Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 522 Workshops on the Banks of the Qinhuai River (Part 2)
"A papermaking machine?!"

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, thinking that the emperor in front of him was being a bit far-fetched. But when he looked at the ingenious machines around him, he swallowed the rest of his words.

Finally, he said, "But papermaking is different from weaving. How can we make paper using machines?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "So-called machinery is nothing more than a tool for production. Everything comes from nothing. Before the Yellow Emperor, did anyone think of making wheels? Before Leizu, did anyone think of reeling silk and weaving cloth?"

“The spinning wheel and the loom did not appear out of thin air, but were continuously improved and perfected from the most basic tools such as the spindle and the waist loom. Since the waist loom can become a loom, why can’t the paper-making screen used for papermaking become a papermaking machine?”

Ye Chen was speechless for a moment, but then said, "The logic is indeed sound, but I still can't figure out what kind of machinery should be used for papermaking. There are so many steps in the papermaking process, how can it all be replaced by machinery?"

Lu Jin then said again, "But weaving cloth also involves many steps. Take cotton cloth for example. The cotton collected by hand must first be deseeded. I heard that Songjiang Prefecture already has a special cotton gin for deseeding. After the cotton is deseeded, it must be fluffed, twisted into cotton strips, then spun into yarn on a spinning wheel, and finally woven into cloth on a loom."

"The same applies to designing a papermaking machine. It's simply a matter of breaking down the various processes of papermaking, trying to replace manual labor with machinery in each step, and then integrating these machines together to create a papermaking machine. Mr. Jingyuan is most familiar with the papermaking process. Do you know what steps are involved in papermaking?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Chen frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "It depends on whether it's bark paper or bamboo paper. If it's bark paper, you first need to collect the bark of the paper mulberry tree, clean the bark, remove the outer bark and leave only the clean inner layer, then add lime or alkaline water and steam it for several days. After steaming, wash it again, then pound it to break it up, and finally put it in the sun to dry for several months to half a year to decolorize it and turn it white."

"After all that is done, the next step is pulping, mixing with paper chemicals, papermaking, pressing, peeling, drying or baking, and finally cutting and counting, one hundred sheets per cut, and then it can be sold. But with so many steps, how can we replace manual labor with machinery?"

After listening, Lu Jin held up a finger and shook it from side to side. "No, no, no, what you're saying is too complicated. Actually, if you simplify these steps, it's just five steps: preparing materials, pulping, papermaking, pressing, and drying. As for how to cut it in the end, that's up to you."

Ye Chen immediately nodded, "That's right."

So Lu Jin said again, "Break down the steps first, and the rest will be simple. Start with the easy and then move on to the difficult. Let's not talk about material preparation for now, but about pulping. It's just about crushing and grinding the prepared materials. As far as I know, some paper mills are already using water mills for pulping. Is that true?"

"Indeed, that is true." Ye Chen nodded immediately.

“But the efficiency of watermills is still too low. The most efficient motion in the world is actually rotation, which is the only way to make the work continuous.” As Lu Jin spoke, he pointed to the whirring spindle on the roof beam above his head.

Upon hearing this, Ye Chen looked up at the celestial axes and the machines connected below, and said, "That makes sense."

At this moment, Lu Jin suddenly turned around and looked at him. "Then why not make a circular water tank, put a pair of stone mills or stone rollers in the middle of the tank, and connect the stone rollers to the celestial axis? Pour the paper pulp mixed with water into the tank, so that the paper pulp is ground by the stone mills in the middle every time it flows around. Wouldn't it be enough to grind the paper pulp into powder after only a few times?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Chen thought about Lu Jin's suggestion and nodded excitedly, "This seems feasible. In this way, almost no one will be needed for pulping. The craftsmen can simply add pulp and scoop it out."

"Good, the pulping is complete. Next is papermaking. In the past, papermaking was done one sheet at a time, which was time-consuming, laborious and time-consuming. A papermaker would be so tired that he couldn't straighten his back after working for less than half an hour."

"If that's the case, why not make a hollow roller, cover the papermaking screen with it, and then let it be driven by a top shaft? That way, the pulp can just flow down from the top, and the roller-shaped screen will keep the pulp on the screen as it rotates continuously. Water will just leak down from underneath, making a long, continuous sheet of paper?"

Ye Chen's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "This method is indeed good, and it doesn't require craftsmen. But how can we proceed with the subsequent steps with such a long strip of wet paper? If we don't cut it, won't it all just pile up in one place?"

Lu Jin was speechless. "Why don't you find something to continue feeding the wet paper forward? For example, the felt made by the Hu people. That stuff is thick, strong, and absorbent. Make a felt blanket several feet long, wrap it around a pair of rollers, and let it run with the paper machine. That way, the wet paper that is just made can be spread directly on the felt blanket and fed forward."

"Then, in the middle of this section of felt, place several pairs of heavy rollers that are running at the same speed, so that the felt passes through it and squeezes out the water from the felt and the wet paper. Then, continue to feed the wet paper, which has been squeezed out of most of the water, forward. Place a firebox or hot roller in front of it to dry the wet paper as it passes through, until the end of this line. Just like weaving cloth, wind the finished paper onto the shaft, and the paper is made."
"Moreover, the entire process requires no human intervention. As long as there is a sufficient supply of pulp, this machine can produce paper day and night without stopping."

Ye Chen was shocked upon hearing this, not because he had seen a papermaking machine, but because of the process Lu Jin had just described. According to Lu Jin's description, it was indeed feasible in principle. If such a thing could really be made, its production efficiency would be far superior to that of manual labor.

Ye Chen immediately cupped his hands in admiration and said, "Your Majesty is indeed worthy of being a descendant of the sage Gongshu. You are truly skilled in mechanical devices and the arts of crafts. If you can really create this, the efficiency of papermaking will surely increase greatly. However, I still have a question."

"You said."

Ye Chen immediately added, “While the papermaking machine Your Majesty mentioned can certainly improve papermaking efficiency, the most crucial step of preparing the raw materials is the most time-consuming. If this machine is widely adopted in paper mills, I'm afraid that before long, all paper mills in the world will run out of raw materials and stop production, having no rice to cook. It's simply that the supply of pulp cannot keep up with the speed of papermaking.”

Lu Jin nodded upon hearing this, and then immediately asked in return, "What you say is indeed correct, sir. In your opinion, what is the biggest difficulty in slowing down the supply of pulp?"

"This," Ye Chen thought for a moment and immediately said, "Firstly, there is a shortage of materials. Bamboo paper is still manageable, but there is a real shortage of bark paper. Although the bark of the paper mulberry tree used for bark paper grows rapidly, it is still naturally grown and takes time, which can never keep up with the production speed of papermaking machines."

"Secondly, even if there are enough materials, the process of sun-drying and bleaching will take at least three to six months. This time cannot be saved, otherwise the paper produced will be black and yellow, like the yellow paper burned at graves. It may be barely usable for writing, but it is definitely not suitable for printing books."

"Even if we force it to be built in order to speed things up, wouldn't that be a waste of resources and a waste of potential?"

Lu Jin nodded, then asked in return, "Since there isn't enough bark material, and a tree trunk obviously has much more material than bark, why use bark to make paper? Why not just break the trunk into pieces to make paper?"
"And why must we use paper mulberry bark? Poplar, pine, willow, birch—these trees all grow quickly and are cheap. Why not just crush the whole tree to make paper? Wouldn't that make the materials more abundant?"

"This..." Ye Chen frowned immediately upon hearing this. "Your Majesty's idea is not bad, but no one has ever tried it before."

“Then let’s give it a try. Before the Song Dynasty, there was no way to make paper from bamboo, right? But the method of making bamboo paper matured in the Song Dynasty. As long as we are willing to try, we can always find a way,” Lu Jin said immediately.

Ye Chen nodded in agreement. “That’s one way, but sun-drying for color removal is the most time-consuming step. It can take anywhere from several months to a year and a half. How can a papermaking machine afford to wait that long?” Lu Jin immediately pointed to Tao Guangyi, who was standing beside him, and asked, “Chengdao, do you think there’s any way to remove the color quickly?”

When Tao Guangyi was called on, he thought for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, the book on biology in the Gongshu Secret Manual states that the discoloration and fading of plant materials are mostly caused by natural oxidation. Since oxidation can cause discoloration and fading, we can refine acids and alkalis, which are strong oxidizing agents, to accelerate the oxidation of materials."

"I recall that in the chemistry section of the Gongshu Secret Manual, there is a mention of a strong oxidizing agent, commonly known as bleaching powder, which has the effects of bleaching, fading, sterilizing, and disinfecting. It seems to be called calcium hypochlorite."

Lu Jin nodded immediately, then asked, "How is calcium hypochlorite made?"

"When chlorine gas is passed into lime slurry, it will react to produce the product."

"How is chlorine produced?"

"It seems that in the chapter on alkali production, it was mentioned that a byproduct of one of the alkali production methods is chlorine gas. Because the book emphasized that chlorine gas is a highly toxic substance, and anyone who smells it can die from poisoning in an instant, the students remembered it very well. In particular, the book also said that chlorine gas could be used in war to poison enemy troops."

"But the book also says that this bleaching powder, oh, that is, calcium hypochlorite, can also be used as a water purification and disinfectant. A small amount can be added to the kettle, and the slowly released chlorine gas can be used to purify sewage and ensure the safety of soldiers' drinking water. This substance is especially useful when fighting in Annam or Southeast Asia, and can greatly prevent the outbreak of plague in the army."

"Chlorine gas is truly both good and evil. It can be used to save lives and kill viruses, and it can also be used in war to kill people invisibly. I never thought that it would have such a wonderful use when talking about papermaking." After explaining the knowledge points in the book, Tao Guangyi sighed again.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "Remember, objects are all inanimate objects, and they have no inherent good or evil, right or wrong. It all depends on how you use them. Just like ammonia, it can be used to make fertilizer to increase grain production, and it can also be used to make explosives for battlefield combat."

"You are learning chemistry from me. You must be careful to stay true to yourself and always remember that you are still a human being. Never use what you have learned for evil, or I will certainly not forgive you."

Tao Guangyi quickly cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your teachings, Your Majesty. I will keep them in mind."

"Hmm." Lu Jin nodded. "Then, if I put you in charge of the chemical industry, producing the three acids, two alkalis, and this bleaching powder, are you confident in your abilities?"

Tao Guangyi was immediately filled with pressure, sweat beaded on his forehead, and awkwardly clasped his hands, saying, "This student's skills are not yet proficient, and I am afraid I am not capable of handling this task for the time being. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin pointed at him, and finally sighed, "Alas, forget it. I was too busy with the Northern Expedition before and didn't have time to teach you. Moreover, there was a lack of teaching materials. Physics and chemistry are ultimately experimental subjects. It's difficult to learn them by rote memorization alone. Forget it, I won't punish you this time."

"When I have some free time, I will gather all the students in that science class together. I want to select a few people to assign them tasks."

"Yes," Tao Guangyi finally breathed a sigh of relief and agreed.

Ye Chen, standing to the side, was completely bewildered. He hadn't understood a word of what Lu Jin and Tao Guangyi had said. He had a general idea of ​​the purpose of bleach, but what was calcium hypochlorite, chlorine, and ammonia? Why were they given such difficult-to-pronounce names?
Seeing Ye Chen's bewildered yet impressive expression, Lu Jin turned to him and said, "Sir, you've heard it too. There is a way to shorten the fading time of pulp. As long as the bleaching powder is refined, pulp that would normally take a year or two to fade naturally can be bleached in just one day or a few hours at most. If you want to do it, are you afraid there's no way?"

Ye Chen's eyes widened immediately. "Does this thing really have such miraculous effects?"

“You’ll know once it’s refined. I’ve heard that you’re good at business, but papermaking machines and bleaching powder can’t be made in a short time. For now, we should use the methods discussed at the cabinet meeting. How about we put Mr. Jingyuan in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, specifically in charge of papermaking and textbook printing?” Lu Jin immediately suggested.

Ye Chen dared not refuse and immediately cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I will follow your arrangements. Thank you for bestowing this official title upon me."

“Okay, let’s go then. Let’s go check out the glass workshop next door.” Lu Jin nodded, and then led the two to the glass workshop not far away.

Before the Northern Expedition, Lu Jin sent people to find artisans skilled in glassmaking from Shandong, the land of glassmaking, and also sent them to Fengyang, Anhui, to find crystal mines. As the saying goes, "the emperor only needs to say something, and his subordinates will run themselves ragged." Although the ancient saying "strict selection of nine generations" was a joke, no one dared to disregard his words. Hard work pays off, and they finally completed everything.

A new glass workshop has now been built on the banks of the Qinhuai River and is attempting to produce various glasswares, especially experimental equipment for chemical use.

Lu Jin led a group of people on a tour of the workshop. They saw a craftsman making glass chess pieces and watched him closely for a while out of curiosity. He had always been curious about how these craftsmen in ancient China made glass without soda ash. Only after seeing it with his own eyes today did he understand the process.

According to his knowledge, in the modern glassmaking process, soda ash mainly plays the role of lowering the melting point of silicon dioxide, reducing it to around 500 degrees Celsius. Without soda ash, melting silicon dioxide would require a temperature of at least 1,000 degrees Celsius.

However, China has almost no natural soda ash, so other methods had to be used. Fortunately, ancient China had relatively advanced smelting technology, with steelmaking and porcelain being unique in the world. Their greatest strength lay in high-temperature firing, and the 'medicinal jade' being fired by these artisans relied on this high-temperature firing technique.
Using a sealed furnace, coke was used to raise the temperature, and a crucible was placed inside. Materials like quartz and agate were placed in the crucible and forcibly melted. This wasn't achieved with soda ash, but rather with temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius, enough to melt pig iron. Truly, brute force produces miracles!
Lu Jin picked up some fired glassware next to him to examine it. Just a glance was enough to see that the glassware was still not transparent enough and had some impurities, which made him a little disappointed.

Tao Guangyi immediately began to explain, “Your Majesty, these are all test tubes, conical flasks, flasks, and beakers that were made on trial. The transparency still does not meet Your Majesty’s requirements. However, I also had them try to fire them with pure white crystal, but it was difficult to melt them and some materials were wasted. Unless some agate and feldspar are added, they can barely melt them. But even if they can be fired, the transparency will not be enough.”

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "There's nothing we can do about it. Let's just make do with it for now. Although the transparency isn't enough, it's barely sufficient. We'll take all these experimental devices back in a bit, and I'll teach you how to refine the three acids and two bases in the laboratory."

"At worst, we can have those students produce small batches of soda ash in the lab and supply it all to the workshop. With soda ash, we can melt crystal and then make test tubes with higher transparency."

"Stay calm, take it slow, iterate step by step, and you'll eventually create what you want."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)