Chapter 298

"What do you mean? Don't tell me, boy, that you've improved printing? Li Er's eyes were full of disbelief.

Li Yi shrugged. "Is it hard?"

When Li Er heard this, he was speechless, isn't this difficult? If it were simple, no one would have been able to improve papermaking for hundreds of years.

Li Yi smiled slightly. "Uncle Li, to be honest, printing is actually not difficult at all, as soon as I say it, you will understand! Nowadays, printing technology is engraving printing, that is, every page of a book is printed, a corresponding engraving plate needs to be specially made, so that there can be printing, but this method is slow to say, and it is also costly! In that case, why don't we think differently? ”

Li Er asked subconsciously. "What angle?"

"You think, block printing divides a book into dozens of pages, so why can't we divide this number of pages into words?"

"Divide into word counts? Wouldn't that be more wasteful material? Slower? The eldest grandson queen on the side couldn't help but ask.

"That's not right!" Li Er suddenly opened his mind. "Yi Xiaozi means that the engraving is replaced with words, so that it can be used repeatedly, because there are so many words, and what content is printed, as long as it is rearranged and combined."

Li Yi clapped his palms. "That's right, that's what I meant! Uncle Li, the queen, you think, if you change the engraving plate to a square word of equal size, and then engrave all the commonly used words, the commonly used words such as Zhihu can also be engraved more, so that a set is formed, and as long as there is this set of movable type, only one or two craftsmen can print any book at will. This saves a lot of material. Second, the biggest disadvantage of engraving printing is slow, because every set of engraving, it is necessary to make a special book for comparison, a person needs more than ten days or even longer to do a good job of a book engraving, however, how many books, each set of books needs a large number of engravings, in this way, not only waste manpower and material resources, but also delay time. But the movable type printing is different, the content of the book is different, but the number of words is the same, so it is completely possible to let a group of craftsmen specially engrave a movable type, so that only a few thousand craftsmen can engrave all the words, and the output is extremely high, presumably it is not a problem to make hundreds of sets of movable type a day. At that time, it would only take dozens of workers to print thousands of copies a day to print a book. ”

The more Li Er listened, the more excited he became, this movable type printing was really amazing, although it was only a small change, but it made a leap forward in printing. Li Er didn't think about it so much at first, but with Li Yi's explanation, he understood the horror of movable type printing better.

"A virtuous son-in-law is really a great talent!" Li Er couldn't help but praise Li Yi, and even called out his virtuous son-in-law.

Li Yi shook his head slightly. "Uncle Li, do you really think I'm a great talent?"

Li Er was stunned. "What do you mean? Isn't this papermaking and printing your work? ”

"Well, not really. The little nephew didn't mean that, the little nephew meant that neither papermaking nor printing was as difficult as it seemed, and to be honest, this papermaking technique only changed some of the materials and changed to a very ordinary method. Not to mention the little nephew, it may take a long time for anyone to find out, but with a little guidance from the little nephew, those workers immediately improved their papermaking skills; Printing is the same, but the engraving is replaced by movable type, however, this problem has actually trapped mankind for hundreds of years, Uncle Li, think about it, what is the problem? Is it really hard to make paper and print? ”

Li Er was stunned again, this time even Empress Changsun was stunned. This question has never been thought of by them, why?

In the past, as long as someone invented something, as long as the thing was good. So the basic process is that the craftsman reports the thing to the current emperor, and then the current emperor first praises after reading it, then praises with joy, and finally makes a reward and encouragement. But he never thought about why he could make this thing, but others couldn't? They can only think that this is a man of God, this man is too smart, a genius who is rare in a hundred years. Then, I accepted the idea with peace of mind, yes, he was a genius, I can't think of it, it's because I'm stupid, but, is that really the case?

Li Yi tactfully told Li Er and Empress Changsun about his thoughts, which also caused them to think deeply. Oh, yes! What to ask? Is it really because Li Yi is too smart? No, isn't it just replacing the engraving with movable type? What's so hard about that? But why can't I think of it?

In fact, this is also a question that Li Yi has been thinking about, throughout Chinese history, up and down for 5,000 years, the times have been progressing, and the pace is also very fast. But if you look closely, you will find that in the past two hundred years or so in modern times, the speed of development has far exceeded that of hundreds or even thousands of years in ancient times.

Several industrial revolutions have progressed human beings from manual civilization to mechanical civilization, and now from mechanical civilization to the information age. Such a huge change, but it only took one or two hundred years, what is the reason for this phenomenon, in Li Yikai's view, the fundamental reason is the emancipation of the mind.

If the mind is not emancipated, no system can promote the leapfrog development of a dynasty, just like Li Yi, although he can rely on the prophet of the traverser, he can invent and create many things, but the minds of the people of the Tang Dynasty are not emancipated, even if he invents the aircraft cannon, the Tang Dynasty will not be able to get rid of the shackles of the feudal era, and it will never progress, therefore, emancipating the mind is the fundamental.

However, emancipating the mind is more difficult than reform, China's Confucianism for more than a thousand years, is not to talk about playing, emancipating the mind, or to work against Confucianism, Li Yi believes that as long as he says his thoughts, no matter how Li Er protects him, he will never see the sun of Li Ertian, Confucianism in the ancient feudal era has been sacred, and it is definitely not a joke.

But Li Yi didn't want to be caught, he wanted to use the old method, boiled frogs in warm water and noodles, and hit hard.

So, now, it's a start.

Li Yi's question also made Li Er fall into thinking, as the emperor, Li Er thought further, he knew that since Li Yi could raise this problem, there must be a solution, but he didn't know what Li Yi's purpose was? At this time, the sudden raising of this question really made Li Er a little confused.

Li Er also grasped some clues, this problem is nothing more than related to academics and education, however, these two points are dead holes that affect the whole body, and he doesn't believe that Li Yi doesn't know this.

"What do you mean?" Li Er asked quietly.