After Bai Yang finished speaking, he saw everyone's blank faces, and everyone was thinking: Shouldn't paper be made by officials? And the value is very expensive, more expensive than silk, since ancient times it is highly sought after by readers, everyone has a knife paper and show their respect.

Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Jia Xu thought for a while and said, "Lord, paper is something that we and other scholars yearn for. As far as I know, since ancient times, the book deed is mostly compiled with bamboo slips, and those who use silk are called paper. It is expensive and simple, and it is not convenient for people. ”

"In 105 years, the eunuch Cai Lun summarized the papermaking technology since the Western Han Dynasty and improved it, and created a plant fiber paper that reached the practical level of writing with bark, rags, hemp heads, and fishing nets as raw materials, and a set of process techniques for dipping, pounding, and copying, called 'Caihou paper'."

After Jia Xu finished speaking, he took a sip of tea, touched his beard and said: "As far as I know, the Caihou paper that everyone uses now is made by the official family every year, because the papermaking process is laborious and laborious, the cost is particularly high and the yield is very low. Now it is mainly used by the royal family, and few people are circulated outside the palace. ”

"Now the lord wants to make paper, and I admire his heart, but we have not been in contact with its papermaking process, formula, etc., which is laborious and laborious to try, and the gains outweigh the losses! If the lord really wants some Caihou paper, he should think of a way, and he should be able to buy some at a high price when he goes to Luoyang. ”

After Jia Xu finished speaking, he saw that everyone didn't say anything, but stared at Bai Yang. In fact, everyone has similar thoughts to Jia Xu, feeling that Bai Yang wants some Caihou paper to be placed in the study to show his dignity.

But now Taishoufu wants to make paper, there is a sense of fantasy, which is like an ordinary dick silk in the future, and suddenly one day he has a whim, and he wants to build a spaceship. Do you know that this spaceship is all kinds of awesome, all kinds of powerful, and you also know the general materials on the Internet, but can you build it?

Of course, Bai Yang's thoughts in their minds were not known to people of their time, and it might have been very difficult in ancient times, but it was actually the same thing for him. And he has probably read this type of article on the Internet before, although he doesn't remember it all, but he still knows the general principle. To put it bluntly, these things are a matter of vision, and it has nothing to do with whether they are smart or not.

"You don't need to persuade me, the paper-making thing is too guarded. Tomorrow will officially start, Minister Sun will find a few old carpenters in a while, just let them come over, it is best to bring a few apprentices. Squadron Pei will pick ten of the sergeants you train tomorrow with good training results, and I will use them for a while, and during this time they will live with the craftsmen and do not need to train.

The elders found a few people to go up the mountain and cut down two poplar tree poles this afternoon. Then find a few locals to find some gum in the surrounding hills, that is, slimy things that flow down from the trees, and try to collect as many as you can. ”

Everyone saw that Bai Yang was determined to make paper, and he could only say yes.

"Is there anything else you want to say?"

Li Yu turned his head left and right and saw that everyone was not talking, thought for a while and said: "Lord, our expenses are quite large now, and it is estimated that our silver taels will be able to support until the end of this year according to this progress." But I just heard about your plans, if this is to be implemented normally, we estimate that it will be able to last for more than a month, and it will be a bit difficult to support it for two months! ”

Bai Yang thought about it, this is indeed a thing, but as long as the paper is made, I believe that all difficulties can be solved.

"Don't be afraid of this, after we make the paper, we can sell some of it." After Bai Yang finished speaking, he turned to the others and asked, "Do you have anything else?" ”

"Nope."

"It's okay."

"Okay, since it's gone, let's take action, everyone work hard." Saying that, Bai Yang sent everyone out of the study.

"Well, let's start drawing again, and think about what tools are needed to make paper." After everyone went out, Bai Yang was left alone and began to write and paint.

In the afternoon, Li Lao of the Ordnance Department came to Bai Yang with six or seven apprentices, and Bai Yang Zhang Luo first made some tools, similar to some large water storage tanks, steamers, and some coarse rag nets and wooden boards for paper drying and other things. He prepared seven or eight sets of these things, mainly to try a few more at a time according to different formulas, and then choose a better quality among the many formulas.

After that, according to the problems that arise in the papermaking process, Li Lao can slowly improve, and now if he is allowed to try one by one, he does not have that time, at most a month, and there must be results.

In fact, papermaking is divided into several parts: the first is the selection of materials, in fact, the preferred material for papermaking should be some wood with more fibers. But based on his knowledge of the local trees and the subsequent steps that needed to be bleached, poplar was chosen. The main thing is that there are no bleaching drugs for him to use in this period, so he can only control the raw materials and try his best to make paper that is whiter and more flexible than the Caihou paper of the current period.

The second is to strip the bark of the trees, especially where there are knots, and he has the craftsmen sawn them off, and according to the length of the pool, the trunk is divided into sections. Then use an axe to split into fine wood chips, tie up about 20 or 30 of them into a small bundle, soak and dry them repeatedly in the pool, and then call the sergeant and several apprentices of Li Lao to pick out some of the impurities one by one, which is a meticulous work.

Let Li Lao watch them work, and Bai Yang took the two sergeants to start adding water to the cauldron. After everyone picks up, wash the tree fibers and put them in a large pot to steam, after repeated steaming and kneading, then steaming and kneading, and finally until there is only wood fiber left, and there is no other substance.

Originally, there was no need for such trouble in this matter, if it was in the future, just add some chemical raw materials, but now there is no way, Bai Yang can only clean it by hand.

After that, Bai Yang repeatedly beat the wood fibers with a wooden hammer until they were rotten, and separated them into several pools to mix the pulp. This activity can be said to be the key to making paper, the consistency of the pulp, viscosity and other factors will affect your future paper quality. Therefore, Bai Yang prepared seven or eight pools of water to adjust the slurry according to different degrees, and boiled several kinds of gums sent by the elders a few days ago according to the degree of thickness, and then began to prepare them.

"Elder Li, you look at these four paper pools for a while, and I look at the four paper pools. Remember the main point of the slurry I just said, put this glue in these two pools, one spoonful of this and two spoons of that, don't put too much. It's the same for the two over there, with that glue, it's clear, right? ”

"Don't worry about the water, I've just put different water in different paper pools, and after a while, put the same fibers in the paper pool and start stirring first. You look at these and let them stir well, even if they stir for a while, several people will stir each other, all from left to right at a uniform speed, remember? Bai Yang said to Li Lao in a loud voice, he couldn't take care of the eight paper pools alone, this was the last moment, don't be mistaken, and in the end, he tossed in vain.

"Taishou-sama, don't worry, I remember, I can't be wrong." Li Lao hurriedly replied, in order to reassure Bai Yang, he repeated what he had just ordered.

Bai Yang heard that there was no problem with Li Lao's repetition and said, "Okay, just do it." Now they all listen, everyone here listens to Li Lao's arrangement, and the four paper pool construction personnel over there listen to my password. Don't mess up for a while, the main points and precautions have just been told to you, now assign people, at least two people in a paper pool, and cooperate with the work. ”

"Everyone listens to me, and eight paper pools put all the prepared pulp in."