Eight hundred and ninetieth chapter movable type lease
The chief couldn't help but said: "His Highness's plan is not impossible. We only need to make a special engraving cover and fix it. Then we can engrave each character individually, but we can make tens of thousands of them exactly the same."
Will it be difficult to make large wooden cubes?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "You think it is difficult for professionals to do professional things, but carpenters think it is very simple. A skilled carpenter can make hundreds of them every day and tens of thousands of them a month."
This plan is really good. An old craftsman said excitedly: "We can also make a special movable type wood carving plate. There are many grids in the plate, and then put a movable type in each grid, and the carved plate will be fixed."
"
Another craftsman couldn't hold back his inner excitement and said: "We can also select some commonly used characters, and then let the apprentices carve a hundred of each character, and put them on a special plate. When encountering these common characters,
There is no need to carve it, just grab a spare one and it will save a lot of energy."
Another craftsman sighed deeply: "Many of our boards are only printed once, like books commissioned by private printing. After printing once, the boards are shelved. There are thousands of sets of such boards and they cannot be reused at all.
It’s a complete waste, but if it’s movable type, these words can be reused in other books.”
Another craftsman had an idea flash in his mind and immediately said: "Cut all these useless engravings into small squares with single characters, and then we can use them all?"
The boss struck with his fist and said, "Everyone is right. This way, we can save a lot of money."
The craftsmen became more and more excited as they talked, but the surrounding officials looked at each other in confusion. No one expected that King Jin's suggestion would have such a great effect.
At this time, Guo Song made another even more shocking suggestion.
"I think this is a very good business. In the future, printing will be left to the private sector. You will only do one thing, specializing in lettering. Private printing shops will ask you to buy boards. No, I should say rent them.
type."
Guo Song turned back to the head of the printing workshop and said: "Recruit a dozen more people to be responsible for putting together the boards. We will assemble the boards based on the manuscripts provided by the printing shop and give them to them. After the printing is completed, they will return the boards."
The manager asked for a long time: "Will there be so many customers coming to rent boards?"
"There will definitely be one. In the future, every state will publish a "Zhou Di Bao" every ten days, and hundreds of copies of a "Di Bao" will be printed. After this kind of "Di Bao" is used once, the board will no longer be used, so it is suitable for renting."
At this time, Guo Song suddenly realized that the idea of leasing movable type would have explosive effects. Generally, private individuals who want to print their own novels and poems cannot do it without hundreds of dollars. The main cost is that the printing fee is too high, but if it is changed
If you want to rent movable type, a few tens of guan may be enough.
There is no need for so many experienced old engravers. The world only needs one movable type rental shop, dozens of engravers, and then open branches in every state in the world. In this way, one of the biggest obstacles in the spread of culture disappears.
In the future, there will also be copper movable type and lead movable type, which are more durable and more precise.
Guo Song suddenly thought of newspapers again. Renting movable type is especially useful for newspapers. Newspapers have to be printed every day, and it is impossible to engrave a block every day. So renting movable type to create movable blocks and printing newspapers has become a reality.
With newspapers, all kinds of business information, all kinds of advertisements, all kinds of market news, and all kinds of important events of the government and the public can be seen by every citizen. Their wives and daughters also have a window to understand the outside world, and newspapers can also conduct public opinion.
Supervision, this is a huge social change, and the civilian society of the Song Dynasty will arrive early.
Thinking of this, Guo Song said to his boss: "From now on, you will be the only movable type rental shop in the world. You can open branches in every state in the world. From now on, the world will no longer need engravers."
The director was also shocked by this huge prospect. He stammered: "But there is not so much paper!"
One sentence reminded Guo Song that paper is also a big problem, but as long as there is demand, it should be easily solved.
.........
Guo Song has had the idea of starting a newspaper for a long time, but he has been waiting for a more suitable time.
This inspection of the government-run printing workshop made him realize that the idea of running a newspaper was technically mature.
So after Guo Song proposed the idea of running a newspaper in the counselor's hall, he got two different opinions.
First of all, the official establishment of the "Di Bao", everyone agreed, especially the establishment of the "Zhou Di Bao" would help the court strengthen its control over the local area.
As for setting up a movable type leasing company, it is not a problem at all.
However, after Guo Song proposed the idea of allowing private newspapers to be run, no one made a clear stance. Everyone's attitude was ambiguous, and their refusal to support was actually opposition.
This mainly involves the issue of controlling the power of public opinion. All the counselors are wily politicians. How could they not know the consequences of allowing private newspapers to be run?
Guo Song glanced at everyone and said slowly: "Private newspapers are a new thing. When new things appear, we cannot look at them with suspicion or even hostility. We should learn to be tolerant and allow them to appear. If there are any
One day it harms the regime, we will consider whether to restrict it, but no matter what, we should face it first!"
Guo Song's attitude was very clear and resolute. Everyone understood that it seemed that the newspaper must be launched. Pan Liao said: "Your Highness, just because it is a new thing, everyone is more cautious. I am not opposed to the emergence of private newspapers, but at least some rules must be set.
, or draw a bottom line, as long as this bottom line is not violated, I believe everyone will be tolerant."
"What does Pan Changshi think the bottom line should be?"
"I feel that there should be three bottom lines. First, you are not allowed to support your enemies. Second, you are not allowed to make personal attacks. No matter who you are targeting, you are not allowed to publicly insult people in newspapers. Third, sarcasm and ridicule are allowed, but only for officials below the third rank.
, attacking His Royal Highness the King of Jin, the Princess and her children are not allowed."
Du You said: "It's actually difficult to grasp this. For example, if my son bullies the people, the newspaper will mention it. Doesn't this violate Article 3? Another example is a businessman in Luoyang who sells goods. He publicizes it in the newspaper.
, if a thoughtful person insists on this point and talks about how this businessman is doing in Luoyang, the newspaper is violating the article not to subsidize the enemy. It is really unclear.
In fact, I think as long as we stick to the bottom line and don't attack the King of Jin and the Princess, everything else doesn't matter. If the newspaper dares to make up nonsense about me, I'm sorry, I will file a lawsuit with you, and if I win, you have to tell me publicly in the newspaper.
Apologize, I think newspapers have a certain bottom line and will not cause trouble for themselves.
As His Highness just said, newspapers are all about interesting things about family affairs. They publish new works of poets, whose family is getting married, or businessmen who spend money to make comments in the newspaper. It is an entertainment newspaper in itself and does not involve political commentary.
We should not regard it as a scourge and a formidable enemy."
Pan Liao pondered for a moment and said: "What Du Sima said makes sense, so let's make the bottom line a straight line. You are not allowed to attack the King of Jin and the Princess. Others can be tolerated."
Under Guo Song's strong insistence, the Counselor's Hall finally reached an agreement to allow private newspapers to be run, with the Department of Scholars responsible for management, and two registration quotas were initially allocated.
...........
On Xi'anmen Street, in a private room on the third floor of Mingzhu Restaurant, Zhang Lei and Li An both came from their respective shops, with Guo Ping sitting next to them.
Guo Song told them about the counselor's office's decision to allow private newspapers to run. Zhang Lei looked confused. He had no idea about newspapers. Guo Ping didn't care. Since her brother asked her to take part, she would just pay.
However, Li An had participated in the publication of "Di Bao" thirty years ago and was familiar with this industry. He was taken aback and said after a while: "The imperial court really allows private newspapers to be run?"
Guo Song nodded, "This is a decision I have considered for a long time. Today, the Counselor Hall has discussed and approved it, and two places have been released."
"Junior brother, please explain to me clearly, what is a newspaper?" Zhang Lei said with an itchy heart.
Guo Song took out a copy of "Di Bao" and handed it to him, "You will know after reading this."
Zhang Lei took the Di newspaper and read it for a long time, then he understood a little bit, "You want us to comment on the government affairs and publish the court news?"
Guo Song shook his head, "This is an official newspaper. Your newspaper collects interesting things in Chang'an, such as whose white sheep gave birth to a black lamb, member Li who married a daughter, a dowry of three thousand acres of land, and the Xi'an Gate greenhouse.
Tonight is the latest drama about joining the army. Zhang Sima marries a woman from another house, and his first wife leads a crowd to knock on the door, and so on. Anyway, ordinary people like all kinds of news on the streets. Of course, they are not fabricated. You have to send people everywhere to collect all kinds of anecdotes.
Then print tens of thousands of copies of them, each costing five cents, ensuring that every household will buy them."
Zhang Lei's eyes lit up, "This is a good way to make money."
Guo Ping smiled and said: "This kind of newspaper is good. Women will definitely like it. They can know all kinds of things happening in Chang'an without going out."
Li An pondered for a moment and said: "Being rigid every day is very troublesome. It costs a lot. We need hundreds of spies and hire people to write articles. I'm afraid I won't make any money, I'll lose money, and more importantly, I'll get into trouble. You exposed it."
What should I do if someone comes to my door to cause trouble?"
Guo Song slowly said: "I advocate running a newspaper for three purposes. The first is to advocate reading and literacy. Ordinary people are not interested in reading, but they are definitely interested in newspapers. They will join the literacy club run by the government and read "Enlightenment"
"Diary", "Jijiupian" and "Thousand-Character Essay", basically you can read newspapers.
The second purpose is to promote business. Your income from running a newspaper is not only from selling newspapers, but also from publishing various business information, such as renting a house, selling a house, moving, exchanging money, eating, opening a shop, buying and selling goods, etc. Of course, publishing these information
Collecting money has opened up a new way for businessmen.
The third intention is to control public opinion. I don’t want to hear all kinds of rumors flying all over the sky. Generally speaking, the people of Chang’an will accept your conclusion. As for the carvings mentioned by Uncle An, this problem has been solved. You don’t need to be rigid in the future, just go directly
Rent movable type and put it together into an engraving."
Guo Song told Li An about movable type printing again, and Li An suddenly realized it. He was full of praise. This was really a wonderful way. It solved the big problem of engraving in one go. If you are proficient in spelling, you can spell it in half an hour.
You can finish the fight.
"But we still need to make our own paper!" Zhang Lei said sharply next to him.
Guo Song said calmly: "Just buy a papermaking workshop and expand its output."