Wang Chengen asked puzzledly: "Why do you want to buy Wanshufang, doesn't the inner court also have a factory for printing books?" Aren't newspapers and textbooks printed there? ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "The bookstore in the inner court has a slight image and Wanshufang is still a little behind, they should be stronger than the inner court in ink and printing process, Your Majesty means that since we want to build a printing press, of course the requirements are relatively high, so we want to learn their technology." ”

Wang Chengen took Sun Yuanhua to the British Mansion to ask for a meeting, and after Zhang Weixian took them in, he knew that this was the case. He said with some embarrassment: "This Wanshufang is the property of the public high school, and I can't count if I speak alone." ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "Actually, we don't need the entire bookstore, we only need the technology of printing books." We would be very grateful if the British could sell us the technology to print books. ”

Zhang Weixian said with a smile: "What do you say about whether you sell it or not, the emperor wants the courtier's things, and he can't give money." ”

Sun Yuanhua shook his head and said: "Last time, Your Majesty told us that in the future, we must set a law to protect private property, even if it is the emperor, you can't just take the property of your courtiers." His Majesty set up a patent inquiry office to let people know the value of technology, and we can only buy this technology, and the price must not be too low, otherwise it will become a clear robbery. ”

Zhang Weixian rubbed his hands and asked cautiously, "How about the hundred?" ”

Sun Yuanhua shook his head and said, "It's far from enough. ”

Zhang Weixian said again: "That thousand? ”

Wang Chengen was impatient and slowly added to him, and said directly: "This way, 20,000 yuan, the British Duke will take out a printing room, and our people will be in it for ten days, and your people will teach them how to use it." Then we take the contents with us, and everyone is clear. ”

Zhang Weixian is naturally very satisfied, his family's Wanshufang is better than making money in the long run, but it can definitely not earn 20,000 yuan a year. Moreover, the inner court originally had a printing office, so I don't know why they asked to come to Wanshufang. He nodded and said, "I'm really embarrassed, then thank you Wang Dujian." ”

Wang Chengen nodded and said, "We have all the money, you can't hide your secrets." ”

Zhang Weixian nodded again and again: "How dare you, please rest assured, we will definitely know everything and say everything." ”

The next day, Sun Yuanhua came to Wanshufang with the bills issued by the bank, handed the bills to Zhang Weixian, and said: "Grandpa Guo, I have brought ten apprentices, please take care of them in the past few days." ”

These ten people are all students of the equipment department, and it only took them five days to figure out everything they should know, and then transport the equipment and ink inside back to the Ordnance Bureau.

The students in the Inner Court Printing Factory also transported the equipment of the Inner Court back, and the two groups communicated, and soon found that the reason for the better quality of Wanshufang was the difference in ink. Then they began experimenting with printing presses powered by water and steam engines.

After the experiment, everyone found that the effect of using a steam engine to drive the printing press would be much better, so Fang Yizhi, who developed the steam engine, was transferred to the development team of the printing press.

Fang Yizhi was young, although the emperor personally arranged for him to intern in the steam engine department of the Ordnance Bureau, but everyone did not pay much attention to him. However, he did have a few brushes, and soon after his internship, he made some very useful suggestions on the miniaturization of the steam engine, which attracted the attention of the three bigwigs of the Armory Bureau. The development of this printing press was rushed by Sun Moon Hall, so he was sent as the backbone.

Fang Yizhi first carefully observed the model of the printing press made by the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau in front of him, and then began to improve it, he added a control wheel between the printing press and the steam engine, which could disconnect the two at any time, so that it could be stopped in time when there was a problem. Then a governor was added in the middle, which could change the speed of the printing press while the speed of the steam engine remained the same.

He even had people add various substances in different proportions to the ink and conducted many experiments, and the result was a better ink than Wanshufang. Not only is it sticky, but it does not penetrate the edges of the paper.

When the Ordnance Bureau delivered the finished printing press to the Sun Moon Hall, Fang Yizhi deliberately left one because he felt that it might be better transformed. Sun Yuanhua, on the other hand, gave him the task of renovating the printing press, and then took away his control wheels and governor and used them in the steam locomotive.

The Sun Moon Hall built a new printing house next to the Kyoto University Hall, and when the printing press arrived, it was specially used to print the selected works. After Wang Chengen saw the efficiency of the printing press, he asked that the newspaper should also be printed in the printing house, which can improve the quality of the newspaper and save costs, because the original engraving printing is too expensive.

A large number of unique ancient books were printed by the printing press, and a large number of books were also published one by one. Zhu Youxiao set up a Sun Moon Hall Bookstore and opened ten bookstores in the capital in one go, selling only Sun Moon Hall books and new papers. Because of the good quality and low price, it became a must-visit place for scholars in the capital for a while, and the business of Wanshufang was greatly affected.

Zhang Weixian listened to the report of the shopkeeper of Wanshufang, according to the price of the Riyuetang Bookstore, even if Wanshufang only sells the same price, it is a loss, and the books of Riyuetang are much better than those of Wanshufang in terms of printing clarity and paper quality.

Zhang Weixian asked, "Don't we still have a lot of books that they don't have?" These books can still make money. ”

The shopkeeper complained bitterly: "Grandpa, the only thing they haven't printed now is only books with a large number of illustrations, I heard that it is because there are not enough people for typesetting now, but after they print all the commonly used books, we can't even make money from these books." ”

Zhang Weixian said: "Then what do you mean I should do?" ”

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Grandpa, they used our technology back then, if Grandpa comes forward and asks them to sell us a few printing presses, we can also print books like theirs, and the price will be fine." ”

Zhang Weixian thought of this reason, so he ran to Sun Yuanhua and said, "Guest Sun, sell us ten printing presses you made." ”

Sun Yuanhua smiled: "Of course you can, 10,000 yuan for a unit." ”

Zhang Weixian said bitterly: "No, a machine costs 10,000 yuan?" ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "Grandpa, it's really this price, the manufacturing cost of a machine is 5,500 yuan, but each machine has to pay 3,000 yuan in patent fees, and we have to manually manage various storage costs, so it costs 10,000 yuan a machine, and it does not include the cost of installation and commissioning." ”

Zhang Weixian asked, "What is this patent fee?" Why so much money? ”