NIP Chapter 269 Han Yuzhou Wants to Run a Newspaper
Chapter 269 Han Yuzhou Wants to Run a Newspaper
Chapter 269 Han Yuzhou Wants to Run a Newspaper
"Yang Aiqing, how many sheets of paper can such a printing machine print in a day?" Zhao Kuo asked Zhang Qingfeng.
"Going back to the official's house, I want a printing machine like this. It can print about [-] to [-] sheets of paper a day." Zhang Qingfeng said to Zhao Kuo.
"so much?"
Hearing this number, everyone gasped.
Even for woodblock printing, ordinary workers can print hundreds of sheets of paper a day, but this printing machine can print [-] sheets of paper a day, which is too exaggerated.
"Then how long does it take for your printing and typesetting?" An official from the Printing Bureau asked Zhang Qingfeng.
Printing is mainly time-consuming for typesetting.
In this era when movable type printing is not yet mature, if you want to print a book with a large number of words, the preliminary engraving process will take several months.
Because of the characteristics of the wood board, the font cannot be carved too small, the minimum needs to be as big as a thumb, because if the font is too small, the engraving board is easy to be damaged, and it cannot be printed many times.
Therefore, often printing a book with a relatively large number of words requires thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan for the engraving alone.
Tens of thousands of engraving plates, this number makes one's scalp tingle.
Historical records show that during the Northern Song Dynasty, someone was engraving and printing the Tripitaka in Chengdu, with a total of more than 5000 volumes, using 13 engraving blocks, which lasted 12 years.
If Zhang Qingfeng used engraving to print the book "The Romance of the Gods", it would cost almost tens of thousands of engraving plates.
If he only hired a dozen engraving masters, it would take more than two years for the engraving alone.
Moreover, the engraving block also has the number of times of use, and the engraving block will be broken if it is printed too many times.
If Zhang Qingfeng used engraving to print 50 sets of Fengshen Yanyi, the cost alone would probably exceed [-] yuan per copy.
Therefore, everyone present wanted to know how fast Zhang Qingfeng's movable lead typesetting was, and what advantages it had over engraving.
"My lord, our movable type typesetting is very fast. A skilled worker can type at least [-] words in a day." Zhang Qingfeng said to the minister who asked the question.
"Fifty thousand words a day?"
Hearing this number, everyone's scalp tingles.
Ordinary engravers can engrave more than 200 characters a day on average, and the fastest engravers can only carve more than [-] characters a day.
Moreover, the engraving block is easy to be broken or wrong. If there is a mistake, one engraving block will be useless, and it will waste more than a little time if it needs to be re-engraved.
And this kind of typesetting with movable type, one person can replace two hundred engravers, how can this not be shocking.
"This type of movable type printing machine is very good. Our printing bureau has a lot of documents to print, and we urgently need such a printing machine. Officials, please make sure you get a few of these printing machines for the printing bureau." The official said to Zhao Kuo.
"Yang Aiqing, what do you think of this matter?" Zhao Kuo looked at Zhang Qingfeng.
"Officials, I can sell some of this movable type printing machine to the imperial court, but the cost is very high. One set costs about two hundred guan." Zhang Qingfeng said.
"There are also movable lead type, which is even more difficult to cast. If the court wants it, I can sell it at a price of one hundred Wen."
"Yang Sanlang, how can you bargain with the imperial court..."
After hearing Zhang Qingfeng's words, an official from the printing press suddenly said harshly to Zhang Qingfeng.
"Sir, it's not that I bargained with the court, but that this thing is so expensive. To build this printing workshop, I spent more than 6000 yuan."
Zhang Qingfeng finally said. "So much money, I can't give it to the court for nothing, right? Besides, this is the price for the court. If other people buy it, a printing machine will cost at least [-] guan, and lead type will cost at least [-] coins." One piece of money."
"Moreover, the efficiency of this movable type printing machine is hundreds of times that of ordinary engraving printing, and the cost can also be reduced by more than ten times." Finally, Zhang Qingfeng asked: "Is such a good thing expensive for two hundred pens?"
"This……"
Hearing what Zhang Qingfeng said, the officials of the Printing Bureau were speechless.
He can't let Yang Sanlang give the printing press to the court for nothing, can he?If so, what will happen to the court?Robber?
Moreover, the imperial court has to pay for things purchased from the people, and they still pay at high prices, which is tricky.
The imperial court can't buy other people's things and pay for them. When it comes to Yang Sanlang, they just force it, right?
"Just follow Yang Aiqing's price, and Hong Aiqing will decide how many printing machines you want." Zhao Kuo said with a final word.
Next, Zhao Kuo took a group of ministers to watch several other processes in the printing workshop and then left.
The next day, Hong Tao from the Printing Bureau found Zhang Qingfeng, and he wanted to buy thirty printing machines.
"Lord Hong, does the imperial court need so many printing machines?" Zhang Qingfeng asked Hong Tao in surprise.
Hong Tao is the chief official of the Printing Bureau, an old man in his 50s.
"You can use more than a dozen printing machines in Hanlin, a small painting academy, so the imperial court can't be inferior to you!"
Hong Tao said to Zhang Qingfeng: "Besides, the court has seven printing workshops, and each workshop needs four or five printing machines."
Hong Tao said: "In addition, I will also give me seven sets of movable lead type, as well as ink for printing lead movable type. It needs to be able to meet the amount of a 30 yuan printing machine."
"This, this is a bit too much, and I can't make it here for a while." Zhang Qingfeng said.
"How long will it take for you to build it here?" Hong Tao asked with a frown.
"It will take at least three months." Zhang Qingfeng thought for a while and said, "If the court is in a hurry to use it, I can give two printing presses to the printing press first, and then I can hand over five more in half a month."
"What about the movable type?" Hong Tao asked.
He had already figured out that the most important thing about movable lead type printing was this movable lead type.
If it was a printing machine, he could imitate it by dismantling one after buying it, but it took too much time to cast lead type.
Instead of imitating it, it is better to buy it directly from Zhang Qingfeng.
"For the lead type, I can only provide two sets for the time being, because I don't have many ready-made ones here, and they all need to be cast later."
Zhang Qingfeng said: "Two months, I can hand over seven sets of lead type in two months."
Lead movable type, because there are ready-made molds, it is easier to cast.
In fact, it took ten days to cast seven sets of movable lead type, but in order to highlight the difficulty of casting lead movable type, he postponed the time to two months.
"Okay, then it's settled, we'll pay and deliver the goods." Hong Tao said to Zhang Qingfeng.
After talking about the printing press, Hong Tao left.
But as soon as Hong Tao left, other people came to the door.
"Master Yang, this is the steward of Mr. Han's mansion, surnamed Wang." An old man cupped his hands towards Zhang Qingfeng and said.
"Butler Wang." Zhang Qingfeng also cupped his hands at the old man.
"I don't know why Steward Wang wants me?" Zhang Qingfeng asked the old man.
"Han Xianggong is planning to run a newspaper, so he needs two printing presses, so I ask Mr. Yang to distribute the two printing presses first." The old man said to Zhang Qingfeng.
(End of this chapter)