Writing was first recorded on bronze and tortoise shells, and it was only later that bamboo slips were gradually used to record writing. Historically, it is recognized that Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty invented papermaking, and since then the written record has entered the paper period.

On the one hand, the printing technology at that time was not yet popular, on the other hand, in the process of copying, you can deepen your understanding of knowledge, and at the same time, copying books has also become one of the means for some people to make a living.

It was not until the advent of engraving printing that the circulation of books was slowly accelerated, and many books from the collection of the family can be seen.

However, the emergence of engraving printing did not reduce the phenomenon of copying books, mainly because the manufacturing cost of engraving printing was too high, so that the price of books did not drop much, resulting in the difficulty of popularizing engraving printing.

"Hanshu" more than 800,000 words, printed with engraving, a engraving is only three or four hundred words, not to mention the carving of a wrong word the whole engraving will be ruined, just all the engraving is not less than two or three thousand pieces! If an engraver works day and night for ten years, such a bookseller will cause a sensation wherever he is placed.

Gu Liang's gaze once again stayed on the "Historical Records" next to him, "Historical Records" is a historical book written by the famous historian Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty, which is the first general history of the historical history, and is listed as the first of the "Twenty-four History", recording the history of more than 3,000 years from the era of the legendary Yellow Emperor in ancient times to the first four years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Together with the later "Book of Han", "Book of the Later Han" and "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", it is called the "First Four History".

The whole book of "Historical Records" includes 12 books (recording the political achievements of the emperors of the past dynasties), 30 families (recording the rise and fall of the princes of the vassal states and the Han Dynasty, and the nobles), 70 biographies (recording the words and deeds of important figures, mainly narrating the people and ministers, the last of which is a self-preface), 10 tables (chronology of major events), and 8 books (recording various rules and regulations, recording rituals, music, music, calendars, astronomy, sealing Zen, water conservancy, and financial use), a total of 130 articles, more than 526,500 words.

Gu Liang picked up a copy of "Historical Records", and the next moment his hands trembled slightly, it was also engraving printing, and it was more than 500,000 words, oh my God! Aren't you dreaming?

"Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" is written by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Chen Shou, recording the history of the Three Kingdoms period, with more than 350,000 words.

The Book of the Later Han Dynasty is a biographical history book compiled by Fan Ye, a historian of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, which records the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with more than 800,000 words.

These books are all printed in engraving, and any one carved out is shocking to the world, which ...... This...... How big does the bookseller's business have to be to have the financial resources to carve out the four histories.

Gu Liang finally stopped being calm, took down one book after another from the shelf, "Analects", "Spring and Autumn", "Dongguan Hanji", ......, and read as many as thirty or forty copies in a row, Gu Liang was completely cute, as if he had been slapped a few times in the mouth, with a look of disbelief, this is impossible to exist at all, one can still be said in the past, then ten books are already a miracle, so ...... books here.

Looking at the rows of bookshelves in the bookstore, there are thousands of books here, and they shouldn't all be woodblock printing!

Gu Liang didn't care what books were placed on the shelves, one, two、...... 10, 100 ...... 200 copies, constantly shuttling through the shelves of the bookstore, getting faster and faster, until in the end, just by looking at the font on the paper, I concluded that it was also printed by engraving, otherwise how could the font be exactly the same?

Gu Liang is about to collapse, oh my God! It doesn't make sense! Who can explain to himself what the hell is going on, there is such a bookseller on a small island, and there is no bookseller in the entire Tang Dynasty who can reach one percent here.

Gu Liang was shocked, although there are bookstores in Datang, and there are also a lot of engraved books, but it would be good to have a few sets of engraved books in a bookstore, and the rest are all those books that are copied for a living, each of which ranges from a few to dozens of books, which can compare to the scale of the bookstore here, is this still a remote place overseas?

"No! I'm going to ask the shopkeeper, where did you buy these books", Gu Liang didn't believe at all, the shopkeeper here could carve so many books.

"Old man, may I ask why the books here are all engraved and printed?"

Gu Liang scratched his head and couldn't understand that his question had touched the other party's business secrets, but these words were buried in his heart and not unhappy, even if he offended the other party, he had to ask clearly.

The old man glanced up at Gu Liang, his attitude was indifferent, and he said impatiently: "Are you here to buy books, or are you here to inquire about things?" ”

The other party's answer was expected by Gu Liang, what is the strange thing that the other party can give himself a good face? "If the old man is willing to tell the truth, a certain ingot of gold will be rewarded?" As he spoke, he took out an ingot of gold worth ten taels from his bosom and put it in front of the old man.

The old man's eyes lit up, and with a flick of his withered hand on the counter, he stuffed the gold into the sleeve cage as fast as lightning, his attitude changed three hundred and sixty degrees, and he lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "This Lang Jun, all the books here can neither be said to be engraving printing, nor can they be said to be engraving printing, hehe!" ”

"What are these words?" Gu Liang was a little puzzled, and continued to ask, "How do you say this?" ”

The old man closed his eyes again in contemplation, as if he hadn't heard what Gu Liang was saying.

Gu Liang waited for a while, and when he saw that the old man was still the same as the old monk, he was a little angry, took his own gold, and only said one sentence, this is Chrysostom Yuyan!

Gu Liang's heart was as uncomfortable as a cat scratch, if he didn't figure out this matter, even if he returned to Datang, he would toss and turn a thousand times, thinking of this, he saw that the old man's fingers were still rhythmically tapping on the counter, this is a coffin reaching out and asking for money! There was no way, Gu Liang took out a piece of gold again and put it in the old man's hand, and said in a sincere tone: "Please tell the old man the truth?" ”

"Huh!"

The old man seemed to have just woken up from his sleep, and the folds of orange peel on his face showed "the smart expression of your boy", and he reached out to tuck the gold into his sleeve again. Gu Liang pressed the gold ingot, looked at the old man with dead eyes, and said in his eyes: If you still want to say a word like last time, this ingot of gold will be gone.

"I can only tell you, I don't know about this matter, but this is really not a book printed by engraving, it is a new type of printing technology invented by the owner of the island, which can print thousands of books in a very short time, if you want to know, you can ask the manager on the island, as for the manager to tell you, I don't know!" Saying that, the old man moved Gu Liang's fingers away, stuffed the gold ingot into his sleeve, and continued to pretend to sleep, as if he didn't say those words just now.

(End of chapter)