Returning to the mansion from Sun Yougong's craftsman's workshop, all the disciples felt that a major matter was solved and were overjoyed.

But when Lin Yanchao saw this, he frowned slightly, as if he was a little unhappy.

Everyone was unaware of Lin Yanchao's worries, but most of them did not dare to ask questions without authorization.

But Qu Hengjiang couldn't help asking: "Why are you not happy, sir?"

Lin Yanchao asked back, "How many words can you print in a day when the copper movable type in the Imperial College Engraving Room?"

Qu Hengjiang said: "I once asked the maker that I can have more than twenty papers a day."

Everyone exclaimed after hearing this: "More than twenty papers!"

"It's like Sun Zhiren can only have a piece of paper in two days."

"Copper movable type has its advantages."

Qu Hengjiang thought Lin Yanchao was worried about this, so he said, "Sir, although this copper movable type is fast, it is indeed too expensive and ordinary people cannot afford it. In our capital, there are only one place in the Jiancaifang with copper movable type, with copper molded characters of more than 200,000. The private engraving room in Jiangnan is not as good as the Jiancaifang."

Tao Wangling nodded and said, "Brother Qu said very much. Only private engraving workshops in Jiangnan such as Wuxi Huitongguan, Lanxuetang, Guipoguan have copper movable characters, with tens of thousands of bronze mold characters and tens of thousands of them. However, private engraving workshops do not have the financial resources of the engraving workshop. If you want to print a book, you can see whether there are any missing characters. If there are missing characters, you must be cast in a standing manner."

He Ziming added: "Although copper movable type is good, it is too expensive. If you want to get a set of copper molded characters for hundreds of thousands of yuan, you don't know that it will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. If you don't mention the characters, there are still some preparations, so woodblock printing is more useful."

A disciple asked inexplicably: "What is the word "preparation?"

Qu Hengjiang explained: "It's just a repetitive character, just like if you want to print the preface of the Lanting Collection of King Youjun. Just the bronze mold characters of "Zhi" must be prepared with twenty-one."

After hearing Qu Hengjiang said this, all the disciples shook their heads: "It's flashy but not solid."

Lin Yanchao knew from his disciples that yes, it is precisely because of this that movable type printing cannot be promoted. Woodblock printing is still the mainstream of society, while movable type printing is only based on its secondary status, and even epoch-making metal movable type is flashy and unreal.

Because in addition to the expensive molds, copper type also requires copper, but the amount of copper produced in China is rare, and copper is even circulating coins. Who would use copper to cast a mold?

There are nearly 100,000 Chinese characters, and more than 3,000 Chinese characters are often used. There are four ways to write the character Hui. Only when the scholars and officials engraved books became popular in the Ming Dynasty, they would have been idle and use copper movable characters.

But metal movable type looks different when it comes to Europe.

How many letters are in English and Latin? Their copper movable type is a hundred times simpler than ours.

After Gutenberg invented movable type printing in Europe, Europe had fully implemented movable type printing in 1480. The books published in the following twenty years exceeded the total of all published books in the previous thousand years in Europe.

By the 16th century, European books published left the Ming Dynasty far behind.

As we all know, the gap between China and Western modern civilization is due to the Renaissance.

How many thinkers in the Western Renaissance? How many epoch-making inventions are in Dante? How many Leonardo da Vinci? How many steam engines are in?

In fact, it is not. The Renaissance lies in the cheap spread of knowledge, which leads to a collision of ideas.

It can be said responsibly that without movable type printing, there would be no Renaissance!

But is China and the West really just one less movable type printing?

Lin Yanchao said to his disciples: "Do you know about Taixi?"

The disciples shook their heads and nodded again.

One person said, "I heard that Tessie is a place for the red-haired ghost."

One person said: "No, I heard that Tessie is the place where Franji people are."

The two argued for a while, and Tao Wangling asked, "Why did you mention Taixi?"

Lin Yanchao said: "Taixi has a writing that is different from Chinese. For example, there is a country called English Gili. Its writing is only twenty-six letters, and the meaning of the word is made up of letters. They had printed books with copper movable type a hundred years ago, and their achievements were hundreds of times greater than that of me!"

All the disciples were shocked when they heard this.

"During the Qin and Han Dynasties, bamboo slips were used as books, and thousands were used as leads. The scholars were only five or six, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties used as carved papers, and the scholars were less than two or three. Now, our Ming Dynasty was rich in all directions and culture and education were prosperous. But when it comes to those who read and read, is there one in twenty people?"

"After the Thais used copper movable type, the ratio of those who read and read literacy has been far better than that of our China."

The disciples were shocked and puzzled when they heard this.

Qu Hengjiang said nervously: "Isn't this the Chinese people's method to learn from Taixi? Taixi is ten times better than me. What strategy does sir have to defend it?"

All the disciples asked.

Qu Hengjiang doesn't ask about this question, but Chinese people will also ask about it hundreds of years later.

Hundreds of years after the Western Renaissance, the original barbarians came to the East and forced themselves to open the country's door.

The Qing Dynasty court lamented the strong and powerful ships of foreigners, and established the national policy of "learning the strengths of the barbarians to control the barbarians", and decided to use the Chinese and Western countries to establish the Western Affairs Office.

The Qing court purchased countless Western guns, guns, and ships to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and create a revival of Xiantong.

The Westernization School was proud and felt that it could compete with the great powers. Li Hongzhang, the Minister of the Westernization and Jinshi, also forgot the books of sages he read when he was young and said that Confucius could not shoot foreign guns, which is not expensive now.

But after the Sino-Japanese War...

Everyone realized that it would be fine if we lost to foreigners, but now we can't even beat our neighbors in Japan.

Is it because we purchased not enough guns, guns, and ships?

The court, the government is blamed?

The Qing court was guarding against the Han people?

System issues?

Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang’s strategic and tactical issues?

The thickest thing is the foreigners who teach us to keep a hand? Isn’t the ability to climb trees taught us?

But this problem is the most unreliable. The Meiji Restoration and the Westernization Movement started almost at the same time. Why did the Japanese learn from foreigners, but we didn’t?

Foreigners don’t hide their own personalities at all.

Moreover, the Westernization Movement advocates the use of Chinese and Western styles.

The Meiji Restoration was similar to the Soul and Yangcai. Everyone’s policy was similar.

But Lin Yanchao knew that there was a detail that many people didn't know. That is, the literacy rate of Japan's citizens was even higher than that of Britain after the Industrial Revolution in the same era. This data was before the Meiji Restoration, not after the Meiji Restoration. However, the Qing Dynasty in the same era was only 10%.

It's said that it's a long time to talk, but it's true.

why is that?

Because Japan has promoted the Terakoya in large quantities, it has set a precedent for national education during the Edo period.

The so-called Nekoya is a special education for common people, both men and women, and its content is similar to today's primary school education. Such a high literacy rate among the people is like piled up countless firewood and has a strong accumulation. When the Meiji Restoration and Western learning pours in, the general trend will rush forward like a fire.

The past is far away.

Lin Yanchao returned to reality, but the incident of Sekoya inspired him.

Japan and us missed the explosive period of movable type printing, but it does not mean that we missed everything.

If the literati and officials in the court could not value the Tao but rather the art, not the righteousness and the profit, and talk less about the meaning of the scriptures and more about the merits, then it would be fine to miss movable type printing.

If the national policy is based on practical practice and pragmatism, and China has a vast land and abundant resources, it will always come up with alternative solutions.

Movable type printing is also a tool, but the Tao can control the tool.

Tao can control tools. This is the principle of Neo-Confucianism, but this Tao is not the Tao of Neo-Confucianism.

Thinking of this, Lin Yanchao's eyes became distant.

PS: Yes, I'm going back to the court soon.
Chapter completed!