Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 782

Hard work pays off, or the wisdom of the working people is really infinite. Two months later, although glass has not been developed yet, a major breakthrough has been made in the development of movable type printing machines, and a hydraulic printing machine and A hand-cranked typewriter.

After Ye Chen received Jia Xian's report, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "The common people may not be sharp-eyed, but their wisdom must not be underestimated. Well, it's no wonder that there were so many great inventions in the Song Dynasty in the original history."

There is nothing more exciting than the invention of this new type of printing press, which excites Xiangfu national officials. As civil servants, or scholars, they understand that advanced printing technology can promote the development of human culture and education and the enlightenment of the country's people's wisdom. What does it mean to say...

Ye Chen was equally excited, because he knew that given the level of civilization that China has reached in this era, once this printing technique becomes popular, it will surely enlighten the people's wisdom, and as long as peace can be maintained for 200 years, China will have great wisdom. A completely different base.It is not difficult to far surpass the civilizations of other ethnic groups in the world at the same time.

Overjoyed, Ye Chen directly decreed that Mao Rentao and Yu Jiandong, the main inventors of the printing press and casting machine, be bestowed with the rank-[-] official positions, and let them be directly responsible for all the affairs of the book printing house to be opened by the Ministry of Households in the next step.The two people rose from ordinary people engaged in "low business" to the most popular officials before His Majesty the Emperor. This matter was published in "Xiangfu Express" and "Huaxia News" at the same day. Excited and excited, but because of Mao Rentao and Yu Jiandong's one-step leap to the sky, the ordinary people had some ideas that they had never thought of before.

In the Hall of Government Affairs and the Great Court Meeting, the atmosphere was a bit weird.

A printing house named 'Xiajing Printing House' opened in late autumn of this year.The direct result is that a large number of book printing houses are almost bankrupt, because Xia Jing Printing House prints books in large quantities, with low cost and high quality, and the price is quite low. Even anyone, as long as he wants to read, can afford books.

This kind of situation made Xiangfu Kingdom have a prosperous literary style in just one or two months, and the sales of various books increased by more than ten times, and its profits were even more impressive.In just over a month, the speed of expansion of the press was astonishing, and branches were opened in various states.There are thousands of book printers employed alone, almost monopolizing all the book printing industry in Xiangfu Kingdom.

The business of Xiajing Printing Library has also begun to expand in an all-round way, not only the collection of classics and history, poems, songs and Fu, and elementary school reading materials. Under Ye Chen's occasional guidance, people specially asked people to organize storytelling, biographies, and story books into small booklets for publication, and the result was very popular. , The sales volume is quite large.On the other hand, under Ye Chen's instruction, the textbooks such as "Elementary Mathematics", "Elementary Chemistry", "Elementary Physics" and "Overview of Geography" of Xiangfu College were published regardless of the cost, and the price of the books was very cheap , Generally, you can buy a copy for more than ten pennies.

At this time, the discussion at the Dachao meeting was whether this kind of commercial behavior with obvious monopoly purposes was appropriate.

"Your Majesty, the 'Xiajing Press' is owned by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Now that almost all the presses are shut down, this is a competition for the interests of the people! I think that some books should not be published by the Xiajing Press, so as to give all the presses a way to survive."

"Mr. Ma's words are wrong. Mr. Ma only saw that profit-seeking businessmen made less money because of this. Didn't he see poor scholars happy because they could afford the books they wanted to read? What's more, even if all the printing houses were closed So what if the business is closed? Your Majesty, in my opinion, we should follow the example of Yansi and set up a book department, directly stipulating that the people cannot print books. From now on, all the printing of books in our Xiangfu country will be done by the imperial court. In this way, the people can be cheap Buying books at a higher price, the treasury can also get millions of taels of silver every year. Why not do it." Jia Xian said a little excitedly.Now Xiangfu country officials are roughly divided into three categories, the most trusted by Ye Chen is naturally Li Junhao, Bai Canghai, Hu Sanguang, Jia Xian, Yu Wen and other close officials who followed Ye Chen in the early days and are now in charge of key positions.The other two are the Southern Tang faction headed by Ma Wentao and Han Xizai and the local Northwest faction.Ma Wentao and Han Xizai have the highest official rank and positions, but a close minister of the emperor like Jia Xian, even though his immediate superiors are Ma Wentao and Han Xizai, when it comes to things, he doesn't give them any face at all.

Ma Wentao let out a cold snort and wanted to say something else, but Ye Chen interrupted him with a wave of his hand and said, "Okay, I have my own definition of this matter. The Ministry of Education published it through "Huaxia News" and "Xiangfu Express". Sell ​​the printing machine and casting machine at a price of 5 taels of silver each."

Wen Wu of the Manchu Dynasty was stunned when he heard the words. Jia Xian stepped forward and wanted to say something. Ye Chen said: "Although printing machines and typecasting machines are not easy to invent and manufacture, it is not difficult to imitate them. No matter how secret the household department is, if you want If you want to occupy the national book printing industry, you must open a lot of book printing workshops, which will employ thousands or even tens of thousands of workers. If the law is leaked out, some merchants among the common people will imitate it sooner or later. Instead of letting all the book printing businessmen secretly curse the imperial court for not giving them a way out, it is better to sell printing machines besides opening some printing houses. and casting machines to make money. The most important thing is that in this way, a good competitive environment can be formed in the market, and printing machines and casting machines will naturally be updated quickly. If the Ministry of Finance wants to always master the printing industry The biggest piece of fat, you must always keep your printing presses and typewriters at the most advanced position. The most important thing is that this will make books cheaper, and everyone in the poor can afford books. Everyone can afford to read, and after a few years, the literacy population of the people in our Xiangfu country will increase greatly, and the people's wisdom will also be greatly expanded, but this kind of benefit cannot be compared with millions of taels of silver every year."

Some of the words in Ye Chen's speech were relatively new, but the meaning was very clear. Everyone thought about it, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt that it made sense.In fact, there is another reason Ye Chen did not elaborate on, that is, the disadvantages of nationalization of enterprises are the lack of separation of government and enterprises, waste of resources, low efficiency, and corruption; externally: lack of market competitiveness, some state-owned enterprises are still relying on government protection and blood transfusion to survive .These are the common problems of state-owned enterprises in later generations, and in Ye Chen's view, such disadvantages will not change with different times.What's more, if it is monopolized by a state-owned enterprise, this kind of disadvantage will only be worse.

Ma Wentao and Han Xizai were the first to understand the deep meaning, looked at each other, and said in unison, "Your Majesty is wise!"

The others followed closely behind and clapped their hands in unison: "Your Majesty is wise."

...

...

As the news spread that Mao Rentao and Yu Jiandong, the main inventors of the printing press and typecasting machine, bestowed Cong Qipin official positions, coupled with the hype and creation of "Xiangfu Express" and "Huaxia News", followed by Ye Chen's decree Let the Ministry of Industry of the imperial court formulate a series of systems such as patent application, authorization, and national rewards. Xiangfu State went up to Xiangfu College, the Civil Research Department, and the Weapons and Equipment Research Department, and went down to ordinary people and craftsmen to set off a massive invention. Create a journey.

Facts have proved that the wisdom of the masses must not be underestimated, or that the masters are always hidden among the people.

On October 300th, Cheng Yuhe, a farmer in Gaoping County, Xiajing, took his quyuanli design to the Ministry of Industry to apply for the patent of Quyuanli with anxiety. The shaft plow is more labor-saving than the plows commonly used by farmers at present, and the most important thing is that the speed is about twice as fast.The Ministry of Industry affirmed that Cheng Yuhe invented Quyuanli's patent, and bought Cheng Yuhe's patent for [-] taels of silver, and then promoted Quyuanli to the whole country.

After Cheng Yuhe's application for Quyuanli's patent method was spread through "Xiangfu Express" and "Huaxia News", it further confirmed the court's emphasis on patents, and some people who had doubts at first also believed it.

On October 700th, four brothers surnamed Liu in Fuzhou took a donkey and pulled a columbine cart and walked more than 500 miles to Xiajing. They found the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry with great expectations.The columbine car is also a kind of agricultural tool, to be precise, it is a kind of animal-powered seed drill, which is composed of columbine frame, columbine bucket, columbine legs, columbine shovel, etc., and can sow barley, wheat, soybean, sorghum, etc.Ordinary columbine carts only have one or two legs, but the columbine cart brought by the Liu family has seven legs. It is an extremely rare seven-legged columbine cart, which means that the seeding speed has increased by five or six times many.Like Cheng Yuhe, a farmer in Gaoping County in Xiajing, after the verification by the Ministry of Industry, [-] taels of silver bought the patent for the seven-legged columbine car. After researching and clarifying the manufacturing method, it will naturally be promoted to the whole country.

On October 27th, a student named Liu Zhongheng of Xiangfu College invented the most primitive blackboard and chalk made of gypsum. Needless to say, the function and contribution of blackboard and chalk to teaching career, this matter spread to Ye In Chen's ears, Ye Chen sighed in front of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty: "This student named Liu Zhongheng is amazing. This kind of teaching tool that can be passed down for thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years, was invented. Although many people looked back after it was invented. It seems very simple, but the difficulty lies in this kind of brainstorming. According to my will, the writing board was renamed blackboard, the plaster pen was renamed chalk, and the patent fee was set at 1000 taels of silver. All Mongolian schools in the prefecture and county will vigorously promote it."

After Han Xizai asked Ye Chen for instructions, he published Ye Chen's remarks on "Xiangfu Express".Who is Ye Chen, in the eyes of ordinary people in Xiangfu Kingdom, he is like a god.So Liu Zhongheng became a household name in one day.

(End of this chapter)