Surviving Endless Disasters

Without the pressure of survival, Wen Zheng, who finally had some free time, set his sights on papermaking.

Life without soft paper was really uncomfortable. Life on a deserted island was not as comfortable as in modern society. It was even more miserable than traveling back to ancient times. Wen Zheng hoped that the next world would be a normal modern society.

It was indeed very painful to have no paper or cloth, but it would not cause people to die, so the matter of papermaking had been postponed until now.

In fact, before the invention of paper, people of high status would use cloth. However, Wen Zheng did not know much about weaving, but he knew something about papermaking.

Wen Zheng did not want to make paper for writing, so he did not need to worry too much about the materials needed for papermaking.

Perhaps the quality of the paper made was far inferior to modern paper, but as long as it was softer than leaves, even if it was as hard as writing paper, or it would fall apart if rubbed with hands, it would satisfy Wen Zheng.

Before making paper, you must select the right materials. Bark, hemp, vines, etc. can all be raw materials for papermaking, but Wen Zheng was going to use bamboo.

When I was in college, I traveled with my classmates and went to a small town that made bamboo paper. Not only did I listen to the people there talk about the steps of making bamboo paper, but I also experienced some of the steps myself.

In addition to bamboo, the most important material needed in the papermaking process is lime.

As early as in the book "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature", there were steps to make bamboo paper, which are still applicable in modern society. However, some changes have been made in modern times, that is, lime is added to the step of killing green, thereby reducing the time of killing green.

If it is simply soaked, it takes a day to complete the killing green, but with the help of lime, the time is greatly reduced.

So before making bamboo paper, Wen Zheng needs to get lime first, and lime also has the function of disinfection.

Lime can always be seen in daily life, and the method of making lime is not difficult. The "Lime Chant" that I recited in school is about the method of making lime. Thousands of hammers and chisels are used to get out of the deep mountains, and the fire burns as if it is nothing*, that is, after limestone is forged by fire, lime is obtained.

In fact, limestone is not necessarily required. As long as it is a product with high calcium carbonate content, including limestone, dolomite and various shells, lime can be obtained after calcination.

Shells are the most abundant on the beach, and there are also a lot of limestone on the gravel mountain, so there is no shortage of raw materials.

The reason why Wen Zheng has not made paper for a long time is because the whole process is too troublesome, but he has time now.

It took two days to collect enough limestone and enough wood from the gravel mountain, and cleared a piece of open space. Wen Zheng put a layer of limestone and a layer of Wangchai. Such layered laying can burn more evenly. After igniting and calcining the wood for a week, lime can be obtained.

During the week of calcining lime, Wen Zheng also needs to dig a big pit to soak bamboo, and Tuantuan's rebellion continues.

Seeing that Wen Zheng rarely goes out, Tuantuan did not stay with Wen Zheng at home. After obtaining Wen Zheng's consent, he flew to the direction of the bamboo forest every day, and came back with wounds after a few hours.

Tuantuan is no longer an ordinary bird. Even if Wen Zheng is worried about Tuantuan's safety, he will not stop him from doing what he wants to do.

The effect of the black box was not shown at all on the plants. It only gave Wen Zheng a clearer vision, but it was very obvious on Tuantuan.

After extensive practical training, Tuantuan had fewer and fewer new wounds, but brought back more and more "trophies", which were all bird feathers.

Seeing that the limestone was almost burned and the pit had been dug, Wen Zheng and Tuantuan went to the bamboo forest on the mountain that day.

The bamboo forest on the mountain is suitable for making bamboo paper. Moso bamboo is divided into male and female. It can be distinguished by the bamboo branches growing on the bamboo pole. If only one bamboo branch grows in one position, it is male bamboo, and if multiple bamboo branches grow, it is female bamboo.

Male bamboo is usually harder in texture. Wen Zheng used male bamboo to build the pigpen, but for papermaking, of course, female bamboo with a softer texture should be selected.

The texture of new bamboo and old bamboo is also different. Not only female bamboo, but also young new bamboo should be selected.

Wen Zheng carefully distinguished the male and female bamboos and the old and young bamboos in the bamboo forest, and carefully cut and collected the bamboo water inside, but Tuan Tuan flew away as soon as he arrived at the bamboo forest.

No need to think, it must have gone to fight with other birds.

After cutting the bamboos into the same length and tying them into neat bamboo bundles with ropes, Wen Zheng shouted to the people around him twice, then sat on the ground to drink water and rest, and used his upgraded vision to appreciate the beauty of the bamboo forest, which gave him a brand new feeling.

Not long after waiting, Tuan Tuan flew back triumphantly. This time he didn't have a "trophy" in his mouth, but behind him were his defeated subordinates who were dejected.

Wen Zheng first checked Tuan Tuan carefully, and there was only one new wound on his body, and then he looked at the bird following behind, which was the big white bird that made Tuan Tuan start the fight.

Hey, it's really miserable! Compared with the colorful Tuan Tuan, this big bird with mostly white body is another style, even for Wen Zheng to see, it is beautiful.

However, no matter how beautiful it is, when the fur on its body becomes lumpy, it becomes funny.

The soft fur on its head was pecked into bald spots. No wonder this big white bird is so dejected. With just one glance, Wen Zheng can tell that something is wrong with his current vision.

Seeing that Wen Zheng's eyes were always on the big white bird, Tuan Tuan, who wanted to show off, was immediately unhappy and shouted loudly to drive the big white bird away.

The defeated big white bird heard Tuan Tuan's shout and looked over blankly. It didn't react at all and stayed motionless in the same place.

Seeing that the defeated opponent didn't listen to him, Tuan Tuan was about to attack angrily. He frightened the big white bird with just two flaps of wings.

Tuan Tuan flew to Wen Zheng with satisfaction, proudly raised his chest, and waited for Wen Zheng's praise.

Wen Zheng dragged Tuan Tuan by his hand, praised Tuan Tuan from beginning to end in the tone of praising a child for good study, and checked Tuan Tuan's wounds again.

These days, Tuan Tuan has been fighting with other birds, and he has been injured every day when he returns home. Most of them are just feathers pulled out, without big wounds. New fine fluff grows every two ends, which Wen Zheng has never noticed.

However, the wounds on the big white bird were not all new today. Many of them should have been pecked a few days ago or earlier, and no fluff has grown yet. Wen Zheng then realized his problem, that he did not pay enough attention to some things that he was accustomed to.

In addition to Tuan Tuan's ability to recover quickly, there were also some places that he had forgotten.

Wen Zheng was thinking while pulling the bamboo bundle back. When he returned to the cave and put down the rope in his hand, Wen Zheng walked into the cave and suddenly realized that his physical recovery speed seemed to have accelerated a lot during this period.

Thinking carefully about the workload of these days, Wen Zheng found that this was really not his illusion. Just for this reason, this black box is very useful.

After the physical strength was restored, Wen Zheng dug out the calcined lime and placed it in layers, but in the order of a layer of lime and then a layer of bamboo, stacked layer by layer in the newly dug pit, and then added sea water to it, so that the bamboo could soak in it for a sufficient time.

During the soaking process of bamboo, Wen Zheng was once again out of things to do. He couldn't sit still and found a lot of work for himself.

Apart from finding food and processing and storing it, which had been the work since he came to the island, Wen Zheng pulled out the things he wanted to do but didn't have time to do from his mind.

He caught some bamboo rats from the bamboo forest in the south, and then put them in the bamboo forest in the north where there were no bamboo rats. He released them in the bamboo forest in the north, which was closer to the cave. The two nests soon disappeared in the bamboo forest. After a few days, Wen Zheng found the entrance of the bamboo rat cave and confirmed that they had settled in the new bamboo forest. Presumably, with their reproductive capacity, this place would soon become Wen Zheng's rat-catching base.