My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 58
After meeting Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Zhanhe had a nightmare all night, and woke up in the morning, wanting to eat something vegetarian for the first time.

Sun Ruowei brought four maids to help Zhu Zhanhe dress and freshen up.

Looking at the washbasin in front of him, Zhu Zhanhe suddenly reached out and knocked on it, then turned to Sun Ruowei and said, "Is this basin made of copper?"

"Yeah, what is the prince asking this for?"

Sun Ruowei took the comb and helped Zhu Zhanhe comb his hair. After a man has long hair, it is no easier to take care of than a woman.

"In the future, it will be replaced with a wooden basin, and this basin will be used for melting!"

Zhu Zhanhe happily ordered.

Copper movable type needs a lot of copper. He went to the warehouse yesterday and found some copper materials, but it was not enough, so he could only focus on these copper wares.

"Yes!"

Sun Ruowei was not surprised to hear Zhu Zhanhe talk about the copper movable type.

At this time the hair was combed, Sun Ruowei held up the mirror on the table and asked Zhu Zhanhe to see if he was satisfied?
But Zhu Zhanhe's eyes lit up when he saw the bronze mirror in her hand: "This one is also made of copper, take it and melt it!"

"The mirror is gone, how will you wash up in the future?"

Sun Ruowei asked dissatisfied.

"You just watch and freshen up. I'm not Zhang Zhong. What mirror do I look in every day?"

Zhu Zhanhe said indifferently.

Zhang Zhong loves beauty, and carries a small bronze mirror with him, and takes out pictures from time to time, often immersed in his own beauty and unable to extricate himself.

"Ok."

Sun Ruowei reluctantly agreed, and then lowered his head to help Zhu Zhanhe tidy up his clothes.

At this time, Zhu Zhanhe saw the hairpin on Sun Ruowei's head again, and exclaimed in surprise again: "Your hairpin is also made of copper, right?"

"The slaves are also made of copper, do you want to melt them too?"

Sun Ruowei finally got angry and said that the hairpin on her head was a relic left to her by her mother.

"This...hehe, I just asked casually."

Zhu Zhanhe smiled awkwardly, feeling that he was indeed a bit mad.

"What did you eat this morning?"

Zhu Zhanhe changed the subject and asked.

"This morning, the kitchen prepared fragrant rice porridge and steamed buns stuffed with mutton..."

"Wait, I don't eat buns!"

Before Sun Ruowei could finish speaking, Zhu Zhanhe anxiously interrupted, saying that last night's nightmare had left him with a serious psychological shadow.

"Didn't the prince like to eat steamed stuffed buns before?"

Sun Ruowei asked in surprise.

"I've changed my taste, not only today, but don't make any buns for me in the past few days!"

Zhu Zhanhe ordered again.

"This... well, I'll notify the kitchen!"

Sun Ruowei nodded, then turned around and went to the kitchen.

“Dumplings and wontons are not acceptable either!”

Zhu Zhanhe added loudly to Sun Ruowei's back.

Breakfast was mainly vegetarian dishes, but Zhu Zhanhe still didn't have much appetite, so he ate some casually and let it go.

The coppersmith that Zhu Gaochi promised yesterday should report to the mansion today, so Zhu Zhanhe didn't plan to go out.

"Can you play chess?"

Being idle and bored, Zhu Zhanhe asked Sun Ruowei.

"Yes, son, do you want to play Go or chess?"

Sun Ruowei nodded, the princess was very concerned about the education of these girls, and there were special people teaching piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

"Both Go and Chess are too brain-intensive, let's play a little less brain-intensive!"

As Zhu Zhanhe said, he asked Sun Ruowei to take out Go, and then taught her how to play backgammon.

At first, Sun Ruowei was not familiar with the rules of backgammon, and Zhu Zhanhe won three games in a row.

But by the fourth game, Sun Ruowei had summed up his experience, and his style of chess suddenly became very fierce, and he even won nine games in a row. Zhu Zhanhe had already lost to the point of doubting his life and the meaning of his time travel.

Just in the middle of the tenth round, when Zhu Zhanhe was about to lose again, Zhang Zhong's voice suddenly came from outside: "Zhanhe, I brought the copper materials!"

"Brother Zhang is here, stop playing!"

Zhu Zhanhe jumped up all of a sudden, waved his hand and wiped the pieces on the chessboard into a ball, and then rushed out.

Sun Ruo stomped her feet angrily, but then burst out laughing with a "puchi" and glanced at Zhu Zhanhe who ran out, then she hummed a ditty and picked up the pieces on the chessboard into the chess jar one by one.

Zhu Zhanhe rushed out of the room, only to see Zhang Zhong standing in the yard, followed by two carriages, all of which were full of various bronze utensils.

"Are you going to fight?"

Zhu Zhanhe stepped forward quickly, and was a little dazed when he saw the bronze utensils on the car.

I saw a lot of weapons on the first car, including two brass hammers, a wrought copper stick, and even a bronze sword. I don't know where the antiques were dug out from?
"The first car is mainly weapons collected by my father, and there are also some utensils. I brought all the copper ones. The second car is made of copper."

Zhang Zhong pointed to the carriage and introduced.

As soon as the words fell, the sound of a carriage came from outside the courtyard, and then Zhu Yong came in with three carriages.

Zhu Yong's carriage was even more conspicuous. On the first carriage, a life-sized statue of Guan Gong stood proudly holding the Qinglong Yanyue Saber.

The worship of Guan Gong has been around for a long time. In the Tang Dynasty, Guan Gong became the guardian god of Buddhism. Later, he was related to Taoism, and even Confucian scholars liked to worship him.

"Brother Zhang, you only have two cars, I have one more than you!"

Zhu Yong grinned immediately when he saw the two carriages behind Zhang Zhong.

"You dare to pull Master Guan's statue, so you're not afraid of being blamed by him?"

Zhang Zhong glanced at the statue of Guan Gong behind Zhu Yong and said sarcastically.

"What do you know, Mr. Guan is the God of Martial Arts, let's make the God of Wealth into movable type and let him help us with the work. It will be hard for us not to get rich in the future!"

Zhu Yong spoke eloquently.

Zhu Yong is probably the only one who dares to regard the God of Wealth as a coolie and let others bless him to make a fortune.

Zhu Zhanhe also came to Zhu Yong's carriage at this time, when he saw something on the carriage, he couldn't help rubbing his forehead and smiled wryly: "Brother Zhu, other things are fine, this thing is unnecessary, right?"

As Zhu Zhanhe said, he stretched out his hand and pointed, and saw that among the bronze utensils on the cart, there were a few bronze utensils with a big belly and a small mouth, with the mouth upwards, which were the chamber pots for night use.

"It's all made of pure copper. I've had someone clean it up. If you don't believe me, smell it!"

As Zhu Yong said, he reached out to pick up a chamber pot, smelled it himself and handed it to Zhu Zhanhe.

Scared, Zhu Zhanhe took a few steps back, waved his hands and said, "No need, I trust you, just put it in the car!"

Seeing Zhu Zhanhe's disgusted look, Zhu Yong had no choice but to put down the chamber pot resentfully.

Zhu Zhanhe was also speechless, using a chamber pot to make movable type, the printed books would probably be sullen, but it is quite suitable for printing unscrupulous novels.

At this time, Ma An came to report that the coppersmiths from Baoquan Bureau had arrived, so Zhu Zhanhe asked Ma An to bring them.

After a while, a group of five coppersmiths walked in timidly.

The leader was an old man about 50 years old, with a little gray beard and hair. When he saw Zhu Zhanhe, he immediately knelt down and saluted, "Zhou Qi, coppersmith of Baoquan Bureau, pay homage to Master Shizi!"

The other four also knelt down on the ground.

"Tppersmith Zhou please hurry up!"

Zhu Zhanhe hurriedly said, seeing several people who were several rounds older than him kneeling in front of him, he didn't feel very comfortable.

The five coppersmiths of Zhou stood up as they said, and saw that they were dressed in rough clothes, their faces were smoky all year round, their palms and five fingers were particularly thick, and they could be seen as people who worked all year round.

"Zhou Tongjiang, how many years have you worked in Baoquan Bureau?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked again.

"My son, the villains are all hereditary craftsmen. They have been in Baoquan Bureau since birth, and they have been in father's class since they became adults."

Zhou Qi replied immediately.

Like military households, craftsman households had to serve as soldiers and craftsmen for life after generation as long as they registered for household registration. This system played a certain stabilizing role in the early Ming Dynasty, but with the passage of time, it has seriously affected the development of Ming Dynasty society.

"Bronzesmith Zhou, I want to make a set of bronze wares. The style is quite simple, but every bronze wares needs to be engraved."

As Zhu Zhanhe spoke, he motioned to Ma An, and the other party immediately took out a few tin movable type from his bosom, and handed them to Zhou Qiwu.

"It's this kind of movable type that looks like a seal. It may take tens of thousands of pieces. I wonder if you have a way to make it?"

Zhou Qi and the others glanced at the tin movable type in their hands, discussed a few words in a low voice, Zhou Qi nodded immediately and said: "My lord, it is not difficult to make this kind of movable type, but the copper material needed may not be a small amount. number."

"I'll be responsible for the copper materials. Look at the car. If you don't have enough, I'll have some here."

Zhu Zhanhe pointed to several carriages, and then ordered Ma An to bring out a lot of copper materials and bronze wares from the wing room.

Looking at these various bronze wares, Zhou Qi and the others also had their eyes straightened. They are coppersmiths, so they can tell at a glance that these bronze wares are exquisite in shape and must be of high value.

"My lord, are these bronze utensils going to be melted to make movable type?"

Zhou Qi asked in disbelief, after all, these copper wares are much more valuable than ordinary copper.

"Use the copper material first, if you don't have enough copper material, melt these copper utensils, if it's not enough, I'll find a way!"

Zhu Zhanhe didn't know how much copper was needed for a set of copper movable type, but he certainly couldn't let these coppersmiths pay for it.

"Enough is enough. The copper wares here are somewhat mixed with impurities and are not suitable for recasting, but even this is enough!"

Zhou Qi hastily explained that he would not dare to fool Zhu Zhanhe on this kind of matter.

"That's enough. Do you have any other requirements? When can the casting be started?"

Zhu Zhanhe asked again.

"My lord, copper casting requires special tools, so the villain thinks that it is best to take these copper materials to Baoquan Bureau and borrow the tools from the bureau to cast them, so that we can produce a few samples tomorrow. If your lord is not satisfied with our Modify it again."

When talking about his major, Zhou Qi immediately became bold.

"Okay, Ma An, you are in charge of handing over to Zhou Tongjiang and the others. If you have any problems, come back and report them in time!"

Zhu Zhanhe pointed at Ma Andao, the printing workshop was in his name, of course he was needed to do these things.

Ma An also immediately patted his chest to assure, after all, he also has a share in the workshop, and of course he is very active in making money for himself.

Early the next morning, Ma An came back with three ready-made movable type samples.

I have to say that the craftsmanship of Zhou Qi and others is really good, the copper movable type is several times more beautiful than the original tin movable type, and Zhu Zhanhe can't fault it at all.

In fact, this is quite normal. Yongle Tongbao is one of the most exquisite copper coins in history. On a small copper coin, several characters have to be engraved, so Zhou Qi and the others are also very handy in making movable type.

There was no problem with the samples, so Zhu Zhanhe gave an order to ask Zhou Qi and the others to cast the movable type with all their strength, and strive to complete the copper movable type as soon as possible.

At that time, the printing workshop will be able to start work, and even if the quality of the printed books is not as good as that of engraving, it is estimated that it will not be much worse.

(End of this chapter)