My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 54 The new way of making money
Autumn is here and the weather is getting colder.

In the gate tower of King Han's Mansion, Zhu Zhanhe, Zhang Zhong, and Zhu Yong sat around a table. The copper hot pot on the table was bubbling with hot water, and mutton and other materials were placed beside it.

Zhu Zhanhe took a piece of mutton and rinsed it in the pot, dipped it in minced garlic and put it in his mouth. A delicious and spicy feeling filled his mouth, and his taste buds were extremely satisfied.

"Hey, why do you two keep coming to my place recently, staying for a whole day, why don't you go out to play?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked Zhang Zhong and Zhu Yong after he swallowed the mutton.

Although Zhang Zhong and Zhu Yong often came to him, it was not normal for them to be so frequent like these days.

"What else can it be, no money!"

Zhu Yong picked up a chopstick of mutton and stuffed it into his mouth fiercely.

"No, didn't you win a lot of money in the Qiuxing Competition?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked puzzledly.

Although Zhu Yong lost to Zhu Zhanji, his Zhuzhi performed well before and helped him win a lot of money.

"Don't mention it. Recently, my hands are itchy. I went to the casino to play a few games and lost all of them. It's all because of this damn hand!"

As Zhu Yong said, he raised his left hand and slapped his right hand hard.

"What about you?"

Zhu Zhanhe looked at Zhang Zhong again, he remembered that Zhang Zhong had won more in the Qiuxing Competition.

"Not only do I have itchy hands, but I also have an outer room, so I am poorer than him now."

Zhang Zhong answered dejectedly.

"We three poor ghosts really got together!"

Zhu Zhanhe also sighed when he heard the words.

He is not much better, Zhu Di gave a hundred guan, now there is only a little more than half left, with his status, spending money when going out is like running water, even if he stays at home, he has to reward a servant from time to time, That money was never spent.

"Zhanhe, the last time you played Zhuzhi, you made tens of thousands of coins casually, can you think of a way to get rich again, and give our brother a hand by the way?"

Zhang Zhong suddenly suggested to Zhu Zhanhe.

"Where is the way to make money so easy to find?"

Zhu Zhanhe smiled wryly.

In fact, it’s not that he doesn’t have ways to make money, it’s just that some of them require a lot of initial investment, and some are not suitable for taking it out now, so he hasn’t decided which one to use for the time being?
"I do have a way to get rich!"

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Zhu Yong suddenly whispered mysteriously.

"you?"

Zhang Zhong looked skeptical. He had known Zhu Yong for so many years, and he had only seen him spend money, but never seen him make money. Of course, gambling didn't count.

"Don't look down on me, I not only have a way, but also brought evidence!"

As Zhu Yong said, he reached out and took out something from his bosom, and threw it on the table with a "snap".

Zhu Zhanhe and Zhang Zhongdingqing saw that it was actually a book, no, it should be called a booklet, and the paper used was rough, with "Qin Huai Chun" printed on the cover.

"Is this pamphlet your source of income?"

As Zhang Zhong said, he stretched out his hand to pick up the booklet and flipped through it, but when he saw the contents inside, his face turned ashen, and finally he slapped the booklet heavily on the table and said angrily, "Zhu Yong, just let us read it." This thing?"

Confused, Zhu Zhanhe stretched out his hand to take the booklet and read it.

The novels of the Ming Dynasty were very prosperous, and three of the four great masterpieces came from the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, there are serious novels, and there are also unserious novels. For example, the "Qin Huai Chun" in Zhu Zhanhe's hand is very unscrupulous. It mainly describes the romantic affairs of a group of famous prostitutes on the Qinhuai River, and some plots are very written. explicit.

Zhu Zhanhe read a few pages with relish, and suddenly found that Zhang Zhong was staring at him with an unfriendly expression, and immediately said to Zhu Yong with a straight face: "Brother Zhu, I am also a prince's son after all, you will not let me sell this kind of romantic novel Bar?"

"You have misunderstood, I am not asking you to read the content, but to let you read its printing!"

Zhu Yong finally opened his mouth to explain.

"print?"

Zhu Zhanhe flipped through the booklet casually, and found that the printing of this book was rather rough, with frequent ink leaks and ink shortages, apparently produced by some small printing workshops.

"The printing is so bad, what is there to see?"

Zhu Zhanhe raised his head in confusion again and asked.

"You don't know that!"

Zhu Yong chuckled, looking very proud.

"The printing on the market today is generally woodblock printing, but engraving takes a lot of time and requires skilled carpenters, so the cost of woodblock printing is not low..."

"Wait, you don't mean to say that the book in my hand was printed with movable type?"

Zhu Zhanhe interrupted Zhu Yong and asked in surprise.

Although movable type printing was invented as early as the Song Dynasty, it has not received much attention and has not been widely used, and its development has been very slow. It seems that wooden movable type is still the main type.

"Huh? I didn't expect you, Zhan He, to know movable type printing!"

Zhu Yong was very surprised. If he didn't want to make money, he wouldn't know about engraving and movable type.

"Is this pamphlet really printed with movable type?"

At this time, Zhu Zhanhe flipped through the booklet again. Although the printing was rough, the handwriting was still very clear, which showed that the technology of movable type printing was very mature.

"Of course, I went to see this workshop in person. The owner of the workshop is from Fujian. He wants to go home to take care of himself when he gets old, so he plans to sell the workshop."

Zhu Yong lowered his voice and said again.

"I've already inquired. The printing cost of movable type used in this workshop is low, and the printed books are very popular. Are you interested?"

"Nonsense, can this kind of dishonest book not sell well?"

Zhang Zhong rolled his eyes and said.

"You don't understand this. There are some unscrupulous ones printed by others, but there are also serious ones. I just picked one at random for show."

As Zhu Yong said, he took the booklet back and carefully put it away in his arms, before he had time to read it carefully.

"Brother Zhu, do you know whether this workshop uses wooden type or metal type?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked with great interest.

"Huh? Is movable type divided into wood and metal?"

Zhu Yong was taken aback for a moment, he only remembered that the movable type in the workshop was all black, and there was no material to be seen at all.

"Are the craftsmen in the workshop all skilled veterans, and what is the ink ratio for printing?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked several key questions.

Zhu Yong blinked a pair of big ignorant eyes when he heard the words, obviously he knew nothing except that the workshop made money.

"Greatly, you don't know anything. You probably counted the money for someone even after being sold!"

Zhang Zhong sneered, and was not optimistic about this business.

"Brother Zhu, why don't we take a look after dinner, I think this workshop is quite interesting."

Zhu Zhanhe touched his chin and said.

The current printing is still dominated by woodblock printing, but movable type printing is the future development trend.

"Zhan He, do you also think this business can be done?"

Zhang Zhong asked in surprise when he heard Zhu Zhanhe's words.

"Let's put it this way, if this business is successful, then the previous business of promoting weaving is simply a small business!"

Zhu Zhanhe said with certainty that the profit of the printing industry is not comparable to that of a niche industry like weaving.

"Look! Let me just say that I have vision, let's eat quickly, and I will take you there after eating!"

With Zhu Zhanhe's affirmation, Zhu Yong also slapped the table excitedly, his face full of complacency.

"Tch~, you're just out of shit luck!"

Zhang Zhong spoke forcefully, but he also speeded up his eating.

After eating hot pot, the three rode out of the palace.

Zhu Yong showed the way, and finally took them to the southeast of Jinling City.

The population of Jinling City is mainly concentrated in the west, while the southeast is sparsely populated and the land rent is cheap, so many workshops are set up here.

The three of Zhu Zhanhe finally came to a messy alley, crossing the alley, there was a printing workshop next to it, and a choking smell of ink could be smelled from a long distance away.

Zhu Yong asked someone to enter the workshop to report, and soon saw a short, shrewd old man running out.

"Oh, Mr. Zhu, you are here again. How are you thinking? As long as you sell this old workshop, you will be able to pay back your capital in two months and make money in three months!"

"Shopkeeper Wu, my two friends are also very interested in your workshop, so I'll take them to have a look."

Zhu Yong didn't answer the other party's words, but pointed to Zhu Zhanhe and Zhang Zhongdao.

"I don't know how to address the two sons?"

Shopkeeper Wu came forward to greet him very courteously.

"My name is Wang Shi, and his name is Zhang Zhong."

Zhu Zhanhe is used to using a pseudonym outside, and then pointed to Zhang Zhong for introduction. ,

"It turned out to be Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhang. Please come in quickly. This old man has been running this workshop for decades, and he has always made steady profits without losing money. It's a pity that this old man is getting old, and the children and grandchildren of the family are unwilling to take over. Otherwise, this old man will really not Willing to sell..."

Shopkeeper Wu invited Zhu Zhanhe and the others into the workshop, and at the same time talked about the reason why he sold the workshop.

The printing workshop is a large yard with several sheds, and each shed has craftsmen busy, some are cutting, some are binding, and some are mixing ink.

Of course Zhu Zhanhe was most concerned about movable type, so he asked shopkeeper Wu to take him to the typesetting room. This is the core of the printing workshop, so it is no longer a simple shed, but a house built of bricks and stones.

Stepping into the typesetting room, I saw several huge roulettes standing on the ground. Several typesetting craftsmen turned the roulettes to select the required movable type from above, and then arranged the required characters on an iron plate.

Zhu Zhanhe knew that this kind of roulette was called a typesetting disk, which was invented by Wang Zhen of the Yuan Dynasty. The characters on it were arranged according to the phonetic rhythm, which greatly improved the efficiency of typesetting for craftsmen.

Zhu Zhanhe stepped to the typesetting tray, reached out and picked up a movable type.

As a result, I was surprised to find that the movable type was quite heavy to hand, and it was actually made of metal, but there was only a layer of black ink mud on it, so I couldn't tell what kind of metal it was.

Zhu Zhanhe scraped off the ink mud with his fingernails, but was disappointed to find that it was not copper movable type, but tin movable type. This kind of movable type had already been used in the Yuan Dynasty.

Shopkeeper Wu observed Zhu Zhanhe's actions, and immediately knew that this person was not confused, so he hurried forward and said, "Young master, you have also seen that the movable type here is made of metal, which is more common than usual. The wooden movable type is durable and will not deform, and the printed characters are more neat."

"Metal movable type does have some advantages over wooden movable type, but the cost is also high. The tin movable type you have here is quite exquisite, should it come from the hands of a master craftsman?"

Zhu Zhanhe put the movable type back to its original place, and then asked shopkeeper Wu with a smile.

Although he is not sure yet, Zhu Zhanhe can vaguely guess why shopkeeper Wu is in such a hurry to sell the workshop.

(End of this chapter)