In late April, the Great Court Meeting of the Qin State was held in Xianyang Palace. At this time, it has entered the summer, and there has been no rain for several days, and the air in the hall seems very dull, and standing inside, I feel very depressed.

Zhao Tuo, who is now one of the Shaofu of the Nine Qings, has broken away from the ranks of simple military attachés, and is no longer listed on Wang Ben's side, but stands on the east side, facing the west, next to Tingwei Li Si.

After the first emperor ascended the throne, the rules of etiquette became more and more stringent. Although there is no explicit prohibition for the ministers in the hall to talk to each other, there is an imperial history patrolling the side of the hall, supervising the ceremonial posture of the courtiers and ministers.

In such a situation, no one will talk to the emperor before he arrives, and it would be bad if he was recorded in the imperial history and left a bad impression on the emperor.

But eye contact is essential. Now Zhao Tuo and Li Si have a very close relationship, and the two look at each other and show a tacit smile.

Sitting at the front, the right prime minister is becoming more and more careless, every time he comes to the temple for a meeting, he looks at the nose and heart at the head of the hall, and does not express his opinion on general political affairs, and basically becomes a response worm.

Zhao Tuo estimated that the old prime minister wanted to get a good exit, after all, the few ministers of Qin before him did not have a good ending.

Xiong Qi died on the ground. Lü Buwei committed suicide by drinking. Compared with the two predecessors, being a voice worm prime minister who only listens to the emperor's opinions can naturally get a good death.

Kui is not a director, and now the hottest figure in the court of Qin is naturally the left prime minister Wang Juan.

He was in the prime of life, and he had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Coupled with the decentralization of the right prime minister, it can be said that Wang Juan alone has all the power of the prime minister's mansion, just like the former prime minister.

Even if he was scolded by Zhao Tuo and Li Si in the previous dispute over the division of counties and counties, the First Emperor did not hold him accountable afterwards and still reused it.

Therefore, Wang Juan is in good spirits, and his back is straight. After a while, the first emperor rode into the palace, and the court meeting officially began.

"Your Majesty, General Tu Sui has arrived in Wei and is gathering the Wei clan, according to the time, when in July, escort the nobles of the three clans of Qi, Wei and Han into Guanzhong."

"Your Majesty, most of the cities of the Six Kingdoms around Lishan have been built, which is enough to settle the princes and nobles who have migrated this time."

"Your Majesty, the grain for the princes and nobles has been prepared, and this migration will never cause riots in Guanzhong." At the beginning of the court meeting, Taiwei, Jiang Zuo Shaofu, Neishi and others respectively reported on the progress of the work of relocating the nobles of the six countries.

This should be a major event in the second half of Guanzhong, and it is the first time in history that so many princes and nobles have been migrated into Guanzhong, and the first emperor attaches great importance to it.

"The wonders of the Twelve Golden Men have been destroyed by me. I didn't expect to come up with another city of six countries, which can be regarded as a cultural symbol in later generations. The nobles of the six clans of the six countries migrated around Lishan and let the descendants of the six royal families guard the mausoleum for themselves, which is quite high. Zhao Tuo said secretly in his heart.

The Six Kingdoms City is a necessary project to settle the princes and nobles who come later, and it is also for nearby surveillance, and it is not a useless project.

After reporting on the progress of the project of the Six Kingdoms City, the First Emperor dealt with some political affairs in a row. Seeing that he was about to retire from the dynasty soon, Wang Xuan's eyes flickered.

He knew very well that what he said later might further offend Shaofu. But Wang Juan also has her own reasons.

He was for the Qin State. Before speaking, Wang Juan glanced sideways at Shaofu Zhao Tuo. He found that Zhao Tuo was also staring at him, and the two looked at each other.

Wang Juan bowed his head slightly and nodded at Zhao Tuo. Zhao Tuo smiled back. Then, Wang Juan stood up and officially opened the scene.

"The minister and the king died to give your Majesty, and recently the Shaofu made paper with hemp and implemented it in the mansions of the ministers, intending to replace the bamboo slips and benefit my Qin country."

"The minister thinks that the heart of the Shaofu is very good, but the minister recently used it and found that although the hemp paper is convenient, there are also many defects, if it cannot be solved, it will affect the politics of my Qin State, and please let Your Majesty know." As soon as these words came out, there was silence in the hall.

All the ministers looked at Prime Minister Wang Juan with surprise on their faces, and even the right prime minister Kui opened his slightly closed eyes and stared at his deputy.

Li Si's face was solemn, and the corners of his mouth were slightly curled. Zhao Tuo's face was flat and did not seem to be affected in any way.

No one spoke. The emperor's face on the emperor's couch was calm, and everyone couldn't see what kind of mood he was in for Wang Juan's suggestion, so they only heard the emperor say: "Prime Minister Zuo said that the paper made by Shaofu is defective, I don't know what it is?" Wang Juan arched his hand and said: "The Prime Minister's Mansion used paper for administration during this time, and the minister found two problems, the first is that there are officials who write wrong words on the paper, which is difficult to modify, unlike bamboo slips that can be scraped off with a knife and rewritten. ”

"If you make a mistake in the paper, you will lose it, and you need to start copying it all over again, which is not only slow. Moreover, Shaofu said before that the price of paper is cheaper than bamboo slips, but because of the cost of paper, the price of this item is not lower than that of bamboo slips, and it is not an object that can replace bamboo slips. ”

The second point is that the paper is made of hemp. Hemp can be used to weave cloth, make clothes, make shoes, and tie ropes, and is an important material. If you really want to promote hemp paper to the world, then there is no linen clothes and hemp ropes in the world. Wang Juan's words fell.

All the ministers frowned slightly. Among them, Tingwei Li Si, Taishi Linghu Mujing, Zhisu Neishi Wang Wu and others bowed slightly.

The official offices where they are located are all qualified to use paper, and when they heard Wang Juan say this, they naturally thought of the problems encountered when using paper for administration on weekdays.

The common script of the Qin State, whether it is a small seal or an official script, is transformed from the Zongzhou Zhouwen, and no matter how simplified, its structure and strokes are much more complex than the fonts of later generations.

A calligrapher like Li Si may be able to maintain the accuracy of his handwriting. But what about the officials at the lower levels of the bureaucracy?

And how many people can write hundreds of words and not a good one? As the world says

"Knife and pen officer", as the name suggests, is to hold a pen to write, with a knife to cut words, later generations dug out of those slips, also often see the traces of knife cutting, it can be seen that typos in daily administration is an inevitable thing.

If you have to copy an official document from scratch because of a word error, it is indeed a very wasteful thing.

The First Emperor frowned slightly, thinking of the situation where he used paper to write, and if there was a slight clerical error, he would directly change the paper.

This is indeed a problem, according to Zhao Tuo's idea, it is to promote the paper to the whole world, let me ask the world There are countless officials, and how many people can not write mistakes?

As for the use of hemp to make paper, it is true that Wang Juan said, and the problem that the Qianshou no longer have linen clothes to wear will have a great impact on the livelihood of the Qin State.

But the first emperor still remembered that Zhao Tuo said that he could make paper with bark, grass and other things, although he had not yet produced results, the emperor still believed that Zhao Tuo could do it.

However, the problem of typos still needs to be solved, and if it can't be solved, it will be difficult to make paper work all over the world.

The First Emperor looked at Zhao Tuo and saw that his face was pale, and he didn't seem to be bothered by Wang Juan's words, and his heart calmed down again.

This kid, there's a solution! The First Emperor said: "Prime Minister Zuo's words are reasonable, I don't know if there is a solution in Shaofu?" Wang Juan and all the ministers looked at Zhao Tuo.

Zhao Tuo smiled and arched his hand: "The method of correcting typos on the paper, the minister has already studied it, and he is about to write to His Majesty." Now that Prime Minister Zuo proposed it in the palace, the minister also happened to say it. If you want to correct a typo on paper, you only need one thing. ”

"What?"

"Orpiment!" Zhao Tuo spoke calmly. This remark shocked some ministers in the palace. What is orpiment?

A lot of people haven't even heard of it. Fortunately, the erudite Li Si stood up and explained: "The female yellow is the male and yellow pairs. Male yellow is born in the yang of the mountain, and female yellow is born in the yin of the mountain. Hearing the name of realgar, everyone has the impression that realgar can be used in wine, can repel insects, and is famous.

Orpiment has few uses, so many people don't know about it, but it's normal.

"Dare to ask Shaofu, how can she correct a typo?" Wang Juan opened his mouth to ask, he knew the existence of the orpiment, but he had never seen it, he could only think of a similar appearance of the male yellow in his mind, and it was hard to imagine that such a thing could correct the typos on the paper.

Feeling the confused eyes of the ministers in the hall, Zhao Tuo secretly shook his head in his heart. Sure enough, it's still not enough imagination.,Characters born in the era of bamboo slips.,All you think of in your head is the method of scraping with a knife.,Can't you let go of your thinking?

Zhao Tuo cleared his throat and said: "The usage of this thing, you will know at first sight, the minister has asked the attendant to wait at the gate of the palace with the prepared paper and orpiment, and asked His Majesty for permission to take it." As soon as Zhao Tuo's words came out, the ministers in the palace suddenly showed playfulness one by one, and their interest even exceeded the use of female yellow to correct typos.

Zhao Tuo has been prepared! He knew that Wang Juan was going to make a suggestion today, and he also knew the content of the suggestion, and responded accordingly.

Even the First Emperor on the emperor's couch was slightly stunned, and his gaze at Wang Juan became sharp.

Zhao Tuo's advance preparation showed that Wang Juan's suggestion was known to others, and he also revealed it to Zhao Tuo behind Wang Juan's back.

Doesn't this show that what Wang Juan said just now was actually premeditated. is not simply a suggestion for the country, but a political struggle that wants to attack Zhao Tuo through paper.

The First Emperor said coldly: "Yes." As the emperor's attendants went to the palace gate to get the paper and orpiment prepared by Zhao Tuo, the atmosphere in the palace became more and more depressing.

Wang Juan lowered his head, his face was blue and white for a while, and at this time, he didn't know that he had been sold.

Damn Confucian! Zhao Tuo looked at all this with a smile. In a word, the victory is decided in an instant. After today's court meeting, I think that the alliance between Wang Juan and that group of Confucian scholars will completely fall apart.

Wang Xuan, it is impossible to believe the words of those Confucian scholars anymore. Moreover, Zhao Tuo poked this matter out directly in front of the eyes of the First Emperor, and Wang Juan's future was most likely ruined.

With the character of the first emperor, even if he is used again, Wang Juan will never have the opportunity to be promoted to the right prime minister. For Zhao Tuo, he has completed a successful counterattack!

After a while, an attendant brought the orpiment paper prepared by Zhao Tuo. With the arrival of these two things, the atmosphere in the hall relaxed slightly, and everyone's eyes fell on Zhao Tuo again, wanting to see how he corrected the typos on the paper.

Zhao Tuo's face was as usual, he first raised the yellowed paper in his hand in front of the First Emperor, and said: "Your Majesty, just now Prime Minister Zuo said that making paper from hemp will consume a lot of hemp and affect the livelihood of Qianshou. The minister thought that what Prime Minister Zuo said was very true, so after a month of study, the minister had come up with the method of making paper from bark! ”

"The paper in the minister's hand is made of the bark of a tree. In this way, you will no longer need to use hemp in the future, and only need the bark to make high-quality and inexpensive paper, which will not only not affect Qianshou, but also further reduce the price of paper, much lower than the use of bamboo slips! "Bark makes paper!

Except for the First Emperor, all the ministers in the palace were stunned. It is also understandable that hemp can be used to make paper, after all, hemp can be used to weave cloth and make paper similar to silk.

But that rough and bare bark can also make paper?

"Making paper from tree bark, the public heirs are so terrifying!" Li Si's eyelids jumped slightly, once again witnessing Zhao Tuo's ability.

Only Wang Juan's face was pale, even if Zhao Tuo had not yet begun to demonstrate how to correct typos with orpiment, he already knew that he had lost.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zuo, please look at each other." Zhao Tuo ignored everyone's different expressions and officially began to demonstrate.

He began by writing one on yellowed bark paper

The word "six" was held up for everyone in the temple to see. After the first emperor and the ministers confirmed that Zhao Tuo had written a six.

He just picked up the polished orpiment, and there it was

"Six" on the smear. With the rubbing of the orpiment and the surface of the paper, on the paper

The "six" gradually disappeared. By the time Zhao Tuo lifted the paper again, the ministers could no longer see what they had just seen

"Six", only a piece of yellow remains.

"What a orpiment! What a correction typo! Tingwei Li Si was the first to applaud, his eyes blazing.

Zhao Tuo was able to use orpiment to correct typos, with this method, even if he made a mistake on the paper in the future, it would not hurt, and the drawbacks that Wang Juan said were all nonsense.

In addition, Zhao Tuo used bark to make paper, which greatly reduced the cost, and Li Si could already foresee that such paper would definitely replace bamboo slips and pass the world.

"Zhao Shaofu is really a capable person, and we are really unheard of."

"However, I've only heard that orpiment can be used in medicine, but I didn't expect this thing to have such a use, it's really insightful." The ministers took the opportunity to praise Zhao Tuo.

As Zhao Tuo took out the bark paper and orpiment, the words that Wang Juan just said became very ridiculous.

On the emperor's couch, the first emperor was also brilliant. This son really didn't disappoint him, it really brought surprises everywhere.

Zhao Tuo's face was pale, there was nothing to be proud of. Orpiment, which is equivalent to the correction fluid of later generations, can be used to remove typos on yellow paper by smearing.

The reason why he knows this is precisely from

The idiom "untrustworthy". During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the ancients discovered the usefulness of orpiment that could be used to smear typos, and used it in practice.

This is probably one of the reasons why paper was able to be popularized and promoted rapidly in the Wei and Jin dynasties. Since Zhao Tuo knew this, he naturally would not be defeated by Wang Juan and that group of Confucian scholars, and easily solved their difficulties.

However, what happened just now was just an appetizer for Zhao Tuo. Zhao Tuo did not pay attention to Wang Juan's criticism, but was more prepared to take advantage of this matter to launch a more important thing.

Zhao Tuo glanced at Wang Xuan, who was already with a blue face and bowed his head and was silent. He turned his head and saluted the First Emperor on the emperor's couch.

"Your Majesty, except for the bark and paper, and orpiment. The minister still has something to offer to His Majesty today. ”

"With this thing, the efficiency of transcribing laws and decrees can be increased by more than ten times!"