Dahan first prince

Chapter 376: Movable Type Printing

Weiyang Palace, Shaofu studio.

Walking into the side courtyard under the guidance of Yang Chengyan, Liu Ying discovered without any surprise: the courtyard in front of her, which covers an area of ​​only ten feet and shows no abnormalities at all, is already a bright and dark sentry post and patrol guards for no less than a hundred people. Surrounded by a watertight.

Walking into the courtyard with an indifferent expression, all the craftsmen who greeted their eyes were standing or sitting, all holding a wooden board in their hands, and carving words on the wooden board.

"how?"

"What's the problem with printing and engraving?"

The lightly asked question caused Yang Chengyan to frown, and a bitterness immediately appeared on his face.

"Your Majesty."

"It is not difficult to engrave the words on the wooden board in reverse."

"There are only a few craftsmen who are good at carving, but many are illiterate..."

When he said this with a worried face, Yang Chengyan shook his head to himself, then turned sideways, picked up a piece of wood from the corner full of discarded wood boards, recovered his senses, and handed the board to the In front of Liu Ying.

"Your Majesty, let's see."

"All the craftsmen who carve characters here are almost illiterate; the characters carved on the wooden boards are also strokes and strokes, and they are engraved with scriptures."

"However, such printing and engraving blocks can easily have eight rows and fifteen columns, with a total of 120 characters; but if one character is engraved by mistake, the whole board will be invalidated."

"In the past few months, dozens of these craftsmen can be described as forgetting to eat and sleep, working day and night, and only the engraving of the first eight chapters of "Cangjie Pian"..."

Hearing Yang Chengyan's words, Liu Ying couldn't help but her expression darkened, she lowered her head, and saw that the wooden board Yang Chengyan handed over was, as Yang Chengyan said, just "Cang Jie wrote books to teach his descendants" If the word "Si" is carved wrongly, the whole board will be invalid.

Especially nowadays, the writing of the Han Dynasty is Qinzhuan, which is often called Xiaozhuan in later generations. Although it is simpler and neater than the Western Zhou Dynasty, it still has nothing to do with "simplified".

According to the conclusions of later generations of researchers, the development and evolution of Chinese characters and fonts started from the big seal script and ended with the regular script as the final version.

Among them, Chinese characters have experienced the development and evolution process from big seal script to small seal script, then to official script, cursive script, and finally to regular script.

Even in the end, 'regular script' became the most concise and convenient font recognized by China, but on the eve of the new era in later generations, Chinese characters still experienced the evolution from 'kaizheng' (traditional) to 'kaixing' (simplified).

In the process of the evolution of Chinese characters from big seal script, small seal script, to official script, cursive script, and finally to regular script and regular script, the Qin Xiaozhuan script commonly used in the Han Dynasty is only in the second stage;

——Quite a few characters in Qin Xiaozhuan haven't even completely broken away from the category of hieroglyphs like "Oracle Bone Inscriptions"!

In addition, nowadays, even the senior craftsmen who can join the Shaofu are still in the state of illiteracy of "not knowing a single character", so it is no wonder that the scrap rate of the engravings carved by these people is so high that it is outrageous.

For this problem, Liu Ying naturally had expected it long ago, and already had a general solution direction in her mind.

First, it is natural to take the initiative to speed up the evolution of characters, so that Qin Xiaozhuan, which is currently in use in the Han Dynasty, can enter the next stage of the evolution of Chinese characters as soon as possible: official script.

But this direction, even leaving aside the natural laws of character evolution and the time required, is just an impression that it happened decades later, which forced Liu Ying to temporarily rule out this direction.

Speaking of this historical story, we have to mention the fourth son of the first emperor Liu Bang who is still acting as king today: Liu Heng, the acting king.

In the original history, Emperor Zuo of the Han Dynasty passed through the inheritance of Taizu Liu Bang-Xiaohui Liu Ying-former Young Emperor Liu Gong-later Young Emperor Liu Hong. Liu Heng's head!
As for the changes that happened during this period, Liu Ying didn't have a deep impression - after all, Liu Ying didn't do any deep research in her previous life.

Liu Ying only vaguely remembered that in a history class where she was yawning all over the place, the teacher once said: After becoming the fifth emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, the Dai Wang, seemed to be doing pretty well;

Not to mention the posthumous posthumous title of 'Xiaowen', even the temple name of 'Taizong'.

In Liu Ying's impression, this historical story about "Clerical Script" happened during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the son of Emperor Taizong of the Han Dynasty, that is, Emperor Xiaojing Liu Qi.

At that time, Emperor Taizong Liu Heng had passed away, Xiaojing Liu Qi was in power, and Empress Xiaowen Dou Yifang naturally became Xiaojing Liu Qi's queen mother.

Let’s say that Dou Yifang, Empress Xiaowen, loved the Huang-Lao theory all her life, and despised any other schools of thought;
I also happened to hear that there was an old Confucian named Yuan Gu who had despised the Huang-Lao theory that he believed in so deeply, so he called the old Confucian Yuan Gu into the palace.

When the old Confucian Yuangu was called to come, Empress Dowager Dou happened to be accompanied by the emperor Liu Qi, watching the beast fight beside the animal circle in Shanglinyuan. Confucianism is the best?
Yuan Gu didn't answer, and Empress Dowager Dou asked again: "Compared with the Confucianism you have studied, is Huang Lao's theory better or worse?"

When the situation has developed to this point, anyone with a discerning eye can see clearly: Empress Dowager Dou is dissatisfied because she heard that the old Confucian Yuangu slandered Huang Laoxue;
To embarrass Yuangu face to face is just to make Yuangu subdue and say a few good words to himself, and the matter is over.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the words, the old Confucian Yuangu wished to put his head behind his back, point his nostrils to the sky, and replied contemptuously to Queen Dowager Dou: Huang Lao's theory is just something for women to learn!

Seeing that Yuangu was so ignorant, Empress Dowager Dou was furious immediately, and immediately replied: Compared with what Sikong and Chengdan learned, so what?
After saying that, Empress Dowager Dou was still furious, and seeing a wild boar in the animal pen in front of her, she ordered the old Confucian Yuangu to be thrown into the animal pen to have a duel with the wild boar.

If it weren't for the critical moment, the emperor Liu Qi, who was always on the sidelines as the background board, threw down his sword. I am afraid that on top of the history books, after the first emperor Yingzheng's "burning books and burying Confucianism", there will be an extra "Han Xiaowen Empress cruel and innocent, Drive the wild pig to swallow Confucianism', that is, the allusion of 'drive the pig to swallow Confucianism'.

And in this incident, the most surprising thing is the sentence that Queen Dowager Dou replied: Andre Sikong Chengdan book?

For Yuan Gusheng's contempt of "Huang Lao, but the family's words", even if Queen Dowager Dou replies, she should also criticize Confucianism and Confucius, and why she used the inexplicable "Sikong Chengdan Book", As a counterattack against Yuan Gusheng?
In her previous life, Liu Ying never understood the key to this question, nor even cared about the answer to this question.

After all, he doesn't take this exam for the final exam...

But after traveling back to this era and clearly knowing the potential meaning of "Sikong Chengdanshu", Liu Ying realized it belatedly: Why did the Queen Mother Dou in history choose to use this sentence to go back and forth? .

——At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the mainstream script: Xiaozhuan, there was also a script that was not recognized by the mainstream: Lishu.

The reason why Lishu is called "Lishu" is because this font that appeared at the end of the Warring States period was mainly used to record criminal responsibility files and related judicial records.

In other words, the name 'Clerical Script' has a certain degree of contempt and insult - it is a script specially used by criminals and prisoners.

As for why Empress Dou mentioned "Sikong Chengdanshu" inexplicably in front of Yuan Gusheng, it is precisely because "Sikong Chengdanshu", that is, the most solid supporter of Lishu, is a Confucian who was born in Yuangusheng.

In this way, the inexplicable conversation between Empress Dowager Dou and Yuan Gusheng can completely make sense.

——Empress Dowager Dou asked: What about Huang Lao's theory?
Yuan Gusheng replied contemptuously: It's just something for women to learn.

Empress Dowager Dou retorted angrily, "That's better than you scum who admire Lishu!"
As the saying goes: You can know the whole leopard from a glimpse.

From this incident, it is not difficult for Liu Ying to judge: For Lishu, which is obviously more convenient and advanced, the current Han Dynasty, and even the mainstream literary circles of the Han Dynasty in the next hundred years, all have a certain degree of contempt.

——How can the words used by prisoners and criminals be used to record the thoughts and philosophies of the sages, and even appear in any formal occasion?
——This is simply the collapse of ritual and music!

This means that under the background of today's era, if Liu Ying really slaps her head, she will ignore the promotion of official script, and let alone whether the matter can be done, I am afraid that Liu Ying herself will bear the huge public opinion first. pressure.

Combined with Confucianism's resolute maintenance of official script, if Liu Ying is not afraid to speculate with the greatest malice, Liu Ying's move to promote official script may even be misunderstood as a clear proof that "the Son of Heaven is good at Confucianism"!

But in this era, a "good Confucian" emperor is absolutely impossible to get the support of the court, and it is even impossible to make the court feel at ease...
In this way, things are simple.

Since it is not advisable to speed up the evolution of characters subjectively, the remaining way is to reduce the scrap rate of engraving boards through thinking changes...
Thinking of this, Liu Ying looked at Yang Chengyan with a meaningful look.

"Um······"

"But one character is wrongly adjusted, why not cut the carving board into pieces, and adjust only one character in one piece; and then use the carved blocks to form a whole board?"

Hearing Liu Ying's words, Yang Chengyan first frowned subconsciously, and immediately there was a look of "this matter is not so simple" on his face.

But after a short while, Yang Chengyan was stunned, and a strange color gradually appeared in his dull eyes.

In front of Yang Chengyan, seeing that Yang Chengyan had already shown an epiphany, Liu Ying also smiled lightly, and there was finally a look of relaxation on his brows.

What Liu Ying didn't know was that, in fact, the main reason why woodblock printing in history evolved into movable type printing was because the scrap rate of woodblock printing was too high and it was extremely inconvenient for printing.

——In the era of engraving and printing, only one fixed book can be printed on one engraving panel. If you want to print a new book, you need to make a new engraving panel.

And the new engraving board is the same as the old one, only this new book can be printed. If you want to print other books in the future, you still need to make a new engraving board.

In the early days of woodblock printing, there were only a few books in the world, and there were only Confucian Four Books and Five Classics, allusions of sages, etc. It was not so troublesome to fix books with fixed woodblock printing.

But later, folk literature began to rise, and when someone produced a novel reading material every now and then, and raised a lot of banknotes in his hand to print in batches, problems began to appear.

——As private capital, these people who want to publish books, no matter how rich they are, cannot be the same as the Four Books and Five Classics printed by the Central Committee of the Chaotang, with one million and 80 copies printed;

It’s the best, that is, a certain scholar’s ​​family has a little money, and he accidentally wrote a novel that he thought was very good, so he wanted to print a hundred and eighty copies, pass it on to relatives and friends, and show off his family background and literature by the way Conservation.

Under such circumstances, it is obviously not worth the candle to order a new engraving panel for such a book with a circulation of only [-] copies.

—— Craftsmen are illiterate, but it is the norm in China's thousands of years of history!
After all, under the slander of Confucianism's "extraordinary obscenities and skills", it is impossible for any cultural person who can read and write to "condescend" to work with wood and iron.

The engraving boards required for printing must be carved by these craftsmen stroke by stroke. Just like this, Yang Chengyan is facing the same problem: as long as there is a wrong stroke of a character, it will cause the entire The engraving is void.

As the Minister of the Shaofu, with the personal support of Emperor Liu Ying and the unconditional support of the entire Shaofu, Yang Chengyan can naturally bear the high cost of carving panels;

But for those folk 'publishers' who spend most of their wealth to customize a set of carved panels, and count on this set of carved panels to make a lot of money every day and live comfortably all their lives, a set of books with no circulation is obviously a must. Absolute disaster.

In this context, movable type printing came into being, the cost of publishing folk literature dropped sharply, and novel reading materials began to rise...

However, the development process of Chinese civilization from woodblock printing to movable type printing, from the emergence of copy printing and rubbing stone tablets in the Xiping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (172-178 AD), to the typesetting and printing of clay movable type in the Song Dynasty, has also cost hundreds of dollars. time of year······
At this moment, Liu Ying was standing in the 'China's first engraving and printing research institute' with a calm expression on her face.

But in fact, Liu Ying allowed movable type printing to appear on the land of China thousands of years earlier in history with just a few words.

After euphemistically 'reminding' Yang Chengyan, Liu Ying did not describe further, just patted Yang Chengyan's shoulder with a smile, gave another look of 'I like you', and put her hands behind her back Leaving Shaofu Studio.

Liu Ying believed that after the ideological barriers were broken, the transition from woodblock printing to movable type printing would not be able to stop Yang Chengyan, a senior talent who was born as a Qin army craftsman.

As the emperor, Liu Ying did not have so much energy to promote the leapfrog development of Chinese civilization.

——Right now, there is still a war of destroying the country related to Liu Han's national destiny, Liu Ying, who is the emperor, needs to keep paying attention at all times...
(End of this chapter)