Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The popularity of the Beijing News special issue has aroused heated discussion in the capital.

Some officials even went to court, believing that the Beijing News should be investigated and punished for randomly publishing the contents of the imperial examinations and disrupting the minds of the candidates, and prohibiting the sale of the Beijing News.

But he apparently forgot that this was not the first time that the Beijing News published the contents of the imperial examination. After the previous imperial examination lists came out, the Beijing News would copy them and sell them to those who paid attention. As a result, the six words "Beijing News has been listed in Huangjia" have become a fixed phrase to congratulate the imperial examination.

It has not been banned for so many years, and it is even less possible now. Zhu Youjian ignored this at all, but happily summoned the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the craftsmen of the Wensi Academy to reward them:

"The special issue of Beijing News is printed so well, and you deserve a lot of credit."

"You should be rewarded accordingly as mentioned before."

Zhu Youjian had previously promised to reward hundreds of craftsmen who solved the paper patterns.

Although the printing this time did not use paper molds, but used wax plates to recast the lead printing, the cost was a bit higher than the paper mold recasting.

But Zhu Youjian was still very happy, and rewarded Lu Xiang, the craftsman who proposed the idea and solved the related craftsmanship, with hundreds of households. Encourage him to continue his efforts and make new achievements to improve printing quality and reduce costs to another level.

Lu Xiang was extremely excited when he received the reward.

He was born into a craftsman family, so he changed his name to his current name because he admired Kuai Xiang, a craftsman in the early days of the Kingdom, and wanted to build a career like Kuai Luban and become a high official in the court.

It's just that in this era, if craftsmen want to be high officials, they also have to take the imperial examination. Lu Xiang was not proficient in Eight-legged essay writing, and his talent was all about craftsmanship. Of course, he would not be able to pass the exam.

After several decades, he only became deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy, the lowest-ranking ninth-grade official.

This made him often lament that he was unlucky because he was not born in the early years of the country and could not be the left minister of the Ministry of Industry and receive a first-grade salary like Kuai Xiang.

It was not until the current emperor ascended the throne and established the Shaofu Temple that Lu Xiang rekindled the fire in his heart and saw the opportunity to become a high official.

According to the emperor, anyone with a craftsman background could hold the official position in Shaofu Temple. Now he is employed by an official from the Ministry of Industry, but no suitable candidate has been found.

If he can stand out among the craftsmen officials, he will be promoted quickly, and even become the minister of the Shaofu Temple and the right minister of the Ministry of Industry in the future.

Therefore, as soon as Lu Xiang was established in Shaofu Temple, he found a way to enter the Printing Research Institute of Wensi Academy, hoping to solve the problem of paper pattern and obtain the Hundred Houses Award.

The emperor only proposed a concept for the term papier-mâché, and no one knew how to realize it. All the craftsmen and officials of the Wensi Academy worked hard for a long time but could not invent it.

Instead, engraving and wax printing were mixed, which was quickly solved by some craftsmen. They used wooden engraving blocks to print wax plates, which were used for tabloid printing.

This technology has been tried in some tabloids, but because the engraving speed of wooden engraving plates is slow and the news is not disseminated in time, it cannot replace the existing wax engraving technology.

But after seeing it, Lu Xiang was inspired by them. He gave up the unresolved papier-mâché and used the carved wax plates to reprint the lead plates——

The process was reversed, using the wax plate as the base and printing with the cast lead engraving.

This technology is called wax plate printing. Although it still belongs to engraving printing, it is much faster than before——

Carving on wax is faster than carving on wood. Previous tabloids such as the Beijing News used this method to print quickly. However, the wax plate is easily damaged and the writing is not clear. It is usually useless after printing a few hundred copies and needs to be engraved again.

Lead plates do not have this problem. Engraving plates made of metallic lead can be printed in thousands, tens of thousands or even more copies without damage. A single engraving can be used to complete large-scale printing.

After the emergence of this technology, it was quickly regarded as a great achievement by Xue Fengxiang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Minister of the Shaofu Temple, and presented it to the emperor.

After Zhu Youjian found out, he immediately ordered an inspection. This printing of the Beijing News special issue is a market-oriented test.

As a result, the printing quality was acceptable to the scholars, and the speed of engraving and recasting was almost the same as the wax printing used before. Although the cost is higher due to recasting the lead plate, after being diluted by large-scale printing, it is actually lower than the wax plate that can only print a few hundred copies.

In Zhu Youjian's view, this technology is already very suitable for printing newspapers and publications, and can help him guide public opinion.

So he was so happy that he directly awarded the Hundred Households to Lu Xiang and ordered:
"The level of the Wensi Academy will be upgraded to the fifth rank, imitating the Hanlin Academy, and will be under the personal control of the Shaofu Temple Minister for the time being."

"The level of each affiliated research institute is set at the sixth level."

"Lu Xiang has made outstanding achievements in the study of printing. He has the title of Zheng Liupin Baihu, and is actually the director of the Printing Research Institute."

Lu Xiang's official position was directly appointed to the sixth rank.

After Lu Xiang heard this, he immediately thanked Tian'en and was so excited that he could not speak coherently.

Zhu Youjian did not blame him for his impoliteness, but said gently:
"Lu Qing's ability to realize wax plate printing and lead printing so quickly shows that he is talented in this area. He must lead this research institute well in the future."

"Moveable type, paper type, and stereotypes are the top priorities. Lu Qing has realized the typography, but we must also pay attention to paper patterns and movable types. We must set up a special research room to continue research. After the two are completed, there will also be hundreds of households. "Reward."

"There are also paper and ink used for printing. We need to continue to optimize and continue to improve the quality."

"Currently, the clichés are flat. In the future, we will develop to rollers to increase the printing speed."

Put forward several directions for Lu Xiang to continue research.

Lu Xiang hurriedly accepted the order, and Zhu Youjian allowed him to enjoy a 20-year patent on lead printing in accordance with the patent law. His team of craftsmen, as well as officials such as Xue Fengxiang who presided over the research and development of the technology, would all have a share of the patent dividends. into income.

The craftsmen who perfected the wax plates and processed the inks also had patents. Zhu Youjian also gave the title of knighthood to craftsmen who made outstanding contributions, allowing them to be exempted from corvee, not to kneel before officials, and enjoy the treatment of scholars.

Such a reward made everyone in Wensi Academy excited, thinking it was an unprecedented favor——

Not only did the emperor cash in the rewards for hundreds of households, he also gave them patent dividends for twenty years. It can be said that he gave them both wealth and honor.

Some craftsmen who had unique skills inherited from their families and did not want to use them before have since contributed to the development of related technologies such as stereotypes, inks, and paper to a more perfect level.

Xue Fengxiang and other officials from the Ministry of Industry were also very happy. Because according to the system set by the emperor, for patents obtained through research and development conducted by the imperial court, the officials in charge and the craftsmen would receive a share of the dividends.

After the special issue of "Beijing News" was successfully sold and the first patent dividends related to wax plates, lead plates, and inks were issued, officials from the Ministry of Industry became more enthusiastic about technology and urged the craftsmen of the Institute of Literature and Art to develop technologies and obtain patent dividends. (End of chapter)