Paper was a luxury product in this era. The best parchment cost two silver coins, and all Reggie's drawings were made on this parchment.
The most common parchment costs sixty copper coins. Papyrus is slightly cheaper, but the price of a piece of paper will not be less than forty copper coins.
The price of books is even more exaggerated. The price of a long papyrus scroll is fifty silver coins, and the price of a parchment book is basically more than one gold coin. Archbishop Bachelot has a collection of tens of thousands of volumes, one-third of which are expensive
parchment, which shows how powerful the Grand Bachelor's financial resources are.
Every year, the paper that Reggie consumes alone costs hundreds of silver coins, and the schools in Broken Snow City spend more than 10,000 gold coins on paper and books every year. Students often steal papers back home and save them.
In just a few months, it can turn into a small fortune.
The Golden Eagle and the White Tower people have monopolized the world's papermaking technology. Reggie is obviously the victim of the trade monopoly. They even caught Reggie's heavy dependence on paper and raised the price of paper several times. But in the final analysis, they were traded.
The reason for the squeeze came entirely from Reggie's willfulness.
Reggie worked in a paper mill in his previous life. He understood every process of papermaking. Xuexicheng had long been capable of large-scale papermaking, but Reggie was obsessed with the traditions of this era.
He likes parchment books and papyrus scrolls. He likes the sound of the quill rubbing against the parchment.
Now, under economic pressure, Reggie launched wood pulp paper. Seeing the eyes of those businessmen, Reggie knew very well that the era of parchment and papyrus was over.
"How many do you have? How much of this paper do we need!"
Wood pulp paper is not as thick as parchment paper, but its texture is much better than papyrus paper. One pound of wood pulp has one hundred sheets, which means that the price of each sheet of paper is only ten copper coins. No one can resist such temptation.
"Currently I can only provide you with five hundred pounds." The number given by Reggie disappointed the businessmen. He stretched and said, "I'm a little tired. Let the financial officer discuss the rest of the matter with you."
chat."
Reggie turned and left. He wanted to find a place to remember the parchment and papyrus.
But Reggie's attitude made the businessmen very dissatisfied, and his nagging complaints made Nipoli frown.
"Five hundred pounds? Is this considered business? We came all the way to Broken Snow City just for the business of fifty gold coins?"
Nipoli smiled and said: "We want to check the market first. What you said is right. The paper from Shattered Snow Country cannot be compared with the parchment from your country."
"Are you testing us? This is completely unnecessary! We don't even have a counter-offer, one pound of paper, ten silver coins, take out all your paper!"
"Don't be so impatient. There will be an autumn fair in Turbulence City in two months. There will be a lot of paper for sale at that time, and the price will remain the same." After saying that, Nipoli took out a small metal thing.
The lid of the box was opened, and a ball of flame burst out, igniting the tobacco in the pipe.
"What is this?" The businessmen looked at the box in Nipoli's hand in surprise, "You are carrying a candle with you?"
"Why should I do that? Aren't I afraid that my clothes will catch fire?" Nipoli blew out the flame, closed the box, and then opened the lid again, and the flames burst out again.
"What the hell is this? You put urine wax in it, right? Use the urine wax to light the candle inside!"
"I won't bring something so smelly with me," Nipoli puffed out a puff of smoke, played with the box in his hand, and said with a smile, "This is my gift to you. The next time you light a fire for a lady,
You can do it more decently."
A businessman smiled and said: "We don't need this kind of thing. The red wax from Golden Eagle Country doesn't smell bad, and it looks much prettier when lighting a cigarette than you do."
"Really? Take a wooden stick, dip it in red wax and rub it on the gravel. Is that really good-looking? Red wax ignites very slowly. An inexperienced person may not be able to ignite even a dozen sticks after rubbing them.
Fire, and all I have to do is open the lid and fire will come out.”
The businessmen were not convinced, so they replaced the urine wax with red wax made from gum. This was a remarkable achievement of the Golden Eagle people.
"Although red wax ignites very slowly, it is very safe. It is not like the urine wax you used, which is smelly, poisonous, and can easily burn clothes."
"There really is no urine wax here. You should know the smell of urine wax. If you don't believe me, just smell it."
Nipoli gave each businessman a small box. The businessmen opened the lid of the box, and flames came out. After blowing out the flames, they found that there was a metal wheel connected to the shaft of the lid, and underneath the metal wheel
There is a short section of flint. The flint will emit sparks under the friction of the wheel, and the sparks will ignite the cotton core in the center of the box.
The flame will go out when the lid is closed, and the flame will ignite when the lid is opened. Although there is a bit of a pungent smell, it is definitely not the stench of white phosphorus, and is even much better than the smell of red wax.
"Actually, it's nothing unusual," a businessman curled his lips and said, "It's just a tool for lighting fires. Our red wax is more elegant to use."
As he spoke, the merchant's cheeks kept twitching. Nipoli knew that he was already tempted and just wanted to take the opportunity to lower the price.
"This is much better than red wax. You know it very well. Tell me, how long does one pound of red wax last?"
"A pound of red wax can be used for two years!" the businessman said with a proud smile. "If it is paired with a flame branch from the Golden Eagle Kingdom (a kind of wood that catches fire easily and can be used as a stick for lighting fires), it can be used even longer!"
"As long as it is paired with our potion, our box can be used for two years or even a lifetime." Nipoli took out a small glass bottle filled with transparent liquid.
This liquid is straight-run gasoline obtained by Reggie by distilling black oil. At the current industrial level, Reggie does not have the ability to produce gasoline on a large scale, but the output of dozens of pounds a day can still be guaranteed.
This small amount of gasoline is still far from the era of internal combustion engines, but it is more than enough to fill a gasoline lighter.
The merchants were silent. They opened the box, closed it, closed it, and opened it again.
This is a miracle, a miracle that is enough to subvert the concept of ignition. With this thing, red wax and urine wax will lose their existence value.
A businessman broke the silence: "Master Finance Officer, could you please tell me how much this thing costs?"
"This thing is not for sale, it is a gift for you." Nipoli also stretched and stood up and said, "That's strange, I'm a little tired too."
A businessman had some friendship with Nipoli. When he saw Nipoli preparing to see off his guests, he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Mr. Finance Officer, considering our relationship with the Sloan family, you should tell us the truth.
How much?"
Nipoli smiled and said: "This thing is called Snowflake Fire. I'm afraid it's not as cheap as you think."
Things for making fire are very expensive. A pound of urine wax costs at least twenty gold coins, and a pound of fine red wax can even be purchased for fifty gold coins. The merchants are already prepared for this.
"The right product has a price after all, just say it!"
Nipoli took a deep breath and said, "Two gold coins, plus potions."
"How much does the potion cost?"
Nipoli held the small bottle and said, "This bottle can be used for almost a year. You need to add another gold coin."
The businessmen stared at Nipoli for a long time, and one of them said: "For the glory of the Sloan family, please be sincere. How much of this thing called Snowflake Fire do you have?"