It would take 200 taels of silver to engrave and print "Ti Lou Yun Shu". Lin Jingzhong, who was in charge of the accounts, was reluctant to spend that much money. To be honest, the cost of engraving was so high that it wouldn't have been worth it if they weren't worried about the time it would take; instead, it would have been more economical to hire someone to copy the books by hand. Lin Jingzhong was even more heartbroken when he thought about how much it would cost to engrave and print other miscellaneous books on a large scale in the future.

  Lin Yining furrowed her brow and thought for a moment before asking, "Can we invite an experienced master?"

  "Ah," Lin Jingzhong casually hinted to himself that engraving books could save some silver money, but he didn't expect Lin Fu to take it seriously. Seeing that Lin Fu wasn't joking, he also spoke seriously, "Shi Liang is famous for its tea and paper production, the industry of engraving and printing books, Dongyang naturally has skilled masters, and their craftsmanship is better than other places... In Jiangning City, there are several master craftsmen..." He didn't dare to say directly in front of Lin Fu that eight or nine out of ten masters in Zhengyeting were from Dongyang, and with some effort, they could be poached.

  "Hmm..." Lin Xuan nodded, but he wasn't thinking about setting up a bookstore. He was considering the issue of movable type printing and woodblock printing. For four or five hundred years, there have been books printed using movable type printing, but due to technical immaturity, movable type printing has not been widely used. As someone who knows the progress of civilization over the next thousand years, Lin Xuan naturally understands that movable type printing is the trend of the times.

  Woodblock printing, the characters are all engraved on a whole bottom plate, and one woodblock can only print one page of a book. Therefore, every time you print a kind of book, you need to remake a large number of printing woodblocks, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

  Moveable type printing only requires rearranging individual character molds to print different books, and once the technology matures, it can greatly reduce the cost of printed materials.

  Lin Zhan only knew that later generations often used lead movable type, with the character mold made of lead. Whether it was pure lead or a lead alloy was unknown, and he didn't know what kind of printing ink was suitable for use with lead movable type, or if there were any special requirements for paper. He looked at Lin Jingzhong and asked: "Is there an artisan who understands movable type printing?"

  "Moveable type printing?" Lin Jingzhong was slightly stunned. The Lin family's warehouse also operated a paper workshop, and he knew a thing or two about engraving and printing. He said, "The master craftsmen of mud moveable type know one or two things, I've heard that using mud to burn character molds is particularly prone to damage, and when fired into ceramic, the ink doesn't adhere well; I've also heard that in the past, people used copper blocks to make character molds, but copper is difficult to melt, and making a set of character molds takes too much time, effort, and money. Ordinary bookstores really don't have this capability. Moreover, copper character molds aren't very good at absorbing ink either... only two imperial workshops in the capital are said to use copper character molds..."

  "It should be the material of the type mold and the ink selection that are not right, maybe also related to the paper used for printing," Lin said, "Specifically what's going on, help me find some masters who do movable-type printing to come over and see if we can find a more suitable method. In fact, if the number of books printed is large and the types of books are many, copper movable type will also be more time-saving and labor-saving than woodblock printing... this is also why official bookstores use copper movable type molds..."

  "Then I'll go take a look..." Lin Jingzhong nodded and kept this matter in mind.

  Lin Yizhi suddenly remembered something, the official bookstores in both capitals were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works. Since the official bookstores had always used copper movable type to print books, perhaps they could start by getting their hands on the Jiangning Ministry of Works.

  Lin Jingzhong said, "You were discussing miscellaneous studies with Zhao Zhuren the other day. I was thinking that printing books is also a kind of miscellaneous study or craftsmanship. These past few days, I've been wondering if there are any masters in Dongyang who are qualified to write and theorize about it. Even with copper movable type, how to carve the characters, what ink to use, and what paper to use - I've heard that all these have their own secrets. However, even the printers in official workshops rely solely on their craftsmanship to make a living and would never easily reveal their secret techniques. Later, I thought that if we could buy them out with a large sum of money and solve their worries about making a living, they might be willing to share their skills. But what's not fair is that the exclusive craftsmanship we bought with our money would have to be printed and distributed for free... In short, Lin Jingzhong was still unwilling to do business at a loss.

  "After a thousand years, the patent law protection system is an abnormally complex system, and Lin Xie only knows a little about it. To really promote this kind of thing, it would take the efforts of the whole country and several generations to succeed. At this time, he wouldn't bother thinking about it, and just said to Lin Jingzhong: "The most taboo thing in business is not being willing to give up one's own interests for the benefit of the world. I can tell you that if you want to gain benefits from the world, you must first have a mind that is willing to benefit the world. The matter of printing books seems like a losing business at first glance, but if we really have this kind of mindset and courage, it will be easier for us to gather famous teachers and craftsmen in the future. Moreover, any study requires thorough research, and relying solely on one or two people's closed-door efforts is absolutely impossible. No matter how brilliant a person's intelligence is, there are limits. Gathering the wisdom of many people through exchange and communication is the right way. Printing books is to make one's own wisdom and experience public for exchange and communication with others. This also has a direct benefit, which is that we can always access these experiences and wisdom earlier than others. The early bird catches the worm, isn't business all about competing for an advantage? If it's feasible, I plan to establish a learning institution in Jiangning in the future - Xixi Academy, gathering virtuous scholars who write moral essays... Our Jiyun Academy will gather craftsmen and artisans who study strange and ingenious skills..."

  "Your ambition is indeed great, if you can really achieve this, your name will be remembered in history!" Lin Jingzhong heard Lin Xie say these words and also felt a few points of heroic spirit arise in his heart.

  "It's easy to say," Lin Yanshan smiled, "but to make it happen, it all comes down to power, money, and influence. Jingzhong, if you want to help me, the history books won't just record my name alone. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, first we need to focus on printing Zhao Shuhan's book, and then see if we can find a more convenient and cost-effective way to print books. As for the bookstore, if you think the timing is right, then go for it..."

  "It's not that I'm unwilling to make a name for myself in history, but since I've decided to stay in Jiangning, it's as if I've sold my life to you," Lin Jingzhong said with a smile. "You have your orders, and I will do my best to carry them out. However, when it comes to the matter of printing books at the bookshop, Ye Kai is sure to secretly interfere..."

  "Since he can deceive us and earn dozens of taels of silver today, do we need to worry about him secretly obstructing us in the future?" Lin Xuan asked with a smile.

  "It's also." Lin Jingzhong pondered the four words "power, money, and influence" that Lin Lian had said. As long as they had more power, money, and influence than Zhengyedang, why should he be afraid of him secretly sabotaging them? Not to mention in the future, even now, Lin Jingzhong was not afraid that Ye Kai would dare to openly turn against Jicloud Society. If things really got messy, Lin Jingzhong suspected that Lin Mengde would also secretly help them. These days, he felt more and more that Lin Mengde was very concerned about Jicloud Society's affairs. It could be said that Lin Mengde thought Lin Lian had greater potential.

  Lin Xian sat in the carriage, thought for a moment and said: "It's better not to hurt the harmony, do you think this is feasible? You go find Ye Kai to discuss it, we want to open a bookstore, Zheng Yedang can invest two percent of silver shares. If Ji Yun She's bookstore makes money, he can get two percent of silver..."

  Lin Jingzhong was taken aback, he had always only heard that the general number had silver stock, but never heard that the lower branch numbers and branches could also let people enter the silver stock. He wanted to refute Lin Fu, but after thinking about it, he himself became confused: why can't branch numbers allow people to enter the silver stock? Feeling his brain was tied in knots, he thought that Lin Fu often had unexpected ideas, but upon closer consideration, they actually made a lot of sense.

  Lin Xie didn't know who created the merchant's silver stock in his time. He thought about it carefully and realized that the merchant's silver stock was somewhat similar to the structure of a thousand-year-old joint-stock company, with branches also setting up silver stocks, but this primitive structure was multi-layered.

  The benefits of doing so are obvious. Without affecting control power, it can at least alleviate the contradictions of industry competition and gather more strength.

  Lin Jingzhong thought for a moment and said: "Alright, then I'll try to talk to Ye Kai about it. Maybe we need to ask Meng De Shu to show his face."

  "Hmm," Lin nodded and said, "There are two more drafts of the prison book. One will be left at home, and the other I'll take with me to the Gu residence this afternoon."

  *******************

  Today is Xiaonian Eve, and in the afternoon, I went to Gu's residence. Lin Xie specially brought Gu Tianqiao along, after all, he was a member of the same clan as the Gu family.

  In the afternoon, snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Snow before the New Year is considered auspicious, and people on the street looked at the snow with great excitement. However, the refugees who had mixed into the city huddled at the foot of the wall, feeling that the weather was getting colder and more unbearable.

  Gu Tianqiao sat in the carriage and looked at Lin Xian, who lifted up the curtain to gaze at the refugees huddled against the wall, saying: "There seem to be more refugees on the streets..."

  "There's a tradition of escaping the spring famine in places like Xi Qin, Jin Zhong and Zhong Zhou. It seems to be happening earlier this year than usual..." Zhao Hu said with more insight, sitting at the front of the carriage driving the horses, turning his head back to speak.

  Lin Xie sat in the carriage, thinking that the disaster in the north was severe and had a big difference from the traditional escape of spring famine. The news revealed by the Tang newspaper showed that the local government along the Huai River began to organize troops to stop the large-scale southward migration of refugees. He thought that the person who went to Chongzhou to contact Qin Chengzu and others had also left for many days, should be back soon, and maybe Qin Chengzu would recruit some refugees who lost their livelihoods to go to Changshan Island. After all, Qin Chengzu's men suffered heavy losses in the battle against thieves before spring and summer, and only 40 or 50 of them were truly elite.

  The carriage arrived at the Gu residence, where lanterns and decorations had already been set up inside and out to celebrate the New Year's festival. Gu Wudu did not go to the yamen today, as it was rare for officials to diligently attend to their duties in the days leading up to and following the New Year's festival.

  Gu Wudu and his wife, Madame Gu, were admiring the snowfall in the backyard. Gu Junxun was also standing in the middle of the garden, wearing a light green jacket, innocently stretching out her hand to catch the snowflakes. When she saw Lin Xie and Gu Tianqiao walking in, she shyly hid behind Madame Gu, without leaving the garden.