Chapter 945, One of the Four Great Inventions

Translator: Silavin

 

Su Bai flexed his fingers and retrieved a fresh sheet of paper.

 

He decided this invention needed to be prioritised immediately. The Tribe had developed sufficiently for this stage of advancement.

 

“Shaman, do you need my help?” Yu Ying remained obediently beside him.

 

Yu Ying had completed all her assigned tasks and now constantly attended to Su Bai, serving tea and water. Occasionally, she would venture into the kitchen to prepare small delicacies, or mend various clothes.

 

Naturally, the clothing she mended belonged to Yan Hua and Sha Lan.

 

Warriors’ clothes deteriorated rather quickly. A single shirt might develop one or two holes, yet throwing it away seemed too wasteful.

 

Therefore, mending those holes had become standard practice within the Tribe. As long as the damage was not too much, these clothing could be fixed.

 

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to help with this, so you should rest for now.” Su Bai said gently.

 

“Are you creating teaching materials, Shaman?” Yu Ying enquired with curiosity.

 

Yu Ying observed Su Bai writing numerous characters. There were various types, each drawn with exceptional precision.

 

Her first thought was teaching materials, though these appeared distinctly different from the standard ones.

 

“No, this might be one of my best ideas. I call it printing.” Su Bai smiled faintly.

 

Indeed, he intended to recreate printing technology in this primitive Tribe. The task would not prove particularly difficult.

 

After all, before he had Transmigrated, printing had been one of the Four Great Inventions. Such ancient, sacred knowledge had remained permanently engraved in his memory.

 

“One of your best ideas? Printing?” Yu Ying tilted her head continuously.

 

“Printing just means creating another set of the same words easily. Each instance will be exactly the same.” Su Bai explained.

 

He retrieved a book, opened it, and continued, “Just like this. The character sizes are all the same. You can see these two characters are identical, yes?”

 

“They really are! How strange. Even rubbing won’t remove them,” Yu Ying reached out to touch the characters.

 

Yu Ying noticed the character for ‘我’ (me) appeared frequently throughout the book, yet every instance was absolutely identical.

 

The crucial point was that no amount of rubbing would fade the colour. It was completely different from writing produced by charcoal pencils or quill pens.

 

“This way, we can produce teaching materials with permanent colouring and uniform characters that will also preserve for longer periods,” Su Bai continued, head lowered as he wrote. “Everyone can take them home for study without constantly hand-copying. If the copying is imprecise, it might mislead others.”

 

His motivation for inventing printing stemmed from wanting everyone to learn Chinese characters more rapidly. Literacy would significantly benefit the Tribe’s development.

 

Teaching materials produced through printing would certainly be faster than individual hand-copying. Once sufficient characters were carved, any desired teaching materials could be sent directly to the workshop for printing.

 

Arranging those characters in sequence would enable printing of numerous copies. Most importantly, everyone could possess their own copy.

 

“Shaman, what will this printing technique look like?” Yu Ying was particularly curious.

 

“Similar to a stamp. Characters are carved onto wooden boards or stone blocks. One simply needs to apply some ink to these stone blocks or wooden boards, then press paper onto them to get printed.” Su Bai explained.

 

He flexed his wrist and continued, “This way, any number of copies can be printed. One simply needs to arrange the characters in the proper sequence.”

 

“Shaman, if many characters are combined together, what happens if the printing becomes crooked?” Yu Ying asked.

 

After hearing the explanation once, she understood the concept. However, she didn’t comprehend how to achieve the same uniform rows and columns visible in books.

 

She felt that following the described method, the slightest movement of those wooden boards or stone blocks would cause the rows and columns to become misaligned.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ve already considered that. There will be a fixing mechanism that prevents the situation you’re concerned about,” Su Bai reassured her gently.

 

Simply establishing a frame would suffice. Character-carved stone blocks, once arranged within the frame, would remain fixed in position. Shifting would be impossible.

 

“Of course. You’re so smart, Shaman.” Yu Ying’s smile was utterly endearing.

 

“Take this to Uncle Shan Qiu first. Have him carve some sample pieces according to my requirements,” Su Bai handed over a blueprint.

 

The blueprint specified the stone blocks’ dimensions, thickness, and various characters. Shan Qiu’s task was to carve the characters accordingly.

 

Su Bai wanted to test whether the printing technique could be successfully implemented. Sample pieces were required beforehand.

 

“Yes, Shaman. Is there anything else?” Yu Ying accepted the blueprint.

 

“Have them strictly follow the characters I’ve written when carving. Every stroke must be precise. The depth needn’t be too deep, and the character size does not need to be too large,” Su Bai instructed.

 

He considered carefully, then added, “The stone block size shouldn’t be too large either. And this other blueprint is for Uncle Gu Mu.”

 

Yu Ying examined the other blueprint with curiosity. “Shaman, what is this blueprint for?”

 

“This blueprint shows the fixing mechanism. It’s quite simple. Uncle Gu Mu will understand immediately how to construct it,” Su Bai explained.

 

The fixing frame’s dimensions and measurements were all clearly annotated. Gu Mu would certainly comprehend it at first glance.

 

“Understood. I’ll go immediately,” Yu Ying nodded emphatically.

 

*Step step step…*

 

Su Bai watched Yu Ying’s departing figure, then remained seated and continued writing characters.

 

Observing several pages densely filled with characters, he murmured to himself, “These characters all need two sets made. Some commonly used characters require multiple copies. Only then can movable type printing be achieved.”

 

He certainly didn’t want only one stone block per character. That would complicate printing. Print once, pause, print once, pause.

 

“I need to find someone with excellent calligraphy. Otherwise, completing this myself would take until who knows how long,” Su Bai’s lips curved slightly upward.

 

He had numerous other matters to attend to. These simpler tasks could be delegated to others. After all, it was merely copying, unlikely to cause significant problems.

 

Su Bai already had a suitable candidate in mind though, which was Sha Lan.

 

Sha Lan’s handwriting had always been exceptionally uniform. At first glance, it was indistinguishable from modern handwriting, sometimes even superior to modern standards.

 

“Seems I need to accelerate the pace and write out more characters,” Su Bai continued writing with his quill pen, head lowered.

 

He certainly didn’t intend to write out all Chinese characters. The total number of Chinese characters exceeded ninety thousand. Writing that many would be exhausting.

 

Moreover, not all ninety thousand-plus characters were commonly used. Many obscure characters were unnecessary.

 

Knowing and writing commonly used characters was enough. There were over seven thousand commonly used characters, which was already a substantial undertaking.

 

However, Su Bai had planned accordingly. He wouldn’t write all seven thousand-plus commonly used characters. For now, writing the thousand-plus most frequently used characters would suffice.

 

The remainder could be supplemented gradually later, perfecting the system over time without urgency. After all, not everyone has achieved complete literacy yet.