Chapter 45: The First Printed Book
"This, Sun Gongzi, you use this movable type, and you can't use it to copy books? What's the use? ”
Hua Li patiently brought a bowl of ink, he didn't know what the ink was for, and muttered in his mouth, he saw that those words were square and square, and they stayed on those clay stereotypes, each movable type stereotype was half an inch square, which was exactly the size of a normal font. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
When these clay engravings were removed from the furnace, they were already burned hard, forming a new type of pottery.
This kind of pottery is used for typesetting, and it can be typeset many times, obviously this stove still gives Sun Qi face, and does not burn these clay stereotypes until they explode.
Sun Qi got an iron plate half a foot square from somewhere, and if you look closely, you will just find that the size of the iron plate is exactly the size of half of the book.
There was an iron ring around the iron plate.
A mixture of rosin, wax, and paper ash was placed in the middle of the ring to make the movable type engravings better attached to the plates.
"Later, I'll put these burnt stereotypes into this iron plate, it's called typography, you see my demo, follow me."
Sun Qi picked the first page of a book, and then put the movable type stereotypes into the iron plate in order.
This completes the typography.
Because there is a lot of cement, Sun Qi asked those scholars to carve two pairs of commonly used fonts of the cement engraving, just so that the bookstore boss can learn it.
Sun Qi found that Hua was more ambitious than capable, and now he gave him this ability in person.
"Typography? Don't we copy books? ”
Hua Li Ji filled the second set of movable type prints into another set of iron plates, which was exactly the same as Sun Qi's.
"Then put the two iron plates in the fire and heat them so that the mixture is fully combined with the movable type prints, so that the best effect can be achieved."
Sun Qi explained again, and then he also practiced it, so that Hua Liji and the scholars around him could clearly see his movements.
"Finally, flatten these words, and you can ink and print!"
He took a wooden board and flattened the somewhat raised letterings on the iron plate to make them uniform.
These actions were extremely simple, and after a demonstration, the scholars' heads were already bright, and they soon made three sets of clay letters, fired them into pottery, and then put them into an iron plate filled with a mixture, flattened them, and in this way, five sets of iron plates for printing were made.
"Then inking and it's ready to print!"
Sun Qi brushed a layer of black ink on the characters in those iron plates to fully absorb them.
After grinding, the iron plate filled with word printing has completely become a qualified printing plate.
Many people at the scene were still in the dark, not knowing what Sun Qi was going to do
Hua Liji is still confused, can't this still use ink?
So why not copy books by hand?
"Look, this is called a technical copy!"
Sun Qi pressed the mature printed version on a blank piece of paper, and suddenly, some scholars already understood, it turned out that this was the so-called copying of books, with this method, not only to save the labor on the hands, but also to copy a large sheet at a time, full of more than 80 words!
Then Sun Qi took out the printing board, and the blank paper was neat, and the white paper and black words were exactly the same as the content of the book!
The exclamations of the scholars resounded in the courtyard of the bookstore, expressing fierce surprise and enthusiasm.
Everyone's faces are covered with exclamation points, which are expressions that can only be displayed when you see something unknown before.
"Chigoer, are you sure they'll learn?"
Wu Qiuyue asked puzzled, this printing technique is just a change in thinking, as long as you are seen in person, you can learn it at once, this is the same as the emperor's jade seal and the official seal of the government.
"Don't worry, I calculated, an iron plate, about 85 words, with printing, just change the ink, press, the whole process does not take a few seconds, but if you write by hand, you have to keep it neat, and you have to write more than 80 words at least half a pillar of incense, which is more important, which is convenient, as long as you are not a fool, you can see it."
Sun Qi concluded that if he demonstrated these people once today, they would definitely keep it in mind.
After all, no one wants to do more hard work, from the emperor to the people, they all want to save effort and worry, once and for all.
Just like the work in the field, Sun Qi's farmer uncle in his previous life, during the harvest season, he did not have to go to the field to harvest himself, but drove a harvester to brush along the field to harvest a cart full of grain or vegetables.
The more convenient things are, the more they will drive people's enthusiasm for them.
In this way, the word prints made of these cement engravings can not only be used many times, but also very convenient to use
"This, this is a technical copyist?"
Hua Liji's jaw was about to fall to the ground at this time, I didn't expect this Sun Qi to be really a genius, this way of copying books is really unprecedented, I heard Sun Qi call this way of copying books 'printing'.
"Childe, this printing technique is really very convenient! If our bookstore can have dozens of sets of such printing plates, then we can make dozens of books in a day, then our output will increase greatly, and the efficiency will definitely improve! ”
Hua Li was overjoyed at the moment and personally joined this high-tech book copying movement.
"Do it all, you don't have to copy the books by hand, you can go over there to pinch the mud and play, and the salary will be paid!"
Hua's self-interest undoubtedly made every scholar present excited.
They are not fools, the printing technology introduced by this noble son, not only is the process simple, it is to go through several fires, but the burned characters can be used repeatedly, such as those 'zhi', 'hu', 'who'....
On some of the older classics, some rare characters appeared, and Sun Qi asked them to print them immediately, anyway, it didn't take long to fire a word print.
A book of more than 500,000 words of "Legend of the Immortals" was completely printed in less than an hour under the powerful offensive of ten stereotypes of back-and-forth printing.
Looking at the finished product that was no less neat than the handwriting, Hua Liji's heart was filled with ecstasy, if it was this efficiency in the future, then my boss would be able to turn over, he fantasized, as if he had paid off a lot of debts.
In this way, about ten books can be published every day, after all, there is still a rest time for these scholars.
"Boss Hua, you can divide these people into two groups, one for rest and one for printing, which not only improves efficiency, but also allows everyone to rest in place, so that work can mobilize enthusiasm."
Hua Liji didn't know that his original intention was to squeeze the labor force of these poor students, who knew that Sun Qi actually let people take turns off, which made Hua Liji angry, but because Sun Qi had a divine order, this made Hua Liji dare not disobey Sun Qi at all.
The first printed book of the Han Dynasty, The Legend of the Immortals, was a work completed entirely with a printing plate, and the book was later found by Sun Qi and included in the Han Imperial Library as a highly commemorative collection.