Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

This secluded workshop in the backyard of the East Palace now seemed to have transformed into a volcano spewing forth waves of heat.

The roaring fire illuminated half the sky in a dark red glow. Dozens of burly, shirtless men were chanting commands as they pulled the massive bellows.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

The heavy sound of the bellows was like the panting of a giant beast. With each pull, the flames in the furnace leaped high, greedily licking the crucible placed above.

Inside the crucible, the lead and tin blocks had long since turned into a scalding silver broth, bubbling and releasing a pungent yet intoxicating metallic smell.

Li Chengqian stood by the stove, having long since taken off his fine prince's everyday robes, wearing only a thin undergarment with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He held a long iron ladle in his hand, his forehead covered in sweat, but he didn't bother to wipe it away.

His eyes were fixed on the molten metal in the crucible, as if it were not molten lead, but flowing gold.

"The temperature is right!"

Li Chengqian shouted loudly, plunged the iron ladle in his hand into the pot, scooped up a spoonful of boiling molten lead, and flicked his wrist with remarkable steadiness.

The silver liquid, like an obedient dragon, was precisely injected into the copper type molds that had already been arranged nearby.

"Sizzle—"

White smoke rose.

Mo Ju, watching from the side, was terrified. He wanted to help but dared not, and could only anxiously stand by, saying, "Your Highness! A son of a noble family should not sit under a dangerous roof. Let this old servant do this rough work! What if you get burned..."

"Enough talk, just watch!"

Li Chengqian didn't even turn his head; his movements were so fast that they left afterimages.

Just a few breaths later.

He put down the iron spoon, picked up a pair of pliers, clamped the mold, and threw it into a basin of cold water.

"laugh--"

Another puff of white smoke appeared.

Li Chengqian used pliers to open the mold and tapped it gently.

"Ding-dong!"

A metal cube, no bigger than a fingernail but with sharp edges and raised lettering, fell into the porcelain plate with a crisp, melodious sound.

That was a character "子" written backwards.

Following that, “曰”, “学”, “而”, “时”, “习”, “之”...

One by one, the lead type fell into the plate with a clattering sound, like dumplings being dropped into boiling water. Under the firelight, it shimmered with a cold yet captivating industrial luster.

Mo Ju shakily reached out and picked up a piece of lead type that was still warm.

Hard, heavy, with characters as sharp as if carved by a knife.

"This...this is what Your Highness meant by...the 'living type'?"

The old craftsman's voice was trembling. He had been a carpenter and a woodblock carver all his life, and he had never imagined that words could be "grown" out like this!

"That's called industrialization, you understand?"

Li Chengqian smugly blew on his fingers, "Wooden slabs are ruined if you carve even one wrong character. The wood also gets damp, infested with insects, and warps. After printing a few thousand sheets, it'll be a mess."

"But this thing is different."

He grabbed a handful of lead type and casually scattered it on the table.

"It's broken? Throw it back in the pot and recast it."

"What kind of books do you want to print? Just arrange them! Today we'll print the Analects, tomorrow we'll print erotica... cough cough, tomorrow we'll print Mencius, just take them apart and put them back together."

"This is freedom!"

Mo Ju stared wide-eyed. Although he didn't quite understand what industrialization was, he knew the value of the phrase "arbitrary arrangement"!

This was like pulling these woodblock engravers from hell to heaven!

"But Your Highness..."

Mo Ju suddenly thought of something, and pointed to the pile of paper next to him with a distressed look, "We have the characters, but we don't have enough paper. The little bit of Xuan paper left in the palace probably won't even be enough to print these few thousand characters."

"Xuan paper?"

Li Chengqian scoffed and kicked away the pile of valuable Xuan paper.

"That thing is as delicate as a woman's; it's for talented men and beautiful women to write love poems, not for poor families to study."

He turned and walked to the other end of the workshop, where there were several huge pools filled with yellowed, smelly rotten bamboo and straw pulp.

He had this done three days ago. At the time, Mo Ju thought the Crown Prince was going to raise maggots, and he almost vomited.

"Old Mo, come here."

Li Chengqian picked up a fine bamboo screen, gently scooped it out of the murky liquid, and then skillfully swung it around.

A thin, damp fiber membrane was evenly covering the bamboo curtain.

"Go, press out the moisture, and dry it in the oven."

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

When the still-steaming new paper was peeled off, Mo Ju was completely dumbfounded.

Although the paper was not as delicate as Xuan paper and had a faint bamboo yellow hue, it felt tough and thick to the touch. When held up to the light, the fibers were tightly interwoven, making it neither prone to ink bleeding nor easily damaged.

The key is……

"This...this is made of rotten bamboo and straw?"

Mo Ju held the piece of paper as if it were his own father, tears streaming down his face. "Your Highness, the cost of this piece of paper..."

"Less than a penny."

Li Chengqian held up one finger, grinning like a shrewd businessman, "If we mass-produce it, with labor and losses, it would probably be... three cents."

"Thump!"

Mo Ju's knees buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ground.

He held the paper high with both hands, facing Li Chengqian, and let out a heart-wrenching cry.

"Divine magic! This is divine magic!"

"With this miraculous paper and this movable type, the poorest families in the world... are saved!"

The old craftsman wept uncontrollably, a testament to his awe of the pinnacle of technology and his dread of the coming new era.

Although he was a craftsman, he knew that this seemingly insignificant piece of paper and word would bring about earth-shattering changes to the Tang Dynasty.

Those lofty and powerful aristocratic families, and their arrogant monopoly on knowledge, will all be reduced to dust in the face of this outrageously cheap paper!

"Alright, alright, stop howling. Save your energy for work."

Li Chengqian pulled the old man up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "What's the use of crying? Can you cry your way out of a powerful family?"

He walked to the typesetting table, placed the lead type one by one into the iron frame, brushed it with special ink, and then laid down the bamboo paper that was still warm.

The rollers rolled over.

Unveiling.

A copy of the Analects, Book 1, Chapter 1, with clear ink and a rich scholarly aroma, appeared before everyone's eyes.

Li Chengqian looked at the paper, his eyes burning brighter than the fire in the furnace.

This is the spark.

The spark that ignites a prairie fire.

"Old Xu! Qinglong!"

Li Chengqian turned around abruptly, his voice no longer lazy, but filled with a domineering and ruthless aura.

"exist!"

The two people who had been guarding the door strode in.

"Pass down the order: all members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard are to be mobilized and take control of the workshop. No one is allowed to enter or leave!"

"All craftsmen work in three shifts, the machines never stop!"

Li Chengqian pointed to the mountain of lead type and paper pulp, a crazy smile curving his lips.

"Go full speed ahead and print as many copies as you can!"

"Let's not sleep tonight."

He picked up the copy of the Analects and slapped it hard at the aristocratic families in the void, as if delivering a resounding slap.

"There is only one goal!"

"Print at least 100,000 copies before dawn!"

"I want Chang'an to be flooded with books tomorrow morning!"

Mo Ju wiped away his tears, the despair in his eyes turning into fervor. He waved his rough, calloused hands and roared at the equally shocked craftsmen:

"Did you all hear that?! His Highness has ordered! Commence work!"

"Let those old patriarchs who look down on us artisans see what we're capable of!"

"Boom!"

The huge wooden gears began to turn, and the roar of the bellows rang out again.

In the dead of night, in a corner of the Tang Dynasty palace, a cultural revolution that could overturn a thousand years officially began, accompanied by the rough yet powerful roar of machinery.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian lay back down in the rocking chair. Although he was physically tired, he was incredibly excited.

He pulled an apple from his pocket and took a big bite.

"Eminent families? Monopoly?"

"Ha, in the face of the wheels of industrialization, you are nothing but dust."

"Where's Qingque? Wake him up, don't let him sleep."

Li Chengqian ordered the eunuch beside him, "Have him come over and help fold the pages. Want to be a nobody? Learn how to be an assembly line worker first!"