Author: Muzi Blue

After hearing Wu Huaiyu's thoughts, the school secretary Laiji said: "Isn't that the Di Bao of the Han Dynasty?"

The Han Dynasty implemented a parallel system of counties and states. Each county had an office in the capital city of Chang'an, called a residence, with permanent representatives. Their task was to liaise between the emperor and the prefects of each county, and regularly communicate the emperor's edicts to

Edicts, official documents such as ministers' memorials, and relevant political information such as important court events were written on bamboo slips or silk, and were delivered to various counties by couriers on horseback via post roads.

"My newspaper is more than that."

Of course Huaiyu had no interest in producing such a copy.

His idea of ​​running a newspaper actually came from the inspiration he had after working on books during this period. Books are expensive, paper is also expensive, and culture and scholarship are actually in the hands of a very small number of people.

If you master academics, you will naturally have a high right to speak.

Huaiyu didn't think about fighting for the right to speak. This was a very dangerous matter. All the previous dynasties had suppressed those noble families who controlled academic circles. The struggle here was extremely cruel and fierce.

What he wanted to do was to slowly insert a blind eye first, not to touch the academic rights, but to touch on the right to participate in public opinion.

"What is the difference?"

"The content is different. The newspaper I plan to run, tentatively planned to be called the Beijing News, will not only transcribe the emperor's edicts, ministers' memorials, and the appointments, removals, and transfers of relevant officials, etc., but also plan to add some poems, songs, geographical magazines, etc.

, or even chatting about anecdotes and things like prices in various places,”

He has no plans to comment on current affairs right away. These are too dangerous, and ordinary people are not qualified to discuss national affairs. But if he creates a few more pages, poetry, poetry, legends and monster novels, as well as some prices, etc., these can naturally be published, and it is estimated that

It can attract some people.

After all, compared to traditional books, this kind of book contains both current news and essays, which is also relatively novel.

"If there was such a Beijing News, published every five to ten days, with about 5,000 to 10,000 words per copy, would you be willing to buy it?"

Laiji was surprised by this idea.

"One issue every five to ten days, long-term printing, each copy has 5,000 to 10,000 words. Is this possible?"

A very skilled scribe can copy at most 10,000 to 20,000 words in a day, while an ordinary scribe may need to copy 10,000 words in a day.

"You need to copy, organize, edit, and revise. After the manuscript is published, you will copy and correct it again. It will be published every five to ten days. You can't make many copies, right?"

One hundred scribes can produce at most two to three hundred copies a day, but it will take longer to complete the manuscript and proofread it.

In the past, the imperial newspaper was just a matter of copying some official documents from the imperial court and passing them on horseback. Each county sent people to copy them, that is, just one or two copies would be enough.

Now that we have to produce so much content and sell it, naturally we can no longer just have one or two copies. It must be in the same quantity as selling books.

But selling books is different. After a book is edited and finalized, it can be copied and sold at the same time. Since this newspaper is going to publish official documents of the imperial court, it must be timely.

"It's better to have one issue every five days," Huaiyu also said. "As for the issue of copying, I actually have another idea, which is engraving and printing."

“What is block printing?”

"It is to carve a template and then print it, just like using a seal to seal. By carving a template, you can stamp hundreds or even thousands of them,"

There was no engraving printing in the Tang Dynasty. In this era, both books and Buddhist scriptures in temples were copied by hand. Even scriptures such as Shangshu and Zhouyi Shijing were copied by hand.

Officials will carve some stone scriptures as models.

In comparison, engraving and printing are definitely very advantageous in printing large quantities of books. One engraving plate can be used repeatedly, and as long as the plate is corrected, there is no need to correct every book.

, you don’t even need someone who can read and write to print books.

This can bring down the price of books and expand the spread of culture.

Of course, there are still some technical problems to be solved in engraving and printing, but engraving is not a problem. After all, it is the same as engraving seals. There are also Yin and Yang characters in engraving, so superior craftsmen are not a problem at all.

The main problem is the ink.

Ink pad is used for stamping and ink is used for writing, but printing requires ink, not ordinary ink.

Huaiyu felt that this was not a problem. If he spent money, found those craftsmen who made ink, offered a large reward, and let them study it, it would definitely not be a problem with purposeful efforts.

In the future, when the technology matures, movable type printing can also be upgraded.

"Erlang, the Beijing News plans to print many copies?"

"If the issue is published every five days and is printed using engraving, then each issue will have to be printed and sold at a starting price of two to three thousand copies."

Laiji's eyes widened.

Two to three thousand copies, one every five days, six copies in a month, seventy-two copies a year, each with 5,000 to 10,000 words. Even if only a thousand copies are published, isn't that 7.8 billion words a year?

can not imagine.

"Can't do it?"

"It all depends on people."

Laiji became a little excited, "If we can really develop the art of engraving and printing, then why not just print books directly? Then, one page will have one to two hundred words, and we can print them continuously without any errors. Oh my god..."

"Shizilang, let me solve this technical problem of woodblock printing. You can first bring Zhang Chengde, Liu Xu and a few others to compile a sample issue for me and let me take a look."

The technology of engraving and printing will definitely not be developed at once, so we will first use the old method to create a newspaper. "We can start with less content, about 200 words for half a page, and 300 or 400 words for a front and back page. Let's make a ten-page version first.

The first half of the content is to copy the imperial edicts, edicts, memorials, appointment and dismissal of officials, etc., and the rest is to print some poems, songs, novels and essays about ghosts, and then some prices of commodities from various places, etc. After the manuscript is sorted, it is copied by hand. First, make a hundred copies.

Come and give some to the three provinces and six ministries, etc., and sell the rest to see what the effect is."

Lai Ji was amazed by Wu Huaiyu's idea, but he was also very excited. He felt that if this thing could be accomplished, it would be absolutely amazing, especially the engraving and printing technology. If it could be developed, the price of books in the world would be greatly reduced.

, many people will be able to read the book.

Huaiyu called the heads of the paper, ink, pen and inkstone workshops and bookstores under the Bureau of Economic Affairs and expressed his thoughts.

"If anyone can make ink that can be printed, I will reward him with a hundred thousand yuan and even hire an official for him."

This bounty made everyone's faces flush with excitement, and they all clapped their chests and expressed their determination to solve this problem for the museum owner.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon.

The sun was still high in the sky, so Huaiyu went home from get off work on time, while other officials in the bureau took the initiative to stay and work another hour.

The benefits provided by the owner of the library are so good that no one is too embarrassed to get off work at that time.

Huaiyu doesn't care about this.

He left when the time came, but he greatly appreciated these diligent subordinates, especially asking Lai Ji and others to record overtime work for everyone.

If you work overtime, you will be paid overtime pay.

Riding back to Shouyanghou Mansion in Yongxingfang.

The hunchback Wu Cheng came to lead the horse immediately. Huaiyi once thought that Wu Cheng was ugly and unsuitable for a porter, but Wu Huaiyu didn't care. Wu Cheng was loyal and hard-working, and he was very respectful as a porter, so he stayed.

After telling the young Turk slave to wash and feed the horse well, Huaiyu went to his courtyard.

"Alang is back."

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he met a tall girl. Huaiyu looked at her and said, "Sword Thirteen?"

"Alang, this slave is Jian Shiyi."

Another girl stepped forward and said, "Alang, this slave is Jian Shisan."

Looking at these two tall and slender girls who looked alike, Huaiyu was a little helpless, "I suggest you embroider your names on your clothes next time, otherwise you won't be able to tell them apart."

"Okay, Alang."

When Fan Xuanfu passed by, he not only brought his three younger sisters as dowry, but also brought twenty-four sword maids with him. The whole backyard was filled with Fan family members.

Huaiyu still hasn't recognized all these twenty-four sword maids, mainly because they all wear the same clothes. They are all about the same height, short, fat, and thin. They are all about fifteen or sixteen years old, tall, long-legged, and thin-waisted.

It's really confusing.

The name is even harder to remember.

So I simply named them in another order, from Sword One to Sword Twenty-Four.

These girls accompany Fan Xuanfu sisters every day, practice sword riding, ride horses and play ball. There was originally a polo field in this house. Li Yuan built a polo field, stables, etc., and even a moon stick polo ball and other facilities.

Everything is available.

When other women play polo, they ride on donkeys or play football.

But the Fan sisters all ride horses and play polo.

There are ten people in a polo team, and they just form two teams to compete, and there are even eight substitutes.

On the double-goal court, Fan Xuanfu and the others were galloping, vigorously waving their moon sticks, and fighting for the polo ball. Huaiyu looked a little worried, because this movement was too fierce.

Runniang, Irina, and the Gao sisters could only watch from the sidelines and did not dare to play at all.

When Fan Xuanfu saw Huaiyu appearing on the sidelines of the court, he directly called a substitute, rode off the field, and went straight to him.

"Erlang, why don't we play some balls together?"

"Forget it," Huaiyu shook his head. Polo is a very intense and exciting sport. It is very enjoyable to watch, but it is also easy to get injured. He is a man playing with a group of women. Winning or losing is meaningless.

"I made an appointment with Li Sanniang from the Yongkang Palace to have a fight in a few days. We will fight here."

Huaiyu felt that Fan Xuanfu seemed to be having some trouble with Li Sanniang.

"Okay, I'll come and cheer you up then."
To be continued...