Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

"Your Excellency is right."

"In this case, there will definitely be a day when you finish reading books, but there will never be a day when you will finish learning. This is why I let you open a bookstore. You can sell pens, ink, paper and inkstones, but the books in the bookstore can only be borrowed and not sold in the early stage."

Shen Zheng paused. She knew that if the bookstore sold books, the Chamber of Commerce might be willing to take it over.

After all, Tongan County School has the calligraphy of Earl Yongning. Once the students become famous, more people will come to study, and the bookstore's business will get better and better.

But in the early days, books were only lent and not sold, which made the threshold for opening a bookstore suddenly high.

As long as you open a business, you must be prepared for small profits or even no profits in the early stages.

But since she dared to say it, she must have a plan in mind.

Wang Guangjin knew it clearly, but he was still a little confused and asked:

"Sir, why is it that books can only be borrowed but not sold in the early stage? Do you mean that booksellers will sell books in the later stage?"

Shen Zheng nodded and took out a small box from the drawer behind her.

Wang Guangjin saw her open the box, take out two "seals" from it and hand them to him.

Wang Guangjin took the "seal" and looked at it back and forth, only to see the words "Tong" and "An" engraved on it.

"Sir, this is..."

In his eyes, these were just two ordinary seals, except that the height and size of the two seals were exactly the same.

Shen Zheng took the seal back, pressed it in the inkstone, and then pressed the seal on the straw paper.

Wang Guangjin looked at the two seals, somewhat puzzled.

These two seals are smaller than personal seals, but the size of the words printed on them is about the same as that in books.

Shen Zheng took the two seals and printed them on the straw paper one by one.

A row of "Tong'an", from dark to light, jumps onto the paper.

Shen Zheng asked him: "Have you thought of anything?"

Wang Guangjin looked at the row of "Tong'an" and shook his head.

Shen Zheng laughed.

It is clear that the seal was invented a long time ago, but it is difficult for people to associate seals with books. This shows that few people mention this idea. There must be a reason for this.

She picked up the seal again, printed a few more lines on the straw paper, and asked:

"now what?"

"what--"

Wang Guangjin opened his mouth wide.

"Sir! If you print enough of these words, they can form a page of a book! Are you thinking of... using a seal to print a book?"

After Wang Guangjin finished speaking, he was a little shocked and confused.

Seals can be used to print books, but why didn't other people think of it? Why didn't these scholars ever have this idea?

His hands unconsciously scratched the cracks in the table.

Today's trip to the county government office had a huge impact on his cognition. He always felt that something was wrong, but he just couldn't figure it out.

He took a sip of tea and said to Shen Zheng:

"My Lord, my mind is a little confused. Please wait a moment, I will sort it out..."

"No need to think about it." Shen Zheng said, "The reason you are confused is because this job is not something that can be done overnight."

Her words awakened Wang Guangjin.

Yes.

It is impossible that such a simple way of making books has not been thought of for thousands of years, but it has not been promoted, so there must be some obstacles.

Seeing that he understood, Shen Zheng immediately opened a page of the book and pushed it to him.

"Look at the words on this page. How many are repeated? How many are not repeated?"

Wang Guangjin counted them carefully.

After a moment, he opened his mouth and said, "Sir..."

There are many repetitions and even more non-repetitions. If it were to be implemented, there would probably be some difficulties - too many seals are required.

Shen Zheng asked again: "This method of printing books seems easy at first glance, but there are still some tricks involved. If successful, it only takes a moment to print a page, which is much faster than copying a book."

"But do you know why no one has mentioned it or used it?"

Wang Guangjin opened his mouth and said from a businessman's perspective:

"Because there are so many characters, after the seal is made, it needs to be typeset. The people who do the work have to be literate, but few people who know so many characters are willing to do the work."

Yes.

Shen Zheng thought of this reason at the beginning, but she was not afraid.

Her goal has always been universal literacy, more or less.

She asked again: "Besides this, what else?"

Wang Guangjin was kept questioning by her and felt dizzy again. He looked at her for help.

Shen Zheng chuckled and flipped the book back and forth several times in front of him.

"I understand!" Wang Guangjin shouted.

"The words on each page are different. Printing a book requires many layouts. So if you only print one or a few copies, the labor cost will go up. You have to set the price very high to make a profit. It's a thankless task. You're just losing money!"

"That's right."

Shen Zheng laughed, "This is the basic reason why some of our ancestors may have thought of it but were unwilling to do it. Because there are few people who can read, there are fewer people who buy books, and no one is willing to take this risk."

Wang Guangjin's blood boiled at her words.

Is it just for this moment that the adults opened the county school and set up enlightenment classes?

What the adults want to do is not to enlighten the children in Tongan County, but to "enlighten" millions of people in the Great Zhou!

How honored he was to be rescued by an adult, to catch her eye, to hear her dreams, and to fight with her.

He was so angry that he said directly: "I am willing to take responsibility!"

Shen Zheng laughed.

"Calm down first, listen to the disadvantages, and then listen to the advantages."

"Yes, yes, sir, you say."

Wang Guangjin is as well-behaved as a little boy.

Shen Zheng said: "The initial investment cost for this may not be low. It will take some time to search for books, select books, hire people to engrave characters, and hire people to typeset. But as long as the books we select are accurate enough and we print enough books at one time, we can 'disrupt the market'."

Wang Guangjin nodded.

Yes, it is to destroy the market.

He continued, "In the later stage, we will win by quantity. After all, the majority of people in the world are illiterate, and the majority of students are literate but cannot afford to buy books. As long as we publish books for them, we can suppress most of the bookstores in one fell swoop."

This is a protracted battle, but as long as it is fought long enough, the more people become literate in the later stage, the lower their costs will be and the higher their income will be.

Shen Zheng tapped the table lightly.

“By then, books will no longer be precious, knowledge will no longer be valuable, but will enter thousands of households.”

Wang Guangjin seemed to have seen that moment and his heart was filled with excitement.

Faces flashed through his mind one after another.

There are students who study hard, children who are curious about reading, and adults who are deceived because of illiteracy.

He said: "Among the books we print, enlightenment books are also of the utmost importance. By printing obscure words and phrases and explaining them, people who cannot enter the academy can be enlightened at home!"

When Wang Guangjin said this, he actually already understood what he and Lord Shen would face next.

There are tens of thousands of "superior people" who hold books and knowledge tightly in their hands.

But he has confidence.

As long as he follows Lord Shen, he will have confidence.

Seeing that Wang Guangjin was eager to start working immediately, Shen Zheng said with a smile:

"The county school should also be involved in this matter. After all, the county school now only spends money but does not earn money, so we need to find a way to earn money. The reason why I want to cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce is because the Chamber of Commerce has a wide range of merchant channels, and it is not too much to collect too many books. In the future, printing workshops and bookstores will also rely on merchants."

Wang Guangjin understood what Shen Zheng meant.

He had great respect for her in his heart.

According to the adults' plan, this matter will surely be accomplished in the later stage. After all, the adults have a real "big backer" and are not afraid of any dangers and obstacles.

Moreover, the adults are now rich and can obviously invest their own money to open the bookstore and workshop, but she still planned for the county school and analyzed the pros and cons for her.

——Her original purpose was not to make money, but to consider the lower-class people and students.

"Don't worry, sir. Since you have explained this matter to me, I will not hide it from everyone in the Chamber of Commerce. It is up to them whether to do it or not. Anyway, I am prepared to lose money at the beginning."

Now that movable type printing had made its first progress, Shen Zheng felt much more relieved.

She waved her hand and said, "Go ahead."