Although Ma Zhou is young, his handwriting is very old-fashioned.
According to Zhang Chao's request, he spent three days of meditation and retreat, and finally wrote a satisfactory manuscript.
The manuscript Zhang Chao got was in the format of nine lines and eighteen characters.
Write nine vertical lines on one page, each line is 18 words, and a page is 162 words.
Such a layout is clear, clean, and sparse and pleasing to the eye.
"It's hard work, this version is very beautiful."
Zhang Chao nodded with satisfaction.
Ma Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief, in fact, this manuscript was the third edition he had written.
In the first edition, he used the favorite Feibai calligraphy of the emperors and generals since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, this kind of calligraphy, the slightest trace of white in the strokes, like a dry pen written.
Feibai is used well, some strokes are like meteors crossing the sky, and some are like speedboats galloping across the water, which is really good.
He worked hard to write the manuscript, but Zhang Chao vetoed it when he got it.
Feibai is indeed a very good form of calligraphy, but it is not suitable for engraving at all.
The expression of the silk dew white can not be carved by the craftsman to the board to show it, if the silk dew can not be carved, then there is nothing left of the flying white.
Zhang Chao put away Ma Zhou's Feibai manuscript and prepared to take it home for collection, and then unceremoniously asked Ma Zhou to continue to write again, this time he specified that he asked for the use of regular letters.
Regular script originated in the Han Dynasty, prevailed in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and gradually changed from the process of the Han Dynasty in the simplified province.
It has a square shape, straight strokes, a rigorous structure, and a stereotyped glyph.
However, Zhang Chao asked Ma Zhou to use the line of letters, which is more flexible, more free than the regular script, and more regular than the line.
The line is not more rigid than the regular letter, more elegant and good-looking, used for engraving printing, the printed page font will of course look much better.
Although it should be easier to carve, Zhang Chao still felt that he should try the block letters.
Ma Zhou could only follow Zhang Chao's request, and went back and carefully wrote a manuscript of the three-character scripture and Zhang's family rules in line letters.
Who knew that when the manuscript was handed in, Zhang Chao repeatedly praised the good writing, but in the end, he still shook his head and said no.
Zhang Chao suggested that punctuation should be added.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, people at that time would add short lines and double short lines between sentences to make punctuation to indicate repetition.
By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, in addition to the previous single and double short and horizontal symbols, there were also corner symbols, triangle symbols, dot symbols, square symbols, etc., and the usage was also different.
There are even pauses and periods, which have the same meaning as in later generations.
It's just that these punctuation marks are not widespread.
Ma Zhou wrote painstakingly, but did not use punctuation.
He thinks it doesn't need to, but Zhang Chao feels that it is better to have punctuation, and there will be no ambiguity.
And punctuation can help break sentences, while symbols have other uses.
It's like adding a full stop and a question mark to the end of a sentence, which are two completely different meanings.
For example, three years of college and three years of college have different meanings.
Of course, at this time, people will also have some words to break sentences, such as Zhihu also has this effect, and some directly add sentences at the end of the sentence or read to break sentences.
Zhang Chao feels that since the ancients have always used punctuation, this fully shows that punctuation is in demand.
After Ma Zhou looked at Zhang Chao's punctuation marks, he felt that this set of punctuation marks was quite good and complete.
Although he was very unhappy that the second version of the manuscript was written in vain, after seriously learning the use of punctuation with Zhang Chao, when Ma Chao went back to write the third version, he finally added all those punctuations, and even asked Zhang Chao to check and proofread it before he officially put pen to paper, and he only began to write officially after Zhang Chao's confirmation.
It is said that good things are more grinding.
Ma changed his manuscript on Wednesday and finally handed over the manuscript to Zhang Chao's satisfaction.
"Why do you have to write the manuscript on such a thin, transparent white paper?"
Ma Zhou, who breathed a sigh of relief, asked the question in his heart, this kind of white paper was specially designated by Zhang Chao, and Ma Zhou also objected, because this kind of paper is too thin and transparent, and it is not very easy to write.
Zhang Chao smiled at Ma Zhou.
"King Bin, you will witness a miracle."
After saying this, Zhang Chao took Ma Zhou to a wooden house on the slope of the village.
This is a temporary wooden house, and Ke Baye and Zheng Carpenter have been waiting there for a long time.
"Is the plank ready?"
"According to Saburo's instructions, we have prepared a lot of wooden planks and several materials."
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Zhang Chao nodded excitedly, he was going to change the course of history again.
Block printing will appear in his hands sooner, at least a few decades earlier.
Now that the manuscript is in place, and the carver is in place, it is time to start making the carved plates in earnest.
Didn't get more people involved, because Zhang Chao wanted to keep the secret for the time being.
Zhang Chaoxuan looked at the wooden board prepared by the two old carpenters, and then pointed out that the board should be suitable for carving.
"These things are very suitable for carving, I don't know what kind of flowers Saburo is going to carve" "If I don't carve flowers, I want to carve words."
Ke Baye and Carpenter Zheng were illiterate, but this did not affect their carving.
They are illiterate, but they can carve words like flowers.
Zhang Chao took out the manuscript of the three-character scripture written by Ma Zhou, picked up a wooden board, and told the two old carpenters to put the manuscript on the wooden board.
"Engrave the Words" Carpenter Zheng pinched his chin and asked, he had done such a thing before, it was quite easy, just chisel off the handwriting part of the paper, it was actually the same as carving a stele.
"No, no, no, on the contrary, you can't chisel out the words, but you have to keep the words and chisel out the rest."
"Yangwen" "That's right."
The convex character is yang, and the recessed is yin.
Along the way, Ma Zhoulai kept thinking about what Zhang Chao was going to do with his manuscript.
When he saw the two carpenters, he was a little suspicious.
At this time, he was surprised to hear Zhang Chao say that he wanted to engrave Yangwen.
"San Lang, rubbing has to be in Yin."
He reminded.
Zhang Chao held a wooden board in his hand and smiled, "I'm not rubbing, but engraving."
What is printed is no longer white on black, but black on white. ” Ma Zhou was very smart, and he immediately understood the meaning of Zhang Chao's words.
Although it may sound like just changing the font from Yin to Yang, the result is completely different.
Ma Zhou was thrilled when he thought that the manuscript he had worked so hard to write might become an engraved plate and eventually a printed book.
He was short of breath, although he only wrote the manuscript, and the book was written by Zhang Sanlang, but he was also honored.
Carpenter Zheng and Ke Baye didn't think about it so much, and they didn't realize how important what they were doing.
They were just craftsmen, and the two of them got Zhang Chao's request, so they picked the board and started to work.
The two of them have very good craftsmanship, although they are illiterate, but they can carve Ma Zhou's flowing lines exactly the same.
Little by little, the blank parts around the handwriting were removed, and the lines were left behind to become the yang characters on the raised board.
The two old carpenters had previously received a secret task from Zhang Chao, asking them to prepare a batch of planks, which must be suitable for carving.
Carpenter Ke and Carpenter Zheng have been preparing for this these days.
They chose pear blossoms with moderate hardness and smooth texture, and also prepared jujube wood with a relatively hard material and fine texture, as well as several kinds of wood such as pear blossoms, boxwood, ginkgo biloba, and poplar.
Then, after sawing, soaking, drying and flattening, the smooth planks are obtained.
Engraving text on such a processed wooden board is twice the result with half the effort.
They are immersed, skillful and focused.
"San Lang, this method can really work," Ma Zhou asked with an excited tone.
Zhang Chao looked at the craftsmanship of the two carpenters, and he could be called a master carver.
They carved Ma Zhou's beautiful line really completely.
"You see, now the version has also become a version, and the only thing left is the problem of ink."
The printing ink must not use ordinary writing ink, the printing ink has to use ink, the quality of the ink will directly affect the quality of the printed matter, and the ordinary writing ink can not meet the requirements.
"Then what ink do we use?"
asked Ma Zhou.
"You have to use special pine ink."
Ink is made of pine tobacco, and the process of making ink is recorded in Qi Min's technique.
The use of pine tobacco as a raw material for ink production began in the Three Kingdoms, but at that time there was no industry, and it was only used by the writers themselves.
The simplest method of making ink is to use fine and pure soot, through a pestle and sieve, to remove impurities, and quench.
By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the ink-making industry had formed a mature industry, the competition was still fierce, and the ink-making technology of pine tobacco was also more perfect.
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To make a piece of ink, it is actually very complicated.
First, an ancient pine has to be drained of gum and then cut down.
It is said that if there is a hair of rosin that is not cleaned, then the ink made by this pine smoke will have an incomprehensible disease.
Therefore, after selecting a pine tree, it is necessary to punch holes in the roots of the tree and slowly roast it with a lamp to let all the pine resin in the tree run clean.
The pine wood is then cut into inches and placed into a closed semi-circular bamboo canopy made of bamboo strips that resembles a boat canopy, leaving small holes for smoke and setting up a brick flue.
After burning for a few days, wait until it is cold to go in and sweep the loose smoke.
After getting the pine smoke, it is also mixed with glue, and then the embryo is made to dry.
Finally, there is a finished product after adding a style of packaging.
"The ink we want doesn't need the kind of ink ingots that are made after gluing and hammering and pestle."
The ink used in printing by the Song people is to directly grind the coarse cigarettes at the beginning of the tobacco room, and then add rubber and wine to make a paste, and then store it in the tank for three winters and four summers, the longer it is stored, the better the ink quality.
For long-term storage of ink paste, add water and mix it thoroughly when it is ready to use, and then filter it with a horsetail made into a sieve before use.
This kind of ink is the ink used for printing, and the ink printing made of ordinary ink ingots and water grinding will easily melt away and make the handwriting blurry.
However, this method is still too time-consuming, and Zhang Chao does not have time to spend several years making ink.
But now there is no ready-made printing ink, Zhang Chao still plans to make his own printing ink.
"I've found several firms and bought a batch of coarse cigarettes from many ink mills."
The coarse tobacco is of poor quality, and the ink produced is also the cheapest.
Zhang Chao bought coarse cigarettes, and the price he gave was quite fair, and those ink shops were also happy that someone bought them. t1706231537: