Qin Official

"The fake young master Cheng Heifu, what are you doing recently?"

In the Linguang Palace in Ganquan Mountain, Li Si raised his head and looked at the neutron Li Tong who had just arrived from Xianyang. He didn't ask how his family was doing in the past half month, nor what the eldest son Li You said in the letter he sent from Changsha County, but he was inexplicably concerned about Hei Fu, whom he had rarely mentioned in the past.

Although Li Tong felt strange, he still held up his hands and said: "Father, after that Hei Fu became the Shaofu Prime Minister, he first traveled with Zhang Shaorong to the area near the water around Xianyang, and set up a workshop near the Hao Pond. Then he went to Shaofu Yuancheng asked for the wood of Wuyuan."

Li Si nodded: "So, the thing he threatened to build in front of His Majesty is made of trees like the slips?"

Li Tongdao: "I also heard people say that all those trees were soaked in the pickaxe pond. But then, Hei Fu actually sent thousands of craftsmen and officials home, saying that they would come back after planting wheat, leaving only More than a hundred people."

He couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty only gave Mr. Hei three months, but he is not in a hurry at all? I think he has been too smooth in the palace in the past few months, and he is a little distracted! Otherwise, why would he go to the Nei Stern Mansion again and again? But he never came to visit my house even once? This Guizhou leader has probably forgotten a long time ago. Who did he rely on to support him to be where he is today?"

"Confused."

Li Si reprimanded Zhongzi. He saw that although Li Tong taught him step by step after coming to Xianyang, his political wisdom was much worse than that of his eldest son Li You. By instructions.

Not only Heifu, but also Zhang Han, Zhang Cang and other people who were protected and supported by Li Si did not go to Li's house very much in private.

Although there are great faults in making friends with many people and cliques inside and outside, they are too many!

Li Si needs to maintain his image of being "non-Party" instead of being a "honored minister" who is full of guests and friends and has a wide range of party members.

Unlike the confused Neutron, he saw that although Heifu did not give him a gift, he was deliberately pulling Zhang Cang, Zhang Han and other people who were deeply imprinted with Li Si to do things.

This was exactly what Li Si wanted. Zhang Cang was just a man of little fame and fortune. Although Li Si admired Zhang Han, he had no reason to promote him beyond his authority. It would be a good thing if Zhang Han could take advantage of Hei Fu's achievements.

"But Hei Fu is so carefree, can he really accomplish anything?" Li Tong didn't believe it.

"Brother Ru Bo once said that although this man comes from a humble background, he is extremely knowledgeable, very reliable in his work, and never misses the mark."

Li Si had a vague feeling that Hei Fu was the same type of person as him. He was unwilling to settle for a humble position, and he didn't want to live like a frightened rat in the toilet all day long! Eager to break away from the original class and climb to the mountain of power.

Now that Toilet Rat is in the barn, whether he can succeed or not depends entirely on whether he can seize the opportunity.

"If it is true as he said, paper as thin as silk and as cheap as wooden slips can be successfully produced, it will be a great achievement for Qin!"

As a court official, Li Si knew very well that one major difference between the Qin system and the Six Kingdoms was its insistence on "clerical administration."

Li Si personally added the Miscellaneous Laws of Internal History and pointed out: "If you have something to ask for, you must send it in writing. Do not ask for it verbally, and do not ask for it with restraint." No matter how small the matter is, subordinates must report their work to their superiors in the form of written documents. Report the matter verbally.

In addition, there is a stipulation in the Jinbulu: "If the official loses, the year of payment shall be informed in writing, and the recipient shall be included in the calculation." When the government transports items, it shall notify the year of payment in writing, and the recipient shall be informed according to the receipt. Record the time when it arrives, so that you can not only accurately calculate the time, but also trace the responsibility.

This kind of "clerical administration" was widely implemented in counties and counties, so a large number of bamboo and wood slips were needed every year. However, the slips were heavy and bulky, not to mention the people who carried them. Even Li Si was exhausted from reviewing the legal documents and begging letters sent by the counties every day. It is also inconvenient to store and transport. Rolls of bamboo books take up too much space. The so-called five carts of learned wealth are only hundreds of thousands of words.

With the unification of the world, the government affairs handled by the central government and counties were increasing day by day, and the inconvenience of slips became more obvious. The Qin Dynasty, from the emperor to the officials, urgently needed a new writing medium to improve administrative efficiency...

"This is why Your Majesty attaches so much importance to this matter. Mr. Hei, you must have made the right bet!"

Li Si appreciates smart people and is not worried that Heifu will be out of his control after he becomes favored through meritorious service.

Unlike Han Fei, who must be the prime minister if he is used by the Qin Dynasty, Heifu is too low-born and too young. In the next ten years, he will only be a county guard. He is not enough to pose a threat to Li Si. Instead, he can become an ally of his heirs...

"After you return to Xianyang, you must pay attention to Hei Fu's every move and report to me from time to time."

Li Si told Li Tong so, and then he opened the letter sent by Li You from thousands of miles away...

His eyebrows immediately furrowed because the letter was written during the march and also revealed some details that were not described in Dongting County's official documents.

"The Yue people in Dongting County were instigated by the Western Yue and Chu survivors to rebel against Qin with their cities!"

After reading, Li Si sneered: "The Dongting and Changsha counties are preparing for a major incident, but the Dongting County governor only said it was a small tribal disturbance? It seems that the south is not in peace!"

…

Haochi is located near the site of Haojing, the old capital of the Zhou Dynasty. Nowadays, the city-state of the illustrious Zhou Dynasty can no longer be seen. Only foxes wandering on the ruined walls and a field of golden millet can be seen.

Heifu also set up his paper-making headquarters here because it not only had the advantage of flowing water, several water-breathing houses could be built there, but also a pond where the brought trees could be soaked.

It was July, and the nearby women were harvesting the kudzu grown in the fields and retting the kudzu in the pond to prepare for weaving winter clothes. While they were working, they pointed at the wood in the pond and talked endlessly.

"When building houses and ships, the wood must be dried in the sun, but these officials are surprised that they soak it in water!"

After soaking the trees, Heifu ignored them and even sent more than a thousand craftsmen recruited from nearby areas to move home and let them finish planting wheat before returning, leaving only a hundred servants on standby.

Zhang Han was so anxious that he almost got angry, but Heifu did not panic. Instead, he asked Zhang Han to send someone to the East and West Weaving Rooms under the Shaofu. These two weaving rooms were responsible for collecting silkworm cocoons. Weaving clothes for the suburban temple, and there, I found what Hei Fu wanted...

What was displayed in front of Zhang Han and Cheng Shang was a thin piece that felt like silk, but it was not a complete piece of cloth.

Zhang Han didn't recognize it, but Cheng Shang said: "This thing is called Heyu in Guanzhong."

"Of course, in Nanjun, it's called Fang Xu."

Heifu laughed: "It seems that in Brother Cheng's house, every summer, the sound of weaving is heard all the time!"

Cheng Shang sighed and said, "My mother raised me in the sericulture and weaving industry. How could I not realize this?"

Hei Fu nodded: "I am the same way. My father died early, and my mother and sister-in-law got up early to raise silkworms and weave silk. However, those soft silks were all sold to the county, and they have never worn them..."

The "square wadding" that Heifu got from the weaving room is the product of sericulture. The best silkworm cocoons can be directly spun into silk. Those with bad cocoons and diseased cocoons are not willing to throw them away. They put them into boiling water and use the bleaching wadding method. Take the silk.

After bleaching the wadding, there will often be some residual wadding left on the bamboo mat. After a few times, it accumulates into a layer of fiber flakes, which is dried and peeled off in the sun, and becomes the Heyu and square wadding in front of you.

Zhang Han came from a wealthy family and had no worries about food and clothing since he was a child. He had ready-made silk and silk embroidery to wear. Of course, he had no chance to know this thing, and he didn't understand what it had to do with papermaking.

In order to answer his question, Heifu took a pen and ink and began to write on the square cotton in a precise manner.

Cheng Shang explained: "In the Weaver Girl's House, Hehe is a sacrifice used to worship Leizu. Before the sacrifice, literate people are often asked to write some eulogies on it. In fact, they are reluctant to burn the cloth, so they use it. Come instead.”

He also had a sudden realization: "Heifu said that he wanted to make paper that is lighter than slips and cheaper than cloth. Could it be He He?"

Then Cheng Shang shook his head in self-denial: "I'm afraid it won't work. There are too few hens. I have to float the catkins dozens of times before I can get one."

"It's just that the principles are similar, that's all I got inspiration from."

Heifu picked up the He He with the writing on it, and slowly tore it open with force in his hands.

The hen cracked from the center and the silk fibers were torn loose. Heifu put it on the table and asked Cheng Shang to take a closer look.

"If you look closely, you will know that the so-called silk and silk are actually made up of countless intertwined strands, which can also be called silk fibers."

He pointed to the women who were retting hemp in the pond outside the door: "After the peasant women collected the kudzu stalks, they soaked the peeled hemp bark in water and let it soak for half a month. Finally, the hemp bark was loosened and a piece of hemp bark could be extracted. The fine flocculation comes from root to root, and these fine flocculations are hemp fibers."

"To put it bluntly, whether it is silk, kudzu, or common mulberry bark or mulberry bark, they are all composed of countless fibers."

"Therefore, since the fine wadding of silk can be flattened and dried into a silk fabric that can be used for writing, the bark, hemp heads, cloth and fishnets made of the same fine wadding can be chopped and pounded, and then used as a bamboo mat. Flatten it and dry it, and maybe you can write! That’s my plan!”

Zhang Han suddenly realized: "So you asked us to cut down the wood for retting. What you want is the bark, not the wood!"

Although wood-based papermaking will be the mainstream in later generations, Heifu feels that with the current level of ironware in Qin, it is still somewhat difficult to make pulp. Furthermore, three months is probably not enough time to rot the wood, not to mention there are many processes to follow. It is better to start with simpler bark paper and hemp paper...

Cheng Shang also understood, and he patted his thigh: "Zimozi said in the Mo Jing that body is divided into two parts. All things can be divided, but there are also times when they are indivisible. This is called Duan. It seems that this detailed Cotton fiber is the end of silk, silk, mulberry skin, etc., right?"

Heifu was stunned for a moment, secretly thinking that Mozi was so powerful, he proposed that matter is composed of tiny particles two hundred years ago?

However, when Cheng Shang was surprised that Heifu actually knew the profound knowledge that Zimozi had learned, Heifu shook his head and said, "This is not profound knowledge, and it is not Heifu's achievement."

He pointed to the peasant women working and joking by the pickaxe pond outside the house, and said with a smile: "It's just a simple idea I got from the Weaver Girl and Piao Mu. It's a simple thing that even the son of the Weaver Girl in Guizhou understands."

Regardless of ancient times or future generations, many inventions have been attributed to saints and great sages. It seems that without the Sui Man, there would be no fire in the world, and the world would live in darkness forever. Without Hou Ji, the people of the world would not know how to grow crops, and would have to drink blood forever. Meng Tian, ​​the Chinese would not be able to use brushes. Without Cai Lun, paper would not have appeared.

But Heifu thought that was not the case. They were just standing on the shoulders of giants at the right time. To use a cliché expression...

“All of this comes from the wisdom of working people!”