Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Ming still served as the Imperial Academy and was also in charge of the Imperial College library.

This appointment did not cause any commotion. It was just a small official responsible for printing books.

But within the Imperial College, it still caused a lot of dissatisfaction among people.

Because the librarian was rich and well-paid, he had the power to recruit all the academic officers from the Imperial College to proofread and delete books. With a few tricks, he could drive the academic officers to ecstasy.

Although Chongwen Academy, Secretariat Department, Si Tianjian and other departments also have printing services, they only print their own books.

All common books and materials of the entire imperial court were handed over to the Imperial 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 should be printed and distributed to the public to earn extra money.

The daily printing volume has reached more than 10,000, which is enough for anyone who wants to be greedy.

Ju Ming walked around the Imperial College and then rode to the Imperial College to take up his post.

The previous librarian has been transferred, but his work has not been delayed because the daily affairs are arranged by the chief librarian.

The chief registrar of the Imperial Academy's library was named Huang Ai, who was only a ninth-grade official. He came to greet him with a few officials, nodded and bowed and took the initiative to lead Ju Ming's horse.

Zhu Ming simply asked everyone's names and said, "Let's all go to work. Don't delay your work. Chief Huang is coming with me."

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

"Everything is business as usual here," Zhu Ming first spoke to reassure him, and then said, "Bring all the official documents from the library and let me know about them first."

"Yes!" Huang Ai immediately complied.

After the official documents were brought in, Huang Ai stood aside and listened to instructions.

While reading the documents, Ju Ming inquired about the situation and first understood the overall framework and work flow of the Imperial College Library.

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

It can definitely be matched, but there is definitely room for various rebates on raw material purchase prices and external sales revenue.

Ju Ming frowned and said, "There is also a public treasury (small treasury) in the Imperial College Library?"

Huang Ai said: "There are four to five thousand guan every year. According to the convention, the librarian can take half of it."

Sure enough, the money is rich. The funds that can be openly misappropriated exceed 2,000 yuan a year, as well as other gray income.

Ju Ming asked: "How much is left in the public library?"

Huang Ai said: "More than nine months have passed this year. The former librarian has withdrawn money many times, and there are still more than 1,000 coins left in the public treasury."

Ju Ming ordered: "Then withdraw one thousand guan."

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

Ju Ming took the money, took Bai Sheng and rode away, heading straight to the Wanshou Temple in Beicheng District.

Wang Zaixi is currently refining the elixir in Wanshou Temple. When I heard that Ju Ming was coming, this guy came out to greet him personally: "Tanhua Lang, what a rare visitor!"

"There is a small matter that needs to be bothered by the real person." Ju Ming said.

Wang Zaixi smiled and said, "No matter what, Pindao will definitely help."

Ju Ming said: "I need thirty kilograms of lead, twenty kilograms of tin, and five kilograms of continuous tin. It's hard to buy them anywhere else. I heard that the real people have them here."

Wang Zaixi said: "There are enough lead pipes here in Pindao, but not anything else. Tin seems to be sold in the city, you can go to the bowl shop to find it. As for Lianxi, I'm afraid I have to go to Luoyang to find it."

"Then ask the real person to sell thirty kilograms of lead." Zhu Ming said.

Wang Zaixi smiled generously: "What are you asking for the money for? It's just thirty pounds of lead."

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

I didn't spend a penny and got thirty kilograms of lead.

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

Of course, you can only buy it in small quantities for experimentation only.

If we really wanted to cast movable type on a large scale, we would have to ask mine supervisors from other places to supply the goods. The nearest one is Fu Finance Supervisor in Luoyang, where copper coins are being minted. The raw material of lead movable type also happens to be the material for casting copper coins.

Ju Ming also used his power to recruit several silversmiths.

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

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

The first furnace was made, poured into the mold, 20 movable types were cast, and the deformation after cooling was observed. Then let the silversmith carve patterns at will, heat it slightly, or throw it into ice cubes, then cover it as a seal and carefully observe the deformation.

The most expensive thing is the ice cubes, which are obtained from the Duke of Kang's Mansion.

Make one furnace every two days, adjusting the proportions each time.

Also ask the silversmith how he feels about which type of movable type is easiest to engrave.

After tinkering for more than forty days, it was already winter. Ju Ming basically determined the lead movable type formula through various experimental data and comparisons.

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

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

Before the heavy snow closed the roads, the first batch of 30,000 movable types had all arrived in the Imperial College library.

It's all whiteboard, no lettering.

Moreover, the casting was very perfunctory, just a mess, and Ju Ming had to have the engraver polish it carefully.

During this period, Ju Ming was not idle either.

He even invited Tai students to count the frequency of occurrence of characters in various books on the market, and divided all Chinese characters into: common characters, alternate characters, selected characters, and rare characters.

The more frequently a character appears, the more time it takes to make movable type.

In the middle of winter, Taixue students were busy with their annual exams. Zhu Ming had to quickly arrange work and then return to Taixue to serve as the examiner.

Calling Huang Ai over, Ju Ming asked, "Have all those movable types been polished?"

Huang Ai replied: "We don't have enough manpower, so we have only polished more than 4,000 pieces. The casting of Fu Caijian is too rough, and the rough edges are pricking the hands and can cut the craftsmen's fingers."

"I will write a secret complaint," Ju Ming said. "Choose a few more craftsmen to polish and engrave at the same time."

Huang Aiwei said: "I am busy at the end of the year and there are too many official documents that need to be engraving and printing."

Ju Ming asked: "Can we get fifteen engravers together?"

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

"Ten will do," Ju Ming ordered. "Go to a private printing house and recruit twenty engravers. Pay them half the daily wages."

Ju Ming is quite generous. For recruitment like this, he usually just takes care of the food and won't give half a penny.

As for whether anyone would skimp, haha, Ju Ming just took the opportunity to rectify it.

Official craftsmen, plus private craftsmen, a total of thirty engravers, were called to Ju Ming to arrange work.

"This type of font is called Mingti, and it is clear and legible when printed."

"The size of the characters is called the font size. There are not enough movable types, so we can only engrave two types for the time being, one for printing the main text and one for printing annotations."

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

"These are calligraphy lists, divided into four types: commonly used, spare, selected, and rare. They are engraved and categorized for easy access when typing."

"..."

Although Huang Ai often embezzled and took kickbacks, as a technical officer, he was very good at the printing business.

After reading the content arranged by Ju Ming, I was so impressed that I couldn't help but remind him: "Zhu Kusi, some people have also tried to make lead movable type, but the ink produced is uneven, and the deinking and ink blur are serious. It is really difficult to be elegant." Hall."

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

Huang Ai stopped talking and just curled his lips secretly.

You say improvement is improvement?

I still want to improve, but there is simply no way.

Improving printing ink does not require any high technology, it is just a formula that is hard to come up with.

Gutenberg added linseed oil, which was very common in ancient China and was introduced by Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, what was introduced was oil flax, not fiber flax, which was specially used to extract oil for consumption in the north.

Apart from anything else, those Taoist priests often use it when refining elixirs.

Zhu Ming asked for a batch of sesame oil, and the official sent it quickly, which made people very speechless. It was all sesame oil...

Flax oil and sesame oil were collectively called "flax oil" in ancient times.

To make a detailed distinction, sesame is called sesame, and flax is called jusheng, dog lice, and vine.

While Ju Ming was invigilating the exams for the Tai students, he also asked the craftsmen to distill the rosin to obtain turpentine essence, which was mixed with carbon black and left for several months.

There were too many applications for appropriations, and the small treasury in the Imperial Library was not enough.

After the annual examination, Song Huizong summoned Ju Ming into the palace and asked, "Why do you keep asking for money for movable type printing? How is it going?"

Ju Ming replied: "We have reached the last moment. Please ask the government to set up another ink station. The new ink requires a large amount of preparation and will take several months to be used."

The Ministry of Revenue is short of money, but the emperor is not short of money.

Just for the Imperial Tea Garden in Fujian, tens of thousands of dollars are allocated every year. What does it mean to open an ink workshop?

Song Huizong waved his hand and joked: "I will give you five thousand strings. If it doesn't work, I will punish you severely!"

"Thank you for your trust, officials!" Ju Ming was overjoyed.

Zhu Guoxiang brought many villagers to Beijing and could not let them idle.

Liang Yi, the smartest one, was assigned to manage the ink shop, and the rest of the villagers also became workers in the ink shop. For serious craftsmen, of course, we need to recruit professionals from the private sector, and the villagers can just do the chores.

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

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

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

Perhaps due to criticism from the emperor, the second batch of movable type was of better quality and could be engraved after simple polishing.

Thirty engravers worked hard and slowly, and by May, after spending more than half a year, they finally carved 40,000 movable types. Among them, there are many commas and periods, as well as some blank movable type.

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

The improved movable type printing technology was used to print the first book "The Analects of Confucius". Few words, easy to print.

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

When printing started, all the officials and craftsmen in the Imperial Library came to watch on the three floors inside and outside.

When the first one was printed, bursts of exclamation broke out.

(Um, I forgot to post on time...)