The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 442 Paper (Part 1)
The permanent population of Ganluchuan New City is less than 50,000.

The neighbors are all familiar faces.

When a stranger appears, the military family members will subconsciously inquire about the person's background.

quickly.

The identities of these thirty paper craftsmen from Sichuan were uncovered by the families of soldiers.

The news then spread to the academy and school.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the number of students in the school is dozens of times that of the academy.

However, academic classes only accounted for one-third of the curriculum in the school, and most of the children initially practiced writing with a brush dipped in water on wooden boards.

The combined monthly consumption of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones by both the boys' and girls' schools does not equal that of Qingshan Academy.

no way.

The first step in taking the imperial examinations was to develop good handwriting.

Paper was used up incredibly quickly.

If it is inside the pass.

There are many types of paper that readers can choose from.

Students from impoverished families could use inexpensive hemp paper and bamboo paper when practicing calligraphy.

Middle-class families, or those using it for painting, generally choose leather paper.

The two most common types of bark paper on the market in the previous dynasty were paper made from mulberry bark and Xuan paper.

But now we're in Kansai.

It is thousands of miles away from Xuanzhou and Bashu, where paper is produced in the interior of the pass.

Merchants traveling to and from Kansai have only one principle when choosing goods: profitability.

This place is not like Jiangnan, a region known for its literary culture, and there are very few merchants who trade in writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

As a result, only paper made from mulberry bark and Xuan paper were sold to Kansai.

It was transported from a great distance.

Even the lowest grade of paper mulberry bark costs 100 coins per sheet.

For example, Fang Molin, the head of the school, used first-grade Xuan paper, which only sold for 500 cash per sheet in the capital, but would sell for 2 taels of silver when transported to Guanzhong.

The teachers at the academy were terrified of paper and dared not easily wield their brushes.

When it's for students, there's simply no choice.

They are not children learning to read and write.

Practicing calligraphy with a slate dipped in water is completely futile.

If the garrison hadn't borne all the expenses of the academy, it would have been difficult for ordinary families on the border to even be able to support a single scholar.

Yes.

The imperial court valued both civil and military affairs, so the descendants of military households could directly take the imperial examinations.

The students of Qingshan Academy were studying with all their might, as if they were going to die.

We used up pens, ink, and paper even faster.

After the old gentleman and his family moved to Ganluchuan, he was no longer worried and wanted to spread the reputation of Qingshan Academy throughout the entire Yongtai Dynasty in his lifetime.

Unfortunately, the students who seriously studied the Four Books and Five Classics in the academy had less than a year of study time.

It will be difficult to achieve results within three to five years.

Therefore, Fang Molin was very excited when he guessed that the General of the West was going to take action against the papermaking technology.

They couldn't wait for the general to bring down the price of this paper!

Gan Minglan: "Uh, well, I do have a papermaking plan."

I sighed silently in my heart.

Her primary goal was to produce toilet paper; she hadn't yet taken the matter of scholars seriously.

But the other person only listened to the words "planned." He was full of passion, his face flushed as if he were drunk.

The old gentleman could explain the production process of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones in great detail.

He also gave Gan Minglan a feasibility analysis of papermaking in Kansai:
"If you want to make paper in the Kansai region, it's best to source the materials locally."

Xuan paper is made from the Qingtan tree and rice straw. The Qingtan tree only grows in the Yangtze River basin and warmer areas to the south.

Bamboo paper is cheap and of good quality, but it certainly won't grow in the arid, barren sandy land of Kansai.

Considering the soil and climate of the Kansai region, I strongly recommend planting hemp, mulberry, and paper mulberry trees, as all three are excellent materials for papermaking.

Gan Minglan: "."

So, did I invite back Master Hongming, who was skilled in making Xuan paper, and more than thirty craftsmen who made bamboo paper, only to find myself lonely?

Fang Molin, however, did not think so.

He said:

"The principle of papermaking is the same for all things. The general direction is to soak and soften the bark, repeatedly steam and boil it, grind and pulp it, make paper, dehydrate it, dry it and cut it."

Different tree barks have different properties, and experienced papermakers can quickly figure out the patterns. The General can let the craftsmen try it out; it's not difficult for those who know how.

Listen to this.

Is it easy for those who know how?
If it were really that easy, how could a simple papermaking technique have been monopolized by those powerful families for over a thousand years?
Even today, books, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones are considered luxuries for ordinary people.

They gave the old man a plan for setting up a paper mill, and he left satisfied.

Finally off work.

Time to take my sweet-smelling daughter!

The little guy has an exceptionally good memory.

I remember exactly how many days my mother was away on her business trip.

I said a lot of nice things to her and gave her all sorts of velvet flowers and trinkets that I had brought back before she finally agreed to let me hug her.

Sigh, my daughter's all grown up, she's not so easy to please anymore.

Professional women say they feel uneasy going anywhere without so many people at home helping with the children.

The next day.

Gan Minglan visited Zen Master Hongming at the clinic. The master was still recuperating and would have his broken bones reattached in a few days.

After confirming that the physician treating him was an orthopedic surgeon from the previous dynasty's palace, Zen Master Hongming was very confident about the recovery of his injured leg.

Relaxing makes me feel cheerful.

Although it was inconvenient for him to go out, his two disciples would share with him what they saw and heard in Ganluchuan New City every day.

“Master, this city is even more beautiful than Chengdu! There are trees and canals in front of and behind the houses, and the streets and alleys are shaded by green trees. There are public latrines and designated places to throw away garbage on every street. It is very clean everywhere.”

“Master, the benefactors here are very kind. When they saw the ordination scars on my and my junior brother's heads, they all offered us naan bread. Today, my junior brother and I saw with our own eyes that a benefactor picked up a purse containing fifty taels of silver notes and stood there waiting for half an hour until the owner of the lost purse came looking for it.”

"The most interesting thing is that after the benefactor returned the purse and declined the other party's thanks, the staff of the street management office presented him with a red banner that read 'Honest and Upright'."

"It is said that there are also banners like these for 'helping others' and 'acting bravely for a just cause.' Every year at the end of the year, those who receive a banner will receive a prize personally awarded by the general. Last year, seven people were awarded BMWs, and fifteen people received ten sheep."

“Master, all the shops here have a sign posted at their entrances that reads: ‘Honest business practices, ten times compensation for any counterfeit goods.’ Merchants who come to Ganluchuan to buy goods all say they never worry about being cheated in Ganluchuan.”

“Master, all children over five years old here go to school. They can learn to read, practice physical exercises, and even learn a skill to support themselves.”

"Master."

Huiming and Jingxin give their master several juicy tidbits every day.

I only regret that my master's injured leg prevents him from personally experiencing the beauty of Ganluchuan New City.

The more Master Hongming listened, the more he admired the female benefactor, the general.

He was very polite when Gan Minglan came to visit him in his illness.

Seeing that the master was easy to talk to, Gan Minglan quickly consulted the expert about the raw materials for papermaking.

Master Hongming: Good! Good! Good! This master can finally be of some use.

(End of this chapter)