No one can disturb my retirement life in the Red Mansion

"Later than expected." said Sun Lang.

Xiao Jiang wanted to hit someone again, and she felt that she couldn't live like this anymore. However, she calmed down and smiled, "Mother-in-law has stopped printing letters and only printed blessing characters. And they have to be saved and given to the people during the New Year. So shouldn't we do something to help my second brother?"

"Oh, didn't I ask you to make the plates according to the characters in Er Ya? How's it going?" After both of them got jobs, the relationship between Sun Lang and his wife had improved greatly. At least they had something to talk about every day. Now that his wife asked, he hurriedly asked.

Er Ya contains 4300 characters and characters in total. This is the first book they want to make after they prepare to print. Of course, this is also chosen by Ou Mengmeng. Er Ya was compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty. This book was printed first. First, it is a reference book, which is the first dictionary-like book in Chinese history. Second, it is also a surrender to the Han Dynasty. Liu Xiang was born in the royal family and he himself was a promising minister. At this time, the Liu family's book was shown to the old Liu family. The meaning is all in the book.

At that time, Sun Lang knew what his mother was thinking, but he said nothing. Now that the enemy was at the gates of the city, in addition to printing the blessing, his focus was on printing "Er Ya" to win the support of the literati.

"There are more than 13,000 characters. It will take a long time to photolithograph them." Mrs. Jiang said unhappily.

I had talked to the old lady before, preparing the wood and making it exactly the same size. Then carving it word by word. She didn't know there was such a thing as woodblock printing. How could she know how difficult it was to carve one block after another. Now, she felt that the difficulty was too great.

The biggest difficulty of movable type printing is neatness! Woodblock printing looks good as a whole, but movable type is convenient, but it cannot achieve the integrity of woodblock printing.

At this time, there is no standardization. Therefore, the slight difference will destroy the integrity of the fonts. To solve the problem, the strength of the single stamp must be strengthened.

These days, she really immersed herself in the printing workshop, and when they were doing trial printing, they found that the printing machine had to be adjusted again. There were many practical difficulties in the process.

"Mother, you've tried the mimeograph method. If that doesn't work, I'll ask someone to print some out first?" Sun Lang listened to his wife's complaints. He also knew that his wife had been working hard these days, and it was useless for him to say anything now. So he just helped his mother deal with the emergency and made the things first. As for the printing process, that could be adjusted later.

"Is that okay?" Jiang breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's no problem. Use good paper and bind it well as my mother did before. Then make a better wooden box. They have never seen these before." Sun Lang was still confident.

"You said, since we are going to do it, how about we use the lost wax method to make iron seals?" Little Jiang had been thinking about this for more than a day or two. Cast iron was no longer a high-end technology at that time. It was much easier to make identical iron blocks with cast iron than to find the same wood and make them of the same size. As long as the things were made, they would be etched with the lost wax method. This was a one-time investment, which was relatively high, but it was also an investment. It would not be forever indestructible, but it would definitely be more durable than wood. But there were also problems. First, paper was not good. Although the old lady had made thin and tough paper that could be used for printing books, no one knew whether the cast iron would tear the paper.

"It's okay. My mother always said, do it first. If it doesn't work, adjust it later." Sun Lang waved his hand.

In fact, Xiao Jiang has already started to do it. She told Sun Lang that she wanted to find an ally. When the old lady asked about it later, she would let Sun Lang take the lead. After all, he was her biological son. Sun Lang didn't care. He was satisfied with his wife anyway. Just like the old lady said, she was not the kind of complainer. She was much more proactive in doing things. It was also a wise thing for a daughter-in-law to bring someone out to take the blame. It also showed that she trusted her husband, which should be praised. Sun Lang also knew that his mother was trying to persuade them to reconcile. He was actually a very smart person. He also regarded his wife's little tricks as fun.

While asking someone to carve wax paper, they also invited the person who had helped them make the printing press before. Now he was the one who knew the mechanical device best, so he was asked to continue.

The blessing was sent to Sun Quan, so he called his two generals, Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu.

The two of them were clueless, but there was a thick stack of red paper with several different styles of the word "Fu" on it. They were both a little stunned. They didn't quite understand why Sun Quan showed them this.

However, both of them were scholars, so they knew the words on it were very impressive. They didn't know what was written on it, but they soon found out that it was wrong. Because every piece of paper had the same handwriting, in the same position...

"Is this printed?" Zhang Zhao's voice was trembling.

“Yes, the old lady asked the people in the letter paper workshop to carve it. Now the workshop is printing the word ‘Fu’ non-stop. During the Chinese New Year, it can be given to people who can’t afford peach charms. What Queen Mother meant was that this is called ‘sending blessings to homes.’” Sun Quan nodded and picked up the various ‘Fu’ characters to have a look. At this time, the idea of ​​calligraphy had already been formed, but there was no paper to promote it. However, the evolution of calligraphy could be seen from the text on the stone tablet.

At this time, the fonts have also undergone a variety of changes. The changes in the font of the word "Fu" are actually based on everyone's aesthetic taste. Although it is printed, if you look closely, it is full of details.

"So, we can print books now?" Zhou Yu said. After all, he was also a scholar, and he understood what this meant. Looking at the red paper, it was a little rough and thick, and it must be specially made for posting. If we can print such a big word "Fu", if we use the paper of Wuhou paper, can we print books?

"The Queen Mother said that it still needs to be adjusted. This word "Fu" will be used during the Chinese New Year, so we print it first. Then each family will have two copies and paste them on the left and right sides of the door to add some joy to everyone." Sun Quan said casually.

"This is really beautiful. How did the Queen Mother think of writing the word 'Fu' like this?" Zhang Zhao was still studying the word, and his hands were still trying to copy it. This is what scholars are like. What is the meaning of seeing prey and being happy? This is what it means. I have forgotten why Sun Quan called them here.

"Giving gifts to the common people like this won't solve the problem of the aristocratic families." Zhou Yu was quick-witted and knew what the old lady meant. He used the word "Fu" to win the hearts of the people.

"We agreed to the request of the noble families and will no longer print letter paper." Sun Quan was also trying to write. Now he had enough paper, so he could naturally try to write. The old lady had just asked him to practice calligraphy. It was just right for him to write "Fu" for all the ministers and give them money and silk together, so that the people would also know that this word "Fu" was the intention of the Marquis of Wu for the elders of Jiangdong. (End of this chapter)