My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 171 Visiting the Paper Mill
Since Cai Lun invented papermaking during the Eastern Han Dynasty, both the quality and cost of paper have seen a significant improvement.

However, compared to what Liu Feng is currently leading, the gap is still quite obvious.

Based on the quality and cost of paper, Liu Feng deduced that his current progress was slightly ahead of that of the Northern Song Dynasty, and that in terms of output and cost, he had fully met the quality requirements of the imperial examination system.

What we need to continue to expand now is simply to increase production capacity, continue to improve quality, and reduce costs.

At the same time, some basic textbooks, such as the Hundred Family Surnames and the Thousand Character Classic, can be printed using woodblock printing, which can also bring a huge wave of fame.

The Hundred Family Surnames is a product of the early Northern Song Dynasty, but since the entire text consists of surnames, simply swapping the positions of Liu and Zhao will not cause any major issues.

As instructed by Liu Feng, the woodblocks for the Hundred Family Surnames are already being carved.

Once the trial production is successful, Liu Feng will present it to Liu Bei, making it a testament to his father's civil and political achievements.

The Thousand Character Classic, although a product of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, contains many allusions that originated after the Three Kingdoms period.

For example, Ji Qin, Ruan Xiao, Jun Qiao, and Ren Diao are either not yet born or still very young. However, not a single character in the Thousand Character Classic is repeated, so rashly modifying it would only ruin the entire text.

Liu Feng was still thinking about how to solve the problem. If there was really no other way, then he might have to bring up Emperor Taizu Gao again as a shield.

After all, both of these are extremely excellent works, not only extremely suitable as basic teaching materials to be promoted throughout the world and benefit all people, but also extremely classic literary works.

Liu Feng was well aware of the power wielded by the gentry during the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

However, he also knew that the aristocratic families at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty were extremely loose and could not form a united force. They could not even influence the court or the warlords.

Look at the warlords in various places: Yuan Shao rode alone into Bohai, Liu Bei rode alone into Jingzhou, and Cao Cao did not start his career in his hometown of Pei, but instead went to Chenliu first and then to Jizhou.

However, they all seized the opportunity to rise up and establish their own independent regimes, but none of the truly powerful local gentry families were able to establish such regimes. This fully demonstrates the weakness of the gentry in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Not all fundamental reforms will provoke a backlash from the gentry, nor will all classic reforms provoke a backlash from the entire gentry.

Today's aristocratic families are also divided into different classes. A large number of fourth and fifth-class aristocratic families do not have family traditions of classical learning. They can only serve as lackeys for the first and second-class aristocratic families in exchange for the opportunity to become their disciples and former servants, thereby obtaining their leftovers.

These aristocratic families were actually very uneasy, because the upper-class aristocracy could replace them at any time.

As for those from humble backgrounds and powerful families, they have absolutely no chance of entering officialdom. If you give these people a chance, they will become your loyal supporters.

Take Lu Su for example. Although the Lu family was extremely wealthy and influential in Guangling, they were only a top-tier powerful family and did not have any family classics passed down through generations, thus lacking the foundation to become a renowned scholar.

According to the rules of the game in the Eastern Han Dynasty, unless a prominent scholar or nobleman took a liking to Lu Su and recruited and promoted him, Lu Su's life would likely end up as a county clerk, and he would have a hard time even becoming a county magistrate.

For Lu Su, he would certainly support the court's reform of the classics, taking the rights to the classics from a dozen or so aristocratic families and distributing them to everyone in the country.

The debate between ancient and modern schools of thought at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was essentially like this. Moreover, both ancient and modern schools of thought were severely damaged by the two partisan purges, the Yellow Turban Rebellion that followed, and the rule-breaking chaos of Dong Zhuo, which completely disrupted the rules of the game. This caused their strength and influence to decline sharply.

Cao Cao's meritocratic system was essentially undermining the foundations of the aristocratic class. Even though the aristocratic class was very dissatisfied, they could only endure it rather than rebel.

Because the gentry also feared death, and the enlightened members of the gentry held a dominant position, these people also knew that the times had reached a point where change was no longer an option.

This phenomenon didn't just appear during the Three Kingdoms period. As early as the reign of Emperor Huan of Han, the elites among the gentry had already keenly sensed that something was wrong with the world and that the old operating model was about to collapse.

They began to search for the cause, but human selfishness led them to blame the eunuchs for everything.

But as it turns out, their answer was wrong, or at least not entirely correct.

Liu Feng remained clear-headed. Even when faced with the weakened and loose power of the aristocratic clans, he would not take any major actions for the time being. Liu Feng's plan was always to proceed step by step, gradually eroding their power base, with expanding his own base being his top priority.

At present, Liu Feng has even limited the popularization of basic education to his own Liu'er Camp.

This is because it is a stable source of his staunch tools of rule, and the level of education is limited to basic education, which, in the simplest terms, is literacy plus basic arithmetic and basic management.

For the time being, this is sufficient for Liu Feng's needs.

As the children of Liu'er Camp grew up, Liu Feng would continuously assign them to grassroots positions in places like Xuzhou to increase his control over the local population.

Liu Feng will only take the next step once his control over Xuzhou reaches a critical point.

The policies currently being implemented by Liu Feng are essentially aimed at strengthening centralized power and increasing his own strength, which is not much different from those of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Sun Ce in history.

However, compared to these local warlords, Liu Feng treated the common people with greater kindness.

Whether it's developing industry or popularizing education on a large scale, it all boils down to the struggle for power.

For example, agriculture is the foundation of everything; without food, there is only one way out: death.

But how to develop agriculture?

We still have to rely on industrial development.

The production of agricultural tools is industry, the improvement of agricultural tools is industry, the increase of agricultural tool production is still industry, even composting is essentially industry, and the future production-boosting magic weapon, chemical fertilizer, is an industrial product.

Talking about increasing agricultural production without considering industry is nothing short of dishonest.
Historically, all agricultural development has been driven by industrial development.

From slash-and-burn agriculture to stone tools, then to wooden implements, and finally to metal tools, the yield of the land has been continuously increased.

Industry is like the stepmother of agriculture; although it's not the biological child, agriculture was essentially raised on the milk of industry.

Without abundant iron ore, enough skilled craftsmen, and excellent forging techniques, how many iron farm tools would the 50 million people of the Han Dynasty consume each year? You couldn't even meet the demand for sufficient supplies, so how could you talk about developing agriculture?

At this stage, since Liu Feng's main need is still basic education and there is no need to frequently change teaching materials, woodblock printing is indeed cheaper and can be described as a bargain.

However, movable type printing will remain the mainstream in the future and requires continued research and development.

Xun You, Zhuge Jin, and the Zhuge Liang brothers were quickly attracted by the craftsmanship here.

They discovered not only a huge bleaching pot in the yard, but also a large number of papermaking boards and a smoky jar placed in the house.

Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up, and he pointed to the incense burner, asking, "Young Master, this thing can not only speed up the drying of paper, but also avoid the limitations of the weather. If that's the case, why not switch to this method for everything, instead of continuing to dry the paperboards outdoors?"

Liu Feng smiled and replied, "The cost of fumigating is relatively high. If the weather is good, we can use both methods simultaneously to reduce costs."

"I see."

Zhuge Liang nodded repeatedly, his eyes clear and bright, filled with curiosity and admiration: "I was mistaken. Incense burners require fuel. Although they can block out the limitations of time, the fuel consumption is indeed quite wasteful."

Liu Feng waved his hand and invited, "Gentlemen, please come inside and see the finished product."

Then, the three followed Liu Feng into the main hall in the back, where many finished products were displayed.

Xun You, Zhuge Jin, and Zhuge Liang dispersed and went forward to observe.

The papers were pure white overall, though slightly yellowed, but this did not affect the overall color of the paper.

Xun You reached out and gently touched it. He felt that although the paper had a gritty texture, it was smoother than ever before, almost as smooth as silk.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, although paper had already appeared, bamboo slips and silk books were still the most important.

Silk books are expensive and difficult to preserve, so the vast majority of classic texts are still written on bamboo slips.

Therefore, while the phrase "learned beyond measure" sounds impressive, it's quite possible that the person has only actually read a few dozen books.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, bamboo slips were standardized. A scroll of bamboo slips consisted of 25 bamboo leaves, and each bamboo leaf could record 25 characters, so a scroll of bamboo slips contained 625 characters.

A cartload of bamboo slips can be divided into thirty scrolls, which can record less than 19,000 characters.

Despite his vast knowledge, he only wrote about 100,000 words.

Although silk books are lightweight, they are easily perishable and difficult to preserve, so they are rarely used for important books. Records are typically made on silk. Of course, this is also because silk is extremely expensive, and even the central government could not afford it.

Therefore, from the moment paper appeared, it was highly regarded by the gentry.

Such a lightweight, easy-to-preserve, clear-to-record, and inexpensive medium (compared to silk) perfectly fulfilled all the gentry's fantasies. It was just a pity that paper production was far too limited, and the production methods were controlled by paper craftsmen families.

Take Zuo Bo paper as an example. Its annual output was only a few thousand sheets, and its price was extremely high, almost comparable to that of silk, making it a luxury item.

Zhang, the stepmother of Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, was very fond of calligraphy, especially Zuo Bo paper. Therefore, Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang were quite knowledgeable about paper.

From their perspective, these papers, though slightly inferior to Zuo Bo's paper, were roughly the same quality.

"Gentlemen, would you like to try this paper?"

Liu Feng walked to the table, where a sheet of paper was laid out, along with freshly ground ink and several quill pens.

Xun You and the others were all drawn to Liu Feng's words. They saw the young master of Xuzhou pick up a feather, dip it in the ink a few times, hold the quill pen between his thumb, index finger and middle finger, and then start writing on the paper.

The three people curiously gathered around, wanting to see what Liu Feng was writing with the strange feather.

Liu Feng then wrote four sentences on the paper.

"Establish a mind for the heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living people, carry forward the unique teachings of the past saints, and create peace for all generations."

"it is good!"

Xun You and the other two praised it in unison, even Zhuge Jin, who had been silent and low-key all along.

"I never imagined that you, young master, would have such lofty ambitions at such a young age."

Looking at the energetic Liu Feng, Xun You couldn't help but exclaim, "The sage said that there are three kinds of achievements and three kinds of immortality. Today, your words, sir, will surely be considered a great achievement."

Zhuge Liang nodded in agreement, his expression somewhat excited, and said, "Mr. Xun's words are excellent, but they are still not perfect."

Xun You looked at Zhuge Liang curiously, who pointed to the quill pen in Liu Feng's hand and the white paper on the table: "Mr. Gongda, are these two things not considered as meritorious items?"

"Good! Great good!"

Xun You clapped his hands and laughed: "Indeed, as Brother Zhuge said, I am blinded by a leaf and do not recognize the great achievement."

Zhuge Jin smiled from the side and then added, "In my opinion, since you entered Xuzhou, you have gathered refugees, cared for orphans, provided porridge, and established agricultural settlements. Your actions already show signs of being a sage. Do you wish to emulate the ancient sages who established three immortal achievements?"

Liu Feng was dumbfounded. "I'm just a fan of Zhang Zai. I especially like this passage of his and wanted to use it to introduce the plan I was planning."

Why are you three suddenly praising me?
Which of these three men is not a man of exceptional talent, capable of assisting a king?
Now they're actually flattering Liu Feng, which Liu Feng can't resist.

"Gentlemen, you flatter me, you flatter me."

Liu Feng hurriedly stood up to return the greeting, and then sighed, "Gentlemen, my father was poor and lost his father at a young age. If it weren't for the protection of my clan and the kindness of my uncle, I would have had almost no opportunity to study."

“Whenever my father mentions it, he feels a deep sense of loss. He often says that there are countless people like him in the world. If everyone could read books and understand principles and rules, how could the world be in such chaos?”

"I am but a humble child, but I wish to relieve my father's worries. Therefore, I have researched and developed this paper and pen, hoping to promote their use so that everyone in the world may have books to read."

Xun You and the other two were shocked upon hearing this.

I never expected Liu Feng to be so filial and to have such grand ambitions.

To ensure that everyone in the world has access to books.

This ambition is truly astonishing.

If Liu Feng hadn't been no ordinary child, and if they hadn't recently heard quite a bit about his deeds, even these three wise men would have suspected that Liu Feng was just talking nonsense.

However, judging from the current situation, Liu Feng has already made some groundbreaking achievements, and he seems to be working hard in a down-to-earth manner.

Therefore, Xun You and the other two were only shocked and impressed by Liu Feng's grand ambition, but they did not ridicule or despise him in the slightest.

"Gentlemen, the cost of this paper has already been reduced to eight copper coins per sheet. As production scales up in the future, the cost can be further reduced. And this quill pen costs only twenty copper coins each, which is much cheaper than a brush pen."

Liu Feng continued to explain, "More importantly, the quill pen is a hard pen, which is more suitable for writing small characters and is faster than the brush pen."

Xun You and the other two were all wise and resourceful, and they were able to draw inferences from one instance to another. After Liu Feng explained it to them, they tried it out and immediately understood.

Hard pens have a fixed point of force, which requires less control over the force compared to brushes. This naturally increases writing speed significantly, and they are particularly effective for writing small characters, far surpassing soft pens.

Most importantly, the learning time for hard-pen calligraphy is much less than that for soft-pen calligraphy.

Those who are not proficient with soft-tipped pens cannot write small characters at all, but anyone who can write can immediately start writing small characters with hard-tipped pens.

The difference between them is like heaven and earth.

Unlike later periods, the Han Dynasty was not as closed off as it is today. The Han people, especially the gentry, were very receptive to change.

Even after Cao Pi usurped the Han throne, the aristocratic officials began to reflect on the problems of Confucianism.

When the Sima clan usurped the Wei throne and Sima Zhaodi murdered Cao Mao in the street, the upright scholars of the entire north were utterly devastated. They felt that everything the Confucianists said was a lie and a deception, and they fell into deep self-inflicted mental turmoil, becoming mentally unstable.

At the same time, due to the spiritual exhaustion and world-weariness of upright scholars, coupled with the extremely illegitimate way the Sima clan obtained the country, the Jin Dynasty court was eventually filled with wolves and tigers, leaving no place for virtuous gentlemen.

Therefore, when Xun You and the Zhuge brothers saw the blank paper and the quill pen, they did not immediately reprimand Liu Feng for his unorthodox behavior. Instead, they enthusiastically began to experiment with it.

Ultimately, their conclusion was exactly the same as Liu Feng's.

"What is this thing called?"

Zhuge Liang held the quill pen in his hand, examining it from all angles.

Historically, this Marquis Wu was an inventor who made many technological inventions, so it's easy to understand why he was interested in quill pens.

Liu Feng shook his head and replied, "It doesn't have a name yet; it's just referred to as a quill pen."

Zhuge Liang was pleasantly surprised. In his excitement, he couldn't help but suggest, "This pen is made of feathers, so how about calling it the Winged Pen?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhuge Liang regretted them, but unfortunately, what's done is done, and the words could not be taken back.

Zhuge Liang felt regretful. Liu Feng had his reasons for not having a name, and it was not up to him to presume to do so.

This quill pen is clearly destined for fame, and the person who named it will naturally also be remembered in history for this achievement.

If I were to speak rashly at this moment, wouldn't I appear to be a petty person trying to steal credit?

At almost the same time, Xun You and Zhuge Jin looked over in disbelief, clearly having also thought of this.

Xun You was not familiar with Zhuge Liang, so his gaze was a mixture of surprise and doubt, while Zhuge Jin was simply shocked and couldn't understand what his second brother was thinking.

Zhuge Liang realized he had spoken out of turn and quickly tried to apologize.

But Liu Feng had already moved faster.

"A winged pen?"

Liu Feng actually thought about it seriously for a while, and then said affirmatively, "I like it very much, thank you for the name, Brother Zhuge."

Liu Feng's answer greatly surprised the Zhuge brothers and Xun You, but judging from his expression, it seemed quite sincere.

Zhuge Liang hesitated for a moment before saying, "Young Master, you must not make such a hasty decision. Please consider it further."

Before Liu Feng could answer, Zhuge Jin suddenly asked curiously, "Young Master, how long can this quill pen last?"

Zhuge Liang looked at his elder brother with gratitude. Zhuge Jin interjected at this moment, seemingly out of curiosity, but actually to help his younger brother out of a predicament.

(End of this chapter)