"You hear the will, don't you? Although you are all young, you are all selected from thousands of miles to come here, and your skills are not much worse than those of many years of masters! ”

As soon as the class started today, Shen Zhongming, the dean of the School of Engineering of Huangming University, arrived at the master craftsman training class.

Zheng Kui sat at the bottom and looked at the dean on the stage a little confused.

This Shen Zhongming was only a small head of the Ministry of Industry, but he was really obsessed with all kinds of utensils and truths. is nearly fifty years old, but he is still just a principal, and You Xi sent a foreign mission to the factory under the Ministry of Industry.

When Huangming University was looking for the dean of this engineering school, Li Yi recommended him, and now Shen Zhongming feels that this is a very good opportunity.

"Right now, in the whole Ming Dynasty, where can I find so many skilled craftsmen from all walks of life?" Shen Zhongming was very excited, "In the academy, there are professors and worshippers who have developed the Huangming Bell. The Dean thinks that you can take this opportunity to participate in this matter in addition to your studies. If you have earned, you can get extra points in the performance appraisal! ”

He's talking about improving printing technology.

But these young craftsmen are still confused: in the past, they just followed the tasks assigned from above, and used the skills they learned to complete the required quantities.

It's enough to learn words, learn arithmetic, and listen to all sorts of things every day, and now you want to get involved in this matter?

Of course, they have heard the will clearly, and if there is a good way to put it forward and it is effective after using it, they can ask His Majesty to confer a grace or even a meritorious title.

Shen Zhongming is very familiar with what the craftsmen are like, so now he just arranges tasks for them: "You can do it, and you must be able to think about it." After today's class, I will come here again at night and work together to think of some ideas. If there is a feasible method, the Dean will arrange a trial production. ”

came to announce this, and the young craftsmen of the master training class could only suppress their inner wails.

You can't show dissatisfaction, but it's a lot of homework every day.

In the past, it was difficult to practice calligraphy and do arithmetic problems every night.

Engraving this kind of thing...... Most people don't belong to this business!

But they didn't dare to ignore what the dean had arranged.

At noon, there was a lot of talk in the dormitory.

The center of the crowd was Wu Erqi from the celebrant factory.

He was a printer.

The celebrant began to engrave books and periodicals during the Yongle period, and later even had a special scripture factory for engrave books for the needs of the royal family. The master of ceremonies is still the more authoritative version of some books on the market.

In the factory, there are 150 lettermakers, 312 framers, and 58 printers.

"So it's not just me!" Wu Erqi has never been surrounded by so many people, "I don't know how to engrave, and I don't know how to mount!" ”

"You know how to do it." Someone said, "The Dean said that what Your Majesty wants is to be able to print faster than before. Now you don't want to think of a way, when it's dark, the dean asks, is it possible to keep us locked up all the time? Do you still want to write that copybook? ”

"How can it be so easy!" Wu Erqi shook his head, "Let me tell you, how it is printed now......"

He began to talk about the process of engraving books in the warp factory.

First of all, the first step is to engrave.

In the factory, in fact, there are still engraving plates, which are the fine editions of the Imperial Tour, and the engraved words are written by people with excellent calligraphy first, and then carved out by the most skillful lettersmiths.

If it's movable type, it depends on what kind of material it is. There are many good woods that can be used in the factory, and there are a little more wood types. In addition, there is clay movable type, then it is necessary to engrave the mother mold first, and then put the clay into it to fire. As for the copper movable type, there are also two sets.

If you use movable type printing, you need to pick up the words and make plates.

Not to mention the time-consuming and labor-intensive word selection, when the selected words are arranged, it is also necessary to ensure that it is very stable and firm on a board. The current method is to put a layer of rosin and wax prepared soft fat on the bottom of the plate that is soft when it is heated and flattened.

Once the board is ready, the next step is to apply the ink.

"Not to mention the ink modulation, you must be skilled and careful when inking. To be even, the ink cannot be more or less. After the rice paper is covered, carefully sweep the back of the paper with a brown brush, and gently remove the rice paper when you see that the back of the paper also shows ink. Let me tell you, the force of uncovering the paper must also be very skillful......"

Wu Erqi emphasized the skills and difficulties here, and wanted to show his strength, and finally said proudly: "Now you know how difficult it is, right?" Think about how long it took for the "Yongle Canon" to be engraved when Grandpa Taizong was there? I heard from them that it took us more than a year to engrave and print 10,000 copies of the new dictionary, which was already done by many craftsmen in the factory, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Industry, working in shifts day and night. ”

are all knowledgeable, although they don't know how to engrave, but only listen to Wu Erqi focus on the ingenuity and softness required in this, and know that this matter can only rely on a large number of skilled hands.

How can this be done quickly? Skilled hands are the most difficult to bring.

After the paper is flattened, if there is a slight unevenness like a hair, some of the words will be printed clearly, and some of the words will not be inked at all.

If you push too hard, the paper is easy to break.

Wu Erqi said again: "To be honest, the dictionary is fine, anyway, the words are picked and the board is made, and only some characters will be broken and replaced in the future." But in that newspaper, every time the article is different, and every time you have to re-select the word and make the plate, it's really difficult! ”

At this moment, the small engraving room in the editorial department of the Ming Pao Bank in the palace is full of skilled hands from the original factory, and the master craftsman in charge of it kneels in front of the manager of the engraving department who is in charge of them.

"Master Lu, I have been picking up characters day and night. In this issue, tens of thousands of movable type. If you want to print so many copies, you have to pick up a dozen or so editions. There will be an issue in fifteen days, and this issue can barely be delivered, and the next issue of the small ones really can't bear it. There were two word pickers, and suddenly their eyes couldn't see clearly. ”

"This is the Emperor's Order!"

"If you forgive your sins, you really need more manpower."

"Your Majesty, haven't you already transferred some manpower?"

"But that's not what they do. There are always mistakes and omissions in picking words, and plate making does not dare to let them come, even if it is inking and printing, the samples that come out cannot be used. There is also a holy oracle in this issue, how can the newspaper printed out at that time have a double shadow or no clear words? ”

“…… Hurry up and teach them. ”

"My lord, can't we only issue one issue a month first, and change it to a half-monthly issue when the new engraving factory is built and the skilled hands are enough?"

"Your Majesty wants a half-month period, that is, a half-month period! If you want manpower, I'll give you manpower. You want paper, ink, whatever you want, I'll give you. But the newspaper has to be published once every half month, so this matter is not negotiable! ”

The master craftsman could only wipe his tears and reluctantly went back to the engraving room.

The movements in the palace naturally can't be hidden from Zhu Houxi, especially now that this matter is one of the major events he pays attention to.

After listening to Huang Jin's performance and looking at his helpless and unbearable expression, Zhu Houxi also let out a long sigh.

In this day and age, too many things can only be done by heaps of manpower.

But for the technology and process in the field of printing, Zhu Houxi also knows nothing.

If the Jiajing Dictionary can control the responsibility for the engraved glyphs, it may not be possible to authorize it after the Ming Pao Bank has established a local franchise number.

The emergence of new words, strict control of the appearance of all kinds of variant characters is a very important part of the successful promotion. What this thing wants is unity.

After listening to the difficulties reported by the Ming Pao Bank, Zhu Houxi had already allowed them to carve more engravings.

This also complained that Zhu Houxi did not know enough about the details of the current technical situation, and in his cognition, he naturally thought that movable type printing was more advanced, so the two things of new characters, dictionaries, and newspapers, were clearly engraved with a batch of new simplified movable types at the beginning.

But the dictionary, once determined, the engraving can better control the future engraving or authorization after the writing of each word remains unchanged - for the engraving.

Newspapers alone are inseparable from movable type. The amount of printing will certainly be reduced, but the consumption of manpower, typemolds and many other aspects will be doubled, and the disadvantages of today's movable type printing will be magnified exponentially.

"Tell the newspaper that the newspaper does not need to be beautiful, like many books that have been petitioned for the royal review in the past. It's a bit ghosted, some words are not clear, it's not a big problem, as long as the words are correct. ”

Zhu Houxi knows that everyone's standards are different.

What he wanted was the fact that the newspaper could be published on a regular basis, but there would still be "something that the emperor asked to do" on the newspaper side, so it was natural to pursue excellence.

For Zhu Houxi, it is enough to read a newspaper. As for print quality, it doesn't happen overnight.

From rough to fine, this pressure exists in Ming Pao, which is also the driving force that stimulates them to optimize the process.

"In this case, do not drive the craftsman too much." Zhu Houxi advised, "In the future, the new employees of the newspaper engraving factory will have to rely on them, and each one is very precious." Tell them clearly that I don't need this newspaper to be beautiful, and that people who read it can understand the meaning. Occasionally, a few words are not clear, can't you guess which word? ”

After Huang Jin went out, Zhu Houxi sat in a daze for a while.

For this line of work, only two words can come to his mind: lead lettering, printing press.

Later, they all used lead characters, what are the advantages of this lead word compared with the current wood, clay and copper characters? And how to cast?

There is also a printing machine, how to integrate this set of printing process into a printing machine and improve the efficiency of the printing process after the completion of plate making?

When Huang Jin arranged for someone to go to the Ming Pao Store to pass the news back and enter the study of the Heart Cultivation Palace, Zhu Houxi said: "Go and call Alfonso, and I will ask him if he has any knowledge of this in Europa." ”

……

Comrade Alfonso had blended in with the Ming Dynasty, wearing the robes that his other colleagues often wore.

As one of the offerings of the Huangming Academy, he is now living well in the Huangming Academy, and he especially likes the many delicacies of the Ming Dynasty.

After his experience and knowledge of shipbuilding, naval warfare, guns and many other aspects were hollowed out, Alfonso had not yet achieved complete "freedom", let alone any other opportunities.

Last year, there was a rebellion on the territory of the Emperor of the East, and Comrade Alfonso's "contribution" also had a small credit - the new Eastern artillery and warships were said to have played a significant role in the war.

But he never expected that His Majesty the Emperor would summon him and ask about printing.

"Your Majesty, I ...... Oh no, I have to remember it. ”

Zhu Houxi didn't urge him.

“…… The minister remembered that the minister's wife had asked someone to buy a Bible, and I heard that it was circulated in Germany, and it was very beautiful. The minister didn't ask, and the minister's wife might know a little. ”

Zhu Houxi nodded: "Huang Jin? ”

"The slave and maid will send someone to ask her to bring the scripture as well."

Really, who dares to call it a "holy" scripture?

Huang Jin didn't expect Zhu Houxi to pay so much attention to this trivial matter, and immediately arranged for someone to go to the Huangming University.

Alfonso hesitated a little again, and then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, I wonder if we can meet Carolina?" ”

"Naturally, there is no hurry."

When Zhu Houxi heard him say the Bible, he vaguely remembered a name in his mind: Gutenberg.

But it's useless, it's all all kinds of miscellaneous and scattered knowledge when I was a student, and I don't have any impression of the useful things at this time.

However, with this inspiration, Zhu Houxi and Alfonso chatted about Alfonso's memories in Europe, but instead remembered some scattered situations.

When Alfonso's wife came, she still asked her questions, and she replied that it seemed to be a little more difficult for her to learn the Ming language.

Zhu Houxi was looking at the thing she brought over, it was paper, and there were two volumes.

Alfonso listened to her words, and then reported to Zhu Houxi: "Your Majesty, I heard that it is very rare, and it is one of the less than two hundred copies printed at that time. My wife spent a lot of money to buy it for the sake of her identity. ”

After saying that, Zhu Houxi saw that his wife was slightly angry, and he didn't know if Alfonso had scolded the losers.

Does she know how the book was printed? Since it's a collectible to show identity, there should be something to brag about, right? ”

Alfonso asked again, and after getting an answer, he said helplessly: "She is only because of the beauty and the special font on this book." ”

Zhu Houxi took a closer look again, and saw that many letters were sharp and angular at the corners.

He didn't have much of a sense of the font of Western characters, but this Bible does have flower patterns on every page, which is more exquisite.

This is a noblewoman, just because it is good-looking.

At this point, Alfonso's wife hesitated for a moment, and then muttered a few more words.

Zhu Houxi looked at Alfonso curiously, but saw Alfonso's face sank, and then asked a few words with a rather unhappy expression, but his wife said it in a heartfelt manner.

Alfonso's face changed and changed, and finally he said: "Your Majesty, she said that she had heard a friend who came to visit her home mention that it was embossed with a special machine. ”

"Press?"

"Yes, I don't know exactly how to do it."

Zhu Houxi looked at him, then at his wife, and saw that his wife was looking at him expectantly.

“…… Are there any details that weren't said? ”

Alfonso's wife chattered, but Alfonso shook his head.

“…… Go and call Carolina. ”

Zhu Houxi instructed Huang Jin, and Carolina, who had already learned Da Ming dialect with Wen Suyun, came.

The family was reunited, and Carolina was very happy at first, but when Zhu Houxi asked her, after listening to her mother's words, Carolina hesitated and said, "My mother wants to ask...... If you talk about some details, can you ...... Reward my father with a knighthood? ”

"What details do you refuse to say?" Zhu Houxi looked at Alfonso curiously.

But Alfonso was embarrassed and ashamed, and so was Carolina.

Half a day later, Zhu Houxi looked at Alfonso with a strange face.

“…… That's not much of a useful detail. Zhu Houxi waved his hand, "Serve me well, and the title will come soon." Now you're just afraid that it won't be possible to reunite and reminisce, right? ”

Alfonso muttered a few times, then took his leave, not taking his wife with him.

And his wife didn't say goodbye to her daughter much, but chased after her and still chattered vigorously, Zhu Houxi faintly heard Alfonso scolding in a low voice.

But what does a juicer have to do with a printing press?

Zhu Houxi didn't care about Alfonso's wife and a certain male duke's behavior, because of what kind of behavior they had about the principle of the printing press.

Isn't it normal for Alfonso to have a green head?

Improving the printing press was important, but it's really hard to figure it out these days.

(End of chapter)