After handling this official business, it was already noon, Gao Yuan, Li Yinghong, and the officials had lunch together, and then they dispersed to handle their own affairs.

Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong had just returned to their mansion together, only to see Geng Zhong come to see Gao Yuan and say, "My lord, the papermaking technique you ordered has already produced some samples, please take a look at it and see if it is as you wish." ”

Gao Yuan listened, then remembered that he had instructed the craftsmen to study the process of papermaking for almost half a year, at that time he just gave the craftsman a general direction, and then left it alone, because Gao Yuan himself had too many things, first to implement the new law, then to suppress Haoqiang, and then to launch a war against Yan State, there was really no time to take care of papermaking. Moreover, the plateau itself is not familiar with the process of papermaking, so he can only point out a general direction, and other things can't be helped even if he wants to, so he simply leaves it to Geng Zhong to coordinate and manage the affairs of the craftsmen, and how to tinker with the papermaking matter, let the craftsmen worry about it.

And during this period of time, Gao Yuan forgot about papermaking, and now when he heard Geng Zhongyi, he immediately said: "Okay, come to the study, I want to try it myself." ”

Li Yinghong was also a little curious, although she had also heard that Gao Yuan asked craftsmen to study what paper to make, but she didn't care too much, seeing that Gao Yuan was so excited, she also asked: "What papermaking technology?" ”

Gao Yuan smiled: "It is to make a tool that can write like Heyi, but it is easier to make than Heyi, lighter and more convenient than bamboo and wooden tablets, and can be produced in large quantities." ”

Heyun is a silkworm cocoon made of silk cotton by bleaching, after the bleaching is completed, the remaining layer of fiber layer, can be used to write like paper, Li Yinghong of course has used Heyan, it is indeed lighter and more convenient than bamboo slips and wooden slips, but this thing is just a by-product of bleaching, the output is also extremely limited, and it can not be directly produced, so it can be used occasionally, but it can not be used as the main writing instrument, if it can really be like the plateau said, it can be mass-produced a kind of thing similar to Heran, of course, it is much more convenient.

The two walked to the study while talking, and after a while, they saw Geng Zhong leading three craftsmen to come, each holding a stack of paper in his hand. These three craftsmen are all known to Gao Yuan, who is responsible for the study of papermaking.

After the ceremony, the three craftsmen each brought up the paper they had made. Takahara picked up a piece of paper, about two feet square, square, and a little larger than an A3 copy paper in later generations, but obviously much thicker than copy paper, and the surface was much rougher, not as smooth as the copy paper used in later generations, and the color was gray, but there was no big problem in writing. Then Gao Yuan pulled it hard, but it didn't tear, and it seemed that the toughness was not bad.

So Gao Yuan took a brush again, dipped in ink, and then drew a few strokes on the paper, although there is a slight ink seepage, but in general, it can still be used, in fact, some inferior wooden slips, bamboo slips will also have the appearance of ink seepage, but it is not strict.

Li Yinghong saw it on the side, and was immediately interested, and said, "Let me give it a try." As he spoke, he also took a piece of paper, dipped his pen in ink, and wrote several words on the paper, saying, "Sure enough, it is as easy to use as Hera, can this kind of paper really be made in large quantities?" ”

A craftsman said: "Mrs. Hui, these days, we have used wood, hay or wheat stalks, as well as raw materials such as bark, hemp, rags, and fishing nets, to mash, pulp, brew and dry, and test papermaking. ”

Gao Yuan put down the pen, nodded as well, and said: "Yes, in less than half a year, it is indeed very good to be able to have such results, but there is still room for improvement in some papers, one is that these papers are gray and yellow, can you find a way to make them whiter; Second, it is too thick, it is best to make it thinner, the thinner the better; The third is that when writing, there is still some ink bleed, and if you can not bleed ink, it will be better. ”

Several craftsmen also nodded their heads again and again, because what Gao Yuan said was the truth, and he didn't mean to find fault.

Gao Yuan said: "But to be able to make such a paper, it is already very good, I promised you, if you make paper, you will be rewarded with 100 Yi gold, and you will follow Uncle Zhong to receive the reward after a while, but in the future, I will continue to work hard to improve the process of papermaking, make better paper, as long as it can improve the quality of papermaking, I will also be rewarded." ”

Several craftsmen listened, immediately knelt on the ground, to the plateau thousands of thanks, originally they heard the plateau said a lot of paper-making shortcomings, and thought that the bounty was in vain, but the plateau still awarded a hundred Yi gold, really did not expect.

One hundred pounds of gold is one hundred and fifty catties, and there are only more than 40 craftsmen involved in papermaking, and on average, each person can get three or four catties of gold. And all three were foremen, so they could double as many craftsmen.

Although in this era, skilled craftsmen can have a good income, better than ordinary farmers, these three people can earn about 500 copper coins a month, sometimes they live more, earn 7 or 800, and even thousands of copper coins are possible. But a pound of gold is worth 10,000 copper coins. Therefore, the bounty of the plateau can be regarded as a huge prize for these craftsmen. Therefore, of course, the craftsmen are very grateful and promise to make better paper.

Gao Yuan asked them all to stand up, and said: "But now this kind of paper can also be made in large quantities, the more you make, the better, I can use it, how many such papers you can make in a month." ”

Several craftsmen glanced at each other, and one said: "Back to the lord, we haven't calculated, but it takes at least more than ten days to complete all the processes of dipping, pulping, copying, and drying at one time to make paper." ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said, "In this way, you will recruit some craftsmen after you pay the responsibility, first count a hundred people, and start making paper within a month, and you can separate the personnel of each process, such as the person who soaks is in charge of soaking, and the person who beats the pulp is in charge of pulping, and each does its own work, and so on, to see how many pieces of paper can be made." However, the technology of papermaking should be kept strictly secret and not passed on. He turned his head and said to Geng Zhong: "Uncle Geng, you will manage the affairs of the body, look at how much it costs to make paper like this, how much it costs a month." ”

Geng Zhong hurriedly said, "Yes." ”

Gao Yuan said to the three craftsmen: "Go and remember to do things well." ”

After several craftsmen thanked the plateau, Geng Zhong led them out. Li Yinghong was a little puzzled, and said: "Why do you want to make so much paper, just a few of them artificial paper, isn't it enough for us to use?" ”

Gao Yuan smiled and said, "Why do you only think about us using it?" It's hard to think that a large number of paper is not only used by us, but also can be bought, if there is such paper on the market now, and the price is similar to that of wooden and bamboo slips, you will sell that one to use. ”

Li Yinghong said: "Of course, I buy paper to use, because it is much more convenient to use wooden and bamboo slips, even if it is a little more expensive, I will buy paper to use." ”

Gao Yuan nodded and said: "That's right, now we are the only ones in the world who have such paper to sell, think about it, whether it is transported there, it will be easy to sell, Mrs. Wenqing has always said that we trade with various countries, and there are no goods that can be sold, isn't there now?" ”

Li Yinghong listened, nodded as well, and said, "What you said is also right, this paper can indeed be sold." ”

Seeing that Li Yinghong still couldn't get his way, Gao Yuan couldn't help but feel funny, Li Yinghong had no business experience after all, so his business acumen was still very lacking, so Gao Yuan didn't go on, and said: "As long as we have paper, we can still develop printing." ”

Li Yinghong's eyes widened again and said, "What is printing?" ”

Gao Yuan picked up a stamp on the table, dipped it in ink, pressed it on it, and said, "Look." ”

Li Yinghong was puzzled and said, "Isn't it just a stamp?" What do I see? ”

Gao Yuan smiled, turned around and searched out one of the [Art of War] volumes from the bookshelf, and said, "If we carve out all the words of this [Art of War], and then print them on the paper like this stamp, and then bind all these papers together, wouldn't it become a paper [Art of War]?" "If you use wooden tablets to write [The Art of War], even if it is a volume, at least a dozen volumes of wooden tablets, at least ten pounds of weight, but if you use paper to make [Sun Tzu's Art of War], it is less than a pound, whether it is stored or carried, it is much more convenient than wooden tablets."

Li Yinghong listened, and then increased his interest a little, and said: "Yes, it is indeed much more convenient to make paper books than wooden books, and in this way, we can not only make paper [Sun Tzu's Art of War], but also make other books." ”

Gao Yuan pointed to the bookshelf full of wooden tablets behind him, and said with a smile: "By the way, all the books here can be made out of paper. As he spoke, he took the stamp again, stamped it on the paper a few times, and said: "You see, as long as you carve out a copy, you can recopy it, how many you want, a [Sun Tzu's Art of War], we can make hundreds of paper books very lightly, we only need to keep a few of them, and the rest can be used for sale, do you think this kind of paper books are easy to sell, or wooden books are easy to sell." ”

Li Yinghong understood a little at this time, and nodded again and again, and said: "Of course, paper books are easier to sell than wooden books, if you can make all the books here out of paper, no matter where you get them, you can definitely sell them out at once, because there are too few wooden books that can be sold, even if you have money, you can't buy them." ”

Gao Yuan said with a smile: "Take one back to three, it's really a teachable child." ”