Today, Qin Shihuang rarely put down his busy work. The two to three hundred kilograms of bamboo slips piled up in the palace were also removed from the desk and moved to one side. Neatly cut light yellow linen paper replaced them and were neatly placed on Qin Shihuang's imperial desk.
superior.
The emperor picked up a piece of hemp paper that was two feet wide and one foot long. As Heifu said, it was as light as silk, but denser and tougher than silk. Because it was carefully selected, it looked papery.
It is uniform, smooth to the touch, and the edges are cut very neatly.
Looking at another piece of paper filled with dense seal characters, the First Emperor looked familiar and asked:
"Is it Mengtian's name?"
Meng Tian, the young eunuch of the Shaofu, bowed his head and said: "The paper has just been made. I don't know if it can be written on. I don't dare to offer it rashly, so I will test the writing..."
The writing brush was definitely not invented by Meng Tian. A few years ago, Heifu knew it when he saw the clerks in the Anlu County Court Hall holding a brush. This thing appeared very early. Confucius had already said "the pen rules the pen".
", cut it off, cut it off" became more popular in the Warring States Period. The names were different in different places. Qin called it Bi, Chu called it Yu, Jiangdong called it Bulu, Yan and Zhao called it Fu...
However, these "writing brushes" are still very different from later generations. The hair on the tip of the brush is wrapped around the outside of the pen barrel and then fixed with paint, which is exactly the opposite of the later writing brushes.
In both past and present lives, Heifu was poor at calligraphy and could barely read his handwriting. In addition to years of fighting, he never thought of improving it.
When he came to Xianyang, he was surprised to find that a new style of writing brush, which was similar to that of later generations, had become popular in the palace offices. It used dead wood as the tube, deer hair as the pillar, and wool as the quilt. It was called "Canghao"!
After asking, I found out that this pen, also known as "Mengtian's pen", was made during the years when Mengtian was demoted to Shangjun due to his defeat in the Chu campaign and guarded the border at Yanmen...
Therefore, Meng Tian only modified the brush, and later generations passed it down by mistake, and it became an invention.
It can be seen that although Meng Tian is famous for his martial arts, privately he also likes to write and write, so he did not refuse and wrote a memorial on the spot."
In this way, it can be proved that the paper can indeed be written with ink.
The emperor's heart was filled with praise for a thin piece of paper that was as light as a feather and weighed no more than ten baht. The writing on it was as much as a bamboo slip weighing two kilograms...
The Qin Dynasty always paid attention to "clerical administration". Replacing bamboo slips with paper can greatly improve the efficiency of Qin officials. Even Qin Shihuang himself, leaning on the couch to read lightweight paper documents every day, was much easier than lifting heavy bamboo slips.
With the unification of the world, the government affairs he had to deal with every day also increased rapidly. Even though the emperor was diligent in his duties, he really couldn't be happy looking at the piles of slips and documents every day.
As a writing medium, hemp paper is undoubtedly qualified. The only problem is the cost.
"How much money does it cost to make hemp paper?" the emperor asked, and Heifu presented Zhang Cang's account book recorded on the paper.
"Your Majesty, we have collected rags and hemp from the Shaofu and Xianyang shops. Each stone is worth 120 yuan. Taking into account the cost of carrying the vehicle, firewood, process, and manpower, the cost is only 500 yuan."
"One stone covering the hemp head can make thousands of sheets of hemp paper with a width of two feet and two inches and a length of one foot! This is also the daily output of the workshop."
In other words, the cost of a piece of hemp paper is only half a penny!
"The general will be the prime minister." The emperor called the young man at the end of the palace, who had a gloomy expression, to be the prime minister.
"How much is the price of a bamboo slip that can hold three to four hundred words?"
Jiang Zuocheng wanted to see Heifu's joke, but he actually turned decay into magic and made paper that could be written on using the rotten edges of rags.
If Meng Tian had not personally inspected every process and could testify for Heifu, Jiang Zuocheng would even suspect that Heifu only presented some relatively fine cloth...
In the face of the hard facts, he could only answer the emperor's question honestly: "Due to the different materials used, the bamboo album is worth two to three yuan, while the willow slips are worth one yuan."
Bamboo itself is not expensive, but the process is time-consuming, and coupled with the price of cowhide webbing, it is not as cheap as expected.
If it is replaced by silk, a piece of silk with a width of two feet and two inches and a length of four feet is worth 500 qian. If it is cut to a length of one foot, it is also worth about 10 qian.
Everything is clear, the same width, the same number of words written, the price of a piece of linen paper is actually one-half of the wooden slip, one-fifth of the bamboo album, one-twentieth of the plain silk...
It is not unreasonable that paper can replace bamboo slips and silk books.
Heifu could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The idea of making paper was true, but they encountered some troubles every day during the papermaking process. Fortunately, this process was not out of date, and all processes could be done using ready-made methods.
Solve it, besides, with the help of Cheng Shang and Qin Mo, all problems can be solved easily.
At this time, Meng Tian raised a sharp question: "Today, the Shaofu has collected hundreds of stones of hemp cloth from Xianyang, and can produce more than a thousand pieces of hemp paper every day. It can be made for one year, but after one year, the cloth will have no hemp head."
If it’s over, what can we do about it?”
"The concerns of the young master and the young prisoner are justified." Hei Fu did not shy away and took the question.
This is not unfounded worry. Heifu once heard an interesting story in his previous life, saying that after papermaking was introduced to Europe through the Middle East, the first thing Europeans learned was to use old linen cloth to make paper.
The supply of old linen cloth alone as a raw material was somewhat in short supply. The Europeans sent almost all the old cloth, scraps and rags they could collect into paper mills, so that the shortage of cloth became so severe that the British government issued a decree banning it.
Wrap the body in a shroud and bury it to save cloth.
Countries on the European continent also offered high prices to snatch rags from each other, and even rag smuggling occurred. At that time, many countries prohibited individuals from collecting "old clothes, old flags, rags and cloth, scraps of fur and parchment, and other scraps used for papermaking."
"Similar materials" are strictly prohibited from being exported abroad, and violators will be subject to heavy fines...
Heifu didn't know whether this was true or not, but it was definitely not possible to make paper from rags alone. No matter how large the population of Xianyang City was, it had really reached the point where "the clothes in the morning were poor and the clothes in the evening were poor", and the rags were limited. And those poor families
, rags are recycled, and the children in the family take turns to wear them. Even if they are broken, they can also pad the soles of shoes. However, the luxurious homes of wealthy people who wear rags don't care about the money exchanged for rags, so they just throw them away.
There are two solutions. The first is to have Ridian forcefully collect rags like later generations did. The second is what he has been planning for a long time, to expand the source of raw materials...
So Heifu said: "Your Majesty, in addition to using cloth and hemp heads, papermaking can also use rattan, mulberry, mulberry bark, etc. The technology is the same as hemp paper. It can be made by the end of September, and the cost may be lower than hemp paper...
"
Jiang Zuocheng suddenly realized and understood the reason why Heifu had done nothing last month and first asked Shaofu Yuan Cheng for a lot of mulberry bark and soaked it in the pickaxe pond!
This statement also solved the doubts of the young eunuch Meng Tian. He secretly thought that Hei Fu could take one step and see three steps, which was really impressive. He nodded, indicating that he had no doubts.
"When Mr. Hei asked me to make paper, he promised me that the things he made would be of high quality and low price."
Qin Shihuang lit the hemp paper and said happily: "You are so sincere!"
He walked up to Heifu and encouraged him: "Since last month, many people in the government and the public have called you 'rag-cheng'. This is because people who come out of remote alleys are rare and strange, and people with little knowledge slander sages.
A fool laughs, a wise man mourns, a crazy man rejoices, and a wise man mourns! Don't worry about those comments that are based on worldly prejudices!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your trust." Hei Fu bowed in a choked voice. The young general Zuocheng and others on the side looked ashamed. This was the nickname they had given to Hei Fu. They didn't dare to say it out loud now.
Qin Shihuang immediately asked Meng Tian to come forward to help grind the ink, and asked Cheng Miao, who had been promoted to the imperial censor, to take the "canghao" made by Meng Tian and write the edict on a piece of hemp paper spread out.
The emperor also specially told Cheng Miao: "Use official script, not seal script!"
Although this was not in compliance with the law of "using seal script for imperial edicts" set a few days ago, the emperor was greater than the emperor, so Cheng Miao could only nod and obey the order.
Qin Shihuang did have his intentions.
The poem goes: Although Zhou was an old state, its destiny was restored, and so was Qin!
He did not follow the same rules in governing the world, followed the rules of the country, dared to forge ahead, and constantly introduced new things. This is the reason why Qin became stronger and stronger and conquered the whole world.
Qin Shihuang seemed to be able to see that letters with official script written on hemp paper were constantly being passed among the counties. The leaders of Shandong and Guizhou also wanted to learn seal script and official script from Qin officials, throwing away their books filled with poems and poems.
Heavy bamboo slips, using brand new paper to copy Qin laws...
This is the new policy and atmosphere he brought to the world!
"Heifu paper, Mengtian pen, Cheng Miao Li, new pen, new paper and new characters, all working together for the New Deal, it's a good story. With these three things, writing can be the same as the world's writing, and it can be a little faster!"
Hearing this, Heifu secretly thought that the name of the paper was not very pleasant, and that it might be called "black paper" in the future, and the strange idiom "black paper with black characters" would come out, but the emperor's golden words meant that he could only shout: "
Thank you, Your Majesty, for naming me!”
Qin Shihuang walked up to the palace again and dictated the edict: "The ancients said that there are hundreds of craftsmanship, including shining gold as a blade, concrete as a tool, making a chariot to travel on land, and making a boat to travel on water. These are all done by wise men.
The sky has its time, the earth has energy, the materials have beauty, and the workmanship has skill. If these four are combined, then it can be good."
"Since ancient times, most deeds have been compiled with bamboo slips, and those made of plain silk are called silk scripts. Silk is expensive and simple and heavy, which is not convenient for people. Now there is a fake Shaofu Cheng Heifu, who accepts my intention and supervises the work of hundreds of workers for the first time.
However, I have the heart of a good craftsman, so I bought hemp heads, old cloth, and fishing nets to use as paper. They are of high quality and low price, and can be used in place of bamboo slips and silks to broadcast to the world. I appreciate his ability and commend him for his contribution, so I will give Mr. Hei a mansion.