Rebecca was a little worried when she got home. She did not even notice the stains on her hands and face. She walked all the way back from the Institute of Magical Engineering. It was only when the servant reminded her that she did not wash her face that she realized she had not washed her face. In the past, this kind of behavior would usually get her knocked on the head.
But when she saw what was on Gwen's desk, all her worries and headaches disappeared.
"A new machine design!" The girl jumped up excitedly when she saw the drawing on the table. She reached out to grab it. "Let me see …"
Gwen slapped the girl's dirty hand back. "Look at your hand!"
"Oh!" Rebecca hurriedly withdrew her hand and rubbed it on her body, which was an action that Heidi would knock her head at least five times in front of her. Then, she carefully moved closer to the desk and looked at the weird-looking machine. "What's this … Hey, does it mean that I have to put the paper under this roller? To print something? "
Rebecca was used to dealing with all kinds of machines and equipment. She also had a certain understanding of Gwen's habits. The moment she saw the printing machine, she guessed its function and saved Gwen a lot of trouble explaining. The latter nodded. "This is a printing machine."
"Printing, I know that." Rebecca nodded. "The textbooks used in the school, the checkered and printed paper used in the office, and the labels used in the alchemy factory are all printed … Did you improve the printing machine? But this thing … looks completely different from the one used in the fief. "
Rebecca knew what the printing technology used in the fief was. In fact, it was a technology that the Ansu had long used. They used a wax plate to carve words and patterns on it to form yin characters. Then, a mud mixed with bitterroot vine powder was poured evenly on the wax plate. After heating, the bitterroot vine powder would turn into a hard clay plate, and the wax would melt. This way, the yin character plate could be used to print things.
But this printing method had a lot of limitations. First of all, no mistakes could be made. Once a mistake was made, the whole wax plate would be scrapped. Second, the bitterroot vine paste had to be left for a few hours after the wax plate was covered with bitterroot vine paste to remove bubbles and solidify. After that, it could be heated and hardened. The hardened yin character plate had the problem of brittleness and fragility.
Even so, this printing technology was quite advanced. The nobles used this method to print letters and official letters with family patterns. This was also the main way it was used.
Cecil was the first to use this improved printing technology to print books. The reason was very simple — only here, a large number of people were literate, and a large number of people needed to read books.
In fact, in the eyes of the traditional scholars of this world, Cecil Hill's practice of using printing technology to mass produce cheap books, printing words on cheap paper, and not adding any metal or gem decorations to the covers of the books, and not using leather jackets or ribbons to fix the spines of the books, was an "insult to sacred knowledge."
Many scholars complained when they came to Cecil Hill and saw the cheap and "shoddily made" books. In their traditional view, books had to be made of fine parchment, or at the very least, made of frosted paper. They had to copy it by hand or by shorthand magic, and they had to be signed by famous scholars. Finally, they had to decorate the book with a lot of gorgeous, complicated, and expensive decorations.
But Gwen ignored all these pedantic voices. After all, he was the founder of the country, and his words were more prestigious than anyone else's. He was not afraid of any challenge when it came to the "right to speak".
Rebecca curiously studied Gwen's design. At first, she thought it was an "improvement" of the existing printing technology in the fief, but soon she realized that the working principle and efficiency of this machine were far superior to the traditional printing technology.
The basic concept of "plate-making and transfer" was still there, but the way this machine worked was too advanced. The words "continuous printing" appeared in the girl's mind for the first time.
Sometimes, what the technicians lacked was just a direction.
"What we need to solve now is' plate-making ', or how to quickly and conveniently transfer the text to the printing cylinder." Gwen pointed to the core part of the machine and explained the problem he had encountered. "I have three requirements. First, it needs to be fast and convenient. The process of transferring the text to the cylinder must be faster than the current plate-making technology. Second, it needs to be easy to edit, unlike the traditional engraving where one mistake will destroy the whole page. So this requires that the process of transferring the text to the cylinder must be reversible, or the text can be modified and reset before the transfer. Third, actually related to the second requirement, it requires that the cylinder can be used multiple times, and the print on it can be erased. This is not only to reduce the cost, but also to improve the efficiency of the machine."
"Wow …" Rebecca dragged her voice. "Sounds … very challenging."
"Yes, it is a little challenging." Gwen looked at Rebecca with a serious face. "That's why I have to hand it over to you, or rather, to your Magical Engineering Research Institute to solve this problem."
Rebecca did not quite understand. "Magical Engineering Research Institute …"
"The Magical Engineering Research Institute exists to solve these technical problems, and the large-scale comprehensive laboratory is designed to solve these problems." Gwen smiled and nodded. "All kinds of talented craftsmen, mechanical engineers, runemasters, and mages gather in a laboratory as' magical engineers', using their own ideas to create one idea after another. They discuss with each other, help each other, realize and verify together, and make the best use of all resources on a project. This is the purpose of those laboratories."
He paused, and when he saw Rebecca's thoughtful look, he continued, "The creativity of a single person is ultimately limited, but when many people work together, their creativity is far greater than the sum of the people. I'll give you a direction, and you can lead your team to do as much as you want. Bring out everyone's ideas for discussion, and don't be afraid of making mistakes. Then, you will realize how incredible the power of a large laboratory is."
Rebecca's eyes widened, and in the end, they were even a little sparkling. She suddenly grabbed Gwen's arm happily and shook it. "I get it, I get it! So that's how it is … This is the right way to use the large-scale laboratory! "
"Don't shake it, don't shake it … You are a mage, and yet you have so much strength." Gwen gently knocked Rebecca's head and easily broke free from her. "Before we take the project to the laboratory, tell me what you think. Do you have a solution?"
"Erm …" Rebecca put her finger on her lower lip and thought hard. After a moment, she said with uncertainty, "Actually, I have a little idea … I think of the mage's Shorthand Magic."
As Gwen expected, when faced with a problem that seemed to be unable to be solved by machines, the first thing that came to Rebecca's mind was magic — this was the most normal way of thinking for a mage. Although Rebecca's talent for magic was a little subtle, the idea of "using magic to solve problems" obviously worked on her.
"Shorthand Magic …" Gwen nodded slightly. "I know this kind of spell. It's a relatively low-level but very useful official spell. It should be arcane, right?"
"Yes." Rebecca nodded and gestured. "On an enchanted parchment soaked in a special potion, the Shorthand Magic can directly transfer the clear memory in the mage's mind into words or pictures. If there is no enchanted parchment, the mage can also use an enchanted quill to do a less efficient 'Shorthand Magic'. This spell has another name, it's called Transfer Magic …"
Gwen raised his eyebrows. "Your theoretical knowledge is not bad?"
Amber stuck out her tongue. "When I was a child, I would be spanked if I couldn't memorize it … Auntie said that as a mage, it's because of talent that they can't learn other spells. But if they don't even know theoretical knowledge, then they really don't work hard and should be punished."
Gwen was speechless.
"Shorthand Magic is probably an idea, but it still can't solve the problem of quickly turning text lines into prints. And I remember that Shorthand Magic doesn't have a magic circle. It's a spell that has to be released by the mage." After sighing that Rebecca's childhood was not easy, Gwen said while thinking. "So the current runic logic can't deal with it, and it doesn't conform to our principle of 'ordinary people can use it'. But keep this idea for the time being. You go back and study it. "
Rebecca left with the half-finished printing machine blueprint and a head full of half-finished ideas. Gawain, on the other hand, strolled to the floor-to-ceiling window in the study and fell into deep thought as he watched the setting sun outside.
Just as he thought before, his knowledge and creativity were limited. Even if he had enhanced memory and knowledge beyond this world and era, he was still just a mortal.
He could come up with the idea of a new printing machine, but he could not come up with a practical and fundamental technical plan.
But he had no regrets about this, because he had recognized this point from the very beginning.
This world had its own technological system, and the people in this world had their own wisdom and creativity. He did not need to be an all-rounder who could invent all technologies and systems. What he needed to do was to gather as many talented people as possible in his territory, then organize them reasonably and give them a "direction."
He could not figure out how to make a printing machine that could work continuously, quickly, and conveniently, but he could tell the technicians in his territory that he needed such a machine. He could also describe the general idea and technical requirements of the machine, which could greatly improve the speed of technological development.
He did not know if this way of development was right, but he thought it was the most suitable way for him, Cecil Territory, and the most suitable way for the development of this world.
He withdrew his gaze and returned to the desk. He took out a piece of paper and wrote a new plan.
The technical breakthrough of the new printing machine could not be completed in two or three days. But before that, some things could appear in advance. At most, the efficiency would be lower.
Under Gwen's pen, a line of big words appeared:
The concept of the newspaper and the distribution plan.
Genius memorized this site's address in one second:. Mobile version of reading website:.
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