Claiming to be the first official printing, in fact, several craftsmen have long been unknown how many times they have done experiments, in the long-term division of labor and cooperation, a good tacit understanding has been formed, from wiping the word frame to installing and fixing the word mold, it is less than half an hour.

Instead of installing one plate, two plates are installed at the same time to improve efficiency.

"Childe, how many copies will you print?" After getting ready, the person in charge, Hu San, asked cautiously.

Zheng Peng said casually: "Let's print a hundred copies first." ”

This time, we mainly look at the effect of new printing, especially the speed of movable type plate change, printing less can not be well tested, printing more and waiting too long, the amount of 100 copies is just right.

Hu San responded, shouted "open the seal", and the six craftsmen started work at the same time.

There are a total of two printing plates, each printing plate has three people, one brushes the ink, one hands the paper, and one is responsible for printing.

Guo Ketang was waiting on the sidelines, and when the first sheet was printed, he immediately took it over, and presented it to the old man Guo who had already been in his heart for a long time: "Uncle and grandfather, please take a look." ”

"Okay" Old man Guo responded, hurriedly took it, spread it out and looked at it, and couldn't help but light up: the brush on the paper is the poem "Looking at the Moon and Huaiyuan" made by Zhang Jiuling in the Lanting Club, the paper is neat, the font is neat and elegant, and the size, spacing, and layout of the glyphs are very unified, which looks pleasing to the eye.

Good words, coupled with the magnificent and beautiful artistic conception of "the moon is born on the sea, and the end of the world is at this time", it is intoxicating just to look at.

"Not bad, not bad." Old man Guo said happily.

Guo Hong, who stretched his neck to watch, also nodded and agreed: "What is rare is that every word is clear, neat and beautiful. ”

Guo Ketang said with a smile: "Of course, the previous printing plate, the craftsman responsible for engraving and printing is a little careless, there will be irreparable losses, sometimes knowing that there is a mistake, in order to save time and cost, the mistake will be wrong, in this way, deviations and mistakes in the book are inevitable, and our new edition is composed of a number of independent word molds, bad change, wrong change, naturally do better." ”

"How's the cost, have you calculated?" Old man Guo asked anxiously.

"Roughly calculated, it is more than enough to meet the standard that Zheng Gongzi said."

"Really?" Guo Hong's breathing became heavier, and he said in disbelief: "It's amazing, isn't it?" ”

Zheng Peng said before the study that at least two-thirds of the cost should be reduced, and Old Man Guo couldn't believe it at first, but now when he heard his niece and granddaughter confirm it, he immediately grinned happily.

Old man Guo was in a good mood, and took the initiative to introduce: "Weekdays let you go around more, just don't listen, this is called new printing, before we carved a good printing plate, we need to send someone to buy a large number of plates, the age of the wood should be long, the plate should be large, a little flaw in the middle is not good, you must be careful when carving, sometimes a little wrong, a whole board is wasted, every page to engrave a board, each plate to be carved by skilled old craftsmen, the cost here alone is amazing." ”

"However, the new printing is different, directly abandon the expensive wooden board, use the cement as a word mold, a word mold, use a tool to fix it, and can be untied and recovered after use, not only the cost is reduced, let people make a batch of word molds, the engraving and printing master is not used, with the row, with the row with the print, I don't know how much to reduce the cost here."

Zheng Peng was a little contemptuous on the side, and Old Man Guo was foaming at the mouth, as if he had made the new printing.

When it comes to merit, his biggest credit is to take a big broom to clean around the printing room, but seriously, Zheng Peng thinks this is not a credit, the old man sweeps the floor without sprinkling water, and often raises a lot of dust, but everyone sees that he is old and senior, so they can't help but talk about him, and let him entertain himself.

Guo Hong nodded again and again when he heard this, and couldn't help but say: "This idea is so wonderful, I don't know how effective the board is." ”

"yes, you see, they're starting to change versions." Guo Ketang pointed to a craftsman who was busy, and hurriedly reminded.

The use of extremely cheap cement is a pioneering initiative, and the reuse and typesetting of the typeface is a feature.

Guo Hong turned his head to look, only to see a craftsman gently roasting the back of the printing plate with a torch, and the room was soon filled with a unique fragrance of pine resin, which is the use of the characteristics of pine resin to better fix the character mold on the frame, as long as it is heated, it can easily fall off.

After loosening it, first take out the font, and then check the content to be printed, and immediately someone takes out the font that looks significantly larger and starts to line up on the frame.

This question, the sharp-eyed Guo Hong found it, and said a little strangely: "Hey, why are the sizes of the characters different?" ”

"Yes" Guo Ketang explained in a whisper: "Usually a page is printed a poem, the poem has a length and shortness, and the size of the paper is uniform, we can only use different fonts, and use a larger font if there are fewer words, so as not to look discordant on large paper and small characters." ”

It turned out that this was the case, Guo Hong looked at the craftsman who was printing, and his eyes became hot.

Printing has been carried out in an orderly manner, the cost, technology and quality are far better than ordinary printing, even storage does not know how much manpower and material resources can be saved, all things, all prove one thing: new printing is successful.

Seeing that everything was on the right track, Old Man Guo was so happy that he couldn't help but walk over and pat Zheng Peng's shoulder hard: "You kid doesn't have a proper shape on weekdays, and his brain is good, hahaha, this new style of new brush comes out, not only minimizes the errors and omissions in the book, but also greatly reduces the cost, and the son of a poor family can afford it, a good thing, the gospel of the world's readers." ”

shot so vigorously that Zheng Peng almost couldn't stand on his feet, if it weren't for Old Man Guo's smiling and clear eyes, he really thought that he was going to take the opportunity to poison him and eat alone.

"Where, where" Zheng Peng said modestly: "This new printing can be successful, but also thanks to the strong support of the Guo Mansion, when it comes to credit, a share of the Guo Mansion is indispensable." ”

Old man Guo's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Is this true?" ”

"How can this be fake? Not to mention anything else, just this group of skilled craftsmen, if someone wants to find it by themselves, I don't know how long it will take. Zheng Peng said sincerely.

Zheng Peng only has one general direction, from the idea to the finished product, there are too many details to solve, without those skilled old craftsmen, Zheng Peng alone, the speed is definitely not so fast.

It's a bit like a unique process, even if there are samples to copy, it can't be made, like a good carving craftsman, which one is not good for eating and drinking, Zheng Peng just has the money to find it, and he can't find it for a while.

"That is, my hometown Guo family, and there are talents under me." Old man Guo said with some pride.

Zheng Peng nodded with some sigh and said, "That's, that's." ”

There are really a lot of talents in Guofu, such as farming, carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, etc., even the few carvers and sealers are not lacking, and it is good to have a "strong" unreasonable person in the family.

Many people don't know that Guo Yuanzhen was not only generous when he was young, but also a "problem teenager", he was admitted to the Jinshi at the age of eighteen and served as the county lieutenant of Tongquan County, Sichuan. During his tenure, he often did some illegal deeds, even bought and sold people, minted coins privately, often sent his subordinates as slaves to friends, and the number of people who were well documented reached more than 1,000, he was simply a slave trader, and it was normal to meet useful talents and leave them by himself, Wu Zetian, who was the empress at that time, summoned him to Beijing, and was ready to execute him.

Definitely legendary.

Zheng Peng wanted to ask these people if they were left by Guo Yuanzhen back then, but he swallowed back when the words came to his lips.

Don't feel uncomfortable if you have nothing to do, don't look at Old Man Guo smiling harmlessly, Zheng Peng dares to guarantee that if he initiates a flutter, it will be absolutely terrifying.

Guo Hong looked at the sun in the sky and said: "The hour is not early, Zheng Gongzi, it is better to gather at Guo's mansion, just celebrate the success of the new printing, and enjoy those sacrifices." ”

"Uncle is polite, the younger generation will want to see if there is anything to improve later, so I won't bother, and I will find the uncle to have a good drink another day."

It's not bad to have a meal with Guo Ketang, at least it's beautiful and delicious, and Guo Hong has always been arrogant, although his attitude towards Zheng Peng is much better now, but Zheng Peng still refuses,

Who knows if what he said was polite.

"Let you have a meal, and now you will shake your face, don't you, go quickly." Old man Guo said a little unhappily.

Guo Ketang also smiled and said to Zheng Peng: "Yes, Zheng Gongzi, this technical problem has been solved, the new printing has officially been launched, and you have to celebrate anything, my uncle and grandfather have spoken, you have to give some face." ”

"That's... Go ahead. Zheng Peng said helplessly.

I don't know why, going to the banquet of Guo Hong, the head of the Guo Mansion, Zheng Peng has a feeling of going to the Hongmen banquet.