Carefree Prince In Tang Dynasty

The two "Fundamentals of Economics" in Xiao Yu's hands are both printed. The original manuscript was copied by Chen Youlan. Li Xin asked the master carpenters in his house to carve out engravings with exquisite craftsmanship, and then printed two hundred copies. In fact, the second half of the story of "The Butterfly Lovers" distributed on the first floor of Changchang at that time was also a printed matter. It's just that no one paid attention to the handwriting, so no abnormalities were found.

Some people may feel puzzled, although movable type printing is more advanced than woodblock printing, why does Li Xin not use it?

Many people know that movable type printing was invented by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty, and they also know that this printing method has many advantages. But most people don’t know that although movable type printing came out in the Song Dynasty, until the Ming Dynasty, woodblock printing was still the mainstream of the printing industry.

There are two main reasons for this phenomenon.

First, it is true that movable type printing is very convenient, but if you want to use movable type printing to print books, you need a lot of literate workers, otherwise there is no way to type and print smoothly. As we all know, the illiteracy rate of the feudal dynasty has always been above 90%. More than 90% of the common people can also recognize their own names. How does this allow booksellers to recruit enough printing workers?

Second, the "movable type" of movable type printing can be divided into clay type, wooden type, etc., each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages in the printing process, and sometimes it is inevitable to be damaged. After it is damaged, a new one must be added. And the new movable type added is often difficult to be exactly the same as the old movable type. In this way, the printed product is not coherent and unattractive.

Although there was no large-scale printing workshop in the Tang Dynasty at this time, judging from the experience of later dynasties, several sets of movable type were often used in one printing workshop at the same time. Once mixed, the finished products all became the famous Banqiao style—— ——The original fonts created by Zheng Banqiao in the Qing Dynasty, large and small, like paving stones, have a strange aesthetic feeling. Apart from being unfriendly to patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, there seems to be no other problems.

Therefore, although movable type printing is advanced, it is far beyond the scope of current application. With this in mind, Li Xin didn't take it out, but used engraving and printing.

For one thing, engraving printing requires the lowest level of literacy for workers. Even the master craftsman who carves does not need to be able to read. He only needs to be able to engrave the original manuscript into Yangwen in a mirror image. And the printing workers don't need to know characters, as long as they can apply ink and press paper.

Secondly, engraving blocks can be preserved for a long time, as long as they are properly preserved, they can be taken out for printing at any time. This is also a very convenient point.

Li Xin briefly introduced the principle of woodblock printing to Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu said with emotion: "That's much faster than copying by hand."

"Yes, it's not just this "Principles of Economics". As long as you have the heart, all books can be printed in this way." Li Xin said with a smile.

"In this way, won't the price of books drop?" Xiao Yu suddenly thought of something and asked with a smile.

Li Xin nodded and said, "Exactly."

Xiao Yu pondered for a moment, his eyes lit up and said: "In the future, books will no longer be rare treasures, more people will be able to afford books, and more people will understand the truth of this world. His Royal Highness, this is a meritorious act." It can be called infinite!"

Li Xin smiled and waved his hands, and said, "It's not that fast. The production of various engravings also takes time and cost. The boy is just a businessman, and everything is for making money."

Of course what Xiao Yu said was not wrong. But woodblock printing still has a long way to go from its appearance to its popularity. Only by making it profitable will people be motivated to change and accept.

Xiao Yu understood Li Xin's implication, nodded with a smile, and said, "Earning money is a good thing, especially for you, His Highness King Chu, every time you earn money, I earn my heart and soul."

Li Xin didn't know whether he was praising or belittling himself, so he smiled awkwardly.

"With these things, the old house doesn't need to waste any more words." Xiao Yu finally brought the topic back to the punctuation marks.

That's right, these printed "Basics of Economics" are the key to victory in this battle between typography and punctuation. Because this is a book that most people want to read.

Since Li Xin debated the benefits of stimulating business in the court that day, many people have thought more about it. In addition, Li Xin has been giving lectures at the Ministry of Household Affairs during this period, and the concept of "economics" has become more and more known to more people. Li Shimin also mentioned the word "economics" on different occasions many times.

Under such circumstances, although economics cannot be compared with Confucianism, it has a certain foundation for development, and many people have become interested in it and have begun to face its existence.

The courtiers want to understand economics, what is the best material? It was "Economics Foundation" written by Li Xin, who was the first to propose the word "economics". This book, however, is typesetting horizontally and uses punctuation marks. Tell me, do these conservatives who oppose horizontal typesetting and punctuation marks read this book?