"Printing, this is what you call ink technology." when Kong Yingda followed Merton to Ink magazine, they saw rows of printing tools and frowned.


    "That''s nature! Most of the books in the Confucius house are isolated. Naturally, they have to be printed before they can be borrowed by servants every day." Merton nodded and admitted.


    "That said, when you are an old man, you don''t understand printing. You need to be rigid for every page printed. The Kong family has countless books. You''re going to engrave them until monkey years and horses." Kong Yingda shook his head. How can he not understand printing? That''s what happened under his eyes. Engraving printing is extremely labor-consuming and time-consuming. It''s only suitable for books and periodicals printed in large quantities, For example, the ink journal, Confucian journal or the best-selling books of the four books and five classics can be printed in large quantities. Naturally, they can be returned to the original. However, the amount required for those isolated books is not much. If there are a large number of stereotypes, they can only be printed in small quantities, which is not even enough. In addition, the collection of books that need to be printed is more than 10000, which is the wealth of the Confucius family. I''m afraid they can''t afford to supply them.


    Even Kong Desheng was not good at looking at Merton. He didn''t know whether the boy came to help the Kong family or pit the Kong family.


    Merton laughed and said, "master, don''t worry. If the Mohist ink skills are so simple, the boy will not make a fool of himself. This time, the boy recommended the latest Mohist printing, movable type printing."


    "Movable type printing?" Kong Yingda didn''t understand.


    Merton said proudly, "do you remember where the inspiration of block printing came from?"


    "It seems to come from the seal!" Kong Yingda thought.


    Merton nodded and said, "yes, it comes from the seal. At the beginning, our idea was to engrave the words on the board like a seal on the paper. This is block printing."


    Kong Yingda nodded. Engraving printing seemed simple, but it was a great thing. It directly solved the problem of copying books for students all over the world, and the price of books fell sharply.


    Merton continued: "woodblock printing is easy to use, but it is only suitable for a large number of printed books. The more one is engraved and printed, the lower the cost of printing books. However, it is not cost-effective for some books that do not sell well. Many isolated books are precious, but the sales volume is not high, so the publishing house is not willing to lose money at all."


    Kong Desheng nodded, and what Merton said was indeed the truth.


    "In printing ink periodicals, Mohists usually divide ink periodicals into several columns to carve wood plates for printing respectively. Several carvers work at the same time, which can save several times the carving time. Then these small blocks can be integrated into one piece, just enough to raise one edition for printing. This is the reason why ink periodicals can be printed quickly." Merton broke the news.


    "So it is?" Kong Yingda suddenly realized that the reason why Mo periodicals are more popular than Confucianism periodicals is not only the grounded content, but also the most important reason is that the number of pages of Mo periodicals is one-third more than Confucianism periodicals, which naturally appears sincere.


    "The master can think about it. Since we can divide a block into several pieces, why can''t we divide this small block into one word and then assemble it into one piece? This is movable type printing." Merton said.


    "One word, one word!" Kong Ying Darden was generally impressed. It may take half a day for a craftsman to carve a engraving. However, it may only take a moment to carve a word. As long as there are enough sculptors, they can be stereotyped in a short time.


    "No, the advantage of movable type printing is not only that. Once the engraving is fixed, and after printing this page, it is necessary to re stereotype. However, there are no same articles in the world, but the words used to write articles are the same. Once the movable type printing is made and printed, these engravings can re disrupt the typesetting without repeating the stereotype, which will greatly save the printing cost."


    When Merton finished, Kong Ying Darden''s eyes were bright. At this moment, he really realized that the power of movable type printing is that there is no need to repeat the stereotype. Just engraving all the words at one time is enough to print any book in the world, and it saves time and effort.


    "It''s a genius''s idea." Kong Yingda exclaimed. A woodblock printing has greatly reduced the price of books in the world, and movable type printing is a cross era technology. Once it is born, it will surely detonate the spread of knowledge in the world.


    "With this secret skill, I finally believe that the era when everyone can read has come. This is the general trend of the world. Those who follow will prosper and those who go against will die." Kong Desheng said happily.


    Once a large number of books can be printed, which books in the Kong family''s collection must be available again. Even ordinary people can have a large number of books to read. The educational resources in the hands of the aristocratic family will be spread out, which makes them more convinced that the day when the aristocratic family controls education is not far away.


    Both of them suddenly became heroic and had full confidence in defeating the aristocratic family for the first time.


    Merton nodded slightly. The reason why he threw out the unique skill of movable type printing is to cheer up the Confucianism. Once the Confucianism sees the hope of defeating the aristocratic family, it will not easily look at the five surnames and seven. As long as the Confucianism persists, the pressure on the Mohist side will be much easier.


    "Mo San, are the gifts for the master ready!" Murton Lang said.


    Mo San, who had been following behind in silence, immediately came forward and said, "young master, two predecessors, this way, please!"


    Under the leadership of Mo San, the people went out of the room and came to a large workshop. They saw that Mohist craftsmen were typesetting according to the handwritten manuscript. Movable characters as small as beans were quickly assembled on a template in the dexterous hands of Mohist children. It only took a little time. A version of the manuscript had been assembled, which was much faster than carving.


    "Every movable type in movable type printing is the same as the dictionary created by brother Kong. It is arranged according to the sound, rhyme and strokes, which is convenient for the children of Mohism to find. After use, it can be put back in its original place." Merton pointed to each movable type.


    "This is lettering, not wooden?" Kong Desheng picked up a movable type and was surprised. Woodblock printing has always been woodcut, but the lettering in his hand is obviously cold and heavy, which is obviously made of metal.


    Merton laughed and said, "wood lettering is OK, but it is easy to wear out, and it is easy to be bitten by insects as it is used for a long time! However, the biggest advantage of movable type printing is that the lettering can be reused, so Mo seeks new materials that can be printed without being vulnerable. The first idea of Mohist school is to carve ceramic movable characters with clay and burn them into pottery."


    "This method is feasible!" Kong Yingda nodded. Pottery is not afraid of corrosion and can indeed be reused.


    Merton nodded and said, "Tao Huo characters can be used, but they are too large. In addition, they are easy to be damaged if they fall, and they are eventually abandoned by the Mohists."


    "Is it made of iron?" Kong Desheng said thoughtfully, looking at the metal movable type in his hand.


    Merton shook his head and said, "iron cast movable type can also be used, but iron is easy to rust and too hard to carve movable type. The movable type seen by predecessors is lead movable type, which is made of pure lead refined by the Taoist external pill. It is not easy to rust, and the texture is soft and easy to carve. It is the best material for movable type printing."


    Kong Yingda nodded approvingly. Not only did he marvel at the creativity of the lead movable type in front of him, but also the craft of the lead movable type itself used the Mohist ink technology to the extreme. The metal movable type font in his hand is very small. The positive side is engraved with positive characters for easy search, and the reverse side is engraved with reverse characters. There is an exquisite buckle in the middle, which can make the two movable types just stuck together, so precise that it is even difficult to see the small gap.


    "Mohism is really extraordinary, and movable type printing has reached perfection in both creativity and technology." Kong Yingda couldn''t help sighing.


    "Lead movable type! The great gift of Mohism is really heavy enough! The Kongs are inspired." Kong Desheng said solemnly.


    Merton was embarrassed and said with a smile: "I misunderstood you. At present, there is only one set of lead movable type. If you take it away, I''m afraid the ink periodicals of the Mohist school will stop immediately. What the boy prepared for the Kong family is the pottery movable type made before the Mohist school. I believe it must be enough for the elder to print books."


    With a wave of his hand, Merton saw that Mo San opened a warehouse and revealed a mountain of pottery words.


    Kong Desheng blew his beard and said, "feeling, you boy, take the ink skills that the Mohists don''t need and come to the Kong family to beg for favor!"


    Merton hurriedly explained: "don''t be surprised, elder. It takes a lot of time to make a pair of movable type. There are tens of thousands of Chinese characters alone. Plus some commonly used words, there are thousands. It needs to be engraved according to its different frequency of use, plus the time it takes to engrave. If elder is willing to wait for more than a month, the boy will give a complete set of lead movable type."


    "No, pottery movable type is enough!" Kong Yingda said firmly. The Kong family has had enough of the cowardice of the aristocratic family. He is not willing to wait for a moment now. Moreover, in his opinion, the font of lead movable type is too small, and the ink journal used to carry more words is naturally the best. However, for Kong Yingda, who has been used to calligraphy all his life, A slightly larger font printed by Tao movable type is the most suitable text for the library. After all, the library faces readers who are used to reading big characters all over the world.