The days when I fished in Daming

Chapter 33
In the morning, after breakfast, I walked slowly to Huimin Pharmacy as usual.

There were still a lot of people queuing up for the vaccination early in the morning. They passed through the crowd and went to their office. There were some documents on the table, all of which required Zheng Xiong's signature.

I picked it up and looked at it. They were all normal purchase lists, the raw material purchases from the glass factory, the purchase list from the Huimin Pharmaceutical Bureau, and the outsourcing purchase list for movable type. I just wanted to sign it, and there seemed to be something wrong.

It has to be said that Zheng Xiong's brain, which incorporates another soul, is really easy to use. As long as he is willing, the bills he has read in the past seem to appear clearly in front of his eyes, and he quickly finds out the problem.

There is no problem with the glass factory, so much material is used for experiments every time, and the procurement curve of Huimin Pharmacy is rising, so there is no problem. There are more people coming, and more medicinal materials are consumed. The problem lies in the movable type.

The purchase of movable type is also rising in a curve. It has been almost two months, so how much do I have to charge.

Before I had time to think, I called Qian Wu, and on Saturday, Ergou went to the movable type warehouse. More people would be better, but less people would be unreliable.

The master engraving master recruited earlier was sitting in front of the table, holding a movable type test print for acceptance, and there was a basket of copper plates beside him, and he would give money after passing the pass.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang, come to my house for a drink in a few days."

Zheng Xiong and the others approached, and the senior masters saw that it was Zheng Xiong, and quickly got up to salute.

Zheng Xiong waved his hand, no nonsense.

"What's the situation with you? Why are there more and more movable type acquisitions recently, and no one has reported to me yet?"

Several people glanced at each other, and finally the older one stood up.

"Returning to my lord, it was okay at the beginning. We collect movable type, and not many people know about it. Later, when we saw that it was profitable, there were more people who made movable type. Individual movable type is not difficult, and wood can be seen everywhere. People you know well will be able to teach it. Now more and more people are making movable type. Many craftsmen are having a hard time. They will make a few movable types to supplement their families. Now they can't stop. But now the quality of movable type has improved a lot. There are too many people, and some of them are fellow villagers, so it is really hard to refuse, so I can only apply for more money to buy movable type, but adults can rest assured that the quality of the movable type received is good, and the villain is absolutely not showing favoritism."

The old man who was pushed out to be the representative explained carefully, waiting for Zheng Xiong to reply.

Zheng Xiong's head was as big as a bucket. At that time, he only thought about the convenience of movable type and the ease of obtaining materials, so as to prepare some movable type for later use, but he did not think of setting a limit on the number.

There are not many ways for these artisans to make money. They have been mobilized by these movable type, and now they are almost forming an industry. If they cancel it hastily, I am afraid that the reaction will be very violent.

"Take me to the warehouse to have a look."

The old man led the way, and the others followed behind, walking towards the warehouse.

He took out the key and opened the storeroom. There was a room full of movable type, which would be full in a few days.

Pointing to the room, Zheng Xiong asked angrily.

"The movable type in this room is what you call selecting the best. How much does it cost?"

"Returning to my lord, these are all collected normally. At the beginning, our quotations were basically at the normal level. Later, when there were more movable types, some people sold them at a lower price. From two for one penny, to three for one penny, and now five for one penny, there are still a lot of people who come to sell movable type."

Zheng Xiong was speechless when he heard this, his anger was gone, he followed the trend, the introversion was in the same line, and he did not let go, he sighed speechlessly.

"Let's maintain this scale, and the budget will not increase any more."

He didn't look at the warehouse, his head hurt, Zheng Xiong walked in front quietly, and the others followed silently.

Such movable type has to be dealt with. With the increase in medicinal materials purchased by the pharmacy, although the consumption is also high, the small warehouse is still under pressure.

It is not easy to consume so many movable type, and the only way to consume movable type is to publish books.

Block printing was invented in China in the Tang Dynasty around the 7th century AD.With printed books, a formal publishing industry began to emerge.After the mid-Tang Dynasty, in today's Sichuan and other places, private publishing engaged in engraving and printing has become very common.Most of the early printed publications were almanacs, calligraphy books and Buddhist scriptures that were widely needed by the public.It was not until the 10s, that is, during the Five Dynasties and the later Tang Dynasty, that woodblock printing was widely popularized and produced a role and influence that cannot be ignored. It was used to engrave Confucian classics, and the publishing industry sponsored by the government came into being.

The period from the second half of the 10th century to the middle of the 19th century, including the Song Dynasty to the mid-Qing Dynasty, was a period of comprehensive development of ancient Chinese publishing.During this period, movable type printing was invented, and the printing technology was continuously improved and improved. Later, register printing appeared, which was in a leading position in the world printing history at that time.During this period, the publishing industry sponsored by the government flourished day by day, and many comprehensive anthologies, similar books, and series of books were edited and published; there were also many private engraved books; the private publishing industry developed rapidly.Book engraving locations are almost all over the country, and both the variety and quantity of books published have greatly exceeded those of the previous generation.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Nanjing Guozijian collected the editions of Song and Yuan books from Hangzhou and other parts of the south of the Yangtze River and continued to print and publish them, known as the "Southern Supervisor Edition".Many skilled workers who engraved books in Hangzhou also went to Nanjing with the book editions of West Lake Academy, and Nanjing replaced Hangzhou as the most important publishing center in the country at that time. In the middle of the 16th century, a large number of illustrated novels and opera books were published in the Jiangnan area centered on Nanjing.Skilled printing workers from traditional engraving areas such as Huizhou in neighboring Anhui Province and Jianyang in Fujian Province also came to Nanjing one after another.Nanjing has become the center of color overprinting of woodcut paintings.The prosperity of publishing promoted the prosperity of the book trade. At that time, there were many bookstores in the area of ​​Sanshan Street and Neiqiao in Nanjing, and the sales volume of books was very large.

In the Ming Dynasty, the official printed editions began to have the inner government printed editions, which were in charge of the eunuchs who supervised the etiquette.There is an admiral in charge of the warehouse of the Lijianjing Factory, and most of the books engraved are edicts and laws and collections of classics and history, which are called "Silijianben", also known as "Jingchangben".Most of them are huge volumes with large characters, wide format, clear lines, large black and white sides, circles in the text and subnotes, printed with fine white cotton paper and fine ink, and beautifully bound, but many collations are not precise, and there are many mistakes.All departments of the central government in the Ming Dynasty engraved books, and Qintianjian and Taiyuan Hospital also engraved books of this specialty.The "Yongle Dadian" compiled by the Ming Dynasty government is the largest class book in ancient China.The whole book collects seven to eight thousand kinds of ancient books, 22937 volumes, about 3.7 million words, handwritten, and packed into 11095 volumes.

Block-printed editions of local officials in the Ming Dynasty were also common.Many books have been engraved by the chief secretary of each province, the inspection department, prefectures and counties, Confucianism, academies, supervision and transportation departments, etc.The mansions of the feudal princes also engraved books, which are called "Fan Fu Ben" or "Fan Printed Books".Most of the books engraved by the vassals were based on the rare books of the Song and Yuan Dynasties rewarded by the central government. In addition, they had good material conditions, and the vassal king himself had a certain degree of knowledge.

You can consider setting up a printing factory first, but the prosperity of the printing industry is inseparable from paper. The legendary Luoyang paper is expensive, and it is just as expensive now. Printing and papermaking also complement each other.

My own movable type is also an advantage at this stage. Although the service life is not long, it can print books quickly. Small-scale printing has a great advantage, and the current paper cannot meet the conditions for mass printing.

Zheng Xiong stopped in his tracks.

"You guys, get ready. I'm going to build a printing factory. Do you have any familiar staff in this area? Find some people. There are quite a few literate people in the pharmacy, and you can transfer a few to typesetting and proofreading. If you have someone to choose, you can also apply for it. It's easy to transfer people."

"Yes, my lord."

It is not difficult to set up a printing factory, as long as the required materials are purchased, it can be started, but it is only a manual money, and it can make money, but not much, without the huge profits of alcohol glass.

Next, I'm going to run the business.

(End of this chapter)