SEHE Chapter 105

Printing Technique 

Pei Yanci spent less than two quarters of an hour negotiating with Zhao Zhen. When he came out, Shao Bo still hadn’t returned, so he asked Zhao Zhen to relay the message that there was no rush, he would come back in a couple of days. He declined his escort and left the Ministry of Works office.

Less than two days later, he received news from the Secretariat that His Majesty had approved the establishment of a printing house under the Imperial Academy. Then during a meal, the Director of the Secretariat asked him whether he had obtained the method to improve book production from the Ministry of Works.

The Director of the Secretariat had initially agreed to help Pei Yanci lobby for the printing house matter because he said the Ministry of Works had already found a solution. Zhao Zhen had been willing to agree to order his subordinates to research it because he said he had already received assurance from the Secretariat, the matter had been negotiated, and they were just waiting for the imperial decree—plus the opportunity to invest shares—which was why he agreed. Pei Yanci hadn’t expected the Director of the Secretariat to move so quickly. The Ministry of Works side still hadn’t made any progress, but here they were already pressing to see results.

After thinking it over, he went to the Hanlin Academy the next day.

The Hanlin Academy of Great Yu was different from similar offices in the Great Tao dynasty of his previous life. The Emperor in his early years was broadly learned and accomplished, extremely skilled at poetry, painting, dancing, polo, horseback riding, and swordsmanship. When idle, he wanted to spar with masters, but finding people on short notice was inconvenient. Keeping them at court wouldn’t work either, as these people weren’t the type to become officials through the imperial examinations. So he established the Hanlin Academy specifically to recruit talented people with special skills.

When Pei Yanci entered the Hanlin Academy, he inquired about anyone with strong handicraft skills or who had convenient methods for copying and producing books. Everyone shook their heads.

At that moment, someone in the corner said, “Compiler Yu is obsessed with books like his life depends on it. Pei Daren can ask him.”

Pei Yanci looked up. Hmm? Wasn’t this person winking at him Xiao Yu?

Didn’t he refuse to be an official? Why was he wearing the robe of a seventh-rank official?

He walked closer and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear. “How is Master Xiao here?”

Xiao Yu coughed twice awkwardly in a low voice, “Personal matters.”

“Very well.” Pei Yanci found it inappropriate to press further. “May I ask where Compiler Yu is right now?”

Xiao Yu led him to several rooms next door. Just as they reached the doorway, an official came trembling while carrying a bowl of medicinal soup. “Xiao Daren, come, quickly drink this and try it.”

Pei Yanci told him to attend to his business first and went in himself.

There was only one person in the room, wearing a long gown washed until it was worn out, with some places pilling. It hung loosely on that body. When the person inadvertently raised his head, one could see his face—dark circles under his eyelids, thin lips pressed tightly together, eyes unfocused and squinting slightly, as if he still couldn’t see the visitor clearly. His brow had two very deep creases that remained even when relaxed, due to this habitual action.

He didn’t speak.

Pei Yanci thought he might be seeing an unfamiliar face but wasn’t certain. Their gazes had already met, and withdrawing his gaze now would be even more awkward, so he stood there stiffly for a moment.

Yu Sucheng clearly didn’t quite know what to say at this moment.

He smiled, releasing enough goodwill, walked closer and performed a bow, vaguely stated his identity, and explained his purpose.

“The Imperial Academy? Opening a printing house?” Only when the person approached did Compiler Yu see the visitor’s face clearly. He looked him up and down suspiciously twice, then slowly let his doubts fade away, saying, “Very few people come asking about printing books, and generally they all go to the Secretariat. Why would they come to the Hanlin Academy?”

Pei Yanci roughly explained the situation.

Yu Sucheng said reassuringly, “I’m also researching this method. Copying books every day, my hands often can’t be lifted, even holding a brush makes them tremble. People, ah, don’t know to adapt until they’re pushed to the limits. Right now I already have some ideas in mind. Come with me.”

The two came to a corner behind his desk. He said, “Traditional woodblock printing requires extremely high skills from the carpenter to carve the characters. The entire block can’t have a single error, which takes time and effort. By the time they finish, copyists could have already transcribed an entire book. Moreover, if there are corrections or additions to the book later, the entire block needs to be re-carved. So I thought, why not make each character movable.”

Pei Yanci originally hadn’t held much hope, but unexpectedly he heard something novel and couldn’t help but take notice. “How do you make them movable?”

“Usually when we stamp seals, it’s just a few characters. If a seal base only has one character carved on it, then if we need a line of characters, a page of characters, we just need to stamp the corresponding seals in sequence.”

“With too many characters, the time to find the seals would be enough to finish writing a page.” Pei Yanci shook his head, then immediately thought of something.

“No, for one page it would be slow. But arrange these characters properly to form a page’s worth of text, like making tofu—use wooden boards to fix the edges all around—and print tens of thousands of copies at once. During the process you only need to add ink, which can greatly increase efficiency.” Seeing him listening attentively, Yu Sucheng grew extremely excited and immediately demonstrated on the spot.

“Or like woodblock printing, several dozen pages at once.” Pei Yanci’s eyes lit up. “Your method excels even more in saving time after errors occur—you only need to replace a few character stamps instead of re-carving the entire block. Moreover, these stamps can be reused many times, rearranged and recombined to create new volumes of book content.”

“Exactly, that’s right.” Yu Sucheng said as if he’d found a kindred spirit. “I can’t afford expensive wood or metal, so I can only make do with clay. But for the Imperial Academy, it should be easy to manage.”

“The Imperial Academy doesn’t have much money lately either.” Pei Yanci smiled bitterly.

Why did he want to establish the printing house under the Imperial Academy’s name? First, private printing rights weren’t as convenient to obtain as doing so under an official office’s name. Second, after taking office, he’d reviewed the Imperial Academy’s financial income and expenditure and discovered it had been running deficits for years. Even subsistence had become difficult, the erudite scholars had no heart for teaching and research, morale was scattered, chaos was rampant—the situation was far more serious than he’d imagined.

If they followed Fang Qingdu’s approach, the Imperial Academy would just be barely surviving. If they could last until the new emperor’s succession and the political situation turned around, there might be a chance for revival.

That’s why Qi Xiang took the risk and decided to rely heavily on Pei Yanci.

Pei Yanci also lived up to his expectations, deciding to establish a printing house himself to make money.

“Compiler Yu, if I were to buy your technique, how much money would be needed?”

“Money?” Yu Sucheng was stunned, clearly having never considered this question.

“This is a technique you thought of. If I want to use it, naturally I must pay you.” Pei Yanci said.

He’d seen too many instances of superiors appropriating subordinates’ achievements without compensation, those forced sales. Yu Sucheng hadn’t considered this matter at all. However, he directly refused.

“Yu merely benefited from being in the imperial capital, able to borrow and read books from all under heaven collected in the Secretariat. Only then did I have a few mediocre ideas.” He said with emotion, “If this can allow the Secretariat and Imperial Academy to print more books and distribute them to all corners of the realm, or reduce costs so that more students can afford to read books, such a result would be worth more than any amount of gold. Yu’s bit of silver isn’t worth mentioning.”

When he said this, his eyes burst forth with unprecedented brilliance—firm and radiant—even his malnourished face seemed to glow with it.

“They are them, you are you. We benefit scholars, but you shouldn’t suffer losses either.” Pei Yanci said matter-of-factly.

Just then, Xiao Yu walked in from outside. “Pei Daren, how did your discussion go?”

“Pei Daren?” The suspicion rose again in Yu Sucheng’s eyes. Earlier this person hadn’t spoken clearly. “What position do you hold in the Imperial Academy?”

“Pei Daren, Chancellor Pei.” Xiao Yu said with a sleazy expression. “Oh right, the one who took your position and was promoted to Chancellor within just a few months.”

The corner of Pei Yanci’s eye twitched. This old scoundrel was doing it on purpose.

Yu Sucheng’s expression immediately changed. He coldly sneered in anger. “I was wondering who it was, hiding and concealing, not clearly stating your family name. So it’s a habitual thief who steals other people’s things.”

“Yu Daren, can’t your mouth spit out anything ivory?” Xiao Yu leisurely walked to Pei Yanci’s side. “Knowing what status he has, yet still daring to be so rude. Be careful of the Elu Bureau……”

Before he could finish, Pei Yanci stopped him, signaling him not to reveal his relationship with Tang Xizhui.

“How boring.” Xiao Yu rolled his eyes listlessly. “In this Hanlin Academy, only this kid dares treat me with such disrespect. I was hoping you’d deal with him.”

“Last time you climbed up to an aristocratic family’s high branch and took my Vice Chancellor position. Now you want to steal my movable type printing technique to add to your achievements. Pei Yanci, how can you be so shameless!” Yu Sucheng’s face alternated between flushing red and turning iron-blue. He was so angry his teeth itched, protectively positioning himself in front of his movable type printing materials, though it was rather useless.

“What if I hired you to go to the Imperial Academy printing house as Director? What would you think?” Pei Yanci proposed, then immediately rejected it himself. “Though temporarily without official rank, it would be quasi-official business. I’m still negotiating with higher-ups to secure a few official positions.”

“Pei Yanci, you’re humiliating me!”

Pei Yanci maintained a calm composure that contrasted with his increasingly irrational state. “Then what about the Secretariat? It matches your interests. I can also introduce you to the Ministry of Works—that place is extremely difficult to enter.”

Yu Sucheng’s lips trembled as he stared wide-eyed.

Pei Yanci didn’t wait for his reply. He walked to the desk, took a sheet of his paper, and in less than a quarter hour, a letter of recommendation was already written. He solemnly handed it before his eyes.

“You think I would want your charity?” Seeing that he completely ignored his insults, this nonchalant attitude of charity made him feel even more degraded and disgusted.

He had also sought connections before, going through tremendous hardships trying to get into the Imperial Academy, only to be easily pushed aside by someone else’s status in the end.

Now what was this supposed to be?

Seeing he didn’t move, Pei Yanci placed the recommendation letter on his desk and sincerely bowed. “Although the Imperial Academy also lacks learned talents like Compiler Yu, I believe that if the Ministry of Works could gain daren’s assistance, it would surely allow Great Yu to develop even better. I hope daren will set aside his prejudice and resentment toward me, think of himself, and contribute to Great Yu.”

Yu Sucheng was stunned again, because he could feel the other party was genuinely sincere in making this offer.

Pei Yanci no longer concerned himself with him and left the room.

“Pei Daren,” Xiao Yu caught up with him, saying incredulously, “He just insulted you like that and you could endure it? You even introduced him to the Ministry of Works?”

“He’s a talent. Valuable people should be utilized to their fullest potential. How can there be any reason to have him buried in the Hanlin Academy?”

Xiao Yu fell silent for a moment, looking at him with somewhat different eyes.

This person seemed to have no emotions of joy or anger, operating by his own set of evaluation standards.

Indeed, anyone who could get along with Tang Xizhui wasn’t exactly normal.

Wait, how did he seem to insult himself as well?

“Xiao Daren, another dose of medicine is ready.” The old imperial physician came out trembling while carrying a bowl of medicine.

“Are you force-feeding livestock? Eighteen bowls a day.” Xiao Yu said with distaste. Though resistant, he still downed it in one gulp.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, returned the bowl to the old physician, and looked up to see Pei Yanci’s expression had changed somewhat.

His heart skipped—could this person have noticed something?

Then he saw Pei Yanci’s gaze slowly move downward, fixing on a certain spot.

Xiao Yu clamped his legs together and looked around in shame and annoyance, grinding out four words through clenched teeth. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Master Xiao works so hard pondering over those spring palace illustrations every day, truly exhausting.” Pei Yanci patted his shoulder with a solemn expression. “You must take care of your health.”

Tang Xizhui had learned quite a bit of knowledge from his picture books.

Their future happy life still depended on him.

Xiao Yu’s face flushed red. For a long time he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

“Oh right, I have a medicinal formula,” Pei Yanci returned after having left, suddenly remembering. “It might be effective for your condition, though I can’t guarantee it. If daren is willing to try……”

“Give it here.” This concerned a man’s dignity. He’d been taking medicine here for three months, the old physician had tried every method, but nothing worked. Now he was treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

Relying on memory, Pei Yanci wrote him an imperial court secret formula from his previous life. He’d seen it while searching for treatments for his own inadequacy. At the time he found it interesting and took a closer look, unconsciously memorizing it.

“If it’s useless, Master Xiao shouldn’t blame me. At least it’s an opportunity, isn’t it?” He hadn’t tried this formula himself, but supposedly anyone who drank it—whether sickly and desire-less or drunk and unconscious—could perform.

“Thank you. If this formula works, daren will be my benefactor, like parents who clothe and feed me, with the grace of rebirth.” The usual sleazy and cunning aura on Xiao Yu’s face dissipated as he solemnly gave thanks, nearly crying.

“It’s nothing.”

Pei Yanci didn’t care much and didn’t expect this medicine to produce obvious effects. Could the people of the Great Tao imperial court really be that much smarter than the people of Great Yu? He just wanted to offer a small bit of help when Xiao Yu was most helpless.

Icing on the cake is easily forgotten; help in dire need carries heavier gratitude, even if just a spark of light.

Moreover, once they shared a common secret, it could rapidly bring two people closer, especially when that secret was difficult to speak of. They would naturally classify those who knew the secret as one of their own.

In a flash he forgot about this matter, because he was preparing to go to the Ministry of Works the next day to audit accounts when he heard news from Tang Xizhui’s side that the Zheng faction had submitted another memorial to impeach Minister of Justice Duan Ruicheng.

“What kind of trick is this now?”

The accusation against Shao Bo from the Ministry of Works hadn’t even started yet. On one side, the Dali Temple was still dragging out the investigation without raiding the Shao residence. On the other side, he hadn’t found incriminating evidence from the account books at the office. How was the Zheng faction now targeting people from the Ministry of Justice?

Did he think the accusation against Shao Bo had no chance of success?

Impossible. Shao Bo’s guilty, jumpy appearance clearly showed something fishy.

Was the Minister of Revenue obstructing?

Also impossible. Even if he hadn’t allocated much silver to the Ministry of Works each year, compared to a high court official’s corruption, that was a minor matter.

Multiple simultaneous attacks? Why was Gu Jiuqing suddenly making such big moves? Offending so many important court officials—was he that confident?

The fog before him was unclear, so Pei Yanci simply stopped thinking about it so much. He did whatever he was ordered to do, and every few days, under the pretext of investigating, he’d visit the Ministry of Works. He hadn’t turned many pages of account books, but had become increasingly familiar with Zhao Zhen and Shao Bo.

The grand court assembly that occurred once every ten days arrived in a flash. Pei Yanci rose even earlier than usual, suppressing the urge to yawn as he entered the Jiuxiao Hall with the other officials.

This time the Emperor sat steadily on the supreme throne.

Everything proceeded as usual.

Suddenly, the Crown Prince stepped out from the ranks of officials. His gaze swept coldly over everyone present as he reported to the seat above, “This son must accuse the Secretariat and Chancellery offices of dereliction of duty and negligence!”

“I accuse Chief Overseer of the Elu Bureau Tang Xizhui of overstepping authority and defying superiors, monopolizing power, and brazenly selling offices and titles!”