The only way to break the monopoly of knowledge on the scholarly class is to popularize education.

But Lao Zhu has been doing this, but with little success.

In this era, reading is a very expensive thing that ordinary people can afford.

In the second year of Hongwu, the world was initially decided, and Lao Zhu summoned relevant officials and proposed "the establishment of the school, the first task of the country".

Subsequently, the state apparatus of the entire Ming Dynasty was quickly launched, and a lot of manpower, material resources, and finances were invested in the construction of schools.

In the central government, there are national sub-supervisors, and in the local areas, there are schools at different levels, such as prefectural schools, state schools, county schools, and social studies.

Across the country, more than 36,000 students are enrolled in a year.

This is a very remarkable figure in a feudal dynasty where illiteracy is rrough.

These students are known as "Liao Shan Students".

Dishan, that is, the public supply of food.

The state supports the students, all of whom study at public expense, including living expenses.

Every holiday, the court will also give a reward.

When the student reaches the age of marrying a wife and having children, the imperial court will also give him a dowry to marry a wife.

However, this system has not been in place for many years.

Most of the officials in the imperial court did not think much of the state had invested so much money in running official schools, but they had to do it because of Lao Zhu's strict orders.

After Lao Zhu's death, except for Guozijian, almost all official schools in various places were abolished.

Zhu Yunxi knew in his heart that it was not easy to popularize education in Daming.

Soon, he and Yao Guangxiao came to the place where the books were printed.

Many craftsmen are busy.

A huge wheel rotates rapidly, and the craftsmen skillfully take out the character mold on the wheel and put it into the printing plate.

Since the invention of movable type printing, printing has advanced by leaps and bounds.

The mass printing of books has also greatly promoted the dissemination of knowledge.

But Zhu Yunxi only looked at it for a moment, and then shook his head slightly.

Although movable type printing is good, the typesetting process is still extremely complex, time-consuming and labor-intensive.

The grandson came in person, and the craftsmen were excited.

"Your Royal Highness, although the clay movable type is good, the clay is easy to damage, and there are still many inconveniences."

"Movable wooden type is difficult to carve and uneven."

"And when these two are mostly printed, there are many unclear points and the quality is not high."

"If you use movable copper type, the cost is too high."

"Xiao repeatedly studied, and found that the movable type cast with "lead" printed books was full and clear, of extremely high quality, and the movable type itself was not easy to be damaged. ”

A craftsman reports to Zhu Yunxi.

As he spoke, he presented a piece of paper that had just been printed out of movable lead type.

As we all know, Taisun attaches great importance to invention and creation.

Craftsmen who propose technical transformation will be rewarded.

The craftsman invented the lead type, and he couldn't wait to ask the grandson for credit.

Movable lead type?

Zhu Yunxi was slightly stunned.

The name Gutenberg comes to mind.

This person is known in the West as the inventor of movable type printing, although in fact Bi Sheng pioneered movable type printing about 400 years before him.

Movable type printing is a huge technological advancement.

But there are still many drawbacks to clay type.

For example, the firmness is insufficient, and the damage is not conducive to preservation, and cannot be used for secondary printing.

Movable wood type is limited by wood, the texture is dense and uneven, and the texture of good wood is too hard, and it is difficult to carve; It is deformed when it is wet, and it is not easy to separate when it sticks to the agent, etc.

As for the movable copper type, the biggest problem is that the material is expensive and the production process is very complicated.

In contrast, movable lead type has many advantages.

With the invention of movable lead type, a media movement was set off in the West, and knowledge was rapidly popularized.

As a result, Gutenberg is regarded by many Westerners as an important figure in influencing the course of history.

Where is there no talent in China?

With just a little bit of incentives, someone invented the lead type so quickly.

He didn't even give any instruction.

Zhu Yunxi sighed in his heart, and couldn't help but feel a little distracted.

Next to him, Yao Guangxiao took the book paper and looked at it, and praised: "The printing is exquisite, the handwriting is full, compared with the engraving printing, it is all better, good!" Very good! ”

"Not bad!" Zhu Yunxi also praised: "You can find another way to invent lead movable type, and you should be rewarded." What's your name? ”

"Back to His Royal Highness the Taisun, the villain King is alive." The craftsman responded generously and decently, not as restrained as others.

Zhu Yunxi looked him up and down, and asked with a smile: "How many years have you been engaged in movable type printing?" ”

"Not really." Wang Huoyin was ashamed: "It turned out that the family still had surplus wealth, so he took farming and reading as his top priority, and then the family fell into the middle of the road, and he had no choice but to become a craftsman." ”

"When I was a child, my father often fiddled with farm tools and utensils in the yard, and did movable type printing, so that he could make a living by eating a bite of food."

Born into a big family?

However, ordinary large families do not fiddle with farm tools and utensils at home, let alone do movable type printing.

This is something that only the next generation will do.

Everything is inferior, only reading is high.

Young master, of course, is a person who only reads.

This Wang family is a bit different.

A bright light suddenly flashed in Zhu Yunxi's mind.

The Wang family? King......

He hurriedly asked: "You were born in the Wang family, is Mo a descendant of Wang Zhen?" ”

Wang Huoyin was extremely surprised: "That's the father, I didn't expect His Royal Highness to know the name of the father." ”

Your father was an agronomist and an agricultural mechanic who could go down in history.

He is also the inventor of wooden movable type and wheel typesetting pan, and one of the most famous scientists in history.

Who doesn't know such a celebrity?

"The world is talking about cultivating and reading heirlooms, so why doesn't the imperial court take these two as its top priorities?"

Zhu Yunxi said: "Agriculture is the foundation of the country, books are the carrier of civilization inheritance, your father not only emphasized agriculture, wrote books, but also invented wooden movable type and rotary typesetting plate, and made outstanding contributions to printing, of course Lone knows." ”

Hearing the grandson praise his father, Wang Huoyin was very excited.

"You can invent lead type, and you are worthy of being the son of Wang Zhen." Zhu Yunxi smiled and said: "Gu will give you a nine-grade official position today, and a reward of five hundred taels of silver will be rewarded as a reward." ”

"I hope you will continue to work hard in the future and make more creations and inventions."

Wang Huoyin knelt down and bowed again, bursting into tears: "His Royal Highness Taisun Xie." ”

After his family fell again and became a craftsman, he didn't know how much suffering he had suffered.

Unexpectedly, he could get an official position again today.

"Lead type is good, but there is a better way."

Zhu Yunxi said the purpose of his trip.

He asked him to fetch a piece of wax paper.

"Write on wax paper with a hard pen to make a wax plate, and then lay it flat under the gauze ......"

Based on the memories of his previous life, he told how to make and use the mimeograph machine.

Compared to firearms, mimeographing machines are much simpler.

The required wax paper, ink, hard pen, etc. are all available.

This simple mimeograph machine is a huge technological leap compared to movable type printing.

Hand pressure mimeograph machine, until the nineties of the twentieth century, is still widely used in a large number of primary and secondary schools.

In particular, many rural primary and secondary schools cannot afford to buy a book of test papers, so teachers make up their own questions, and then use a hand-pressed mimeograph machine to print them into test papers for students to do questions and take exams.

In his previous life, Zhu Yunxi, when he was in primary and secondary school, also tinkered with this kind of mimeograph machine in school and printed test papers, and was extremely impressed by it.

The principle and structure are very simple, and the improvement of printing efficiency is tens of millions of times.

It was impossible to build a machine right away, but while Zhu Yunxi explained the principle and manufacturing method to the craftsmen, he had all the materials such as wax paper, gauze, ink, and hard pen ready.

He did a little bit of experimentation, and then he printed a page of the book.

Wang Huoyin was stuck there.

Just now, I was proud of my invention of movable lead type.

At this time, it suffered a huge blow.

Compared with the wax paper mimeograph invented by His Royal Highness Taisun, his lead movable type is like a joke.

With a mimeograph machine, what else do you need for movable type?

His Royal Highness Taisun just gave himself a commendation and rewarded the silver official, most of them just to see that he was the son of Wang Zhen.

Otherwise, where is the reward for a technology that is not used at all?

He was so lost and stunned.

Zhu Yunxi noticed that Wang Huoyin's expression was wrong, so he smiled and said: "Although you can't use your lead type, you can invent and create it, it's very good." ”

"Only with the blessing of heaven can I come up with a mimeograph machine."

"If not, for hundreds of years, you'll be using the lead type you invented."

"Lone sealed your official position and rewarded you with gold and silver, not because you are the son of Wang Zhen, but because the technical improvements you proposed are worthy of Lone's reward."

"You don't have to be discouraged, you should use this as an encouragement to study technology and make more inventions."

Wang Huoyin was ashamed and moved: "The words of the grandson, my Wang Huoyin will be remembered in my heart, and I will be diligent and diligent in the future, and I will definitely make some achievements, live up to the high expectations of the grandson, and live up to the name of my father." ”

Zhu Yunxi nodded, and asked the craftsmen to make the hydraulic mechanism earlier.

Compared with the large amount of manpower and material resources required for movable type printing, the printing cost of the hydraulic press is low and the printing efficiency is high.

With a hydraulic press, no matter how many books are printed, it is a breeze.

The mass printing of books will inevitably lead to the wide dissemination of knowledge, which will affect the whole society.

Reading and literacy will no longer be monopolized by large families and wealthy families.

Zhu Yunxi turned around, but saw Yao Guangxiao still standing there in a daze, like a wooden chicken.

"You're a monk, where are you still settled?" Zhu Yunxi sneered.

"Plop!"

Yao Guangxiao suddenly knelt down.

"His Royal Highness Taisun invented the hydraulic press today, so that books can be widely distributed all over the world from now on, and its merits are comparable to the three emperors, and thousands of readers in the world will be inherited, thank you to His Royal Highness Taisun!"

He kowtowed heavily and bowed deeply.

Since following Zhu Yunxi, Yao Guangxiao has never been like this.

Although he was a monk, he was still a Confucian in his bones.

In his eyes, there is nothing more important in the world than reading.

The invention of the hydraulic press made Yao Guangxiao see the hope that everyone in the world is a scholar and everyone is literate.

There will be no more vain in the world.

Civilization spreads throughout the world, and education spreads among all peoples.

Such feats, even the sages of the ancients, are difficult to achieve.

What Yao Guangxiao worships is not the grandson of the Ming Dynasty, but the saint of the world.

It was at this moment that he truly surrendered to Zhu Yunxi completely, and he had no dissent.

(End of chapter)