Chapter 71 “The Gunman” and the Literary Man

The three panel makers were all anxious to show off in front of the king and the crown prince, so they each took the stone slabs and tried it very seriously.

All three of them are printing experts, and lithographic printing is indeed too convenient and simple. They all succeeded in the first trial printing.

The oldest craftsman looked at some of the dry ink peeling off the slate and suggested, "Your Highness, it might be better if the base ink is thicker."

Joseph nodded: "The specific viscosity will have to be adjusted by you."

He only roughly knew the technical process of lithographic printing, and the details of the process had to be perfected by these three experts.

The craftsmen immediately discussed, "We should add some asphalt."

"Yes, you can also try adding resin..."

"Your Highness, there is another question." A middle-aged craftsman suddenly said, "The printing method of stone plate is very different from that of copper plate. For example, the strength and angle of the printing are different. I am afraid that the previous printing press cannot be used directly."

"This..." Joseph couldn't help but be startled. He was an outsider after all, and he really hadn't thought about the printing press.

He looked at the craftsman and asked, "Can you modify the printing press?"

The craftsman immediately shook his head.

Just when Joseph was wondering whether he should find a workshop that manufactured printing presses, a shy but confident voice came from next to him: "Maybe, I can help with this."

Joseph turned his head and saw Louis XVI looking at him with an eager expression.

His eyes suddenly lit up. This man was the top mechanical craftsman, and his lock-making "assistants" were even famous masters. Isn't it easy for them to change the operation method of the printing press?

He immediately touched his chest and saluted, and said with a smile: "You really saved the lithographic printing technology. I suggest that this new printing press should be named the 'King's Printing Press'!"

Later, Joseph saw that the royal workshop was so busy that he could not get involved, so he returned to the palace and began to prepare the content of the publication.

He summoned his secretary and gave him a brief outline and asked him to write a novel based on it.

The clerk took the order and went away, and did not submit the manuscript until dark.

Joseph looked at the manuscript and felt speechless for a while - the sentences were indeed fluent and clear, but the character description was dull and there was no sense of substitution at all.

He heaved a sigh of relief. This gentleman's specialty is writing standard documents. It seems that to write novels, you need to find a professional writer.

He had no choice but to tell Emman to find several writers as soon as possible.

Eman was very efficient. As soon as Joseph finished breakfast the next day, four writers of different ages and looks appeared in front of him.

Of course, the main reason is that these writers originally lived in the Palace of Versailles.

Several people saluted, and Eman introduced to Joseph one by one: "Your Highness, this is the Count de Beaumarchais, a famous writer in Paris."

Joseph was a little surprised: "Beaumarchais? "The Marriage of Figaro"?"

The old man with gray hair and thick myopia glasses immediately bowed slightly: "I didn't expect His Highness to have read the play I wrote. This makes me feel extremely honored."

Joseph was a little dumbfounded. He just wanted to find a few hot spots, but Eman directly found a literary giant.

He hurriedly praised the great writer. Eman then introduced: "This is Viscount St. Pierre...

"This is Barre..."

There is no ordinary person, but everyone who ranks high in the French literary world today.

Joseph is also numb. Everyone is here anyway, so let's let the literary giants make a guest appearance.

He looked at the four masters and smiled: "I need someone to help me write the story I conceived into a novel.

"After the novel is published, the manuscript fee belongs to you completely. I will pay another 2 livres for every 500 words. What do you think?"

No matter what the writers thought in their hearts, His Highness the Crown Prince still had to give him face, so they all bowed and nodded: "It's an honor to serve His Highness."

But they were quite curious about how many stories the Crown Prince had to write, and they actually found four people.

Joseph did not waste time. He went to the study room with a few others. He sorted out the most enjoyable articles in his previous life, selected a few, and then began to assign tasks.

"Vicomte St. Pierre, you are writing about a man named..."

Joseph almost said the familiar name, but he immediately thought of adapting it to the taste of the French public, so he changed it: "The story of the growth of a boy named Hunter Xiao."

St. Pierre recorded with some wan interest, not thinking that the thirteen-year-old crown prince could come up with any wonderful stories.

Joseph continued: "Hunter Xiao was born into a family of alchemists.

"After he was born, he possessed superb alchemy talent, far exceeding that of his peers in the family.

"However, when he was 12 years old, he accidentally put on a ring and everything changed.

"His alchemy skills continued to regress. Three years later, he was tested in alchemy and was barely rated as 'Alchemy Level 3'. People in the family also began to ridicule and discriminate against him."

St. Pierre said subconsciously: "It's so unfortunate. What's wrong with that ring?"

"We'll talk about this later." Joseph let it slip and continued, "What Hunter Xiao couldn't accept the most was that his fiancée, Elizabeth, a talented girl from the Alchemy Knights, came to his home one day , proposed to break off the engagement with him in front of all his clansmen.

"Because she felt that his talent was too poor and he was not worthy of her at all.

"Hunter Xiao suffered great insult and argued hard. In order to avoid breaking off the engagement and affecting her family's reputation, Elizabeth proposed to compete with Hunter Xiao in alchemy three years later. If he lost, the engagement would be annulled.

"Hunter Xiao bravely accepted the challenge and spoke words as hard as steel, 'Thirty years east of the Seine, thirty years west of the Seine, don't bully a young man because of his poverty!'

"After the farce of breaking off the engagement ended, Hunter Xiao suddenly discovered the secret of his ring..."

St. Pierre was attracted by this story and asked anxiously: "Your Highness, what happened next?"

Joseph smiled slightly: "Write these contents down first, and I will tell you the plot behind it."

St. Pierre nodded helplessly, and then praised: "Your Highness, this is really a wonderful story! I will try my best to write a text worthy of it. Oh, by the way, what is the name of this novel?"

Joseph pondered for a moment and said, "Let's call it "Refining the Sky"."

On the side, Viscount Barre waited for St. Pierre to leave and immediately came over, hoping that he could also hear a wonderful story.

Joseph said directly: "What you want to write is a story about a lady.

"Her name is Cress. One morning, she woke up feeling a headache. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on the desk. There was a sentence written on the notebook open beside her, 'Everyone will die, including me. '."