Chapter 381 Printing

The prophecy made Li Heng see the methods of the aristocratic officials, but he could not do anything about them because the aristocratic officials represented by Cui Guangyuan all said they were doing it for the Tang Dynasty. Li Heng did not believe their words, but there were people who did.

Just like Wei Fangjin before, Li Heng did not kill him not because he wanted to win his heart, but to win the hearts of others.

The aristocratic families monopolized knowledge and controlled public opinion. They could hype up a small matter as a sign of the country's destruction, let alone killing people who were "loyal and outspoken for the country."

Li Heng was still thinking about the prophecy, with his head lowered in deep thought.

Zhang Mujin presented Li Heng with a bowl of soup and said, "Alang has worked hard for the country and has exhausted all his energy. I can't help him. I can only make some food to nourish Alang."

"Did you make it yourself?" Li Ying asked.

Zhang Mujin nodded and said, "I learned about food supplements and made this especially for Alang."

"Thank you for your help." Li Ying smiled back, took a few sips, and said, "It tastes good."

Zhang Mujin was very happy to see that Li Ying liked it, and served Li Ying another glass of watermelon juice.

In the Tang Dynasty, watermelon was not called watermelon, but cold melon.

Li Ying drank the watermelon juice that Zhang Mujin brought up and asked, "Did you make this too?"

"Yes." Zhang Mujin nodded and said, "I added ice cubes to it, which makes it taste better, but you shouldn't eat too much because winter melon is cold in nature."

"Ice cubes..." Li Heng thought of something.

It was he who proposed the idea of ​​making ice to Zhang Mujin. He had the technology to make ice, and he could also provide the technology to break the monopoly of the aristocratic families on the right to speak and public opinion.

The key to breaking the aristocratic families’ monopoly on discourse and public opinion is to break the monopoly on knowledge.

Although the Tang Dynasty already had the imperial examination system, the diffusion of knowledge to lower levels was far from sufficient. The reason for this was that studying was too expensive.

The papermaking technology in the Tang Dynasty was still quite advanced, but the printing technology was completely not up to standard. Woodblock printing was not popular and the cost was still high.

Zhang Mujin saw that Li Ying seemed to be thinking about something, so she asked, "Ah Lang, do you have another brilliant idea?"

Li Ying asked curiously, "How do you know?"

Zhang Mujin laughed and said, "Ah Lang always has this expression when he has a brilliant idea."

"I see." Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "I remember your grandfather said that he wanted to revise the Classic of Materia Medica?"

Zhang Mujin said: "Yes, there are omissions in the Classic of Materia Medica, and Grandpa has already re-annotated it."

"Very good." Li Heng smiled slightly, "I'll print it for him when the time comes."

After Li Ying finished speaking, he stood up, hugged Zhang Mujin's face and kissed her, saying, "The food you cooked is delicious. I'll go to the Hanlin Academy first."

Zhang Mujin was frightened by Li Ying's lively appearance. It was not until Li Ying left that she came to her senses and smiled knowingly.

……

Hanlin Academy.

The officials of the Hanlin Academy were competing in poetry at the time, and it was very lively until Li Heng walked in. Everyone immediately quieted down and saluted Li Heng together.

Li Ying sat down and looked around, but didn't see Li Bai, so he asked, "Where is Li Bai?"

Du Fu, who had come to join in the fun, quickly replied: "I will go and summon him immediately."

"No need." Li Ying stopped Du Fu and asked, "Is he drunk again?"

Du Fu was afraid that Li Heng would blame Li Bai, but he did not dare to lie, so he said timidly, "Yes." Li Heng knew Li Bai's character, and he did not want Li Bai to make any political achievements, so he stopped asking and asked everyone, "Who among you knows about woodblock printing?"

Du Fu hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard Wang Youcheng mention that some Buddhist temples had used woodblocks to print Buddhist scriptures before. Wang Youcheng thought it was novel and brought a copy with him."

"Really?" Li Heng didn't expect Wang Wei to have such an experience, and immediately asked the eunuch to summon Wang Wei.

Not long after, Wang Wei arrived at the Hanlin Academy.

Wang Wei once asked the eunuch Li Ying why he was promoted to the position, and the eunuch said it was because he had Buddhist scriptures printed on woodblocks.

Wang Wei was shocked by the eunuch's words, because Li Heng was cracking down on Buddhism at that time, and he thought Li Heng was going to hold him accountable.

Therefore, as soon as Wang Wei arrived at the Hanlin Academy, he presented the Buddhist scriptures and said, "Your Majesty, I have nothing to do with the Buddhist temple..."

Li Heng interrupted Wang Wei and said, "I didn't say you had any connection with the Buddhist temple."

"Uh..." Wang Wei was stunned.

Li Ying took the Buddhist scripture from Wang Wei, took a look at it, and said, "I know that Wang Youcheng is proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, so there is nothing wrong with studying."

Wang Wei felt relieved and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Li Ying said: "Buddhist temples all know how to print Buddhist scriptures to spread the teachings. The government wants to educate the people, so why don't they print books?"

Wang Wei didn't react for a moment.

Li Heng explained: "The imperial edicts were copied by hand, which was unavoidable. But to educate the people, we can use a unified book. Since we can use a unified book, why not carve a template and use it to print?"

Wang Wei understood and said, "If we can use templates for printing, it will save time and effort."

Li Heng nodded and said, "I'll leave this to you. Carve a version of Mengqiu first. I'll see how it works. If you need any cooperation from any department, feel free to dispatch them. If you have any questions, you can discuss them with me."

"Meng Qiu" is a literacy textbook from the Tang Dynasty.

"Yes." Wang Wei accepted the order.

Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "The woodblocks you've seen before have many characters carved on one board. If individual characters are carved independently, different books can be printed."

Wang Wei thought it made a lot of sense and said in admiration, "Your Majesty is wise."

What Li Ying was talking about was actually woodblock printing and movable type printing.

Movable type printing is more advanced than woodblock printing, but with current technology, movable type printing is not as practical as woodblock printing.

First, after each use of movable type printing, it needs to be typeset again, which is a waste of time and requires the typesetter to be well educated.

Second, movable type printing has very high requirements for fonts and font sizes, and one word needs to be engraved in different fonts and font sizes.

Third, movable type is prone to wear and tear. Common clay and wooden movable type break after just a few uses. The copper movable type is complex to make and too expensive, even less cost-effective than hand copying.

Li Heng knew the problems, but he still proposed the idea of ​​movable type printing because the advancement of any technology would have an impact beyond just the technology itself, and he needed to let everyone know about the existence of this technology.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and added, "Let's focus on engraving first. It doesn't matter if a single movable type cannot be made in a short time."

"Yes." Wang Wei accepted the order, but since he had not put it into practice yet, he felt that movable type printing was better than woodblock printing based on his imagination alone. Therefore, although he accepted the order verbally, he was very confused in his heart.

Li Ying could see Wang Wei's confusion, but he did not explain, because no matter how much he explained, it would not be as good as practicing it once to understand it thoroughly.

Li Heng said, "The imperial examination some time ago recruited scholars from many disciplines. The Hanlin Academy brought the best scholars from each discipline to compile basic books for each discipline. We don't seek speed, but accuracy."

(End of this chapter)