Ancient Imperial Examination Daily

Chapter 219 A View of the Workshop

"There is one more thing to trouble Brother Zhang." Du Jinning turned to Zhang Hongwen.

"If there's anything I can do, just say it." Zhang Hongwen said with great anticipation.

Whether it's a teahouse or a bookstore, they were all opened with the help of Du Jinning's scripts, Guan Jiaze and Qi Muyuan's funds and contacts, but he couldn't help him with anything, he just followed behind to get a dividend, which made him feel embarrassed. There is also a sense of inferiority in my heart, I feel like Du Jinning's oil bottle, following me to eat idle food.

So he is very happy to be able to do something within his ability.

"There are many books in the library of our academy, which are not sold outside. You find some books that are useful for scientific examinations but are rare in the market, and then pick out two or three from class B who are poor, honest, and well-written. Good students, let them copy it and sell it outside." Du Jinning said.

Without waiting for the three of them to ask questions, she said again: "I asked the head of the mountain about this matter, and he said there is no problem."

"No problem." Guan Jiaze took over the conversation, "Our academy has never cherished itself with a broom. The books in the library are copied by random students. Some students who are not well-off and have brains will also copy some books from the library. Take it out and sell it. However, because it is difficult to find a satisfactory buyer, not many people copy it."

"Which student has copied it, do you know? You have to know, you can ask him to copy it for us. Otherwise, if we do this, we will steal other people's business." Du Jinning said.

Guan Jiaze shook his head: "That man has long since stopped studying in the academy. He passed the Juren examination and went to other places to be the county magistrate."

"Oh." Du Jinning nodded, then turned to Zhang Hongwen and said, "You only need to pick out about [-] copies and give them to copy each book only once. If the book is sold, ask them to copy it again. Don't copy too much at once. If you can't sell it, it will be thrown into your hands."

The reason why these books are not circulated outside is also because they are not necessary books for scientific examinations, and the audience is relatively small, otherwise Yan's bookstore would have asked someone to print them and sell them.Since the audience is small, it is possible that if you put it there for half a year or a year, you will not meet buyers who are interested in it, and you will lose money in your hands.

Zhang Hongwen, who was excited about being able to help the bookstore just now, was suddenly sobered up by Du Jinning's words.

He hurriedly said: "I'm only in Class B, and my horizons are not wide-eyed. I don't know which books are read and which books are not. Or..." His eyes swept over Guan Jiaze and Qi Muyuan, hesitating to ask Don't ask two people to help.

Qi Muyuan said: "You pick it first, pick it out and show it to me, if I think it's okay, I'll ask someone to copy it."

He is not very old, but his knowledge is not inferior to Guan Jiaze's. It is because of the teaching of his famous teacher since he was a child.In addition, since he came from the capital, his vision is not comparable to that of people in this small county.For him to choose books, he is naturally much better than Zhang Hongwen.

Hearing that Qi Muyuan wanted to help pick out the books, Yao Shuqi hurriedly said: "That's good, that's good, I'll tell you when the time comes, these books were picked out by Young Master Qi, and all the scholars in the capital will read them. People are definitely flocking to it.”

Seeing Qi Muyuan's subtle expression, Du Jinning couldn't help laughing.Inexplicably, it was used as an advertisement. For Qi Muyuan, who doesn't like to show off, this taste is very sour.

Seeing Zhang Hongwen's sad eyes again, she sighed again in her heart.

Among the four, Qi Muyuan and Guan Jiaze were both from aristocratic families. The education they received since childhood was not comparable to that of ordinary peasants like Zhang Hongwen. They read far more books than Zhang Hongwen every day. The things they talk about will make them think further and deeper.As for Zhang Hongwen, only the few textbooks for the scientific examination were in his eyes, and he didn't even dare to look at the textbook, for fear that he would not be admitted as a scholar, and let down the opportunity to study and the ardent expectations of his family who lived frugally.

As for herself, although she seems to have grown up in the same environment as Zhang Hongwen, and is younger than him, how can the books she has studied, the world she has seen, and the various experiences she has experienced in her previous life can be compared to the young people in front of her?

Therefore, it is only normal that Zhang Hongwen cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with the three of them.

After reading the bookstore, Yao Shuqi accompanied them to Cao Ji Shuyin.

Du Jinning has always had a strong curiosity about the printing workshops of this era, but such places are not easy to enter.If Yao Shuqi didn't know Cao Ji's boss, and they had to cooperate with Cao Ji to print so many books, they wouldn't be able to enter this place.

Cao Ji Shuyin heard the gatekeeper's report, and sent a man named Cao Fang out to receive them.

"Young masters, please come here." Cao Fang led them in and led them into an area.

It was a big room, and there were three or four people in it, all of whom lowered their heads and focused on carving words on the board.

Cao Fang walked in, pointed to a carving next to it and said, "Look, this is the content of the first chapter of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes."

Du Jinning walked over quickly and saw that it was indeed the content of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".But her attention was not on the content, but on the layout.

Seeing that each word on it was on a carved template, she couldn't help but ask, "You used woodblock printing, right? Why didn't you use movable type?"

China's four major inventions are all exported to domestic sales, so they are famous and have a market.For example, although movable type printing has been around for a long time, it has never had a big market in China.Later, it was introduced to Europe. The Europeans invented lead type to cast Chinese, and finally monopolized the printing industry in modern China.

Use Chinese inventions to defeat the Chinese themselves, the same is true for guns made of gunpowder, and the same is true for the printing industry.

That's why Du Jinning was so curious about the printing at this time.And she had asked Yao Shuqi about it before, and Yao Shuqi told him that Cao Ji generally uses woodblock printing, but movable type printing is also available.

At this time, seeing "Legend of the Condor Heroes" was printed here with woodblock printing, she would ask this question.

"You have a large printing volume, and there may be two and three editions in the future, so you can simply carve out the engraving block for easy reuse." Cao Fang laughed, "Using engraving blocks, your cost is lower, isn't it? Books also sell better. .”

"How do you say that?" It's not that Du Jinning doesn't understand Cao Fang's words. She asks this because she wants to know how far movable type printing has developed at this time.

Cao Fang already knew the identities of these young men, so he didn't dare to neglect them.Seeing that Du Jinning was puzzled, he patiently explained: "Movable type printing needs to make a type model before it can be used, but the clay and wood carving are not durable, and it took a lot of work to make it, and it will be blurred and unusable after a long time. And the typesetting is also very cumbersome and expensive. If you want to add illustrations to the book, there is no way to do it.”

(End of this chapter)