Tiantang Splendid

"Your Highness, I will help you bathe and change your clothes."

"Get off!"

"Your Highness, please calm down. This is all my fault."

"Obscene! Dirty!"

"I am guilty, Your Highness, please punish me."

“…Don’t say that!”

"I have sinned deeply, and only by giving myself to you can I atone for my sins."

"…I was wrong, you are not guilty."

"No, no, no, I am guilty..."

"Go away!"

……

By the time the two of them bathed, changed clothes and sat back in the abode, it was already afternoon. Princess Changle changed into a loose Taoist robe, and tied up her long black hair with a jade hairpin, revealing her slender white neck. Her face was like jade, radiant, and her complexion was extremely good.

A pair of beautiful eyes, reflecting the water, glared at a shameless person with hatred, and opened her cherry lips slightly, scolding softly: "Scoundrel!"

Fang Junze was wearing a blue cloth robe, with his hair tied up, his eyebrows were handsome and his expression was happy. He drank his tea slowly, nodded, and had a smirk on his face: "Your Highness is right to scold me, I am guilty."

"..."

Princess Changle's face flushed red, she was filled with shame and anger: "Shut up! Don't say that again!"

Fang Jun readily agreed: "Yes, yes, your highness, please forgive me."

Princess Changle had no choice but to lower her head to boil water and make tea, ignoring this scoundrel. This whole ordeal had exhausted her and she was seriously dehydrated, so she was very thirsty now...

There were footsteps outside the door, and soon a maid pushed the door open and came in. After being rude, she said, "Duke Yue, there is someone outside the mountain gate who claims to be Liu Shi, a doctor in the Ministry of War. He said that he has made progress in the research and development of paper, and he is eager to report to you."

Fang Jun hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Bring him here."

"Here."

The maid lowered her head and eyes, then turned and left.

Princess Changle was taking the kettle off the stove when she heard this and asked curiously, "Why does my lord value this person so much?"

This Taoist temple is equivalent to their "love nest", not only giving birth here, but also the place where they have daily trysts. It is not difficult for outsiders to know this, but for Fang Jun to directly call him in and meet him in front of her, he must be the most trusted among the trusted.

Fang Jun said: "Although Liu Shi is not proficient in the way of studying things to gain knowledge, he has excellent management ability. The Foundry is what I value most. The various research projects are complicated, but he manages them in an orderly manner without any chaos. He deserves my high regard."

Princess Changle said no more.

She was just curious, but she didn't care about Fang Jun's strange ideas and tricks. After all, there were already countless censors who kept impeaching him, so she didn't need to say more to avoid annoying others...

Soon, Liu Shi came in quickly, changed his shoes at the door, stepped into the room with small steps, held a wooden box in his hand, and bowed to the ground: "I greet His Highness Changle and Duke Yue."

Although this was Princess Changle's territory, Fang Jun stepped in and said, "No need to be polite. Come and take a seat and have some tea."

"Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you, Duke Yue."

Fang Jun can act as the master, but Liu Shi cannot be ignorant and must put Princess Changle before Fang Jun...

He sat down beside the tea table, placed the wooden box on the table, and took the teacup filled by Princess Changle herself, feeling quite flattered: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Then he took a sip, put the teacup on the coffee table, sat upright, and looked straight ahead.

He knew that this was Princess Changle's Taoist temple, and that this house was almost equivalent to Princess Changle's bedroom. It was a great honor for him, an outsider, to be able to enter the house, and he would never dare to be rude or disrespectful.

Seeing his reserved look, Princess Changle couldn't help laughing and said softly, "You are Erlang's confidant, so you don't need to be too formal here, just relax a little."

Liu Shi hurriedly said, "Yes."

The admiration for Fang Jun in her heart is like the endless flow of the Yellow River. She is the eldest princess of Emperor Taizong and now the grand princess. She is of noble status and extremely favored, but she followed Fang Jun without any status or position, and even gave birth to a son for him without any regrets. A man who can do this will have no regrets even if he dies.

Princess Changle pointed to the wooden box on the coffee table curiously and asked, "Is this the so-called new papermaking technique?"

Liu Shi shook his head hastily: "I came here in a hurry and was unprepared. I only had time to prepare a small gift to present to the young master. I hope Your Highness and Duke Yue will not find it too shabby."

As he spoke, he opened the wooden box, revealing an exquisite white jade Qilin inside. The carving was exquisite and lifelike, and the jade was warm, delicate, and lustrous white.

This item is worth a fortune, but its meaning is even better.

Princess Changle was pleasantly surprised and said, "Liu Langzhong is thoughtful."

Liu Shi breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as Your Highness likes it."

She closed the lid and handed it to the maid beside her to keep.

Then he took out a few pieces of paper from his bosom and handed them to Fang Jun respectfully: "This is the latest formula developed by the master craftsmen and artisans of the papermaking workshop of the foundry. It is made from the bark of the euphorbia cerasifera, reed stems, and a kind of banana stem from Southeast Asia through a series of complex processes."

Fang Jun took the pieces of paper, fiddled with them to feel the texture, and gently rubbed them to check their toughness. They were smooth but not slippery, white and dense, with pure texture, and could be rubbed and folded without any damage, which had quite a bit of the charm of rice paper.

He also asked the maid to bring a pen and ink, and after dipping the pen in ink, he wrote the words "Zhongnanlingxiu" on one of the pieces of paper. The handwriting was of different shades, the texture was visible, the ink rhyme was clear, and the layers were distinct. The ink was thick but not muddy, and light but not gray, and the paper quality was excellent.

Princess Changle praised: "Good paper!"

Fang Jun also nodded in approval. The current anti-counterfeiting technology is extremely poor, and it is not difficult to imitate. One can only work on the quality of the paper. The formula of this paper is already top secret, and coupled with the complex and unique production process, it is extremely difficult to completely imitate it.

He looked at the paper again and again, and asked, "How much does it cost?"

Liu Shi said: "The cost is not that high, because the raw materials are cheap. Only the banana stems are a bit more troublesome. However, the process is complicated and time-consuming."

Fang Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Add some more precious spices to it. In short, add whatever is expensive without affecting the quality of the paper, and increase the cost of the paper."

Liu Shi was confused, and Princess Changle was also curious: "Why bother with this?"

Fang Jun explained: "This kind of paper is used to print 'coins' and must be inspected by your majesty. If your majesty thinks the paper is good and wants to use it as a tribute for the palace, there is a risk of the paper leaking out. If the paper leaks out, it may be used by others to forge 'coins'. It must be eliminated at the source."

Princess Changle and Liu Shi suddenly realized.

Your Majesty is the king of a country. If you want this kind of paper as a tribute, no one can refuse it. Your Majesty can only give up this possible idea.

What can I do?

That is to make the paper very expensive, so expensive that even if Li Chengqian loved it, he was afraid that the censors would write to impeach him for "extravagance and decadence" and "disregarding the people's strength"...

Liu Shi was impressed in his heart that the Duke of Yue was indeed not an ordinary man. He looked three steps ahead before taking one step, and was able to detect and reject all possible troubles in advance. How many people in the world are there who are so meticulous and talented?
Princess Changle looked somewhat resentful, and said dissatisfiedly: "Your Majesty is self-disciplined, diligent and frugal, why do you have to slander and guard against him like this?"

Fang Jun smiled and did not argue: "I am judging you by my own standards, but I am just being prepared."

Your Majesty today is no longer the same as before. Especially the change in his mentality is so different that we have to be on guard.

"This is an easy matter. I will gather the craftsmen to find a solution when I get back."

Liu Shi quickly agreed. It was extremely difficult to reduce the cost of something, but it was much easier to increase the price. Just add in some good stuff that was useless but would not affect the quality. In theory, the price could be infinitely increased...

Fang Jun nodded and instructed, "After you go back, print the four denominations of '10,000 Guan', '1,000 Guan', '100 Guan' and '50 Guan'. I will then show them to your Majesty for review. If there are no mistakes, print them in large quantities and deliver them to the noble families who are in urgent need of loans. In addition, all the craftsmen who participated in the development of the new paper will be rewarded with 100 Guan."

Throughout the ages, this land has never lacked talented and intelligent people. The only difference is that various systems suppress these people's talents, making it impossible for them to display their talents.

The so-called "established moral principles and the hierarchy of superiors and subordinates" is the foundation for dynasties to control their subjects and govern the country. The core lies in "unchange". As long as the status of the world is established, officials can serve as officials, soldiers can serve as soldiers, and farmers can farm, and there will be long-term stability.

All "changes" mean that the "order" that has been built with great effort may collapse, so people are extremely opposed to it. "Invention and creation" is also a kind of change, from nothing to something, from something to better. And every "invention and creation" with a huge impact will cause certain social changes, which is intolerable.

This is also the reason why successive dynasties have not attached importance to "inventions and creations" and even labeled them as "strange and lewd tricks" and severely criticized them.

Classes are bound, thoughts are bound, everything is bound.

It is not difficult to break free from the shackles and enhance the subjective initiative of craftsmen. All it requires is official titles, money and silk. It means the court's liberation of thought, so naturally everyone will compete to be the first and invent things everywhere.

It is more difficult to obtain official titles and rank, and one must have epoch-making inventions that surpass the past, but Fang Jun is never stingy when it comes to money.

"Here."

Liu Shi accepted the order, bowed, and left.

Princess Changle curiously picked up the papers and turned them over and over, then asked, "It would be fine to use them as a loan to the noble families instead of money, but why bother printing different denominations?"

Fang Jun said: "This is related to economics, there are many tricks."

……

A day later, Fang Jun entered the palace and presented Li Chengqian with paper for printing "banknotes", and Li Chengqian asked the same question.

Also present were Duke of Yingguo Li Ji, Minister of the Central Secretariat Liu Li, Palace Attendant Ma Zhou, Minister of Civil Affairs Tang Jian and others, all of whom looked at Fang Jun in confusion.

Then Fang Jun asked a seemingly simple but actually profound question: "What do you think is the essence of money?"