"Wanling, do you have any worries or are you feeling uncomfortable?" At this time, Zhao Yan saw the lost expression on Ouyang Wanling's face, and couldn't help asking with concern. Ouyang Wanling has been living at home for a while, and he didn't have time to visit her. This was even the first time he saw the other party after he came back, but he didn't expect that Ouyang Wanling was now in a state of worry. ︽

"No... it's okay, but the prince seems to be very busy these days, but you must pay attention to your health!" Ouyang Wanling was stunned when she heard Zhao Yan's question, then smiled and said, but the deep loss was still hidden behind her eyes.

Although Ouyang Wanling said that she was fine, Zhao Yan always felt something was wrong with her today. She was about to talk to her alone, but at this time Ouyang Xiu picked up the tea bowl and said, "The prince is busy with affairs, so I won't keep you anymore. I will definitely go to the newspaper to take a look someday!"

Seeing this, Zhao Yan had to stand up and say goodbye. But when he thought of Ouyang Wanling's appearance, he was still a little worried. He wanted to go home and discuss with Cao Ying, but he also thought that there was something to do today. In the end, he had to keep this matter in mind for the time being and drove to Yanglou Street to the east of the palace, which was next to the Lecture Hall Lane where Tokyo Primary School was located, not far from the Gongyuan. It was a place with a strong academic style.

There is a large courtyard at the east end of Yanglou Street. This place was originally a small private school, and it is also well-known in this area. Many families with wealthy families are willing to send their children to study. Unfortunately, after the Tokyo Primary School was opened, the children in the private school went to Tokyo Primary School. In the end, even the teacher in the private school simply went to the primary school to serve as a teacher. As a result, the private school was free, and now it was bought by Zhao Yan in the name of the court and used as the station of the newspaper.

The area of ​​this private school is not small. There are three courtyards in front and back. Now, after being transformed by Zhao Yan, the courtyard in front becomes the office of the newspaper editors and reporters, and the newspaper's own printing factory behind it. Speaking of which, although movable type printing had already occurred in the Northern Song Dynasty, the scope of application was not wide. Moreover, they were all wooden movable type, and various problems were prone to occur when using it. Therefore, Zhao Yan had asked Su Shi to supervise the military weapon supervisor to urgently create a batch of copper movable type, which was specially used for printing newspapers for the newspaper.

Zhao Yan stepped into the newspaper and saw a small courtyard with beautiful environment in front of him, with rockery and pavilion. He walked through the pebbly path to the front of the main room. Before he could enter, he heard the discussion coming from inside. One of the voices said loudly: "Brother Bo Shi. Your illustrations are also drawn too slowly. Our articles are ready. Now you are missing your illustrations!"

Hearing this young voice, Zhao Yan couldn't help but smile. He didn't have to look at him, and he knew that the person who spoke must be Su Che, who was responsible for text editing. Speaking of which, Su Che has been idle at home to take care of his sick father Su Xun in the past two years. According to the original history, Su Xun should have died of illness long ago, but after the diagnosis and treatment of Cao Qi and Zhilugu, Su Xun's health has improved much better, but now he can only rest at home with peace of mind, otherwise he can come to the newspaper to hold a position.

"Brother Ziyou, you are all experts in writing articles. A few small articles will naturally not defeat you, but painting is different. This takes a lot of time, and you have many illustrations required. How can we finish drawing in a short while?" At this time, a helpless voice came from inside. Zhao Yan was more familiar with this person, and it was Li Gonglin who had pestered him to learn painting.

"Then I don't care. The copper movable type on my second brother is about to be completed, and the craftsmen are about to be trained. When these craftsmen and movable type arrive, our first newspaper will be printed immediately. Then don't drag our newspaper back then!" Although Su Zhe is very gentle, he is very strict and serious in his work. Even though he has a good relationship with Li Gonglin, he is still not sympathetic at this time.

"Okay, I'll try my best!" Li Gonglin also knew that his work here was indeed a bit slow, but he had no choice. After all, painting was just a slow and meticulous job, and he had few people under him, so he naturally couldn't do things quickly.

At this time, Zhao Yan outside heard the conversation between Li Gonglin and Su Che, but he felt a little strange, because no matter how many illustrations there were in the newspaper, they were definitely just supplementing the text. With Li Gonglin's ability, he should have painted it long ago. Why hasn't it been completed for so long?

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan walked into the room and happened to see Su Che and Li Gonglin standing by the table in the east corner of the room talking. There were more than a dozen staff members working at their desks. Although Ouyang Xiu, the editor-in-chief, has not been in place, the newspaper has actually started to operate normally, among which Su Che and Li Gonglin are the main person in charge of the newspaper.

Seeing Zhao Yan coming in, Su Che and Li Gonglin immediately stopped talking, and smiled and went forward to greet him, "Prince Prince, what's wrong with Mr. Ouyang? Have you agreed to serve as the editor-in-chief of our newspaper?"

"Haha, fortunately, I'm not humiliating my fate!" Zhao Yan said with a smile.

When Su Che and Li Gonglin heard Ouyang Xiu's agreement, they laughed happily, but at this time Zhao Yan smiled and asked Li Gonglin: "Brother Bo Shi, I was outside just now and heard Brother Ziyou say that your illustrations have not been finished yet. What's going on?"

Hearing that Zhao Yan asked about this, Li Gonglin couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Prince, you are also a painting master. Naturally, you know that it is not easy to draw a satisfactory painting. We have been working overtime all night these days, but now there are still a few that are not good at painting."

"No, it's just a few illustrations, how could it be drawn for so long?" Zhao Yan couldn't help but whisper in confusion when he heard this. Then he spoke to Li Gonglin, "Brother Bo Shi, can you take out your paintings for me?"

Li Gonglin felt a little aggrieved when he heard this, so he turned around and took out the several paintings he had completed. As a result, Zhao Yan immediately understood the problem when he saw these paintings. It turned out that Li Gonglin's paintings were all carefully painted, and each of them can be said to be a masterpiece of the past. Such paintings are indeed beautiful in the newspaper, but they are also a bit too wasteful.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan smiled and said to Li Gonglin: "Brother Bo Shi was wrong. The illustrations in the newspaper don't need to be so exquisite. You just need to roughly draw them according to the content of the text. And it's as exquisite as you paint, it will not be easy to carve them when printing!"

"This... how can this be done? The newspaper is taken out for thousands of scholars to read. If someone sees my rough paintings, wouldn't it be a shame for our newspaper?" Li Gonglin did not agree with Zhao Yan's words. In fact, he didn't understand what Zhao Yan meant, but when he thought that countless scholars were about to see his illustrations in the newspaper, he had to strictly demand himself, so as not to gain his reputation.

When Zhao Yan and Su Che heard this, they also understood Li Gonglin's thoughts. At that moment, both of them smiled helplessly. It seemed that Li Gonglin really valued his reputation. However, Zhao Yan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and then smiled and said, "Brother Bo Shi, in fact, the illustrations in the newspaper are different from our usual paintings. It just so happens that I have a special painting technique here, which can be used as illustrations in the newspaper."

Zhao Yan said as he picked up an illustration of Li Gonglin's trauma. This is an illustration of Li Liangzuo's prisoner in Taimiao. Li Gonglin's painting is completely in a realistic style. The characters and buildings are painted very vividly and vividly, and can be said to be very exquisite. However, Zhao Yan picked up a charcoal pen and drew a few strokes on a piece of paper. As a result, he completely presented the scene of Li Liangzuo's prisoner in Taimiao. This shocked Li Gonglin and Su Che. They had never thought that they would have such painting skills.

"Hehe, Brother Bo Shi, please read it. This is actually a sketching method. It is just that it mainly grasps the structural characteristics of the painting and then draws the skeleton of the painting with a few simple strokes. The most important thing is to present the characteristics of the painting. Because the strokes of this kind of painting are simple, I call it a simple stroke!" Zhao Yan said with a smile.

In fact, illustrations have formed a separate category in later generations, but the definition of illustrations is quite special. As long as the paintings supplement the text, they can be called illustrations. These illustrations can be casual graffiti or exquisite masterpieces from generation to generation. For fast-published publications such as newspapers, simple drawings can be regarded as a very suitable type of illustration. Of course, if time and conditions allow, some other complex illustrations can also be added.

"The prince is very talented, I admire him very much. I also ask the prince to teach me this simple painting method!" Li Gonglin said with his eyes shining. He is a painting crazier. As long as he sees a strange painting technique, he will want to learn it.

"Haha, Brother Bo Shi has already understood the method of drawing sketches. It is easier to learn simple strokes. I will explain to you what you need to pay attention to when drawing simple strokes..." Zhao Yan said and explained the method of drawing simple strokes. Simple strokes are originally the introductory drawings of sketches. Therefore, this is nothing difficult for Li Gonglin, who already has a basic skill in sketching. In a short time, you can grasp the characteristics of the painting and then express the simple lines.

After learning simple drawings, Li Gonglin no longer insisted on drawing newspaper illustrations too exquisitely. After all, the newspaper is only released every three days. If it is once every day in the future, it is probably exhausting that he will not be able to complete the newspaper illustrations. Therefore, he used simple drawings to draw newspaper illustrations. These simple drawings have fewer lines, which is convenient for newspaper printing.
Chapter completed!