Chapter 674 The scholar who takes the book, the printing industry Zheng has a headache
Chapter 674: The scholar who received the book, Zheng Xingshou of the printing industry, who had a headache (please subscribe and vote)
"That's not true. Fortunately, God bless the prince. The prince is curing his foot disease in Lishan Tangquan Palace, but he is still worried about the poor scholars in the world."
"I know that it is difficult for poor people like you and me to study nowadays, so I have tried to raise 1.4 million books.
I would like to present it to the court and ask Your Majesty to distribute it to all the scholars in the world."
"Early this morning, a police officer came over to greet me, saying that books would be distributed in Chang'an County and Wannian County today.
However, only one thousand sets of "The Analects" will be distributed per day, first come first served."
"My dear brother, if you come here a little later, I'm afraid you won't be able to drink the soup."
The two of them hurried to the Chang'an County government office and saw countless people dressed as Confucian scholars lining up in a long queue.
Speaking with different accents, they exchanged pleasantries with each other, and the two of them quickly squeezed to the back.
In front, the Confucian scholars walked up to the scribe. The scribe took his books and directions, asked a few questions carefully, and recorded the contents on paper.
After handing it to the official in charge next to him, who stamped it with his seal, the middle-aged Confucian scholar whose clothes were starched and turned a little white.
From the hands of a police officer, I received a "Three Character Classic", a "Thousand Character Classic", and a set of seven volumes of "The Analects of Confucius".
The officer handed it over and specifically explained.
"One person can only receive it once. Don't think about getting it in our Chang'an County and then going to Wannian County to get it.
If it is verified, not only will the books you received be confiscated, you may even lose the opportunity to participate in the imperial examination..."
"Thank you so much, official. How could it be possible? It's a great blessing to be able to get such a deal. The common people have thanked the official, and thanked His Highness the Crown Prince..."
The middle-aged scholar, his face flushed with excitement, wrapped these nine brand-new books in a piece of cloth.
He hugged her tightly in his arms and then walked away happily.
By the time Xin Maojiang and Brother Wu lined up to receive the book, more than an hour had passed.
As for the queue at the rear, instead of shrinking, the queue of people was getting further and further away.
General Xin Mao and Brother Wu were still very lucky to be among the top 500. They both got the "Thousand-Character Classic", "The Three-Character Classic" and "The Analects of Confucius".
Under the envious eyes of the countless Confucian scholars who were still lining up, the two of them hurriedly walked away holding the books in their arms, as if they were afraid of being snatched away.
They walked quickly all the way, even enduring their hunger, and walked back to the inn, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Waiter, hurry up and bring us a pot of water and two soup cakes. Send them to our room..."
After hearing the waiter's voice of agreement, the two of them went into the courtyard and came to a relatively remote corner room.
It was shared by two people, and the price was ridiculously cheap compared to the inns in Chang'an City.
The two of them sat in the room, put down the books in their arms, and laughed loudly at the same time.
General Xin Mao brought a basin of water, scrubbed his hands, and then carefully picked up the books that had been held together.
The brand-new and clean "The Analects of Confucius", after opening it, the handwriting inside is very clear, without any stain from the ink block.
It was far more refined than the Analects he had read from his teacher in the past.
Although the quality of the paper is not as good as the rare tribute paper, it is also a rare and tough paper.
As long as you treasure it carefully, you won't have any problems keeping it for twenty or thirty years.
"As expected of His Highness the Crown Prince, this handwriting must have been printed, right?"
Brother Wu carefully looked at the handwriting inside which was too stiff and lacked artistic elegance. He was very sure and authentic.
"It must be true. If the books are copied, even if there are ten thousand people, if they want to copy these 1.4 million books, it will probably take three to five years."
After Xin Maojiang solemnly put aside the Analects of Confucius, he picked up the Three Character Classic.
"Could this Three Character Classic be the masterpiece of Cheng Sanlang, who had eaten bear heart, leopard gallbladder, and drank wolf heart and dog lung soup?"
As soon as he heard Xin Maojiang mention Cheng Chubi, Brother Wu immediately became energetic and his face was full of fascination.
"Exactly, it is said that Cheng Taichang is a man of extraordinary talent. Not only is he extremely brave and capable of lifting cauldrons, but his literary talent and poetry are also rare in the world..."
It was when they were talking about Cheng Sanlang's past heroic deeds in the inn.
There were also some Confucian scholars who had obtained the books, but on the way, someone spent double or even double the amount of money usually spent in bookstores to have the books taken away from them.
Not long after, in front of Zheng Xingshou, who once wanted to trouble Master Xu, there were several sets of "The Analects of Confucius" purchased from poor Confucian scholars at a huge price, as well as "The Three Character Classic" and "The Three Character Classic".
"Thousand Character Essay".
At this moment, in front of him, several engravers and printers from the bookshop were holding a book and looking at it carefully, and even used saliva to glue the paper.
One of the printers simply tore off half of the paper, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully, which made Zheng Xingshou feel uncomfortable. A young man sitting next to Zheng Xingshou also had a look of disgust on his face.
However, it was still up to the old drivers of the printing house to continue the operation while communicating in low voices.
A full two-quarters of an hour passed before they came to the conclusion that this was a printed book.
"But this paper is really different from the paper we use. It feels tougher and has better ink absorption. Although it is inferior to tribute paper, it is not too bad."
"The paper they use should not be made of wood, and its taste is somewhat similar to straw or reed." This was the craftsman who just threw the paper into his mouth to taste it.
"What else?"
"Also, the handwriting they printed is very clear, and there is almost no difference in the handwriting collected at the beginning of the line.
As for the engraving plates in our printing house, if they are made of clay or wood blocks, they can only print one or two thousand pages at most, and I am afraid they will no longer be usable...
Of course, the villain guesses that maybe they used a solid material that we don’t know about, maybe it’s a stone tablet.”
A young man sitting next to Zheng Xingshou suddenly said, "Why not use stronger and more durable metal to make plates?"
"..." The seven or eight old craftsmen all looked at the young master with the eyes of a fool.
Seeing this young nobleman with a distinguished status, he felt unhappy all over, and his expression suddenly turned serious, as if he was about to have an attack.
Fortunately, Zheng Xingshou opened his mouth and explained in time. "The third young master is unaware of something. The texture of the metal is too hard, making it very difficult to carve it, and the metal cannot absorb ink."
"If the ink doesn't absorb, it won't be possible to imprint the handwriting, so naturally..."
"I see, I made a mistake." The third young master smiled slightly embarrassedly.