My life skills in Daming Liver

Chapter 109 Movable Type Printing

Before Zhang Juzheng's whipping method, the Ming Dynasty had already implemented the so-called "color folding method", which is the method of tax monetization.

The so-called "color" actually comes from the Buddhist term, which means "thing".

The true color is the kind of collection.

Folding color is the silver converted in kind.

Over the years, the tea farmers in Wuyi Mountain have been petitioning the government continuously, hoping to change the nature of paying tribute to directly accepting colored silver.

Directly changing from taxation in kind to taxation in currency has many benefits, but the Xiong family is just a small tea farmer under Wuyi Mountain, and his family has to bear 80 taels of the total tea tribute of five hundred taels of silver.

According to this calculation, the Xiong family might as well continue to offer tea, and his family does not need to pay so much money.

"Why so many?" Lin Qingcai asked.

Xiong Yue sighed and said, "The tea garden of Wuyi Mountain, apart from the Imperial Tea Garden, is the largest tea garden of the Cai family."

Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan were silent when they heard Cai's family.

Su Ze asked, "What is the origin of this Cai family?"

Chen Chaoyuan is familiar with the local people, he said: "Cai Yuanwai used to be a member of the household department of Nanzhili, and now he has retired."

Hearing that he had already retired, Su Ze knew that this was the most influential squire in the Ming Dynasty.

It's no wonder that when Xiong Yue mentioned Yuanwai Cai's name, everyone else looked helpless.

You must know that although he is only a member of the household department of Nanzhili, and although he is only an official of the fifth rank, he is also an official.

Even officials who have already retired are qualified to present a memorial to the court.

It turned out that Cai Yuanwai was a real Yuanwai, so it's no wonder that the Xiong family didn't dare to provoke him.

Cai Yuanwai is a scholar and an official, so he is naturally a leader at the grassroots level, and he is familiar with the logic of the government's operation, so it is convenient for him to do things.

This change of Wuyishan tribute tea to Zhese collection was also what Cai Yuanwai had been pushing for. Otherwise, a rural rich man like the Xiong family would have no way to influence the decision of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Xiong Yue said: "After the change of tribute and color silver, my father and other tea garden owners called to Cai Yuan's tea garden for a meeting, and finally decided on such a distribution plan for silver, and my father even signed it on the contract. Character."

Xiong Yue said indignantly: "It's done. I asked my father why he signed the contract, but my father refused to say anything."

"I'm so angry, why my tea garden is the smallest, but I have to pay eighty taels of silver!"

Both Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan were silent, and Su Ze also understood that Xiong Yue's father should have been coerced and lured by that so-called Cai Yuanwai, so he agreed to the unfair share.

But what can the Xiong family do? Although Cai Yuanwai has become an official, there are also some scholars in the family.

Although Xiong Yue studied, he didn't even have a reputation as a scholar.

This kind of thing happened everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan were not surprised at all.

Su Ze raised his head and asked, "Brother Xiong, last time you said how much tea does your tea garden produce a year?"

Xiong Yue said the number in a ten-to-one manner, and Su Ze used the "accounting" skill to estimate it, and said with a frown:

"Brother Xiong, taking into account the cost of your family's tea plantation, the annual output of your family's tea garden may not be able to pay the eighty taels of silver."

Xiong Yue lowered his head and said: "My father said that it is not possible to hire a few fewer people. At worst, I will be more busy. As long as I can sell tea at this year's price, I can also scrape together eighty taels of silver."

Su Ze shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

Su Ze suddenly asked again: "Brother Xiong, last time you said that someone wanted to buy your tea garden, was it Yuan Cai's family?"

Xiong Yue nodded and said: "It's Yuanwai Cai, but my father didn't want to sell it, and Yuanwai Cai didn't say much. I heard that I was studying at home, and Yuanwai Cai even gave me a book. After my father said it, even if he couldn't study If you want to learn, you must also learn from Cai Yuanwai to be a Confucian businessman."

Su Ze sneered in his heart, it seemed that Yuanwai Cai's thoughts were clearly revealed.

The Xiong family's income is only from growing tea. What will happen if their tea can't be sold when they want to pay tribute next year?

The Xiong family, who can't pay tribute, has to borrow usury at this time, or sell the tea garden to pay tribute. There is no other way.

At this time, Cai Yuanwai, who had money and resources, and mastered the tea resources of Wuyi Mountain, stood up. Sooner or later, the tea garden of the Xiong family would belong to the Cai family.

The people of the Ming Dynasty suffered, and rich peasants and landlords like Xiong Yue actually suffered too. They were on the verge of bankruptcy at any time.

It is too easy for Cai Yuanwai, a wealthy gentry who knows the rules, to deal with ordinary rich peasants like them.

However, Su Ze didn't say much, the tribute tea would have to wait until next year, and he and Xiong Yue were just classmates, and Xiong Yue might not appreciate it if he said too much.

After talking for a while, it was time for class. The four of them hurried to the class, and Hai Rui was already sitting at the desk.

The unsmiling Hai Rui immediately started to give lectures. Su Ze looked at the book seriously, compared with the questions he had when he was studying at home, and gained a deeper understanding with Hai Rui's explanation.

[Classroom listening, imperial examination skill experience +10, Lv4, 241/400]

[Classroom listening, imperial examination skill experience +10, Lv4, 251/400]

After listening to the class for two hours, Su Ze's imperial examination skills increased by another 20 points.

After finishing the lecture, Hai Rui said to the four of them:

"Mr. Tuohu's solicitation of Zaju, do you all know?"

The four of them nodded honestly, and Hai Rui looked at Su Ze again and said with a sigh:

"The way of opera is still a small way after all. Although being able to become a scholar is famous, it is not beneficial to the right path of the imperial examination. You young people are good at blogging, and I understand this."

"However, the sage said, 'Careful Duty'. Mr. Tuohu's rehearsal this time is also an elegant event in the literary world of our Nanping City. If you really have a tune that you can produce, you can show it to me first."

The four of them looked at each other in surprise. Hai Rui felt to Su Ze like the serious dean in his high school. Most of the time he was unreasonable, but hidden under his serious appearance was a Caring heart for students.

Su Ze felt that Hai Rui's behavior was a bit "arrogant". He obviously didn't want his students to participate in the drama essay competition, but he was afraid that his students would be squeezed out by other scholars in the county if he didn't participate, so he came up with this tricky way.

Hai Rui took out another brochure and said, "This is a new article written by Mr. Tuohu. It contains his views on quyi. Since he is collecting dramas, he must prescribe the right medicine."

Now Su Ze was even more sure that Hai Rui was a tsundere. He had already prepared to this point, and even said that he didn't want his disciples to participate in the essay competition.

Su Ze took the booklet, and the ink on it was just dry. It turned out that this article was copied by Hai Rui before class.

Hai Rui continued: "This is an article that Mr. Tuohu wrote for the tabloids in Fuzhou a few days ago, and it is about his views on Quyi."

"Mr. Tuohu is especially fond of phonology, and believes that the most important point of quyi is the sound and rhyme. He would rather not understand the sentences, but also abide by the rhythm."

Su Ze suddenly understood that this Mr. Tuohu was a literati of the Wujiang School.

The so-called Wujiang School is a school of folk art headed by Shen Jing, a folk artist in the late Ming Dynasty.

Shen Jing put too much emphasis on rhythm and rhythm, advocating that he would rather "not work" than "cooperate with rhythm". He advocated the "true color" of opera language, originally intended to oppose the decadent style of parallel couples in the early Ming Dynasty.

The one who sang against Shen Jing is the Linjiang School headed by Tang Xianzu. The Linchuan School emphasizes interest and literariness.

However, the Wujiang School and the Linjiang School only gradually matured during the Wanli period. It is still the Jiajing period, and Tang Xianzu and Shen Jing have not yet been born. This Mr. Tuohu should be a figure in the early stage of the Wujiang School.

However, Su Ze was interested in another thing Hai Rui said. He asked, "Teacher, what is the tabloid in Fuzhou Prefecture?"

Hai Rui took out another pamphlet and handed it to Su Ze: "This is a tabloid run by literati in Fuzhou Prefecture. Scholars in Fujian will contribute articles to it."

Su Ze took the booklet, only to see that the printing of the booklet was very rough, the quality of the paper was very poor, and the printed words were blurred, which required careful identification to see clearly.

Hai Rui continued: "This tabloid publishes a volume every two weeks. It was released in the middle of the month, but it was shipped to Nanping County a few days ago."

Su Ze asked curiously, "Are there no tabloids in Yanping Mansion?"

Hai Rui shook his head and said, "No, Fuzhou is the capital of the province, so we can fill up such a tabloid. How can there be so many articles in Yanping Prefecture?"

Su Ze flipped through it curiously. The first half of this tabloid was the policy of the imperial court, which should be copied from the mansion newspaper and the publicity walls on both sides of the yamen.

The residence newspaper of the Ming Dynasty can also be copied by private individuals. The person who runs the newspaper should have some official identity behind it, and can print the contents of the residence newspaper on the tabloid.

The latter part is an article by a local in Fujian. Su Ze found this article by Mr. Tuohu, and it should be that this tabloid specially asked Mr. Tuohu for an article.

Except for Mr. Tuohu, the rest of the articles were written by well-known local scholars in Fujian Province. There are various genres, ranging from prose to poetry. Even Su Ze saw a copy written in imitation of Tang Dynasty legends. novel.

"Teacher, is this engraved?"

Hai Rui nodded and said, "Of course it's engraved, so it's hard to copy it by hand?"

Sure enough, during the Jiajing period, woodblock printing was still the mainstream printing method.

Although movable type printing was invented in the Song Dynasty, the maturity of movable type printing did not come until the end of the Ming Dynasty, that is, during the reign of Chongzhen.

Nowadays most of the books are printed by engraving, so it is no wonder that this tabloid can only publish one copy in half a month, because engraving is really time-consuming.

Su Ze asked again: "Teacher, how much is this tabloid?"

Hai Rui stroked his beard and said, "In Fuzhou Mansion, it costs one or two taels of silver, while in our Yanping Mansion, it costs one or two or five taels of silver."

so expensive!

Su Ze took a deep breath. As expected, the Ming Dynasty was still a cultural product that made a lot of money!

"The article in the tabloid, do you need to pay a pen fee?"

Hai Rui looked at Su Ze suspiciously and said, "Retouching fee? It's such an honor to publish my article in the newspaper and let the scholars in the whole province see it. How can there be a retouching fee?"

Su Ze now understands that this tabloid is a whore for nothing.

Su Ze used the [Valuation] skill to do simple calculations, but he didn't think this tabloid could make much money.

The reason is also very simple, the cost of woodblock printing is too high.

Block printing needs to engrave the layout and then print. Such a tabloid needs at least a dozen skilled engraving masters, and the wages of these masters are twenty taels of silver a month.

In addition to engraving masters, literati are also required to proofread, wood boards also cost money, ink and paper also cost money, and copying news from the mansion newspaper also costs money. How much.

Yes, movable type!

Su Ze suddenly thought of this technology, can he run a tabloid in Yanping Mansion?

If you use movable type printing to run tabloids, you can reduce the cost of engraving and printing, and you will naturally be able to make money.

More importantly, Su Ze also needs a position for public opinion and propaganda. Mastering ideology is very necessary for rebellion work!

How could I have forgotten this? If I hadn't read Hai Rui's tabloid, Su Ze would have forgotten the magical skill of printing!

This is one of the most important technologies in Civilization 6!

Su Ze further thought that his Lv3 literature included some articles that could be published in tabloids. The first few issues could be supported by ancient prose and poems. I have made an appointment with scholars in this government.

Su Ze can also promote her own private goods on the tabloids!

The more Su Ze thought about it, the more he felt that it was feasible, and he thought of his "teaching" skills. If he published his ideas in the newspaper, would it be considered a lecture? Can you increase your teaching experience?

Thinking about it this way, Su Ze's desire to run a newspaper became even stronger!

First find a place to open the "printing" skill, and then you can go back to make movable type!

When Su Ze was in college, he joined the news agency of the history department. At that time, the news agency used the ancient method to restore movable type printing from the production of movable type. Su Ze still remembered some of the process of making movable type.

What is needed to make movable type is lead, tin and antimony. Among them, lead and tin should be easy to buy, but the antimony requires a little effort.

Antimony was called Lianxi in ancient times. Because this mineral was often associated with tin mines, it was mistaken for tin at first and was mixed in metal products and coins.

Lead is also needed to make lead bullets. After class, Su Ze broke out with amazing mobility. First, he found a printing shop in Nanping City, and he learned the "printing" skills.

[Find the location of the printing workshop, you can learn the skill "printing", do you want to learn it? 】

Although Lv1's printing skills only have basic knowledge of printing, it also helped Su Ze recall the experience of making movable type in the university club, and he has more confidence in making movable type printing machines.

Su Ze went to several shops in a row, and finally gathered these materials.

The lead was bought at Huimin Pharmacy. This Huang Tiju was once obsessed with external alchemy and bought a batch of lead for alchemy. Su Ze came to ask where he could buy lead. Huang Tiju half sold it and gave it away. Twenty catties of lead were given to Su Ze at a low price.

It didn't take much trouble for tin and even tin. Su Ze found these two materials in a tinware shop.

People in the Ming Dynasty liked to use tin utensils to hold wine, and believed that tin had the effect of purifying water. There was a tin utensil shop next to Huimin Pharmacy, and Su Ze could easily buy ten catties of tin and one catty of tin.

Chen Chaoyuan and the others watched Su Ze come back with a pile of metal in doubt, and they didn't know what stimulated him.

Su Ze then said to the three of them: "Three brothers, I need your help with something."

The three of them looked at Su Ze suspiciously, and the honest Chen Chaoyuan immediately said, "Brother Su has a request, and he will do so."

Su Ze said with a smile: "It's not difficult, just ask the three brothers to help me 'delete the characters'."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like