Promotion Letter for the Chief Executive

Zhao Can never expected that Ping An would say such a thing.

There was a strange look in his eyes, but it quickly subsided.Maybe it's because he knew that Ping'an was quite courageous, so even though he couldn't understand Ping'an's idea, he didn't get angry seriously.

After all, Zhao Can didn't think that Ping An's "delusion" could really become a reality.

On the contrary, he found something exciting in Ping An's words.

Ping An is not as "honest" and "not pursuing" as he thought before.It's just that his ideas always run counter to the mainstream.Compared to climbing up and enjoying the glory and wealth, he seems to prefer this kind of "delusion" that is almost impossible to succeed.

When he was meditating, Ping An also woke up.He was so happy to see Zhao Can that he lost his mind again.I don't know what's going on, even in front of Master, he has never been so relaxed in front of Zhao Can.Maybe the appearance of the other child is too deceptive?

And Ping An didn't expect Zhao Can to understand so deeply.It is indeed fortunate that he is only a child, otherwise he is not sure how to deal with himself.So Ping An honestly closed his mouth.

On the contrary, Zhao Can said, "I don't know what the world you're talking about is like. It's just that...you want everyone in Dachu to read." He shook his head, "I'm afraid we won't see that day."

He pointed to the engraving in Ping'an's hand, "Just say books, how many can you print in a day? I have tens of millions of people in Dachu, and even if it's just one book for each person, it may take hundreds of years to print. Besides, there are so many papers. Where did He Mo come from?"

Zhao Can was not reprimanded, and Zhao Can tried to reason with himself. Ping An was a little surprised, but also indescribably happy.At least Zhao Can didn't really feel that he was delusional, and then scoffed.At least in this world where no one understands themselves, there are still people who are willing to listen to themselves.

His heart couldn't help stirring again.

But in the end, Ping An only said, "As long as you have an idea, these problems can always be solved. Problems arise, aren't they just waiting for us to solve them?"

It is quite novel to say that problems arise and wait for people to solve them.Zhao Can said, "Then how do you solve it?"

This time, Ping An suppressed his desire to show off, "I am a soft-spoken person, and of course this problem cannot be solved."

Speaking of this, he was also a little dazed.If the emperor wanted to implement such a reform, it would be easy, right?At least these missing things can be mobilized with just one sentence.

Ping An didn't know that even being an emperor didn't mean absolute freedom.He just took it for granted.After all, this is the ancient times when imperial power was supreme.

So is it possible for me to give it a little push?

In fact, for every traveler, maybe they hope to bring a little change to this world, right?More or less, but what I brought, seems to have left a little trace in this era, proving that I once existed.

Of course, the situation he faced at the beginning of the journey was very embarrassing, and it was impossible for him to have such thoughts at that time.Besides, I'm just a eunuch, and I can't get out of the way, so I said that I want to change something, isn't that a joke?

Most importantly, Ping An didn't know what he could do at that time.

But now, what he has to do is in front of him: promote books and knowledge.Even if it is not possible for everyone to go to school, at least the cost will not be so high - it is said that the cost of living for a medium-sized folk family for a year is only four or five taels of silver.But these few taels of silver are used to buy pens, inks, papers and inkstones, which may not be enough for one person for a month.

Therefore, even if an ordinary family supports the whole family, it may not be able to support a scholar.The cost is too high and the burden is too heavy.

Therefore, it is difficult for a poor family to produce a noble son, and the aristocratic family and the gentry gradually formed, and finally the position was stable and unbreakable.The only people who suffer are ordinary people oppressed by them.

Ping An hopes that he can do something.He understood very well that all revolutions arise from the bottom.As long as they can get books and knowledge, they can open their eyes and gradually understand the composition of this world.Then one day, quantitative changes accumulate and become qualitative changes.

What will happen then Ping An does not know.But he feels that if the monarchy has been so stable, then the country will inevitably decline in the end.Perhaps the history of this world will be like the world he lived in before, when the guns and cannons of foreigners opened the door, only to realize that what he has been sticking to is wrong.

If there is a little change, maybe the result will be different.

This thought made Pingan's blood boil.Of course he knew it would not be an easy task.But if it is done as a lifelong goal, it may not be impossible.

Seeing Ping An's thoughtful look, Zhao Can's eyes flashed brightly.He didn't disturb Ping An, and the two walked out of the workshop quietly.When Ping An was illuminated by the sunlight outside, he realized that he had been distracted just now.

He turned to look at Zhao Can, but Zhao Can was looking at the sky, "I should go." He said.

Ping An couldn't react.But Zhao Can didn't pursue what he was thinking, and Ping An put those thoughts behind him, "I'll see you off."

After Zhao Can was sent away, the peaceful life returned to its original calm.But if he insisted on speaking safely, he felt that there was a little difference.He has become more active. Whether it's blending in with the crowd or learning new skills, it used to be dispensable to him. It was more like a way to pass the time. He didn't put much thought into it, but now it's different.

Inspired by Zhao Can, Ping An first thought of the change he could make: moveable type printing!

Now all printing is engraving, and there are always some troubles. For example, once a certain part or a certain character of the engraving is damaged, it cannot be used and needs to be remade, which is a waste of time.

And it was only when Ping An came here that he realized that engraving is not carving out of thin air on a wooden board, but sticking the written paper on the wooden board, and then peeling off the excess bit by bit. This work is a test of the workers' skills. Not skilled workers, the frequency of mistakes is very high, time-consuming and labor-intensive and waste materials.

Moreover, each page of text needs to be engraved with a separate book block, which is also a very large amount of work.In addition, for places like Jingchang, they don't need to print in batches, so the book blocks are engraved and can only be placed after being used a few times.Storage is also a challenge.

All in all, compared with movable type printing, block printing is simply weak.

Well, after all, it is something that has been tested by history.After all, Ping An is standing on the shoulders of giants and has taken advantage of it.

But I forgot when I saw it in a book. In fact, in the Song and Ming Dynasties when movable type printing just appeared, because the printing industry was highly developed, woodblock printing was actually much more popular than movable type printing—why?Of course, it was because the publishing industry was too developed at that time, and the printing volume of the same book was huge.For the small workshops in the south of the Yangtze River, as long as there are a few engraving blocks, they can be printed and sold every year, and there is no need to make movable type.

And because it is printed for ordinary people, there is no need to pursue exquisiteness, and even if there are mistakes and omissions, you don't care.That's why there are various versions of books, Fujian version, Jiangnan version and so on.Even if later generations collect antiques, the value of these books from different origins is quite different.

The domestic market is like this. Because the labor cost is low enough, it is often difficult to get attention immediately after the emergence of new technologies.

This is also the fundamental reason why movable type printing was finally sought after after it was introduced to Europe, and then exported to domestic sales and returned to China.

If peace is in the private sector, I really dare not think about it.Fortunately, he is in the palace now, and the world is rich and honored. All things must be the best, and they must be produced by themselves.Therefore, a huge industrial chain has also formed around the palace. In addition to the tens of thousands of court ladies and eunuchs serving the masters, there are also tens of thousands of craftsmen affiliated to the 24 yamen. Provide top-notch service.

This gave Ping An the soil to develop movable type printing.

Among the printers, the most skilled craftsman is surnamed Zhou, and he is over 50 years old this year.In fact, his eyes are not as good as before, but he has not retired, because he has been working entirely by "feel".In his mind, he has memorized dozens of books in Yangwen, and he doesn't need to read them at all, he just engraves them according to his own feelings.Every time Pingan sees his flowing movements when engraving, he thinks it is the most beautiful art.

The most wonderful thing is that the engraving is still in the standard Guange style. Pingan believes that even the most self-confident literati can't meet this standard.

Sometimes when I think that I want to replace these aesthetic things with new technologies, Ping An feels a little sad.When science and technology are highly developed and can replace all human work, these beauties will surely disappear.

However, Craftsman Zhou did not have such sadness as Ping An.

Pingan tentatively mentioned movable type printing to him: "Engrave each character individually, pick out the typesetting when you need it, and put it back when you don't need it. Isn't it much more convenient?"

Carpenter Zhou couldn't help but slapped his thigh, "Hey! This is a good idea, why didn't any of us think of it before? It's because of your young minds!"

This acceptance rate is also very high, Ping An was a little stunned, "Uh, maybe you won't need such engraving in the future, isn't it a pity?"

"What's so regrettable about this?" Craftsman Zhou looked at Ping An with doubts in his eyes, "I have practiced for 30 years in order to master this unique skill! My son has not been able to practice like this until now. If he had this movable type , the children will naturally not need to work so hard in the future."

That’s right, he only cares about the beauty of art, but forgets that all the inventions and creations of tools are ultimately to make human beings “lazy” and make their lives more comfortable.The invention of movable type saves a lot of effort, so the craftsmen are naturally much more relaxed.Who wouldn't be happy to get the same wages but do less work?

As for the beauty of art?Besides safety, who cares?

Ping An felt a little lost in his heart.

But he quickly shook his head, kicked the disappointment into the corner, pulled himself together and said, "That's what I think, let's try to make one in private first. If it can be done, print a book and send it up." , look at the reaction above, what do you think?"

"That's safe." Carpenter Zhou didn't have any objections.

So the two began to think about firing movable type.Ping An felt that he could try burning clay first. After all, this is simple and quick, not more complicated than metal.However, the results of the burning are very unsatisfactory. The bad ones are more than the good ones, and some look good, but in fact they have been burned out of shape and cannot be used at all.

"We still need to use metal." Ping An was a little worried.They are an economic factory here, and they don't have such materials and equipment. If they want to do it, they have to deal with other yamen.At that time, can this still be regarded as a "private trial production"?

Besides, even if Ping An is not afraid of others taking the credit, if there is no order from above, who will listen to him as a small boss?

Really sad.

In the end, it was Carpenter Zhou who woke up the dreamer, "Why use other materials? It is better to use wood to carve. Anyway, wood is always available here. Besides, each character is not big, just use some scraps. It will not Attractive."

Ping An couldn't help but slapped his forehead, it was dark under the lights again.He just remembered that there were clay type, copper type, lead type, etc... so he always wanted to burn and cast, but he forgot his own advantages.

Or is it not an advantage? "Will it be troublesome to engrave each character?" Ping An was a little worried.

Craftsman Zhou seemed full of confidence, "It's just asking for more detail and trouble, it's nothing. I have carved Yangwen for so many years, and I can carve it with my eyes closed."

But he also has his own worries, "But so many characters, even if they are engraved, can they be found? A book needs so many words."

Hearing this, Ping An couldn't help laughing.That's the downside of not having statistics.He explained to Craftsman Zhou, "In fact, there are not many. Although a book looks like a lot of characters, most of them are actually repeated. In fact, there are only a few thousand characters that are often used."

If he remembers correctly, there are [-] commonly used characters in modern Chinese.Hong Kong and Taiwan use traditional characters, and there may be more, but in any case it will not exceed [-] characters.

Compared with the tens of thousands of words in a book in Zhou's impression, these five thousand words are really very few.

So the old man immediately made a decision, "Then carve out these few thousand characters first, and add the other ones that are not commonly used when they come across." Now there are only a few thousand words, so naturally it is full of pride.

Seeing this, Ping An couldn't help but smile.The emotional old man is so unwilling to admit defeat, really intends to engrave a whole book?

After you have a plan, the rest of the work will be simple, it is all meticulous work, it is nothing more than time-consuming and energy-consuming, and it is rather boring.First of all, Ping An must first select these thousands of characters, and then hand them over to Zhou craftsmen to carve.

Although it is easy to say, it is actually quite difficult.The main reason is that Ping An does not know how much time it will take.Because Craftsman Zhou is also responsible for the work at hand, he can only do these private things in his free time.After obtaining Ping An's consent, he also brought his honest son into the group, but the progress was still much slower than Ping An expected.

Ping An knew that he was too eager for success.These craftsmen originally did the work of excellence.Here, no one asks for their efficiency, as long as they make the best things.So now it is slowly pondering.Ping An later discovered that craftsman Zhou would even hold and play with the finished characters for a while, supposedly to make the strokes more rounded.

This is something Ping An can't understand anyway.

Although he had read a lot of rumors like watching the excitement before: it took four embroiderers to work day and night for a whole year to make a set of emperor's clothes, and how ancient craftsmen could carve letters on rice grains... I also learned about nuclear carving in my junior high school text, and I can carve lifelike objects and characters on a small walnut shell.

All of this is breathtaking, but when it was Ping An's turn, I felt that it was too much of a test of patience.

Taking 250 characters as the standard, assuming that Zhou and his son can complete [-] characters a day, it will take a full [-] days, or more than eight months!

But now there was nothing he could do but wait.

Ping An was worried at first, but later saw that worrying was useless, so he let it go.Didn't he regard "bringing a little change to the world" as his life goal?In this life, let alone 50 years, spending eight months to lay the foundation is actually very worthwhile.

It's not unbearable to compare it in a larger environment.Besides, Ping An deeply knows what his biggest flaw is now: he is young, and after all, he is not an aborigine, so he may appear out of place in many places.For example, he is very ignorant of many "common sense" that everyone knows.

He has been here for a short time. Before that, he spent most of his time in the Bell and Drum Division devoted himself to creation, and had little contact with other people, so he didn't attract much attention.But if you want to go to the Supervisor of Rituals in the future, the situation will be completely different.

Staying in the yamen closest to the emperor, any small flaws and mistakes will become a thorn in the eyes of others and will be repeatedly picked on.

Instead of trying to deal with it at that time, it's better... to polish yourself from the beginning, so that no one can find any faults.

At this time, Ping An has decided that he will definitely return to the palace—whether it is for Xu Wenmei, or for his ultimate goal.That being the case, start preparing now.

So Ping An stopped worrying, and while flipping through the Jingchang's collection, he added words that had not been recorded before to his list.Not only enriched myself, but also completed part of the work incidentally, why not do it?

In addition, he no longer mixed with the craftsmen, and no longer locked himself in the room. Instead, with the help of the young man, he often came and went with other people in the factory—Ping An has made it clear He had hinted to Xiaosanzi that he was only here for gilding, and he would leave in half a year at the earliest, and in two or three years at the latest, and then this position would naturally be left to him.

The youngest son is a smart person, and that one is even more sophisticated. Ping An has already made his attitude clear, so naturally he will not make things difficult.On the contrary, it disappointed the other two directors who were waiting to see the excitement.

However, after so many years of suppressing their surname Hu, they have long been used to it, and they threw it away after being disappointed.I didn't expect Ping An to do any great things at first, but I didn't expect him to regress so quickly.

In such a harmonious atmosphere, Ping An inquired about what he needed without any trace, combined with the history in his mind, and the part from the book, he put it together and reluctantly packaged himself into a person. The ancients, at least at this moment, will not see any flaws if someone comes again.

At the same time, Ping An finally realized how inappropriate his previous relationship with Zhao Can was.Fortunately, he had just arrived and didn't understand anything, and Zhao Can was not angry, otherwise a hundred deaths would be enough.

In this palace, everything else can be vague, only the four words "the difference between master and servant", no one dares to go beyond.

Ping An was sweating for himself.

So much so that when Zhao Can came to him for the second time, he didn't know how to face him.The attitude is too polite, but it seems rusty.

Zhao Can was a little upset, "Ping'an, are you going to have a divorce with me?"

... In fact, we have never known each other.But he didn't dare to say this safely, he could only say, "I was the one who was ignorant when I first entered the palace and offended His Highness. Now that I know the rules, of course I dare not do it again."

Zhao Can felt quite bored, "Ping An, if you become like this, this palace will be too boring."

Sure enough, I knew you weren't angry because you only saw me as a joke!The face is full of peace.But this also proves that it is safe.Besides, isn't it all written like this in the book!The high place is extremely cold, and the superior person looks around and finds that there is no one around him who can talk, so he is empty and lonely (...), and finally he is taken advantage of by bold maids/concubines, etc., becoming the most special person in his heart. one of.Then, of course, is the sadomasochistic love...

etc!stop!Why did you bring yourself into the role of a concubine? !What sadomasochistic love is there, he and Zhao Can have a clean relationship between master and servant, okay?