"Do you still remember the layout size of the book you want to print?" Liang Chuan asked Bi Zhaosheng.
Bi Zhaosheng thought about it for a moment and then remembered that the bookboards on the market today were all roughly the same in size and arrangement of fonts, and there was nothing special about them.
"I remember."
"Then you should also know the carpenter shop in this city."
"Yes, I know a carpenter shop who is a family friend of ours. We used to have boards planed by them. We have been friends for generations."
"That's good. This person shouldn't have any friendship with your rival Tian Hui." Liang Chuan didn't want what he did to be known, because the movable type printing method is relatively simple and can be imitated by others. , there is no technical advantage.
Bi Zhaosheng led Liang Chuan. This carpenter's shop was not far from Chengtian Lane, nestled in a small alley, and its business was quite prosperous. There is not even a signboard on the door of the store, but there is a large plaque hanging inside the house with the two words "Lu Yi" engraved on it. The owner of the store is called Lu Gu, and he is also an old carpenter and craftsman passed down from generation to generation.
As soon as Lu Gu saw Bi Zhaosheng coming, he knew that business was coming again.
"Zhaosheng, you're still fucking alive. I thought you had run away. Why hasn't your store closed yet? This Chinese New Year guy didn't come to visit you. I thought you were dead."
Lu Gu speaks loudly and directly, and his language is vulgar, but this kind of words makes people feel comfortable. People who are not familiar with him will never speak like this.
"I won't die, but I'm going to die soon. Mom, you have to help me today. Brother, I'm in trouble."
Liang Chuan immediately told Lu Gu about the wooden frame for mounting the wooden character molds. This was simple to make, a bit like the picture frames of later generations. As for the size specifications, Bi Zhaosheng reported it to Lu Gu.
"Just such a small thing? But why are you doing this? You have always only made carved boards. Is this thing not capable of making carved boards?"
Bi Zhaosheng glanced at Liang Chuan and cursed in a business-like manner: "Can you help me with this? If you don't, I'll leave immediately. I've never seen you talk so much before."
"Tch, wait."
Lu Gu laughed and cursed, then walked into the room, talked to his apprentice, and started busy. After a while, a sample was made and came out. Liang Chuan didn't say much, took the mold and left with satisfaction, and ordered more batches to be made according to this template.
The two returned to the printing shop. Liang Chuan brought the sawn wooden character mold, and then asked Bi Zhaosheng to take out the "Confucianism" and asked a lot: "Who wrote this book?"
"It seems to be written by a man named Duan Peng."
"Duan Peng? Could it be Duan Peng, the military commander in Xinghua today?"
"It seems that he is an official. I didn't ask where he was from. These people like to write some articles to show that they are competent. The Confucianism chapter talks about the Analects. This book is very popular in our Song Dynasty. What? Everyone wants to write about this book’s understanding.”
Liang Chuan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Duan Peng had the ability to write books. He probably didn't know that all his books were published in Qingyuan.
At the beginning of Confucianism, Duke Ai of Lu asked Confucius: . Liang Chuan followed the text in the article and found the corresponding patterns in the wooden character template, and then arranged them in sequence in the template, filling the entire page with content.
The number of sawed Ziban boards was a bit large, so the resulting character pattern also covered the characters on the Confucianism and Practice Chapter. Before placing these wooden character templates into the block bars, they were trimmed with a file to make them uniform in size and height, and then typesetting was carried out.
Liang Chuan arranged the wood board frame so that the gaps between the characters were relatively even, and then cut out small wood pieces to separate the wooden character molds. He used the wood pieces to tightly clamp the character molds in the frame so that the characters would not shake and fall off.
Bi Zhaosheng's eyes widened when he saw it. Isn't this finished movable type frame equivalent to a whole piece of carving board? The key point is that this whole block of fonts was made in less than half a day, and all the fonts were ready-made. If we carve the boards slowly one by one, it will take only two days to carve one board!
Liang Chuan brought ink and brushed it with paper. The first page of Confucianism was neatly printed on the white paper.
"This...is this done?"
If Bi Zhaosheng hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that Liang Chuan, a layman who had never been exposed to the printing industry, could print an article in such a fast time.
"of course not."
After Liang Chuan printed a piece of paper, he dug out the wood pieces with a carving knife and took out all the character patterns. Turn to the second page of the Confucianism Chapter, draw the gourd according to the content on the second page, and arrange the characters again.
Black ink was brushed onto the typeface, and white paper covered it again, and the second page quickly appeared in front of Bi Zhaosheng.
"Oh my God!"
Bi Zhaosheng's hands were shaking a little when he saw it. He had been doing printing all his life. How could he make two carved boards in one day? Liang Chuan just did it casually and accomplished such a difficult thing that they could not imagine.
"Now you understand, how long is the agreement between you and that guest?"
"Three months!"
Liang Chuan smiled and said: "Now I think it won't take three months, just one month for you to be able to deliver services to others."
Bi Zhaosheng called his father and demonstrated what Liang Chuan had done to himself. The operation was not difficult, but this kind of change in thinking would never have been imagined by traditional people.
After reading it, Father Bi repeatedly praised Liang Chuan for his talent, brains and hands-on ability.
"With Saburo's printing method, not to mention three months, just give me one month, and we can complete the number of books agreed with the customer. By then, we will have made a good profit of two thousand guan. Saburo, you are really a god. ah!"
The two masters had never seen this kind of printing method in their whole life. They praised their magical skills and wiped away the impression that Liang Chuan was trying to destroy them. The eyes when they saw Liang Chuan were also very different. Now they were all over the place. respect.
The two father and son of the Bi family calculated this way. According to Liang Chuan's method, they no longer need to carve new Ziban boards every day. Naturally, they do not need to go to the wood shop to spend a lot of money to buy boards. And it’s easy to operate. After printing each page, you can just adjust the word order to print the next page. The speed is more than two or three times faster than before!
The two father and son looked at each other. With Saburo's skills, if he also opened a printing shop, would there be a place for them to eat? Even if they robbed him, he couldn't take away other people's business. Such a good method, without blinking an eye, he told himself how he could repay others.
"Okay, I've told you the method, but the quantity you have to print is quite large, and you are quite busy, so I won't disturb you anymore."
Liang Chuan turned around and was about to leave. He saw two masters still sawing the character stencils. He walked to them and said, "Master, after you saw these fonts, you can classify these fonts according to their radicals. For example, the radical is two strokes." Put the words next to two dots of water and single person together, and put the words next to the three dots of water and grass together, so that it can be easily found when needed in the future."
The two masters suddenly realized: "This is a good idea. Otherwise, trying to find one or two rare characters out of thousands of fonts would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Thank you for your great method."
Liang Chuan waved his hand: "A good person will do it to the end. I won't be in your business anyway. It seems that your boss is good. Otherwise, this craft is worth tens of thousands of gold. How could it be given to you so easily."
When the Bi family father and son heard what Liang Chuan said, they didn't say it to them, but they said it to them.
"Sanlang, don't leave today. He helped Miss Zheng find a shop today. This matter can be considered as a clue. Happy events are coming one after another. Come to our house today for a drink and let us express our gratitude."
"Okay, I'll come and have your drink tonight. I don't have anything to do now, I'm going home." Liang Chuan just walked out of the door, thought for a moment and said, "Oh, by the way, I don't agree with this method. You can't teach it to others. Your customer is setting a trap to harm you at first glance. He must not have expected that you can get the job done so quickly. When someone asks, you don't have to say anything, just say I was desperate, so I went to Yuetai Temple to burn a stick of incense, and my family’s book was printed, you know?”
This is not easy. Now that Yuetai Temple’s Buddhism is so prominent, it’s up to others to believe it or not.
The two fathers and sons are very happy. Now they no longer feel the guilt of destroying their ancestors' property. Instead, they feel relieved to carry forward their ancestors' printing business. Moreover, Liang Chuan accepted their kindness, which also made them feel a little better.
When Liang Chuan returned to the Wanda store, Zheng Ruoying was already busy opening the shop, moving the candy and daily necessities he brought towards the opposite shop.
The shop Zheng Ruoying rented was opposite the Wanda store, and the rent was roughly the same as the one rented by Liang Chuan. Zheng Ruoying took a few servants with her, and would live in the store permanently from now on.
Seeing that the business was about to open, Zheng Ruoying came to Liang Chuan and asked, "What do you think I would call this store?"
Liang Chuan thought for a while, and a name flashed past him.
"Well, let's call your store Taobao."
"Taobao? What does this mean?"
"Of course, it means that all the products sold in the store are treasures. From now on, my store will sell cheap products such as mosquito repellent incense and bamboo weaving. Your eldest lady is different. In the beginning, I sold high-end products such as brown sugar and white sugar. It's not too much to call it Taobao." !”
Zheng Ruoying originally thought of calling it Zheng Ji Zheng's Store, but Liang Chuan also had a hand in selling sugar. It would be too domineering for her family to monopolize it. The name Taobao now has a good meaning.
"Then it's settled, your store has these couplets to support its appearance. Do you want to give me a few more pairs so that my store can also benefit from it?"
