On September 20, Zhao Yunze entered the palace again.

He entered the palace this time to "offer treasure" to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin summoned Zhao Yunze in the Wude Palace. Zhao Yunze carried a big bag, and as soon as he entered the Wude Palace, before he could salute Li Shimin, Li Shimin asked Zhao Yunze directly: "Peng Yu, what treasure do you have in that pocket?"

Since the emperor asked, Zhao Yunze stopped saluting and said directly: "There are four things in it, one is a pamphlet printed by the minister with movable type printing; the second is a mirror; the third is a piece of glass; The fourth is a telescope. ”

"Hurry up." Li Shimin couldn't wait.

Zhao Yunze's big pocket was picked up by the chamberlain and opened to Li Shimin's bookcase. Li Shimin first picked up a booklet and flipped through it.

This booklet is a handbook for the students of the Shobudo printed with movable type. Last month, after Zhao Yunze presented his movable type printing technology to Li Shimin, he asked the people of the Secret Service Research and Instrument Division to start developing movable type printing.

Zhao Yunze asked the people in the research department to first use clay to fire the movable type of pottery, and after the movable type was burned, they used the movable type typesetting to print the manual of the students of the lecture hall. Maybe it's because the movable type production is not up to par, or maybe it's because the printing technology is unfamiliar, anyway, the handwriting of the first batch of booklets printed is very blurry. But the student handbook was in a hurry to use, and in desperation, Zhao Yunze had no choice but to let the two hundred students among the students copy and complete the eight hundred student handbooks by hand. In order to improve the speed of copying, Zhao Yunze asked these students to use quill pens and charcoal pens to complete the copying work.

It was also because of this copying work that the geese in the countryside near the lecture hall were bought out by the logistics office of the lecture hall. The students of the martial arts hall had a meat meal. Because of this incident, Yan Liben, the director of the Arsenal Administration, also sent a special letter to Zhao Yunze, condemning him for forgetting his roots, ignoring the fact that the Arsenal Administration also used goose quills, and bought all the geese, and the Arsenal Administration could only go to Chang'an City to buy goose feathers and make pens.

Subsequently, the Secret Service's R&D staff repeatedly improved the production and printing techniques of movable type, and the movable type printing technology matured to the point that books with legible handwriting were finally printed. This also made Zhao Yunze sigh with emotion, it is really "easier said than done", it seems that the movable type printing technique is very simple, but it is also difficult to implement.

On the same day that movable type printing was completed, Luo Yun and they also succeeded in making a telescope and a glass mirror. The reason why it took so long was mainly because it took a long time for the technology of grinding glass to be mastered by Luo Yun and them.

So, Zhao Yunze immediately entered the palace and presented a treasure to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin looked through the student handbook and asked Zhao Yunze: "How much labor and time did it take to print this booklet with movable type printing?"

Zhao Yunze replied: "This booklet has a total of 22 pages and 18,473 words. Five people, including typesetting, printing, and binding, printed 800 copies in two days. ”

"Hiss" Li Shimin gasped. "This speed is too fast, if you use engraving printing, five people in two days, I'm afraid they won't even be able to carve five yang engravings. Even if you use the Yin engraving plate, it is only barely two plates per person. It must also be a skilled hand, without making mistakes or omissions. ”

"Your Majesty, you can't count it like that. After all, the time spent making movable type is not counted. However, after the production of movable type is completed, it can be used repeatedly, and the typesetter does not need to master the technique of making movable type, just need to know the characters. If you are proficient, the speed of typesetting and printing can be faster. ”

"How long can that movable type be made is troublesome," Li Shimin asked again.

Zhao Yunze said: "This time, the minister is using clay to fire the movable type, and a total of more than 2,000 commonly used words have been fired. The craftsmen first carved the positive yin characters on the smooth wooden board, and then rubbed them into the reverse yang characters with wet clay blocks, and then trimmed them and fired them in the furnace. Five craftsmen and seven days. If this pottery type is not damaged, it should be able to be used for a year or two due to normal wear and tear. If you switch to using lead to make movable type, it won't be a problem to use it for three to five years. ”

"In this way, the movable type printing technique is considered a success." Li Shimin said.

Zhao Yunze smiled and said, "It's time to promote." ”

Li Shimin nodded and picked up the mirror again. The mirror was about 30 centimeters square, bordered by a wooden frame and supported by a thin wooden board.

Li Shimin looked at the mirror and immediately said in surprise: "This face is me."

"Your Majesty, of course." Zhao Yunze said with a smile.

Li Shimin looked in the mirror and groped his face. "It's much clearer than a bronze mirror. It's not until today that I know what I look like in detail."

"Your Majesty, this mirror is made of glass burned by Luo Yunhe and others. The back of the glass was brushed with mercury, glued with fish glue, dried and then sealed with a thin wooden board, and it became a mirror in His Majesty's hands. ”

"It's good, this thing can be sold for a lot of money," Li Shimin blurted out a sentence full of copper stench under excitement.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Shimin also realized his gaffe, so he smiled awkwardly.

Zhao Yunze pretended not to see Li Shimin's embarrassment, and said to Li Shimin: "The telescope in the bag is also made of glass, Your Majesty can take a look." ”

Li Shimin hurriedly put down the mirror, but he immediately picked it up, turned back to Huang Dehai and said, "Take this mirror to the queen quickly, you go in person."

"No" Huang Dehai responded, then carefully took the mirror with both hands and walked out of the Wude Palace.

Hehe, Comrade Lao Li is still quite worried about his wife, and with good things, he thinks about Empress Changsun first.

Li Shimin picked up the telescope again and looked at it.

This is a retractable monocular. Li Shimin put the telescope on one eye and looked outside the Wude Palace.

"Why can't you see things clearly," Li Shimin wondered.

Zhao Yunze hurriedly stepped forward and instructed Li Shimin to adjust the barrel of the telescope. At this time, Li Shimin finally saw the scenery in the distance clearly.

"This thing really looks far as it is near, just like the scope on Peng Yu's crossbow" Putting down the binoculars, Li Shimin sighed, "Everything in the world has its own wonderful reason." ”

Zhao Yunze said: "This thing is of great use in the military. ”

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Your Secret Service Research Department is still short of manpower, so hand over this telescope to Yan Liben's Arsenal for production." ”

"The minister obeys the order," Zhao Yunze arched his hand.

Li Shimin picked up the glass again and looked at it. With the novelty of glass mirrors and telescopes in front of him, Li Shimin was not so surprised to see this piece of glass again.

"The medicinal jade fired by the people of the Western Regions is far worse than the transparency of this glass. No wonder they only know how to make cups and bowls with medicinal jade, but they don't know how to make mirrors and telescopes. Li Shimin commented. Now, my Datang can make Fanbang's money in turn. ”

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