"Hai Lao, there is one more matter, I have to ask you for help......" After talking about the "ticket number" himself, Meng Yan remembered the purpose of his coming to the printing house.

"Master Meng, this is not difficult, just give the old man half an hour." When the old man Haicheng heard this, he immediately patted his chest and reassured.

"Okay, it won't take half an hour, I'll give you Hai Lao an hour, but there is one thing, this matter can only be done by you alone, and you can't fake others." Meng Yan Road.

"Yes, confidentiality, I know." Hai Cheng nodded, he knew this kind of thing.

"I'll be waiting for you here, and in an hour I'll take the engraving and all the ballots with me." Meng Yan Road.

"Don't worry, my lord, although the old man is a few years old, the speed of this work is not slower than that of the young man." The sound of the sea is like a flood of bells.

"Master Hai, please!"

"This engraving is best to choose the best hardwood, but the hardwood, it is more difficult to carve, which has stricter requirements for the engraver, but the hardwood is carved, as long as this engraving is well protected and used properly, it can be used for many ......years."

"Why not use movable type?"

"Your Excellency is talking about the kind of clay movable type invented by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty, right?"

"Yes!"

"Although the clay type omits the engraving, the clay type is easy to wear, and it is more ink-intensive, and the printing quality is not as good as the engraving."

"Then use movable metal type, such as lead type or tin type?" Meng Yan knows that this movable type printing is one of the four major inventions, but since the invention of the Song Dynasty, this engraving printing has always been the mainstream, and the application of movable type printing is very few.

"My lord, this is not something that a small printing workshop can use, and the printing quality is not as good as the engraving, so. The engraving commonly used in printing nowadays, an experienced engraving master, is the fragrant bait that the printing company is competing for. ”

Haicheng chatted with Meng Yan while working, talking fast and moving faster. In the blink of an eye, he got the template and started to go under the knife.

The small blade flew up and down like a beating elf on the tips of his fingers, and sawdust kept falling between his fingers.

After a while, a Song Ti name had already appeared under Hai Cheng's hands, and then in less than a stick of incense, the names of the four people had already appeared.

The name is engraved, but it needs to be polished later. This is also to make the quality better and clearer when it is printed.

"Fetch a piece of mulberry paper." Meng Yan instructed Jiang Feng to say.

"Yes!"

Jiang Feng went to the paper warehouse and took a thousand pieces of mulberry paper, this kind of mulberry paper is very thick, but the price is not as good as rice paper, and the ink is not easy to soak, unless it is placed under the light source, the font written on the front cannot be seen from the back.

Each sheet of mulberry paper is the size of a book spread out. This is specially customized.

"This paper is too big, half is enough. We don't have the money to collect this work, so we fold it in half and cut it in half. "Don't blame Meng Yan for slamming the door, this matter is really thankless.

"Yes." What Meng Yan told him to do, Jiang Feng did what he did, he listened to Meng Yan anyway.

Two people work together and fold the mulberry paper in half. Then cut it into two pieces, a roll of 100 sheets, and let Haicheng print.

In less than an hour, all a thousand ballots were printed, after checking and counting. Burn the paper that has been discarded.

"Hai Lao, today's matter, you must not leak half a word to the outside world, if anyone asks, say that I ordered it." Before Meng Yan left, he deliberately instructed Haicheng again.

"Master Meng, don't worry, the old people are from the province." Haicheng agreed stiffly.

"My lord, where are we going?"

"Go to the Ministry of Rites."

Jiang Feng was surprised for a while, how could the people of Pingtou have the opportunity to enter a big yamen like Liubu, don't be driven away before they get close to the gate.

The Yamen of the Ministry of Rites, Meng Yan is also the first time to come, and it is much more magnificent than the Yamen of the Inspection Division.

"With a sigh, Meng Yan, the inspector of the Jinyi Guard, asked to see the old man Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites." Meng Yan and Jiang Feng dismounted in front of the gate of the Ministry of Rites and greeted the guards at the gate.

"Master Meng, wait a minute." As soon as he heard that it was the famous Meng Yan, the guards didn't dare to slack off, and as soon as they turned around, they ran inside and passed the word.

It was just a cup of tea time, and the guard ran out of it, came to Meng Yan, and bent down and arched his hand: "Lord Meng, my lord, please come in." ”

"Jiang Feng, take the things, let's go in." Meng Yan commanded.

Jiang Feng put the blanket with ballots and engravings on his shoulders, raised his legs to follow Meng Yan, and strode towards the gate of the Ministry of Rites.

"Follow me, this is the compound of the Ministry of Rites, where the state official instrument is located, and the rules are no better than outside." Entering the courtyard of the Ministry of Rites, Meng Yan gave a low command.

"Yes, Childe." Jiang Feng agreed, and secretly collected his thoughts.

Along the way, many officials from the Ministry of Rites nodded at him, but Meng Yan didn't know most of them, so he could only keep nodding in response.

Hu Hui's duty room is outside.

As usual, when he arrives here, he still needs to pass it on again, after all, Hu Hu, as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, cannot wait to see him, and before that, he still has to deal with the affairs of his own department and meet with subordinate officials.

After waiting for a while, I saw Yang Shan coming out of Hu Hui's duty room.

"Lord Yang."

"Lord Meng, is you the guest you want to meet?" Yang Shan was a little surprised and saw Meng Yan in the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites.

"If the next thing Master Hu wants to see is Xiaguan, that's it." Meng Yan smiled slightly.

"That's right, the order is inside, Master Meng, you can go in." Yang Shan Dao.

"Thank you!" Meng Yan clenched his fists and instructed Jiang Feng, "Wait outside for a while, tell you to come in, and you will come in again." ”

Jiang Feng nodded.

Meng Yan tidied up his clothes a little, then stepped on the steps, stepped forward, and reached out and knocked on the door of Hu Hui's room.

"Come in!"

"Xiaguan Jinyi Guard Patrol Division Thousand Households Meng Yan See Lord Shangshu!" After Meng Yan entered, he bowed to Hu Hu, who was wearing a big red official robe and a five-beam crown.

"No courtesy, Master Meng is here, sit."

"Thank you, sir."

"Everything is done?"

"According to your orders, everything has been done, and the things have been brought back." Meng Yan nodded.

"Good. The old man knows that this matter will be handed over to someone else, and it will definitely not be done in three days, but it can be handed over to you Meng Yan, and it will be done in less than half a day! Hu Hu laughed. Very satisfied, I got up and walked over.

"Boss, you're too high-minded, but I wasted a lot of effort to get this thing right."

"You, the old man doesn't know yet, what about things?" Hu Hu stretched out his hand unceremoniously.

"Jiang Feng, come in!"

"Hey, Son, it's here!" Jiang Feng agreed, took three steps and made two steps and trotted in.

"I've seen Mr. Hu!"

"The villain Jiang Feng kowtowed to Master Hu!" Jiang Feng put down his coat and knelt down for Hu Hu. He is not Meng Yan, he is an official in the same dynasty, and he belongs to a different family, so he doesn't need to kneel and salute, he is different, he is a flat-headed commoner, he sees an official, and he is a big official like Shangshu. Coupled with Hu Hui's title, it is a product of the dynasty.

"Get up. Old man doesn't need so much red tape here! Hu Hu nodded.

"Thank you, sir!"

"Jiang Feng, take out the sample of the ballot we printed for the boss to see." Meng Yan commanded.

"Yes!" Jiang Feng untied the blanket on the ground, took out a printed ballot paper from it and respectfully handed it to Meng Yan.

This is the rule, he has to hand over the things to his master first, and then Meng Yan will hand them over, although this seems a bit troublesome. But that's the rite.

"Master Hu, do you think this will work?" Meng Yan handed over the sample ballot in his hand to Hu Hui.

Hu Hu took it and saw that the thick parchment paper was a little rougher, but it was a one-off thing. It doesn't matter if you throw it away when you run out, it is printed with the names of four people, and there is an elegant cloud pattern around it, which is simple and solemn.

"Okay, yes, that's it." Hu Hu nodded with satisfaction.

"This is a printed ballot, a total of 1,000 ballots, and Xia Guan estimates that half will be needed at most, and the remaining half, you know." Meng Yan pointed to the bulging blanket on the ground and said.

"Okay, I see, I'll take care of this." Hu Hu nodded, indicating that he understood.

"This is a carving template, and the lower officials brought it together, how to deal with it, and please show it to Mr. Hu?" Meng Yan hugged his fists.

"What are you going to do with this, destroy it?"

"After all, this is the first printing engraving plate of our Ming Dynasty to be elected by a hundred officials, which is of great historical significance, do you keep saying?" Meng Yan Road.

"Do you want to collect it?" Hu Hu was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood that this little thing was really a little commemorative.

"How can the lower officials be qualified, you can always present this thing to the emperor, whether to destroy it or keep it, the emperor has to make an idea." Meng Yan reminded.

"You little monkey cub, there are so many ghost eyes, okay, leave things behind, when the old man faces the saint, hand it over by the way, and let the emperor decide." Hu Hu laughed and scolded.

"Yes, then the task of the lower official is completed."

"Wait a minute, tomorrow morning, you will adjust the value with Zhu Ji of the Zhonghou Institute, you will take his place, and then cooperate with the old man to replace the votes." Hu said.

"Master Hu, this official is really not good, you better find someone else." Meng Yan pushed out, this thing is not good and burns himself, he really doesn't want to do it.

"There is no one else who can do this except you, and you already know the old man's plan, the so-called one guest does not bother the two masters, the less people participate in this matter, the better, besides, it is also beneficial for you to participate."

"What a benefit, the matter is revealed, your merits are notorious, the emperor will not do anything to you, my little arms and legs, then I will suffer." Meng Yan Road.

"You're the one who came up with the idea, right?"

"You old man, do you have to drag me onto the thief ship?" Meng Yan was annoyed and angry, this Hu Hu was determined to eat himself.

"You're right, the old man just pulled you on the thief ship, didn't you get on it?" Hu said.

Meng Yan's face was gloomy, this was like walking a tightrope, and if he wasn't careful, he would have to fall to pieces. (To be continued......)