Hubei Qizhou, many people may not have heard of this place in later generations, because the name of this state was later abolished. However, if you talk about the name of later generations, it is famous, especially for those who went to high school and took the college entrance examination. Its name in later generations was Huanggang. I believe that many people born in the 1980s can still recall the fear of being dominated by the sea of ​​questions when they heard the name of Huanggang test paper.

Qizhou is known as the beginning and end of Wu, Chu, and is the intersection of the cultures of Wu, Chu and Han, which also gave birth to a variety of customs and humanities here. During the Song Dynasty, the printing industry in Qizhou was very prosperous, and countless books were printed every year. Of course, it was still a little worse than the four major printing centers of Beijing, Zhejiang, Shuzhong and Fujian.

Qizhou is named after it is close to Qishui. In the north of Qishui, there is a county town named Qishui County. There is a small printing workshop located in the northwest corner of the county town, and Bi Sheng is the owner of this workshop.

Bi Sheng was born in Zhihe Township, Qishui County. He was poor since childhood, so he was sent to a printing workshop as an apprentice when he was a teenager. Because he was smart, he quickly mastered the skills of carving and printing. Later, after the apprentice became a master, he worked in a workshop to earn money. In the end, he finally saved some money and opened this small printing workshop.

Although Bi Sheng's workshop is not very big, Bi Sheng's craftsmanship is superb, especially the craftsmanship of carving boards is very famous. He has been well-known in the circle since before, so after he opened a printing workshop, he did not have to worry about business. Over the years, he has relied on this workshop to get married and have children, and even accepted many apprentices.

However, Bi Sheng looked sad now, and the workshop was not open. He sat alone in a room in the backyard, staring at the room full of mud movable type in a daze. This was originally his most proud invention, but now it forced him into a desperate situation. After using mud movable type for a period of time, mud movable type was damaged due to long-term contamination of ink, and many characters on them were dropped and could no longer be used.

Bi Sheng is over 60 years old this year, his hair and beard are mostly white, and his face is full of wrinkles. The most conspicuous thing is his big hands, which are like old branches, and some fingers are deformed. This is a common problem among the masters who make carving boards all year round. Some old craftsmen even get completely disabled when they are old and cannot even use chopsticks.

Bi Sheng was getting older and he felt less able to carve boards, and his fingers were no longer as flexible as when he was young. However, he didn't care about these things, because he invented movable type printing the most. He thought that with this set of movable type, he and other movable plate craftsmen would not have to work day and night like before, but now he found that he still took it for granted. These clay movable type had become like this after only one year of use. Although they could be supplemented, there were too many damaged clay movable type, and they almost had to be done again.

"If metal is used to make movable type, there is no need to worry about this problem, but metal is too expensive!" Bi Sheng suddenly murmured to himself, his brows frowned even tighter. Of course, he had thought about using other materials for movable type, but the wood was expanded when ink and could not be used for a long time. Although metal is good, he could not afford it. Even if it was the cheapest iron material, the cost of making so much movable type was not something he could afford.

There is another problem with making movable type with metal, that is, how to carve letters on metal. Although he is a carving craftsman, he mainly carves on wood. In comparison, carving letters on metal is much more difficult than on wood. He even went to a blacksmith, but even the blacksmith thought it was whimsical to carve letters on iron blocks. Even the blacksmith said so, which made Bi Sheng almost give up the idea of ​​using movable type.

"Dad, why are you still here? Don't look at it anymore. These movable types are broken. At worst, I can help you with another set!" At this moment, a short and strong man suddenly pushed the door and walked in. Seeing Bi Sheng staring at the movable types and sighing, he couldn't help but persuade him.

This short and strong man is named Bi Jia, Bi Sheng's eldest son. He is in his forties this year. Now he has taken over his class to take charge of the printing workshop. In addition, he has three sons and several apprentices who work in the workshop. The business is not bad, but due to the scale, the income from the workshop can only ensure that the family can eat and wear and wear.

"I'm not willing to give up. I used to create movable type, and I proudly taught this method to other people. At that time, many people praised me for not hiding my own personalities, but now this kind of thing happens, how can you give me the right to meet people?" Bi Sheng said to his son with a slightly red face.

Last year, Bi Sheng invented clay movable type and after the experiment, he thought it was feasible, so he spread this method a lot, mainly because of some friends he knew. He didn't think so much at the time, but he just thought this method was good, but improved the printing efficiency, but he didn't expect clay movable type to break so quickly. If others used his method, they might have suffered a considerable loss now.

"Dad, you've thought too much. You were kind-hearted when you spread movable type. No one expected that this would happen. Even if someone lost some of it, you can't blame you!" Bi Jia advised again at this time. He knew that his master was a stubborn person. If he didn't let him think about it, he would definitely get out of the horns.

"Even if others don't blame me, I still feel uncomfortable. Why didn't I expect that movable type to break so quickly?" Bi Sheng said distressedly while knocking on his forehead. Recently, he has been thinking about ways to solve the defects of movable type, but there seems to be no other way except to change the materials.

"Dad, I recently thought of a solution. Mud movable type is not good. We can only change to other materials. The metal is too expensive. But what do you think if you burn mud into porcelain movable type?" Bi Jia suddenly spoke and suggested again that Qizhou is not only famous for printing, but also produces porcelain, so Bi Jia thought of this method.

"I have thought about this method for a long time. It is OK to burn porcelain, but the porcelain is too brittle and easy to damage. The porcelain is easily deformed when firing. Even if the movable type is just a little bit deformed, the content of the layout is not good-looking. In addition, the porcelain is also not cheap, so our family can't afford this money." Bi Sheng shook his head when he heard this.

Bi Jia had no choice but to hear this. In fact, he had known that there was also a problem with porcelain movable type, and he said so just to persuade his old father. But now he saw that his father was not easy to fool, so he didn't know what to say?

"Big...Brother is not good, someone has broken in outside!" At this moment, a young man suddenly ran in panic and shouted loudly, which made Ye Bisheng and his son turn their heads and look.
Chapter completed!