Chapter 25: Industry UpheavalThis…? Yang Qian was stunned for a moment, then hurried back to the workshop. He found the carpenter from earlier and instructed him to immediately produce several more sets of the wooden boxes, frames, rollers, and iron-styluses just like before—one set was not too few, nine sets were not too many. These items needed to be mass-produced, the more the better!As for the iron-stylus and smooth metal plate, Fu Xuechen’s set had used a blunted awl and a bronze mirror for modification, but that was actually unnecessary. They could simply have them custom-made at the blacksmith’s workshop! Oh, and the waxed paper—they also needed to produce a large batch of new waxed paper, and they had to add the outer frame lines and grid lines that Fu Xuechen had mentioned, pre-drawn on the paper. All the frame lines had to be uniform in size…Seeing the sky gradually darken, long past the time to leave work, Yang Qian had no intention of going home. Excitedly, he urged and ordered the craftsmen under him to work, eager to produce a large quantity of the new printing equipment invented by Fu Xuechen.Fortunately, when there was a need to rush work, the craftsmen were no strangers to working late into the night by lamplight. Moreover, during such times, the workshop provided meals. Since the supervisor had given the order, they simply complied. No one protested—in these times, no one had the notion of not working overtime for free.Yang Qian had the workshop kitchen send him an evening meal as well, then went straight into the office set up within the workshop. Spreading out paper and brush, he began drafting a report. This matter was too significant! It had to be reported to his superiors immediately!Ideally, they could produce one or two more sets by tomorrow and submit them along with the report to the Ministry of Works. Then, the minister of the Ministry of Works could present it to the Emperor. This was a technological transformation that would benefit generations to come. Once the Emperor learned of it, he would surely be overjoyed. When rewards were bestowed, the entire Ministry of Works would benefit immensely.Of course, Yang Qian was not the type to steal others’ credit. The equipment was invented by the Fu family’s young lad. Even though the boy was young and not yet an adult, Yang Qian’s report would still heap praise upon him and truthfully report his contribution.With swift strokes, he finished the report in no time. Just then, his evening meal arrived. Yang Qian ate happily, then hurriedly left the office and returned to the workshop. He wanted to check on everyone’s progress and see if the equipment had been produced.In the workshop, a separate area had been set aside where several craftsmen were busy at work.In addition to the original carpenter, two more carpenters had joined, both learning from the older carpenter as they worked together to produce rollers and the accompanying new-style printing wooden frames and boxes. Meanwhile, the blacksmith’s workshop had also started manufacturing the iron-stylus nibs and metal plates. The papermaking workshop had also received orders to trial-produce the new grid-lined waxed paper.The nibs were the easiest to make. By now, someone from the blacksmith’s workshop had already delivered a few to this area. The carpenters fitted the pre-drilled pen barrels they had prepared earlier onto the nibs, made some adjustments and glued them together, and thus produced several more iron-styluses.Imitating Fu Xuechen’s method, Yang Qian personally held an iron-stylus and wrote on the waxed paper. Unaccustomed to these tools, he ruined several sheets before barely mastering the proper pressure. With bold and elegant strokes, he wrote a poem on the waxed paper—about a hundred characters in total, occupying only a small section in the middle of the sheet.The font was about the size of a thumb. Yang Qian would have preferred to write larger characters, but unfortunately, the iron-stylus had such a small tip that it couldn’t produce big letters.He took the newly made wooden box, placed a sheet of white paper inside, secured the waxed paper, and closed the frame. Then, he dipped the roller in pine oil ink and pressed it firmly back and forth twice over the waxed paper in the wooden frame. When he opened the frame, the topmost sheet of white paper in the box had successfully printed the poem he had just written.Yang Qian, a grown man with graying beard, held the newly printed paper in his hands, staring left and right at the poem he had personally engraved. He grinned like a child, overjoyed and almost beside himself.As a scholar, he loved working with words. Together with his classmates and friends, he had published several poetry collections. However, these collections were always handed over to printing workshops for production. The craftsmen there merely carved their poems neatly and accurately onto lead or ceramic plates, which differed greatly from the brush-written characters of scholars like him and had nothing to do with the art of calligraphy.But waxed paper printing was different. Although writing with an iron-stylus couldn’t fully capture the unique variations in brushstrokes, it could still faithfully reproduce the structure and stylistic features of Yang Qian’s own handwriting. This was truly remarkable!Just imagine—with such convenient waxed paper printing, scholars who didn’t know how to carve reverse characters could easily print as many books as they wanted, as long as they could write. Even reproducing their own paintings would become much easier. What a revolutionary change this was!Moreover, government offices at all levels often had numerous announcements, notices, and wanted posters that needed to be copied and distributed in large quantities. These documents were constantly updated, making it impractical to carve printing plates for each new version. As a result, clerks and officials were often busy copying official documents.If they had waxed paper printing equipment, all official documents would only need to be engraved once, and then they could be printed as many times as needed. Even printing hundreds of copies would take less than half an hour. How much time and effort this would save everyone!As Yang Qian happily daydreamed, he suddenly noticed Master Liu trembling behind him, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.“Hmm? Old Liu, do you have something to say? Speak freely,” Yang Qian asked cheerfully.Master Liu hesitated, his lips moving a few times before he finally mustered the courage to look up at Yang Qian. “Master, I just wanted to ask… will we still need printing plates in the future? All of us here only know how to carve plates. Is it… is it…”He didn’t dare to finish his question, but Yang Qian paused for a moment and immediately understood his meaning.Indeed, with such a convenient printing method, it seemed that printing would no longer require as many carved plates. This meant that printing workshops, which originally employed hundreds of craftsmen, would likely have to lay off many workers. The industry was on the verge of a disruptive blow, with numerous craftsmen facing unemployment…Yang Qian’s mind raced, and after a moment of contemplation, he replied thoughtfully, “You can rest assured for now. The Ministry of Works’ printing workshops are still responsible for printing the state-compiled historical records and encyclopedias. The text must remain uniform, so plate printing will continue and won’t be abolished.”"Yes, yes!" Master Liu was delighted upon hearing this.Yang Qian, however, fell silent, his earlier joy diminishing somewhat. While the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works need not worry, other printing workshops across the land would likely no longer retain the labor-intensive, time-consuming, and costly woodblock printing method. They all pursued profit—once they could adopt the convenient, low-cost waxed paper printing method, why would they continue to bear the high expenses of producing woodblocks and supporting so many woodblock craftsmen?!It was easy to imagine that once the new printing method spread throughout the world, the printing industry would immediately experience an upheaval. Countless craftsmen would lose their jobs, and countless others who relied on woodblock printing for their livelihoods would have to switch trades and seek new means of survival…Yet, Yang Qian had no intention of hindering this progress. After all, compared to the social issue of mass unemployment, the long-term and profound benefits and positive impact that convenient printing technology could bring to the world’s development were far greater! He knew which choice to make.

The Prince Does Not Compete for the Throne