Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 181 0176 [Movable Type Printing]

Zhu Ming is still in charge of Taixue Zheng, and at the same time in charge of Guozijian library.

This appointment did not cause any commotion, it was just a small official in charge of printing books.

But within the Imperial Academy, many people were still unhappy.

Because the library officials are full of oil and water, they have the right to recruit all the academic officials of the Imperial College to proofread and delete books, and with a little tricks, they can make the academic officials want to die.

Although Chongwen Academy, Secretary Province, Sitianjian and other departments also have printing affairs, they only print their own books.

The general books and materials of the entire imperial court were all handed over to the Guozijian Library for printing.For example, various official document templates and work reports are printed in advance, and officials only need to fill in the key content.

In addition, some books have to be printed and distributed to the private sector to earn extra money.

The daily printing volume has reached more than 1 sheets, and it is enough to eat whatever you want.

Zhu Ming took a tour of Taixue, then rode to the Imperial College to take up his post.

The former treasury officer has been transferred away, but the work is not delayed, because the daily affairs are arranged by the master book.

The master of the Guozijian Library was Huang Ai, a minor official from the ninth grade. He came to greet him with a few officials, nodded and bowed his head, and took the initiative to lead the horse for Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming briefly asked everyone's names, and said: "Go to work, don't delay work, Mr. Huang will follow me."

The officials quickly dispersed, and Huang Ai followed Zhu Ming into the office.

"The business here remains as usual," Zhu Ming said to comfort him first, and then said, "Bring all the official documents from the library, and I'll take a look first."

"Yes!" Huang Ai immediately complied.

After the official document was moved in, Huang Ai stood by and waited for instructions.

Zhu Ming asked about the situation while reading the documents, and first understood the overall framework and work flow of the Guozijian library.

The accounts here are much clearer than Bai Chongyan's.

It must be able to match, but there must be room for various rebates for the purchase price of raw materials and external sales revenue.

Zhu Ming frowned and said, "The Guozijian library also has public treasury money (small treasury)?"

Huang Ai said: "Four to five thousand per year, according to the usual practice, the librarian can take half of it."

Sure enough, there is a lot of money, and the funds that can be embezzled openly exceed [-] yuan a year, and there are other gray incomes.

Zhu Ming asked, "How much is left in the public treasury?"

Huang Ai said: "More than nine months have passed this year, and the former treasury officer has withdrawn many times, and there are still more than 1000 pens left in the public treasury."

Zhu Ming said: "Then take a thousand guan."

"Yes." Huang Ai thought that Ju Ming was going to be corrupt, and instantly felt relieved. He was afraid that his boss would not be corrupt.

Zhu Ming took the money, rode away with Bai Sheng, and went straight to the Wanshou Temple in Beicheng District.

Wang Zixi is currently refining the elixir of immortality in the Longevity Temple.Hearing that Zhu Ming is coming, this guy came out to greet him in person: "Tan Hua Lang, what a rare visitor!"

"There is a small matter that needs to disturb the real person." Zhu Ming said.

Wang Zixi smiled and said: "Although it is said, the poor will definitely help."

Zhu Ming said: "I need [-] catties of lead, [-] catties of tin, and [-] catties of even tin. It's not easy to buy them anywhere else. I heard that real people have them here."

Wang Zixi said: "There are enough lead pipes here in Pindao, but nothing else. Tin seems to be sold in the city, but you can look for it at a bowl shop. As for Lian tin, I'm afraid you have to go to Luoyang to find it."

"Then ask a real person to sell thirty catties of lead," Zhu Ming said.

Wang Zaixi smiled generously: "Why bring money? It's only thirty catties of lead."

This guy has a bad attitude towards eunuchs and is extremely hostile to Lin Lingsu, but he has a good impression of the Zhu family and his son.

I didn't spend a penny, but I got thirty catties of lead.

Zhu Ming rode to the bowl shop again, and not only bought tin, but also antimony.

Of course, only a small amount can be purchased for experimentation.

If you really want to cast movable type on a large scale, you have to ask the mine supervisor from other places to supply it.The nearest one is Luoyang Fu Finance Supervisor, where copper coins are being minted, and the raw material for lead type is also the material for casting copper coins.

Zhu Ming took advantage of his power to recruit several silversmiths.

Borrow the small stove in the silver shop to experiment with the best ratio of lead movable type.

First, make a random ratio: 80% lead, 19% tin, and 1% antimony.

It was smelted out of the first furnace, poured into the mold, and cast 20 movable types, and observed their deformation after cooling.Then let the silversmith carve the pattern casually, heat it slightly, or throw ice cubes, and then cover it as a seal, and carefully observe the deformation.

The most expensive thing is the ice cubes, which are obtained from Kang Guogong's mansion.

One furnace is refined every two days, and the ratio is adjusted each time.

Also ask the silversmith how they feel, which movable type is the easiest to engrave.

I have been working on it for more than 40 days, and it has already entered the winter. After comparing various experimental data, Zhu Ming basically determined the formula of lead movable type.

Then, he directly wrote a secret memorial to the emperor and asked the Luoyang Fu Finance Supervisor to help cast movable type.

There is no need to transfer raw materials to Tokyo, just send the specifications to Fu Finance Supervisor to cast the movable type.Anyway, there are frequent shutdowns (copper shortage), but there is more than enough lead, tin and antimony, and there is no shortage of stoves and craftsmen, and movable type molds can be easily made.

Before the heavy snow blocked the road, the first batch of [-] movable types arrived at the Guozijian Library.

All whiteboards, no lettering.

And the casting is very perfunctory, it is purely a fool, and Zhu Ming has to let the engraver polish it carefully.

During this period, Zhu Ming was not idle.

He even brought in Tai students to count the frequency of characters in various books on the market, and divided all Chinese characters into: commonly used characters, reserved characters, optional characters, and rare characters.

The higher the frequency of occurrence of characters, the more engravings are needed to make movable type.

In the middle of winter, the Taixue students were busy with the annual exams, so Zhu Ming had to arrange work quickly, and then returned to Taixue to be the examiner.

Calling Huang Ai over, Zhu Ming asked, "Are those movable type polished?"

Huang Ai replied: "There is not enough manpower, and only more than 4000 pieces have been polished. The casting of Fu Caijian is too rough, and the rough edges are sticky, which can cut the craftsman's fingers."

"I will write a secret memorial and complaint," Zhu Ming said, "choose a few more craftsmen, and carve letters while polishing."

Huang Ai wondered: "I'm busy at the end of the year, and there are too many official documents that need engraving and printing."

Zhu Ming asked: "Can you make up the fifteen engraving workers?"

Huang Ai said: "Allocate ten at most, otherwise it will be difficult to complete the court's errands."

"Ten are fine," Zhu Ming ordered, "Go to a private printing house and recruit twenty engravers, and pay them half the wages every day."

Ju Ming is still very generous, as this kind of recruitment is usually just for food, and he will not give half a penny.

As for whether someone will cheat, hehe, Zhu Ming just took the opportunity to rectify.

Official craftsmen, plus private craftsmen, a total of [-] engraving workers were called to arrange work in front of Zhu Ming.

"This type of font, called Ming font, is clear when printed."

"The size of the words is called the font size. There are not enough movable type, so there are only two kinds of engravings for the time being, one is used for printing the main text, and the other is used for printing notes."

"These are punctuation marks, used to break sentences. For the time being, only commas and periods will be engraved."

"These are word lists, which are divided into four types: commonly used, spare, optional, and rare. After engraving, they are classified into respective categories, and they are easy to access when typesetting."

"..."

Although Huang Ai often takes kickbacks for corruption, as a technical officer, he is very good at the printing business.

After reading the content of Zhu Ming’s arrangement, I was so impressed that I couldn’t help reminding: “Zhu Kusi, some people tried to make lead movable type, but the printed ink was not uniform, and the ink was de-inked and smudged seriously. Hall."

"So, I still need to improve the ink," said Zhu Ming, "When you finish engraving the movable type, the ink will be improved."

Huang Ai stopped talking, but pouted secretly.

If you say you improve, you improve?

I still want to improve it, but there is no way at all.

Improving printing ink does not require any high-tech, and it is hard to think of pure formulas.

Gutenberg added linseed oil, which was very common in ancient China and was introduced by Zhang Qian in the Han Dynasty.Moreover, the imported flax is used for oil, not fiber flax, which is specially used for oil extraction in the north.

Among other things, those Taoist priests often use it for alchemy.

Zhu Ming asked for a batch of sesame oil, and the official sent it quickly, making people very speechless. What the fuck is sesame oil...

Linseed oil and sesame oil were collectively referred to as "flax oil" in ancient times.

To distinguish in detail, sesame is called Zhima, and flax is called Jusheng, dog louse, and Fujihong.

While Zhu Ming was invigilating the exams for the Tai students, he had craftsmen distill turpentine to obtain turpentine, which would be left to stand for several months after being mixed with carbon black.

There are too many applications for appropriations, and the small treasury of the Guozijian Library is not enough.

After the annual examination, Song Huizong recruited Zhu Ming into the palace and asked, "Why do you keep asking for money for movable type printing? How are you doing?"

Zhu Ming replied: "It's the last moment, please ask the government to set up another ink station. The new ink needs a lot of preparation, and it will take several months before it can be used."

The household department is short of money, but the emperor is not short of money.

Just for the Royal Tea Garden in Fujian, tens of thousands of dollars are allocated every year. What is it to open an ink workshop?
Song Huizong waved his hand and joked: "I will give you five thousand guan, if it doesn't work, I will punish you severely!"

"Thank you for the official trust!" Ju Ming was overjoyed.

Zhu Guoxiang brought many villagers to Beijing, and he couldn't let them sit idle.

Liang Yi, who was the smartest, was assigned to manage the ink factory, and the rest of the villagers also worked as workers in the ink factory.Serious craftsmen, of course, have to recruit professionals from the private sector, and the villagers can do odd jobs.

Throughout the winter, plus the Spring Festival, Ju Ming was busy.

I don’t even have time to watch the Lantern Festival.

Until the snow melted in spring, the Luoyang Fu Finance Supervisor sent the second batch of blank movable type.

Perhaps it was criticized by the emperor, the quality of the second batch of movable type was better, and it could be engraved after simple polishing.

Thirty letter engraving workers, hurriedly and slowly, in May, it took more than half a year to finally engrave [-] movable type.Among them, there are many commas and periods, and some blank type.

The new ink, after several months of drying, is finally ready to use.

Improved movable type printing, the first book was used to print "The Analects of Confucius".Less words, easy to print.

There are two fonts, one for text and one for notes.

At the beginning of printing, all the officials and craftsmen of the Guozijian library came to watch the three floors inside and outside.

When the first print was printed, bursts of amazement erupted.

(Uh, forgot to post regularly...)
(End of this chapter)