Paper.

In the history of Chinese feudal civilization, there is no one of the most epoch-making inventions.

Some people may say that the four great inventions of ancient China are gunpowder, compass, papermaking, and printing;

The status of papermaking should be on the same level as that of gunpowder, compass, and printing, which are also one of the four great inventions.

But at least for today's Han family, paper is far more important than the other three.

- Even if there is no compass, when it is necessary to identify the direction, the wise ancient Chinese people have many other ways that can have a similar effect.

For example, the square of the stars, the rise and fall of the sun, etc.;

As for gunpowder, not to mention that it was used in wars as a military strategic material - you must know that the 'firecrackers' of the Han dynasty today are still 'bursting bamboo' in the literal sense.

Even the gunpowder used for entertainment is missing, making the gunpowder more practical, and naturally it is far away.

As for printing, it is not that it is not as important as papermaking, but that there is a dependence between the two.

With paper, printing technology, which can print handwriting on paper, will have the meaning of existence.

If you don't have paper?

Hey!

How difficult it is to print on bamboo slips, Gongzi Sheng more than ten years ago knows best;

And how expensive it is to use cloth as a writing carrier, every Han Shaofu in the past few decades also knows it.

——In the past few decades, there have been no less than tens of thousands of cloths used for edicts, official documents, military newspapers, letters, etc., which can be counted in the records of the Shaofu alone!

Convert its value into money, at least tens of millions, or even tens of thousands!

In the past few decades, both official and non-governmental, the Han dynasty strictly adhered to the principle of 'unless absolutely necessary, there is absolutely no need to write on cloth'.

If it is used openly, even if all the cloth in the world is used for writing, I am afraid that it will not be enough at all.

And the emergence of paper, or the emergence of such high-quality paper, is almost no less significant to today's Han dynasty than any epoch-making invention in the new era of later generations.

"Cicada Wing Paper ······"

"Well, that's good."

"Although it is exaggerated, compared to the paper of the past, it can indeed be called 'thin as cicada wings'."

Fingers gently stroked the white paper in front of him, Uncle Tian couldn't help nodding secretly, and looked at it more carefully, or more rarely.

In the stereotypical impression of the vast majority of later generations, Cai Lun's "invention of papermaking" in the Eastern Han Dynasty is slightly different from the fact that in today's Han Dynasty, even earlier Yingqin and even the Warring States Period, the thing of paper has actually appeared.

As for Cai Lun, who 'invented paper' in the mouth of later generations, he actually improved the process on the original basis.

However, at the end of the Warring States period, people did not regard the early 'paper' as paper, but understood it as an inferior cloth made from rags.

How inferior is it?

I would rather use coarse linen to make clothes than use inferior fabrics such as 'paper' as raw materials for making clothes!

From this, it is not difficult to see that the roughness of the 'paper' that existed from the end of the Warring States period to the reign of the Qin Dynasty should be comparable to that of the crumpled paper shell of later generations.

By the time of the Qin Dynasty, people began to gradually discover the use of this inferior fabric, which can also be said to be waste utilization.

- If it is used as a 'cloth', this inferior fabric is too coarse, and it is difficult for people to tolerate such a rough garment rubbing against the surface of the body;

But just because living creatures can't stand rough surfaces doesn't mean dead creatures can't accept them?

As a result, since the end of the reign of Qin Shi Huang, paper, which is made from pieces of rag and exists because of the meaning of 'waste utilization', began to be used for packaging.

The larger ones can be used to load goods;

The smaller ones can also be used to hold some hard objects that are not afraid of wear and tear, or objects that have been 'worn' to the extreme.

- Coins, and fragmented medicines.

Anyway, these 'papers' are just made of broken steps that were originally to be thrown away, regardless of whether they are used or not, as long as they are used, they can be regarded as having their value.

Later, the people in the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty became more and more unable to ensure food and clothing, and some people once wore this kind of 'paper' on their bodies to keep out the cold;

Then to Hanzuo Dingli, paper, which can be used as cargo bags, money bags, and medicine bags, is only the last use.

- The rags needed for the cargo bag, I don't know how many people's waste cloths can be made, and it is better to make a burlap bag directly than to make so many rags;

As for the money bag, the rich don't look down on this kind of 'paper' made of rags at all - anyway, the money bag is so big, even if some expensive fabrics are used, it doesn't cost much at all, and it is beautiful and decent.

And the poor who can see the 'paper' don't have much money in their hands at all, and if they have money, they hide it secretly at home, and they don't dare to carry it with them at all, and they don't have the need for 'money bags' at all.

As a result, paper has become a gift from doctors to customers: you come to see a doctor, I will prescribe medicine for you; You spend money on medicine, and I'll give you a bag of medicine; You're convenient, and I didn't spend any money.

Therefore, in the past, or in the Han Dynasty today, people's concept of 'paper' basically stayed at 'medicine bags dissolved in broken steps'.

In Uncle Tian's opinion, the difference between the medicine bag in his impression and the 'paper' in front of him is even bigger than the gap between Shu brocade and coarse hemp!

After all, Shu brocade and coarse linen still belong to the category of 'cloth' in the strict sense;

But at this moment, in front of the piece of paper that Uncle Tian carefully held in his hand, the 'paper' made from rags in the past was definitely not in the category of 'paper'······

"What is this cicada wing paper made of?"

"How much labor and time-consuming?"

After looking at it for a long time, he felt more and more that the lightness of this cicada wing paper was the most core and critical question that Uncle Tian asked first.

- Cost.

This paper is easy to use, it is really not said, but anyone who is clear-eyed can see it at a glance.

Almost the moment he got his hands on this piece of paper, Uncle Tian had already secretly made up his mind: as long as he didn't commit a taboo, he must get some of this kind of 'cicada wing paper' from Shaofu.

Even if you spend a little money, you can even give some gifts and take some favors!

But Uncle Tian has such an ability because he is in Jiuqing, is the internal history of the dynasty, and leads the middle 2,000 stones, that is, 2,160 stones per year.

No matter how ugly the words are: even if you use cloth as paper directly, Uncle Tian can afford to use it completely.

But Uncle Tian can afford it, it doesn't mean that others can afford it.

Looking at the world of the Han family, how many people can have an annual income of more than 2,000 stone corn, and the discount is at least 100,000 yuan?

Not to mention 'annual income of 100,000 yuan', if you don't count the fields and houses, even the families with a total property of 100,000 yuan are afraid that there is no one in a hundred.

The people can afford it, and they are even secondary

The more critical point is: whether the government can afford it, and the court can afford it.

If you can't afford it, it means that this cicada wing paper is actually a new kind of cloth.

- Like cloth, it is too expensive to write.

It's not even as good as cloth - at least cloth can be used to make clothes to wear!

Thinking of this, Uncle Tian looked at the eagerness of the white paper in his hand, and most of it faded visibly with the naked eye.

In Uncle Tian's opinion, the production cost of such a white and flawless paper is not inferior to that of cloth of the same color.

And this kind of white cloth is mostly called by people in this era: Qi Xuan.

That is, the white fine silk produced in Qidi, the reputation is slightly inferior to the Shu brocade, but the price and luxury are very different from the precious silk fabrics.

"Alas······"

"It seems that His Majesty just thought of a way to build momentum for his maternal uncle······"

Without waiting for Jia Gui to respond, Uncle Tian shook his head with some regret, and with the help of sighing and sighing, he naturally stuffed the white paper in his hand into his arms.

- Jiuqing's family is also short of money!

This blank paper is worth a lot of money at a glance, and it has already been handed over in my hand, so there is no reason to hand it over again.

For Uncle Tian's blatant banditry behavior, Jia Gui didn't show anything unusual;

Seeing that Uncle Tian had come to a 'conclusion', Jia Gui smiled and groaned, and then said softly: "I'm afraid it's not convenient to tell the princes what it's made of. ”

With just one sentence, Liu She and Wei Juan shook their heads and sighed regretfully, just like Uncle Tian;

But he turned his head coldly: "It's manual and time-······."

"Hmmm······"

"This cicada wing paper was made by the contemptible people in the Shaofu under the order of His Majesty in April this year."

"It took three months, nearly 50 of them, and it was all about testing the manufacturing method."

"In the next forty days, there were a hundred and ten craftsmen, and they had to be tens of thousands of feet of cicada wing paper······"

First pretended to hesitate to buy a pass, and then made a 'Alas, that's it, tell you, but don't say it outside', Jia Gui said the general origin of this blank paper with a shallow taste.

After a while, seeing that the three of them did not react, they did not forget to add a sentence without a trace: "And this cicada wing paper is tens of thousands of feet, and the things used in it are all purchased by the contemptible people from their homes, and they have not touched a cent or a ······ of the Shaofu."

···

···

······

After Jia Gui's seemingly casual description, there was only a long silence on the high platform.

Liu She, Wei Xuan, and Uncle Tian each had their own thoughts, but their faces were all suspicious.

——Jia Gui's short sentences cover a huge amount of information!

said that before, after asking the question 'Is the cost of this thing high', Uncle Tian didn't wait for Jia Gui to answer, and he had already put on a look of 'it's not cheap at first glance'.

This is because in the eyes of these three people, and even the people of this era: paper is nothing more than a kind of 'cloth'.

Just like coarse linen, fine silk, Shu brocade, and Qi silk, they are all textiles.

Since it is a textile, the relationship between cost and appearance must be highly positively correlated, that is: the better it looks, the more difficult it is to make, the higher the cost, and the more expensive it is.

But from Jia Guifang's few words, these three most powerful ministers in the Han family have keenly discovered the key.

- a hundred or so craftsmen, according to the highest, there are only a hundred;

In this way, a hundred people, even the most skilled clothiers, to weave slightly finer cloth, are basically one horse per person every half a month.

A horse, that is, a rectangular cloth four feet long and two feet two inches wide, is rolled into a column, and is called a 'horse', that is, forty feet.

In other words, in three months, each skilled craftsman could spin up to six horses, or 240 feet of cloth for sewing clothes.

Two hundred and forty feet for one man, and twenty-four thousand feet for one hundred.

Looking at it this way, Jia Gui took 'one hundred and ten craftsmen' and spent three months to get 'tens of thousands of feet' of cicada wing white paper, which seems to be no big deal, and the production efficiency seems to be almost the same as that of cloth.

But don't forget the sentence that Jia Gui specifically mentioned: In the past three months, the first fifty days, that is, nearly two months, these hundred or so people are not producing, but exploring!

Counting only the forty days of production, compared to the cloth, I am afraid that even 10,000 feet cannot be guaranteed!

And since Jia Gui dared to say 'tens of thousands of feet', it is enough to show that the 'tens of thousands' here are unlikely to be 10,000 or 20,000 - at least no less than 50,000, so Jia Gui dared to say the number 'tens of thousands' in front of these three people, without blushing and without a heartbeat.

In other words: the production efficiency of this cicada-wing white paper is at least five times that of cloth!

This means that under the premise that the scarcity of raw materials is similar, the time and labor cost of white paper will be one-fifth of that of cloth.

What is the price of cloth today?

——Since the beginning of Zong Zhou, the thunder has not been able to strike: eleven dollars and one foot!

Moreover, it was the last sentence mentioned by Jia Gui that made the three of them realize in hindsight: This cicada wing white paper probably does not belong to 'cloth'.

At least the raw materials for its production are unlikely to be the direction of silk and linen that are not low in price.

The reason is simple.

If the raw materials of the white paper are really the same as the cloth, then even if Jia Gui sells himself, I am afraid that he will not be able to bear the production costs of this 'tens of thousands of feet' cicada wing white paper alone, and then he will look light and light.

——Jia Gui, the loyal and righteous marquis, is just the marquis of Guannei with 500 households~

The annual rent and tax is no more than 5,000 stone of grain and rice, and the discount is only 250,000 yuan;

Counting the expenses on weekdays, let alone saving money - being able to ask for money from Empress Dowager Jia is already 'simple'······

"So ······ it"

"This cicada wing paper, Your Majesty intends to hand it over to Shaofu for mass production?"

After thinking about it for a long time, Liu She, who was still from Shaofu, opened his mouth to ask questions, but Jia Gui only waved his hand indifferently.

"How, I don't know."

"It's just that this cicada wing paper is white, light and thin, and it doesn't need to be made by skilled craftsmen, and the raw materials used and the time it takes are not very long."

"If you start this business, you may be able to make an extra stream of money in addition to the mouth······

With just this word, Liu She, Wei Juan, and Uncle Tian knew in their hearts, that is, the eyes that looked at Jia Gui no longer had the instinctive disdain for their relatives before.

- Han Shaofu, you can have no military merits, no marquis, and even culture and even literacy!

But one ability that has to be possessed is to make money!

Judging from the current situation, Jia Gui, a relative, does have some unique means at least in terms of making money.

Even if this blank paper is likely to be the gold that Tianzisheng put on his mother's uncle's face, it is the same.

Didn't you hear what Jia Gui said?

——In addition to the oral endowment, 'another' trickle of long-term entry!

"Hey ······"

"I'm afraid that it won't be long before this cicada's wings of white paper will be swept among the high gates, and even all over the world······"

Finally, with another sigh, Liu She, Wei Xuan, and Uncle Tian looked at each other for a moment, pretended to be polite, and then rushed to jump off the high platform and snatch the few cicada wing papers left in the wooden box.

- Take advantage of the lack of money, hurry up and grab some back!

Whether it's for your own use or selling it after the price has skyrocketed, it's a beautiful thing······

(End of chapter)