Books were a well-deserved luxury in ancient times, especially books that recorded the words of the sages, which were even more difficult to find.

In order to gain knowledge, many students can only use the method of copying. This is why there have been many handwritten editions of famous books throughout history.

But even so, books are still a scarce commodity, and the root cause is that the cost of paper is too high.

In this era when you have to use toilet chips when you go to the toilet, as an emperor would rather use silk than waste paper, you know how valuable a good paper is.

"Wenjue, why is the cost of your books so low?" After the excitement, Yan Wenting finally returned to rationality.

"Master Yan, please come with the kid." Wen Qihang got up and walked to the back of the printing shop.

The printing workshop in Guanlou Village adopts the assembly line process of opening a store in the front, printing in the middle, and papermaking in the rear.

Yan Wenting was puzzled and walked to the papermaking workshop behind the printing workshop with the smell of the book, and suddenly a bad smell came to his face.

"Wenjue, ........ here?" Yan Wenting frowned.

"Master Yan doesn't know that this is the source of book printing, where papermaking is, and why the cost of books remains high now." Wen Qihang looked at the busy craftsman and said.

Wen Qihang walked a few steps, came to the shed where the raw materials were stored, picked up some papermaking raw materials that had been processed and said: "Since the invention of papermaking by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the past thousand years, our skills have not improved much, linen, bark, fishing nets are still the main raw materials for papermaking, among which the cost of linen is the highest.

In the pre-Tang Dynasty, our ancestors successfully made bamboo into paper, but unfortunately this kind of paper was too smooth and brittle to be easy to write.

From the raw materials required for papermaking, we can actually deduce that papermaking needs only plant fibers, that is, as long as there are items with plant fibers, they can be used to make paper.

So the boy ordered people to add reeds, wheat straw, sorghum stalks and other crop products to it, but he didn't expect to make suitable paper.

It's just that it's not very stable now, the skills are not skilled enough, especially the paper coloring is not uniform, and there are too many waste papers each time, which makes the cost remain high.

What a pity! ”

After listening to Wen Qihang's introduction, Yan Wenting said with a smile: "Wen Jue doesn't have to be impatient, since there are already cheap alternatives and successful precedents, he will always make suitable paper." ”

Wen Qihang nodded and said, "Yes, as long as you can replace linen cloth with easy-to-find raw materials such as crops and miscellaneous wood, the cost of books can be greatly reduced in the future." When the people eat a meal and can exchange it for a few books, the revival of our people's culture will be just around the corner. ”

Cost will always be crucial for anything to be universal, even knowledge.

Looking at this papermaking workshop, Yan Wenting felt for the first time that the goal of teaching the world was so close.

"The old man wants to hand over all the books in his family for hundreds of years to Wenjue, and ask Wenjue to reprint them and distribute them to the world, I don't know if it is feasible?" After inspecting the process of the printing workshop, Yan Wenting is full of confidence in this small printing workshop at the moment.

"Of course it is feasible, the benefits obtained, can the boy and Master Yan be divided fifty-fifty?" Wen Qihang stretched out five fingers and said.

"........" is a good teenager, how can he always open his mouth and close his mouth and can't do without a money word! Yan Wenting said helplessly: "The old man's family is simple, and he doesn't need any money, if he can make some money because of this, Wen Jue will go and print a few more books." ”

Wen Qihang said earnestly: "Master Yan is hardworking, of course the kid knows." But Master Yan, not everyone in this world will be as high-spirited as Master Yan. Even if Master Yan's family has a rich collection of books, the kid believes that it will definitely not be as good as the books in this world. ”

"That's nature." Yan Wenting nodded.

"So even if it is for the welfare of the world, Master Yan also has to collect these fees, otherwise those who originally planned to hand over the books in their homes to the boy for printing will probably lose their hearts.

The ancestor of the Yan family, as a disciple of Confucius, has naturally heard the allusion of 'Zigong redeeming people'! Therefore, if Master Yan does not collect these money, I am afraid that many lonely books in this world will never see the light of day again. ”

"........" Yan Wenting wanted to refute, but found that he was speechless at all, Zigong ransomed people, of course, he knew this allusion very well.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a law in the State of Lu, as long as they were redeemed by the Lu people who were slaves abroad, the treasury could reimburse them, but Zigong, a disciple of Confucius, refused to pay compensation from the treasury in order to show his benevolence.

When Kong Sheng learned of this, he severely criticized and educated him.

The gist of it is: You kid thinks that he has done a good deed, but because of your self-righteousness, more Lu people would have had the opportunity to be redeemed, but from then on, no one will take the initiative to redeem it.

Just because there is a precedent for this kid like you, whoever still goes to do this loss-making business, once he takes money from the treasury, is not virtuous. If you don't take money, no one's money is blown by the wind, so why use your own money to save someone you don't know.

From then on, Zigong repented, and once he rescued a drowning man, who gave him a cow in gratitude for saving his life, and Zigong smiled happily.

And Kong Sheng is very pleased with this, because with the experience of the previous car, there will definitely be more people who save people in the future. Especially in the Warring States Period, when this life was as cheap as grass, it was very worthwhile to be able to exchange human life for a cow's life, even if he couldn't swim and drowned.

Yan Wenting sighed: "Wen Jue really has deep insights into people's hearts! I really don't know what kind of sage the Lingshi Xiaoyaozi is. If Ling Shiken is born, there may be another sage like Confucius in this world, and the world will benefit a lot from it.

If the old man can ask the master for benefits in person and see the demeanor of the sage, it will really be a great blessing in life! ”

Wen Qihang said with a smile on the corner of his mouth: "My master and others often say: Heaven does not give birth to Zhongni, and eternity is like a long night." Heaven gave birth to us again, and the long night came back to the day.

Therefore, my master and his old man were not born, which is the greatest blessing for us, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable. ”

“........”

Hearing Wen Qihang comment on his master, Yan Wenting immediately hit a spirit, just think about Wen Qihang's style all along, if there is another guy who is even more bechanting than Wen Qihang.

God knows what this world will be like by them.

(End of chapter)