Chapter Ninety-Three: Movable Type Printing
The dean was really calm and calm, and still didn't say a word. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Ye Cheng was a little anxious in his heart, and even began to suspect that the matter of writing the official history might not be as urgent as he imagined. The Dean's eagerness to retrieve the Revenator was nothing more than the Dean's own responsibility.
But he can't show his worried expression on his face because of this, and he must always keep smiling and winning.
In order to coerce the dean to agree faster, Ye Cheng bluffed and said, "It seems that the dean is not in a hurry to write the official history, so I can't use the method of producing thousands of copies a day." Actually, I'm going to go."
After saying that, he turned around and left, without hesitation. But in my heart, I was worried about counting the starting numbers, one step, two steps, three steps......
The heartbeat was speeding up a little, and his face was grim.
Just as he was taking the seventh step, the dean's voice came from behind, "Do you really have a way to write tens of thousands of canonical histories in one day?" ”
Hearing this, Ye Cheng's whole person was relaxed, and his grim expression eased. Looking at Zhu Zi'an, they smiled, then quickly turned their heads and said, "It's not writing, it's printing." I guess the dean has never heard of movable type printing, but with this, you can print as much as you want, and you don't have to rely on the repair hand."
"Movable type?" The dean asked with a puzzled expression.
"Movable type printing is to write the characters backwards on the wooden blocks, then put them together, apply ink on them, and then put a piece of paper on them, so that a canonical history will come out." Ye Cheng explained simply.
After listening to it and thinking for a while, the dean said lightly, "You guys come in with me."
After saying that, the dean turned around and walked towards the door of the house.
At this time, everyone walked behind Ye Cheng. Zhu Zi'an put his arm around his neck and asked, "Eighth brother, what is movable type printing?" ”
"I can't tell you for a while. Five brothers, in addition to being able to strike iron, can you carve words on wooden blocks? Ye Cheng asked.
"Lettering!" The five brothers of the Zhu family immediately let out an exclamation.
Hearing their voices of surprise, the result was already known. With a heavy face, he broke Zhu Zi'an's hand and said, "Let me figure out a way."
After saying that, he followed the dean into the door of the mansion, walked straight ahead, passed through the long open-air courtyard, and came to a large house facing the gate of the mansion. The walls of the big house are bookshelves, which block a lot of light and make the house dim.
Even the left and right sides of the house are neatly arranged bookshelves with hardcover books on them, and the bookshelves are almost full.
"It's really worthy of the Academy, there are so many books in one house, and it should be to protect the precious books if you don't let too much light in" Ye Cheng exclaimed again and again!
The dean took out a piece of paper from a shelf on the left side of the wall against the door, walked to the door, and said, "Actually, what the Shubun Academy wants to write is not a canonical history, but this letter of probation."
Ye Cheng took the paper handed over by the dean and took a look. Because he knew that movable type printing was to be used, Ye Cheng counted how many words there were on the paper as soon as he opened it. The whole paper has more than a dozen lines and more than a dozen columns, and if you count them carefully, there are probably hundreds of words.
The letter reads:
To the Sea Country
I am the crown prince of Xiao State, and I am going to apologize for the general in place of the emperor, because the emperor listens to slander...... Now the general has been corrected, and the name of the general in Xiao State has been restored....
Soldiers, your family in Xiao Kingdom.....
The letter was written about the prince's confession to a general and soldier, and some folk customs of the Xiao State.
Ye Cheng folded the paper and handed it back to the dean, and asked, "I don't know how many copies I want to print?" ”
"Two hundred thousand copies," the dean took the paper and said calmly.
"What!" Ye Cheng was also a little surprised when he heard this, he knew that there were no large copies now, and two hundred thousand copies were not only difficult, but also impossible to complete in this ancient world. But if there is enough time, it is still possible to do it, to ease up, Ye Cheng looked at the principal with palpitations and asked, "How much time is left?" ”
"Half a month," the dean said.
"What! How can it be possible to do 200,000 copies in half a month," Zhu Zi'an shouted.
Ye Cheng shouted loudly, and thought deeply with a solemn face, it is indeed the same as what Zhu Zi'an said, two hundred thousand copies in half a month is too difficult for this ancient world. But if you don't use movable type, use a whole template instead. If you can make more than 10 templates in five days, I'm afraid there is still a chance.
According to ten templates, 2,000 copies of one pattern are printed every day, and 20,000 pieces of ten pieces are counted in this way, it is still too late.
"Ye Cheng, are you sure?" At this time, Bai Yingping came over and whispered in Ye Cheng's ear.
Ye Cheng finished thinking about it, nodded and agreed to Bai Yingping's words. Then he looked at the dean with a pair of determined eyes, and said confidently, "I'll help you do it, but you have to help me do a few things." ”
"As long as you can help the Academy survive this catastrophe, please say what you need me to do," the dean said generously.
"I want one thing from you, and I'll tell you what it is when I'm done. Now you help me find a few people who can carve letters, and I'm going to bring ten wooden planks that are easy to carve," Ye Cheng said.
"You wait here, I'll get ready for you," said the dean, and immediately walked out of the room.
At this time, the five brothers of all the families came over, looking puzzled, and they didn't seem to believe that Ye Cheng would complete this impossible task.
Zhu Ziju asked suspiciously, "Eighth brother, do you really have a way to print 200,000 copies of the probation letter in half a month?" ”
"Brother Ziju, when did I lie to you. It's just that you have to rush day and night," Ye Cheng said with a somewhat rigorous expression.
.........
A few hours later, the dean walked in with several middle-aged men carrying small wooden boxes. He was followed by several robed men holding wooden planks.
The dean said a little anxiously, "In the city of triumphant songs, I have already invited the carving master who can be invited." And the planks you want, I don't know what we should do now? ”
The probe looked at the six middle-aged men, each of whom was honest and poorly dressed, and some of them had patches. They stood behind the dean, their hands gripping the wooden box tightly, and they seemed to be nervous about the tools in the box. Ye Cheng knew that such a person would work in a down-to-earth manner.
Walking to the man in the robe, Ye Cheng picked up a wooden board and said, "I have to ask the dean to do me a favor, and ask the dean to write the content of the letter just now."
"Write it the other way around?" The dean asked suspiciously.
"What! I don't even know what it means to write it the other way around? No wonder you haven't invented movable type printing yet," Ye Cheng was a little surprised.
I didn't understand, so I had to demonstrate. Ye Cheng turned around and walked towards the kind of desk on the other side of the door. Spread out a piece of rolled up paper and use a brush to write a positive "I" and then a reverse "I".
Ye Cheng pointed to these two words and said, "This is called writing in reverse", and pointed to the upper right corner of the board with a brush and continued, "The beginning of the letter starts to write ..... from here."
They said some essentials bitterly, but they still looked confused. Ye Cheng was a little helpless, so he had to sit down and twist the brush, write against a page, and then write in reverse. Although it is scribbled, you can still see people, but I don't know what it means.
With Ye Cheng's efforts, the dean gradually understood.