Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 235 Printing Industry

The finished paper that the craftsmen worked so hard to make is the one in the merchants' hands. It is definitely not very good from a modern perspective, but it can be written on normally and can be produced relatively easily. Orville is very satisfied with it and even generously gave each craftsman a reward of 100 dinars.

Just from the appearance, they would never guess that this kind of paper is made of tree bark, so Orville generously allowed them to take it home to try it, and then think carefully and give Orville a final answer.

He offered these merchants an "absurdly low price" and promised that as long as they cooperated with him, he would provide them with new paper at this price. These merchants were thinking about it, and no one gave Orville an answer on the spot, so they just took the paper and left.
-
A few days later, in a luxuriously decorated bathroom in Rome, Nerva's servant was reading to him a new history book written by Procopius.

The servant had been reading the book on and off for nearly two weeks since Orville came to Rome. Now he had reached the part where Orville subdued the Viking leader Ivar the Boneless, and the book was coming to an end.

After patiently listening to the servant reciting a few more sentences, Nerva said kindly: "Go down, we will stop here today."

The servant, who was obviously a Greek, bowed slightly to Nerva, then retreated with the book in his arms. Only the servant in charge of serving and a few of Nerva's companions were left on the scene.

He is a senator, and naturally the people he interacts with are almost all senators. These people all have some reputation and status in the Senate system.

One of them said, "The adopted son of Vespa is indeed quite capable. At least he is good at judging people. I heard that the man who wrote the book is a provincial from another province that he found in the civilian area. I don't look down on provincials, but they are indeed much inferior to locals in terms of intelligence.

I think his name is Procopius, he is from the province of Palphi, and he is from the same hometown as His Highness Orville. I have to admit that his literary talent is quite good. "

Another elder disagreed: "I think it's just average. At most, it's easy to understand, simple and straightforward, and so-so. Obviously, he is not good at rhetoric. He can just say the words, but they are not very contagious or persuasive. From this point of view, this is an unqualified propaganda book."

Nerva replied: "Instead of focusing on this scholar named Procopius, we should focus on what His Highness Orville and His Highness Tia have done. This will have an impact on our plan. What do you think?"

The senator who spoke first replied, "Since Vespa has adopted Orville as his own son, it means that his ability is at least worthy of recognition in Vespa's eyes. You have to admit that Vespa has been very accurate in recent years and has not made any mistakes, including the matter of His Highness Orville. If he were a Roman, I would have no opinion on him. On the contrary, he would be a good emperor, at least much better than the tyrant Nero and the indecisive Claudius. As for Her Highness Tia, you all know that if she were not a woman, we would probably rush to support her as emperor. Her only shortcoming is her gender. If you have to say something, maybe it can be considered that she is too soft-hearted. Anything else is fine."

"That's true. I think the current situation is not bad. Although the Flavian Dynasty does not have the blood of Augustus, it has done nothing wrong. Both Vespa and his children are responsible." Another senator echoed.

Nerva smiled and shook his head. “That makes sense, but sometimes being too responsible is not necessarily a good thing. I found that Her Highness Tia seems to be quite disgusted with those luxury goods from the East. She agrees with Mr. Pliny that we export hundreds of millions of sesterces (a kind of Roman copper coin) to the East every year. This is a huge waste and extravagance and should be banned.

I think if she comes to power, she will probably double the tariffs. Besides, both Her Highness Tia and Her Highness Orville have a characteristic that they don’t seem to care much about us, the orthodox citizens who live in Rome.”

This statement did not resonate with the crowd. Only one senator complained: "His Majesty Vespa also has a problem. His background makes him completely unable to understand the beauty of culture. He is not interested in drama, poetry, sculpture, painting and other arts. He has no affinity with the Muses. His recent suppression of the Greeks has made our relationship with the Greeks too cold. It has become very difficult for me to invite artists to perform here, and even it is a bit difficult to get new scripts from there.

This is not good for the unity of the empire. Let alone our cultural and spiritual pursuits, the Greek language and Greeks in the Eastern provinces are no less influential than the Romans and Latins. We have made our relationship with them too strained. Tsk tsk tsk tsk. "

Although his words made sense, Nerva actually knew very well that this senator was just dissatisfied with Vespasian's suppressive policies on the Greek provinces. These policies affected his income in the Greek provinces. At the same time, many Greek artists also whispered in his ear, making him quite dissatisfied with Vespasian.

Nerva found that the senators were not very interested in this topic, so he did not continue talking about it and changed the subject. The senators began to talk about everything, discussing where the food was the most interesting and delicious, and where the cloth was the most delicate and exquisite.
-
Turning his attention back to Orville, he also got the response from the merchants. In the end, only two families were willing to accept Orville's proposal. He was not angry, and invited another group of people from the back of his list. Finally, he gathered five bookmaking workshops of decent scale. He merged these workshops to form a new giant workshop, and then he immediately asked these people to start making books.

The first target was Orwell's own marching diary, "The Battle of Britain", which was necessary for his political propaganda. Then there were some well-known "classic old books", such as "The Iliad", "The Aeneid", "Symposium", "The Gallic War" and so on. There were no clear intellectual property laws in those days and books were extremely expensive. He sold these books at a relatively low price and basically had no worries about sales.

Soon everyone in Rome would probably know that Orville had somehow managed to create a low-cost paper, and then a large number of businessmen and even senators would come to inquire about the trade secrets of this core technology. Unfortunately, they would surely be disappointed, at least in the next few years.

(End of this chapter)