A great man of the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhao Shu was startled, then stretched out his hand, "Bring it up."

It was easy to distinguish between the printed version and the manual copy. Zhao Shu took the book with a sneer, opened it and took a look...

The handwriting is dull!

Who carved the board?

Carving first involves writing, and someone with good calligraphy must write on it, and then the craftsman will carve it accordingly.

But these words looked dull and boring, with no spirituality at all, which made Zhao Shu furious.

How can the poems and articles of our ancestors be printed in such fonts?

But soon he forgave Shen An.

He must be rushing to work.

Besides, he is still the ridiculed son of a clan at heart. When I was ridiculed, none of my ancestors showed up except for my family members, so it would be nice if they did.

Zhao Shu continued to look down, and the more he looked, the more he felt something was wrong.

"Why do these words all look so stiff?"

Zhao Shu turned more and more frightened.

It was all printed.

In such a short period of time, Shen An actually printed so many volumes.

He looked up, "Where can you find such a carver?"

"I'm not looking for that many carvers." When carving on clay, the speed... The hired carver said that anyone can do the carving work in the future, which was very sad. Most of them are old craftsmen who thought they had inherited their skills. After seeing modern lathes, they couldn't help but feel sad and felt that they had no use for them.

Shen An felt that he was witnessing a great moment, "I have printed fifty sets and they are just outside the palace."

"Bring it in."

Chen Zhongheng went there in person. Before leaving, he took a look at Shen An and felt that his good gay friend was really awesome.

Not only him, but also the prime ministers and ministers looked at Shen An with admiration.

Later a group of chamberlains arrived.

Shen An heard the sound of footsteps and turned around to take a look.

Damn it!

Fifty chamberlains filed in each holding twelve volumes of books.

How much do the twelve books weigh?

This formalism is very serious!

Shen An turned around, and then the prime ministers and assistants squatted there and looked through it.

"Your Majesty." Han Qi rummaged around for a moment, then raised his head and said, "The writing... is ugly and unsightly!"

This is the bad habit of literati!

Shen An said unceremoniously: "May I ask Prime Minister Han, why does the word exist?"

Han Qi sneered: "You weren't even born when I was studying! Words, meanings!"

Words represent meanings and explain everything in the world.

"Then do you think this word is clear enough?"

Han Qi knew what he meant, but he was still very dissatisfied and said: "Reading is an elegant thing, and good words are pleasing to the eye. Your words are hasty and look dull and boring. How can people be immersed in the book?"

hehe!

There is so much wrong with this group of people!

The font is also required to be perfect, so why don’t you use the calligraphy sage’s calligraphy to be rigid?

Shen An was not prepared to get used to their problem, "I dare to ask Mr. Han, books should be picky and pursue the beauty of glyphs... In other words, do you think it is better to let books enter thousands of households, or only for the rich?" Good to have?”

"What do you want to say?" Han Qi frowned and said, "If the DPRK and China are rich, the first thing I would like to do is advise your Majesty to print more good books and sell them at a cheaper price."

Books are expensive. This has been the biggest problem since ancient times. So sometimes, anyone who has read a book can easily find an official position.

"Besides, the price of books in the Song Dynasty is not expensive." Han Qi said calmly: "I bought a volume of poetry the day before yesterday, which is only fifty articles."

Fifty cents per volume is really not expensive in this day and age.

Shen An smiled and said, "What if it can be cheaper?"

The hall was quiet for a moment.

"What did you say?" Ouyang Xiu came out, with a rare piercing look in his eyes, "I know this very well. A good engraver will charge two thousand yuan for a plate with the price of the plate. How many plates does a book cost? Officials of all dynasties The poems and articles of the Shen family add up to hundreds of thousands of words. The Shen family's engravings must be piled up like a mountain, right? One board and two volumes, how many volumes are there in twelve volumes? It must be thousands of volumes. Unless it is printed in large quantities, the price of this book Shockingly expensive. How can you get it cheaper?

Moreover, the engraving will become blurry after being printed multiple times, and a new plate will have to be re-engraved. How much do these all cost? If you can come up with a cheaper method, I will thank you for all the scholars in the world. "

He thought for a while and said, "I have an authentic painting by Yu Shinan in my hand. If this can be done, I will give it to Guoguo as a copybook."

Han Qi couldn't help but be surprised, "Uncle Yong actually has Yu Shinan's original work in hand? I remember that time I asked who had Yu Shinan's original work. I wanted to take a look at it, why did you say no?"

Ouyang Xiu said confidently: "You Han Qi are domineering. If you see me buying and selling by force, what can I do?"

Han Qi is a bit shameless, but buying and selling by force shouldn't be the case.

The two were ready to fight.

Shen An said seriously: "What if the version with two coins is less than one coin, or even less?"

The base of the copper plate can be reused indefinitely. The cost of clay type... is also the cost of engraving. However, the difference in difficulty between engraving on clay and engraving on wooden boards is so great that it would make those old masters vomit blood.

They will think that carving in clay is a child's play.

But this kid's thing is now in the house.

"How many?"

Han Qi said with piercing eyes: "I know that you, Shen An, don't like to lie about things like this, so how much? If it is really much cheaper, I will help you snatch Yu Shinan's original work from Ouyang Xiu! What else does Guo Guo want? I have some copybooks at home, and you can choose three of them!"

What does Zaisu want to see most?

Educate the world!

And that requires books.

If books can be made so cheap that ordinary people can afford to buy them, then we are not far from this goal.

Shen An smiled and said: "The clay is the word."

Han Qi covered his forehead in an instant, "Clay clay, you use clay to make a plate, carve it and then bake it? What a good idea! What a good idea!"

Shen An continued: "No, clay movable type!"

Boom!

Han Qi slapped his forehead hard.

He had never been so happy.

Zhao Shu's reaction was half a beat too slow. When he came to his senses, he couldn't help clenching his fists. He stood up and asked, "What will you do next?"

Movable type, as the name suggests, those typefaces are movable. Clay type refers to using clay to bake movable type.

He had almost imagined the scene.

But he still needs Shen An's explanation to prove his judgment.

"Fire the movable type and then type it according to the content..."

Han Qi interrupted him and asked: "How to fix it?"

Shen An said: "There is something glued at the back. After typesetting, burn it and fix it when it is cold."

"Rosin, candle!"

This is Bao Zheng. He looked at Shen An with bright eyes, full of joy.

"Yes, there is something else."

Shen An said: "The back is no different from the woodblock."

Zhao Shu closed his eyes, "Mixing clay, carving, firing..."

He seemed to see those clay characters looming in the blazing flames.

The clay characters were arranged and fixed one by one, and then they were brushed with ink and covered with paper...

He opened his eyes, nodded and said, "It's that simple, let's go and have a look."

He couldn't hold it anymore, and Chen Zhongheng reminded: "The official family, where the saint was before..."

In the morning, Gao Taotao said that he would make snacks for him and wait for him to enjoy them after the meeting dispersed.

"Let her eat it herself."

This is a fearless emperor.

A group of people left the imperial city in a mighty manner, but Zhang Ba8en arrived belatedly.

"Go to Shen An's house."

Zhang Baibian glanced at Shen An, and then arranged for people to protect Zhao Shu and others.

All the way to Shen's house, the door had been opened, and Zhuang Laoshi and others were standing on the edge with their hands tied.

Zhao Shu accidentally noticed that Zhuang Laoshi's right leg was shaking, so he took another look.

Still shaking!

Is there something wrong with this person's legs?

This was his first impression, which was soon driven away by his passion for movable type printing.

After they entered, Zhuang Laoshi said to the neighbors who were looking out from home: "The official family, it's the official family."

Who has ever seen an official come to a minister's house every now and then?

Just my old Shen family!

He shook his legs proudly, feeling that the future of the old Shen family was bright.

Even Huahua felt this way, so she roared louder than usual.

Have you ever seen whose dog dared to growl at an official's house?

Just old Shen’s dog.

"Huahua..."

Guoguo was hiding in the corner, waving secretly. When Zhao Shu and the ministers saw her, they couldn't help but smile.

Her pet made a mistake!

When an official comes to a minister's house, the cats and dogs in your house must be locked up. Not to mention biting the official, it's not good to scare them.

But Huahua is Guoguo's beloved pet after all, and she is very diligent in taking care of the home, so Guoguo refuses to let her go. As a result, Zhao Shu and others made too much noise just now. Huahua couldn't help but break away from her control and ran to the front yard in a hurry.

Huahua's back collapsed, her hind legs were holding back her strength, and she would rush over in an instant as long as she got the command.

"rude!"

The accompanying marriage officer immediately drew his long sword.

"stop!"

Fu Bi stopped the marriage officer and asked, "Is this the dog from the night market?"

Shen An nodded and waved. Huahua came over wagging her tail and was hugged by Shen An. The marriage officials nervously stood in front of Zhao Shu, as if Huahua was a giant beast from ancient times.

Shen An glanced at them and shook his head slightly.

"Hahahaha! Go back."

Shen An carried it to the corner, and Guoguo looked guilty.

Fu Bi looked at this scene and couldn't help but sigh: "Your Majesty, when the Shen An brothers and sisters first arrived in Bianliang, I went to the night market with Wen Kuanfu one day and happened to meet Shen An. He was holding his sister in front and carrying a small bag behind him. Dog, that puppy is licking Guoguo's face, and that laughter... is really crisp."

That year Wen Yanbo was still in power.

Shen An was young that year.

At this moment, Wen Yanbo was waiting for Zhao Shu's summons and was unhappy.

At this moment, Shen An has gained the emperor's favor and has a bright future.

After Shen An came back, he took them into the operation room.

The craftsmen in the room were waiting. After saluting, Zhao Shu ordered: "Make it once and show it to me."

The craftsmen came into close contact with the emperor and important ministers for the first time. Some of them had trembling hands and feet and accidentally dropped the clay characters on the ground.

Zhao Shu smiled and said: "Don't be anxious."

The emperor of the old Zhao family always treated the people very gently, and Zhao Shu was still the same. It's just that he was a bit mean to his ministers, and he could be called the most unfriendly emperor to his ministers since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

So they slowed down and took it step by step.

Typesetting, fixing, brushing, printing...

A piece of paper was handed over, and Zhao Shu took it and looked at it.

He took a deep breath and said to Shen An: "I promise you one of the calligraphy and paintings in my palace."

…

There are still four updates today, the first update, please vote for me.