After several months of development, the craftsman workshops in Waiguo have begun to take shape, with various handicraft workshops arranged neatly, and the wide open houses with ventilation are properly distributed and the distance is moderate. The common choking smell and even sewage are mostly discharged through hard ceramic pipes, and the craftsmen who live in it no longer complain about the poor environment and reduce their life.

Thanks to Zhao Wuxian's suggestion, under the planning of Ji Qiao and his mathematics students, according to the differences between different types of work, they are divided into four major areas, namely: goldsmiths specializing in smelting and casting; Timber tappers responsible for the making of bows, chariots, wheels, wooden handles, and the construction of wooden structures; tanning leather, a leather craftsman who makes armor; There are also weavers and colorists, so that the division of labor is clear, and there will be no more chaos or fire.

As for porcelain, Lu Taoweng discovered a large clay mine near Zhencheng this month, and the handicrafts of this era were all adapted to local conditions, so he chose there.

Today, a new workshop has been built downstream of the stream, adjacent to the woodworking and weaving areas.

It is said that Si Kou personally ordered Gong Zheng Gong to specialize in supervising this matter, and there must be no mistakes. The workshop was enclosed by a one-zhang high wall, not for outsiders to prying eyes, and from time to time there were military guards patrolling the perimeter, and it could be seen that Si Kou took it very seriously, although the Dioqiu Workshop has always emphasized the secrecy of the craft, but only the mysterious porcelain has been treated like this.

Curious craftsmen also inquired about each other, but the tanning craftsmen, weavers, wood-tappers, and color-making craftsmen who went to work inside were tight-lipped. I only know that what is made inside is something called "paper", and the first finished product has been completed, just waiting for Sikou to come and inspect.

"Paper. It was a word I coined, and I used it specifically to call this thing. This character is also made of linen, fishing nets, and ropes. Hence the name. ”

Outside the workshop, Zhao Wuxian brought Ji Qiao, Gongxi Chi and a few other cronies here to take a look, and explained to them like this.

Wuxian knows that hemp paper was produced in the Western Han Dynasty, and it should have been made of linen and weaving scraps at first, and it could be made into a paste and then dried.

In the most primitive and probably the simplest idea. Wuxian decided to let the craftsmen make hemp paper to practice their hands first.

As early as before the Lucheng Rebellion, he told Gongyi Ke the principle of hemp paper and the appearance of the finished product, and asked him to go to all the craftsmen to think about how to achieve it, and build a workshop to collect materials for trial production. After more than a month of experiments and countless failures, a set of feasible processes was finally summed up.

After everyone entered the workshop, Gong Yike, who was sweating profusely, immediately ran over to greet him, and at the same time reported the specific process to Zhao Wuxian.

According to what Si Kou said, the villain soaked and smashed the scraps of the weaving workshop, such as rags, hemp rope, and old fishing nets. Add lime water and steam. After cooling, it is pounded into a sludge, and then mixed with water to form a slurry, and the pulp is scooped up with a bamboo curtain mold. This step requires skillful skills to remove the slurry film with moderate thickness and uniform distribution. It is then dried in the sun to ......"

After a month of research, from strange to familiar, Gongyi Ke can be said to be the most proficient papermaker in this era. He led Zhao Wuxian to start from the craftsman who was pounding. After passing through the steaming cauldron, I finally came to the bamboo curtain mold that occupied a large open space.

They are placed on wooden racks where grain is dried. Dried in the sun as it has not been bleached. The color is the brown yellow of hemp.

The craftsmen folded the paper film one by one, pressed it with a wooden board, and placed a heavy stone on it to press the water out. Then it is dried through the fire, and the paper pressed to semi-dry is pasted on the edge of the stove to dry, and the finished product is removed from it.

Zhao Wuxian took the paper handed over by Gong Yike with both hands, because the mold was relatively small, this paper was rectangular, one foot high and two feet long.

It is much thicker than the paper of later generations, and it does not feel like the paper of later generations, but more like cloth. There are many small bumps on the surface of the paper that make the shirtless frown, and when turned over, the long fibers such as jute, grass traces, and cloth silk that have not been pounded on the back are clearly recognizable.

"This is hemp paper?" The crowd couldn't see the good or the bad, and they were all amazed.

However, the old team of Chengxiang would have a new idea for Zhao Wuxian every once in a while, and he was used to assigning craftsmen to make something ingenious. They usually explain it with the phrase "a sage can know what ordinary people don't know, and observe what ordinary people don't see", which naturally instills Zhao Wuxian as a Shennong-like figure on the spot, and continues to indoctrinate new colleagues such as Ran Qiu, Gong Xichi, and others.

Wuxian studied it for a while before he opened his mouth: "Good, although it is not perfect, but it is extremely good to be able to do it like this in a month." ”

Gong Yike, who was originally nervous, breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

Seeing all kinds of high-quality industrial paper in later generations, Zhao Wuxian did not have much feeling for the original hemp paper, but after all, this is the world's first piece of paper, which is worthy of praise. What's more, hemp paper also has advantages, after pulling twice, the shirt found that the paper is tough, not easy to become brittle, discolored.

The progress of science and technology and civilization is inseparable from the dissemination of knowledge and the innovation of narrative tools. The Spring and Autumn Period is in the era of the big explosion of knowledge, private learning has begun to rise, and the scholar class is also rising.

The prospect made him slightly excited.

At this moment, a discordant voice sounded next to him, interrupting Zhao Wuxian's reverie.

Gongxi Chi Fang watched quietly and didn't say a few words, but at this moment he suddenly opened his mouth and said: "Congratulations to Si Kou and Gongzheng, but Chi looks at the whole production process, and feels that it is much more complicated than making bamboo slips and wooden slips, and I am afraid that it will cost more money......

Ever since Zhao Wuxian began to let Gong Yi try to make paper, the young Gong Xichi has always been opposed. At that time, Zhao Wuxian was busy leading the troops to Lucheng to get chestnuts, so he ignored him, and after he came back, Zihua admonished him several times.

This is a battle between the nascent paper and the bamboo rolls and slips that are in their heyday!

One of the original intentions of the papermaking was to create a writing material that could more easily disseminate knowledge, in preparation for the promotion of rural learning in the territory.

Confucianism started with education and was very active in popularizing education. Gong Xichi agreed with Zhao Wuxian's intention to restore the village school, but there were disagreements over the production of writing materials. The position of the three elders of the Yi in charge of him is to manage rituals, sacrifices, and education, so he has the right to speak.

Zhao Wuxian used to be in Xinjiang Public School in the Jin Kingdom. I have seen a bamboo slip workshop outside the Pan Palace. In the production process, the first step is to select the finest green bamboo, then cut into rectangular bamboo pieces, and then bake the pieces of green bamboo with fire to write and dry them to prevent insects. When baking, the fresh and moist green bamboo slices are roasted until water droplets emerge, like sweating, and this process of baking green bamboo is called "sweat green".

Then it is braided with hemp rope. It can be used to write, and this thing will not be broken for a long time. And the wooden slab is much simpler to make.

So Gong Xichi said: "Shangshu. Toast said, but Yin ancestors, there are books and classics, this thing has been handed down for a long time, and I don't feel any inconvenience when I use it, so why bother to abandon it and use this? ”

"There's nothing inconvenient about bamboo slips?" Zhao Wuxian is already powerless and unable to complain.

The second reason why he made paper was to make himself comfortable when Le Lingzi read.

Reading in this day and age is a kind of physical work. The studious taxi doctor goes out to pull the whole vehicle of the brochure, so there is a saying that he has learned five cars.

It is common for Zhao Wuxian to read one stone of official documents a day, but it is nothing compared to the hundred stones a day of Qin Shi Huang in later generations. But accustomed to the speed of reading and writing in later generations, he was very mad about the slow speed of the pen on the bamboo scroll, and he had no spare time to toss before. You can only force yourself to adapt. Now that the territory is also available, and the craftsmen are also complete, of course, they will make paper for their convenience. By the way, it is sold as a Sanyi specialty to various places to generate income.

However, Gongxi Chi did not have the writing experience of later generations, so he naturally thought that bamboo slips were the best tools. A workshop for making bamboo slips should be built in a place where there is a lot of bamboo and wood, rather than spending manpower and material resources to develop this kind of "hemp paper" that I don't know if it can be used.

After hearing this. Zhao Wuxian was not angry, but glanced at a few cronies who came together.

Ji Qiao and others are typical scholars in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is one thing to be loyal to the monarch, but they are extremely assertive in many things, and they are not only unsympathetic echo worms. Zhao Wuxian is encouraging in this regard, he is not a real "sage", and he was just an ordinary person in his previous life, how can there be no mistakes and omissions in everything? It is necessary for some subordinates with independent views to fill in the gaps.

I am afraid that there are not a few people who have the same opinion as Gong Xichi, although they can force the decision, but if they can be convinced, of course it is better.

So Zhao Wuxian simply beckoned everyone to sit down on the bamboo mat in the open space, and happened to see the little male loser not far away hiding timidly behind a wooden frame, so he asked the boy to summon him over and sit beside him.

Zhao Wuxian attaches great importance to the Xiaogong losing class, and he announced that this son can enter and watch at will in the craftsman's workshop, and if he does any utensils, he must not stop them, just pay attention to safety. Although it's relatively slim, Wuxian actually hopes that he can bring him some surprises and make some inventions, but he hasn't been there.

He also felt that he was thinking too much, seven or eight-year-old children, in addition to toy bamboo horses, what else can they do?

Since the establishment of the paper mill, Xiaogong has been running around vigorously, squatting on the ground every day, curiously watching the various processes, because of Zhao Wuxian's password, his father didn't bother to care about him, let him come.

But I heard Wuxian say: "I have heard a saying, called carved in gold and stone, carved in a plate, written in bamboo silk, passed on to future generations to know." The writing materials in the world are nothing more than oracle bones, gold and stone, silk and bamboo scrolls, etc., of course, now there is more paper. ”

During the Yin Shang period, the oracle bone inscription was at its peak, although the Zhou people revered the heavens, but the worship of ghosts and gods was somewhat restrained, and the oracle bones were gradually eliminated from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty and were only used for divination descriptions. The Zhou people prefer to directly engrave the characters on the bronze with copper cutting, so as to pass on the descendants of future generations. Wuxian also knows that the people of the Qin State who live in the west have a soft spot for stone drum literature, and many of them have been unearthed in later generations.

Due to the limitations of these materials, it was difficult for the written word to be widely disseminated, so until the Yin and Zhou dynasties, only a few hundred wizards and nobles of the upper class still mastered the written language. This greatly limited the spread of culture and ideas, which did not change until the advent of bamboo slips and wooden slabs.

He asked rhetorically: "Zihua, have you carved words on the oracle bones and tripods?" How fast is it compared to writing with a pen on a brochure? Which one do you prefer? ”

"Naturally, I like to use bamboo slips, and the gold stone and pan bowl are not as fast as the brochure."

Gongxi Chi is good at the etiquette of receiving people and things, as well as sacrifices. So this kind of thing is naturally the business.

Indeed, Gongxi Chi has great respect for bamboo slips. It's not without reason. Compared with the previous ones, its writing speed and popularity have been greatly improved. It is also the appearance of bamboo slips. It accelerated the diffusion of ideology and culture, which formed the later contention of a hundred schools, and at the same time enabled the ideas of Confucius and Laozi to be passed on to future generations.

"That's right, inscription is naturally not as simple as writing, but there is a thing that is faster and more convenient to write than bamboo slips, class, do you know what it is?"

Zhao Wuxian felt that although Xiao Gong was only seven or eight years old, he was the kind of person who was wise and foolish. He scratched his head and thought for a while, pointed to Zhao Wuxian's deep clothes, and replied sneeringly, "It's silk." ”

Wuxian patted his head and said, "However, although the bamboo slips have improved, they are still bulky and difficult to carry, and they can't be rolled up, and they occupy a large volume." Silk silk is an ideal writing material, which can be carried in a comfortable roll and has a long life. ”

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the most common writing material used by the upper-class aristocracy was indeed silk. Gong Xichi also had to admit this, but he also had his own reasons: "History says that poverty is not as good as vegetarian, silk is too expensive, and only Dr. Qing can afford it!" ”

Zhao Wuxian smiled: "If there is a thing." The price and materials of the production are not as expensive as bamboo slips, but the effect of writing is the same as that of silk silk, or even better than it. Will you use it! ”

Gongxi was dumbfounded: "How can there be such a thing in this world?" If so, use it. ”

Shirtless picked up a piece of yellow linen paper. shook in front of Gong Xichi: "Far away in the sky, close in front of you!" Just like after using bamboo slips. You don't want to use rope to tie the knot again, and the same is written on the oracle bone and stone wall, and after using this thing, the bamboo slips can also be discarded! ”

In the original history, the use of bamboo slips continued until the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when it was completely eliminated by the improved paper. But after the invention of paper four hundred years in advance, in Zhao Wuxian's mind, just like lacquerware encountering porcelain, the historical mission of bamboo slips probably ended a long time in advance......

As a student of Confucius, Gongxi Chi inherited his petty stubbornness and pedantic temperament, and without Ran Qiu's flexibility, he still had some disbelief.

"If you don't believe it, you'll find out if you try!"

Gong Yike's face changed suddenly after hearing this, but he didn't have time to stop it, Zhao Wuxian had already asked people to spread out a piece of hemp paper on the desk, a good bamboo slip, and let Gong Xihua write on it.

Everyone gathered around, especially Gong Yike's eyes widened, but he saw Gong Xichi holding a rabbit pen, and after it was dipped in ink, he didn't pay attention to the bamboo slips, and as soon as he came, he put pen on hemp paper with wide sleeves.

Zhao Wuxian was too confident in the paper, but after Gong Xihua's pen fell, an accident appeared!

This batch of hemp paper looks good, but perhaps because of the ratio, the solubility is higher, and the ink dipped in Gongxi is a little too much, and the pen and ink dots will melt away, and the yellow hemp paper will instantly have a puddle of black ink!

Including Gong Xichi, everyone was embarrassed, Zhao Wuxian's smile was even more frozen on his face, and Gong Yike, who was already worried, was even weaker and fell to his knees on the ground!

A cold sweat broke out on Gongxi's red forehead, and he resisted the urge to throw a pen, and tried to write a few strokes on several other pieces of hemp paper, but there was still this kind of ink dot that melted and could not be written.

"This sucks!" He secretly thought, in this way, what Si Kou said just now was immediately slapped in the face by the facts, this hemp paper is really not good for writing...... But he couldn't say anything, so he could only cough dryly, and watched in embarrassment as Gong Yi Ke confessed his guilt, if Si Kou was angry, he would inevitably be implicated as the culprit.

"The villain is a capital crime, a capital crime, in order to rush to complete what the priest handed over, he made such a defective product!" The public loses the gram like pounding garlic.

He also couldn't say it, this was originally the first finished product, and the Si Kou didn't just ask, so he directly asked people to write, which was naturally difficult to get it in place at one time.

Zhao Wuxian was indeed a little embarrassed, probably because he was too excited to make the paper today, and he was so careless, he should ask in detail first.

If this matter is not resolved immediately, there will be cracks in the image of a "sage" who "knows without learning" that he has established in the hearts of his old team, which is not conducive to establishing absolute authority in the territory...... (To be continued......)

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