Miao'an's farming life

After Tian Qinghe learned that Miao An wanted to do movable type printing, he also showed great interest, and was very willing to be the main general of lettering.If it wasn't for Miao An, he would still be lying on the bed now. The simple and honest Father Tian wanted to do something to repay Miao An.

Carved anti-body characters on the clay, and then put them into the kiln to harden. The first batch of high-standard clay movable type was finally made. Miao An held the small, exquisite and square movable type in his hand, and smiled from ear to ear.It was the first time for Mo Su to see such an idiot like him, and he was extremely surprised.

"Don't be too busy to be happy." Although it's not very good, Qiu Wen couldn't hold back and said, "I thought about it several times, and I think your thing is different from a wheelchair, and it feels troublesome to make. What should I do if the cost is too high?"

Miao An didn't feel unhappy when he was splashed with cold water, because what Qiu Wen said was indeed an unavoidable problem. He had thought about this before, and was worried about the prospect of movable type printing, but its advantages were also real, so it was like this Started researching.

"Xiao Miao." Tian Qinghe, who was sitting in a wheelchair, also had some thoughts of his own, "If you really want to do it, you will definitely need a lot of people. I'm afraid it's not enough for one family or two, and according to what you said, there are many types of movable type. A lot of clay lumps have to be fired, and the kiln is probably not big enough."

Miao An nodded in agreement. Originally, he thought engraving was easy, but he realized that even if he carved it by himself, the thickness of the strokes would vary. In the future, if we expand the scale and find different people to engrave, the problem will not be serious. Will it be more serious?And at the beginning, the ones he engraved couldn't be used at all. If he wants to set up a workshop, he must train the staff. Oh, and we have to take into account the general illiteracy of everyone, so typesetting has become a big problem.Thinking of this, Miao An was suddenly startled. After working so hard for so long, could it be that it was useless?

Seeing Miao An's unsightly expression, Mo Su was a little worried, and gently hugged him into his arms, "Don't worry, if it doesn't work, you can sell this method directly, and it will save you so much hard work every day."

In order to study the best amount of water to add to the clay, Miao An spent a lot of effort, running around the river in his hometown every day, always with dry or thin mud on his hands, and even muttering about adding more water in his dreams Yes, this made Mo Su, who was watching, very distressed.

After finally solving the water problem, I have been busy making "sticky medicine" again these days.Because the movable type is placed on an iron plate with a frame during typesetting, in order to prevent the movable type from moving during ink brushing and printing, it is necessary to put adhesive on the iron plate to stick them.The glue is made of a mixture of rosin, wax and paper ash. Miao An has done an experiment. After the plate is arranged, the iron plate is baked with fire, and the glue will melt slightly. At this time, use a board to press all the movable types on a horizontal surface. , and then let the adhesive cool down, the movable type will be firmer, and after using it, bake it a little, and the movable type will fall off.

These are the results of Miao An's many improvements and trials. At the beginning, they didn't know the amount of rosin, wax and paper ash. Miao An was depressed for several days.

Everyone expressed their opinions one by one, Miao An listened carefully, thought for a while, and finally said: "I thought it was really too simple at first, so let's go to the printing workshop tomorrow, and then discuss it according to the situation." Make a plan."

Because Father Tian said that he had some kind of friendship with the owner of the printing workshop, he thought about asking professionals.

Miao An now feels that one sentence is particularly true: impulsiveness is the devil.He wanted to save the printing industry, so he started tinkering with movable type printing. He only considered creativity, but didn't think deeply about everyone's acceptance.

Now that he has been poured with several basins of cold water, Miao An, who has calmed down, also thought of a bad thing. In the world he lives in, although movable type printing was invented in the Song Dynasty, it has not developed and grown, and there are very few movable type printed materials unearthed in modern times. There are quite a lot of engraving and printing. Now that I am so reckless, I can... He shook his head and drove away his wild thoughts. It is not so easy to figure out the results, so he can just bury his head in it.

However, whether or not to sell the prescription really needs to be carefully considered. If you want to set up a workshop yourself, you probably won’t be able to take care of the land and turn to business, but would Mo Su like that kind of life?Moreover, I don't think too long-term, and I don't seem to be a businessman.

Damn it, here it is again, this feeling of thinking about things, Miao An scratched his hair irritably, fuck him!I am the main character!Well, sure, there is always a way.

The next day, Miao An and Mo Su packed up their things and entrusted Yoyo to Qiuwen to look after. The printing workshop was far away from the village, and it would take half a day by carriage, so they had to stay there for one night.

The horseshoes sounded for a long time, and when Miao An felt that he was about to be knocked to pieces, he finally arrived at Qingxi Town where the workshop was located.Mo Su carefully helped him down, which made Miao An feel a little embarrassed, because his body was still tossing so hard.

Qingxi Town is more developed than Wuxi Town where Miao An is located, and there are more shops on the street. There are also many people setting up stalls or shopping on the street during non-market hours.The momentum of the cold spring is gradually diminishing, and the breath of spring is getting stronger. There are strong willow trees that have sprouted yellow buds, which look very cute.

Miao An and Mo Su had something to do, and they didn't have enough money, so they didn't stay too long. They asked an old lady for directions, and then went straight to the workshop.

The owner of the workshop is called Bai Li, tall and thin, with a shrewd face, but he does not feel uncomfortable. He heard that they were introduced by Tian Qinghe, and he asked about Father Tian's situation in detail. After knowing that he can move, he looks very happy.Knowing about Miao An's problem, he proposed to take a look at how Miao An used movable type printing.

Miao An and Mo Su came prepared, and took out some articles printed with movable type, as well as small typesetting iron frames and movable clay type.

"Well, this idea is really good." Bai Li looked at the printed product and said while touching the clay type.

As soon as Miao An felt something was going on, he and Mo Su looked at each other, and just about to smile, he heard the next sentence.

"But it doesn't work."

"Why?" Miao An asked, frowning.

Bai Li put down the movable clay type in his hand and smiled, "Listen to you, this method saves labor and the quality of the printed product is good, but that is when a large amount of printing is required and typesetting is required. We usually print Most of them are classics of poetry and books, the contents of which are all unchanged, and engraving can be used, and there is no need to re-typeset. For you, it takes a lot of time to engrave words, plus typesetting and canceling characters, the cost will definitely be higher than that of engraving. "

yes!Miao An slapped his head, why didn't he think of it, this is not the modern era when all kinds of literature are flourishing, and there are not so many styles of printed things, engraving blocks are enough to deal with it.This is a big problem, and others can be overcome. If there is no market, let’s talk about it.

Careless!Miao An instantly looked like a deflated ball, and his whole body was listless.

"But..." Bai Li pointed to a piece of paper on the table, "Where did you get the story on it? Are there any other chapters?"

Seeing that Miao An didn't want to talk, Mo Su squeezed his fingers secretly, and replied for him: "I wrote it all on a whim."

Indeed, it was a story Miao An told him, and he thought it was interesting and wrote it down.

"Then are you interested in continuing to write?"

Mo Su remained silent, turned to look at Miao An.

Miao An didn't remember what was written on the paper at all. When he came from home, he took a few sheets from the printed stack and took a look. It turned out to be "Journey to the West"!

Uh, Miao An has some black lines, why did he bring this here.When the two of them were chatting before, they accidentally mentioned that there were monkeys in Qingling Mountain. Miao An couldn't help but mention Monkey King. Seeing that Mo Su was interested, he talked a lot.Who is Monkey King, the national male god Monkey King, Miao Xiaoan, an otaku who can’t go out and is crazy, watched "Journey to the West" and almost memorized the plot. no.Cough, it can be regarded as a dark history, after all, Mo Su doesn't understand the charm of Monkey King when he pretends to be a monkey, he only thinks that he is imitating a real monkey.

"There is still a lot to write about this, what's the matter?"

Bai Li's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said with a smile, "Then can you write it and sell it to me?"

Miao An was surprised, but quickly realized that a classic is a classic, and such a small fragment can attract people. This Bai Li is also very knowledgeable.

"But what's the problem?" Seeing Miao An's hesitation, Bai Li couldn't help asking.He is the owner of a printing workshop, so he has come into contact with many books of all kinds. Seeing that this story is really interesting, he really doesn't want to give up.

Miao An was indeed hesitating, because classics only became classics in modern times, and they were rarely popular or even suppressed when they were written. He didn't worry about religious issues such as Buddhism and Taoism, because he didn't care about religion in this world. I know that some people are burning incense and worshiping Buddha or going to Taoist temples. The problem lies in politics. Now it is a feudal society with an emperor. Just like Monkey King's irritable temper like a monkey jumping into the sky, he will make troubles in heaven and other things at every turn, plus the irony in the book. , if it is really printed out, will it be directly recognized by the ruler as a troublemaker and sedition?

"You...ah no, is our current atmosphere okay? The characters may be a little rebellious, the kind who want to overthrow the rule." Miao An asked.

Bai Li was stunned, thought for a while and shook his head: "Don't worry, the current sage is open-minded and benevolent. He has been in power for more than 20 years. He has never made a fuss about words, and is good at accepting advice. Those literati also dare to speak their minds, so , as long as you pay attention to proportion, there is no problem."

Miao An turned to look at Mo Su, and Mo Su nodded, "That's true. When my husband taught me to read, he often said that the emperor is wise and he doesn't like flattery."

If so, are you going to write a novel?Miao An couldn't laugh or cry, movable type printing died halfway, but unexpectedly found a relatively simple way to make money, is this a blessing in disguise?

"Okay, I'll go back and write some more, including the whole story. You can read it again, and we can discuss it if possible." Miao An thought for a while.

Bai Li was very satisfied, and repeatedly asked them to come again.

Saying goodbye to the owner of the printing workshop, the two found a cheap but clean inn to stay in, and got up early the next morning to return.

After returning home, Mo Su settled things, pushed Miao An on the chair, and stared at him with burning eyes.

"What's the matter? I'll go and call Yoyo back." Miao An wanted to get up, but was stopped, and couldn't help being confused.

"I've never heard of that story. There are wheelchairs, movable type printing, and many other things. How do you know about them?"

Mo Su couldn't bear it anymore, Miao An didn't seem to have thought about telling him the secret, so he had no choice but to ask himself.

Miao An's heart skipped a beat, why did Mo Su remember to ask this?

On the light blue sky, there are a few thin and narrow sunset glows floating, the setting sun is reluctant to let go, the orange afterglow is like knocked down dye, dyeing the whole world softly and kindly.