In the autumn of the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Ying defeated the princes of Guanzhong, and the ten princes were scattered, Ma Chao, Han Sui and others all fled back to Xiliang, and Cao Ying pacified Guanzhong.

And just as Cao Ying was preparing to move westward, sweep away the remnants of the enemy in one go, and incorporate Xiliang into the territory, a large-scale peasant uprising suddenly broke out in Hebei, and Cao Ying had to return to Hebei, leaving only Xiahou Yuan to guard Guanzhong.

Ma Chao, who fled to Xiliang, was thus given a god-given respite.

And the peasant uprising in Hebei also helped Liu Bei, if it weren't for this, Cao Ying's would definitely sweep away Xiliang in one fell swoop, and when Long's right was flat, the flank threat to Hanzhong would be eliminated.

At this time, Liu Bei Xinde Yizhou, it was difficult to appease the hearts of the people without spending a year and a half, and Brazil and other counties had not yet been pacified, so he naturally did not dare to make up his mind about Hanzhong. In this way, if Cao Ying won Hanzhong first, and when Liu Bei raised troops to fight again, the difficulty would naturally be much higher than that of fighting for Hanzhong with Zhang Lu.

Fortunately, God favored Liu Bei again. And it seems that since the Battle of Chibi, God has been constantly helping Liu Bei, not so much God, but Cao Ying.

It was Cao Ying's southern attack on Jingzhou that led to the formation of the Sun-Liu Alliance. And because of Cao Ying's several attacks on Eastern Wu on the Eastern Front, Sun Quan had to maintain the two alliances, and then let Liu Bei use his means to get half of Jingzhou.

Then because of Cao Ying's cold reception of Zhang Song, Fa Zheng miraculously came to Jingzhou, and because of his attack on the princes of Guanzhong, Liu Bei could take a break to enter Sichuan, and calmly picked up such a big bargain in Yizhou.

And now that Guanzhong has been broken, Cao Ying went to Hebei to quell the peasant uprising, so he generously gave Liu Bei precious time to appease Yizhou.

If you go further, when Liu Bei returned from Xuzhou, Cao Ying said "The heroes of the world, only the king and the ears", and unceremoniously praised the down-and-out Liu Bei as a hero known to the world.

So, in this way, Cao Ying, Liu Bei's biggest enemy in this life, has actually been secretly helping Liu Bei for so many years.

When he met such a loving enemy, Liu Bei was really lucky.

The smoke of gunfire in Hebei did not stop, but the country of abundance temporarily gained peace.

However, Fang Shao has not been idle, since he was promoted, he has been busy. Of course, coordinating the relationship and dealing with such a matter as the prison will not be tiring to work, Liu Bei has so many capable people under him, why should he use his own shortcomings to fight for his strengths.

"Obviously, the furnace mouth is too small, how did you build it, didn't you tell you to build it according to the pattern, hurry up and rework and redo it."

Fang Shao held the drawings in his hand, and commanded the craftsmen in the garden to be busy around a large furnace like a contractor.

This mansion given by Liu Bei is many times larger than when he was in Jiangling, and there are five or six basketball courts in the back garden alone, which is enough for Fang Shao to toss.

"Husband, what are you doing when you don't bake the fire in the house on a cold day?"

I don't know when Zhuge Rong also came to the courtyard, she was a more than a month ago with a large number of family members brought by Zhuge Liang into Shu together, the two of them have been separated for a few months, and they are naturally very happy to see each other.

Zhuge Rong found that her husband's humor and mood have not changed at all, and what has changed is that in the past ten days, when she has free time, she is either drawing some strange patterns, or directing a group of craftsmen in this courtyard to "build a large number of buildings".

"Madam, it's cold outside, you just arrived in Shudi, be careful that your body is not comfortable, hurry back to the house."

Fang Shao took great care of his wife, instructed the craftsmen to continue to work, and then took Zhuge Rong's hand back to the house together.

As soon as he returned to the house, Fang Shao picked up the patterns piled up on the case again and compared them around the stove.

Zhuge Rong poured him a cup of hot tea, and then knelt down beside her husband, looking at the strange pattern, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked, "Husband, do you want to make paper?" ”

Fang Shao was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "Why did Madam say this?" ”

Zhuge Rong said with a smile: "Sister-in-law A-Ying has a lot of miscellaneous and clever books hidden there, I flipped through them casually many years ago, and I saw the method of making Cai Lun's paper, and some of the patterns are somewhat consistent with what you drew husband, so just guess randomly, husband, you don't really plan to make paper, right?" ”

Fang Shao was really amazed by his wife's erudition, yes, he was planning to make paper.

However, his purpose of making paper is not so simple.

From Jingzhou to Yizhou, Fang Shao had a deeper understanding of the scholar class in the late Han Dynasty, and the energy of this class was so amazing that whether it was Cao Ying, Sun Quan, or Liu Bei, whether it was sitting in the world or fighting the world, they had to rely on these scholars, and even be subject to them.

However, a society dominated by scholars, a society lacking upper and lower mobility, not only is the ruling class prone to decay, but the lower class has no chance to change their fate, and it will also become a hidden danger of unrest.

And there are no more than two opportunities for lower-class people to change their fate, one is to join the army and fight for a path of hope with their lives. The other is nothing more than the text, the so-called knowledge changes fate, this sentence is as common in this era.

However, knowledge comes from the stacks of expensive bamboo slips, and the scholars have huge wealth, so it is easier for them to obtain knowledge, while it is not easy for the lower class to eat three meals, so how can they have spare money to buy the expensive bamboo slips.

As a carrier of knowledge, bamboo slips are obviously unable to shoulder this important mission.

And if the words of the master written in a cart of bamboo are replaced by a small paper book in his sleeve, how will the changes be?

There is no doubt that the changes will be earth-shaking, and cheap and lightweight paper books can make knowledge equally accessible to both farmers in the fields and scholars in high halls.

A small piece of tissue paper is the key to injecting fresh vitality into this society.

Of course, Fang Shao naturally couldn't say these words to Zhuge Rong, otherwise she would think that her husband was crazy, even if she was as smart as Zhuge Rong, she would not understand the great significance of Fang Shao's doing, because she didn't have Fang Shao's vision that transcended the times.

"My husband does plan to make paper, but don't get me wrong, madam, I don't want to rise together. I think this bamboo slip is expensive and inconvenient to use, and it would be much more convenient if you switch to paper to make books. Therefore, I would like to study how to make paper, and in the future, I would suggest that the lord should propose to build more paper-making workshops in the name of the official family, produce a large amount of paper, and sell it to those scholars, so that it can also provide the government with an additional source of income. ”

Fang Shao used "benefit" to explain his behavior, so it made sense, Zhuge Rong smiled and said: "It turns out that the husband is thinking for the lord. It's a shame that you're so smart, how can you come up with such a funny way? ”

Fang Shao knew what she meant, but he deliberately pretended not to know, and said in a daze: "Is there anything wrong with my method, I think it's very good." Salt can be official, iron can be official, so why can't paper be official? ”

Zhuge Rong said: "The official paper is no problem, and I know that the paper is light." But husband, don't forget, Cai Lun's paper is extremely rough, which is not conducive to writing books on it at all, and everyone usually uses paper to wrap things. If it were as simple as you said, wouldn't everyone use paper to make books, and who would be stupid enough to use something as bulky and expensive as bamboo slips. ”

Zhuge Rong is right, in fact, as early as before the Qin Dynasty, the original paper has been invented, to the Han Dynasty, Cai Lun will be the original paper silk wool with cheap bark, rags, etc. instead, so that the output of paper can be greatly increased, but after Cai Lun's improvement of the paper is still very rough compared with the paper of later generations, so when people write, they are still willing to use silk and bamboo slips.

According to the process of the original history, papermaking technology can not produce high-quality paper until the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Fang Shao, as a person from later generations, although he does not know much about papermaking, but when he read history books before, he has seen a papermaking method recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu", of course he knows that this book was made by Song Yingxing in the Ming Dynasty, and the papermaking technology recorded here should be much more advanced.

Therefore, according to the records in the book, Fang Shaocai recruited these craftsmen who knew how to make paper, and prepared to set up a stage in his backyard to sing and study and experiment with new papermaking techniques.

Of course, Fang Shao couldn't tell his wife these words, so he had to make up another reason, and said: "Of course I know this husband, so I have to study it carefully, hoping to make a cheap and high-quality paper, and then the entire Han people will have to thank your husband and me." ”

Zhuge Rong knew that his smart husband usually liked to make some strange things, and when he said this, he thought that he was just idle and bored, and he was just doing this to pass the time, so he said: "Husband is right, so let's go to Aying's sister-in-law to borrow some relevant books when I have time, maybe I can help my husband." ”

"Then it's hard madam." Fang Shao smiled and kissed her on the face.

Zhuge Rong's face turned red, and she laughed in a low voice: "Husband, you are messing around again, there are subordinates here." ”

Fang Shao waved his hand and said to the servant who was serving beside him: "There's nothing to do with you here, let's all go down." ”

The servants retreated in amusement, and the door was closed, and only the two of them were left in the warm room.

Fang Shao picked up Zhuge Rong and couldn't wait to carry her to the bed.

Zhuge Rong's eyebrows were shy, pretending to be frightened, and she said timidly: "Husband, what are you going to do?" ”

Fang Shao smiled evilly and said, "It's cold, of course it's to move your muscles and bones and sweat to warm your body, hehe-"

Fang Shao had just put Zhuge Rong on the couch here, when the servant outside suddenly knocked on the door and said, "Sir, the lord just sent someone to summon Mr. to the state mansion for discussion?" ”

"What are you talking about on such a cold day?" Fang Shao was a little disappointed, he thought that if it wasn't an important matter, he could say that he was sick and didn't go.

"I heard that Zhuge Jin from Dongwu is here, and the lord said that Mr. must go."

(To be continued)