The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 177 They Won’t Come Again

After some analysis, Wu Jialiang successfully persuaded Madam Gong Er.

But Madam Gong Er still wanted to ask the True Lord for his opinion. She turned around and looked at Yue Wenxuan, only to see him nodding with a smile, indicating his agreement with Wu Jialiang. Without further hesitation, she gave the order, "Tear down the camp and let the villagers gather it up for firewood. Return to Jiaoshui County."

Everyone agreed in unison!

Return home happily.

The news of the army's victorious return spread immediately throughout the city.

The common people were overjoyed, but they suddenly discovered something strange: the county officials, gentry, and scholars were happier than ordinary people.

During the first two victories, the common people were extremely jubilant, but the officials, gentry and scholars were relatively calm. They were happy but restrained. But this time, the magistrate of Jiaoshui County was so happy that he ran wildly in the street like a forty-year-old child.

Several gentry families even hung up lanterns and decorations, looking even happier than if someone in their family was getting married.

The dozen or so gentry families who came from Changyi County even invited a troupe of actors to the "immigration camp" and made a fuss there.

The common people who didn't understand couldn't help but come over to ask: "Gentlemen, what are you so happy about?"

Then a curious scholar stepped forward to explain: "You don't understand! The first two times we repelled the Jin thieves, they were only small victories. The Jin thieves could come again at any time, but this time is different. For a long time to come, the Jin thieves will not come again."

The people didn't understand: "Why?"

The scholar continued to explain, "The Khitans are the strongest among the Jin bandits. As long as we defeat their main force, the Jin bandits will temporarily give up attacking us and move on to attacking easier targets."

People: "Ah? Can war be fought like this?"

"That's how the Jin thieves behave!" the scholar said. "They've attacked the Song Dynasty several times, always using similar tactics: circumventing the strong and attacking the weak. When they encounter a difficult area, they don't fight back. Instead, they let it go. After they've conquered the easy areas, they'll consider the more difficult ones."

The people finally understood!
No wonder when Zong Ze was in charge of a certain place, the Jin thieves would bypass that place and would rather go straight to Tokyo than provoke Zong Ze.

Because of this battle, the pseudo-Jin thieves must have listed the two states of Deng and Lai as "hard bones to chew". With this label, the Jin thieves will not come.

After realizing this, the people became delighted.

"It's safe!"

"We'll be safe for a while."

"Great."

"The fake gold thief will never come again."

"So, the next one coming is the real gold thief?"

Thinking of this, many people shuddered with fear again.

The scholars came out to explain: "The real gold thieves are attacking Yangzhou and hunting down the emperor. They won't be able to take care of Deng and Laizhou in the short term. Don't worry."

The streets were bustling as if it were a festival, with people running around telling each other the analysis they had heard from the scholars and passing it on to their relatives and friends.

Amidst this bustling commotion, a small businessman named Zheng, accompanied by five papermakers, their expressions stiff and their movements in unison, arrived at a dilapidated house in the east of the city. The house had once been a cloth shop, but the owner had been murdered during the first Jin thieves' attack the previous year, leaving it vacant. The Jiaoshui County magistrate had reclaimed the house during a population census and a recalculation of the county's land and real estate.

Yesterday, according to Yue Wenxuan's request, I sold it to Zheng Yuanwai at a low price.

The magistrate of Jiaoshui County was a scholar after all, and he was quite concerned about the "papermaking" business. He did not make it difficult for him to handle the procedures, and the price was fair. Zheng Yuanwai held the title deed of the house in his hand and could not help but feel grateful.

"I will start a new life here from now on." Zheng Yuanwai was still very nervous. He didn't know whether these quintuplet papermakers were reliable or not. They moved in unison and spoke in the same accent. They often said the same thing in unison, giving people the feeling that "these five people are probably not papermakers, but opera singers."

"Everyone," Zheng Yuanwai cleared his throat. "We're about to reopen the paper mill here. I'll go buy all the tools and materials. I'm not too familiar with your techniques, so I'd like to ask you first: what kind of paper are you good at making? If you have any special requests, please feel free to ask."

The papermaker said, "Bamboo! I need a lot of bamboo x 5."

"Huh?" Zheng Yuanwai's family had been making paper for many years, and he was very familiar with the papermaking technology. When he heard about bamboo, he was surprised: "Are you good at making bamboo paper?"

Papermaker: "Yes x5!"

Zheng Yuanwai was a little panicked: "Paper made from bamboo is unusable. You...really..."

It turns out that although the Song Dynasty already had the technology to make paper from bamboo, the technology was relatively primitive, and the bamboo paper had poor toughness and many fiber bundles, making it unusable.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty mainly used mulberry bark to make paper.

The bamboo papermaking technology in the Ming Dynasty was greatly improved. The original "raw material" was changed to "cooked material" for papermaking. The bamboo was repeatedly steamed and rinsed, which increased the purity of the fiber in the pulp and effectively solved the defects of the Song Dynasty bamboo paper, such as poor toughness and many fiber bundles.

Therefore, the quality of bamboo paper in the Ming Dynasty was already very good and usable, and the cost of bamboo paper was much lower than that of mulberry bark paper.

The cheapness of paper gave rise to large-scale novels. The vernacular novels of the Ming Dynasty were born against the backdrop of cheap paper.

The papermaker said, "Don't worry, Mr. Dong, the paper made from bamboo is guaranteed to be good x5."

Zheng Yuanwai was a little panicked, but then he thought, these five papermakers were assigned by Master Yue, and Master Yue was no simple person. Since he gave me these five papermakers, these five people must have extraordinary qualities. I'd better trust them for the time being.

Besides, a bamboo forest can grow a large area in a year, but how many years does it take for a paper mulberry tree to have a little bark? The cost of bamboo is much lower than that of paper mulberry bark.

If these five people can really make excellent paper out of bamboo, then this business will definitely be very profitable.

Perhaps it would take only a few years to earn back all the property that was robbed by the Jin thieves.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yuanwai couldn't help but cheer up. He waved his hand and said, "Okay! Since all five of you said you can use bamboo, then I will go and get some bamboo. Give me a few days and I will definitely prepare all the tools and materials. Just focus on making paper, and I will take care of the rest."

Mr. Zheng's decades of experience in running a paper mill is not exaggerated. He reopened the workshop very quickly.

He took out all his remaining wealth and quickly got together a complete set of tools needed for papermaking. The "production workshop" was organized in an orderly manner, and then he had a large amount of materials needed for papermaking.

In the past, it cost a lot of money to collect paper mulberry bark, and you had to find a merchant who specialized in selling this stuff. But now it is simple, you just have to cut bamboo, and bamboo is almost free. You can go out of the city and find an ownerless bamboo forest to cut down any bamboo you want. You only need to pay the bamboo cutters a labor fee, and then pay the porters who transport the bamboo back to the city a labor fee.

The cost is extremely low...

(End of this chapter)