Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 270 Paper

A loud cry of a newborn baby echoed throughout General Jianwei's mansion; Liu Daogui's second son was born.

"Congratulations, General! Your wife has given birth to a son!" a maidservant announced joyfully.

"How is Madam?" Compared to the birth of his first son, Liu Daogui was not so overjoyed, but more worried about Cao Sifei's health.

"Madam is doing well. The Cao family has sent a group of maids and servants to take care of her. General, please rest assured."

To my shame, although Liu Daogui was a general, he had not accumulated any private property over the years. The maids and servants in his mansion were all family members of his retainers who came to help him, asking for only two meals a day.

Most of the time, it was the Cao family that provided support.

Cao Sifei held an extremely high position in the Cao family, and everyone in the family, including Cao Ji, listened to her.

Cao Sifei always provided strong support behind the scenes whenever Liu Daogui needed money.

If a wife is found like this, what else can a husband ask for?

"Madam has named our son Yiwu. What do you think, my husband?" Yu Nu asked with a smile.

"The Liu family of Pengcheng is the Northern Martial Clan. The Liu family has practiced martial arts for generations, which is very good." Liu Daogui was very pleased.

These days, everything is fake except for force.

As was customary, everyone in the household received a generous reward.

When Liu Daogui's eldest son, Liu Yiwu, was born, he sent someone to Jingkou to announce the good news.

In the past two years, the elder brother Liu Yu gave birth to Liu Yizhen and Liu Yilong, and the second elder brother Liu Daolian also gave birth to Liu Yixin.

The Liu family has five members in the third generation.

Not only the Liu family, but the population in Yanzhou was also growing, and the sound of babies crying could be heard in every household.

Liu Dao stipulated birth incentives, and military households, civilian households, and slave households all gave birth to children as much as they could.

Children can help out when they are five or six years old, and can work in the fields when they are eleven or twelve, becoming an indispensable source of labor for the family.

If one's ancestral graves emit auspicious smoke and someone becomes successful, the entire family can prosper along with them.

These days, not only do the aristocratic and the poor want to advance, but the commoners also want to move forward.

The Chinese people have thrived on this land thanks to this spirit.

"In a household, once brothers marry, they must live separately and become an independent household. Three or four generations are not allowed to live together!" Liu Daogui issued the decree.

After taking over the two prefectures of Yanzhou and Yuzhou, survival was no longer an issue, as there was plenty of land and houses.

In the north, there were basically no powerful clans or aristocratic families. The mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes were open to the common people, who could freely fish, hunt, and gather firewood.

People don't have that much financial pressure, so they're more willing to have more children and raise more kids. For ordinary families, it's just a matter of adding one more pair of chopsticks.

Liu Daogui also set up a large number of medical clinics within the territory and trained a group of barefoot doctors and midwives to treat the sick and children.

Orphans under the age of sixteen were all taken into child camps and raised by the military government.

However, this would be another considerable expense.

Fortunately, the Cao family was there. Cao Sifei pushed forward with all her might, using her own money and resources to not only adopt orphans, but also some women in distress. She taught them weaving and embroidery, so they were able to support themselves.

Although the fighting had stopped, the territory had expanded, and Liu Daogui became increasingly busy.

He inspected the population and land under his jurisdiction, trained volunteer soldiers, provided relief to the fallen and wounded soldiers, and dispatched county magistrates to oversee all aspects of the work.

Now, the prefecture governs ten commanderies and fifty-three counties. There are no prefects or magistrates. The commanderies are governed by general offices, and the counties are governed by chief secretaries and supervisors.

The Chief Clerk governs the people, and the Supervisor is responsible for daily defense and catching thieves.

All counties report only to the military government, eliminating the intermediate prefectures to increase efficiency.

The Jianwei General's Office had six subordinate departments: Gongcao, Cangcao, Hucao, Bingcao, Facao, and Shicao, which were in charge of military and civil affairs respectively. They directly connected with the Zhechong Prefecture and the county, and abolished the messy military service system.

Military service was for those from humble backgrounds, while generalship was reserved exclusively for those from wealthy families.

There are also distinctions between honest and corrupt officials.

Those who do the work have no status or real power, while those with status and power do not do the work.

The current state of the Jin dynasty is not unrelated to this distorted official system. Over the decades, eight out of ten officials raised by aristocratic families have become incompetent and useless.

Yanzhou was a blank slate, far from the emperor's reach, and Liu Daogui was just in time to sweep away the bad habits of the Jin dynasty.

The authority and responsibility are unified.

The mediocre are demoted, the capable are promoted.

Regardless of whether they were commoners or nobles, as long as they had military merits and abilities, they were all given important positions.

This also resulted in many county magistrates and military governors being retired veterans.

However, these people brought the military style to the local areas, and the military government had a stronger mobilization ability. Any military or political order issued by Liu Daogui was carried out swiftly and decisively by the counties below.

Governing a country is about governing its officials.

The poor and commoners worked diligently and did not have the same problems as the gentry.

The only drawback of this system was that Liu Daogui had an enormous workload every day. He personally reviewed every memorial to the throne, and more than a dozen cartloads of bamboo slips were transported into the general's mansion every day.

Holding several pounds of bamboo slips in her hands, she was constantly on the go, finding it even more tiring than fighting on the battlefield. "Why don't you promote yellow paper, my husband?" Cao Sifei placed a few sheets of yellow paper on the table.

"Is this item... too expensive, increasing the burden on the military government?" Liu Daogui had actually thought of this, but in those days, even eating was a problem, let alone paper.

Papermaking requires wood, which is a precious commodity. People are reluctant to use it even for cooking, and they only take a bath two or three times a year.

Therefore, paper was a plaything for the gentry to practice calligraphy.

Cao Sifei explained in detail: "If hemp stalks, paper mulberry bark, or mulberry bark are used instead, it is not expensive. My husband can also open a paper mill, hire workers from the people, and sell the paper produced to various countries. It is also a considerable business. The cost of making a paper book is less than that of bamboo slips. If it can be promoted, even commoners can use it. Books in the world will no longer be exclusive to the gentry and noble families. This move will benefit future generations."

"That's great!" Liu Daogui was delighted.

Promoting paper books is actually undermining the foundation of aristocratic families and powerful clans.

In those days, aristocratic families not only monopolized power and wealth, but more importantly, they monopolized books.

Those from poor and commoner families who cannot access education and do not understand the principles of life will forever remain at the bottom of society.

Liu Daogui became more and more excited as he thought about it. As a member of a poor family, he was naturally opposed to the aristocratic clans. After he rose to power, he would either have to go along with them or be excluded by them.

If paper books were promoted, Liu Daogui would be able to cultivate talents from humble backgrounds.

The foundation of aristocratic clans would also be completely shaken.

"Madam is truly a heroine among women." Liu Daogui couldn't help but look at Cao Sifei with new respect.

She chuckled and said, "My husband is busy with many affairs of state, so naturally he is not as meticulous as we women."

"In that case, I will immediately order the construction of the paper mill!"

Papermaking technology had already reached a high level of sophistication during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and its cost was not high; all that was lacking was widespread adoption.

With a single order from Liu Daogui, all official documents within the territory were converted to paper in less than two months.

In fact, the cost is very low. Not only hemp stalks, paper mulberry bark, and mulberry bark can be used, but withered vines and wild grasses can also be used to make paper. The quality is not as smooth and white as Saeki paper, but it can be used for writing and drawing, which is sufficient.

The artisans in the workshop also made paper from rice straw.

However, it was very rough and not suitable for writing. Straw was used by ordinary people for quilts and heating in winter, as well as for livestock feed. It was also called grain and straw. The straw used in the army was straw.

It is an important strategic resource, and it is not worthwhile to use it for papermaking.

Liu Daogui used the cheapest hemp straw, combined with mulberry bark, to make paper. One pound of yellow paper cost only three hundred coins, enough to copy ten copies of the Spring and Autumn Annals.

A bamboo slip of the same weight would cost about 700 coins, which would only be enough to copy half a book.

The price difference here is just too big.

The most significant change is in official business; a single sheet of paper now lists all official business to be done within a month.

There's no need to use an oxcart anymore.

The military government was much more relaxed from top to bottom.

Liu Daogui directly expanded the scale of the paper mill, establishing two large workshops with a capacity of three thousand people each in Taishan County and Lanling County.

As for manpower, that's not a problem at all. With so many slave households at our disposal, as long as we provide two meals a day, there will be plenty of people eager to come. What's more, there's also the monthly wage of three bushels of grain.

Even some villagers come to work during the off-season for farming.

“Since there is a paper mill, my husband can build two more book mills to copy the classics of the ancients and pass them on to the world.” Cao Sifei was particularly interested in this matter, but she was also from a poor family.

“Copying books requires writing skills, but I don’t have that many people who can write. It’s better to just make rubbings.”

The art of rubbing existed during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it was similar to the art of seals and stamps.

These days, there are only so many classics. Just carve them directly on stone and then print them on sheets to speed up the process.

"My husband is wise."

With funding, personnel, and government directives in place, the printing press was set up in just half a month.

Holding the first rubbing of the Book of Songs, Liu Daogui was filled with emotion. Although it was very simple and rough, and the handwriting was not very neat, he could still recognize it.

The next step is simply to modify the process.

Everything has a process; once something is developed, things will gradually get better.

Throughout Chinese history, monarchs and sages have all taken it upon themselves to promote education. Emperor Wu of Han accepted Dong Zhongshu's advice and made education his top priority. He established the Imperial Academy to educate the nation, set up schools to educate the towns, gradually instilled benevolence in the people, fostered righteousness among them, and regulated them with propriety.

During the Han Dynasty, government decrees were posted in bustling markets. At that time, there were many literate people, and ordinary people could understand them, unlike now, where ordinary people may not even know a few characters in their entire lives.

This has been the case in every dynasty since.

Even Liu Yuan, Shi Le, Murong Hui, and Murong Huang knew to establish the Imperial Academy and promote education.

The biggest difference between the Chinese and the Hu people lies in their education, especially in this era of the collapse of ritual and music.

Liu Daogui was also happy to enlighten the people and cultivate more talents.

The moment this book was published, the roots of the aristocratic clans were shaken, and a new era was about to begin.

"From now on, all my subjects will be able to read and write!"

(End of this chapter)