Your Majesty, please. ”

His Majesty Li Er, together with Prince Chengqian, Fang Xuanling, the eldest grandson Wuji, Kong Yingda, Wei Zheng, Yan Lide, the general supervisor, and the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and Shilang inspected the printing workshop of Weifu. Early in the morning, Wei Yan led people to wait at the intersection of Zhuangzi to welcome the arrival of the Tang Dynasty. Originally, I wanted to stand at the intersection with two rows of children shouting "welcome, welcome, warm welcome", but time did not allow, so I had to give up.

Greet people and go directly to the printing workshop. At present, Weifu's printing workshop is only private, small in scale, and weak in printing capacity, and it is still a little difficult to rush to work on the medical books written by Sun Simiao and the textbooks needed by the medical school and compiled by Wei Yan and his wife. Fortunately, the number of students in the first batch was small, otherwise, it would have been a big project.

This is the second time that His Majesty Li Er has been to the Zhuangzi of Weifu, raised his eyes and looked into the distance, and after glancing around, he said: "Ziyue, it seems that your wife has a good ability to manage the family business, and in just three years, this Zhuangzi has changed a lot. ”

With the introduction of corn, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, and the development of earthworm farming, Weifu Zhuangzi has indeed changed greatly. The concept of home has been deeply rooted in the bones, otherwise, how can modern China's real estate be so prosperous, and the people will not work hard to buy a house of their own and build up debts.

Wei Yan smiled and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the compliment, isn't it that Weichen has been an official in Sinong Temple for a few days, and he has learned a lot of agricultural things, this day." As long as you are willing to work hard and work hard, you will always slowly get better, and the villagers are hardworking, otherwise, no matter how good our husband and wife are, it is useless. ”

His Majesty Li Er smiled, did not speak, and led everyone towards the printing workshop. Arrived at the workshop. The masters are in full swing. For the teaching needs of the medical school. The only dozen or so workers are still working three shifts in the factory. Rush to work day and night. According to the usual words, early morning is the time when those who work the evening shift have just finished work and go to the staff canteen to eat, and those who have worked the day shift have just come to take over. Because His Majesty Li Er came to visit, he made an exception last night and did not start work, and the ground had not started in the morning, waiting to greet His Majesty Li Er.

"See Your Majesty."

Young and old in the workshop. Salute His Majesty Li Er together. His Majesty Li Er said: "Flat." Ziyue, let them start, I want to see how movable type printing works. ”

Wei Yan let out an "um" and said, "Masters, let's get ready to start work." Your Majesty, it will take a little time to prepare, so please wait a moment. ”

"It doesn't matter. I'll just wait a moment. ”

The workers in the printing workshop were all introduced by Carpenter Zhou. There are also some that Yan Lide introduced. At the beginning, Wei Yan said that he wanted to invite a few craftsmen to build a printing workshop by himself. There are many big families, and Yan Lide doesn't care. really introduced him to several skilled printing masters, plus the introduction of Carpenter Zhou, put together to form this printing workshop.

The household registration of these artisan households has moved to Weifu, and the family has also moved over, and now, the men in the family are working in the printing workshop, and the women are raising poultry at home. In this era, the artisan households had no status, not to mention, they were still very poor, and the income they received was enough to make ends meet, and they were just hungry.

The houses of the craftsmen are not far from the printing workshop, and it is convenient to work, because today His Majesty Li Er is going to come to inspect, and the family members are hiding in the house, not daring to come out.

Estimating that the time was almost up, one person handed out a mask to block the pungent smell of ink, and then led the person into the workshop. The workers of the printing workshop are all dressed in uniform robes, masks, sleeve covers, and leather gloves, without revealing any skin, and operate in strict accordance with the specifications.

His Majesty Li Er and others, looking at the process all the way, looked at the paper being printed with fonts, cutting, binding, assembly line operations, fast and efficient, and everyone was amazed.

The old man Kong Yingda stood firmly next to the worker in charge of printing, watching him print out pages of book and paper with smooth movements, his expression was focused, and his eyes were full of joy.

His Majesty Li Er took a few printed pages and looked at them, and asked, "Ziyue, why is there a vacancy here?" ”

Wei Yan stretched out his head to look at it and said, "Your Majesty, that blank is left with a printed pattern." We are now printing medical books, which come with the shapes and patterns of medicinal herbs to make it easier for students to identify. ”

His Majesty Li Er nodded. After turning around and seeing the magic of movable type printing, His Majesty Li Er sighed: "If it is really a good way, as long as the paper and labor can keep up, how many books do you want, it is just a matter of time, with more and more books, I will have more literate people in the Tang Dynasty, and there will be more talented people who are talented and learned. Haha......"

His Majesty Li Er laughed loudly, and the ministers congratulated him again and again. Wei Yan followed the congratulations, muttering in his heart, saying that movable type printing is still his family's thing, and it has not yet become His Majesty Li Er's family, why is it that the tone of one or two is like everything belongs to His Majesty Li Er's family!

Wei Yan pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, this movable type printing technique, Wei Chen has only heard of it before, knows the principle of it, and the specific operation is all studied by the masters in the workshop, because no one has specifically made this thing, and it takes a long time." Wechen had already found these masters two years ago, and it was only recently successfully developed, which can be described as difficult. If Your Majesty is interested, please send the master of the supervision or the Ministry of Engineering to learn, and when the time comes, what you want to print, the court has the final say. ”

His Majesty Li Er glanced at Wei Yan and scolded with a smile: "You slippery money-greedy boy, you don't need to emphasize the difficulties with me, I won't ask for your things in vain!" ”

Wei Yan smiled and said, "Who is Your Majesty, of course you won't slander your subjects." The minister is just explaining the situation, Your Majesty. Ladies and gentlemen, it's lunch time, if you don't dislike it, how about having a light meal in our house? I sent someone to pick a lot of fresh tea leaves and prepared a table of tea feasts. ”

His Majesty Li Er was surprised and asked, "Mingcai?!" What is it? ”

Old man Fang Xuanling also touched his beard and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, it was recorded in "Yan Zi Spring and Autumn" that Yan Xiang Qi Jinggong. Eat chestnut rice. Burn three eggs and five eggs. Tea is just a dish. Ziyue said tea. That's what it should be, right? Ziyue. ”

Wei Yan smiled: "Fang Xiang is right, it's that tea." However, this one in my house has more types,

What others have learned is also an elegant food. Please taste it for Your Majesty and the Princes.

Kong Yingda said with a smile: "In the Jin Dynasty, celebrities often had a way to eat tender tea leaves into porridge, which was called porridge, and now, Wei Ziyue has a tea banquet, which should indeed be tasted." ”

Everyone talked and laughed, and turned back to the Wei Mansion. The meal was ready, and in the huge dining room of the Wei Mansion, there were dumplings filled with tea leaves. There are also a number of dishes. Not too much, a table of tea banquet, Wei Yan only made twenty-one dishes. Plus 22 dumplings, at most there is a tea and rice, fortunately, the portion is sufficient, not afraid of not enough to eat.

His Majesty Li Er smiled and said: "This is not a court, all the princes do not need to be formal, come and come, sit down, and taste the tea banquet of this Wei Mansion together." ”

At that moment, His Majesty Li Er made the first place, sat down separately, and happily tasted the tea banquet of the Wei Mansion. After the table is finished, look at the expressions, everyone is very satisfied. Wei Yan boasted about the health care effects and benefits of the tea field, and the method was not difficult, and everyone nodded for a while, saying that they would eat it often in the future.

After His Majesty Li Er brought people to visit, the next day the craftsmen who will be the supervisors and the Ministry of Industry came, and together with the masters of Weifu, they learned movable type printing, and even a few craftsmen with good skills put forward a lot of improvement plans after learning, so that the development and application of movable type printing technology tend to be more perfect and convenient.

For this reason, His Majesty Li Er rewarded Wei Yan well, the gold was calculated in catties, five catties were given at a time, and fifty households were added to the food estate, and the land property also increased accordingly. Poor Di Wei Yan, I just solved the problem of insufficient manpower, and soon there was another problem, and I really don't know whether to be happy or worried. However, these little troubles are insignificant compared to the harvest, and Wei Yan hurried to thank him.

Kong Yingda said: "Thanks to Ziyue's whimsy, in the future, I should thank you for all the scholars in the Tang Dynasty." ”

Wei Yan hurriedly said: "Master Kong has an overreputation. It is a fallacy to say that all the credit belongs to me, but in fact, most of the credit should belong to those craftsmen and masters. I have only heard of this printing method, I probably know what is going on, to achieve it, or rely on the craftsmen and masters to work hard, if not they are serious and rigorous, willing to spend time to think, to study, this method can be realized, is still unknown. After all, I only know medical skills, and I don't know how to print technology, so to speak, Ziyue is just a layman, without the actual operation of insiders, movable type printing can not be done, dare not take credit, at least do not dare to do all the work. ”

The crowd was stunned. It seems that these dignitaries are still not used to not realizing the importance of craftsmen. This is the concept of the times, and there is no way. Wei Yan sighed slightly in his heart, and then smiled, because of this, he has to work hard, isn't it?

His Majesty Li Er glanced at Wei Yan meaningfully, and said with a smile: "This is also pertinent. As you say, you are no more than a doctor, and at your age, you can be proficient in medicine and know how to farm, which is already extraordinary, and if you can understand such a thing as printing, which is completely different from your profession, then I really need to think about it. ”

Wei Yan laughed dryly. Now I admire those seniors who are proficient in heaven, can make paper, build ships, and make artillery, and know almost everything, but I don't know, how did they make sense, and they weren't locked up in a small black room to dissect their heads for research? Everything that is abnormal is a demon.

Wei Yan thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has seen a system in overseas countries, and the minister thinks that there may be something that our Datang can learn from." ”

His Majesty Li Er asked, "Oh, what kind of system is it, let's hear it." ”

Wei Yan said: "In overseas countries, there is a special institution called the Research Institute, which specializes in studying various things. For example, there are those who specialize in improving agricultural tools, those who specialize in improving horse-drawn carriages, and those who specialize in improving ordnance, and so on. It is a group of craftsmen who come together to study how to improve and improve things in their respective fields more effectively. For example, those who study agriculture study how to make grain yield higher and grow better, how to plough the land more conveniently and quickly, and how to plough the land in a way that is more helpful for the growth of grain, and so on. ”

Wei Lala said a lot of miscellaneous things, in short, to put it bluntly, it is a little - craftsmen are very important!

When the ministers in the hall heard this, they all had a contemplative expression, Yan Lide, as the master craftsman who would be the supervisor and the successor of the next Ministry of Works, glanced at Wei Yan very gratefully, and then looked at His Majesty Li Er, waiting for his reflection.

His Majesty Li Er pondered and did not speak.

The eldest grandson Wuji said: "Your Majesty, Ziyue, although this system is good, it may not be suitable for my Datang." I decided at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty that the people were not rich enough, and now, the first thing to encourage is agriculture, not craftsmen, if everyone goes to be a craftsman, who will plow the fields, who will grow grain, then the world will not all starve to death? ”

Hearing the words of the eldest grandson Wuji, everyone nodded for a while, and His Majesty Li Er just hummed and looked at Wei Yan. Wei Yan smiled and said: "What Lord Changsun said is that the most important thing at the moment is Nongsang, however, Lord Changsun seems to have misunderstood what I meant, I didn't say that I want to increase the number of craftsmen, but use the existing craftsmen to develop." My Datang has never lacked skilled craftsmen, and there are very few who can be as skilled as our Datang craftsmen. This is an advantage, a resource, since it is a resource, we must consider how to better use and play. In the spare time of various work, get together with farmers to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various agricultural tools, in order to better improve the tools and make production more convenient; Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various types of paper with readers, talk about what requirements readers have for paper, and hope that there are conveniences. In this way, it may be possible to improve the process of paper, and make better, more suitable for writing, and more suitable for preservation. ”

After a pause, Wei Yan continued: "No matter what kind of process is developed, it should be people-oriented, because people can develop it when they have needs. Because of the inconvenience of bamboo slips, people invented paper, and because of the need to plough the fields, people invented the plow. It's all the same truth, and there is no encouragement to be a craftsman, just how to make better use of and give full play to the role and advantages of craftsmen. ”