Today, Qin Shi Huang rarely put down his busy work, and the two or three hundred catties of bamboo slips piled up into a hill in the hall were also removed from the case, moved to the side, and the neatly cut light yellow hemp paper replaced them, and was neatly placed on the imperial case of Qin Shi Huang.

The emperor picked up a piece of hemp paper with a width of two feet and two inches and a length of one foot, and sure enough, as Heifu said, it was as light as silk, but it was finer and tougher than silk, because it was carefully selected, so it looked like the paper was evenly clean, smooth to the touch, and the edges were cut very neatly.

Looking at another piece of paper full of dense seal characters, the First Emperor looked at the familiar handwriting, and asked:

"Is it Meng Tian's word?"

Meng Tianzuo, the young eunuch of the Shaofu, said: "The paper is the first to be made, I don't know if it can be written, the monarchs don't dare to offer it rashly, so the ministers will try the pen......"

The brush is certainly not invented by Meng Tian, a few years ago, Heifu was in the court of Anlu County, and he knew when he saw that the officials had a pen in their hands, and the age of this thing appeared very early, and Confucius was already in the "pen is the pen, and the cutting is sharpening", and it was more popular in the Warring States period. The titles are different in various places, Qin Di is called the pen, Chu is called Yu, Jiangdong is called the lawless, and Yan Zhao is called the Fu......

However, there is still a big difference between these "brushes" and later generations, and the hair of the brush head is wrapped around the outside of the barrel and then firmly lacquered, which is just the opposite of later brushes.

In his past and present lives, Heifu was clumsy in calligraphy, and his handwriting was barely readable, and he didn't think of transforming it because of his perennial campaigns.

When he came to Xianyang, he was surprised to find that a new style of brush that was quite similar to later generations had become popular in the palace office, with dead wood as the tube, deer hair as the column, and wool as the quilt, which was called "Canghao"!

When I asked, I found out that this item is also called "Meng Tian's pen", which was made in the years when Meng Tian was demoted to Shangjun and Yanmen to guard the border due to the defeat of Huachu......

Therefore, Meng Tian only transformed the brush, and later generations spread it falsely, and it became an invention.

It can be seen that although Meng Tian is famous for his martial arts, in private, he is also a person who likes to dance and write, and he did not shirk it, and wrote a note on the spot. ”

In this way, it can be proved that the paper can indeed be written in ink.

The emperor praised kindness in his heart, it was such a thin paper that was as light as a feather, and weighed no more than ten baht after weighing, and the writing content on it had caught up with a two-pound bamboo slip......

Qin has always paid attention to "clerical administration", and replacing bamboo slips with paper can improve the efficiency of Qin officials a lot, and even Qin Shi Huang himself, twisting light paper documents and leaning on the couch to read every day, is much easier than holding a bulky bamboo slip. With the unification of the world, the government affairs he has to deal with every day have also increased rapidly, even if the emperor is diligent in government, but every day looking at the mountains of simple books, the case is hard work, and he is really not happy.

As a writing carrier, hemp paper is undoubtedly qualified, and the only problem is the cost.

"How much does it cost to make hemp paper?" The emperor asked, and Heifu presented the ledger that Zhang Cang had recorded on paper.

"Your Majesty, we collect rags and hemp from Shaofu and Xianyang City, one stone is worth 120 yuan, and the cost is only 500 yuan after counting the cost of the vehicle, firewood, process, and manpower."

"One stone cloth hemp head can make a thousand pieces 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. ”

That is, the cost of a piece of hemp paper is only half a penny!

"I will be a man." The emperor called out the young mansion general at the end of the hall again, whose face was uncertain.

"How much does a bamboo slip that can write three or four hundred words?"

Jiang Zuocheng wanted to see Heifu's jokes, but he really turned decay into magic, and made paper that could be written from the rotten corners of rags.

If Meng Tian hadn't personally inspected each process, he could testify for Heifu, and he would have even suspected that Heifu was just offering some finer cloth......

In the face of iron-clad facts, he could only answer the emperor's question honestly: "Due to the different materials used, the bamboo book is worth two to three yuan, and the willow wood slip is one yuan." ”

The bamboo itself is not expensive, but the process is very time-consuming, and the price of the cowhide belt is not as cheap as imagined.

If it is replaced with silk silk, a silk with a width of two feet and two inches and a length of four zhang is worth 500 yuan, and it is also worth about 10 yuan when cut to a foot long.

Everything is clear, the same width, the same number of words, the price of a piece of hemp paper is one-half of the wooden tablet, one-fifth of the bamboo book, and one-twentieth of the plain silk...... It is not unreasonable that paper can replace bamboo slips and silk books.

Hefu was relieved that the idea of papermaking was true, but in the process of papermaking, they had some trouble every day. Fortunately, this process is not beyond the times, all processes can be solved with ready-made methods, besides, with the help of Qin Mo such as Cheng Shang, all problems can be solved.

At this time, Meng Tian raised a sharp question: "Today's Shaofu collects hundreds of stones of Xianyang cloth and hemp, and produces more than 1,000 pieces of hemp paper per day, which can be made for a year, but after a year, the cloth and hemp are exhausted, so what can I do about it?" ”

"The worries of the young government and the young eunuchs are reasonable." Heifu didn't shy away from it and took over the question.

This is not unfounded, but Hefu had heard an anecdote in his previous life that after papermaking was introduced to Europe through the Middle East, Europeans first learned only to make paper from old linen.

Relying on old linen cloth as raw materials alone, there was a bit of a shortage of supply, and the Europeans sent almost all the old cloth, fragments and broken hemp that could be collected into the paper mill, so that the cloth was in short supply, and in the end, the British government even issued a decree prohibiting the use of shrouds for burial, in order to save cloth.

At that time, many countries banned the collection of "used clothes, old flags, rags and cloth, scraps of fur and parchment, and other similar materials used in papermaking" and strictly forbade them to be shipped abroad, with heavy fines for violators......

Heifu doesn't know if this is true or not, but it is definitely not possible to make paper by relying on rags alone, no matter how large the population of Xianyang City is, it really reaches the level of "fresh clothes in the morning and bad clothes in the evening", and the rags are limited. And those poor families, rags are recycled, and the children of the family wear them in turns, even if they are broken, they can also pad the soles of their shoes or something. And the luxury family of the big dresser didn't care about the money exchanged for rags, so they threw it away.

There are two solutions, one is to let Ridian forcibly collect rags like later generations, and the other is to expand the source of raw materials, which he has been planning for a long time......

So Heifu said: "Your Majesty, in addition to using cloth and hemp to make paper, you can also use rattan, mulberry, bark, etc., which is the same as the hemp paper process, and can be made at the end of September, and the cost may be lower than hemp paper......

Jiang Zuocheng suddenly realized, and also understood the reason why Heifu didn't do anything last month, and first asked Shaofu Yuancheng for a lot of canada vine bark soaked in the pickaxe pool!

This remark also solved the doubts of Meng Tian, the young eunuch of the Shaofu, he secretly said that Heifu can take one step and see three steps, which is really powerful, and nodded, indicating that he has no doubts.

"When Hefu asked for paper, he promised me that what he would make would be of good quality and cheap."

Qin Shi Huang lit the hemp paper and said with relief: "Honest! ”

He walked up to Heifu and encouraged: "Since last month, among the government and the opposition, there are many people who call Qing 'rag cheng', this is a rare and strange person who comes out of a remote alley, a person with shallow knowledge slanders the sage, the fool's laughter, the wise man's sorrow, the madman's joy, the sage's mourning!" Don't bother with the rhetoric of worldly prejudices! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Heifu choked up and bowed, and the Shaofu general Zuocheng and others on the side showed a look of shame, this nickname was exactly what they gave Heifu, and now they dare not come out.

Qin Shi Huang immediately asked Meng Tian to come forward to help polish the ink, and asked Cheng Miao, who had been promoted to the imperial history, to hold the "canghao" created by Meng Tian and write an edict on a piece of spread linen paper.

The emperor also specially instructed Cheng Miao: "Use the official character, don't use the seal book!" ”

Although this is not in line with the law of "edict with seals" set a few days ago, the emperor is bigger than the law, and Cheng Miao can only obey orders with his head bowed.

Qin Shi Huang did have his intentions.

Shiyun: Although Zhou is an old state, its life is renewed, and so is Qin!

If the world is not governed together, the country will be lawless, dare to forge ahead, and constantly bring forth the new, which is the reason why Qin is becoming stronger and stronger, and annexing the world and a sea.

Qin Shi Huang seemed to be able to see that a letter written on Canghao hemp paper was constantly passed between the counties, and the leaders of Shandong Qianqian also had to learn the official characters of the seal script from the Qin officials, throw away the bamboo bulky and simple bamboo full of poems and books, and copy the Qin law with brand new paper......

This is the new deal and new atmosphere he brought to the world!

"Heifu paper, Meng Tian pen, Cheng Miaoli, new pen, new paper and new words, working for the new deal, is a good story. With these three things, the book is the same as the text in the world, and it can be sped up by a few points! ”

When Heifu heard this, although the name of the paper was not very good, it might be called "black paper" by false rumors in the future, and the strange idiom of "black paper and black letters" came out, but the emperor Chrysostom said that he could only shout: "Your Majesty Xie named it!" ”

Qin Shi Huang walked up to the hall again, and dictated the edict: "The ancients said: "The ancients, the things of a hundred work, or the shimmering gold as the blade, the concrete as the tool, the car to travel the land, the boat to travel the water, this is all done by the sage." Sometimes, the earth has air, the material is beautiful, and the work is coincidental. ”

"Since ancient times, the book deed is mostly compiled with bamboo slips, and its use of plain silk is called silk book. Silk is expensive and simple, and it is not convenient for people. Today, there is a fake Shaofu Cheng Heifu, the meaning of inheritance, although the initial supervision of a hundred work, but there is a good craftsman's heart, the purchase of hemp and cloth, fishing nets for paper, good quality and low price, can be used as a substitute for Jane, silk, broadcast the world. I am good at his ability, and I will give him a mansion today, and I will be promoted to the right chief! ”