Before the advent of paper, bamboo slips were mainly used.
The biggest reason why this thing is so popular is that it is cheap.
However, the shortcomings are also obvious, that is, it is too heavy and takes up a lot of space, and there is not much recorded content.
Silk is naturally also a good carrier for writing, but like parchment, it cannot be popularized due to cost issues and can only be used for important purposes, such as imperial edicts and the like.
The biggest advantage of paper is its low cost, which allows it to be popularized on a large scale even in an era of low productivity.
In terms of culture, this is a poached egg level of existence.
After first arranging agricultural and industrial issues, Li Yunze began to take action on the cultural aspect.
The raw materials of ancient papermaking were mainly bamboo.
In this era when the precipitation line moves northward and the temperature rises, there is no shortage of bamboo in the Han Dynasty.
In the scheduled paper mill, Li Yunze first arranged for manpower to dig multiple large ponds and soak bamboos, especially young bamboos, in them.
It usually needs to be soaked for more than three months, and then the raw materials are taken out and heated and decomposed together with lime powder.
The next step is to grind the raw materials. You can use a stone mortar to turn it into powder, or you can grind it directly. The result is the same, and you will get raw materials that are like clay.
The next step is filtration. A bamboo curtain is placed in the water tank, and the raw materials adhere to it in a thin layer.
When these thin layers fall, it is the paper in its most original shape.
The last step is to squeeze out the moisture and dry the interlayer. After dehydration, peel off the interlayer to get the authentic white paper.
This is considered one of the most mature papermaking techniques in ancient times.
It is naturally incomparable to the large-scale industrial production in the modern world. In terms of the level of productivity at this time, it is absolutely explosive.
When the white paper was actually produced on a large scale, the entire city of Lunu was in a sensation.
In order to gain popularity in a short period of time, Li Yunze arranged for Zhao Yan and other palace scribes to copy Shang Junshu and Han Feizi overnight.
The reason why he chose Legalism was not because Legalism was gradually overthrowing Huang Lao's art, but because Li Yunze himself believed in this.
Although the scribes were very tired from copying all night long, they were very excited by the new white paper and believed that it would be of immeasurable use in cultural promotion.
However, those who governed Confucianism and those who governed Huang Lao had some criticisms of Li Yunze's choice of Legalist works.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought contended, and various ideas flourished.
Even after experiencing the devastation of war in the late Qin Dynasty, hundreds of schools of thought still survived tenaciously.
It's just that everyone's situation is different.
At this time, the mainstream in the Han Dynasty was Huang-Lao's art. The so-called Huang-Lao's art refers to the ideas of Huangdi and Laozi, which can be regarded as Taoism.
It mainly advocates governing by doing nothing, that is, doing less and interfering less.
In the early Han Dynasty, when all industries were withered, Huang-Lao's technique was indeed beneficial to the people's recuperation.
But as the strength of the big man continued to increase, Huang Lao's art began to fail to keep up with the trend.
At this time, it was the Legalists who were rising rapidly, and they were the main force in the court.
As for the Confucianists who later came to dominate the world, they found it difficult to even enter the court because they offended the Liu family emperor.
However, the advantages of Confucianism are very obvious, because they respect "there is no distinction between education and distinction."
To put it simply, as long as you want to learn, then I will teach you.
This is completely different from other families who carefully search for and train successors, which leads to the decline of the family.
Among the scholars in the world, Confucianism is estimated to account for more than 60%.
This is the basis for being able to depose hundreds of schools of thought and only respect Confucianism in the future.
More than half of the intellectuals in the world are Confucians. If you don't respect him, who can you respect him?
These white papers filled with articles were posted on both sides of the city gate overnight, and they were so densely packed that it was dazzling to see.
After daybreak, both the caravans entering and leaving the city discovered something so conspicuous. If they looked closer, they could see the white paper full of writing.
Businessmen are probably the most sensitive group of people in this era to technological innovation.
Some smart people immediately noticed the business opportunity and eagerly asked what it was.
After learning from the guarding sergeant that this was the white paper made by the king, they immediately ran to the palace in a swarm.
They are not waving money and silk and shouting, "Buy with a lot of money~~~"
They came first to ask how much the product cost, and secondly to ask what the output was.
No matter how good the white paper is, can it be better than silk?
Only when the output is large enough and the price is reasonable enough will they buy it.
In movies and TV shows, if you travel back in time and invent something, you immediately pay a lot of money to buy it. It can only be said that you look down on businessmen.
Li Yunze arranged for Zhao Yan to come forward to deal with it.
First, he took everyone to the warehouse and looked at the mountains of white paper, indicating that there was no need to worry about the output.
Of course, don't even think about the production process or anything like that.
However, the price was not mentioned at all. Instead, they said that they could give some of it to everyone for free and let them take it with them everywhere, especially to Chang'an City to test the market reaction.
After obtaining the detailed market demand and consumption capacity of each place, you can come back to discuss cooperation matters with the king.
To simply sell them would be to look down upon the time travellers.
As a time traveler, of course you have to use other people's caravans and other people's business networks to make money and do things for yourself.
Many caravans have successively received different amounts of white paper according to their respective strengths. Those traveling to Chang'an City can receive more, and then sell them along the way to test the market.
As for Li Yunze himself, he is busy with spring plowing.
In the early Han Dynasty, Hebei could produce two crops a year.
The so-called two crops a year or three crops a year does not mean that a single crop can be planted and harvested two or three times a year.
Rather, it means planting two or even three crops on a piece of land.
It doesn’t mean that you can plant corn twice a year and harvest twice a year. What’s the growth cycle?
Here in Zhongshan Kingdom, the main crop is corn. After harvesting, soybeans, also known as bean sprouts, or hemp are usually planted.
Last year, Li Yunze planted alfalfa in the royal palace's fields. The harvest has been completed, and now it's time to plant the staple food.
During the spring plowing days, he personally went to the fields and led the farmers to plow the fields.
The farmers watched in stunned silence as the king rolled up his trouser legs and waved the iron hoe in his hand into a tornado, like a humanoid bull king, easily turning over a large piece of land in a short period of time.
The onlookers were dumbfounded.
Even the bravest cow king in the cattle pen, who can give away hundreds of millions of wealth to seven or eight cows in one day, is not so powerful.
Li Yunze, who wiped the sweat from his forehead and held a hoe with both hands, called on everyone, "Stop looking at me stupidly and work quickly."
After nearly a year of domestication, a group of large animals in the pasture prison have been domesticated enough for farming.
However, compared to the total number of fields in Zhongshan Kingdom, it is still too small, so the main force is still manpower.
If an ox is paired with an iron plow, it is usually enough to plow the land once.
But relying solely on manpower, you basically need to turn it over twice.
Spring plowing is not just about plowing the fields. You also have to bend down to pick up and throw away rocks and other things in the fields. You also have to close the ravines, eradicate weeds, carefully plant seeds, and be busy with water conservancy and irrigation.
wait wait wait.
Among them, plowing fields and water conservancy are the most energy-consuming.
Under normal circumstances, a strong man who can serve thirty acres of land is considered to be able to support the sky. If several members of a family work together, they can support a hundred acres of land.
This is not the kind of intensive farming.
During the spring plowing of Zhongshan Kingdom, the iron farm tools made by Li Yunze played a huge role.
The method of taking things first and paying later allowed many people, especially those in remote areas, to use iron farm tools in advance, greatly improving the efficiency of spring plowing.
Li Yunze used the high-quality grain seeds brought by the modern world in the royal palace's fields. When the autumn harvest comes, it will be displayed to the people of Zhongshan Kingdom in the most intuitive way.
Li Yunze, who plowed more than ten acres a day, went to the river to clean up before dark, got on his horse and prepared to return to the city.
On the way, I met Zhao Yan who came to report on his work. After hearing about the white paper, he directly passed over this topic: "There are many kinds of bean sprouts for the winter in junior high school. Buy as many as possible and use them with alfalfa."
Feed the livestock.”
Under Li Yunze's supervision, Zhao Yan, who had obviously made progress, made some mental calculations and reported, "Your Majesty, last year the country's middle school harvested 67 to 7 dou per hectare, and there are many plantings in the country. The chief agricultural officer estimates that the country's middle school may have 78
There are as many as 100,000 dendrobium. Although this material is not expensive, it is difficult to use if the quantity is too large.
Not enough?"
"Money is not the problem, the problem is that I have money." Li Yunze waved his hand grandly, "There is a lot of miscellaneous silk in the palace treasury, and I use it to buy sugarcane."
"One more thing."
Li Yunze hadn't finished his words yet, "We are busy with spring plowing, and we must speed up the construction of water conservancy projects. We must not delay the farming season."
After hearing this, Zhao Yan was confused and said, "Your Majesty, Lu Nu is not short of water."
There is indeed no shortage of water in Lunu, as the Hutuo River and its many tributaries flow through the territory.
In Zhao Yan's view, most of the king's royal fields are in Lunu County, and they are basically good paddy fields on the shore, so there is not that much demand for water conservancy.
Li Yunze looked at him with pity in his eyes: "Zhao Qing, you are my king's permanent minister, not the magistrate of Lunu County."
"I have a water conservancy plan here, and the detailed process steps have been drawn up. You just have to follow it."
Zhao Yan, who said the wrong thing again, felt his heart tremble and responded hurriedly.
Caravans carrying large amounts of white paper set off to various places in the Han Dynasty, especially Guanzhong Chang'an.
After all, the core of this era is in the city of Chang'an in Guanzhong.
Literati from all over the country who want to get ahead have to go to Chang'an City to work as long-term floaters and wait for opportunities. They are the most potential consumer group of white paper.
As a place with the lowest illiteracy rate, when the white paper appeared, the entire city of Chang'an was shocked.
This brand-new text carrier has been highly sought after since it appeared because it is light and beautiful, and can record more text at the same time.
In particular, the caravan also brought several copies of Shang Junshu and Han Feizi, which attracted the attention of the Legalist elders in Chang'an City.
There were competing bids for the books, which even made Chang'an paper expensive.
As the emperor, Liu Qi naturally learned about this.
In the Qingliang Hall, he held a book of Shang Jun's letter written on white paper in his hand.
"Zhang Qing."
Liu Qi shook the book page in his hand, "I heard that this thing was made by Prince Sheng?"
"Reply to the emperor."
Zhang Ou first saluted, and then said, "I asked several caravans who came to Chang'an City to sell paper, and they all said that they got it in Zhongshan Kingdom."
Liu Qi, who narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought, asked again in detail for a moment, "Last time I asked you to inquire about Li Guang's memorial, is there any trace of it?"
"Reply to the emperor."
Zhang Ou's expression looked troubled, "I sent three groups of men to Shangjun successively, and questioned the captured Xiongnu tribesmen, the caravans who had traveled with them, and even went to the original battlefield for on-site inspection..."
Liu Qi snorted, "How?"
Zhang Ou, who looked hesitant, finally gritted his teeth and said, "I believe that what Commander Li said is probably true."
The Qingliang Palace fell into silence, and Emperor Liu Qi did not speak for a long time.
I don't know how long it took before Liu Qi's voice sounded faintly.
"Zhang Qing."
"I'm here."
"Go to Zhongshan Kingdom in person, in the name of choosing a queen for the prince. Come and have a good look for me. Look carefully."
Zhang Ou, whose body could not help but tremble, saluted heavily.