Zhenguan Crown Prince Li Chengqian

Chapter 60 The Impact of the New Papermaking Technology (2)

Just like that, Li Chengqian, who was just about to go out, was blocked by his teacher in the East Palace. Of course, the appearance of new paper made Li Chengqian extremely excited.

But knowing that his two teachers who claimed to know everything were stumped by such a simple matter, Li Chengqian had to sigh with emotion at the rigidity of ancient education.

"Teachers, don't be in a hurry. It's a simple matter. Sit down first." Turning to Heng Lian who was beside him, he said, "Go and serve tea to the two teachers, and bring over nine stamps."

When Li Gang and Zhang Xuansu heard that there was a solution, they still had time to drink tea, and urged Li Chengqian to tell them what a good solution was.

"The most mature printing technology in the Tang Dynasty is engraving, but the origin and disadvantages of engraving are known to the two teachers without the students talking about it." After hearing Li Chengqian's words, Li Gang and Zhang Xuansu both nodded. Of course they knew this.

Block printing appeared around the Western Jin Dynasty, and with the development of paper and ink, seals also became popular.In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, stone stele rubbing was developed. It combined the seal and rubbing, and then expanded the seal into a large layout, dipped it in ink, and spread the paper on the plate for printing in the same way as rubbing. This is The prototype of engraving printing.

Engraving printing needs to first write characters on the paper according to the required specifications, and then paste them on the planed wooden board, and then carve out positive and reverse characters according to the characters, so that the engraving of the positive plate is completed, and the negative plate just matches Its order is reversed and it can be reversed directly.

Apply ink on the carved plate, spread paper, print with a palm brush, and then lift the paper to become a printed product.However, engraving the layout requires a lot of manpower and materials. Once the engraving is completed, it will show the powerful advantages of high efficiency and large printing volume once it is printed.

However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage of engraving is that there must be no mistakes in the engraving process. Once a word is engraved wrong, the entire board will be useless.In this way, the cost of production will be greatly increased, and one or two out of ten can be regarded as a very skilled craftsman.

And this expensive printing technique can only be used by sects such as Buddhism and Taoism and aristocratic families. It is mostly used for printing Buddha statues, mantras, and vows.It is self-evident why it is rarely used to publish the Four Books and Five Classics.

Li Chengqian took the seal from Henglian's hand and said to the two of them: "This is the solution." Seeing that the two still didn't understand, Li Chengqian put one together and pressed it on the paper together, and then turned their seals upside down. Order, pressed down again.

Now the eyes of the two old masters brightened. These seals are actually a whole block of engravings, and what is amazing is that Li Chengqian just reversed their order, and the content on the paper is different.

Old Li Gang nodded: "The method is a good method, but it can't all be made into seals." Zhang Xuansu, who was on the side, also nodded.

"Well, there's nothing to do today anyway, how about we go to the industrial zone and make this new engraving." Naturally, the two of them would not refuse Li Chengqian's words.After Li Chengqian and others came to the workshop in the industrial area, they immediately ordered some carpenters to be called.

Li Chengqian took a ready-made engraving plate in his hand, pointed to one of them and said, "You have the materials in your hand, make a board with the same size as this engraving plate, and then add side strips around the board, and leave a concave hole on the side strip." Slot, waiting for the things that are being prepared to be put in one by one."

Then he told the rest of the carpenters: "You guys should divide the work and make two hundred square wooden blocks. After the blocks are finished, just carve words on them, but there must be concave or convex grooves on the wooden blocks. bit for later assembly.

After Li Chengqian finished speaking, the carpenters started to work. I have to say that they understood very quickly. After a while, a few wooden blocks were ready. They tried their slots and they were very good. Wait aside.

Three hours passed, and the carpenters finally finished the new board. Then Li Chengqian brought the new board assembled by the carpenters to the two teachers.

Seeing the two old men carefully looking at the new board as if they were playing with eggs, Li Chengqian, who was beside him, also shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Teacher, this kind of engraving can be assembled into various contents at will. In the future, there will be no waste caused by errors in the engraving process, and it can greatly save manpower and material resources. In this way, the cost of printing will also be reduced. .”

Old Li Gang brushed his beard very satisfied, and then said to Li Chengqian: "From the expression of His Highness, the old man knows that this may not be a big deal to you. But, Your Highness, have you ever thought about it? In the past, because of the cost, the court did not Published a large number of Four Books and Five Classics.

But now we can use this kind of technology to print more books and train more scholars. It is no longer an empty talk to teach without discrimination. This is the dream of countless scholars for thousands of years.But the old minister never thought that it could be realized today. Isn't this exciting. "

Of course, Li Chengqian understands what the old master said. As a teacher who has lived through three dynasties, he has long been at peace with the wealth and honor in this world.

If there is any obsession that the old master still has, it is the inheritance of Wen Dao. Since the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the Central Plains has suffered from wars, and countless treasures of Wen Dao have not been preserved.

Today, with such a printing technique and such paper, as long as you work hard, you can surely reproduce the prosperity of the prosperous age.

"Yes, the teacher's teaching is Chengqianji." Li Chengqian turned around and greeted the manager of the workshop; "Write down three points, first: reward each craftsman who improves paper with a hundred guan. Second: expand papermaking and new-style engraving here scale.

Third: Immediately engrave the Analects of Confucius according to the method of making the engraving block just now. I will see [-] copies in half a month. Write a list of what you need. "

"No, please rest assured, Your Highness, the humble job will be completed on time."

"Your Highness, with them, we can print more books and let more people learn the way of saints to educate the people," Zhang Xuansu said, pointing to the new-style engraving blocks and mulberry paper.

Well, Li Chengqian nodded, "Yes, education is the foundation of rejuvenating the country. In the past, because of the high cost of books, it was difficult to find teachers, which greatly restricted the growth of talents. This is also one of the reasons why the imperial court had to be constrained by aristocratic families."

Li Chengqian and the three of them all understood that once the cost of books was reduced, a large number of children from poor families would have the opportunity to receive education.

At the same time, it will also allow more people to understand the court's decrees, so that the rule of law that Li Chengqian has always advocated will truly be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.And those aristocratic families can no longer monopolize knowledge and misinterpret court decrees to squeeze those poor people.

(End of this chapter)