The theory of movable type printing is very simple, Zhao Yunze only said it slightly, and with those four seals as a reference, Li Shimin and Empress Changsun immediately understood.It's a simple technology, but it's a big deal.This is one of the four great inventions of ancient China.As an emperor and a wise emperor, Li Shimin immediately understood the significance of movable type printing.Ancient books are scarce and sell for a high price.On the one hand, it is because of the high cost of paper; The more important reason is the cost of printing.Engraving printing, each page of paper to use a engraving plate, time-consuming and laborious not to mention, once there is a little error in the engraving, the whole plate will be invalid.Every time a book is printed, a lot of wood and labor is consumed.The high cost led to a high selling price, so much so that books became a luxury.People from poor families simply can't afford to buy books to read.This is also an important reason for the cultural monopoly of the gate lord clan.Movable type printing solves the disadvantages of engraving printing very well.It is only necessary to produce a sufficient amount of movable type, and the book is typeset with movable type when printing.Even if there is a typographical error, it is sufficient to replace the movable type that adjusts the error.What's more, movable type can be used over and over again, which saves both material and labor.There is also no need for a dedicated space to store the engravings.Even if a book has a large number of pages, it is possible to print some pages first, and then reformat and print the rest of the pages.The reduction of printing costs will inevitably lead to a decrease in the selling price of books.Moreover, movable type printing is simpler and more efficient than engraving printing, which allows the printing industry to develop more and the printing volume of books to increase significantly.The circulation of books is bound to increase dramatically.As Li Shimin said, with movable type printing, more and more people in the world can afford to read books.In the future, it is not unattainable to break the monopoly of the scholars on culture and talents.Li Shimin was excited for a while, and he also calmed down.He asked Zhao Yunze about some details of movable type printing.Zhao Yunze gave all the points he knew about movable type printing.It includes the materials and methods of making movable type, how to typeset and fix, and how to arrange spare movable type with rhyme feet.After listening to Zhao Yunze's explanation, Li Shimin thought for a while, and ordered Zhao Yunze to experiment with movable type printing first, and then set up a special division in the DPRK and China to promote movable type printing after the technology matured."
Your Majesty, don't you plan to make money by the imperial court monopolizing movable type printing" Zhao Yunze asked Li Shimin curiously.Li Shimin shook his head with a smile and said, "The imperial court is short of money now.But compared with the current predicament of the imperial court, I think the matter of educating the people is more important.It is much more important to make more people read books than to make money" "Yes, with movable type printing, His Majesty's achievements in cultural governance will shine in the annals of history." ”Empress Eldest Sun said with a smile."
Hahahaha, what the queen said is also right, I am also a human being, and vanity is also there.But this movable type printing technique is indeed a great achievement for the benefit of the people of the world," Li Shimin said unpretentiously."
But I'm afraid, if Your Majesty lets go of movable type printing, in the end, it will be those gates who will benefit.Readers, on the contrary, do not get benefits. ”Empress Eldest Sun said worriedly.Li Shimin nodded thoughtfully and said, "This is indeed a problem.Those gatekeepers are rich and powerful, and it is very likely that they will suppress the small merchants who print books and continue to monopolize the book printing industry.However, if the imperial court alone relies on the imperial court to print and sell books, the effect of education will inevitably be very slow.Moreover, this will inevitably increase the number of officials in the imperial court.Officials are all paid high salaries, which invisibly increases the cost of books.Besides, no one dares to say that the officials I appointed can be as diligent as Peng Yu. ”Zhao Yunze was invisibly praised by Li Shimin, and his heart suddenly felt comfortable.He also deeply agrees with Li Shimin's worries.In running an industry, the efficiency of the government is often not as good as that of the private sector.The government and employees are all holding iron rice bowls, and no matter how good or bad the benefits are, they will not starve.This will inevitably lead to procrastination and even perfunctory work.The private sector is different, and its benefits are directly linked to personal interests.If you do a good job, you will have something to eat, but if you don't do a good job, you will be hungry.This is also one of the reasons why later governments have liberalized many industries controlled by the state and turned them into private enterprises.For Li Shimin's vision, Zhao Yunze was greatly impressed.After thinking for a while, Zhao Yunze said: "Your Majesty, there is a way here, which can not only benefit the imperial court, but also ensure the smooth promotion of movable type printing. ”"Peng Yu, come on.""
The imperial court set up a department in charge of book publishing and distribution.On the one hand, supervise the distribution of books and prevent dross books from entering the market.On the other hand, the imperial court invited public tenders, with the annual bookseller's tax rate as the price, according to the Tang Dynasty's Ten Dao, recruiting ten book-printing dealers who exclusively enjoyed movable type printing.Each of them is responsible for the sale of movable type books.In order to prevent the book printing monographers from privately raising the price of books, the special department of the imperial court also has the responsibility of supervising the price of books.If there is a violation of the rules of the printing monopoly, their monopoly qualification will be revoked. ”Zhao Yunze's words made both Li Shimin and Empress Eldest Sun ponder.Princess Jiujiang stared at Zhao Yunze intently from the moment Zhao Yunze said movable type printing, and listened to his narration, and the whole person was stunned."
That's a good idea.Printing books and selling books are also taxed, is this appropriate?"
Li Shimin hesitated."
Yes, Peng Yu, books are sacred things, stained with copper stench, I'm afraid they will be criticized by the world."
Empress Eldest Sun was also worried."
Hehe, since it is a holy relic, then those gate valves who flaunt the orthodoxy of Confucianism should give books to readers all over the world for free.At worst, it should only be sold at cost price.But in reality, they use books as a tool to make a fortune.His Majesty and the Empress are worried that the imperial court will be criticized by the world for collecting book taxes, and it is these people who are most likely to criticize the imperial court.If nothing else, the future ten printing merchants will also come from the five surnames of the Tang Dynasty and the seven wangmen valves.In the printing and sale of books, the interests of the imperial court and theirs are one, and how can they criticize this decree of the imperial court"" is also reasonable. ”Li Shimin nodded.But then he said: "But the imperial court collects taxes, doesn't that also increase the cost of books." ”Zhao Yunze smiled and said, "Your Majesty, there is no doubt about your love for the world's scholars.Sometimes, however, the good governance of the imperial court may not really benefit the people.Even if the imperial court gave movable type printing to those gate lords regardless of the gains and losses, they would never be grateful to the imperial court.The method mentioned by the minister allowed those who wanted to use movable type printing to compete with each other, and the interests of the imperial court were synchronized with theirs.Only interests are the fundamental way to maintain friendship.Besides, the special department mentioned by the minister also has the responsibility of supervising the price of books.If those gate valve people feel that printing books is not profitable, they don't have to participate in the competition, I believe that there are many people in the world who want to make this money.When movable type printing is popularized, the minister will see if there is a market for their engraving printing" "Haha, Peng Yu's method is similar to the method of fine salt and salt to open the Chinese method, and it is all used to force the door valve to comply.Well, only interests are the fundamental way to maintain friendship.If the interests of the imperial court and the interests of the gate valves are more and more synchronized, then the dependence of these gate valves on the imperial court will inevitably become heavier and heavier.The great rule of the world is not far away. ”Li Shimin looked at Zhao Yunze appreciatively and said."
A soft knife is always a little more gentle than a hard one."
Zhao Yunze said, "The existence of the gate valve is not ten or eight years, but hundreds of years.The minister said in vain that existence is reasonable.For them, the ministers thought that they could not be killed with a single shot, but asked for common ground while reserving differences, tying them up with interests and using them for the use of the court. ”"Well, that makes sense.Peng Yu, I'm not afraid to tell the truth, since I ascended the throne, I have had a headache on how to deal with the gate valve.You have shown me a clear path today. ”Li Shimin said with deep thought.Gate valve, from an economic point of view, is equivalent to a large consortium in later generations.Although they have seized a lot of social wealth, they have also made great contributions to social development.In terms of cultural inheritance, in the Sui and Tang dynasties and even in previous dynasties, the gate valve was the main force in maintaining cultural inheritance.Zhao Yunze believes that in dealing with gate valves, we should not use too radical methods to fight local tyrants and capitalists, and this method has been proven to be destructive to social development in the original history of the Huangchao Rebellion and the Great Revolution in the 20th century.Therefore, with the introduction of today's explanation of movable type printing, and in such a relaxed atmosphere, Zhao Yunze also boldly put forward his own views on how to deal with the gate valve forces."
Your Majesty, the promotion method of movable type printing that Nachen just proposed" Zhao Yunze pulled the topic back again."
I'll do it according to your method.However, that will have to wait until movable type printing can actually be used. ”Li Shimin said."
Your Majesty, don't worry, movable type printing will definitely be used," Zhao Yunze said with a firm face."
I believe so, too."
Li Shimin nodded, and said with a smile: "Peng Yu, your Secret Service's Research Department, I originally wanted you to develop weapons, but I didn't expect you to come up with this movable type printing technique first.""
Whether it is a military weapon or a civilian weapon, as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, the minister will think of a way to get it." ”"How is the medicinal jade burned," Li Shimin asked Zhao Yunze again."
It's a bit of progress compared to the past, but it's not a lot of progress.Experiment a few more times, and you will eventually succeed. ”Zhao Yunze said.After thinking about it, he said again: "Your Majesty, the minister is thinking, wait for the glass, it is a highly transparent medicinal jade."
When the glass is fired successfully, is it also used to promote movable type printing, and the firing technology of glass is granted to those gate valves, so that they can fire glass and sell it, and the imperial court can only charge high taxes?"
Empress Changsun said at this time: "Erlang, the court is engaged in business, but it will be criticized by those gate valves.It's better to be like Peng Yu said, let their interests be synchronized with the interests of the imperial court, and keep their mouths shut. ”"Hehe, then wait for Peng Yu to burn out the glass glass."
Li Shimin finally vaguely and perfunctorily accepted Zhao Yunze's proposal.Zhao Yunze can be regarded as seeing through it at this time, and Li Shimin is also a money fan.He did not covet the huge profits of movable type printing because it was used to print books.Promoting movable type printing, this is his Li Shimin's great merit, and he is the name of the picture.But glass is different, this thing is a luxury, with high profits, and it can't bring Li Shimin any fame, so he hesitated.Forget it, anyway, the glass hasn't been fired successfully, so how to sell it in the future, don't bother with that brain
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