Chapter 85: The Hangzhou Printing House

Zhao Yigong’s application report did not encounter any opposition in the Planning Institute’s project approval process. However, the supervising department, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, expressed reservations about his immediate intervention in the silk industry. In the view of Jiang Shan and others, this was too risky. The silk industry was a popular industrial sector at the time, and it was also an industry in which the gentry and officials were deeply involved. For Zhao Yigong to immediately set up a modern silk reeling factory was a classic case of drawing fire upon himself.

“He’s preparing to be a big fat pig, waiting for someone to slaughter him. We must stop him,” Li Yan said to Jiang Shan in the conference room. “Once the silk reeling factory is up and running, it will be as earth-shattering as the opening of the Leizhou sugar factory. He says he’ll only reel silk and not get involved in distribution or silk weaving—you know, the Leizhou Station thought the same way back then, but they were immediately targeted and besieged. If Leizhou hadn’t been just across the strait, and if the Senate’s full support hadn’t arrived so quickly, they would have been wiped out!”

Jiang Shan agreed. “I think so too. But we can’t be indecisive. He’s anxious to get money to open up the situation—I can understand that. Right now, without money, you can’t get things done.”

“There are many ways to open up the situation. Besides, isn’t there support from the ‘Mountain and Sea’ networks? Wanyou is about to open a branch in Hangzhou…”

“He doesn’t have the authority to withdraw funds from Wanyou at will. You know the financial discipline. It’s clear he needs money now,” Jiang Shan said. At a recent joint meeting of various departments of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, the finances of transmigrators stationed abroad were coordinated. It was stipulated that no transmigrator, apart from their designated intelligence activity allowance, could directly withdraw cash from the shops of the “Mountain and Sea” networks. They could only borrow cash temporarily in the form of a loan when necessary, and there was a certain limit.

The reason for this rule was to prevent stationed transmigrators from thinking they were “business prodigies” and privately engaging in some “commercial operation.” Wasting a little on operating expenses was one thing, but if the operation failed and the enterprise went bankrupt, it would be a huge embarrassment. Therefore, the enterprises of the “Mountain and Sea” networks, whether state-owned or joint ventures, were all uniformly managed and operated by the Ministry of Commerce—unless the stationed transmigrator was explicitly responsible for managing and operating the “Mountain and Sea” network’s stores, they were only to provide a certain degree of support to the stationed station.

“He can find other ways to make money, starting with low-cost industries,” Li Yan said. “I suggest he start with the book business first. Publishing books.”

The publishing industry in Hangzhou in the Ming Dynasty was only at a “mid-range” level, far behind Suzhou and Nanjing. There were not many bookstores, and their influence was not great. Compared to a highly profitable industry like silk, book carving was capital-intensive, had a slow turnover, and was not very profitable. It was not an industry that gentry and officials were willing to get involved in. Li Yan believed that letting Zhao Yigong get involved in the book carving industry first was the best choice.

Jiang Shan said, “But Zhao Yigong is very enthusiastic, and the proposal he put forward has hit the G-spot of several departments, including the Ministry of Light Industry, the Foreign Trade Company, and the Agricultural Committee. These departments will probably express their enthusiastic support. I’m just afraid it will be passed at the meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee.”

If it were passed by the Standing Committee, it would be included in the Planning Institute’s operational projects. Even if the Foreign Intelligence Bureau objected, it probably wouldn’t have much effect.

He paced a few circles and then stopped. “It doesn’t matter. The equipment for a modern silk reeling factory can’t be made overnight. It will take at least half a year. We’ll have the Agricultural Committee help the Hangzhou Station with improving silkworm breeds and mulberry tree cultivation—this is the foundation of sericulture reform, and Zhao Yigong won’t object.”

Improving silkworm breeds and mulberry tree cultivation would not attract much attention and would have a much smaller impact than immediately setting up a new-style silk reeling factory. In the view of the ancients, this was the so-called “foundation of agriculture.” For the gentry to manage it themselves was not only not looked down upon but was also a very respectable thing to do.

“…This will take at least half a year. By the time Zhao Yigong wants to set up a silk reeling factory, the situation should have changed, and there won’t be any problem with setting it up then,” Jiang Shan said with satisfaction.

Li Yan thought to himself that this was just a delaying tactic, but he had to admit that it made sense. He also considered that Zhao Yigong’s report mentioned two directions: a silk reeling factory and the printing and publishing industry. With Hangzhou’s manpower and resources, it was impossible to do both at the same time. It was perfectly reasonable to start with just one project for now, and he probably wouldn’t have any objections.

Li Yan first consulted with the Planning Institute, then called in Tan Ming, the head of the printing factory, and Zhou Dongtian, a member of the publishing guidance group, for a meeting. They discussed how to handle the publishing industry in Hangzhou.

Wu De’s opinion was that it was not necessary to establish a printing industry in Hangzhou at the moment. Instead, they could directly transport books from Lingao for sale. The printing factory in Lingao had already installed lithographic printing equipment and could print lithographic materials on a considerable scale. It was feasible to transport a certain number of books to Hangzhou.

“…But I don’t know how many books Hangzhou needs, or what kinds,” Tan Ming said, feeling uncertain. Although production capacity had increased, the printing factory’s own tasks were very heavy. The printing of a large number of textbooks and popular science booklets made the factory’s work exceptionally busy.

Zhou Dongtian said, “Looking at his application, the books Hangzhou needs are definitely of many varieties and in small batches. This is a bit difficult for the printing factory.”

Many varieties meant many typesetting sessions, and each printing run would not be large. This was very uneconomical for the printing factory.

The final decision was to first transport a batch of ready-made books from Lingao to Hangzhou. At the same time, simple printing equipment would be transported to Hangzhou. Zhou Dongtian suggested sending two types. One was the simplest hand-cranked printing press. This type of press did not require typesetting but used paper molds or lead molds for printing.

Although many people thought of “movable type printing” when they heard of modern printing, in reality, true “movable type printing” was not very widely used. Including modern phototypesetting, most modern printing technologies followed the principle of woodblock printing. The only difference was that the speed and efficiency of making the printing plates had been greatly improved compared to carving woodblocks.

In the era of “movable type printing,” books were printed using movable type typesetting. Then, a “paper mold” or “lead mold” was pressed onto the typeset plate using thick cardboard or a thin lead plate. The paper and lead molds were then sent to the printing press for printing. After printing, the advantage of this was that it greatly reduced the wear and tear on the lead type. Moreover, the paper and lead molds could be stored for a considerable period. If the book was likely to be reprinted, they could be taken out of the warehouse for printing immediately, saving the effort of re-typesetting with lead type. It could be said that it combined the advantages of both movable type printing and woodblock printing.

Compared to heavy wooden printing blocks, paper and lead molds were light, small, and low-cost. They were the most commonly used book printing technology before the popularization of modern photolithography. It was impossible for Zhao Yigong’s planned Hangzhou printing house to train a group of specialized typesetters itself, so the simplest method was to directly copy the various paper and lead molds currently stored in the Lingao printing factory and transport them over. Hangzhou would only need a few simple manual printing presses to meet its needs.

“I recommend the Albion press,” Zhou Dongtian said. “This manual printing press has been considered the best since its invention, and many printing houses in the 20th century used it. Even today, many printing enthusiasts highly praise this machine.”

The Albion press had a simple and light structure, and its transfer force was very large, making it a very suitable choice for the Hangzhou printing house. The disadvantage, like all platen presses, was that it used a flat platen, and its printing efficiency was lower than that of a rotary press.

“We last studied the imitation of this machine with the people from the machinery factory and believe that it can be improved to increase production efficiency, including using water wheels and steam engines for power. Another thing is to eliminate the spring.”

The Albion press had a key spring component, which was replaced with other methods after research.

“But with this approach, the typesetting task still falls on the Lingao printing factory. And most of the book molds we currently have are probably not suitable for sale in Hangzhou,” Tan Ming said. The typesetting work at the printing factory was already busy enough.

The Lingao printing house had already accumulated over a thousand types of book molds, but most of them were technical and management booklets for Lingao’s own use, various textbooks, and propaganda booklets. The only books suitable for sale in the Ming Dynasty were a small number of the Four Books and Five Classics, the Thirteen Classics with annotations from the Qing Dynasty, some common classics, histories, and philosophical works, and religious booklets from the Catholic Church and New Taoism.

Zhou Dongtian said, “This can’t be helped. We can slowly establish a typesetting process locally in the future.”

Another piece of equipment was the lithographic press. Lithography was essentially a type of woodblock printing, but it used protective coatings and etchants. Lithography was suitable for printing patterns and small batches of text, which was quite suitable for a place like the Hangzhou printing house that needed small batches of many varieties.

Although these two types of equipment seemed simple, they could not be imitated with 17th-century technology. They did not pose the risk of “technology leakage,” which the Senate was most wary of.

Zhou Dongtian said, “I applied before to go to Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou to see the local woodblock printing industry. I also wanted to see if I could recruit some master woodblock carvers to come and work. The printing factory also has a great need for woodblock carvers. This time, I want to go to Hangzhou with the books and printing equipment to help Zhao Yigong set up the printing house—after all, I’m a professional. I can also take a look at the printing industry in Jiangnan and recruit a few craftsmen.”

Zhou Dongtian had submitted the application to go to Jiangnan for an inspection a long time ago. At that time, there was no base in Jiangnan, so the Planning Institute naturally could not agree. Now that he proposed it again, the reasons seemed very sufficient. Of course, Wu De would not object. He turned his gaze to Li Yan.

“He hasn’t received any training. Will there be a problem if he goes to Jiangnan?”

Li Yan said, “There’s no problem escorting him to Jiangnan. We have contingency plans for transmigrators going on short-term business trips to red zones.”