Zhao Yingong's application report encountered no objections during the project approval process of the Planning Institute. However, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the competent authority, expressed objections to his immediate involvement in the silk industry: In the eyes of Jiang Shan and others, it was too risky, and the silk industry was a popular industry at the time.
This type is also an industry in which officials and gentry are deeply involved. Zhao Yingong immediately set up a modern silk reeling factory, which is a typical example of getting burned.
"He is preparing to be a big fat pig, waiting for people to come and kill the pigs. You must stop him." Li Yan said to Jiang Shan in the conference room, "The silk reeling factory came together, just like the opening of the Leizhou Sugar Factory.
Immediately, the world was shocked. He said that he only reeled silk and did not interfere with the circulation and silk weaving - you must know that Leizhou Station thought the same way at the time, but it was immediately besieged and besieged. If Leizhou was not just across the strait, the Senate would
All-round support came quickly and the group was wiped out long ago!"
Jiang Shan agreed: "I think so too. But you can't look forward and backward when doing things. He is now eager to get money to open up the situation - I can understand, but now he can't open up the situation without money."
"There are many ways to open up the situation. Besides, wouldn't there be support from Shanhai Road? Wanyou will open a branch in Hangzhou soon..."
"He has no right to spend money at will in Wanyou. You know financial discipline. Obviously he needs money now." Jiang Shan said. At a recent joint meeting of various departments of the Foreign Intelligence Service, a discussion was held on the finances of senior veterans stationed abroad.
Coordination, stipulates that in addition to the prescribed intelligence activity allowance, any elder cannot directly withdraw cash from the shops on Shanhai Road, and can only temporarily borrow cash in the form of loans when necessary, and there is a certain limit.
The purpose of formulating this rule is to prevent veterans stationed abroad from thinking that they are "industrial and commercial wizards" and engaging in "commercial operations" without permission. It would only be a waste of funds for the activities. If the operation fails and the enterprise collapses, it will be embarrassing. Therefore.
Whether they are state-owned or jointly owned, the enterprises in Shanhai Road are all managed and managed by the commercial department. Unless it is clear that the overseas veterans are responsible for the management and operation of Shanhai Road stores, they will only provide certain support to the overseas stations.
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"You can find other ways to make money and enter the small-cost industry," Li Yan said. "I suggest you start with the book business first. Engage in book publishing."
Hangzhou's publishing industry was only considered a "middle-level" level in the Ming Dynasty, far inferior to Suzhou and Nanjing. There were not many bookstores and its influence was not great. Compared with extremely profitable industries like silk, the book engraving industry was very costly and difficult to turn over.
It was slow and not very profitable, so it was not an industry that officials and gentry were willing to get involved in. Li Yan believed that it was the best choice to let Zhao Yingong get involved in the book engraving industry first.
Jiang Shan said: "However, Zhao Yingong is very enthusiastic, and the motion he proposed immediately hit the g-point of the Ministry of Light Industry, Foreign Trade Company and Committee of Agriculture. I am afraid these departments will express their enthusiastic support. I
I am afraid that it will be approved immediately at the Senate committee meeting."
If approved by the Standing Committee, it will be included in the Planning Institute's operational projects. Even if the Foreign Intelligence Service objects, it may not have much effect.
He turned around a few times, stopped and said: "It doesn't matter, the equipment of the modern silk reeling factory cannot be built overnight, it will take at least half a year. We asked the Agricultural Committee to help Hangzhou Station improve silkworm seeds and mulberry planting -
―This is the foundation of sericulture reform, and Zhao Yingong will not oppose it.”
Improving silkworm seeds and planting mulberry trees will not attract much attention, and the impact will be much smaller than setting up a new silk reeling factory. According to the wisdom of the ancients, this is the so-called "agricultural basis". If the gentry runs it by themselves, not only will there be no one
It's still a face-saving thing to look down on.
"...This matter will take at least half a year. By the time Zhao Yingong wants to set up a silk reeling factory, the situation should have changed, and there will be no problem in setting up a silk reeling factory." Jiang Shan was very proud.
Li Yan thought to himself that this was just a "drag" tactic, but he admitted that it was correct. Thinking again, Zhao Yiggong's report said that he had two directions, one was the silk reeling factory and the other was the printing and publishing industry. Based on Hangzhou's
It is impossible to take both manpower and material resources into consideration. It is completely reasonable and reasonable to only take on one project at the moment, and he would not have any ideas.
Li Yan first held consultations with the Planning Institute, and then called Tan Ming, the director of the printing factory, and Zhou Dongtian, a member of the publishing steering group, and they held a meeting to discuss how to develop the publishing industry in Hangzhou.
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Wu De's opinion is that there is no need to establish a printing industry in Hangzhou at present, but to directly transport books from Lingao for sale. The printing factory in Lingao has already installed lithographic printing equipment and can print lithographic printed matter on a considerable scale and transport it to Hangzhou.
A certain number of books can be done.
"...But I don't know how many books Hangzhou needs and the types." Tan Ming was unsure. Although the production capacity has increased now, the printing factory's own tasks are very heavy. A large number of textbooks and science and education pamphlets are printed, which makes the printing factory overwhelmed.
The work is extremely heavy.
Zhou Dongtian said: "Looking at his application documents, the books Hangzhou needs must be of many varieties and in small batches. This is a bit difficult for the printing factory."
Multiple varieties mean that you have to arrange the plates many times and not print many copies each time. This is quite uneconomical for the printing house.
The final decision was: first transport a batch of ready-made books from Lingao to Hangzhou. At the same time, transport simple printing equipment to Hangzhou - Zhou Dongtian suggested transporting two types, one is the simplest hand-operated printing press. This type of printing
The machine does not use typesetting, but uses paper or lead to print.
Although many people think of modern printing industry as "movable type printing", in fact, real "movable type printing" is not widely used. Including modern photographic typesetting, most modern printing technologies follow the method of woodblock printing.
Principle. It's just that the speed and efficiency of making engravings are greatly improved compared to engraving book boards.
In the era of "movable type printing", books were printed using movable type typesetting, and then thick cardboard or thin lead plates were used to press "paper patterns" or "lead patterns" on the arranged movable type plates. The paper patterns and lead patterns were then sent to printing
After the printing is completed, the advantage of this is that it can greatly reduce the wear and tear of the type. Moreover, the paper type can be stored for a considerable period of time. If the book is likely to be reprinted, it can be taken out of the warehouse for printing immediately, eliminating the need to re-type the type.
The typesetting work can be said to take into account the advantages of movable type printing and woodblock printing.
Compared with heavy wooden engravings, paper molds and lead molds are lighter in weight, smaller in size, and lower in cost. They were the most commonly used book printing techniques before the promotion of modern photoengraving and printing technology. It is impossible for the Hangzhou printing factory that Zhao Yingong plans to open to cultivate it on its own.
There is a group of specialized typesetters, so it is the easiest way to directly make copies of the various paper types and lead types currently stored in Lingao Printing Factory and transport them there - Hangzhou only needs to prepare a few simple manual printing machines to meet the needs.
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"I recommend the Albion type." Zhou Dongtian said, "This manual printing press has been considered the best manual printing press since its invention. Many printing houses in the 20th century used it. There are still many printing enthusiasts today.
Highly recommend this machine."
The Albion printing press has a simple and lightweight structure and a large transfer force. It is a very suitable choice for printing offices in Hangzhou. The disadvantage is that all impression printing presses use flat plate printing, and the printing efficiency is not as good as
Rotary printing press.
"Last time, we conducted research on imitating this kind of machine with people from the machinery factory, and we thought it could be improved to increase production efficiency, including using power such as water turbines and steam engines. Another option is to eliminate springs."
The Albion printing press has a key spring component. After research, this component was replaced by other methods.
"But with this approach, the task of typesetting still falls on the printing factory in Lingao. And most of the book types we currently store are not suitable for sale in Hangzhou." Tan Ming said - the typesetting work of the printing factory is already busy enough right now.
Understand.
Lingao Printing Office has stocked thousands of book types of various types, but most of them are technical and management pamphlets for Lingao's own use, various textbooks, promotional pamphlets, etc. There are only a small number of books suitable for sale in Daming.
The Four Books and Five Classics, the Qing Dynasty's commentaries on the Thirteen Classics, some common classics and historical collections, and religious pamphlets from the Catholic Church and New Taoism.
Zhou Dongtian said: "There is nothing we can do about this. We will gradually establish a typesetting process locally in the future."
Another piece of equipment is a lithography machine. Lithography is essentially a type of engraving printing, but the materials used are protective coatings and corrosives. Lithography is suitable for printing patterns and small batches of text prints, and is more suitable for printing companies like Hangzhou Printing Station that require small batches and multiple varieties.
place.
Although these two devices may seem simple, they cannot be copied based on the technology of the 17th century. They do not constitute the possibility of "technology leakage" that is most taboo to the Senate.
Zhou Dongtian said: "I applied last time and wanted to go to Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou to have a look at the local engraving and printing industry. By the way, I also wanted to see if I could recruit some skilled engraving craftsmen. The printing factory has a good reputation for engraving workers.
The demand is also great. This time I want to go to Hangzhou with books and printing equipment to help Zhao Yingong set up a printing house - after all, I am a professional. By the way, I will take a look at the printing industry in Jiangnan and recruit a few craftsmen."
Zhou Dongtian had submitted an application for an inspection trip to Jiangnan a long time ago. There was no base in Jiangnan at that time, so the Planning Institute could not agree to it. Now the reason he proposed again seemed very sufficient. Of course Wu De would not object. He turned his attention to Li Yan.
"He has not received training. Is there any problem in going to Jiangnan?"
Li Yan said: "There is no problem in escorting him to Jiangnan. We have a plan available for the veteran's short-term business trip to the red zone."