Firearms in a Fantasy World

Chapter 136: Printing Technology

Translator: Cinder Translations

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After discussing with the two female advisors, Paul presented his various new ideas at the routine meeting of the Administrative Council.

He emphasized two points in particular: healthcare and the printing industry.

The officials at the meeting took turns experiencing a microscope, exclaiming in amazement at the unseen world existing in the tiny details beyond human vision.

Someone said to Paul, "This will cause a major earthquake in the academic community. I suggest you send your new discoveries to the Headquarters of Clarity Society; they will surely erect a statue for you in the Central Square of the Holy City."

"Haha, really?" Paul scratched his head a bit embarrassedly, after all, the microscope was not something he had truly invented.

Apart from widely promoting health concepts and popularizing scientific nursing methods such as sterilization and germ prevention, Paul also requested material and financial support from the Administrative Council for the two female advisors. This was to train a batch of "professional" medical personnel and establish health clinics in each village and town, deploying medical personnel to station there. Of course, they would charge money at the current stage.

However, compared to technologies like microscopes and microbiology, the officials clearly showed more interest in the profitable printing industry.

Just think about it—printing words and pictures on pieces of paper that are otherwise worthless, then binding them into books immediately turns them into volumes that were previously painstakingly copied by hand. The difference in value between a book and a stack of paper is considerable.

Furthermore, printed books have two huge advantages over handwritten ones:

Firstly, quality—copyists often make mistakes like typos and smudges while transcribing books. With printing technology, as long as there are no errors in the printing plate, there will be no errors in the book's text. Moreover, with a skilled engraver, the printed letters can be neat and aesthetically pleasing, surpassing traditional handwritten books by far.

Secondly, cost—traditional copying requires copyists who can write well and have a certain level of education. In an era where literacy is considered talent, hiring such a large group of people comes at a great cost. There is also a significant difference in time expenditure.

This is simply a money-making method... no, it's a great advancement in human civilization history.

"Gentlemen, the printing technology we currently use is only a very basic technique, what I call block printing. At this stage, it can only be used for emergencies. Engraving plates is still very time-consuming. Books like the 'Scripture' may require a long time to engrave."

Paul introduced his improvement plan to everyone, "My idea is to develop a tool that can freely arrange words or letters, which I call movable type printing."

He explained the principle of movable type printing to the officials, eliciting another round of astonishment.

Finally, Paul handed a stack of papers to the officials of the Ministry of Industry. Inside were detailed descriptions of the principles of movable type printing and the structure of the original printing machine. He instructed, "Give this to the craftsmen at the mechanical factory, mobilize manpower to cast a batch of movable type, and produce a printing press."

Casting metal type was quite troublesome. If the casting of the movable type wasn't sufficiently regular, it would seriously affect the typesetting. They also needed to develop specialized printing ink. From Paul's memory, the printing ink invented by Gutenberg seemed to be composed of linseed oil, lampblack, and varnish, which could adhere both to metal and paper.