Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 96: Salary System (Update )
"Is this paper?"

Li Daoyuan was an important official in the court, so of course he had seen paper.

He looked at the two stacks of papers in front of him.

One stack is snow-white Xiaoxiang paper with gold foil inlays in the middle. The entire paper surface is soft and smooth, and exudes the fragrance of medicinal herbs such as musk.

The other stack was bamboo paper made by the [Lazy Papermaker]. The bamboo paper was yellowish in color, rough with frayed edges, and gave off a foul smell.

Li Daoyuan looked at the two stacks of papers and did not make a choice. Instead, he asked Su Ze:
“Where did these two kinds of paper come from?”

Su Ze said, "Mr. Li, I have a retainer who is good at making paper. He can make both types of paper."

Can make paper?

Li Daoyuan looked at Su Ze in surprise. In fact, as early as the end of the Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were a large number of paper mills in Luoyang.

However, the chaos of the Five Barbarians and the Sixteen Kingdoms caused Luoyang to be destroyed several times, and the papermaking craftsmen fled. Finally, when the Northern Wei court returned to Luoyang, it still needed to use bamboo slips to handle official documents.

In contrast, the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved its people to the south, taking with them a large number of craftsmen from the Central Plains. Since then, the south has been prosperous in literature and the papermaking industry has been relatively developed.

It is said that in today's Southern Liang, ordinary people would also buy paper and then hire copyists to copy Buddhist scriptures and bind them into books.

Paper from the Southern Liang Dynasty was also very popular in Luoyang. The best paper, like the Xiaoxiang paper presented by Su Ze, was as expensive as silk. The Buddhist officials in Luoyang were willing to spend a fortune on it.

In comparison, bamboo paper was not so soothing. Li Daoyuan picked up the brush and wrote a few words on the bamboo paper. As long as a little more ink was applied, the paper would be smudged. Coupled with the ugly appearance and unpleasant smell, Gao Huan looked at Su Ze handing over two stacks of paper and muttered to himself, where in the world would give gifts like Su Ze did? Everyone would know to choose the Xiaoxiang paper.

Li Daoyuan still did not make a decision, but asked:

"How much does this Xiaoxiang paper cost?"

Su Ze relayed the papermaker's words, "Making Xiaoxiang paper requires Xiaoxiang bamboo, supplemented with gold foil and various medicinal herbs, and its value is comparable to silk."

"What about bamboo paper?"

Su Ze said: "Bamboo paper only needs bamboo and lime. One sheet of Xiaoxiang paper can make a hundred sheets of bamboo paper."

One piece of Xiaoxiang paper is worth a hundred pieces of bamboo paper, and this is when the production scale has not been expanded. According to papermakers, if a huge paper mill could be built like in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the price of bamboo paper could be reduced by 90%.

Li Daoyuan thought to himself that the cost of producing bamboo slips was not high, and the price advantage of bamboo paper was not that big.

However, bamboo paper is lighter and thinner than bamboo slips, which makes it easier for official documents to circulate and more convenient for carrying texts.

Every time Li Daoyuan sent books to Cui Guang, he would bring a donkey cart to transport the books. You should know that the "five carts" in the idiom "learned as much as five carts" refers to five carts of bamboo slips, and "cart" is a quantifier to measure knowledge.

Li Daoyuan thought of more. Paper was more convenient than bamboo slips and could speed up the spread of articles.

The government can also publish decrees on paper so that more people can know the government's orders and not be deceived by the clerks who hide them in the documents.

Li Daoyuan looked at Su Ze with a softer gaze. As a Confucian scholar, what could excite him more than "education"?
“I choose bamboo paper.”

what?
Gao Huan felt that he could not keep up with the other two's thinking. Was there something wrong with Li Gong's brain?

Why don’t you choose the fine Xiaoxiang paper, but instead choose the smelly bamboo paper?
Is there something wrong with this reader's brain?
Su Cho, who had been standing quietly by the side, had a calm expression. He had already expected that Li Daoyuan would choose bamboo paper.

Li Daoyuan said decisively: "There are a few empty rooms next to the Henan government office. We can build a paper mill there first. I will recruit craftsmen from Luoyang to help with papermaking."

"The produced paper will be sold to Henan Prefecture according to the price just mentioned. We will buy as many papers as are produced." So that's it!

Now Gao Huan finally understood that what Su Ze presented was not two stacks of paper, but a method of papermaking!
His breathing became rapid. A papermaking workshop would produce as much bamboo paper as Henan Prefecture would buy!
What a big business this is!

Gao Huan already regretted asking Su Ze to ask Li Daoyuan to open a horse shop in Sitong City.
In comparison, can the business of my horse shop still be considered a business?

Brother Su is indeed a man of great ability!
Gao Huan became more determined and felt that it was worth it to come to Luoyang and make friends with Su Ze, and to be whipped by Zhang Lingshi.

After discussing the paper mill, Su Ze asked Li Daoyuan:

"Mr. Li, a large amount of southern goods have appeared in the Luoyang market recently. How did the southern goods trade in Luoyang come about?"

"Southern goods?"

Li Daoyuan frowned. As the prefect of Henan Province, it was impossible for him to know such a trivial matter as the increase in the number of goods from the Southern Dynasties in the market.

But Li Daoyuan frowned. For the Northern Wei Dynasty, the increase in goods from the Southern Dynasty was not a good thing.

The economy and culture of the Southern Dynasty were prosperous. Generally speaking, the North was more eager for goods from the South. If southern goods were dumped in Luoyang, it would increase the strength of the Southern Dynasty.

Another reason is that at this time, the North and the South were in confrontation, and the northern gentry still lacked cultural confidence compared to the southern gentry, otherwise Emperor Xiaowen would not have said, "There are many good ministers in Jiangnan."

The current emperor of Southern Liang, Xiao Yan, is also an emperor with outstanding cultural literacy and great prestige in literature.

If books from the Southern Dynasties were spread in Luoyang, it would also have an impact on the people's hearts in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Li Daoyuan said:
"The southern goods on the Luoyang market mainly come from two sources. One is brought by the expatriates in Jinling. Emperor Xiaowen personally established Jinlingli to accommodate the good people who fled from the Southern Dynasty to our Wei Dynasty, and also allowed them to sell the southern goods they brought in the market."

"Another source is the military."

"In the military?"

Li Daoyuan nodded and said, "This has to start with Emperor Xiaowen. When the Taihe Reform was launched, one of the important items was to 'dismiss merchants and set salaries according to their ranks.'"

Li Daoyuan's face showed a look of reminiscence: "Before Emperor Xiaowen's reform, even the important officials of the court had no salary. The court and the government used wealthy merchants to lend the government's public funds, and used the interest as the officials' salaries and rewards. At that time, local officials were bent on plundering the people, merchants and officials colluded, merchants sought credit, officials shared profits, the government was corrupt, and the country was in turmoil."

"Emperor Xiaowen dismissed merchants, stipulated that official salaries should be paid according to their ranks, and reiterated the laws against corruption, thus cleaning up the government."

Every time he talked about Emperor Xiaowen, Li Daoyuan showed a look of nostalgia. He brought the topic back and said:

"The government had already implemented the salary system, but the court at that time was still unable to implement it for the hundreds of thousands of imperial guards in Luoyang."

"Especially during the period when the capital was moved to Luoyang, there were many invasions from the Southern Dynasty, and the imperial army had to go south to fight."

"Emperor Xiaowen issued an edict allowing the army to bring southern goods to Luoyang to sell in order to supplement military supplies when they were not fighting."

"Book of Southern Qi, Volume 57, Biography of Wei Lu":
Whenever an envoy arrived, Hong would personally meet him and explain his principles. He respected the people of Qi very much and often said to his subordinates: "There are many good ministers in the south of the Yangtze River." The fake courtier Li Yuankai replied: "There are many good ministers in the south of the Yangtze River, and the ruler changes every year; there are no good ministers in the north of the Yangtze River, and the ruler changes every hundred years." Hong was greatly ashamed and dismissed Yuankai as the chief officer of Yongzhou, but he was soon recalled to his post.

Emperor Xiaowen envied the Southern Dynasty for having many good ministers, so Li Yuankai retorted: "There are indeed many good ministers in Jiangnan, and a new emperor every year. There are indeed no good ministers in Jiangbei, but the emperor here only changes once every hundred years." This left Emperor Xiaowen speechless.

This historical material is actually questionable. "Book of Southern Qi" is a history book written by Xiao Zixian of Southern Liang. It calls the Northern Wei "Wei Lu". The Southern Qi history book describes the conversations between Emperor Xiaowen and his close ministers, which is a bit unbearable.

But this joke is really funny.

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(End of this chapter)