ATPnovel Chapter 20: Solving the Color-Changing Ink Problem?
Chapter 20: Solving the Color-Changing Ink Problem?
The afternoon sun shone on the vermilion palace walls, so bright that it was hard to open one's eyes.
Wang Tiqian squinted as he followed behind Zhu Ming, watching the young emperor's back. Suddenly, he felt that this year of wandering at sea had been worthwhile.
"Wang Daban, you have done a great service this time. I will remember it," Zhu Ming said as he walked.
"Serving His Majesty, I dare not take credit!" Wang Tiqian lowered his head and followed behind him, his voice neither hurried nor slow.
"...Do you think that I went to great lengths to go to Southeast Asia just to maintain the dignity and prestige of the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Ming suddenly asked.
"?", Wang Tiqian paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I dare not presume to guess your intentions!"
Indeed, when Zhu Ming sent him to Southeast Asia, the national treasury was not very full, and the money for the trip was all plundered by Wei Zhongxian.
That sparked a barrage of criticism from the entire court. At the time, he also felt that although the Penghu Battle was won in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the Dutch had occupied Taiwan.
So he felt that Zhu Ming wanted him to go to the Western Ocean again... no, first go to the Southeast Asia to regain some face, and bring back spices and rare goods, which he could then resell to fill the national treasury.
Therefore, during his second voyage to Southeast Asia, he was attacked by the Dutch and some pirates. Fortunately, with the assistance of Zheng Zhilong, the Fujian General, and Shen Yourong, the Ming Dynasty's naval commander, he was able to return safely.
However, Wang Tiqian was also given several orders that he had to complete. The first was to order and purchase grain on a large scale; the second was to allow sugarcane to be planted on a large scale in Guangdong and Guangxi; and the third was to bring back rubber and special minerals.
Of course, they're all expensive things.
Seeing his lord's silver flowing out before he even started making money, Zhu Ming didn't feel bad, but Wang Tiqian was heartbroken!
It feels like a vanity project.
There's not enough silver. If Wei Zhongxian could just confiscate the property of a few civil officials, he could settle the debts from these two voyages to Southeast Asia.
That's exactly what Wang Tiqian thought.
"Ha!" Zhu Ming knew what Wang Tiqian was thinking.
It's currently in the investment phase, so all we can do is throw money into it.
Although the fundraising efforts following the Tianqi Explosion raised one million taels of silver, they were all invested in the reconstruction of Wanggongchang.
A small portion of this money will be used for reconstruction, but the more important part will be to develop iron, copper, and coal mines and establish a complete raw material supply system to support the production lines of the Ming Dynasty's main industrial factory.
Only then could he produce more gunpowder weapons and arm the Ming Dynasty to the teeth.
Confiscating property? While it might bring in money quickly, for the Ming Dynasty in its mess, it would be excruciating pain, possibly even fatal pain!
The civil officials, who wanted to feign promiscuity while maintaining a clean reputation, were exploited by the Ming dynasty. They were placed on a moral high ground, and their flesh was slowly butchered away.
Therefore, we cannot rush it.
We need to increase investment to lure in the Donglin Party members and Jiangnan gentry... and fleece them!
The way to achieve this, and it's completely safe, is...
Print money!
Zhu Ming stopped and turned around to look at Wang Tiqian.
"Wang Daban, those ores I asked you to bring back are very useful."
After a pause, Zhu Ming smiled slyly and said.
"Useful?" Wang Tiqian looked completely bewildered. "Aren't those just pretty stones?"
When he returned from his first trip to Southeast Asia, he followed Zhu Ming's instructions and collected various ores, especially those from the West.
At that time, some Western merchants happened to have special minerals in their possession.
After Zhu Ming had the Ministry of Works refine it, they discovered that it was cobalt ore, which could be used to extract cobalt chloride, a material with stable color changes.
This allows for the production of color-changing ink for the Ming Dynasty industrial version. With a touch of color-changing ink, the Ming Dynasty's banknotes would be more valuable and easier to promote!
So, on the fifth day after returning to Beijing, Wang Tiqian was once again ordered by Zhu Ming to set sail for Southeast Asia!
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been two expeditions to Southeast Asia in one year!
After all, I had just returned and hadn't even had a chance to catch my breath before I had to go back to work at sea.
The production team's donkeys weren't used like that!
"It's not just stones," Zhu Ming smiled slightly, "it's gold and silver!"
"Gold and silver?" Wang Tiqian looked bewildered.
How can mere ore, not even a gold mine, turn into gold and silver?
Zhu Ming noticed his confusion but didn't explain; he simply quickened his pace.
"Let's go to the Daming Technology Research Institute!"
Daming Technology Research Institute?
What special department has our own emperor created?
Wang Tiqian's clear, bewildered eyes widened in even greater confusion!
But Wang Tiqian didn't say anything, nor did he dare to ask. He simply followed Zhu Ming silently, walking along the long palace road and passing through one palace gate after another.
It's a courtyard in the southeast corner of the imperial city, a bit out of the way, but quite spacious.
The courtyard was renovated last autumn. Zhu Ming personally drew the design drawings, and the Ministry of Works followed the construction plan.
The courtyard wall was much taller than that of ordinary government offices, and there was no plaque at the entrance, only a wooden sign on one side with five characters written on it: "Da Ming Science and Technology Research Institute".
The gate was an iron gate, thick and sturdy, with guards from the Imperial Guard standing at the entrance, and everyone had to show their waist badges to enter or leave.
Wang Tiqian followed Zhu Ming inside, passed through three doors, turned two corners, and suddenly the view opened up before him.
A huge workshop, even more spacious than the main hall of the Qianqing Palace.
The roof is very high, with several skylights, allowing the afternoon sun to pour down and illuminate the entire room.
The workshop was filled with all sorts of tools and equipment, and the air was thick with the smell of machine oil, rust, and sawdust.
Several men in short khakis were busy inside.
Some were fiddling with a machine that Zhu Ming had never seen before, some were adjusting a sophisticated gear set, and some were playing with paper.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the workshop stopped abruptly.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
...
"Get up, all of you." Zhu Ming waved his hand and walked straight to a long table at the back of the workshop. He picked up a palm-sized iron plate from the table, which was densely covered with reversed characters and patterns.
Intaglio printing.
Gravure printing plates used for printing.
This was built by the Ministry of Works at Zhu Ming's behest, based on the blueprints.
After trying for more than half a year and wasting hundreds of iron plates, they finally made the first qualified intaglio plate. They also asked Song Yingxing to build a simple production line, which is now roughly in shape.
"Your Majesty, we have successfully completed the production process for the gravure printing machine, having fulfilled our mission." A craftsman in his thirties stepped forward, knelt, and bowed. "The machine has been fully tested and is ready for trial printing."
This man's surname is Song, and his given name is Yingxing.
Song Yingxing, yes, the same Song Yingxing who wrote "Tiangong Kaiwu".
After Zhu Ming traveled through time, the first thing he did was to have this Jiangxi scholar brought into the Ministry of Works.
Historically, although Song Yingxing was a learned man, his official career was full of setbacks. He failed the imperial examinations several times and only became a minor official in his forties. He wasted half his life in officialdom and finally wrote that great scientific work, but he was so poor that he didn't even have the money to publish it.
Zhu Ming wouldn't let him waste his time.
They simply picked someone from the pool of successful candidates, threw him into the Ministry of Works, gave him money, gave him ideas, and gave him the best craftsmen—letting him do what he did best.
Song Yingxing did not disappoint Zhu Ming.
The gravure printing press, an invention that was originally expected to appear hundreds of years later, was born ahead of schedule under his guidance.
"Very good!" Zhu Ming said. "How's the paper?"
"We have improved several versions of white cotton paper, which perfectly meet Your Majesty's printing requirements!" A middle-aged man in his forties said excitedly, handing over a stack of papers.
The middle-aged man's name is Hu Zhengyan, a native of Xiuning, Anhui, who resides in Nanjing.
His woodblock printing technique made color printing possible, while his embossing technique created a shallow relief effect on the image, which had a profound influence on later generations of printmaking art.
Knowing of this man's talent, Zhu Ming had him brought up from Nanjing ahead of time.
Hu Zhengyan came from a family of medical scholars and never expected to be highly valued by Emperor Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty. He was deeply moved.
Moreover, after Zhu Ming produced the blueprints for the gravure printing machine, they perfectly matched his concept of embossing technology—that is, relief printing technology.
He sincerely admired this.
I never expected that this carpenter emperor would have such ingenious ideas; I felt like I had known him for a long time.
Of course, it is rumored that this carpenter emperor, Zhu Ming, only liked carpentry and neglected state affairs, making him a perfect template for a foolish ruler.
In retrospect, it was nothing more than the literati echoing others' opinions and making a fuss over nothing.
Zhu Ming took the stack of papers and ran his fingertips along the patterns on them.
Very comfortable.
"Not bad!" Zhu Ming nodded in satisfaction, then continued, "The printing press and white cotton paper are all ready. So, how's the progress on my color-changing ink?"
Now that we have gravure printing presses, acid-free... white cotton paper, the kind used in the Yongle Encyclopedia, has been improved, and we're just waiting for the color-changing ink.
"We are incompetent; we haven't even figured out the color-changing ink yet!" A young man in his mid-twenties stepped forward in fear and said tremblingly.