Another new business Li Yu is planning to start is papermaking.
Today, animal skins (mainly sheepskin) and papyrus are still used on the Bratis continent to record text.
Let’s not talk about animal skins. Although they are strong and wear-resistant, can be stored for a long time, and are even waterproof, the production cost is expensive.
A sheep or cow can usually only make one piece of paper, and the craftsmanship of the skinners is very high. They must peel off the skin completely without any damage in the middle. At the same time, the hide itself must not be damaged.
flaw.
After that, specialized craftsmen need to clean, remove hair, scrape, and air-dry... After a set of tedious processes, a piece of parchment paper can be produced.
Taking the "Silver Moon Sacred Book" of the Silver Moon Church as an example, the entire book uses a total of 469 pieces of parchment. The paper alone is a large expense.
In addition, the weight of the entire book is also amazing.
In comparison, papyrus is much cheaper. Papyrus is made from the stems of papyrus. The production process is relatively simple. You only need to peel the papyrus, cut it into similar lengths, and then flatten and soak it.
Then take them out of the water, squeeze out the water, arrange them horizontally and vertically, press them tightly, use the sugar mucus inside to connect them to each other, dry them in the sun, and then smooth the surface to complete the production.
However, papyrus also has many shortcomings. First of all, it is relatively brittle and easily damaged. It cannot be folded and can only be rolled up. In addition, transportation and damage are also troublesome and must be carried by water.
Furthermore, it is difficult to preserve, especially in a humid environment, it will quickly become moldy. Don’t believe the papyrus unearthed in ancient Egypt, papyrus cannot be preserved for thousands of years.
In addition, like cotton, the raw material papyrus also has environmental requirements.
It generally grows beside swamps and lakes in the tropics and subtropics. Due to the low temperature in the west, it cannot be planted.
Li Yu had previously conducted market research in Yanxue City. The price of a piece of papyrus was almost the same as a loaf of bread, while the price of animal skin paper was twenty times that of papyrus.
For example, Miss Rabbit usually uses papyrus to write letters and handle government affairs, which is much cheaper than animal skins.
But Li Yu is still dissatisfied with the price. It is obvious that paperless office cannot be achieved at this stage during the weekends, and the upgrade system he established needs to retain a lot of files, and the consumption of paper will be very alarming.
In addition, he also opened a school, and it was impossible for students to just write on the ground all the time.
In summary, Li Yu felt it was time to make his own paper.
Like textiles, papermaking is also a traditional art skill of the people of the Yan and Huang Dynasties. Tutorials on ancient papermaking can be found everywhere on the Internet.
The principle of modern papermaking technology is no different from that in ancient times. It is essentially the decomposition and reshaping of plant fibers. It is just that the intermediate links are mechanized, and there are also some adjustments to the formula.
Plant fiber is easy to understand. Tree bark is the most common plant fiber. In addition, Li Yu also has flax, rattan, and even wheat straw that can be reused to make paper.
As long as these raw materials are soaked and beaten, and lime is added, the fiber decomposition process can be completed. After that, the fibers are collected from the pulp with a screen, pressed and bonded, and then dried in the sun to obtain paper in the modern sense.
Of course, this only sounds simple, and it is quite troublesome to do in practice, but the final product will prove that all the hard work is worth it.
The production of modern paper requires the same amount of manpower as the production of papyrus, or even a little more. It does not have much advantage in terms of production costs.
However, the bulk of papyrus is not originally produced, but is transported, and the transportation cost is ten times the production cost.
The toughness of modern paper can greatly reduce its transportation costs, whether by land or water, and the quality of the paper is far superior to papyrus.
In short, there is no reason why a paper that combines many advantages such as being light, cheap, tough, and easy to transport cannot beat other competing products.
In addition, with the help of the massive reputation brought by slaying the dragon and the identity of the only female knight in the empire, the Arias family and the Shuangxiujiao have initially gained the ability to retain the huge benefits brought by the new products.
This is also the reason why Li Yu decided to launch several new products. Once the first batch of linen and paper are produced, he will invite the largest chambers of commerce in the Western Region to discuss the distribution of goods.
And just when Li Yu and Ilea were pursuing development behind closed doors, the Silver Moon Church on the other side broke out a major event that made everyone in the Western Region pay attention.
Herodotus, who was also the high priest, accused Martina and her accomplices of colluding with each other, which ultimately caused the church's several defeats in the Green Fields.
As soon as this news came out, the entire Western Territory was shocked.
High Priest Martina is quite respected both inside and outside the church, and can even be said to be the most prestigious among the seven high priests.
The vast majority of Silver Moon Church believers cannot believe that she would betray the church and Picia.
However, Herodotus later presented a series of "ironclad evidence", including that the high priest Martina instructed his disciple Adele to deliberately lose to Li Yu in a medical competition, and also brought a fake holy coffin to damage the reputation of the church.
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Then High Priest Martina met with Ilea in private and further plotted to betray the church.
Before the female lord held the initiation ceremony, a group of extremely devout believers of the goddess spontaneously gathered together and wanted to assassinate Merlin, the prophet of the two-year-old religion. For this reason, they were willing to die as martyrs.
In order to avoid leaking the news, they even hid it from their wives and children, and only told the high priest Martina their plan before taking action.
Unexpectedly, the latter revealed their plan to the Arias family and Shuangxiujiao.
This led to the failure of those martyrs, causing them to be mercilessly slaughtered by the Shuangxiu Church who had been prepared for it, and the church was once again humiliated.
Herodotus later led people to raid the residence of High Priest Martina, and found several secret letters written by Li Yu to her. In the secret letters, the two reached an agreement that High Priest Martina would stop it at all costs.
The Silver Moon Church formed its own army to resist the Shuangxiu Church.
Just when everyone was still doubting the authenticity of these news, a big man stood up and confirmed the statement of the high priest Herodotus. He was Kokoon, the eldest high priest in the church.
Moreover, the High Priest Kirkeon not only testified against the High Priest Martina, but also exposed her accomplice, the High Priest Hesiod. This was not the end of the story. The High Priest Kirkeon then broke the news.
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It is said that the late High Priest Reeves probably did not die of suicide. He had been investigating the crimes of High Priest Martina and High Priest Hesiod before his death.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!