"No, the ratio of this ink is wrong, although we added more oil, the dye doesn't seem to have completely melted, there must be a problem in this!" In one of the rooms of the printing workshop, an ink-covered craftsman was arguing with people with red faces, surrounded by craftsmen similar to him, discussing the recipe for printing ink.

Although there are many advantages of metal movable type, there are also some disadvantages, such as the metal surface is too smooth and not easy to ink, and most of the ink used in the Central Plains is ink, and most of the ink used in printing in later generations is ink, although Li Zhang knows this, but the ratio of ink still needs a lot of experimental comparison, so these craftsmen have been experimenting with this during this time.

Bi Sheng also encountered the problem of inking when he invented movable type printing, although the inkability of clay movable type is better than that of metal, but it is still impossible to use traditional ink, so Bi Sheng also improved the formula of printing ink, which is one of the reasons why Li Zhang invited him to come.

In addition to the problem of printing ink, there are some processes that need to be improved, such as the rapid retrieval of movable type, typesetting, etc., Bi Sheng They need to simplify these processes as much as possible, so as to speed up the speed of printing, and these are Bi Sheng's old business, plus he is the chief of Zhao Zhen's handpicking, responsible for the craftsmen here, and the improvement of printing technology, so he quickly integrated into the workshop.

Li Zhang didn't stay in the workshop for too long, and when Bi Sheng became familiar with the place, he also said goodbye and left, but he didn't go far, but went to a courtyard next to the printing workshop, which was the newspaper proposed by Li Zhang, after all, the printing workshop mainly provided services for the newspaper, and the newspaper also recruited a lot of young people, many of whom were students of Guozijian.

"Master Hou, please look, this is the news that I asked the people below to write!" As soon as Li Zhang arrived at the newspaper office, he saw a young official about 30 years old and immediately ran forward and delivered a stack of articles to him.

This young official's name is Zhang Fangping, this person has the ability to never forget, once by Song Shou, Cai Qi as the world's genius, and later at a young age in Mao Caiyi, etc., now the official worships the post of writer, and Li Zhang has also heard of his fame, so after the newspaper opened, Li Zhang specially asked Zhang Fangping to be in charge of the newspaper, this person not only writes well, but also has a lot of knowledge, and has expressed very far-sighted views on the party and the affairs of the Liao State.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Zhang Fangping is also a friend of Su Shi's father Su Xun, and even the tomb watch of Su Xun when he died was written by Zhang Fangping himself, but now Su Xun has just begun to study, and Su Shi is a little kid who can only play with mud.

Li Zhang and Zhang Fangping have long been acquainted, after all, he has also spent a lot of effort in this newspaper, so he immediately took the article in Zhang Fangping's hand and looked at it, these are actually some news releases, Li Zhang is training Zhang Fangping's ability to write news during this time, so he generally arranges a few news content, and then asks them to write articles and hand them over to themselves.

However, after Li Zhang read a few articles handed over by Zhang Fangping, his brows couldn't help frowning, and then he said to Zhang Fangping seriously: "An Dao, these articles of yours are indeed brilliant and full of flowers, even if they are placed in the imperial examination, they are quite good articles!" ”

Hearing Li Zhang's praise, Zhang Fangping couldn't help but smile a little, but he didn't expect Li Zhang's words to turn serious at this time: "But I'm afraid you have forgotten, our newspaper is not a place for you to show your talents, but to pass on the news. If they can't read it, why do they buy newspapers? How is the message delivered? ”

Li Zhang asked Zhang Fangping a few questions in a row, he really hadn't thought about this problem before, in fact, when they wrote the articles, they had already tacitly assumed that these articles were for readers to read, so they didn't consider other people at all.

"This ...... I...... The lower official is wrong, and please punish the Hou Ye! In the end, Zhang Fangping also admitted his mistake, he has always thought that he is extremely smart, but this time he was smart and misunderstood, because among these articles for Li Zhang, he wrote the most difficult and difficult to understand.

"Antao, the article is not only by quoting scriptures to show talent, it is also not easy to write an article in an easy-to-understand way, just like the poems of the Xiangshan monks, the language is easy to understand, but it is a great poet who can be called Li Du!" Li Zhang patted Zhang Wenshi's shoulder at this time and said again.

In fact, Zhang Fangping and Li Zhang still attach great importance to him, the other party is not only talented, but also young and far-sighted, especially willing to accept new things, and is very concerned about the affairs of the newspaper, as long as he can change his style of writing, the newspaper will definitely be able to carry forward in his hands in the future.

"Hou Ye rest assured, Xia Guan will definitely not live up to Hou Ye's trust!" Zhang Fangping also regained some confidence at this time, and immediately assured again that he had already heard Li Zhang talk about the future prospects of the newspaper, so he also wanted to take on the important task of guiding public opinion in the world.

"I believe in your talent, in addition, the newspaper does not always have to write some political opinions, decrees and the like, sometimes you can also add some anecdotes, even legends and the like, so that more people can also attract more people to buy the newspaper, only when there are more people who buy the newspaper, the influence of the newspaper will be greater, these need you to slowly figure out a way." Li Zhang finally admonished again.

Zhang Fangping also nodded again and again after hearing this, he very much agreed with Li Zhang's idea of the newspaper, that is, to expand the sales of the newspaper as much as possible in the early stage, only when the sales go up, the newspaper can play a role in guiding public opinion, which is also what Li Zhang values him most, after all, not all readers can be as enlightened as Zhang Fangping.

"Master Hou, what's going on in the printing workshop, how long will it take for the newspaper to be officially released?" Zhang Fangping finally asked again, when it came to the release of the newspaper, he also showed a look of anticipation on his face, after all, they have been preparing for the newspaper for so long, and the most important thing now is to wait for the printing workshop to run smoothly.

"I'm here to tell you that the printing workshop should be up and running soon, and the content and layout of the news on your side also need to be prepared, this is the first issue of the newspaper, and you must not make any mistakes!" Li Zhang also told again at the end.