"Miss Xue Xue, what methods are used to make paper now, and why is it so expensive?" Jingwen asked.

Jingwen wanted to find out what was the difference between Zeng's paper-making method and the paper-making method he learned when he was reading books in later generations. Jingwen just felt a little surprised, why the price of books was so high. Even if the price of the engraving is higher, it will not make the whole book as expensive! Therefore, Jingwen estimated that the cost of paper making was too high, so the price of books was raised.

Xue Xue replied: "My father was very fond of collecting books back then, and a lot of profits were used to buy books. The rice paper used to print books has to go through 18 processes such as soaking, ash masking, steaming, bleaching, pulping, scooping, gluing, and pasting, and it can be made after a year, so the price is very expensive. If, as you said, we get a version every day, then we will have to close our doors for the whole day. ”

When Jingwen heard this, he almost vomited blood. A piece of paper does not talk about the price of raw materials for making zuò, but also the cost of his time. The raw material is also the bark and the like, which was not worth much in ancient times, a place where the resources were well protected. But the cost of time is very tricky, and it takes a year to produce, which is definitely a cheat. In this era, there has not been any assembly line production developed, so it is all produced by one person from beginning to end. It took a year to get that little bit of rice paper. But everyone has to live, so naturally they can only sell it expensively, and only high-ranking officials and nobles can afford it.

"It's really a fool, this paper is so expensive, I can't make some newspapers and magazines. Fortunately, I read a lot of books in later generations, and I also knew the traditional Chinese characters. However, until now, my writing has been called a rotten. Jingwen thought secretly.

"Miss Xue Xue, you said that if I can invent a cheap paper and make the price of printing greatly reduced, how about using it to print our newspaper?" Jingwen asked.

"What? Can you make cheap paper? Can it also reduce printing costs and increase printing speed? If that's the case, we can just open another paper workshop, as well as a book printing workshop. Moreover, paper printing is a good business to gain fame, not only will it not be said that it smells of copper, but it is an elegant character! Xue Xue said.

Jing Wenxian didn't care what an elegant person was, he first found a papermaking workshop near Chang'an and wanted to test his papermaking skills. And Chang'an was a big city in the Sui Dynasty even before the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and all kinds of facilities were very sufficient, so Jingwen easily found a papermaking workshop. However, this workshop does not produce rice paper, but hard yellow paper. Jingwen contracted this papermaking workshop for a day, gave the boss enough "contract fee", and then the boss left happily. And Jingwen and those in the papermaking workshop are working on new papermaking technologies.

"How long does your typical papermaking cycle take?" Jingwen asked.

The paper foreman asked, "What is a cycle?" ”

"The cycle is how long does it take for you to make a batch of paper? It's hard to talk to the ancients! Jingwen complained.

The foreman replied, "Every time we produce a batch of paper, it takes months. In particular, it takes more than 100 days to soak the material. ”

"And what do you do when you soak the bamboo?" Jingwen asked.

"We're doing some other part-time job!" The foreman replied.

Jingwen almost fainted, but the foreman's answer was very good and powerful. Jingwen finally knew why the paper of this era was so expensive, I am afraid that there was something wrong with the thinking of the ancients.

In ancient times, as a production work, people did not form the idea of any process at all. They are all one person who is responsible from beginning to end, from soaking the bamboo to the final production. The most time-consuming process required for papermaking is to soak the raw materials and allow them to ferment fully. This process takes at least 100 days, so it takes a long time. And when you really start making paper, it doesn't take much time at all, at least a few days.

In this way, the reason why paper is really expensive is actually because it takes too much time to soak, not that the so-called papermaking is too complicated. This is entirely due to the fact that there was a problem with the ancient management method, so it was caused by this. If there could have been a so-called production plan in ancient times, there would have been no problem at all. As long as the production plan is in place, it is possible to start work every day, and then throw the raw materials into the water every day to ferment, so that the operation can be maintained.

But the thinking of the ancients made Jingwen incomprehensible, and they simply ignored it when they were soaking and let those employees do something else. And let those bamboos soak, consuming time for no reason. Only when the bamboo has been soaked enough, then the employees will be called to come and produce together, which was the ancient production process.

"Pit! Sure enough, it's a huge pit! Even the production process was not arranged, so the production started? This is the so-called workshop in ancient times? Isn't that increasing costs? If it were me, I could have designed an assembly line, so that the speed of paper making would be greatly increased. Jingwen looked at the lazy workers and said.

Jingwen understood that the so-called high cost of papermaking in ancient times was completely self-inflicted. If the papermaking process could be properly arranged, there would be no such thing. As long as the process of soaking the raw materials is used to produce things, and the production plan is properly planned, there will be no problem at all.

In fact, Jingwen asked the ancients to properly arrange the production process, which is a bit difficult for the ancients. The so-called production process is only studied when the industry reaches a certain level. In this era, industry has not developed at all, and more than ninety percent of the country's population is agricultural, and they will not think about industry at all. Only a small number of businessmen invest, but very few invest in industry. This kind of paper is a luxury product, because it is expensive, so there is little market demand. The market demand is not large, so the production scale is small, which is a vicious circle. Everyone doesn't think about how to improve efficiency, which creates a misunderstanding.

And there is another problem with the quality of the paper, and that is because of the material. The effect of paper made of different materials is not the same, and the quality is not the same. The best rice paper is made from the bark of the sandalwood tree, which is expensive. In order to make good quality and inexpensive paper, special materials are required.

However, Jingwen happened to be a southerner in later generations, and he knew that a thing was of good quality and quantity, and could be used to make paper.