Everyone expressed their doubts about Li Yi's words, because the writing of any book is a very troublesome matter. Why are books so precious? It's because there are too few! Why too little? Because you can only write one by one! Who would do this kind of thing, except for the officials who specialize in copying books?

Therefore, when many scholars study various books, they will do one thing, that is, copy books. On the one hand, it can deepen the memory, on the other hand, it can practice calligraphy, and on the other hand, it can also increase the stock of a scroll.

But Li Yi said that he could easily solve it? As long as one difficulty is solved, how many books are not a problem?

"Zikang, what is the law? What kind of difficulties did you encounter? Say it and I'll be able to help come up with ideas. Cai Yong and the others hurriedly asked when they heard this.

The number of books has always been a headache for all scholars, as I said before, not many people are willing to do such a thing as copying books. In fact, the vast majority of people copy the same book twice at most. The first time is to copy while studying, and the second time is to write down your understanding of it while copying after learning and accomplishing, which is a common note in various books.

"Actually, it's very simple, Yi intends to carve out the characters used in these books directly...... Li Yi casually said the idea of engraving printing.

Yes, woodblock printing, and not what is called letterpress printing. Although Li Yi was also thinking about letterpress printing at first, after all, in his mind, this thing is the big killer of printing. It was only after careful consideration that he completely dispelled this idea.

What is letterpress printing? To put it bluntly, it is to engrave out each word, and when it is time to print, directly select these words for typesetting and printing. Compared with engraving printing, letterpress printing saves the trouble of re-engraving, and once it needs to be modified, letterpress printing can only be re-engraved, while letterpress printing only needs to replace those that need to be modified.

It sounds like letterpress printing is many times stronger than woodblock printing, so why does Li Yi still choose woodblock printing instead of letterpress printing? The reason is actually very simple and unrealistic!

If you use block printing, you only need to write out the book that needs to be engraved and give it to those craftsmen who are good at carving, and then you can engrave it. But what about letterpress printing? Carving is naturally still this routine, but after carving out, the problem comes...... How do these craftsmen in charge of printing pick out the engraved characters for typesetting?!

Although Li Yi didn't calculate, if he thought about it, if the scale of the academy was to be expanded to the extent he imagined, the characters that needed to be engraved would be at least five or six thousand words, and the person who could read five or six thousand words might be an ordinary craftsman? Apparently impossible!

Not to mention anything else, even Lu Bu and others, who have been required by Li Yi to read and write since they were children, cannot recognize five or six thousand words! So unless you let those Confucians or Li Yi pick out the words in person, but unless Li Yi is crazy, it is absolutely impossible to do this!

After all, even if they are stored separately in a regular way, it will take a lot of time to select enough words for a book.

Listening to Li Yi's thoughts on engraving printing, everyone looked at Li Yi with a look of admiration.

After a long while, Sima Hui said faintly, "I didn't expect that the problem that plagued countless people was solved by Zikang so simply...... He is really a man of God! ”

Well, apart from the word god, Sima Hui really couldn't find any words to describe Li Yi. Although engraving printing may sound simple, no one could have imagined it before it appeared! And isn't the man of God able to think of things that ordinary people can't think of?

After sighing for a long time, everyone finally came back to their senses from the shock, looked at Li Yi and asked eagerly, "Zikang, what is the difficulty you said just now?" ”

Hearing this, Li Yi chuckled, "Actually, it's not a difficult thing, and you also know that this method only needs to apply ink directly to the carved word board to print, but whether it is printed on wooden slips or bamboo slips, there are still various problems." But if it is printed on paper, the quality of the existing Caihou paper is not very good......"

Cai Hou paper is Cai Lun's improved papermaking technology to make paper, although after the successful research and development, it was promoted to the whole country by the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, but there are not many people who really go to mass manufacturing. On the one hand, it is because this kind of paper is not very good in terms of the cost of manufacturing or the quality after it is made, and on the other hand, it is because paper products are really difficult to preserve.

For example, if you use paper to write a book, if you are splashed with water, it will be finished in an instant. But what if it's a simple slip? It's safe to say that there won't be any problems! Because all the slips written into books go through the process of roasting and dewatering, so that when the characters are written, they will be easily absorbed by the bamboo. That's why if you want to delete the words written on the slip, you can only cut them with a knife.

In this case, not to mention that the quality of the paper is not good, even if it is good, it will not be used by people, and it is so troublesome to write books, once it is lost, no one can afford it!

But! When engraving printing came along, all this was no problem! So Li Yi directly started the idea of paper, but now Cai Hou paper, but he can't satisfy him.

Hearing Li Yi's words, Cai Yong suddenly smiled and said, "If Zikang only has such a problem, then you don't have to worry, I know a person who has made a new paper based on the improvement of Cai Hou paper, I once wrote, but it is much better than Cai Hou paper." As for the price of manufacturing, it is said that it is also lower than Caihou paper. ”

"Oh?! Seriously?! Where is that man now?! Li Yiyan immediately asked. Li Yi did not doubt Cai Yong's words, because as a famous calligrapher in the world, Cai Yong's requirements for paper are undoubtedly higher!

"This person's name is Zuo Bo Ziyi, and he is a native of Donglai, Qingzhou. I had a relationship with him in the past, and if Zikang wanted to recruit him, he wouldn't refuse. Cai Yong chuckled when he heard this.

"Great! Then I'm tired of my uncle! Li Yi was overjoyed when he heard this.

He couldn't help but like it, because if he could solve the problem of paper, then books would no longer be a problem! And when there are no problems with books and masters, then the size of the academy will only be a matter of time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although it is a bit selfish to say this, I still hope that you can keep the matter of engraving and printing secret." Li Yi looked at everyone and said respectfully.

Hearing this, everyone naturally nodded again and again, as Li Yi said, it was very selfish to do this, but considering the future situation in the world, everyone still agreed to keep it secret. After all, they are now on Li Yi's side, even if they are not outstanding.