect that he would suddenly be on the same level as the county lieutenant.

"Yes, speaking of which, there are not many directors in the Ministry of Engineering, and this time Director Bi can be promoted exceptionally, thanks to the recommendation of Master Hou!" Director Zhao is very good at being a person, and at this time he actually told Li Zhang's recommendation of Bi Sheng, which made Bi Sheng finally understand that he was able to enter Beijing thanks to the Dingbei Marquis in front of him.

When Bi Sheng heard this, Li Zhang immediately thanked him, but Li Zhang didn't do this to get Bi Sheng's gratitude, he just felt that Bi Sheng's contributions should be duly rewarded, and a mere nine-grade master was not even enough to commend Bi Sheng's merits, but the status of the Great Song Dynasty craftsman was still relatively low, and it was not easy to fight for a nine-grade master for him.

After all, the capital is one of the largest printing centers in the Great Song Dynasty, so the craftsmen here are all drawn from various printing workshops, and they are also familiar with movable type printing, and some processes still need their experience to complete.

Bi Sheng looked at such a large printing workshop, and the whole trembled slightly with excitement, and what he wanted to see most was movable type, so Director Zhao also took them to the typesetting room, where the copper movable type that had been made, Bi Sheng stretched out his deformed rough hand and picked up a few copper movable type, and was shocked to find that the size of these movable types was almost the same, and the font on it was also very regular and clear, which did not look like it was carved, but like casting.

"Director Zhao, doesn't this bronze character look like it's carved?" Bi Sheng immediately spoke out the doubts in his heart.

"Yes, although we can also do it on the copper, but the speed is too slow, and it also consumes too much manpower, so our copper movable type is to first carve out the yang word fan, and then use the iron to knock out the yin word fan, and finally this is cast in the copper on the yin word fan, and now we see the movable type, this method is still Hou Ye came up with!" Director Zhao finally explained with a smile, of course, he didn't forget to praise Li Zhang's merits.

"Good way, in this way, even if the movable type is damaged in the future, as long as the character is saved, it can be quickly replenished in the future, and it can also be made in large quantities of copper movable type, which is simply a lot of one stone!" Bi Sheng couldn't help but sigh in admiration when he heard this, and at the same time looked at Li Zhang's eyes full of admiration.

Li Zhang laughed at this time, and didn't explain anything, in fact, this method of yin and yang characters was not something he came up with, but a method used by later generations, although he didn't know much, but he also read it from some materials, so he had some impressions, of course, he just put forward ideas, and the most important thing was that those craftsmen realized his ideas.

For this standard abnormal movable type, Bi Sheng also had a feeling that he couldn't put it down, and Bi Wen and Bi Rong next to him were even more dazzled, because in their eyes, these brass were all money.

After reading the movable type, Director Zhao took the Bi family father and son around in other places, and finally when he came to a room, he saw that some craftsmen inside were also arguing fiercely about something, and Li Zhang also looked at Bi Sheng at this time, although the workshop was built, but some problems have not been solved, and he also hoped to use his experience to solve these problems.