chsdbacks #491 - A promising future
#491 - A promising future
Huffing and puffing, Halkin closed the curtains of the carriage window and sat back down, calmly meeting Theodora's intrigued gaze.
"Is Holy See Hall the Savior Army's lord stronghold in Jeanne d'Arc Castle?" Theodora asked, her head and face covered with gray gauze, only a section of her fair chin visible below the veil.
"That depends on how you define it," Halkin shrugged. "The Holy Grandson works here, as do the archives and accounting offices. If you need to inquire about anything, this is the place."
"I just saw many monks in identical attire here. If you don't mind... is there some important event happening?"
"We're all here to attend the Curia Council meeting."
Theodora blinked in surprise. "It seems our dwarf friend has a high position in the Savior Army."
"Hahahaha," Halkin chuckled, shaking his head. "I joined early, before the Battle of Pavia, so I know a lot of people. What did Miss Theodora want to see me about?"
"You previously introduced me to the hospital and even spoke to them about treating my back sores. I wanted to treat you to a meal to thank you," Theodora said, pushing a bag of coins towards Halkin.
Halkin's smile stiffened slightly, but he quickly recovered. "I'll take the meal, but not the money."
Theodora studied Halkin for a long moment, and only after confirming he wasn't being insincere did she retrieve the bag of coins. "Then it was I who was being vulgar."
"I like money too, but I can't accept it this way," Halkin added silently in his mind, especially not before the upcoming conversation.
Arriving at their destination, Halkin hopped out of the carriage, and as he looked up, he saw the large characters "Duke's House."
Gracefully stepping onto the small stool, Theodora, supported by Mornstein's hand, also alighted from the carriage.
Stepping onto the damp stone bricks, she looked up at the sign and smiled. "The name is grand, but the chefs here are indeed skilled.
The flavors they create truly have the feel of a duke's chef. At least, I've never tasted anything like it in other restaurants.
I just don't know why they don't open the third-floor private rooms."
Halkin coughed. "Because the chef here used to be the Kush Duke's chef. After the Kush Duke was beheaded, he came out and opened this small shop.
The third floor is closed because it's specifically for receiving Curia Cardinals and foreign guests."
Theodora's pace faltered noticeably. "Just because of an edict, the chef has to keep the third floor empty?"
"Not an edict," Halkin said, his short legs following behind Theodora, nodding to the waiter at the door. "The Papal State has shares in this tavern; His Holiness is the major shareholder."
"Then why doesn't he keep the chef in his own home, instead of putting him out here?" Theodora couldn't understand.
"His Holiness is frugal; what does he eat? Nothing more than pies and black tea," Halkin mumbled, looking down, avoiding looking at Theodora's backside. "His Holiness said, rather than letting it gather dust at home, it's better to put it out here to generate income. Pies are quite delicious, why did you exchange it for something else?"
Theodora, walking ahead, couldn't help but smile.
Everyone says that Holy Grandson Hohen is from a peasant background, but she didn't believe it.
How could a peasant sweep through the southeastern Thousand River Valley in half a year, routing the Edict Legion, the Church, and Nidersal?
But this restaurant made Theodora somewhat believe it; his eagerness to make money had the air of an old farmer.
Led by the waiter, the two went up to the second floor, took their seats, and each ordered pepper steak and red wine.
Bonato and the others sat at another table nearby, ordering plenty of bread, meat rolls, and cheese.
"To be honest, besides thanking you, I invited you to dinner because I hope you can help us again," Theodora said, tying her napkin and elegantly placing her hands in her lap.
"Help with what? Just say it; I'll see you through to the end," Halkin said casually, swinging his short legs.
"We want to acquire property locally, but we need to be naturalized for a year. Do you have any way to do that?"
"Simple," Halkin snapped his fingers. "As long as you demonstrate the ability to invest, the citizenship office will approve it. I'll take you to say hello tomorrow."
"What counts as the ability to invest? Buying your Holy War bonds?"
Halkin's eyes darted around. "Ability... ha, I'll tell you, as long as you're willing to participate in His Holiness's new industry, with my guarantee, you don't even need to buy Holy War bonds."
"New industry? What new industry?" The Norn people don't have as much discrimination against craftsmen as the people in the west; they're happy to participate in so-called 'lowly trades'.
"The printing industry."
Recommending the printing industry to Theodora wasn't just something Halkin made up.
The basis for his words was in the lacquered leather box in his hand.
According to the reports from this regular meeting, both the pigment guild and the printing guild had submitted their results.
Based on the Holy Grandson's simplified alphabet, the printing guild had designed a set of movable type casting technology.
To be precise, this type casting technology wasn't invented by a letterpress craftsman, but by a coin maker named Ake Yu.
This method had been used by the mint to cast impression molds.
As for why the group of experienced letterpress engravers couldn't figure it out, Halkin suspected they were doing it on purpose.
After all, if movable type printing were to be promoted, their income would probably be greatly reduced, and competition would become incredibly fierce.
It's just that they couldn't beat the Holy Grandson's army, so they honestly complied in a perfunctory manner.
In simple terms, this method involves placing the engraved copper plate underneath and erecting a ring of fist-thick clay around it.
Then, molten lead-tin water is poured in, turning it into a type mold about 20 centimeters long.
After a little polishing of the burrs and splinters, it can be used.
Since the writing system used by the Empire is a phonetic system, not a two-dimensional structure but a one-dimensional structure.
So the typesetter doesn't need to recognize the letters, just sort and insert them one by one, greatly increasing feasibility.
So the first step in the feasibility of movable type printing is complete, and the remaining three pieces of the puzzle are paper, ink, and the screw press.
Only when all four are available can movable type printing replace letterpress printing.
The ink has already been developed. The formula originally given by Holy Grandson was roughly correct, but it was missing an egg white.
The ink produced by mixing lampblack, linseed oil, and egg white works perfectly with lead type.
Of course, due to technical defects, the letters will have slight misalignments, the handwriting will be somewhat blurred, and the printing stability is not as good as letterpress.
But its advantage is convenience and large quantity. A set of movable type can be used thousands or tens of thousands of times, while a set of letterpress can only be used up to a thousand times.
Engraving a complete letterpress plate takes several days to weeks, while this movable type typesetting only takes a few hours.
Especially when printing multiple books or producing in large quantities, it reduces a lot of repetitive labor.
The latest novel is first published on the six-nine book bar!
As for paper and the screw press, the former can be temporarily replaced with old technology, and the latter, Holy Grandson only remembers that it applies the principle of an oil press, and doesn't know how to build it specifically.
The screw press has not yet been designed, but in the case of full manual operation, although it is more troublesome, it can already be used.
Currently, Holy Grandson is preparing to establish a movable type casting workshop and a printing workshop.
The former produces movable type ink and printing presses, and the latter prints textbooks, Holy Salvation Training, incoming and outgoing official manuals, yearbooks, and newspapers on a large scale that need to be printed on a large scale and constantly updated.
But there is a problem, the cost of a set of movable type that can print with punctuation marks is about 60 to 80 gold pounds.
To recover the cost, it has to be printed thousands of times before it really starts to generate income.
This is a new process, and no one is optimistic about it, so apart from Hohen himself, not a single wealthy businessman dares to invest money.
Especially the engravers in the printing guild, who are perfunctory and secretly obstructing.
The Savior Army government can't deal with them until movable type printing replaces these engravers, so they can only drag it out for now.
So, in addition to the state-run printing workshop, Hohen hopes that there can be some private ones as a supplement, so that he can save a lot of money and manpower.
For Halkin, after spending hundreds of gold pounds on the Giant Spider Silk project without any results, he urgently needs new achievements to prove himself.
Halkin wants to make progress too much. He also wants to live in a big house in a row of villas and be picked up by a special car every day.
Looking at these people in front of him, he recognized at a glance that they must be wealthy, silly roe deer from Norn.
For these Norn people, they are not afraid of the local printing guild.
The Norn people's guild has an army!
This kind of underworld-style guild organization with unlimited means makes the Norn people have no psychological barriers to stealing technology and disrupting the market.
The trustworthy dwarves have been broken by the Norn people several times.
But for the reformist dwarf Halkin, even though Theodora is a Norn person, they are also the best investors.
Outsiders are not afraid of guilds.
Booksellers have relevant industry experience.
It's just too perfect. He kept smiling, said hello, and waited for this day.
After listening to Halkin's story, Theodora didn't continue to speak, but immersed herself in cutting the black pepper steak.
After swallowing the steak in her mouth, she picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth before opening her mouth and said: "Is this news insider information?"
"You can see it on the city's bulletin board in three to five days," Halkin chewed the beef with big mouthfuls, crumbs flying everywhere. "Maybe the bulletin on the bulletin board will be printed with movable type."
New printing technology? Theodora silently finished the remaining half of the steak before putting down her knife and fork.
This technology sounds good, but is the process really as reliable as the dwarf in front of her said?
"I can guarantee you that you only need to pay for one set to get two sets of movable type."
Halkin immediately figured out Theodora's thoughts: "I can get you some orders for literacy textbooks. You don't even need a venue. I can find you a free workshop in Gray Furnace Town.
I dare to guarantee that if you put the printing workshop in Gray Furnace Town, the mayor will give you a good place to live for free."
"Lord Halkin, I am very grateful for your kind invitation and willing to give it a try," Theodora took a sip of red wine. "But what will you get?"
As the head of the Industrial Temple of the Gospel Court's Commercial Department, Halkin grinned and said, "You can participate in it, and I will get what I want. It's a win-win, come, I'll propose a toast."
Drinking the wine in the glass, Halkin's face flushed.
Take the move, colleagues!
You group of elm heads who don't know how to inquire about news and have no contacts.
Before the indicators have come down, I have completed the indicators in advance.
What is qualification, what is showing loyalty, what is implementing it, Halkin leaned back on the cushion.
Losers, what do you use to fight me?