Daqin: A buff of incredible comprehension

"No need, she delivered it herself."

Dun Ruo was about to arrange manpower when he was interrupted by the sound outside.

I saw Yan Fei bringing a few people with her, each holding a cloth bag containing the three kinds of animal hair that Zhao Chen needed.

Dun Ruo took the bamboo slips and took people to find the craftsmen.

Zhao Chen wandered around the Construction Department, curious about what went on there every day. This was his first time here in three years.

"Sir, everything has been arranged."

"Well, Dun Ruo, go find some carving masters and gather some carpenters."

"Yes!"

Yueshen and Yanfei were confused, not knowing what he was up to.

"Sir, what exactly are you planning to do?"

"Haha, Sister Yanfei, watch carefully! Maybe your Yin-Yang School's teachings will be known to ordinary people first."

Zhao Chen reminded softly.

"what?"

Yueshen and Yanfei looked puzzled.

Why is the theory of Yin and Yang brought up again?

I don't understand.

After a while, Dun Ruo came over with a dozen people.

"Sir, these five are the best stone carving masters, and these eight are the top carpenters."

"Greetings, sir!" (in unison)

"No gift!"

"Make this kind of wooden strip according to the pattern on this bamboo slip."

The leading carpenter glanced at the bamboo slips and saw that the pattern was simple and clear.

"Sir, how many of these wooden strips do you need to make?"

"Of course the more the better."

"As ordered!"

After making all the arrangements, Zhao Chen turned to the five stone carving masters.

"Once the carpenters have finished making the wooden strips, you will carve one character on each one until all the characters of the Qin State are carved. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Okay, Dun Ruo, take them down to work. Also, send someone to compile all the texts of the Qin State into a book and send it to us."

"As ordered!"

After Zhao Chen arranged all this, he left the Military Construction Bureau and waited for the results in three days.

What he didn't know was that Ying Zheng had already known his every move.

"What on earth does this brat want to do? He even asked Dun Ruo to keep a close watch on those craftsmen. Forget it, let him do whatever he wants. We'll know the outcome in three days."

Ying Zheng shook his head and continued to review the memorials.

……

Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and Zhao Chen and the other two arrived at the Construction Bureau.

"Greetings, sir!"

"No need to be polite! Is that thing ready?"

"Sir, the snow-white, thin paper you mentioned has been produced."

"Great, did it work?"

"The paper we made at first turned yellow. Later, we repeatedly proofread it according to the steps left by the young master, and finally made the paper described on the bamboo slips."

"Great! Let's go, I'll go take a look first, and you guys go and invite my father and teacher over."

"As ordered!"

Dun Ruo retreated, and Zhao Chen entered the workshop with great anticipation.

"Greetings, sir!"

"Excuse me! Where's the paper?"

"Sir, please look."

The foreman handed over the paper.

Seeing the familiar white paper, Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction. Although it was still inferior to modern paper, it was a rare achievement in this era.

"Excellent, very good! From now on, you must devote all your efforts to producing this kind of paper. You can also continue to improve the process and strive to achieve the best quality. Whoever can do this, I will ask my father to reward him with a title of nobility."

"Thank you, sir!"

Zhao Chen picked up a piece of white paper and showed it to the women around him.

"Sisters, this is paper."

"Sir, are you going to use it to write?"

Although expensive silk cloth is currently used for sending messages, after seeing this paper, they immediately realized its huge potential.

I thought to myself that bamboo slips would soon be eliminated from history.

Thin, light and portable paper will definitely become the mainstream in the future, and princes, nobles and literati will surely cheer for it.

"Yes, it can completely replace bamboo slips."

"Sir, it's better to give it a try. What if..."

"Don't worry, Sister Yueshen. I am very confident about this."

After that, Zhao Chen picked up the brush and wrote the poem on the paper:

The King of Qin swept across the world, looking like a tiger with a tiger's gaze!

Swinging the sword to cut through the floating clouds, all the princes came to the west.

After writing, twenty big words appeared on the paper.

"What a wonderful poem! Hahaha! 'The King of Qin Sweeps the World' and 'All the Princes Come West'—it's absolutely brilliant!"

Ying Zheng was delighted to see the four lines of poetry written by Zhao Chen. Though only twenty characters long, they expressed the grand ambitions of him and the Qin State.

This carries the dream of six generations of Qin kings. Today, the Qin Dynasty is extremely powerful, surpassing the six kingdoms. Princes from all over the world have come west to pay homage. This ambition will be realized in his own hands.

Not only that, his three-year-old son Zhao Chen also had the same ambition, which made him most pleased because it meant that the Qin Dynasty had a legacy.

At this moment, Ying Zheng determined that Zhao Chen was his successor and the future ruler of Qin.

"Father, you are here."

"See you, Your Majesty."

"No need to be so polite!" Ying Zheng waved his hand.

"Son, you asked Dun Ruo to call me here. What's going on? Oh, and your handwriting is pretty good. Did you practice it secretly?"

Zhao Chen: ………………

He glanced at Ying Zheng helplessly and decided to ignore him: "Father, how about you take a look at this white paper I'm writing on?"

"Oh, white paper?"

Ying Zheng took the white paper. He had been distracted by Zhao Chen's poem and hadn't paid attention to it. Now he took a closer look:

It's really good, even better than silk. The ink stays put and doesn't seep through to the back. Not bad, very good.

"Chen'er, what is this white paper...?"

"Father, this is a new thing I've developed these days. It's called white paper. Wouldn't it be much more convenient to use it instead of bamboo slips for writing?"

"This white paper can't be made of cheap materials like tree bark or bamboo grass!"

"Yes, that's exactly it."

Zhao Chen was not surprised that Ying Zheng knew this. After all, he should have some understanding of these things.

"In that case, the cost of this white paper should be very low."

"Indeed, white paper is far superior to bamboo slips for writing documents, submitting memorials, or practicing calligraphy. A single sheet of paper can hold dozens or even hundreds of characters, is easy to carry, and, due to its low cost, is affordable for ordinary people. This way, more people can learn, and more talented people will emerge in the Qin Dynasty. Furthermore, if the teachings of the various schools of thought were written on white paper and bound into books, they would not only spread quickly and widely, but also at a low cost. Wouldn't this help us better attract talented people from all walks of life?"

"Hahaha, good, good! Chen'er has really made a great contribution this time, very good." Ying Zheng laughed.

White paper has such a wide range of applications. Besides the ones Zhao Chen mentioned, there are many other uses. It can be said that the emergence of white paper can indeed change many situations and attract more talents to Daqin.

"Sir, this blank paper is indeed extraordinary. However, the doctrines of the various schools of thought are innumerable. I'm afraid it would be too time-consuming and laborious to write and bind them into a book in such a short time."

Guiguzi raised his doubts. You know, there are so many theories among the various schools of thought, and each school has tens of thousands of volumes of literature. This is a huge project.

Not to mention anything else, the dictionary he is currently compiling, although it only has one or two thousand words, but if annotations are added, the explanation of each word will require tens of thousands of words.

"Teacher, I've thought of this a long time ago. I'll show you something later, and you'll understand when you see it."

Zhao Chen smiled faintly: "Dun Ruo, bring over the wooden model made by the craftsmen!"

"Yes, sir!" Dun Ruo responded and left.

Not long after, Dun Ruo brought the woodcut typeface. Although it only had a little over 500 characters, it was enough.

Zhao Chen squatted on the ground and quickly found the twenty words he had written in the woodcut. Then he arranged them in order on the template, fixed them in place, and applied ink.

"Father, teacher, please watch carefully." Zhao Chen pressed the template on the white paper and copied it three times in a row.

Sixty words appeared on the white paper in an instant.

"How about this method?" Zhao Chen looked at Ying Zheng proudly.

"This this……"

“It’s a miracle!”

"A miracle, sir, this is truly amazing."

When Zhao Chen completed a series of actions and everyone saw three identical poems on the white paper, everyone was stunned and couldn't believe it.

The impact of movable type printing on them was really huge.

Especially Guiguzi, his whole body began to tremble.

In this way, all the theories of the strategists could be printed, and on light paper, it was easier to preserve. This would not only help spread the theories of the strategists, but also make Guiguzi excited.

Yue Shen and Yan Fei also felt the same way.

At this moment, they understood why the young master had said before that the Yin-Yang School's doctrines could be widely spread - with this white paper and the magical printing technology, all the Yin-Yang School's doctrines could be printed out in the thousands. Would there be anyone in the world who didn't know about the Yin-Yang School?

In those days, Confucius traveled around the countries and taught three thousand people, but only seventy-two of them achieved success.

It's not that he doesn't want to take in more disciples,

It's not that other students are not qualified enough,

Rather, it was due to limited resources. Confucian doctrines were written down on bamboo slips, numbering in the tens of thousands. To train apprentices on a large scale would require human and material resources that Confucianism alone could not afford.

Now with paper and printing, all these problems have been solved.

No wonder the young master said that he could recruit all the philosophers.

Faced with such an opportunity, I'm afraid no company would refuse it!

Moreover, the emergence of books could attract more people to Qin. Whether they came to spread their own ideas or to seek knowledge, they would come to Qin voluntarily.

No scholar can resist such **.

"Hahaha, hahaha! Good, good, good, Chen'er, you have made an unparalleled contribution to the Qin Dynasty this time. I am very happy. Tell me, what do you want? As long as I have it, I can give it to you."

Ying Zheng's words shocked everyone present.

This promise is truly astonishing.

If the prince directly asks for the position of crown prince, will the king really give it to him?

On second thought, perhaps the king had already planned this.

Although the young man is only three years old, the intelligence he displays is incomparable to that of ordinary children.

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Zhao Chen, wondering whether he would ask for the position of crown prince.

"Father, these are my duties. As a prince of the Qin State, I should make contributions to the Qin State. However, since..."