But then again, if Dongfang Jian wanted to make a lot of money just by relying on the paper and printing, it was basically unrealistic. After all, what kind of sky-high price could a stack of paper sell for? This paper isn't like glass. You're the only one who knows how to make it. Isn't it just writing on it? I don't need yours, alright? Therefore, Dongfang Jian's main purpose in making paper was not to earn money by selling paper. Firstly, for the convenience and use of books, many important documents like those in history were lost. This was the misfortune of mankind. Secondly, it was for money. Dongfang Jian knew that if he wanted to compete with Cao Cao and the others in the Three Kingdoms, he needed an economy in addition to the army. To put it bluntly, the economy was money. Although the Zhen family was supporting him now, it was still their money. If anything happened, it would be too unfavorable. Therefore, he handed the lifeline of paper and printing to Tian Yu instead of the Zhen family, just in case. The third was to gain the favor of those aristocratic families. Everyone knew that the influence of the aristocratic families in the Eastern Han Dynasty was very important to the world. It was impossible to dominate the world without the support of the aristocratic families.
Although Youzhou Province was surrounded by autumn, it was still hot. Dongfang Jian was practicing calligraphy in the Provincial Governor's Office with the paper that had been sent to him. Although Dongfang Jian had learned calligraphy for a few years in the later generations, his calligraphy was better than that of a scholar in the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, he learned calligraphy like Zhong Yao, who was known as a famous calligrapher in the later generations. While Dongfang Jian was writing, he felt the sweat on his head keep pouring out. Dongfang Jian wiped the sweat off his forehead with the towel beside him and said,""It's too hot. If only there was an electric fan.”
Wait for the electric fan, the fan. Although he didn't have an electric fan or a fan now, he could make a fan. Can't you make a fan with paper? I'm too stupid. Why didn't I think of it earlier? When the time comes, not only can I fan it, but I can also use it as an ornament and sell it to those aristocratic families to earn their money for my own use. Dongfang Jian suddenly thought.
Fans had a long history in China. From the Yin Dynasty, fans made of colorful pheasant feathers appeared and were called "barrier fans". However, at that time, the fan was not used to fan the wind and cool down, but to block the sun and wind when the emperor went out to patrol. After the Western Han Dynasty, fans began to be used for cooling, and the material was mostly feathers. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, other than feather fans, most of the materials used to make fans were changed to silk, silk, and silk fabrics, which were mostly used by women because only women had the ability to embroider various patterns on the fan. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang was probably the most famous fan for men." Gently waving the goose feather fan, making brilliant plans and strategizing " had basically become the biggest image of Zhuge Liang.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, folding fans that were extremely convenient to carry appeared. The fan ribs were made of precious materials such as ox horns, tortoiseshell, ivory, jade, Xiangfei bamboo, sandalwood, etc. There are zither style, Ruyi head style, bamboo style, grasshopper eye style, etc. The fan ribs are divided into seven, nine, twelve, fourteen, sixteen and eighteen parts. In the Southern Song Dynasty, painting fans, selling fans, and collecting fans were popular, and fan shops and art merchants appeared. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it became a fashion for the literati to inscribe and paint fans. It was said that the inscription and painting on the fan originated from the Three Kingdoms period. It was done by Cao Cao and Yang Xiu by chance. However, it was nearly twenty years since Dongfang Jian's current era. Therefore, Dongfang Jian's plan to use the folding fan to make money should be said to be extremely feasible!
The paper, one of the main materials of folding fan, had been successfully developed. As for bamboo, although there was no bamboo in Youzhou Province, it could be transported back from Jingzhou Province and Yizhou Province. Additionally, it could be transported in quantity. As for the paintings on the fan, Zhong Yao, a great writer who was proficient in painting, and Dongfang Jian, a pirate, naturally wouldn't have any problems. Of course, Dongfang Jian and Zhong Yao couldn't just be busy writing on the fans every day. Therefore, Dongfang Jian simply took advantage of the convenience of the river outside Ji County to open a folding fan manufacturing factory by the river. He also told Ma Jun and the others about the principle of movable type printing in the future, and asked them to put the movable type printing technology into practice as soon as possible. Since the direction of development was clear, it was naturally better to start the project as soon as possible. Therefore, all the handicraft industries across Youzhou Province were mobilized. A small-scale industrial revolution started outside Ji County City of Youzhou Province.
In August of the 5th year of Guanghe of Han Dynasty, the folding fan that had been passed down for thousands of years was finally mass-produced on the riverside outside Ji County, Youzhou Province. Looking at the folding fans that were made up of the hard work and blood of more than a hundred craftsmen, Dongfang Jian felt a little touched. Who said that craftsmen were the lower class? Without these craftsmen, would the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation have come out of thin air? However, Dongfang Jian's current status made it impossible for him to remove the label of being inferior for all the craftsmen in the world. However, it was only a matter of time, although it might take a long time.
The success of the folding fan did not mean that Dongfang Jian could sit at home and count his money without worry. Business operations were also the most important part. The business of the Han Dynasty had always been suppressed by the ruling class, so there were not many famous rich merchants, and the methods used by these rich merchants were relatively crude. However, it was different in the hands of Dongfang Jian, who had two thousand years of knowledge.
Dongfang Jian's plan was not very complicated. After all, in the Three Kingdoms era, no matter how exciting it was, no one would cheer for the merchants. The plan was divided into three steps. The first step was to divide the folding fans into three categories. The original fans could only be the ones that Zhong Yao personally wrote poems and painted, and the ones that had reached the level of craftsmen to make the fan rib pendants. These fans were of high quality and few in quantity, making them valuable collections. Imitation fans were similar to the original fan in every aspect, except that the paintings were engraved on it, and the fan ribs were made by ordinary craftsmen. Although this kind of fan was not as valuable as the original fan, it was just right to show one's elegance. The third type was the regular fan, which was inscribed by a batch of scholars from poor families in Youzhou Province organized by Dongfang Jian. The fan ribs were also made by the apprentices. This kind of fan was cheap and available for the common class. It was worth it if one wanted to be elegant.
The first step of classification was for the second step of action. The second step was divided into three stages. The first stage was to send a batch of exquisite original fans to Emperor Ling, the three princes, the nine ministers, the influential big shots and young elites in the court, such as Cao Cao, and the famous Confucian and Confucian masters such as Cai Yong and Zheng Xuan. This step was not difficult to accomplish because these people more or less had some friendship with Dongfang Jian. Moreover, these people were all people with sharp eyes who knew what was good. As long as they were not blind, they would definitely be unable to put down the folding fan. The second step was for the big shots of the imperial court to spread the name of the folding fan. According to the law of the upper class following the lower class since ancient times, a door would appear in the market. At this time, dozens of original fans would be set aside and auctioned in Luoyang, Jizhou, Xuzhou, Jingzhou, Yanzhou, and Qingzhou, which were rich families and had many scholarly families. This would further promote the large-scale listing of imitation fans. The third step was to reassemble the fan when the market demand reached its peak.
As for the third step, it was the regular commercial operation of the Chang Fan. This step was carried out after the imitation fan had completely opened up the folding fan market, so the technical content was very low. Dongfang Jian left it to the Zhen family to handle.
Dongfang Jian was very optimistic about the market prospects of the folding fan and was very confident in his business operations. Reality gave Dongfang Jian a resounding answer. His prediction was completely correct. The appearance of the folding fan set off a storm in the burly man. For a time, all the scholars and Confucians were convinced by the elegant bearing of the folding fan. Overnight, the folding fan had become the symbol of status for all the aristocratic clans and scholars. Not to mention that the original fan was hard to find, even the second-class imitation fan, which could be bought for 200 strings, was still priceless. In the imperial court, those big shots who played with high-quality original fans became the envy of their colleagues, which led to the trend of some officials not asking for money but only asking for a fan.
After all this was attributed to the Youzhou Provincial Governor's Office, the conclusion became very simple. The direct consequence of this storm was that the Provincial Governor Dongfang Jian deeply realized that money was like dirt. Within a short profit cycle, the folding fan had brought millions of dollars to Youzhou. It was no wonder that Dongfang Jian was bored with strings of copper coins.
Almost all the profits of the first profit cycle of the folding fan were spent by Dongfang Jian. After Youzhou Province accepted a great number of refugees from other provinces, the total population of Youzhou Province had reached 7 million, which could match the total population of the entire north and south of Jizhou Province in its heyday. Although Dongfang Jian knew that 7 million people was less than one-tenth of the population of Hebei Province in the future, it was almost the maximum capacity of Youzhou Province given the current level of productivity. The rapid increase in population had brought great pressure to the county governments of Fanyang Prefecture, Yan Kingdom, Yuyang, Youbei, and other places. From registering the origins of refugees to distributing farmland, to assisting in the construction of simple houses and distributing the corresponding agricultural tools and grain seeds, all kinds of matters had brought heavy pressure to the local government offices.
As the leader of the highest level in Youzhou Province, Dongfang Jian's personal affairs were certainly not much easier than the local affairs. Feeling deeply embarrassed, Dongfang Jian finally decided to carry out a thorough reform in Youzhou.
Therefore, he held the first conference since he entered Youzhou Province, which was about the reform. The first step was to let the people of Youzhou have their own land. This was a bold idea. When Dongfang Jian proposed this idea to the strategists, they were strongly opposed, especially Xun Youyan.""If the emperor hears about this, it will be a rebellion!”
As Xi Zhicai was born in poverty, he naturally hoped that the poor people could have their own land. However, as the lord's advisor, he naturally had to think for Dongfang Jian. He also recommended,""Gongda is right. Please think twice, Lord.”Dongfang Jian looked at his strategists and revealed a profound and lascivious smile." Don't worry, everyone. We're recruiting refugees for the emperor, which is beneficial to the people. Besides, I believe that we won't encroach on the existing land, but adopt measures to reclaim it. The people will enjoy the land that they have reclaimed, but the area that each person can reclaim will be limited. As for the surplus population, they had to return it to the prefectures and prefectures in 10 years. As there were over 7 million people in Youzhou Province now, they could support 100,000 people at most. Therefore, they had to absorb more people as it was the foundation for the development of Youzhou Province. We've done it well since we entered Youzhou Province. Additionally, most of the refugees at that time had already owned their own land. However, only a few local people in Youzhou Province had their own land. I gained them through killing. Therefore, it was very disadvantageous to us. We couldn't kill all those who opposed us. Therefore, we should come up with a way to provide land for those landless people and prevent those major clans from causing trouble. If we can also provide them with land, then we will gain the hearts of all the people. This will provide us with a good guarantee in the future.”
Everyone listened to their lord's detailed explanation and understood a thing or two. Although they were not very sure, they all felt that their lord's words made sense. "And everyone, what do you think is the foundation of human life? No matter how powerful one's power and influence were, it was only the courage of one person and the courage of tens of thousands of people. However, it was indeed the hope of tens of thousands of people to live and work in peace and contentment. It was the foundation of the country's prosperity. The sword had two goals in life. First, he hoped that the people of the Great Han Dynasty could live and work in peace and contentment. He hoped that they would have crops and food to feed their children. Secondly, he hoped to plant the flag of the Great Han Dynasty in all the places under the universe, even on the continent on the other side of the ocean, so that all four sides would come to worship!”Dongfang Jian said.
The civil officials and generals fell into deep thought after hearing Dongfang Jian's words. Dongfang Jian was not in a hurry. After all, it was indeed difficult for the people of the Three Kingdoms Era to accept his modern point of view. After an unknown period of time, Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Tian Feng, Tian Yu, Zhong Yao, Jia Xu, and the others were the first to wake up from their thoughts. They looked at Dongfang Jian with determination. They had entrusted their lives to their lord. If their lord wanted to die now, he would not live until tomorrow. It was not for anything else, but for the genius and the common people, and for the faith in their hearts. The other generals had different thoughts from the civil officials. Lu Bu, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zang Ba, and the others were all boiling with excitement. They wanted the four sides to come to court and plant their own flags on the other side of the ocean. Their lord was still very young, and they were also very young. They still had 40 to 50 years to realize this dream. How exciting was this? Dongfang Jian saw that everyone had already found their position, so he did not waste any more time. "Gongda, who do you think is more suitable to take up the position of land management? It is mainly responsible for the planting, reclamation, and settlement of refugees in the territory under our jurisdiction. This position is very important and not something that ordinary people can take up.”Dongfang Jian looked at Xun You expectantly. Before the lord asked him, Xun You had already considered that the people he had selected and recommended this time were indeed a group of talented people. As for the person who could take on this great responsibility, he was probably the only one.
"Lord, some time ago, there was a young and talented person. He is the descendant of Zhang Kan, Zhang Gong. His name is Zhang Xun, and his courtesy name is Yongping. He is a great sage. He does not care about the details and is steady and pioneering.”Xun You stepped forward to report.
"Oh, such a young and talented person, you have to take good care of him. Gongda can ask Yongping to come to my residence after this meeting is over. If he could really take on this important task! It was indeed a blessing for Yuyang and the people!”Dongfang Jian was looking forward to Zhang Xun's meeting.
"The second point is education," Dongfang Jian continued. Under the rule of Youzhou, all children (male or female) who have reached the age of five must go to school, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, whether they are nobles or commoners, whether they are from noble families or poor families.”Dongfang Jian's words caused a commotion among the crowd.
Dongfang Jian knew how terrifying it was to have a cultured army. Therefore, education must be popularized. With such a large population, it was necessary to educate the people. He had to let the people know that they had to rely on themselves to protect their current fruits. It would fully stimulate the enthusiasm of the people. With soldiers everywhere in Yuyang County, it would be difficult for outsiders to attack again. If he wanted to do education, he had to set up a special education department. He had discussed this with Xun You before. However, he had not done it yet. Now that the population of Youzhou was soaring, this problem had to be put on the agenda. He had also carried out the reform of the army. Although some reforms had been made in the army before, Dongfang Jian was obviously not satisfied with them.
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