In fact, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, hemp fiber paper appeared on the land of China, but it has not been widely popularized because of its rough texture and extremely high cost. It was not until the first year of Yuanxing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), after the eunuch Cai Lun improved papermaking, that paper became high-quality and inexpensive, and it was widely popularized.

Prince Ran felt the inconvenience of using bamboo slips now, and decided to sacrifice the "soft killer" of paper. If cement is South Korea's most important military material right now, paper will be another important source of tax revenue.

With cement, South Korea could build roads all over the country, and in the event of any fighting, troops from elsewhere could quickly come to their aid. I believe that other countries will definitely buy it after seeing such great benefits. At this time, South Korea, which occupies the initiative, can exchange cement with other countries for important materials such as war horses and grain according to its own wishes.

With paper, heavy bamboo slips will be completely discarded. Speeding up work efficiency is secondary, earning a lot of money is also secondary, and the most important thing is to attract a large number of talents to Korea. The prince has already thought about building a academy to cultivate a large number of talents, and paper is a weapon to attract talents.

The ancients said that death is immortal. How can we become spiritually immortal after death? One is morality, the second is meritorious service, and the third is speech. For the majority of talented people, meritorious service is something that can be met but not sought, and only writing books and words is the most feasible. However, the bamboo slips used to record the text were too heavy to be popularized on a large scale, which led to the idea of a talented person not being known to most people. Paper is the perfect solution to this problem.

In Wang Ziran's vision, paper must be expensive. Not expensive is not enough to show its preciousness, and not expensive is not enough to accumulate a lot of financial resources for the development of South Korea. Wang Ziran intends to provide a sufficient amount of paper for each scholar who comes to write down his thoughts and ideas. Such a "generous" treatment must not be something that many people can refuse.

The idea is beautiful, but it has to be taken step by step. After the construction of Hanyi, the prince began to direct the craftsmen to start preparing for papermaking. According to the record of "Tiangong Kaiwu", a piece of paper has to go through 72 processes such as water immersion, lime staining, stacking fermentation, cooking, spreading, sun bleaching, pulping, and papermaking. The paper produced by this process can be preserved for 200 years without deterioration as long as it is properly preserved, and it is the most commonly used paper for ancient books.

Next up is papermaking. First of all, the preparation of raw materials, Prince Ran asked people to prepare a large number of mulberry sandalwood bark, waste hemp, rags, and old fishing nets. Originally, bamboo was also a good raw material, but with current technology, it is difficult to succeed. So the prince copied Cai Lun's papermaking process.

These raw materials are steamed for eight days and nights in a barrel filled with lime water, which is a lye, and after such a long time of cooking, impurities such as lignin, gum, and resin in the raw materials are removed. Then the raw materials are rinsed in the clear water pond, and then put into the pot to soak in lime water and steam, and so on for more than ten days.

This is followed by the most critical step, which is to take out the boiled raw materials, put them in a stone mortar and lick them into a muddy shape, and mix the mashed raw materials with an appropriate amount of water, and the fibers will be completely separated and soaked in water. Then pour these paper fiber suspensions into the paper trough and filter them in the pulp with a fine bamboo curtain, and the paper fibers are left on the bamboo curtain to form a paper film.

The craftsman who makes paper has to stand next to the paper trough and repeat the actions of scooping water and lifting the bamboo curtain, and the weight each time weighs 30 or 40 catties. In addition, you have to rely on experience when fishing paper, and the light paper will be too thin, and the paper will be too thick if you copy too heavy, completely depending on the craftsman's technique.

Lay the pulp upside down on the press board, and then carefully remove the bamboo curtain, and the paper film will fall on the board. Layers of paper are slowly stacked and squeezed with a weight to expel the moisture from the sheets. Under the squeeze of heavy objects, the paper film also slowly takes shape, becoming a boxy piece of paper.

The next step is to build a brick wall with two layers of adobe bricks, with gaps between the bricks to allow heat to escape. Live between two brick walls, with wet paper taped behind the brick walls to dry out with the help of the heat emitted from the gaps.

The general steps are like this, and it is impossible for the prince to remember them in great detail, so he can only describe these steps and the main points in them to the craftsmen, and let them explore the truth on their own.

After all, as the crown prince of South Korea, he still has many important things to deal with. And even if it is a qiēshun lì, if you want to succeed in papermaking, it will take more than 20 days, if you don't master the skills well, it is very possible to spend one or two months, three or five months, and it is impossible for the prince to spend here all the time.

April passed uneventfully, and there was no other major event in the world except for the fall of Wei Guo and the fall of Tao County.

As the main party to the state, the state of Qin was very abnormal this time, and did not express any opinion on the war in Tao County. There is no criticism, no denunciation, no threat, no regret, as if the fallen Tao County has nothing to do with him.

The three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Qi were very happy, thinking that the Qin State was completely afraid of them, especially the Qi State. Although it is true that the state of Qi is in decline, the king of Qi always feels unconvinced. If it weren't for the five countries to attack Qi and single out any country, where would Qi be afraid of anyone! However, Tao Jun won so smoothly that King Qi regretted it a little, he knew that Qin was so wretched, he should have taken Tao County as soon as possible.

The prince smelled a dangerous breath, as the saying goes, a dog that calls people does not bite, and a dog that bites does not bark. Now the more calm the Qin State is on the surface, the more violent it will be when he breaks out. The prince is convinced of this truth.

Jicheng of Yan State, Prime Minister's Mansion, Gongsun Cao sent away the envoy of Qin State with joy.

Today's King Yan is the son of King Yan Zhao, although it is said that the tiger father has no dog son, but the King of Yan is more than ten levels worse than his father King Yan Zhao. King Yan Zhao led Su Qin and Le Yi to work hard for decades, and they were about to destroy the Qi State in one fell swoop, but they were ruined by their own son. Tiandan was restored, the Yan army was defeated, and there was no hope for the Yan Kingdom to rise from then on.

Taking advantage of King Yan's great achievements and short-sightedness, Gongsun Cao, who was good at calculating people's hearts, soon became an important position as prime minister. Although the prime minister is above 10,000 people under one person, Gongsun Cao is not satisfied, what he longs for is the throne, which is the supreme position.

It's just that Gongsun Cao also knows that the hearts of the Yan royal family have not been lost, and now is not the time. Although King Yan is mediocre, he will not be so naïve as to be fooled into the Zen position for himself like King Yan. Therefore, if Gongsun Cao wants to take the throne as much as possible, he must kill the king of Yan in the prime of life, and then set up the young prince as the king after killing the king. In this way, Gongsun Cao can control the puppet Yan King and take the opportunity to grasp all the power of the Yan Kingdom. Then it is to learn from his predecessor, the "idol" in his mind, the prime minister of the ---- son, and stage a good show of Zen.

Originally, Gongsun Cao was also worried, after all, Zizhi failed after all, and his own adventure might be repeated. But the successful experience of Qi State inspired him, as long as he was willing to work hard, his courtiers could also be kings.

After Tian Chengzi, the doctor of Qi, killed Jiang Ren, the Duke of Qi Jian, he made his younger brother the monarch of the country, established himself as the prime minister, and then killed all the magnates of the Qi State. Since then, each generation of Qi monarchs have been established by the Tian family, and the prime minister has also been established by the Tian family, after playing this game for nearly a hundred years, the Tian family killed Qi Kanggong, the last monarch of the Jiang family, and established himself as the king. Now it's the Tian family, and the Qi Kingdom is like this.

Whenever I think of the scenery of Tian's Qi country, Gongsun Cao's originally sunken heart floats again.

This time, Qin sent an envoy asking for an alliance with Yan against Han, Zhao, and Wei. Gongsun Cao, as a powerful minister and prime minister of the Yan State, was an important mediation target of the Qin envoys. The Qin envoy said that as long as Gongsun Cao could persuade King Yan to form an alliance with Qin against the Three Jins, then the Qin State would always be grateful and supportive of Gongsun Cao's work.

This gave Gongsun Cao hope. All Qin needed was a Yan State against Zhao, and he didn't care who was the King of Yan. This is where Gongsun Cao can take advantage of it.

As long as the alliance between Qin and Yan is promoted, the Qin State will taste the benefits. He killed the king again and ascended the throne, expressing his followers to the Qin State, thinking that the Qin State would accept himself as the King of Yan. As long as the Qin State admits itself, why worry about the world not admitting it! After spreading the news that he had agreed to the alliance between Yan and Qin, Gongsun Cao began to look forward to a better tomorrow.