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Chapter 298 The Best Inventor of All Time
China is a country with ancient civilization and has had splendid culture and brilliant civilization achievements since ancient times.

For a long time, our technological level was ahead of the world.

When it comes to scientific achievements in ancient my country, the four great inventions must be an unavoidable topic.

Papermaking, the compass, gunpowder and printing are the four most representative inventions of ancient China and the most influential on the development of world civilization.

Among the four great inventions, papermaking optimized the carrier of words and was more conducive to the preservation and transmission of ideas.

The compass guides people in the direction and has become an important tool for people to find routes in the Age of Discovery.

Gunpowder has great power and will be widely used in many fields in the future.

Printing facilitated the efficiency of putting words on paper and accelerated the spread of ideas.

Overall, they are all excellent inventions, and the contribution of papermaking is even more profound and lasting.

When talking about papermaking, we must mention the famous eunuch of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun.

"Before the invention of paper, ancient people often used extremely heavy bamboo sticks to record text."

"However, under the social background of the time, such a recording method was too cumbersome and would also cause certain damage to the environment."

"The emergence of Cai Lun completely changed history, after his long-term efforts."

“It not only creates paper, but also simplifies life, and at the same time protects the environment.”

"To this day, papermaking is still famous throughout the world as one of China's four great inventions, allowing Chinese culture to stand at the pinnacle of the world, and all ancient writings have been preserved."

"Cai Lun was born in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, and his ancestors came from a family of blacksmiths."

"Cai Lun was born in Guiyang County, and the imperial court at that time set up iron officials in his birthplace."

"His father and grandfather are both local blacksmiths, and their family is very well off."

"As a result, the Cai family, who had rich experience in cast iron, had close contacts with court officials."

"When Cai Lun was a child, he studied in his hometown for enlightenment and was very devoted to learning."

"I am familiar with poems and books at a young age, and I can't speak them in words, but I am also a very talented young man."

"While studying the Four Books, the Five Classics, the Analects of Confucius, and the Book of Rites, Cai Lun also became very interested in the surrounding living environment."

"And he loves smelting and making iron very much, and he is very good at it. Occasionally he can help with the casting at home."

"At that time, salt, iron and other related industries were basically sponsored by the imperial court."

"So after all, the Cai family also works for the imperial court."

"Based on this connection, Cai Lun was recommended by local officials to join the palace and become a eunuch when he was a teenager."

Cai Lun: In order to be a promising person, becoming a eunuch in the palace is a shortcut.

The family had a good relationship with local officials because of the iron smelting business. On the recommendation of the officials, the young man was sent to the palace.

Although being a eunuch meant wiping out any descendants, it was a very shameful thing.

But being able to enter the palace means having the opportunity to serve the emperor. Not only will he not have to worry about food and clothing, he will also have the opportunity to enjoy high official status and generous salaries.

In a society divided by scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, their family status as a family of craftsmen was not high, and they had to work hard to earn a living.

So after some deliberation, he was sent to the palace by his parents.

But then again, most of the eunuchs in the palace look for suitable candidates from the children near the capital.

It is worth mentioning that he was the first eunuch from the south in history.

His fate has been ups and downs since he entered the palace. His original intention came from his desire for power, and he wanted to use this as a springboard to secure a bright future for himself.

Facts have proved that as long as you dare to think and work hard, you will always bet on the right thing.

He recalled that when he first entered the palace, the splendid palace was in stark contrast to him who was just a commoner at that time, which dazzled his eyes.

From what I could see, the dignitaries entering and exiting the palace were all dressed in rich and luxurious clothes, and they were all arrogant.

When he was a child, on the one hand, he envied this luxurious life, and on the other hand, he secretly looked at these noble people who looked down on him.

From then on, he had his own ideal and wanted to be a promising person.

An unknown life is waiting for him, and he already has a clear goal in life within the palace walls.

The disadvantage is that even if he has lofty ambitions, he can only become a powerful eunuch after purification.

"In addition to the emperor and the princes, there are more concubines in the harem."

"But Cai Lun, who has just entered the palace, is not so lucky to be able to serve his master."

"Cai Lun was just a low-level servant who was a slave in Yeyouting at first, but he relied on his experience in the market."

"Cai Lun is very good at reading people's eyes, he is also very good at pleasing people, and he is very efficient in doing things."

"So I got the recommendation of the chief eunuch, promoted Cai Lun, and became a small eunuch of the Huangmen who can go in and out of the palace to deliver orders."

"At this time, Cai Lun was a completely different person than before, and Cai Lun gradually had the opportunity to contact the emperor."

"It was at this time that Cai Lun came in and out of the palace more frequently and was known to more people."

"And Cai Lun is always ingratiating and friendly to others. He also relied on his manufacturing skills to create many exquisite little things."

"And these little things have become his best weapon to please others in the palace."

"With this skill, he was appreciated by the queen of the dynasty, Dou, and became Dou's confidant eunuch."

"And the Dou family at that time was the master of the first palace."

"Although she can be regarded as the favorite of the Sixth Palace, she did not give birth to a son or a daughter for Emperor Zhang of Han Dynasty."

"But the Queen has nothing to do, which does not mean that the other concubines in the harem have nothing to do either."

"At that time, Song Guiren gave birth to the third son of the emperor and was made the crown prince by Emperor Zhang of Han Dynasty."

"As the mother of the crown prince, Song Guiren is only a noble lady for the time being."

"But the mother is more valuable than the son. Mrs. Dou feels that it is only a matter of time that the Song nobleman's status will rise sooner or later."

"How could Mrs. Dou tolerate something that threatened her position as queen? So she started planning to attack the noble Song and the prince."

Yang Jian: Although Cai Lun ushered in the first eunuch dictatorship in Chinese history, the papermaking technology he invented had far-reaching influence.

After Cai Lun entered the palace as a eunuch when he was a child, he was smart and eager to learn, good at observing people's words and emotions, and liked what he wanted.

If you make good use of these, you will be successful, so you will soon be promoted to the title of Huangmen Shilang.

This is the official position in charge of delivering official documents. Since he is directly close to the center of the internal strife in the palace, he is inevitably involved in it.

Cai Lun began to be active in it. Compared with Emperor Zhang of Han, who was busy with everything, it seemed more convenient to approach the powerful through his concubines.

The women in the harem fight for power and favor. Only when they have children can they be temporarily relied on.

Empress Dou of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty was unable to give birth to a son due to her dissatisfaction, so she was jealous and killed other concubines.

Cai Lun, who needed a big tree to rely on, took the wrong path and became Queen Dou's accomplice.

Liu Qing, the son of the crown prince Song Guiren, was deposed. Song Guiren committed suicide in desperation.

After helping Queen Dou eliminate the threat, Cai Lun has become a sought-after powerful eunuch.

Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, who was still young at that time, could not take charge of the affairs of the court, so the then Empress Dowager Dou listened behind the curtain.

Cai Lun has been serving the young Emperor He of Han wholeheartedly and should be the person closest to the emperor.

Cai Lun became extremely powerful because he stood with Queen Dou.

But Cai Lun also ended up tragically because of this.

Although Cai Lun was not a gentleman, he had to acknowledge Cai Lun's contribution.

He deeply understood the significance of papermaking.

For this reason, Cai Lun deserves the admiration of all scholars, and he is not surprised.

"While the noble lady of Song Dynasty was using raw dodder to make medicine to cure diseases, Queen Dou noticed her mistake."

"Falsely accusing a noble man of the Song Dynasty of practicing witchcraft and murdering the palace would even threaten the life of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty."

"Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty listened to the Queen's words and captured the Song nobleman and imprisoned him."

"Because the art of witchcraft and poison was originally taboo in the court, as the crown prince, it was not stopped. This made Emperor Zhang of Han very angry and at the same time deposed the crown prince."

"With this result, it actually means that Song Guiren and the third son of the emperor have fallen out of favor."

"But Empress Dou thought that only by eradicating the roots can future troubles be permanently eliminated."

"She ordered Cai Lun to deliver false news to Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, saying that Song nobles had confessed to these crimes, and Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty believed Cai Lun's words."

"When Song Guiren heard in prison that Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty had so easily believed Cai Lun's lies, he was so sad that he committed suicide by taking poison."

"In this famous frame-up incident in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun's move can be said to be the last straw for the nobles of the Song Dynasty."

"Although I did it under the order of the Queen, there are things that loyal people do and things they don't do."

"But Cai Lun chose to side with the queen and harm others just so that he could gain a foothold by the queen's side. It is really despicable."

"After this incident, Cai Lun became more and more favored by Queen Dou."

"After Emperor He of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, Empress Dou became the Empress Dowager."

"As a confidant of the Empress Dowager, Cai Lun rose through the ranks and gradually became a close minister of the emperor." "This time he became a regular servant who could enter and leave the court and serve the emperor. He was a high-ranking eunuch among the entire eunuchs. eunuch."

"When Emperor He of Han came to the throne, he was still young and didn't know how to control the government."

"So Empress Dowager Dou listened behind the curtain, and the government of the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into the hands of Empress Dowager Dou. As a result, the Dou family became the most powerful and powerful people in the Eastern Han Dynasty."

Li Shimin: Cai Lun's life used to be relatively smooth, but he is not a sage, and he cannot do without desires and desires.

On a personal level, Cai Lun was loyal to the Han court.

But he also did things that hurt others for fame, and he got the punishment he deserved in the end.

In his opinion, there are many embarrassing things that have been covered up by many famous people in history.

Some of Cai Lun's early incidents brought some stains to his life, but overall they did not affect the overall situation.

As far as Cai Lun's contribution to papermaking is concerned, those scandals are nothing.

After Cai Lun's death, people of all dynasties had different evaluations of Cai Lun. There are only three types.

First, the contribution of the great papermaking technology to the Eastern Han Dynasty and subsequent dynasties has been recognized, and no one can slander this point.

Second, Cai Lun set a precedent for eunuch dictatorship, and was the initiator of eunuchs' interference in politics at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The final demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty was inseparable from the eunuch dictatorship, which also added another layer of potential crisis to the governance of later dynasties.

Third, Cai Lun's private life is relatively chaotic, which may be related to his physical defects.

Cai Lun's actions may not be as selfless and noble as the world thinks, but history will remember Cai Lun's achievements.

Cai Lun's contribution to cultural inheritance is immeasurable and is always worthy of gratitude and praise from the world.

"However, Empress Dowager Dou's four brothers had evil intentions. While playing with power, they also unscrupulously suppressed those ministers who were at odds with them."

"For a moment, people in the imperial court were panicked."

"As someone close to the emperor, naturally you want to know more about the emperor's thoughts."

"As for the emperor's idea of ​​overthrowing his relatives and taking power, Cai Lun naturally wanted to help him."

"So at this time, Cai Lun stood on the opposite side of Queen Mother Dou and the entire Dou family."

"Cai Lun led a group of eunuchs to fight against his relatives, gradually overthrowing the Dou family, which had once dominated the government."

"Cai Lun completely eliminated the power of the Dou family in the court, thus making great contributions to the consolidation of the imperial power of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty."

"Although Cai Lun can be said to have been promoted by the Dou family and placed next to the emperor as a chess piece."

"But Cai Lun finally abandoned the Dou family in the face of power."

"After this incident, Emperor He of the Han Dynasty regarded Cai Lun as his savior."

"Suddenly, Cai Lun became famous."

"After being re-employed by the emperor, Cai Lun became the official in charge of the palace's manufacturing industry."

"At that time, all the skilled craftsmen in the world were working in the palace workshops, and everyone had their own special skills."

"To a certain extent, the existence of these people represents the highest level of manufacturing during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it also provides Cai Lun with an excellent development platform."

"Because Cai Lun was interested in engineering technology at a young age and showed his extraordinary talent."

"So when Cai Lun was in charge of the palace manufacturing industry, he made many outstanding contributions."

"But for Cai Lun, his greatest outstanding contribution in his life was the improvement of papermaking."

Zhao Kuangyin: Cai Lun is famous for his papermaking skills alone.

Although Cai Lun's motivation for making paper was to claim credit, his historical achievements cannot be denied.

Since ancient times, people have mostly used bamboo slips to record text. Because bamboo slips are too bulky, some people use silk to write.

Although silk cloth is thin and light, it is too expensive.

Bamboo slips are cheap but too heavy.

Whether it is silk cloth or bamboo slips, there are big problems.

Cai Lun worked as a regular attendant next to Emperor He of the Han Dynasty. When he saw that he was too tired to read the bamboo slips every day, he became obsessed with studying papermaking.

In the end, Cai Lun's research was successful and the cost of paper was greatly reduced.

And because of the advanced technology, the quality of the new paper produced is also very good.

In order to express their gratitude to Cai Lun, later generations called the improved paper Cai Hou paper based on Cai Lun's title of Marquis Longting.

After the creation of Caihou Paper, it was praised by Emperor He of the Han Dynasty and quickly spread throughout the world, which is of great significance.

Not only has it completely facilitated people's lifestyles, it has also changed the course of social development and made an indelible contribution to the inheritance and development of Chinese civilization.

Although paper existed before Cai Lun, the concept of paper before Cai Lun was not the same as the paper made by Cai Lun.

Paper before Cai Lun had the shape of paper but did not yet have the function of paper.

Specifically, it mainly refers to some paper-like objects such as wadding on which words are written.

The Caihou paper made by Cai Lun is the paper used for writing in the true sense, and he invented a complete and mature papermaking technology.

Cai Lun is an outstanding scientist who embodies the achievements of papermaking technology in the Han Dynasty. He is a great inventor who promoted China's papermaking technology from an immature stage to a mature state.

"In 97 AD, Cai Lun made detailed improvements to swords and other sharp objects, directly developing this technology to its peak."

"Cai Lun selected bark, burlap, old fishing nets and other discarded items, and the craftsmen in the Ming Palace chopped and cut them, and put them in a large pool for soaking."

"A few days later, Cai Lun discovered that the debris in the pool had already rotted, but some fibrous items were not easy to rot."

"Then, Cai Lun ordered his men to fish out these raw materials and put them into a stone mortar and stir them continuously to turn them into a slurry."

"After repeated experiments, Cai Lun invented a paper that is both thin and strong."

"The most important thing is that this kind of paper is cheap, easy to obtain, and easy to popularize."

"In 105 AD, Cai Lun presented his improved paper to Emperor He of the Han Dynasty."

"In 114 AD, Queen Mother Deng named Cai Lun the Marquis of Longting because he had served as a bodyguard for a long time. The fiefdom had a population of households."

"In 117 AD, Emperor An of the Han Dynasty discovered that most of the texts in the biographies of the Five Classics had not been edited or corrected."

"He asked Cai Lun to supervise and take charge of this matter, and promoted the creation of the world's first dictionary, Shuowen Jiezi."

"In 121 AD, Empress Dowager Deng passed away, and Emperor An of the Han Dynasty took charge."

"Cai Lun was interrogated and investigated for participating in the persecution of Emperor Han'an's grandmother Song Guiren to death and depriving the crown prince of his right to inherit the throne at the instigation of Empress Dou."

"Jiang Jing and others secretly asked the Song noble family to sue Cai Lun to redress the grievances of the Song noble family and the deposed crown prince Liu Qing. Emperor Han'an ordered Cai Lun to go to the court to confess his guilt."

"Cai Lun was ashamed of being humiliated, so he dressed neatly after bathing, drank poison and died."

Zhu Di: Although Cai Lun has committed evil deeds, his contribution to past dynasties is indelible.

The Eastern Han Dynasty when Cai Lun lived can be said to be a relatively turbulent dynasty in history.

The court officials were playing with power, and in order to protect themselves, Cai Lun had to take sides based on the background and power of the two camps.

Cai Lun had to become a member of Queen Dou's camp because he had served Queen Dou in the early years.

However, Queen Dou was blinded by the immediate interests and even tried many ways to depose the prince.

To a certain extent, Queen Dou wanted to do this.

The main reason is that he hopes to be able to listen to politics behind the curtain and thereby control the power of the Han Dynasty.

After some planning, Mrs. Dou succeeded.

However, Empress Dowager Dou did not have the ability to take power. In order to monitor Han He Emperor, Empress Dowager Dou sent her confidant Cai Lun to the emperor.

I hope Emperor He of Han can become a foolish and ignorant fool with Cai Lun's company.

At the same time, Empress Dowager Dou ordered Cai Lun to report Han He Emperor's every move at all times, so as to avoid all risks of being seized of power.

However, what Empress Dowager Dou didn't expect was that Cai Lun was two-faced.

While being loyal to himself, he was also trying to please the Han and Emperor.

When Cai Lun felt that Empress Dowager Dou's situation was over, he even expressed to the court officials that it was unreasonable for a woman to hold power, in order to win over loyal court officials.

And Cai Lun also relied on this method to gain supreme power.

However, many years later, he repeated his old tricks, but was disgusted by Emperor An of the Han Dynasty.

In the end, Cai Lun completely forced himself into a corner because Emperor An of Han found evidence that he had been loyal to Queen Mother Dou.

In desperation, Cai Lun had no choice but to die to apologize.

Perhaps Cai Lun never expected that after working hard for most of his life, he would end up with such a miserable ending.

Later generations recognized Cai Lun's personal achievements and considered Cai Lun one of the greatest inventors in Chinese history.

But it is undeniable that Cai Lun's character has certain flaws.

Although it is not easy to seek a certain status in such a huge palace.

But such a double-dealing life rarely leads to a happy ending.

(End of this chapter)