Rebecca was a little worried when she came home dirty - because in fact she didn't notice the stains on her hands and face at all, and just endured the oil stains all the way from magic technology research After walking back home, I didn't realize that I hadn't washed my face until I was reminded by the servant after entering the house. In the past, this kind of behavior would usually be punished by being knocked on the head...
But when I saw Gao's desk, After that, all her worries and head pain disappeared.
"New machine design drawings!" The girl jumped up excitedly when she saw the drawings on the table, reaching out to grab them, "Let me see..."
Gawain slapped the girl's dirty paws back: "Look at your hands!"
"Oh!" Rebecca hurriedly took her hand back and rubbed it on her body Twice (just this action, at least five consecutive hits on the head in front of Hetty), and then cautiously came to the desk, looked at the strange-looking machine, "What is this for... Hey, it means to put the paper on Is there something under this roller?”
Rebecca often works with various machines and equipment, and she has a certain understanding of Gawain’s thinking habits. He roughly guessed the function of the printing press in an instant, which saved Gawain a lot of trouble in explaining. The latter nodded: "This is a printing press."
"Printing, I will do this." "I know," Rebecca nodded, "the textbooks used in school, the plaid and printed paper used in the office, and the labels used in the alchemy factory are all printed... Have you improved the printing equipment? ? But this thing... looks completely different from the one used in the territory."
Rebecca knows what printing technology is currently used in the territory - in fact, it has been used by Ansu for a long time. The technique is to use a wax plate to carve words and patterns on it to form inscriptions, and then pour a mud mixed with bitter root and vine powder evenly on the wax plate, and then heat it. After heating the bitter root and vine powder mud, It will turn into a hard clay tablet, and the wax will melt, so that a Yangwen engraving can be obtained, which can be used to print things.
However, this plate-making method has great limitations. First, you cannot make mistakes when engraving. Once you make a mistake, the entire wax plate will be scrapped. Secondly, the bitter root vine mud needs to rest for several times after covering the wax plate. It takes several hours to eliminate bubbles and initially solidify, and then it can be heated and hardened. The finally hardened inlaid plate is still brittle and fragile, so be extra careful when using it.
Even so, this printing technology is considered quite advanced - nobles use this method to print large quantities of letterheads and official paper with family patterns, which is also its main application. Way.
It was Cecil who set a precedent for using this improved printing technology to print books. The reason is very simple - only here are a large number of people literate and a large number of people need it. Reading...
In fact, Cecil pioneered the use of printing to print cheap books in large quantities and print text on cheap paper., the cover of the book is not decorated with any metal or gems, and the spine of the book is not fixed with a leather cover or tie. In the eyes of traditional scholars in this world, it is an "insult to sacred knowledge".
Many scholars complained when they came to Cecil Territory and saw the low-cost and "shoddy" books. In their traditional concepts, books must be made of fine parchment, and finally The difference must be made of white frost paper, transcribed by hand or shorthand magic, signed by a famous scholar, and finally decorated with a lot of gorgeous, complicated, and expensive decorations.
However, Gawain ignored these pedantic voices - anyway, as the founder of the country, he had more authority than anyone else, and he was not afraid of any challenge when it came to the word "right to speak."
Rebecca studied Gawain's design with curiosity. At first, she thought it was an "improvement" on the existing printing technology in the territory, but she soon realized that this machine The working principle and efficiency of the machine are far beyond what traditional printing technology can match.
The basic "plate making-transfer" concept is still there, but the working method of this machine is really too advanced - the four words "continuous printing" appeared in this girl's for the first time. in mind.
Sometimes, what technicians lack is just a direction.
"What needs to be solved now is 'plate making', or how to quickly and conveniently transfer text to this printing cylinder," Gao Wen pointed to the core part of the machine and said what he was currently facing. Question, "I have three requirements. First, it should be fast and convenient. The process of converting text into impressions on the roller must be faster than the current plate-making technology; second, it should be easy to edit and cannot be engraved incorrectly like traditional engraving. One point will destroy the entire page, so this requires that the process of transferring the text to the roller is reversible, or that the text can be modified or reset before the transfer; thirdly, it is actually related to the second article, that It is required that the roller can be used multiple times and the marks on it can be erased. This is not only to reduce costs, but also to improve the efficiency of this device."
"Wow..." Rebecca. Gawain said in a long voice, "Sounds...very challenging."
"Yes, it is indeed a bit challenging," Gawain looked at Rebecca seriously, "That's why I have to leave it to you. ——In other words, leave it to your Magical Technology Research Institute to solve this problem."
Rebecca seemed to understand: "The Magical Technology Research Institute..."
"The Institute of Magical Technology exists precisely to solve these application technical problems, and the working methods of large-scale comprehensive laboratories are also designed to solve these problems," Gawain smiled and nodded, "There are various Craftsmen, mechanics, rune masters, and magicians with creative talents gather in a laboratory as "magic technicians" and use their own ideas to create ideas one after another, discuss with each other, help each other, realize together, and achieve success together. Verify, use all resources on a project, this is the role of those laboratories."
He paused, and when he saw Rebecca's thoughtful look, he continued: "A person's creativity is limited after all, but many people can achieve far greater potential when working together. The creativity of the total number of people, I will propose a direction for you, and then you can lead your team to give full play - discuss everyone's ideas, don't be afraid of mistakes, and then you will find that large-scale experiments What an incredible power the room has. "
Rebecca's eyes opened wider and wider, and in the end they even shone a little. She suddenly happily grabbed Gawain's arm and shook it hard: "I understand. I understand! So that’s it… This is the correct way to use a large laboratory! "
"Don't shake first, don't shake first...you said you have such strong hands for a mage," Gawain lightly knocked on Rebecca's head, and then said after easily breaking free, " Before taking the project to the laboratory, tell me what you think first - do you have any ideas for a solution? "
"Emmmm..." Rebecca put her finger on her lower lip and tried to think hard. After a moment, she spoke uncertainly, "Actually, I have an idea...I thought of the mage's shorthand magic. ”
Just as Gawain expected, after encountering this kind of problem that seemed to be impossible to solve mechanically, Rebecca’s first thought was indeed magic - this is also because as a The most normal way of thinking for a mage. Although Rebecca's magic talent is a bit subtle, the outsider's idea of "using magic to solve problems" is obviously still effective on her.
"Shorthand magic..." Gawain nodded slightly, "I know that this kind of spell is one of the relatively low-level but very useful formal spells. It should be from the arcane system, right? "
"Yes," Rebecca nodded while gesticulating, "On enchanted parchment soaked in special potion, shorthand magic can directly transfer the clearly remembered images in the mage's mind. Printing into text or patterns, if there is no enchanted parchment, the mage can also use an enchanted quill pen for less efficient 'shorthand'. This spell also has another name, called transfer magic..."
< p>Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Is your theoretical knowledge okay? "Amber stuck out her tongue: "When I was a child, I would be spanked if I couldn't memorize it... My aunt said that as a mage, you can't learn other spells because of your talent limit. But if you don't even have theoretical knowledge, If you don’t even know, it means you really don’t work hard and you need to be punished properly. "
Gawain: "..."
"Shorthand magic is probably an idea, but there is still no way to solve the problem of quickly converting text lines into impressions, and I remember that shorthand magic is There is no magic circle - this is a spell that must be released by a mage." After sighing that Rebecca's life was not easy when she was a child, Gawain said while thinking, "So the current runic logic cannot handle it. It, it also does not conform to our principle of 'making it accessible to ordinary people'. But let’s keep this idea for now and study it again when you go back. "
Rebecca left with the half-finished printing press drawings and a head full of half-finished ideas, while Gawain strolled to the floor-to-ceiling window of the study, looking at the setting sun outside and falling into deep thought.
Just as he thought before - his knowledge reserve and creativity are limited after all. Even with memory enhancement and insights beyond this era of this world, he himself is just a mortal. That’s all.
He could come up with ideas for a new printing press, but in the end he could not come up with a practical and fundamental technical solution.
But he had no regrets at all, because he realized this from the beginning.
This world has its own technical system, and the people in this world also have their own wisdom and creativity. He does not need to be an all-rounder who can invent all technologies and all systems. What he has to do is , just gather those talented people as much as possible in their own territory, then organize them reasonably, and then give them a "direction."
He couldn't figure out how to make printing equipment that could work continuously, quickly and conveniently, but he could tell the technical staff in the territory that he needed such a piece of equipment - and he could also turn it into a machine. The general idea and technical requirements of each piece of equipment can be described in general, which can greatly increase the speed of technology research and development.
He doesn’t know whether this way of development is right, but he thinks it is the way of development that is most suitable for him, the Cecil Territory, and the world.
He withdrew his gaze, returned to the desk, took out a piece of paper, and wrote a new plan in a flash.
The technical research on the new printing press cannot be completed in three or two days, but before that, some things cannot appear in advance. At most, the efficiency will be lower.
In Gao Wen's writing, a line of large characters appeared:
About the concept of newspapers and the distribution plan.