Chapter 43: Observation

"Your Majesty, please."

The light car was in Jian. His Majesty Li and his two princesses, including Prince Chengqian, Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, Kong Yingda, and Wei Zheng, were the supervisor of Yan Lide, the Minister of Works, and the Minister of the Ministry of Works, and the Minister of the Secretariat to inspect the printing workshop in the Wei Mansion. Early in the morning, Wei Chi led people to wait at the intersection of Zhuangzi to welcome the arrival of the Tang Dynasty's monarchs. They originally wanted to put two children standing at the intersection and shouting "Welcome, warm welcome", but time did not allow it, so they had to give up.

Go directly to the printing workshop when facing people. At present, the printing workshop in Weifu is only private, with a small scale and weak printing ability. At present, it is very difficult to work on the medical books written by Sun Simiao and the textbooks compiled by Wei Chi and his wife. Fortunately, the number of students in the first batch is small, otherwise, it would be a big project.

This is the second time that His Majesty Li Er has arrived at the Wei Mansion Village. He looked into the distance and glanced around and said, "Zi Yue, it seems that your wife has good ability to manage her family. In just three years, this village has changed a lot."

With the introduction of corn, cabbage, tomatoes, and earthworm breeding, Weifu Zhuangzi has indeed changed a lot. The Chinese people have relatively simple concepts and life is better. The first thing is reflected in housing. The concept of home is already deeply engraved in the bones. Otherwise, the real estate in modern China would not be so prosperous, and the people would not work hard to fight to the death and be in debt just to buy a house of their own.

Wei Chi laughed and said, "Thank you for your praise. Isn't this a good official in Sinong Temple for a few days and learned a lot of farming things. On this day, as long as you are willing to work and work hard, you will always get better slowly. It is also the hard work of the villagers. Otherwise, no matter how good we are, it will be useless."

His Majesty Li Er smiled and didn't say anything, leading everyone to the printing workshop. When he arrived at the workshop, the masters were busy working. In order to teach in the medical school, there were only a dozen workers in the factory and worked day and night. According to normal, it was early in the morning that those who were on the evening shift had just finished their work and went to the staff cafeteria to have dinner. When those who were on the day shift had just come to take over. Because His Majesty Li Er came to visit, he made an exception last night and did not start work, and the morning had not started yet, waiting to welcome His Majesty Li Er.

"See Your Majesty."

The young and old in the workshop saluted His Majesty Li Er together. His Majesty Li Er said: "Plain. Ziyue, let them start. I want to see how movable type printing is operated."

Wei Chi said "Yeah" and said, "Masters, prepare for the start of work. Your Majesty, it will take a little time to prepare. Please wait a moment."

"It's okay. I'll wait for a moment."

The workers in the printing workshop were all introduced by Carpenter Zhou, and some were introduced by Yan Lide. At that time, Wei Chi said he wanted to hire a few craftsmen to build a printing workshop by himself. Many wealthy families had them, but Yan Lide didn't care. He actually introduced several skilled printing masters to him. In addition, Carpenter Zhou introduced them, they put them together and formed this printing workshop.

The household registration of these craftsmen has moved to the Wei Mansion and their families have also moved over. Now, the men at home are working in printing workshops, and the women are raising poultry at home. They live a very good life. They are very glad to be able to move to the Wei Mansion Village, otherwise they will still be living a poor life. The craftsmen of this era have no status, but they are still very poor. The income they get is barely enough to make a living and they cannot be hungry.

The craftsmen's house is not far from the printing workshop, and it is convenient to work. Because His Majesty Li Er is coming to inspect today, the family members are hiding in the house and dare not come out. Occasionally, a little kid sticks out his head and peeks out, but his mother knocks on the head and pulls them back.

It was estimated that the time was almost over, and each person distributed a mask to cover the pungent smell of ink, so he led people into the workshop. The workers in the printing workshop were all wearing uniform robes, masks, sleeves, and leather gloves, without revealing any skin, and strictly followed the regulations.

His Majesty Li Er and others looked at the process along the way, and saw the papers full of fonts, cutting, binding, and assembly line operations, which were fast and efficient, which made everyone amazed.

Mr. Kong Yingda stood firmly next to the worker responsible for printing, watching him print pages of books and pages of books smoothly, with a focused expression and a joy in his eyes.

His Majesty Li Er looked at the printed pages and asked, "Zi Yue, why is there a piece of it empty here?"

Wei Chi stretched out his head and looked at it, saying, "Your Majesty, that blank is left with printed patterns. What we are printing now is a medical book, with the shape and pattern of medicinal materials attached to it for students to identify it."

His Majesty Li Er nodded. After walking around and seeing the magic of movable type printing, His Majesty Li Er sighed: "It's really a good way. As long as paper and manual can keep up, how many books you want is just a matter of time. As more and more books, more people will be able to read in the Tang Dynasty, and more talented people will be able to learn and learn. At that time, why worry about not having enough talents! Haha..."

His Majesty Li Er laughed loudly and the ministers congratulated him repeatedly. Wei Chi followed him to congratulate him, muttering in his heart, saying that movable type printing is still his own thing, it has not become his own family, why is it just one and two people's tone as if everything is from His Majesty Li Er's family!

Wei Chi pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I have only heard of this movable type printing technique before. I know the principles and specific operations of it. I have all developed it by the masters in the workshop, because no one has made this thing in detail, and it took a long time. I have already found these masters two years ago, and it has only been successfully developed recently. It can be said that I have gone through all the hardships. Our Wei family is small and has a small business. The printing workshop can only be used by itself. There is insufficient manpower and cannot take on the work outside. If Your Majesty is interested, please send the masters of the generals or the Ministry of Works to learn it. At that time, the court has the final say on what they want to print."

His Majesty Li Er glanced at Wei Chi and cursed with a smile: "You sloppy greedy boy, don't emphasize the difficulties with me. I won't ask for your things in vain!"

Wei Chi smiled silly and said, "Who is Your Majesty? Of course I will not cheat the subjects. I am just explaining the situation. Your Majesty, you all, it is lunch time. If you don't dislike it, how about using a meal in my house? I sent someone to pick a lot of fresh tea and prepare a table of tea and dishes."

His Majesty Li Er was surprised and asked, "Mingcai?! What is this?"

Old Master Fang Xuanling also touched his beard and smiled: "Your Majesty, "Yan Zi Chunqiu" records that when Yan Xiangqi Gong Gong was young, he ate rice with chestnuts. He roasted three spears and five eggs, and just tea dishes. The tea dishes that Zi Yue mentioned should be this thing, right? Zi Yue."

Wei Chi smiled and said, "The right thing Fang Xiang said is the tea dish. However, there are more varieties of this in my house. I learned it from others. It is also an elegant dish. Please ask Your Majesty and the Lord to taste it."

Kong Yingda smiled and said, "In the Jin Dynasty, famous scholars often had the method of eating tender tea leaves into porridge, which was elegantly known as tea porridge. Now, Wei Ziyue has a tea dish banquet, so he should taste it."

Everyone was talking and laughing and turned back to Wei Mansion. The food was ready. In the huge dining room of Wei Mansion, there were some dumplings with tea fillings and several dishes, not too many. At a tea banquet, Wei Chi only blew out twenty-one dishes, plus twenty-two dumplings, at most one was a tea-soaked rice. Fortunately, the portion was enough, and there was no need to worry about not having enough food.

His Majesty Li Er smiled and said, "This is not a court. You don't need to be polite. Come and sit down and try this tea and food banquet in the Wei Mansion together."

At that moment, His Majesty Li Er made the first place, sat down, and happily tasted the tea dishes at Wei Mansion. After the table of dishes was finished, everyone was satisfied with their expressions. Wei Chi blew up the health benefits and benefits of tea dishes, and the method was not difficult. Everyone nodded and said that they would eat them frequently in the future.

After His Majesty Li Er brought people to visit, he would be the supervisor the next day. The craftsmen from the Ministry of Works came and learned movable type printing with the masters of the Wei Mansion. There were even several craftsmen with good skills. After learning, they proposed many improvement plans to make the development and application of movable type printing more perfect and convenient.

For this reason, His Majesty Li Er rewarded Wei Chi well. The gold was calculated as a pound. Five pounds were given at one time, fifteen more households were added to the fief, and the land was also increased accordingly. Poor Wei Chi, who had just solved the problem of insufficient manpower, and there was a problem coming soon. I really didn't know whether to be happy or worried. However, these little worries were insignificant compared to the harvest. Wei Chi quickly thanked him.

Kong Yingda said: "Thanks to Ziyue's wonderful ideas, in the future, all my scholars in the Tang Dynasty should thank you."

Wei Chi hurriedly said, "Master Kong is too much of a reputation. It is a ridiculous to say that this credit belongs to me. In fact, most of the credit belongs to those craftsmen and masters. I have just heard of this printing method. I know what happened. To implement it in detail, it depends on the craftsmen and masters to work hard. If it weren't for their serious and rigorousness and willing to think and study, it is still unknown whether this method can be realized. After all, I only understand medical skills and do not understand printing technology. To be honest, Ziyue is just a layman, without an expert in practical operation, and he cannot do movable type printing. He dare not take credit for his achievements, or at least he dare not take credit for his full results."

Everyone was stunned by this. It seems that these high-ranking officials are still not used to not realizing the importance of craftsmen. This is the concept of an era, and there is no way. Wei Chi sighed slightly in his heart and smiled. It is because of this that he has to work hard, right?

His Majesty Li Er glanced at Wei Chi with great meaning and said with a smile: "This is quite reasonable. Just like you said, you are just a doctor. With your age, you are proficient in medical skills and know how to farm, which is extraordinary. If you can even understand printing, which is completely different from your profession, then I really have to think about it."

Wei Chi laughed dryly. Now he admires those time traveling seniors, proficient in astronomy, geography, physics and chemistry, able to make paper, ships, and cannons, and they know almost everything, but they don’t know how they made sense. Didn’t they be locked in a small dark room and cut open their heads to study? Everything is abnormal and is a monster.

Wei Chi thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, I have seen a system in a country overseas. I think there may be some places where our Tang Dynasty can learn from."

His Majesty Li Er asked, "Oh, what system is it? Let's hear it."

Wei Chidao: "There is a special institution in overseas countries called research institutes that specialize in studying various things. For example, there are those who specialize in improving agricultural tools, those who specialize in improving horse-drawn carriages, and those who specialize in improving military ordnances. They are all gathered together to study how to improve and improve things in their respective fields more effectively. For example, those who study agriculture will study how to make grain yields higher and grow better, how to cultivate land more conveniently and quickly when plowing fields, how to cultivate land in ways that will be more helpful to the growth of grain, etc.."

Wei Chilala made a lot of things. In short, to put it bluntly, it’s just one thing - craftsman is very important!

When the ministers in the hall heard this, they all looked thoughtful. As the master of the general and the successor to the next Minister of Works, Yan Lide looked at Wei Chi with gratitude, then looked at His Majesty Li Er, waiting for his reaction.

His Majesty Li Er pondered and had not spoken yet.

Changsun Wuji said: "Your Majesty, Ziyue, although this system is good, it may not be suitable for my Tang Dynasty. My Tang Dynasty was decided at the beginning, and the people were not rich enough. Now, the first thing to encourage is agriculture and sericulture, not craftsmen. If everyone is a craftsman, who will plow the fields and who will grow grain, will everyone in the world starve to death?"

Changsun Wuji's statement made everyone nod. His Majesty Li Er just nodded and looked at Wei Chi. Wei Chi laughed and said, "What Mr. Changsun said is that the most important thing at present is agriculture and sericulture. However, Lord Changsun seemed to have misunderstood what I mean. I did not say that I wanted to add craftsmen, but used existing craftsmen to develop. My Tang Dynasty has never lacked craftsmen with excellent craftsmen. There are very few who can be as skilled as our Tang Dynasty craftsmen. This is an advantage and a resource.

If it is a resource, you need to consider how to make better use and use it. In your spare time in various work, you can get together with farmers to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various farm tools, in order to better improve tools and make production more convenient; discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various papers with scholars, talk about the requirements of scholars for paper and hope for convenience. In this way, it may be possible to improve the paper technology and make better, more suitable for writing, and more suitable for preservation. "

After a pause, Wei Chi continued: "No matter what kind of crafts develop, it should be people-oriented. It can only be developed because people need it. Because of the inconvenience of bamboo slips, people invented paper, and because of the need for plowing, people invented plows. It is the same truth, and there is no saying that we encourage craftsmen, but just how to better utilize and give full play to the role and advantages of craftsmen."
Chapter completed!