Chapter 27 Mimeograph
At this moment, He Xi was taking Mr. Cao Guogong to visit the mimeograph workshop.
Ge Tiangong gave a hands-on demonstration.
This mimeograph technique is very simple. Just a piece of wax paper, a grid. Just a scroll wheel.
Ge Tiangong skillfully placed the wax paper with written words in the middle of the frame. The roller was covered in ink. Roll on it like this. A paper came out like this.
He Xi changed hands and handed the paper to Duke Cao, saying, "Please take a look, Duke."
Duke Cao Guogong looked at the paper in his hand and said, "Is it that simple?"
He Xi said: "It's that simple."
He Xi didn't expect it to be that simple.
In fact, he only thought about printing the test paper before the exam. On this issue, he made two preparations. The first is to prepare for engraving and printing. The second is mimeograph technology.
Block printing is naturally time-consuming and labor-intensive. For an exam, a plate must be carved. What a waste.
However, He Xi is not what he used to be. Although he is only the secretary of the Imperial College. But there was an entire palace behind it. The power of the country is overwhelming. With just one word from him, countless people would work overtime for him.
Although engraving is a waste. But when He Xi spoke, there was absolutely no problem.
When it came to He Xi, movable type printing was the best. However, the Yuan Dynasty severely damaged the cultural industry. At least today most Ming craftsmen use engravings. Movable type is not very good. It took decades of recuperation before movable type officially entered the printing industry.
But when it came to printing test papers, movable type printing was no match for the mimeograph in his impression.
Therefore, he found Ge Tiangong. Told him the basic idea of mimeographing. I asked him to try making it, but he didn't expect it to be done in just a day or two. Think about it too.
Nothing here is high-tech to Daming.
Waxed paper has been used since ancient times. In other words, some effort has been put into the ink. The resulting ink fades easily. It's normal to end up with a big face if you're not careful.
He Xi didn't know whether it was because the color faded easily with this method, or whether the ink from the Ming Dynasty was not good enough.
However, it doesn't matter anymore. Although there are some flaws. But overall it's just passable.
He Xi never thought it would be so perfect.
Cao Guogong said: "He Xiandi is a great talent. I have never thought about it, but have you reported this to Your Majesty?"
He Xi said: "Why does this little thing need to be reported to His Majesty?"
Cao Guogong said: "This little thing? He Xi, you have been in the Secretary's Prison for a while. Why do you think this is a little thing? Don't you know how much copying the Secretary's Prison does?"
“Once you use this, it’s so convenient.”
He Xi was stunned and said to himself: "Yes."
There were too many places in the imperial court that required a lot of copying work. Secretary Supervisor is one of them. When He Xi was working inside, he saw countless officials, who only had one thing to do every day. They kept copying and leaving copies of all memorials.
But He Xi still felt that the painting style was wrong.
Because of this printing method, the color fades too easily.
You think, one day Zhu Yuanzhang held a meeting, and Zhu Yuanzhang saw that all the important ministers had some ink on their faces and hands. So he got angry and felt that these ministers were too disrespectful to the dignity of the court. It's just that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't see him. His face was all black and he didn't dare to remind him.
This is not He Xi's fantasy, but can easily become a fact.
The highest authority of the Ming Dynasty, with mimeographed documents stained to the end. No matter how you look at it, the temperament doesn’t match.
But I have to admit that, just like printers in later generations, this mimeograph technology is indispensable in today's offices.
Seeing He Xi stunned, Cao Guogong shook his head and said, "Here comes someone."
Immediately, a soldier came over and saluted and said, "The general is here."
"Carry this thing away." Cao Guogong said.
The soldier said loudly: "Yes." Then he immediately came over and carried the mimeograph machine away.
Cao Guogong said: "I will send this thing to the audience right now. Don't worry, I won't take your credit. You can just take the exam here with peace of mind. If you are not worried, why don't you come with me?"
He Xi said: "Please forgive me, Mr. Cao Guo. I have nothing to worry about."
Cao Guogong nodded and said, "Then I'm leaving."
After He Xi sent Cao Guogong away, he felt a sigh of relief in his heart.
He was not worried that Duke Cao would ignore his achievements. After all, he is also a popular person in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, so it is very easy to meet Zhu Yuanzhang. Secondly, he actually doesn't care about the credit this time.
Because it’s so easy for him to take credit.
It can only be that Ming Dynasty is too backward. He Xi didn't pay attention to the meaning of many things. For example, this mimeograph machine is just a wooden frame with a roller.
He Xi took it out just for his own convenience.
No other ideas at all.
The more this happened, the more He Xi knew that if he wanted to change the Ming Dynasty, there would be a long way to go.
It doesn't matter if Duke Cao Guo is gone, He Xi can go to the examination room to see.
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The examination room is in Yilun Hall. Already the open space around Yilun Hall. One table for each. When He Xi came over, he saw Liu Song from a distance. He walked over and asked, "How's it going?"
Liu Song said: "It's a very good test method. How did you come up with it?"
He Xi said: "I just thought about it and figured it out."
Liu Song was speechless for a while, not knowing how to answer the question.
He Xi also coughed twice and said, "Is there any problem?"
Liu Song said: "There are some problems. An exam like yours tests your calligraphy too much. Many candidates don't bring the correct pen, which will cause some trouble."
He Xi said: "Calligraphy? I didn't take the calligraphy test?"
Liu Song was stunned, took the test paper, and said: "Then why do you use such small words and leave such a small space?"
He Xi was stunned, slapped his head hard, and said, "I forgot."
When He Xi formulated the test paper, he planned it according to the space of the pen. The white space for all questions has become smaller. But He Xi just asked for the roll points.
If you follow He Xi's request, you have to use small regular script.
But not everyone can write in small regular script and write it well. Isn't this just a calligraphy test question? Liu Song thought this question was a bit difficult before.
Liu Song said: "There are a few students who soiled the papers-----"
Once the brush cannot write well, it cannot be seen as a ball of ink. Naturally, the paper will be stained.
He Xi said: "You can change to a spare paper. At this moment, you can only make mistakes."
However, He Xi did not expect that his inattention would leave an unwritten rule for subsequent students of the Taixue system. Even after the popularization of the hard pen, students from Taixue must be able to write very good regular script.
The supervisors who were in the middle of the exam could not understand He Xi's thoughts.
The reason why Liu Song thought He Xi was taking a calligraphy test. That's why. These days calligraphy is a basic skill for every reader. It can be said that the calligraphy skills of almost every scholar are far superior to those of later generations of the Chinese Calligraphers Association. Because the calligraphy is alive in their hands,
Although in He Xi's opinion, it is very difficult to write hard-pen size words with a brush. It's incredible. But for young people in this era, it is only slightly difficult.
Even among those distinguished disciples, only a few unfortunately had their papers soiled.
As for many prison students, they don't even realize there is anything wrong with this. They are more immersed in exams.
For example, when practicing Zining, read the paper over and over again. In his opinion, there is nothing wrong with the two disciplines of classics and history. Because it is not difficult for He Xi to publish the paper. Because He Xi wants to select students with good foundation, and the requirement is just that they have good foundation.
This foundation is based on a good ability to read and analyze ancient documents. He is quite familiar with historical materials and has a good foundation in mathematics.
The discipline of classics and meaning is not too big for most supervisors. The subject of history is very problematic for many supervisors. Although many scholars insist that Confucians should be regarded as general Confucians. It is to have a broad understanding of all aspects of knowledge, but the reality is that due to the influence of Neo-Confucianism and the impact of the imperial examination, most Confucian scholars' knowledge is becoming increasingly narrow.
Therefore, it is a little difficult to be familiar with historical materials.
Mathematics is quite unfriendly to most Imperial College students.
