jdhmnovel Chapter 258 Is this really my image?
Chapter 258 Is this really my image?
Magistrate Yang thought Zhu Biao was somewhat foolish.
Since Zhu Chongba has already prepared the ready-made teaching materials, and Ningyang County happens to have craftsmen who know how to carve woodblocks, papermaking workshops, and enough students who can serve as teachers, why not hurry up and arrange for printing?
After glancing at Zhu Biao with eyes full of concern for the mentally challenged, Magistrate Yang directly instructed Lame Wu, "Have someone summon Zhu Dalang and Chen Choulu."
When Zhu Dalang and Chen Chou arrived at the county government office, Magistrate Yang first picked up the few "officially designated" textbooks and waved them around, then ordered: "Increase production at the paper mill and make more white paper for printing. Take these books to the printing workshop for woodblock printing."
"If you don't have enough manpower, you can use any of the scholars who are building roads in the south of the city. I only have one requirement: speed and quantity. Try to get every student in the Confucian Temple School a copy before spring begins tomorrow."
"Of course, even if every student in the Confucian Temple School has a copy, don't stop printing. Keep printing as many as you can."
Zhu Dalang and Chen Choulu agreed without understanding why.
After the two left, Zhu Biao couldn't wait to ask, "Didn't my brother-in-law say he wanted those scholars who were originally building the road to study movable type printing? Why did he send Chen Choulu to work on woodblock printing?"
Magistrate Yang glanced at Zhu Biao once again with the same look he had for someone with intellectual disabilities. "Then Your Highness might as well guess why I had them research movable type printing?"
Zhu Biao was slightly taken aback, then asked in bewilderment, "Weren't you planning to torment those scholars and make them improve movable type?"
Why make things difficult for those intellectuals?
No, is this how you, Zhu Biao, perceive me, Magistrate Yang?
That won't work.
Everyone in the martial arts world knows that I, Yang, have always been a warm-hearted, kind, and honest young man. Today, I, Yang, must redeem my image.
Magistrate Yang looked at Zhu Biao with a helpless expression and said, "Your Highness, I am not trying to make things difficult for those scholars, but I sincerely hope that they can improve movable type printing."
After a slight pause, Magistrate Yang continued, "The most important aspect of movable type printing is the type mold. Clay type molds are easily worn down, and wooden type molds deform when exposed to water. They are also inconvenient for typesetting. In terms of the exquisite printing quality, they are not as good as woodblock printing. That's why I asked them to find a way to improve it."
The reason why Magistrate Yang wanted those scholars to study movable type printing was because movable type printing was not yet mature. For example, clay movable type was easy to wear down, wooden movable type was easy to deform when exposed to water, and typesetting was relatively troublesome. If you were not careful, it was easy to make mistakes in typesetting.
Most importantly, when the paper quality wasn't very good, books or other items printed using movable type were far less exquisite than those printed using woodblock printing.
Of course, woodblock printing also has a lot of drawbacks. For example, each type of woodblock is designed for a specific purpose. If a book has 500 pages, 500 different woodblocks need to be made. If there is even the slightest mistake, the entire woodblock is ruined and you have to start all over again.
In addition, the preservation and lifespan of woodblocks are also major issues. It is not enough to carve a woodblock and then be done with it. The printing quality must be much better than that of movable type printing.
However, to Magistrate Yang's surprise, Zhu Biao frowned slightly after hearing what Magistrate Yang said, and then tentatively asked, "Brother-in-law, have you ever read the 'Agricultural Treatise'?"
Magistrate Yang thought to himself, "I have read many books, but I have never read the 'Agricultural Treatise'."
Besides, what does the "Agricultural Treatise" have to do with movable type printing?
Just as Magistrate Yang was completely baffled as to the relationship between the "Agricultural Treatise" and movable type printing, Zhu Biao directly revealed the answer.
"In the second year of the Dade era of Emperor Yuan of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhen summoned craftsmen in Jingde County, Ningguo Road, Jiankang Road, Jiangdong to carve more than 30,000 wooden movable type characters and printed more than 60,000 characters of the 'Jingde County Annals'. One hundred copies were printed in less than a month."
Zhu Biao said carefully, "Wang Zhen also invented a rotating typesetting plate that changed the method from 'using people to characters' to 'using characters to people,' which was used to arrange movable type molds."
"As far as I know, there are people in Ruian County who know the movable type printing technique created by Wang Zhen. The quality of the books they print is not much worse than that of woodblock printing. It's just that they need more craftsmen, and they always have to arrange for people to recarve the type molds."
After a slight pause, Zhu Biao added, "If my brother-in-law needs it, I can have someone recruit a few craftsmen skilled in movable type printing from Ruian County to Ningyang County, and have Chen Choulu lead them to do movable type printing?"
As Zhu Biao finished speaking, Magistrate Yang was completely stunned.
So, I've been taught a lesson by a native of the Ming Dynasty again?
No, is there any divine being from the Time and Space Administration who can uphold justice? Why is it that other time travelers are blessed with a magical aura of their movable type printing technology being downgraded or their inventions disappearing as soon as they travel through time, but when it comes to me, I get taught a lesson time and time again, damn it!
Come, come, all you gods, be the judge! What have I done wrong? All I wanted was to show off a little in front of the natives of the Ming Dynasty, why is that so difficult!
Is there no law anymore? Is there no justice left?
The more Magistrate Yang thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and a sudden surge of anger welled up inside him.
Damn it, I've failed at showing off my divine power in front of others again, haven't I? No problem, I don't care.
After pondering for a moment, Magistrate Yang smiled and said to Zhu Biao, "Although I have not read the 'Agricultural Treatise' and I did not know that the craftsmen of Ruian could make wooden movable type with the same printing effect as woodblock printing, I think that no matter how good the wooden movable type is, it will probably be afraid of water and moisture, and there should still be room for improvement."
“However…” a troubled look appeared on Magistrate Yang’s face, “the trial and error cost of this improvement process is too high. It requires all sorts of materials for continuous trial and error, and some of these materials happen to be unavailable in Ningyang County. I wonder if Your Highness…”
Zhu Biao had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem. Upon hearing this, he simply laughed and said, "Brother-in-law, don't worry. If you lack any materials, just send someone to the East Palace to find me. As long as our Great Ming has them, I will not be stingy."
They're just materials; even if the craftsmen were allowed to use them freely, how much could they possibly use?
After all, the number of craftsmen is limited, and the number of times they can try and make mistakes each day is also limited. Besides, my brother-in-law is such a shrewd person that he would never let the craftsmen use gold, silver, or copper to make letter molds, right?
Besides, even if some gold and silver are wasted, so what? As long as we can successfully create type molds that are more robust, durable, and convenient than wooden type molds, it will be easier to print books in large quantities in the future, and more and more people will become literate, which will naturally bring more benefits to the Ming Dynasty.
Magistrate Yang immediately burst into laughter.
I'd like to see how much money you, Zhu Biao, have that you dare to make such a boastful claim that you're not stingy.
I'm more interested in seeing what new and innovative things these artisans of the Ming Dynasty can come up with.
What if they inexplicably create some incredibly awesome alloy letter mold?
What if they accidentally discover gravity while studying material proportions?
Zhu Biao was somewhat puzzled by Magistrate Yang's laughter and couldn't help but ask, "What is brother-in-law laughing at?"
Perhaps it was this address of "brother-in-law" that awakened one of Magistrate Yang's few remaining consciences. After pondering for a moment, Magistrate Yang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I was just thinking about how to classify the students in the Confucian Temple."
Zhu Biao paused slightly, then asked, "Classification?"
Magistrate Yang nodded and said, "The so-called graded learning means that different grades learn different content."
"For example, a student who has studied for a year can take the exam to become a student, and a student who has studied for three years can also take the exam to become a student. But in this way, there are differences between students who have become students."
"Therefore, I am thinking, should we separate the content of primary school and county school, and decide what children should learn in the first year and what they should learn in the second year, so that children of different ages can learn different things?"
"For example, when a seven-year-old child enters a community school, he may only need to learn the simple 'Hongwu Zhengyun' and 'Hongwu Suanfu', be able to recognize some characters, learn to write some simple characters, and be able to perform some simple addition and subtraction calculations."
"By the second year, they could gradually put down the Hongwu Zhengyun and begin to learn some simple articles and poems, while also learning some multiplication and division calculations."
"In the third year... until they have finished learning all the courses that the community school should teach, then they can take the entrance examination for the imperial examination. If they fail in the first year, they can return to the community school to repeat their studies and take the exam again the following year. If they fail three times, they will be expelled from the community school and sent home."
Zhu Biao's eyes gradually brightened.