flstandardbreds Chapter 128 Planning to Make Paper
Chapter 128 Planning to Make Paper
Luancheng Princess Mansion.
It was Zhao Shenglai's third year.
The only thing that makes him feel at ease at the moment is that he has his own armed forces and a sphere of influence that he can advance or retreat.
After Li Laixi and the Nalan family completed the purchase of wine and beverages, they also attracted the covetousness of other tribes.
Dingzhou is actually a region with scarce resources. Due to years of war, the trees on the mountains appear barren.
If it weren't for resources like coal mines, there would be basically no healthy development here.
Far away from the capital, Zhao Sheng's life made him depressed.
What else can I do next?
Zhao Yongsheng came over that day with an invitation in his hand.
"The literary world in Dingzhou has been declining recently. Luancheng is also the hometown of the three Su brothers. Some scholars have proposed holding a New Year and Lantern Festival poetry gathering in Luancheng."
"Fire trees and silver flowers are closing together, and the iron locks of star bridges are open. The dark dust is gone with the horses, and the bright moon is coming with the people. All the players are stalking plums, and all the plum blossoms are falling when they are singing. Jinwu can't help the night, and the jade leaks don't rush each other."
It seems that the literati in the Su family are quite powerful!
Why do you need to notify me, the prince consort, about holding a poetry gathering here? I have no literary talent!
Zhao Sheng cried out in his heart, do all time travelers have to compete with each other in literary talent?
"Sir, the scholars said that our Prince Consort's Mansion is the richest family and needs to give us some gifts at the poetry meeting."
Looking at Zhao Sheng who didn't answer for a long time, Zhao Yongsheng reminded him.
"But...shouldn't we go directly to our housekeeper about this matter? Why are you the one handing over the invitation?"
Suddenly feeling that something was wrong, but unable to put his finger on it, Zhao Sheng glared at Zhao Yongsheng and asked.
Isn't it that since they couldn't get to the Princess's Mansion, they sent the invitation to the workshop and forwarded it over?
"Have the ancients learned to solicit sponsorship by this time?" Zhao Sheng was furious and admired the wisdom of the ancients.
"Are they offering a reward of money or property?"
"It's all right. Generally speaking, it refers to more drinks and food. Talking about money is vulgar."
"You're just being hypocritical. What can't you do with money?"
Mr. Zhao is not really worried about money now, but he just doesn't know what to send.
"We have fruit wine, military wine, snacks, and desserts. These are all the students' favorites..."
"Should I still give them a bottle to hang on to?"
"Milk, what's a milk bottle?"
Zhao Yongsheng looked at Zhao Sheng in confusion. He knew what the two words meant when they were separated, so why didn't he know what they meant when they were put together?
The concept of The Daily Mail suddenly flashed in my mind.
In fact, China has had newspapers for a long time. As early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), various counties and kingdoms set up residences in the capital to transmit imperial edicts, memorials, palace news, and political news.
The name "Chao Bao" appeared in the Tang Dynasty.
This type of official newspaper continued to exist under the name of "Dibao" in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and became the "Government Gazette" after the 1911 Revolution.
"Do you think it would be effective if we wrote down the poems and grand occasions of these literati on a piece of paper?"
Mr. Zhao asked Zhao Yongsheng about his thoughts.
"Sir, this may be possible, but copying these waste papers is also a waste of time, and the effort may not be appreciated."
"I'm not going to copy it, I'm going to print it..."
"print……?"
"Yes, let's just have a quick morning report."
Mr. Zhao plans to rewrite the daily newspaper into a morning paper, one per day.
"Sir, what do you mean by a morning paper?"
Zhao Yongsheng had obviously never seen the Morning Post, so he asked curiously.
"It's a bit like a daily newspaper, one per day."
"The emperor's son-in-law, this is too..."
He didn't finish his words, but the meaning was already very clear: it was a waste of money and trouble, and he didn't make any money.
"Then let's change the publication schedule to one issue per month or ten days. If the results are good, we can shorten it!"
Knowing the reason means changing it, and Mr. Zhao can still accept such a result.
It was initially planned to hold a Luancheng poetry festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It happened that Luancheng's commercial street had been open for some time. It was a duty-free zone and had been developed for two years without any good results.
Zhao Sheng simply turned this place into a duty-free zone, specifically for small commodity vendors. There is only one restaurant and teahouse in it, which is of course also duty-free.
Among them, teahouses are the industry of Suqiu Village.
The poetry reading was also arranged here.
The initiator of this poetry gathering was actually the eldest daughter of the Su family, whose courtesy name was Ling and her courtesy name was Baizhi.
The largest Linyin Academy in Dingzhou County is also owned by the Su family, with the purpose of imparting knowledge.
Most of the people in the academy are Su Ling's uncles and aunts, and they care little about these social activities, but the eldest daughter of the family is particularly interested in this matter.
"You mean the Prince Consort said he would publish a journal for our poetry club?"
When Su Ling learned about this, he had his own thoughts. He knew that the transmission speeds of the several lines outward from Dingzhou were extremely fast, and the farthest place could be reached in just three days.
If the poems and essays were to be published, the publicity for the students would certainly make them famous in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
"Our young master said that there are many details behind the publication, starting with the poetry gathering on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The Prince Consort's Mansion will provide food and some wine."
Mr. Zhao had explained to Zhao Yongsheng that the food didn't have to all be from their own home, and that some space should be left for the drinks. There would be no harm without comparison.
"Then thank your young master on my behalf. If the Prince Consort or the Princess is in the mood, this court will send a letter requesting their participation in the poetry gathering."
All students can participate in the poetry reading. Of course, in order to avoid a dull atmosphere, there will definitely be specially invited students or elders who will come to liven up the atmosphere.
"Then I would like to thank you on behalf of the young master. The list of rewards will be sent to you ten days before the poetry meeting."
"Thank you Su Ling..."
Finally, a worry was put to rest. Su Ling felt overwhelmed every time he hosted a poetry meeting.
Dingzhou is not the capital, and students who need to take the provincial examination rarely stay in their hometown, and even fewer come here because of its reputation.
It has been a long time since the Su family has had any masterpieces handed down from generation to generation.
For Mr. Zhao, to complete movable type printing, he had to build a text module and carve out the characters one by one.
Due to the tight time schedule and heavy workload, he could only start with wooden blocks.
There are more than 2,000 commonly used characters in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but less than 30% of them are repeated on the same page. The key problem is paper.
The cheapest papers on the market are yellow paper, hemp paper, silk paper and rice paper.
Why is hemp paper so cheap here?
It’s not that hemp paper is cheap, but that the paper made from hemp is not strong enough and its surface is not smooth.
Later, some people used straw and other materials to make paper, but the price was lower and the quality was worse.
However, Zhao Sheng, who came from later generations, certainly knew the papermaking process, but he simply did not have enough time.
then.
Purchasing yellow paper became the first major event in the Princess's Mansion.
Because of its strength, straw paper is not very large in area, and the largest is only about three feet.
But the newspaper doesn’t need to be three feet long, two feet is enough!
Looking at the price of purchasing yellow paper, it’s really expensive!
"Wu Sikai, if our workshop makes paper, do you think it will be profitable?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Sikai, the chief steward of the front yard, put down his work and said, "Your Ma-san, the paper we make here is all straw paper. We can't make good paper. That's all in the south!"
Zhao Sheng certainly knew that the craft of Xuan paper was spread from the Hangzhou area, and finally the best paper was produced in a county town under Xuanzhou Prefecture.
Because it came from Xuanzhou, later people called it Xuan paper.