"This matter must be kept confidential, especially the method I gave you, which must not be leaked." Cao Zhang warned Sima Lang.
Sima Lang solemnly promised: "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely arrange for the most reliable craftsmen in the family to execute it to ensure that the secret recipe will not be leaked."
Cao Zhang then nodded with relief: "Without further delay, Boda, you can go back and make arrangements now."
Sima Lang agreed, carefully put the bamboo slips away, and then left quickly.
Xiahou Ba watched Sima Lang leave and could no longer restrain his curiosity. He stepped forward and said to Cao Zhang: "Ziwen, what did you give Boda that made him so excited and said it could make a lot of money? "
Xu Shu also looked at Cao Zhang very attentively, looking forward to his answer.
Cao Zhang had no intention of hiding the two of them. He asked Xu Shu and Xia Houba: "Yuan Zhi, Zhong Quan, in addition to bamboo slips, you usually use paper when writing articles, right?"
Xu Shu nodded: "Occasionally, for the sake of convenience, I do write on paper. It's just that it's not easy to preserve the content written on paper, and the ink is also very serious."
"Then do you know what the paper we use now is made of?" Cao Zhang asked again.
Although Xiahou Ba had been literate in writing and studying military literature since he was a child, he had no understanding of technical issues such as papermaking and could only shake his head in confusion.
"As far as I know, the raw materials for papermaking now are mainly sandalwood and tanpi." Xu Shu thought for a while and replied.
"Yes, the current paper has made great progress and improvement after the improvement of the previous dynasty Cai Lun, but the paper is still very brittle, difficult to preserve, and the problem of ink leakage still exists."
"This has led to the fact that when we write official documents and articles, we still mainly use bamboo slips. Although this method solves the problems of ink transfer and preservation, it also has the problem of being bulky, difficult to transport and communicate remotely."
"I did some research and found that as long as the raw materials are adjusted appropriately and I try to use mulberry bark, rattan bark, bamboo, and wheat straw to make paper, I can completely solve the problem of paper sturdiness and ink bleeding."
"The paper made from such materials and the method I taught them will definitely be much stronger than the previous paper, and will be more conducive to writing and preservation."
"With this kind of paper, if combined with my other innovative idea - movable type printing, it will be extremely easy to make money every day!" Cao Zhang introduced the information he provided to Sima Lang in detail. Two technologies.
Xiahou Ba couldn't understand even more, and asked doubtfully: "Moveable type printing, what does this mean?"
Xu Shu looked at Cao Zhang with a confused look on his face.
"I just said that most of the books on the market now are written manually on bamboo slips. This method has extremely high requirements on the person who writes it, and the cycle is long and the output is very low, so the profits of the current bookstores are not high. .”
"I have studied a new method, which is to try to burn the clay into modules of equal size, and engrave commonly used Chinese characters on the modules. This is the so-called movable type."
"With movable type, we can arrange and combine the word blocks for different books to form templates for book pages."
"At that time, we only need to brush ink on the template, and then we can print in large quantities on our newly created paper, and finally bind it into a book."
"With this method, as long as the typesetting is correct, the chance of typos in the book is extremely low, and the copying speed is very fast. I initially estimate that it should be very easy to print a thousand identical books in one day with a set of templates."
"Such books are low-cost, can be sold at a relatively cheap price, and are easy to preserve and read. As long as the craftsmen of the Sima family can really turn my vision into reality, a large number of printed books will be sold in Xudu and even all over the country. In the future, our military supplies The cost and various management costs are not a problem at all.”
Cao Zhang talked eloquently and explained the principles and details of movable type printing to the two of them in detail.
After hearing this, Xiahou Ba felt as if he had heard from heaven. He just looked at Cao Zhang in confusion, not knowing what he meant.
However, Xu Shu completely understood the principles of the two techniques mentioned by Cao Zhang, and his eyes widened.
If Cao Zhang's idea can be realized, it will definitely be a profitable business. What Cao Zhang said about solving military supplies and managing expenses is really an easy thing.
Xu Shu looked at Cao Zhang, his eyes full of admiration and admiration, and said excitedly: "Young master is really a genius. He can come up with such exquisite technology, Xu Shu admires him!"
Cao Zhang pretended to be humble on the surface, but he was smiling on the inside.
Yuedan Commentary successfully acted as a word porter. This time, it directly moved the four major inventions in advance. Are you still worried about not making money?
"Yuan Zhi won the prize! In fact, I have a plan below that can combine the above two methods to make money, and at the same time achieve the purpose of bringing Xun Yu closer to the monk!" Cao Zhang then expressed another idea of his.
Winning over Xun Yu was Cao Zhang's earliest plan, but he never thought of any way to impress him.
This man was far-reaching in his intellect, had a literati character, and was loyal to the Han Dynasty. Ordinary methods would definitely not achieve the effect.
When Cao Zhang was thinking about papermaking and movable type printing, he suddenly came up with an excellent method.
"Xun Lingjun has a very high reputation and has a very high prestige in the Han Dynasty; he has followed Sikong for many years and helped Sikong make countless achievements."
"When Lu Bu, Chen Gong, Zhang Miao and others attacked Yanzhou, it was only because of Xun Lingjun's own efforts to protect the three counties that Sikong finally came back and defeated Lu Bu, so he had a very high say in front of Sikong. .”
"Master, if there is really a way to impress your Majesty, with his support, your chances of gaining the title of Crown Prince will be greatly increased!"
"I just don't know what the young master means that can both make money and bring Xun Lingjun closer?" Xu Shu asked Cao Zhang a question after analyzing Xun Yu's importance to Cao Zhang.
Cao Zhang smiled and picked up another bamboo slip from the side, handed it to Xu Shu's hand, and said with a smile: "Yuan Zhi will know after seeing it."
As Cao Zhang kept coming up with clever tricks, Xu Shu was full of expectations for the methods he said. He immediately took the bamboo slips and read them carefully.
Xiahou Ba kept smacking his lips and admiring: "Ziwen, how long is your head? How can you have so many ideas and thoughts? I remember you didn't even read books before. Why is there such a sudden change now?"
"You said it was in the past, but I can still stay in the same state and not make progress! This is to treat people with admiration after three days of separation, understand?" Cao Zhang proudly said to Xiahou Ba.
After a while, Xu Shu finished reading the bamboo slip in his hand, but his face was stunned. Apparently, he did not fully understand the content on the bamboo slip.
"Sir, this article only has a thousand words, four words per sentence, neat dialogue, clear organization, and brilliant literary talent. But I really don't know how it can impress Xun Yu?" Xu Shu asked Cao Zhang.
"Yuan Zhi is right. I named it "The Thousand-Character Essay". Did you notice that there are no repeated words throughout this article, and the content is easy to understand."
"Among the literacy literacy textbooks currently circulating on the market, "Fan Jiang Pian" has fewer words, while "Jijiu Pian" has more than 2,000 words, which is a bit too long. This "Thousand Character Essay" has just the right number of words and is more conducive to promotion."
"I gave this article to Xun Lingjun and asked him to publish it for the purpose of popularizing teaching and cultivating scholars. Is it a great merit for him? Do you think he will accept it happily?"
Cao Zhang explained the purpose of "The Thousand Character Classic" and his own thoughts, and then asked Xu Shu...
