I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 386

Paper.

Not one of the most epoch-making inventions in the history of Chinese feudal civilization.

Some people may say that the four great inventions of ancient China were gunpowder, the compass, papermaking, and printing;

The status of papermaking should be on the same level as gunpowder, the compass, and printing, which are also one of the four great inventions.

But at least for today's Han Dynasty, the importance of paper far exceeds the other three.

——Even if there is no compass, when it is necessary to identify the direction, the wise ancient Chinese people have many other methods that can achieve similar effects.

For example, the direction of the stars, the rise and fall of the sun, etc.;
As for gunpowder, let alone as a military strategic material, it was used in wars - you must know that the "firecrackers" of the Han Dynasty today are still literally "burst bamboo".

Even gunpowder for recreational use is missing, making gunpowder more practical, and naturally it is far away.

As for printing, it is not that it is not as important as papermaking, but that the two are interdependent.

With paper, printing, which can print handwriting on paper, will have the meaning of existence.

Without paper?
Hey!
How difficult it is to print on bamboo slips, Gongzi Sheng more than ten years ago knows best;

And how expensive it is to use cloth and silk as a writing medium, every Han Shaofu in the past few decades knows it well.

——In the past few decades, the amount of cloth used for imperial edicts, official documents, military newspapers, letters, etc., is no less than tens of thousands of pieces that can be counted in the Shaofu's records!

Convert its value into money, at least tens of millions, or even tens of millions of dollars!

This is still in the past few decades, the Han Dynasty, whether it is official or private, strictly abides by the principle of "unless it is absolutely necessary, never write with cloth and silk".

If it is opened and used, even if all the cloth in the world is used for writing, it may not be enough at all.

And the emergence of paper, or the appearance of such high-quality paper, has almost as much significance to the Han Dynasty today as any epoch-making invention in the new era of later generations.

"Cicada Wing Paper..."

"Yes, Not Bad."

"Although it's exaggerated, but compared to the paper in the past, it can indeed be called 'thin as a cicada's wings'."

Gently stroking the white paper in front of him with his fingers, Uncle Tian couldn't help but secretly nodded, and then began to look at it more carefully, or grope even more rarely.

In the stereotyped impression of most of the later generations, Cai Lun's "invention of papermaking" in the Eastern Han Dynasty is slightly different: in today's Han Dynasty, and even earlier in the Qin Dynasty and even the Warring States period, paper has actually appeared. .

As for Cai Lun who "invented paper" in the population of later generations, he actually improved the process on the original basis.

At the very beginning, people at the end of the Warring States period did not regard the early "paper" as paper, but understood it as inferior cloth made from rags.

How bad is it?

I would rather use rough hemp to make clothes than use 'paper' as a raw material for making clothes!
From this, it is not difficult to see that the roughness of the 'paper' that existed from the end of the Warring States period to the reign of the Qin Dynasty should be comparable to the paper shells of later generations—the crumpled paper shells.

In the Qin Dynasty, people began to gradually discover the use of this inferior cloth, which can also be said to be waste utilization.

——If it is used as 'cloth', this inferior cloth is too rough, making it difficult for people to bear such rough clothes rubbing against the body surface;

But living things can't stand rough surfaces, doesn't it mean dead things can't either?

Therefore, since the last years of Qin Shihuang, paper, which is made of rags and melted, exists because of the meaning of "waste utilization", and has been used for packaging.

The larger one can be used for loading goods;

Smaller ones can also be used to hold some hard objects that are not afraid of wear, or objects that have been 'wear' to the extreme.

—coins, and broken medicines.

Anyway, these 'papers' are just made of shredded pieces that were meant to be thrown away. No matter how useful they are, as long as they are useful, they are considered to be of value.

Later, the common people in the flames of war at the end of the Qin Dynasty were increasingly unable to guarantee food and clothing. At one time, some people wore this kind of 'paper' on their bodies to keep out the cold;
When Han Zuo came to power, paper, which can be used as cargo bags, money bags, and medicine bags, had only one last use left.

——I don’t know how many people’s scraps are needed to make the rags needed for the cargo bag. It’s better to just make a sack if you put together so many rags;
As for the money bag, rich people don't like this kind of 'paper' made of rags at all - anyway, the money bag is only that big, even if it is made of some expensive fabrics, it doesn't cost much at all, and it is beautiful and decent.

And the poor who are fond of "paper" don't have much money at all. If they have money, they hide it secretly at home and don't dare to carry it with them. They don't have the need for "money bags" at all.

Therefore, paper has become a gift from doctors to customers: when you come to see a doctor, I will prescribe medicine for you; if you spend money on medicine, I will give you a bag containing medicine; money.

So in the past, or in today's Han Dynasty, people's concept of "paper" basically stayed at "medicine bag made by melting in small steps".

In Uncle Tian's view, the difference between the medicine bag in his impression and the 'paper' in front of him is even bigger than the difference between Shu brocade and hemp!

After all, Shu brocade and hemp, in a strict sense, both belong to the category of "cloth";

But at this moment, in front of the piece of paper that Uncle Tian carefully held in his hand, the 'paper' that was melted from rags in the past is definitely not in the category of 'paper'...
"What is this cicada wing paper made of?"

"How much labor and time-consuming?"

After looking at it for a long time, I felt more and more lightness of the cicada wing paper. The first question that Uncle Tian asked was the core and most critical question.

--cost.

This paper is easy to use, it's true, but anyone with a discerning eye can tell it at a glance.

Almost as soon as he got his hands on this piece of paper, Uncle Tian had secretly made up his mind: as long as there is no taboo, he must get some of this kind of 'cicada wing paper' from the Shaofu.

Even if you spend a little money, you can even give some gifts and favors!

But Uncle Tian has such ability because he is in Jiuqing, is the internal history of the dynasty, and receives a salary of 160 shi, which is [-] shi per year.

To put it bluntly: Even if you use cloth directly as paper, Uncle Tian can afford it.

But if Uncle Tian can afford it, it doesn't mean that other people can afford it.

Looking at the world of the Han Dynasty, how many people can have an annual income of more than 2000 stones of corn, and the discount is at least [-] yuan?

Not to mention 'annual income of [-] renminbi', if the land and houses are not counted, even a family with a total property of [-] renminbi is probably not one in a hundred.

Whether the common people can afford it or not is even second
The more critical point is: whether the government can afford it, and whether the court can afford it.

If you can't afford it, it means that the cicada wing paper is actually a new kind of cloth.

——Like cloth, it cannot be used for writing because it is expensive.

Not even cloth—at least cloth can be used to make clothes!

Thinking of this, Uncle Tian's eagerness to look at the white paper in his hand faded away more than half visible to the naked eye.

In Uncle Tian's opinion, the production cost of such pure white paper is probably no less than that of cloth of the same color.

And this kind of white cloth is mostly called "Qi Wan" by people in this era.

That is to say, the white fine silk produced in Qidi is not as famous as Shu brocade, but the price and luxury are not bad.

"Ugh······"

"It seems that His Majesty just thought of a way to beat around the bush to create momentum for my uncle..."

Before Jia Gui could reply, Uncle Tian shook his head regretfully, and with the effort of sighing and sighing, very naturally stuffed the white paper in his hand into his bosom.

——Jiuqing's family is also short of money!

This white paper is worth a lot at first glance, and it has already been taken, so there is no reason to hand it over.

Regarding Uncle Tian's blatant robbery, Jia Gui did not show any abnormality;
Seeing that Uncle Tian had come to a 'conclusion', Jia Gui pondered with a smile, then said softly, "I'm afraid it's inconvenient to tell you what it's made of."

With just one sentence, Liu She and Wei Wan shook their heads and sighed regretfully like Uncle Tian;

But suddenly changed the subject: "It's labor and time-consuming..."

"Um······"

"This cicada wing paper was made in the Shaofu under the orders of His Majesty in the summer and April of this year."

"It took three months, nearly [-] of them, all of which were testing the manufacturing method."

"In the next forty days, there are hundreds of craftsmen, and there are tens of thousands of feet of cicada wing paper..."

First, he pretended to be hesitant to buy a pass, and then made a resolute look of "Oh, that's all, let me tell you, but you don't say it outside", and Jia Gui spoke out the general origin of this blank paper with a little restraint. .

After a while, seeing that the three of them didn't respond, they added a sentence without forgetting the trace: "And this cicada wing paper is tens of thousands of feet, and the things used are all purchased with money from my monk's house. cent, penny..."

···
···
······
After Jia Gui's seemingly casual description, there was only a long silence on the high platform.

Liu She, Wei Wan, and Tian Shu were all thinking about each other, but all of them were surprised and suspicious on their faces.

——Jia Gui's few short sentences contain a huge amount of information!

Let's just say that before, after asking the question of "is this thing expensive?", Uncle Tian had already put on an expression of "it's not cheap at first sight" before Jia Gui could answer.

This is because in the eyes of these three people, and even the people of this era: paper is nothing more than a kind of 'cloth'.

Just like hemp, fine silk, Shu brocade, and Qi Wan, they are all textiles.

Since it is a textile, the relationship between cost and appearance must be highly positive, that is, the better it looks, the harder it is to make, the higher the cost, and the more expensive it is to sell.

But from Jia Guifang's few words, these three most powerful foreign ministers in the Han Dynasty have keenly discovered the key point.

——There are more than a hundred craftsmen, then count as the highest, and there are no more than 100 people;

Such a group of 100 people, even the most skilled cloth craftsmen, basically weaves a piece of finer cloth every half a month.

One piece, that is, four feet long, two feet two inches wide, and rolled into a column-shaped rectangular cloth, is called "one piece", that is, forty feet.

In other words: within three months, each skilled craftsman can weave up to six bolts, or 240 feet of cloth that can be used for sewing clothes.

One person is 240 feet, and a hundred people is [-] feet.

Looking at it this way, Jia Gui took "hundreds of craftsmen" and spent three months to get "tens of thousands of feet" of white paper with cicada wings.

But don't forget the sentence Jia Gui specifically mentioned: During these three months, the first fifty days, that is, nearly two months, these hundred or so people were not producing, but exploring!
Only counting the [-] days of production, compared to the cloth, I am afraid that even [-] feet cannot be guaranteed!
Moreover, since Jia Gui dared to say "tens of thousands of feet", it is enough to show that the "tens of thousands" here is unlikely to be ten thousand or twenty thousand—at least not less than fifty thousand. Without blushing and heart beating, he said the number 'tens of thousands'.

In other words: the production efficiency of this cicada wing white paper is at least five times that of cloth!
This means that under the premise that the scarcity of raw materials is close, the time and labor costs of white paper will be one-fifth of that of cloth.

What is the price of cloth these days?
——Since the beginning of Zong Zhou, it has been unshakable until now: eleven coins per foot!
What's more, it was Jia Gui's last sentence that made the three of them belatedly realize that the white paper with cicada wings probably does not belong to 'cloth'.

At least the raw materials for its production are unlikely to be expensive, such as silk and hemp.

the reason is simple.

If the raw material of white paper is really the same as cloth, then even if Jia Gui sells himself whole, he may not be able to bear the production expenses of the "tens of thousands of feet" of cicada-wing white paper alone, and then another cloud Looks light and breezy.

——Jia Gui, the loyal Marquis, is just the Marquis of Guannei with [-] households in Shiyi~
The annual tax is no more than five thousand shi of grain and rice, and the discount is no more than 25;
Counting the daily expenses, not to mention saving money - if you can avoid asking for money from the Queen Mother, you can already be regarded as "simple"...
"in this case······"

"This cicada wing paper, His Majesty intends to have the Shaofu mass-produce it?"

After thinking for a long time, Liu She, who was born in the Shaofu, finally asked a question, but Jia Gui only waved his hand pretendingly indifferently.

"The specifics, I still don't know."

"It's just that this cicada wing paper is white, light and thin, and it doesn't require skilled craftsmen to make it. The raw materials used don't take long."

"If this business is started, with less money in the mansion, maybe in addition to oral gifts, there will be another small and long-term income..."

With just this one word, Liu She, Wei Wan, and Uncle Tian understood, even looking at Jia Gui, they no longer had the instinctive disdain towards their relatives before.

——Han Shaofu, you can have no military merits, no Marquis, and you can even be educated or even illiterate!

But one of the abilities that you have to have is to make money!

Judging from the current situation, Jia Gui's relative, at least in terms of making money, does have some unique means.

Even if this white paper is probably the gold that Tian Zisheng put on his uncle's face, it is the same.

Didn't you hear what Jia Gui said?

——In addition to oral Fu, there is another long-term entry!

"Hey······"

"I'm afraid it won't be long before this white paper with cicada wings will be popular among the high schools, and even the whole world..."

Finally, with a sigh, Liu She, Wei Wan, and Uncle Tian looked at each other for a while, then pretended to be courteous, and jumped off the high platform scrambling to snatch the remaining few cicada-wing papers in the wooden box .

——Give some back while you don’t need the money!
It will be a beautiful thing whether you use it yourself or sell it after the price has skyrocketed...
(End of this chapter)