DCPRT Chapter 63

By removing the characters from the carved printing blocks and rearranging them according to the content to be printed, the time and cost involved would be far less than that of woodblock printing, and the type could be reused to print different books.

Xie Ling felt that his younger cousin was truly a genius — how else could anyone have come up with such a method?

Huo Xiling glanced over at Xie Ling, who stood beside him in astonishment, and thought to himself that his Crown Prince was indeed exceptionally brilliant.

“I wonder if Your Highness has given this printing method a name,” Xie Ling said, his voice carrying a trace of excitement.

You Yusui looked at Xie Ling in silence. The idea had not yet been turned into reality — he had only mentioned it offhandedly. How had his elder cousin already assumed he could actually produce this printing method?

“Let us call it movable type printing,” You Yusui said.

Compared to woodblock printing, this movable type printing was indeed far more flexible, and the name was perfectly apt.

Since You Yusui had already given it a name, he absolutely had to make this movable type printing system a reality.

“Xiling, prepare the carriage. We are going to Juxian Pavilion,” You Yusui said, rising to his feet and addressing Huo Xiling.

Juxian Pavilion was home not only to musicians skilled in all manner of performance, but also to craftsmen of various trades, so You Yusui would not need to go out recruiting separately.

And so, You Yusui and Huo Xiling went directly to Juxian Pavilion.

Meanwhile, at Xuande Hall, You Fengyun received yet another report that the Crown Prince had left the palace.

You Fengyun was seen marking memorials with his vermilion brush as he remarked, “Can he simply not stay inside the palace? Why does he keep running outside day after day?”

And with his health being so poor, if he fell ill out there it would cause yet another wave of trouble, and Xuande Hall would inevitably have to send over medicinal herbs and tonics.

An Hai, standing nearby, smiled and said, “This servant has heard that His Highness went to Juxian Pavilion this time.”

Juxian Pavilion had been given to You Yusui by You Fengyun, so it was perfectly natural for You Yusui to visit from time to time.

But the mere mention of Juxian Pavilion gave You Fengyun a headache. A perfectly good place meant for gathering talented people had been turned by his beloved Crown Prince into a venue that exclusively handled wedding and funeral ceremonies.

A whole crowd of officials had followed the trend as well — whenever something came up at home, they all went to Juxian Pavilion for cooks and musicians, thereby funneling money straight into the Crown Prince’s pockets.

And so You Fengyun proceeded to complain at length to An Hai, while An Hai held his tongue the entire time, not daring to tell his emperor that the Crown Prince’s business was doing so well precisely because the prices were fair and all manner of hassle was spared — otherwise, how could it be turning a profit?

“As I see it, Juxian Pavilion has only one redeeming quality, and that is the food,” You Fengyun concluded. “It would be nice if the Crown Prince would get around to doing something proper one of these days.”

An Hai heard this and simply smiled without saying a word. If the Crown Prince were truly in good health and doing proper things, Your Majesty, you would have no peace of mind at all.

At Juxian Pavilion, You Yusui’s all-inclusive service for weddings and funerals had long been fully established and had already made a name for itself throughout Chang’an. The people of Chang’an all loved to hire Juxian Pavilion for such occasions — partly because the head chefs cooked with generosity, and partly because the musicians were highly skilled, all at reasonable prices. As a result, Juxian Pavilion had miraculously achieved a balance between income and expenditure.

On this particular day, when You Yusui came again to Juxian Pavilion, the people there were somewhat apprehensive, for it had been during You Yusui’s previous visit that the assassination attempt had occurred, leaving them all deeply worried. It was only after You Yusui sent someone to reassure them that they had finally found some measure of calm.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, you have finally come,” said the steward of Juxian Pavilion, who had received word of You Yusui’s impending arrival and gone ahead to wait at the entrance. His face was wreathed in smiles, and he appeared to be doing quite well.

You Yusui stepped out of the carriage, glanced at the steward, and smiled. “Are there skilled craftsmen in the pavilion? This prince would like to meet with them.”

“Of course. This subject will have them called over at once.” The steward promptly instructed those below him to go and notify the craftsmen.

The craftsmen had waited a long time for the day You Yusui would call upon them. The musicians next door had earned Juxian Pavilion so much money, and they had not been at all content with that. By their craft, they were first-rate, and they could not simply go on being kept by the Crown Prince and eating their keep for nothing — they needed to do something to be worthy of the wages His Highness was paying them.

And so, by the time You Yusui had settled in and was drinking tea on the second floor, over a dozen craftsmen were already waiting with full confidence to meet him.

“Come in,” said Huo Xiling, who stood by the door.

At his words, over a dozen craftsmen filed in one after another and bowed respectfully to You Yusui.

“No need for formalities. This prince has come to find you today because there is something this prince wants you to make,” You Yusui said.

“Your Highness, please simply say the word. Our craft is first-rate — whatever Your Highness can describe, we can produce,” said the dark-skinned man at the head of the group.

“This prince would like you to improve upon woodblock printing.” With that, You Yusui picked up a woodblock beside him and showed it to everyone. “It involves separating the characters on the block into individual pieces that can be freely combined according to the content of a book. This prince calls it movable type printing.”

One craftsman with exceptional carving skills said, “That’s simple enough — I can carve it myself.”

“But this prince does not want just one set of movable type — this prince wants many sets, and they must be made quickly,” You Yusui began to lay out his requirements.

If those noble families finished copying out all the books before his movable type printing was ready, that would be utterly absurd.

One craftsman thought for a moment, then spoke up. “We could first carve moulds of the characters, then pour molten copper into them. Once cooled, the pieces can be removed. This way, several sets of movable type could be produced in a single day.”

What was more, by pouring molten copper directly into moulds, not only would the process be fast, but the pieces would also last a long time and be resistant to damage. Of course, the one drawback was the cost — not everyone could afford to have tens of thousands of individual characters cast in copper.

But You Yusui was different. His private treasury held the vast wealth he had accumulated over the years, and cost was not something he needed to consider.

“Then let us use molten copper,” You Yusui said.

The craftsmen breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. It was fortunate that the Crown Prince had not objected to the cost of copper casting — otherwise they would not have known what alternative to suggest.

“Very well then, this prince will leave it in your hands.” You Yusui looked at the craftsmen as he spoke.

The leader among the craftsmen replied, “Within three days, we will certainly have an answer for Your Highness.”

You Yusui gave a satisfied nod. Three days would pass quickly — there was a good chance some people would not even have finished copying a single book by then.

“There is one more thing this subject would like to ask Your Highness — what typeface should this set of movable type use?” the craftsman asked.

You Yusui thought it over. The purpose of books was to spread knowledge, and the characters had to be neat and clear — they could not be difficult to read or leave people guessing at the text, as that could very easily distort the true meaning of a book.

“Use regular script,” You Yusui said. Nothing ornate or fanciful.

“Understood.” The craftsmen also felt relieved — regular script was excellent. With its neat horizontal and vertical strokes, each character written as it should be and without joined brushwork, it would be easy for them to carve as well.

After You Yusui had given all his instructions, the craftsmen went off to rush the moulds. With tens of thousands of characters, even with dozens of people working together, it would take several sleepless days and nights.

Yet this was the first time they had received a commission from the Crown Prince. They were delighted that they would no longer be living off his keep for nothing, and excited that their craft could be of use to him — and so they threw themselves into the work with doubled effort.

Three days later, You Yusui received the first set of movable type cast from molten copper. One had only to arrange the copper type on a wooden frame, brush on a layer of ink, and press a sheet of paper against it — and a page of clear, well-ordered text from a book could be printed.

Xie Ling, upon seeing the set of copper movable type, exclaimed repeatedly that it was a marvel. The Crown Prince was truly brilliant — how on earth had he thought of such a thing?

You Yusui, standing beside him: …He had only wanted to save himself some effort.

Xie Ling then reached out and ran his fingers over the copper type. “These things must have cost a fortune. Only Your Highness would dare do this.”

A single set of copper movable type already weighed close to three thousand jin. Ten sets would amount to tens of thousands of jin — ordinary people simply could not afford it.

You Yusui looked at the copper movable type before him and smiled. “When you go back, ask Grandfather to bring the books to the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, then tell the Xie family’s cousins that from today onward they are free — no more copying books.”

At those words, Xie Ling was overjoyed. Grandfather Xie had pledged two thousand books, and copying all of them would have worn them out completely.

Sure enough, when the younger members of the Xie family heard the news Xie Ling brought, they rejoiced with exuberant leaps — the very picture of people escaping a sea of suffering.

“We are profoundly grateful for the Crown Prince’s great benevolence — we finally do not have to copy books anymore!”

“Hurrah!” the group cried.

Grandfather Xie, standing nearby, could not help but shake his head at the sight. Young people who could not bear to sit through copying a few books — truly lacking in self-discipline.

Soon, Grandfather Xie’s collection of books was sent into the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, and after the process of selecting type, composing the layout, and printing was complete, a book with fewer characters was swiftly printed — at a speed incomparably faster than copying by hand.

With a few more sets of movable type and some experienced hands, the speed would surely be even greater.

Xie Ling held the freshly printed book, still fragrant with the scent of ink. “The characters are so clear and neat — this is truly a blessing for scholars throughout the realm.”

He then looked toward You Yusui. “Your Highness, would you like to bring this to show His Majesty?”

You Yusui was silent for a moment. To speak truthfully, he had forgotten.

The next moment, You Yusui turned to Huo Xiling and said, “Bring a set of movable type and a book — we are going to Xuande Hall.”

At Xuande Hall, You Fengyun was quite surprised by You Yusui’s proactive visit, and so he asked, “Weren’t you told to collect books? Why do you keep running outside the palace, and now bringing things back in?”

Several large crates had been sent into the palace from outside that day, and not long after, Grandfather Xie’s two thousand books had been delivered to the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace — leaving You Fengyun unable to make sense of what You Yusui was up to.

“This prince came today expressly to show Father Emperor something.” With that, You Yusui had Huo Xiling present the copper movable type and the newly printed book.

You Fengyun looked at the printed book and the copper type that could be freely moved about within the wooden frame, and his eyes widened involuntarily. He picked up a piece of copper type and said, “You left the palace for this?”

“Yes,” You Yusui answered.

The copper type in You Fengyun’s hand was weighty and substantial. Thinking back to the large crates You Yusui had moved into the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace earlier, he surmised they must have been full of this copper movable type.

Working out the figures, this copper movable type was no small expense. The Crown Prince is truly wealthy. For a brief moment, You Fengyun felt a pang of envy.

“These things cost a fortune. You will likely never recoup the investment,” You Fengyun said.

You Yusui replied, “After using this copper movable type to print the noble families’ collections, this prince intends to open a bookshop at Juxian Pavilion — selling commonly used books at low prices, and rapidly printing all manner of popular story pamphlets.”

By selling commonly used books at low prices, he would rapidly corner the market; and for the story pamphlets that were all the rage in Chang’an, his bookshop could print them at the greatest possible speed — an author could finish writing today and have large quantities ready tomorrow. Even if they sold at a slightly higher price, no one would complain, and the profits would mount considerably.

You Fengyun fell silent after hearing this. He had only sent the Crown Prince to collect books, yet the Crown Prince had found himself a path to prosperity.

Author’s Note: 

Movable type printing is adapted here for the needs of the novel’s plot and is not portrayed as the sole invention of the main character.

Movable type printing is an ancient printing method, invented by the working people of ancient China through long practice and research. Individual characters were first made as raised, reverse-letter type pieces; these were then selected according to a manuscript, arranged in a type tray, inked, and printed; after printing, the type pieces were disassembled and stored for reuse in future print runs.

The invention of movable type printing was a monumental technological revolution in the history of printing. During the Qingli era of the Northern Song dynasty (1041–1048), Bi Sheng (970–1051) of China invented clay movable type, marking the birth of movable type printing. He was the world’s first inventor of this technology — approximately 400 years before the German Johannes Gutenberg’s lead movable type printing. During the Yuan dynasty, Wang Zhen successfully created wooden movable type and invented the revolving typesetting wheel. By the mid-Ming dynasty, copper movable type had come into widespread use in Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, and other places in Jiangsu. — 

Source: Baidu Baike.