my grandfather was qin shi huang

There used to be a paper mill near his hometown, which polluted the small river that was once crystal clear, luxuriant in water and grass, and full of fish and shrimps. This was the smell at the time.

When the smell that he hated so much in the past entered his mouth and nose, the emotions in Zhao Ying's heart were completely different. These familiar odors mean that the paper that I have been longing for may really be officially available and can be mass-produced.

There is no way to have both in this world.

Papermaking, which carries the heavy responsibility of spreading civilization, must, at least in this era, come at the expense of environmental degradation.

But these are not among Zhao Ying's considerations. What he wants now is paper that is more convenient and more efficient than bamboo slips and wooden slips that carry text!

Only with the emergence of paper and printing technology and some planning can there be the possibility and basis for implementation.

At this time, it was already dusk and the sky was getting dark. However, the lights in the factory were brightly lit, and several huge torches and a dozen busy workers could be seen in the distance.

Zhao Ying couldn't help but frown slightly, jumped off the horse, shook his hands and threw the reins to Li Shu who was following behind.

Li Shu: ...

Just as she was about to throw it back to him, she immediately remembered her identity as a bodyguard and had to reluctantly hold the horse for him. Fortunately, the steward of the farm immediately arranged for a boy to come over and help the three of them take the reins and lead them aside. Tie it up in the stable.

This relieved her.

Seeing that Zhao Ying rushed into the room that was obviously very simple and had a bad smell almost impatiently, Li Shu couldn't help but feel curious, subconsciously covered her nose and followed in.

She wanted to know what the emperor's eldest grandson was doing.

Zhao Ying ignored her and walked straight in. The tall figure made the light in the factory dim. The busy steward looked up and saw Zhao Ying coming in, and immediately trotted towards him.

"I have seen His Royal Highness the Emperor's Grandson——"

Since he opened his mansion, except for the old people in the mansion and a few elders, few people have called him Young Master. Instead, he is called His Highness the Emperor's Grandson, or the Champion General.

Zhao Ying nodded slightly and looked at the papers hanging on both sides of the factory.

Under the firelight, the papers hanging on the shelves on both sides were covered with a faint luster and looked a little yellow. Without Zhao Ying's instructions, the steward next to him held up a piece of paper and sent it away. come over.

Zhao Ying took it in his hand and felt the thickness, then shook it gently. Hearing the sound of splashing, his eyes lit up.

There is no problem with thickness and toughness!

Li Shu couldn't help but feel curious when she saw Zhao Ying inspecting the white paper in his hand. She couldn't help but go to the shelf nearby, imitating Zhao Ying's example, picked up a piece of paper and touched it. After shaking again, I didn't find anything strange, and then I tried to exert a little force with both hands.

stab-

broken……

I was immediately embarrassed on the spot.

Zhao Ying looked at Li Shu, who was obviously confused and at a loss, but pretending to be fine, and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, complaining in his heart.

Are you the reincarnation of Erha?

Seeing Zhao Ying looking at the thing in his hand that had been torn in half with a strange expression, Li Shu blushed and almost became angry with embarrassment.

"What's so rare about this piece of shit? It's so thin and brittle, what use can it have? You, the only one holding it like a treasure, have no idea!"

"What's the use?"

A playful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he turned to give instructions to the steward.

"Bring me pen and ink—"

Soon, the steward of the farm personally delivered the pen and ink to the factory.

Then, Zhao Ying dipped his hands in thick ink and wrote two lines of large characters with enthusiasm.

"There will be times when the wind and waves break, and the sails will be hung straight to help the sea."

When the words fall on the slightly yellowed paper, they are bright and not smudged or stained!

It works!

Although it is not as tough as the paper of later generations, it is enough for writing!

Li Shu opened her eyes wide in disbelief as she watched Zhao Ying splashing ink and writing two lines of big characters with flying dragons and phoenixes.

This thin thing can actually be used to write? !

Of course, she didn't know at this time that the thing in front of her could not only be mass-produced, but also cheap. She didn't realize what the scene in front of her meant. If she knew, it would probably shut down directly.

"Okay, what pit number is this? According to this ratio, mass production first -"

Seeing his young master beaming with joy, the steward in charge of production at the farm also replied excitedly.

"This is from Pit No. [-]. According to your instructions, the materials used were bark, hemp heads, rags, and some old fish nets collected..."

"We have set up a total of nine such pits. The finished product with this ratio is the best. The others are either too brittle or too soft. The villain has tried it, and the ink has been soaked too much, making it impossible to write on... …”

Mo Mo added next to him, looking a little regretful.

Zhao Ying couldn't help but his eyes lit up.

"Where are the other papers? Quick, take me to see them!"

Soon, he was taken to a corner of the factory by He Mo, the manager in charge of production at the farm. When he saw your pile of familiar toilet paper-like things in the corner, Zhao Ying suddenly became happy.

What a real surprise!

After traveling through this period of time, everything else was fine, but going to the toilet was really hard to describe.

There was no toilet paper in the Qin Dynasty, so people had to use toilet chips to wipe their butts. These things are made of wood chips or bamboo chips. They are a bit hard to begin with. If there happens to be a barb on one of them, the taste will be...

Gee!

Wonderful.

What makes Zhao Ying most intolerable is that these toilet chips are not disposable. They are usually washed and rinsed after use, then taken back and recycled...

Although Zhao Ying always used new ones, it was very annoying. Every time he wiped his butt, he had to be careful to avoid accidentally injuring his vitals.

At this time, I suddenly saw something like toilet paper appearing in front of me.

To be honest, I was more excited than when I saw those blank papers just now.

"Come, come, come, quickly, wrap these up for me. Which pit produced them? Tell them to mass-produce them with the ones in pit No. [-]..."

Zhao Ying waved his hand.

"Reward, everyone, the wages will be doubled, and each person will be rewarded with a thousand yuan. The craftsman who produced this paper and the craftsman who just used it to write will be rewarded with a reward of three thousand..."

"Thank you, Master, for the reward——"

Although the rewards behind are enviable, for these ordinary servants, doubling their wages is the real big deal, because it is a stable and sustainable income that can guarantee a life for themselves and their families. .

The reward from the emperor's eldest grandson spread quickly, and the entire farm suddenly fell into a sea of ​​joy.

Zhao Ying was also in a good mood, which caused him to laugh from time to time on the way back.

Li Shu, who was following him, pouted secretly from behind.

However, she was also very curious about the thing that Zhao Ying called paper that could be written on. It was fine that Zhao Ying valued it. After all, that thing was really convenient for writing and seemed to be very useful. But why did he attach so much importance to the paper that just felt soft and not very strong?

Originally, she was unwilling to take the initiative to ask Zhao Ying. After all, she looked a little embarrassed just now, and this bitch was still watching her jokes.

However, Zhao Ying kept silent on this issue, but even walked without forgetting to touch the tightly tied soft paper on the carriage behind him, which made her feel as curious as a cat scratching her head. .

In the end, she couldn't bear it anymore. She glanced at Zhao Ying with a silly smile on his face, mustered up the courage and pretended to be nonchalant.

"What's the use of this fluffy paper..."

She is very cautious when speaking now, fearing that if she says something wrong again, Zhao Ying will laugh at her.

Seeing that she finally couldn't help but ask this question, Zhao Ying couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, showing an imperceptible smile. He urged the Dawanma under his crotch to come closer and whispered a few words in her ear. sentence.

Li Shu's pretty face turned red immediately, she couldn't help but spit on her, and immediately ran away without looking back.

Seeing Li Shu running away in embarrassment, Zhao Ying couldn't help laughing.

"Miss Li, walk slowly - do you want it? If you want it, I'll get someone to send you some as well..."

Hearing Zhao Ying's teasing from behind, Li Shu's horse rode harder and disappeared in a flash.

Zhao Ying is in a really good mood today.

Taking advantage of the excitement, he used the paper just shipped from the farm, cut it to size, sat at the desk, turned on the oil lamp, and carefully copied "Forging the Soul of the Army" himself.

The long-lost sense of smoothness is back!

After copying it, he waved to the servant on the side and asked him to call some of the most skilled carpenters in the house to bring in some pieces of pear and jujube wood that had been planed cleanly, smooth and smooth.

In front of them, he turned the copied article upside down on the wooden board.

"Just like this, burn these pictures for me overnight - whoever can complete them accurately and on time will be rewarded a thousand dollars..."

For these craftsmen, doing this is not a difficult task. Originally, they had carved various complicated patterns on the wood, and now they carve these turned-over words as patterns——

Of course, it is definitely not as easy as carving those patterns. After all, they have been studying carving for many years, and the words written on the wooden board are a pattern they have never seen before.

Originally, they were a little scared when they had to record it all night, but after listening to it, they immediately became energetic.

Carefully holding Zhao Ying's article, he went back.

Overtime, overtime!

Now if I ask the craftsmen and servants in the eldest son’s house what they like and look forward to the most, it is of course working overtime! work overtime! work overtime!

Because everyone knows that as long as you work overtime, you will definitely be rewarded!

Moreover, the emperor's eldest grandson was very generous. After the eldest son left and the younger son took charge of the affairs of the house, in just a few months, everyone's reward money alone was higher than their previous year's income.

Zhao Ying originally wanted to get it right in one step and directly use type printing. However, compared to type printing, woodblock printing is obviously faster to get started with, and in this era, it is not easy to reserve a sufficient number of type printing.

After all, this is still an era where everything needs to be done by hand.

If we really want to prepare so many typefaces, it would probably require a large group of craftsmen who are proficient in seal carving, working day and night, and the movement will be too great.

And now, he has some plans that need to be kept low-key if he wants to achieve better results.

Moreover, compared to type printing, the ink required for woodblock printing is also simpler, and ordinary writing ink is enough. Therefore, there is no best, only the most suitable.

After the matter was explained, Zhao Ying threw it directly to Zhang Liang and ignored it.

In fact, if it weren't for the small pleasure of making history, he would have copied the article and thrown it to Zhang Liang. Of course you have to use this kind of talent to death.

What are talents afraid of?

What I'm afraid of is that it has no use!

When the Qin Dynasty destroyed South Korea, if the Zhang family had been directly appointed and changed from the Prime Minister of South Korea to the Prime Minister of Great Qin, would Zhang Liang be holding back his energy every day to assassinate the First Emperor and overthrow the Qin Dynasty?

It's not like he really wants to restore his homeland.

Therefore, don’t worry about how you retain talents, just use them. The more you use them, the more obedient they will be. Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't obey, as long as you get things done.

Looking at the "paper" made of something unknown in his hand, Zhang Liang's eyes were full of exploration. He was born in the home of the late Han Xiangguo, and he had traveled all over the country in the past few years, but he had never seen such a thing.

Looking at the pixel cloth, it was obviously much lighter than the cloth. After shaking, I felt that the toughness was not comparable to the cloth at all, so I suppressed my curiosity.

Just a flashy gadget.

Early the next morning, I saw Zhang Liang, whose eyes were bloodshot, leading a few carpenters who also had bloodshot eyes but looked excited, walking in from outside holding a few wooden boards.

"To the emperor's eldest grandson, the things you need have been burned..."

Zhao Ying nodded with a smile and carefully inspected the wooden boards. There was no mistake or omission. It was obvious that Zhang Liang had been staring at them all night. These were the finished products after his careful inspection.

"Yes, he is worthy of being the successor of Prime Minister Zhang. He is rigorous and conscientious in his work and has the style of a good prime minister..."

Zhao Ying praised Zhang Liang without hesitation, and then waved his hand and asked the craftsmen to go down and receive their rewards.

And he, in front of Zhang Liang, took the ink ground on the desk and carefully poured it on a wooden board while Zhang Liang was stunned.

Then, I picked up a piece of white paper that I had cut last night and printed one carefully.

Lift it up and take a look.

tsk—

The handwriting is clear and the shape is beautiful.

The world's first engraving and printing of words was born in my own hands!

Zhao Ying thought happily, if this could be passed down to future generations, it would not be so expensive.

He was secretly happy here, but he didn't know that Zhang Liang already had a shocked look on his face.

Zhang Liang felt as if he had seen a ghost.

What did I just see?

Zhao Ying, the thief, held a piece of paper and just pressed it a little, and a large piece of text came out in an instant. However, he soon became numb, because Zhao Ying quickly picked up another piece of paper, one, another, and another...

The movements become more and more skillful, and the handwriting becomes clearer and clearer.

Soon, dozens of identical texts appeared in front of me.

Zhang Liang:! ! ! ! ! !

This speed!

Simply appalling!

Fortunately, this thing doesn't look very strong, and the thief Zhao Ying looks very protective of it, so it must have cost a lot, otherwise, this alone would be a disaster.

It is conceivable that if this is achieved, the Legalist school advocated by the Qin court will soon spread all over the world. On the contrary, if everyone learns the law, there will no longer be a place for all the schools of thought in the world.

And the nobles and educated people in the world will no longer have the reputation of being noble.

If knowledge is overflowing, it will be worthless.