Chapter 114 Arsenal and Printing Workshop (Part 2)
The two glanced at each other, and Wang Song said: "Reporting to the master, we have both in our workshop. Generally, if you want to print books or some small manuscripts quickly, you will use movable type plates. The printing quality needs to be high, and you are not in a hurry.
For books, use engraving."
Shang Yi asked again: "Then what materials are the typefaces for the movable type plates you use made of?"
Zhu Shugang said: "Replying to the master, I use wooden movable type molds."
Shang Yi asked: "Is there anyone who uses copper, iron or lead molds?"
Zhu Shugang said: "Reporting to the master, the copper type mold is too expensive to use, and the iron mold and the lead mold produce blurry handwriting, which is not as useful as the wooden mold."
Shang Yi nodded. He knew that China was the first country to develop movable type printing. Although movable type printing had not become popular on a large scale in China, it was by no means like what some later experts said. There was almost no movable type printing in ancient China.
.
Movable type printing is of course much more efficient than woodblock printing, and the final cost is also much lower. However, a large number of typefaces need to be made first, so the initial cost is much higher than that of woodblock printing, and the technical difficulty is also much greater. Chinese History
There have been only a few large-scale movable type printing of books in the world, and these were all officially organized. Private movable type printing has always been used in small-scale, simple and low-level printing. It is rarely used to print books.
In fact, starting from the mid-Ming Dynasty, copper movable type printing gradually appeared and became popular in the economically prosperous Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. The most famous ones are the Huajia and Anjia in Wuxi, the Sunjia in Suzhou and the Zhangjia in Nanjing. They used copper
Books circulated by movable type printing and selling
There are a lot of them, and the printing effect is also very good. However, there are not many copper mines in China, and copper is the raw material of currency. As Zhu Shugang said, copper type molds are too expensive and cannot be used, so copper movable type cannot be used on a large scale. Generally,
Only the royal family can afford it.
In fact, iron molds and lead molds can actually replace copper molds. However, in ancient China, water-soluble ink with smoked ink as the pigment was mainly used. It can perform well on wooden engravings, but it is easy to change on metal movable types.
into ink beads. And it cannot be simply printed like woodblock printing.
Imprinting can complete the transfer. Rubbing is also a very slow process. In order to ensure effective printing, highly absorbent paper must be used. As a result, there will be ink marks on the back of the paper, making double-sided printing impossible.
, which virtually increases the cost of printing. It is not as good as wooden movable type.
Of course, wooden movable type also has its weaknesses: if you use wooden movable type to print a book, about 200 copies will be printed, and the strokes of the typeface will swell and blur due to absorbing the moisture in the ink. But in general, the weaknesses of wooden movable type are
Much less than clay type and metal type
Therefore, until the Qing Dynasty, China's movable type printing was still woodblock printing. But even wood type printing, whether in the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, never surpassed block printing. Block printing eventually withdrew from the Chinese printing industry and had to wait until the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
on the eve of.
The biggest reason is that ink was not used in ancient China. In the mid-15th century, the German Johannes Gutenberg created the Western movable type printing technology using lead-antimony-tin alloy type molds and ink as raw materials, which made printing in Europe possible.
Technically, it surpassed China in one fell swoop.
Since it was the early Renaissance in Europe, the emergence of Gutenberg's printing technology greatly reduced the cost of printed matter and increased the speed a lot, which also facilitated the dissemination of scientific and cultural knowledge. Many scholars in later generations have
It is believed that Europe could achieve rapid development in the 16th and 17th centuries, narrowing the gap with China, and even surpassing China in the 18th and 19th centuries. The emergence of Gutenberg printing was also one of the important reasons.
one.
Although two hundred years have passed since Gutenberg's era, Gutenberg printing is still not outdated, and it is not technically difficult. In fact, China's printing technology has been very mature.
When producing lead-antimony-tin alloy type stencils and inks, even without Gutenberg's printing press, the efficiency would not be that bad.
It is very easy to make lead-antimony-tin alloy letter molds. In fact, it is mainly lead, with a certain proportion of antimony and tin added. These two minerals have been exploited in large quantities in China in this era, but at this time antimony and tin are often
They were all mixed together and used as tin mines. The largest antimony mine in the world, the tin mine in Hunan, was mined in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, they thought it was a tin mine, so they got such a name.
Of course, there is also a series of detailed craftsmanship involved in casting type: the type must be of the same size, and the letter base parts must be able to completely match each other so that they can be arranged neatly on the typesetting board. This requires special process equipment to ensure, and special type repair workers.
Even in Europe, the complete set of character casting technology began in the 15th century, and was gradually improved and perfected. It was only after the 18th century that it reached a very high level. Of course, the work of casting characters is not to be discussed.
If Yi worries about it, just let Qi Wenyuan handle it.
The most important ink of Gutenberg's printing was no secret in later generations. It was actually made with linseed oil. Until Shang Yi traveled through time, linseed oil was also used to make oil paints. Gutenberg was the
Boil linseed oil and cool it until it turns dark black. Mix the turpentine obtained by distilling a small amount of pine resin with carbon black and leave it for a while to form ink.
In this era, there was no shortage of raw materials such as flax and pine, but Shang Yi did not plan to leak the ink technology just yet, so he only ordered Qi Wenyuan to cast a hundred character molds first and tell him the ratio of lead, antimony and tin.
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Mix the proportions to cast the characters, complete them within a month, and then wait for yourself to try it out. At the same time, he was given two hundred silver as the cost of casting the characters. And you would find someone else to prepare the ink, and do the two things separately. This way you don't have to worry.
Technology leaked.
Although Qi Wenyuan was confused when he heard it, but now that Shang Yi's boss had ordered him like this and pulled out the silver, he just had to do it. So he took the silver and immediately contacted the calligraphy craftsman.
After finishing these things, Shang Yi felt very satisfied and then returned to the Yamen.
Wang Fuzhi couldn't help but be curious on the way. Although he didn't understand printing, he had just listened in the workshop and seen the real objects, and he understood a lot. He knew that if movable type printing could be applied on a large scale, it would indeed be possible to print books.
The cost of book printing has dropped significantly. Although he does not fully understand the significance of it, he still understands one thing. After the cost of book printing drops, more readers can afford to buy books. Therefore, he can't help but ask:
"Sir, do you really have a way to improve the technology of movable type printing?"
Shang Yi nodded and said: "This is not a technology I created. In the European and American countries, a man named Johannes Gutenberg invented this technology more than two hundred years ago, and it has been used to this day.
, I had heard of this technology when I traveled to the countries in Europe and the West, but now I am just trying it out in China."
After Wang Euzhi heard this, he couldn't help but be amazed and said: "This thing could be invented two hundred years ago. It seems that there are many intelligent and talented people in the countries in the West."
Wang Fuzhi had not been following Shang Yi for a long time, but he also knew that Shang Yi had made up his experience of traveling to the Western countries. Therefore, when they had nothing to do, they often asked Shang Yi about the customs and customs of the Western countries, and Shang Yi also He is deliberately guiding Wang Fuzhi, hoping to let him understand the world outside China, thereby influencing his thinking. In addition to talking about European history, he also focuses on some recent European thoughts and literary and artistic matters such as the Renaissance. Of course, Shang Yi is not yet ready. Dare to talk about the Senate system of the ancient Roman Republic and the European Parliament system.
Although Wang Fuzhi's thoughts still contain a lot of the excellence of the Celestial Empire, he is after all a famous thinker in ancient China in another time and space, and he is not yet ready to accuse the entire overseas world of being absurd. At the same time, he is still thirsty for knowledge. People with extremely strong years are more likely to accept new ideas and concepts. In general, the Ming Dynasty was a relatively open period, especially in coastal areas where most people accepted the idea of living in the ocean. There is also the country's world concept on the other side. The so-called long-term seclusion of China actually refers to the period after the Qing Dynasty took over the Central Plains.
At the same time, there were not only foreign missionaries but also foreign mercenaries in Shang Yi's team. Wang Fuzhi would sometimes talk to them, which could confirm that what Shang Yi said was basically true. And the missionary Ako After Niya's observation, he discovered that Shang Yi valued Wang Fuzhi very much. At the same time, he also knew that Wang Fuzhi was considered a scholar in China. If he could be brought under the gospel of the Lord, it would be a major progress. Therefore, he also thought of many ways. I got in touch with Wang Euzhi and told him a lot about the history of Europe, and of course the gospel of the Lord.
In fact, in Wang Euzhi's view, Akonia belongs to the category of monks from the Western countries, also known as foreign monks. Wasn't Buddhism spread to China from Tianzhu? And Catholicism is just another Buddhism. Therefore, for He is not exclusive from Catholicism. Moreover, Aconia's religious attitude is indeed very devout and has no pursuit of material life, which is in line with the Chinese people's requirements for monks. In fact, Chinese scholars like to be with eminent monks and immortals. People make friends to show their superiority.
Although Wang Fuzhi was more or less out of curiosity at the beginning, through understanding from many aspects, he gradually began to realize that China is not the only civilization in the world. There is also a civilization in the West that is completely different from China. , is another kind of civilization. In fact, even Wang Fuzhi himself did not realize it. Unknowingly, he was actually comparing the Western cultural ideas he heard with the traditional Chinese cultural ideas he had learned.