Inside the villa.

Holding the paper in his hand and feeling the smooth and thick feel of the paper, Li Xiang's face showed a trace of joy.

Then, Li Xiang put the paper on the table, took a quill pen from the pen stand, dipped it in ink, and wrote his name on the paper. After writing, Li Xiang put down the pen and picked up the paper, turned it back and forth, and saw that there were no stains, and the ink did not melt, so he couldn't help but nod and said, "Good paper, good paper." ”

Yang Qianyu on the side smiled implicitly, and at the same time looked at the white paper, and felt unprecedented satisfaction in his heart.

According to Yang Qianyu's feeling, this level of paper is already very close to the writing paper on the earth, and it should be able to print articles on both sides, and the handwriting will not be blurred due to ink penetration.

This is the paper that people have always wanted, the paper that can be used to print articles, to bind books, to become books.

Papermaking, printing.

If you want to make it possible for the people under your command to be able to read and write, and create a steady stream of talents, it is impossible to do without these two magic weapons.

Papermaking was able to replace expensive parchment and cumbersome wood and stone slabs, making it possible for ordinary people to read and write, and printing reduced this cost even more.

The so-called 'books' on the continent of Iber are in fact hand-copied parchment scrolls, and it is very troublesome, time-consuming, laborious, and expensive to write a book. Because of this, the spread of knowledge was so small that only the aristocracy could popularize education. In addition, only the wealthy and wealthy - such as merchants, commoner estate owners who own their own land - have spare money for literacy and learning. As for the average commoner, it is already a great thing to be able to distinguish the letters of the written alphabet, spell their names correctly, be familiar with arithmetic or read the notices posted by the lord.

Papermaking and printing can solve this problem completely.

Now such paper has been successfully manufactured and is ready for use.

As long as the supporting printing technology can be developed, the emergence of books will be unstoppable.

Engraving printing is the foundation of printing, and everyone still knows about it. As for the more high-end movable type printing or something, everyone knows it, but its process is far more complicated than the manufacture of engraving, not something that can be made in a short time. However, for the time being, the emergence of block printing has developed by leaps and bounds for the cultural popularization of the Iber continent, and as for movable type printing, it will only be necessary to improve and develop it in the future.

"I hope there will be good news from the engraving workshop." Li Xiang rubbed the white paper in his hand and muttered to himself, but his face was full of expectation.

Yang Qianyu smiled when he heard this, and said slowly: "Actually, it is much easier to make engraving plates than to make paper. Although the carpenters in the manor have relatively average carving skills, it is still no problem to engrave some words. A week ago, I received the news that the engraving had been made. ”

"Really?" Li Xiang asked in surprise when he heard this.

"Of course!" Yang Qianyu said with a smile.

"Okay, you old Yang! Hidden deep enough. Fu Bin on the side was also surprised: "Why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

"Personally, I think this news is better with the successful development of papermaking." Yang Qianyu shrugged his shoulders and explained. "And I also used this time to arrange for the craftsmen in the engraving workshop to try out a set of regular engravings, which can now be used to test with the newly made paper."

"So what are we waiting for?" Li Xiang jumped up. "Let's go to the engraving workshop now!"

……

The engraving workshop is not far from the papermaking workshop, and under the guidance of Yang Qianyu, the three of them easily found a place.

After entering the workshop room, I saw that there were more than ten craftsmen in the room, as well as several small machines, and there was a carved engraving plate in it. There were brushes, mountains of paper, and ink.

Looking at this posture, the 'preliminary formation' in Yang Qianyu's mouth is just humble words. In fact, with the mention of Yang Qianyu and the efforts of craftsmen, engraving and printing has already taken shape.

"Supervise, hurry up and supervise it, I want to see a whole article at once." When Li Xiang saw the printed version, he immediately ordered.

"Yes. The craftsmen in the room didn't know Li Xiang, but they knew Yang Qianyu, who had been supervising their work these days. At this time, seeing that Yang Qianyu's position was actually half a step behind Li Xiang, he naturally saw that Li Xiang was the leader among the people who came out. Hurriedly began manufacturing in response to the order.

Under the gaze of Li Xiang and the others, the craftsmen applied ink to the wooden boards, and then applied pieces of paper to the top and compacted them, and then peeled them off to form pages full of words. The pages that had just come out were not yet dry. Bake in the sun for a while and wait for the ink to dry before you can print the other side.

The whole process is very tedious and boring. But Li Xiang and the three of them still watched it in a good manner, almost fascinated.

In the history of China on Earth, the emergence of papermaking and printing replaced expensive bamboo slips, and the transmission of books could only rely on copying, which was a low-level mode of communication. The integration of books into all aspects is epoch-making for the dissemination of culture.

Now, this technology has appeared on the otherworldly continent of Iber, what kind of storm can it bring?

It's really worth looking forward to......

The book that Yang Qianyu chose to print is the most common poem on the mainland that tells the history of mankind on the mainland. Because there are four machines, many workers. So two articles were made, almost the same touch.

When the book is finally covered with a simple cover, only the title is printed, and nothing else is decorated.

A tanner-turned-tanner neatly stacks the pages and punches them neatly on the sides with an awl. Later, a craftsman who was a tailor bound all the pages together with a needle threaded with fine hemp rope.

And just like that, one or two complete books were finally made.

"Hmm...... The two sets of books took about an hour in total. "Yang Qianyu estimated the time." Although it took about the same amount of time as a traditional copy, it was a successful attempt, and since there were no scholars who were good at writing, it was a success. ”

"Yes, I believe that as long as the training is beneficial, it is not difficult to speed up the work efficiency." Fu Bin agreed.

Li Xiang picked up one of the thin books and flipped through it carefully.

One volume, one whole book. Li Xiang spent almost half an hour proofreading one by one. There is not a single typo or omission.

This is a very perfect article.

Since then, the world of Iber, for the first time, appeared in the book.