At the end of the year, Zhuge Liang didn't just stay in Chengdu waiting for Xiu Mu to go on vacation, but actually went to Yufu in person to talk to Zhang Xi.
The target was clear – paper.
But unfortunately, Zhang Xi had no intention of entertaining Zhuge Liang at the moment because the due date of his wife, Sun Shangxiang, was coming soon.
Zhang Xi is very nervous now.
When Xiao Xuanxuan was born, Zhang Xi was not with Sun Shangxiang. Later, Sun Shangxiang often used this matter to push Zhang Xi, and Zhang Xi could understand.
At that time, Sun Shangxiang gave birth for the first time, and she must have been very confused and helpless. However, Zhang Xi was not here at this time, and there was no one to be scolded. Sun Shangxiang was able to bear it, which was a sign of her strength to the young man.
So this time, Zhang Xi really wanted to spend more time with Sun Shangxiang and accompany her in childbirth.
Then he was pushed out by Sun Shangxiang to find Zhuge Liang.
Now Sun Shangxiang is the matriarch of the family and she cares about face.
My husband ignores state affairs and just stays in the backyard with his wife and concubines. What will happen if word spreads about this? !
With Zhang Xi's current social status, no one will say that Zhang Xi has no ambitions. Some will only say that Sun Shangxiang is incapable of running a family, uses the "waist" method to confuse his husband, and is not virtuous enough.
My best friend Bu Lianshi, in order to help her husband stabilize the situation in Yizhou, personally acted as a matchmaker and asked Liu Bei to accept the daughter of the Wu family in Yizhou as his concubine. I couldn't let my best friend compete with her.
Besides, it's not like I'm going to give birth in the next two days. The doctor said it's still half a month away, so that's it.
Zhang Xi came to see Zhuge Liang reluctantly.
Zhuge Liang also had nothing to do with this guy.
Sometimes, Zhang Xi is very wise and prescient, but sometimes, Zhuge Liang wants to take this guy to a corner and give him a lecture - he can't tell the difference.
When your wife gives birth to a baby, which one is more important than the shock caused by the paper? !
But Zhuge Liang knew that this guy would most likely say that his wife was important, and he couldn't afford to be angry with him.
Let’s get down to business.
Zhuge Liang left his official duties and came to Yufu from Chengdu just for this paper matter.
This matter is troublesome, but it is also an opportunity for Liu Bei Group.
As Zhuge Liang was born in an aristocratic family, he naturally knew the aristocratic family's attitude towards paper, and he also knew better how the aristocratic family might react to this matter.
Zhuge Liang was afraid that Zhang Xi would make an irreversible mistake if he was not careful, so after discussing with Liu Bei, he hurried over to Yufu and asked him what happened.
After Zhang Xi understood Zhuge Liang's intention, he first took Zhuge Liang to visit the papermaking workshop.
Zhuge Liang's eyes widened.
Although Zhuge Liang also knew that Marquis Cai used linen material to make paper, which was already quite cheap, but using bamboo to make paper? !
In the Bashu area these days, bamboo is everywhere. This thing can grow into a piece in a year. So don’t we need as much raw material as possible? !
Looking at other materials, plant ash is available everywhere, bark and grass stems are found all over the mountains. The only thing that is more expensive is probably the charcoal used to burn bamboo, but the cost of that thing is not much higher. .
However, the production cycle is a troublesome thing. It takes at least three months to soak the bamboo, and more than half a year if it is longer, so the amount of paper that can be produced in Zhangxi is not much.
But this is not a problem. As long as the bamboo is soaked, won't it be able to continue production after half a year? !
Zhuge Liang couldn't even imagine what kind of changes would happen to the land of Bashu in the future with paper made in this way.
After visiting the paper-making workshop, Zhuge Liang's first reaction was to ask someone to send an order to Chen Dao, asking him to dispatch soldiers to carry out all-round protection of the paper-making workshop. Except for Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang, no one else had Liu Bei's order. Access allowed.
Paper craftsmen should not wander around, build houses for them near the workshop, and settle down for the time being, and then decide where these people belong after the matter is resolved.
After doing this, Zhuge Liang started to squirt at Zhang Xi.
In fact, Zhang Xi didn't have any idea, he still took some protective measures.
But you sent dozens of county soldiers to guard such an important place? !
County soldiers, they are basically local people. Who doesn't have aunts, relatives and friends? Who can guarantee that these people are not involved with local aristocratic families? !
That is to say, I arrived in time, otherwise this papermaking technology would probably have been lost among the people sooner or later and controlled by wealthy families.
Zhuge Liang also hoped to use this papermaking technology to consolidate Liu Bei's rule in Yizhou.
Zhang Xi didn't realize why Zhuge Liang was so cautious at first, but later, Zhuge Liang told Zhang Xi the results of his discussion with Liu Bei.
Now is not a good time for papermaking to be spread among the people.
Today's aristocratic families are too powerful. If you forcefully promote papermaking, you are depriving the aristocratic families of their right to interpret the scriptures and the right to speak. You will pull the aristocratic families from their transcendent status and turn them into ordinary landlords. These aristocratic families are I won't sit still and wait for death.
Zhuge Liang comes from a noble family, so he knows the noble family very well and knows the consequences of doing so.
But once the paper is promoted, it will help Liu Bei expand his talent pool and gain the hearts and minds of poor families and people. Therefore, it must be promoted, and he cannot starve to death guarding the treasure mountain.
Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei discussed this matter and decided to be cautious. They could not roll it out all at once and could only promote the paper to a limited extent.
Don't be impatient, you should do it step by step, promote it slowly, and while making the family acceptable, dig into the corners of the family little by little, slowly weakening the influence of the family.
So Zhuge Liang's idea is to select some easy-to-control individuals from the aristocratic family and let them issue paper on their behalf. In this way, while diverting conflicts, Liu Bei's group can retreat behind the scenes and not attract hatred head-on.
As for whether the aristocratic families will unite to fight against Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang is not worried.
The overall strength of the aristocratic families these days is indeed strong, but they have never been a piece of iron. There are quite a lot of conflicts between aristocratic families in the same county.
In addition, Zhuge Liang knew the style of the aristocratic family. As long as it could benefit the family, even barbarians would rush to serve. However, if it could not bring benefits to the aristocratic family, then even if you were Emperor Guangwu who recreated the Han Dynasty, they would You pull down the dragon chair.
Emperor Guangwu could solve the Dutian incident by pulling together one faction and fighting another. Now Zhuge Liang is just following the precedent.
As for the poor families and the people, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to do it bit by bit. After Liu Bei helped the Han Dynasty and stabilized the world, he would find a way to take care of them.
After all, this matter is not food, and you will not die if it is lacking, so the priority will naturally be lowered.
After explaining this to Zhang Xi, Zhuge Liang conveyed Liu Bei's order that papermaking and craftsmen should all be moved to Chengdu. Badong County was not allowed to promote papermaking without permission before Liu Bei made a decision.
Without the previous explanations, Zhuge Liang was afraid that Zhang Xi would be upset. Now that the explanations were finished, Zhuge Liang was waiting for Zhang Xi's reaction.
Zhang Xi's reaction was that he brought out the woodblock printing technology.
Engraving and printing is really not a difficult technology. These things like incised and positive engraving are used in inscriptions these days. Some classics are even engraved on the inscriptions, and there will be people who specially apply ink to rub them for use. study.
So Zhang Xi really felt strange, why no one thought of engraving and printing from the stele rubbings? !
Then Zhang Xi figured it out - the people who can use paper to print tablet inscriptions these days are all from wealthy and aristocratic families.
Can these people invent woodblock printing for you? !
Even if ordinary people and poor scholars thought of this method, but they couldn't find suitable paper, who would bother to study woodblock printing? !
So, after Zhang Xi discovered a usable papermaking technology, he immediately developed the woodblock printing technology.
Engraving is not difficult, the only trouble is ink. To print on paper, the current pine smoke ink is not easy to use, so you have to use ink.
Zhang Xi didn't have any ink-making craftsmen on hand, and was wondering whether he should ask Jiangdong for more ink-making craftsmen.
Zhuge Liang said, "My lord, Uncle Liu, is across the two states of Jing and Yi. Is there still a shortage of your ink-making craftsmen?" ! Still need to ask Jiangdong Sun Quan? !
Isn't it just adding ointment to the ink? As long as he has this idea, Zhuge Liang believes that there will always be craftsmen who can find suitable printing ink.
As for the engraving and printing technology, like papermaking, it was all taken back to Chengdu, and Badong County was not allowed to promote it without authorization.
This Zhang Yuanchang... As expected, we really can't let him be idle. If he is idle, big trouble will easily happen.
But for such a big matter, it would be better to let him continue to be idle.
Who is Zhuge Liang? He can't see that this woodblock printing technology is a weapon used in conjunction with paper to compete with aristocratic families for the right to annotate classics.
After this set of combined punches, Zhuge Liang decided to promote it forcefully if the power of the noble family was weaker. Unfortunately, it would not work. The power of the noble family these days is really not something to boast about.
They have money, food, land, population, prestige, and control of public opinion. They are basically loose little princes. If they cause trouble, the consequences will be really serious.
For specific consequences, you can refer to how Liangzhou's powerful forces teamed up to deceive Ma Chao, who had a large number of troops.
General Shenweitian couldn't survive in Liangzhou and had to lead his troops to defect to Liu Bei. Now if the aristocratic families really want to unite to rebel, then the problem will be really big.
Zhuge Liang was also helpless, but he had no choice. This is the status quo of this era. If you want to change, you have to take your time.
At least now we have certain means to slowly pry a hole from the aristocratic family, and this paper and printing technology are the sharp tools to pry the hole.
I have to say that paper and printing are really good things that complement each other. This Zhang Yuanchang is really quick-thinking and can come up with... Huh? ! Something seems wrong? !
Zhuge Liang was very keenly aware of the anomalies in Zhang Xi's combo boxing set.
It is not particularly unusual for Zhang Yuanchang to be able to make paper. After all, Zuo Bo from Donglai also made Zuo Bo paper. Maybe Zhang Xi saw the benefits of paper and asked the craftsmen to study it.
But after Zhang Xi finished making paper, he immediately came up with printing technology. This guy must have planned it in advance, otherwise it would be impossible to come up with printing technology that perfectly matches the paper so quickly.
When Zhuge Liang thought of this, he immediately cheered up and asked Zhang Xi.
Then, Zhang Xi stole his apprentice's idioms and told Zhuge Liang that during this period of time, he had figured out a talent selection system-the imperial examination system.
You see, paper has emerged, and papermaking technology has emerged, so shouldn't the imperial examination be born along with it? !
But after Zhuge Liang heard this, he not only felt a toothache, but also a headache.
This Zhang Yuanchang. How about letting him go home to be with his wife? !
(End of chapter)
