Live broadcast of the old ancestor gossip: Feeding the black moonlight to Qin Shi Huang

After Zhou Jia said that last time, they immediately asked the historian to write their queen’s name into the history books. This time, there won’t be such a thing as no name!

Girls in all dynasties were envious and jealous of this most talented woman in history who was recorded in history. Some girls still believed that Li Qingzhao should not be in the limelight and should just stay at home and take care of her husband and children, and there was no point in being the most talented woman.

They gossip behind people's backs and say nasty things, but it's just not posted on the screen for everyone to see.

Zhou Jia didn't say much. Everyone made different choices, and she couldn't blame them. She could only do her best to help those who had great ambitions.

That's it.

"Come on, let's talk about the four great inventions of China. Before we begin, let's vote as usual. There are eight options. As long as you choose one of them correctly, you will gain ten merits. However, it is possible that a small number of people may completely avoid the correct answer."

Zhou Jia couldn't help but laugh. This was just like doing multiple-choice questions in school. There were actually several times when she didn't guess a single multiple-choice question correctly. She was just unlucky.

She did not hide her desire to watch the fun, which made everyone under the sky very nervous, worrying whether they were the one who perfectly avoided the correct answer.

"Besides, I've already told you once before. If you don't remember it, it's because you didn't listen carefully and didn't take notes. You can't blame me then."

All the emperors had the same feeling as when they were princes and were randomly checked on their schoolwork.

Soon, relevant options appeared on the screen. Ying Zheng took a look and clicked on the relevant entries. The key point was that all his choices were correct. Wang Jian and others below were still flipping through their notes.

Zhou Jia took a look at the submitted answers and suddenly understood how the teacher felt when grading the papers.

The answers are varied, some of them are wrong, and the accuracy rate is ridiculously low.

"Okay, the four great inventions are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing. Let's talk about papermaking first, and we'll leave gunpowder for last. You will definitely like it! Especially Your Majesty and Emperor Wu of Han!"

Ying Zheng and Liu Che were both interested and said, "When it comes to gunpowder, every word is recorded in detail!"

Since Zhou Jia has specifically reminded me of this, the importance of this thing is self-evident.

"First, papermaking. In the distant past, our writing was generally recorded on animal bones, which was called oracle bone script. Later, it gradually developed into bamboo slips. Your Majesty's official documents at that time were mainly in bamboo slips, which were very heavy. Although silk books were light, they were very expensive and could not be widely disseminated and used.

Around the Western Han Dynasty, the most basic method of papermaking began to emerge, but it was not widely used. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a eunuch named Cai Lun who summed up the experience of his predecessors and improved the papermaking technique. Note that it was an improvement, not an invention. He used tree bark, hemp, rags, and old fishing nets as materials to start making paper. This was shown in the documentary, and you should all be familiar with it.

The raw materials for these things are very common, right? And they are not expensive, so from then on, paper was used more and more frequently, replacing the previous bamboo slips and silk."

Eastern Han Dynasty

Cai Lun already had the idea of ​​improving paper, and he started trying it immediately after Zhou Jia played the video about papermaking. Now when I hear his name, I realize that he actually succeeded and improved the papermaking technology!

Just as he was feeling overjoyed, he heard someone say that someone from the palace had come to ask him to go to the palace to meet the emperor. Cai Lun immediately went into the palace happily.

In the first year of Jianguang, that is, in 121 AD, Cai Lun, who was about to commit suicide by taking poison, was stunned for a moment when he heard his own name, and then laughed, "I didn't expect that a eunuch like Cai Lun could also go down in history. It's worth it, it's worth it!"

A tear fell into the poisoned wine and Cai Lun drank it all in one gulp.

It is enough to leave a name in history in this life.

As for the emperor forgiving him for the sake of his name being recorded in history...

That's wishful thinking.

Cai Lun closed his eyes peacefully.

His only thought at the moment of death was to never be involved in the struggle for royal power in the next life.

“But actually, there are two views on papermaking.

One view is that Cai Lun invented paper. This view was very popular before the new archaeological discoveries. Another view is that paper already existed in the Western Han Dynasty. In 1933, an ancient paper from the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in XJ. In 57, hemp paper from the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in Baqiao. However, the texture of this paper was relatively rough and inconvenient to use.

In fact, some scholars believe that only the Caihou paper made by Cai Lun is real paper, and the Baqiao paper in 57 AD is not real paper, but more people still believe that Cai Lun improved the papermaking technique.

Subsequently, papermaking technology developed rapidly. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, paper had made significant progress compared to Han paper. Its whiteness increased and its surface became smoother. Basically, there were paper mills in many places, so papermaking could be achieved using local materials.

By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the emergence of woodblock printing stimulated the further development of the papermaking industry, and large-format high-quality paper appeared to meet the needs of calligraphy and painting. In addition to the unprecedented development of the papermaking industry, many calligraphy and painting works of literati and poets have been passed down through the ages, all thanks to the development of paper.

The Song and Yuan dynasties also saw rapid development. During this period, paper was not only used for writing, but also for paper-cutting, paper flowers, fireworks, fuses, etc.

Not to mention the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the updating of technology and equipment, the output and quality of paper have been significantly improved. At that time, the raw materials for papermaking included bamboo, hemp, leather and straw, among which bamboo paper ranked first in output, especially in the mountainous areas in the south.

In the south, there will be many new varieties, which can be used in many ways. Nowadays, there is very little handmade paper. Most of the paper is made by machines. As you can see, the paper now is basically white, and only a small amount of paper is unbleached and in its original color. "

Everyone in Wanchao was stunned. They didn't expect that paper could have such a long history of development.

“This is probably the development of papermaking. I won’t go into detail about its spread and development abroad. I’ll show you the information later.

Let's look at this now, typography.

I just mentioned a sentence. I don't know if you noticed it. The emergence of woodblock printing stimulated the development of papermaking industry again. So, what is the relationship between woodblock printing and printing?"

Zhou Jia displayed two pictures. One was a complete wooden board with densely packed words engraved on it. The other was a picture of small wooden blocks with independent words engraved on each block.

“There are two types of printing: woodblock printing, which is printing by carving all the patterns on a block, and movable type printing, which uses small blocks that can be arranged and combined at will.

Before the printing press, many things had to be copied by hand, but copying by hand was time-consuming and laborious, and it was easy to make mistakes, so what should we do? "

Zhou Jia put up another picture, which showed a seal.

"The earliest inspiration for printing came from this thing, or to be more precise, the seal. The seal existed in the pre-Qin period, but at that time there were only a few words on it, indicating the name and official position. Later, after Your Majesty conquered the six kingdoms and unified the country, you created something that all men in later generations fought over!"

Inexplicably, he was reminded of the six kings who had been destroyed.

Anyway, she only cares about her Majesty all day long, so she doesn't care about their feelings.

Unlike the rulers of the six kingdoms, Ying Zheng’s first reaction was that Zhou Jia was talking about the position of emperor that he had created.

Chinese

Liu Che chuckled twice, "Sure enough, she never forgets to bring up her Majesty and talk about him all the time."

He is not jealous.

Really.

Humph.

However, his eyes also fell on the imperial seal on his desk. He took it in his hands and played with it. "This thing is really enough to make people fight for it."

The emperors of various dynasties also had complicated expressions when looking at the jade seals in their hands.

"This thing is called a seal, because His Majesty said that from now on, other people's seals can only be called seals, and only His Majesty's can be called seals, so later the seal became exclusive to the emperor. There are some stories behind the jade seal. I won't give a lecture tomorrow, I will tell you about this jade seal.

After discovering that rubbing can greatly reduce manpower and guarantee accuracy, everyone thought of using rubbing to record, such as stone carving. Your Majesty used stone carving to record his achievements. The one I know most about is the Yishan Stone Carving, which is what I am practicing now. "

Zhou Jia smiled and put out the picture of the Yishan stone carvings.

秦

Yingji laughed loudly, teasing the young Ying Zheng in his arms, and couldn't help pinching his face and saying, "I didn't expect that our Zheng'er is an emperor who can show off his achievements."

He thought that although Ying Zheng was domineering, he would not publicize his achievements everywhere. Unexpectedly, he would actually publicize his achievements everywhere. It was quite cute.

Yingji hit him without any mercy, and little Yingzheng felt hurt. He said aggrievedly, "Father, it hurts."

Ying Zhu and Ying Yiren were watching from the side and felt very distressed.

The older King Zheng of Qin and the First Emperor Zheng had no expression on their faces when they heard Zhou Jia's words, but their earlobes turned slightly red.

The Qin people were even more proud and thought this was normal.

Their Majesties have made so many achievements, so naturally they should all be recorded and passed down to future generations.

"After the emergence of rubbings, woodblock printing officially appeared around the Tang Dynasty.

The general process is that after writing, the side with the words is pasted on the board to carve the words, and the reverse characters are carved into raised positive text. The blank parts are removed, and after removing other wood chips, the engraving board is completed. When printing, the brush is dipped in ink on the plate, the paper is pasted on and lightly brushed with a small brush, and finally the paper is lifted from the board and dried. This is the complete process.

But there is a problem with this: it takes time to make the plate, and carving is very laborious. If you write this article today, you need to carve the layout for this article. If you write that article tomorrow, you need to carve other layouts. This is too troublesome.

Thus, movable type printing appeared. In fact, movable type printing has existed for a long time. When Your Majesty unified the weights and measures, he used a wooden stamp to print a 40-character edict on a ceramic scale. Some archaeologists believe that this was the beginning of movable type printing, but it was not widely used.

However, it is generally believed that Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty invented movable type printing. Unfortunately, his invention was not taken seriously by the emperor and society. Even after his death, movable type printing was not promoted, and his clay movable type was not preserved. Fortunately, movable type printing has been passed down.

Let me introduce you to you. Bi Sheng was a commoner. He was not a king or a general, but he still left his name in history with his inventions. Dear emperors, don't look down on your so-called strange and lewd skills. Sometimes, these things you look down on may really greatly facilitate the lives of the people. "

Northern Song Dynasty

Bi Sheng, who was working as a woodblock engraver in a bookstore, paused.

is it him?

"Bi Sheng? Miss Zhou Jia is not talking about you, Bi Sheng!"

The colleagues who were working beside him looked at Bi Sheng in shock, with envy and a bit of jealousy in their eyes.

Bi Sheng laughed, "How is that possible? Maybe he just happens to have the same name as me. Let's get to work."

The companion was still suspicious, but since he didn't look particularly happy, he didn't care and didn't ask any more questions.

When many people in Wan Chao heard Zhou Jia's words, a glimmer of hope flashed in their eyes. Is it really possible for ordinary people like them to leave their names in history?

"Thus, over the years, people have used a variety of materials for printing, including iron plates, pottery, clay, wood, tin, etc.

The emergence of printing can be said to have laid a solid foundation for the dissemination of knowledge. Without the emergence of printing, our knowledge dissemination may not be smooth until now. We will talk about the deeds of Cai Lun and Bi Sheng in detail later. Now let’s talk about the compass. After talking about the compass, I will tell you about the heavyweight gunpowder. "

Ying Zheng and others became more serious. What they wanted to know most was this so-called gunpowder.

“The purpose of a compass is to indicate direction. If you are in a dense forest or on the sea, where the scenery is the same everywhere, it would be difficult to determine your direction. But a compass can solve this problem very well.

The compass was originally called Sinan. The term Sinan began in the Warring States Period and ended in the Tang Dynasty. It looked like a base like the one in the picture, with the magnetic spoon placed on it.

As time went on, it gradually developed into a magnetic needle, which was also used for geomancy and navigation. In order to facilitate use and reading, someone combined the magnetic needle with a dial to form a new pointing instrument - the compass, which basically looks like this. "

Zhou Jia found a picture of a compass, opened the compass on her cell phone and shook it for them to see.

"See? When I shake, the needle will deflect. The one next to it is the specific angle, which makes it easier for us to determine our position. As for why the deflection occurs, I will give you a detailed introduction later. Today we will only look at the development and use of the compass."

Ying Zheng looked at the compass in Zhou Jia's hand. He first exclaimed that this mobile phone was really convenient. Then he wondered how the function of the compass would be realized on mobile phones in the future.

“The compass is not only widely used here, but it is also said that foreigners have discovered many good things at sea using the compass.

There are many historical records about the compass, so I won’t go into detail here. Now let’s talk about gunpowder. Before we start, let me show you a video that you will really like.”