After all, Li Er was a wise ruler who could be called the emperor of the ages. His vision was still very unique. The cost of five wen was indeed not expensive. As long as the price was not too high, it would definitely be popular.
The ice-making business would end in two months. Although salt production could also bring a lot of income, it was far from the internal and external problems that Li Er needed to solve. Therefore, Li Eryi proposed to cooperate with Qin Feng.
Qin Feng said calmly," There's no problem with the cooperation. It's just that the equipment used to make paper is not easy to make. It requires a lot of early preparations. It's temporarily impossible to achieve large-scale production."”
After peeling the wood, he put the peeled wood into the cutting machine made by Qin Feng and cut it into pieces. Then, he sent the pieces of wood into the boiler and added some chemicals to turn them into wood pulp.
Because there was no need to make a bleacher, the process of rinsing was omitted. Wood pulp, water, and minerals were mixed together to become pulp.
The paper pulp was sent into a simple paper machine. In this step, a portion of the water in the paper pulp would be removed, turning it into a wet pulp belt. The fibers in it would be gently pressed together by the roller, and then the water would be removed, making it even more compact.
He used a roller with a smooth surface to iron the surface of the paper. Then, he wound it around a large roller and cut it into the shape that Li Er saw.
Although this process sounded simple, the cutting machine, boiler, chemicals, paper machine, and cutting machine were all things that others could not make. Moreover, what Qin Feng made was only a simplified version.
It wasn't that Qin Feng didn't want to do better, but that the Great Tang's iron-smelting technology was lacking and couldn't produce more advanced machines. But for the time being, it was enough.
Li Er heard the main point in his words and said,"We can't mass produce it for the time being, so we just have to make preparations. We'll make a portion first and sell the toilet paper produced to the rich merchants in Chang 'an at a high price. After all, those people like to hunt for novelty.”
Looking at Li Er, Qin Feng suddenly felt that if Li Er were to do business, he would definitely be a profiteer.
"Alright, then we'll follow the old rules.”
Since Li Er was willing to cooperate, Qin Feng was naturally happy. After all, the process and manpower required to make paper far exceeded the needs of salt production.
Not to mention those machines and equipment, just the acquisition of raw materials required a lot of manpower. This was because Qin Feng used wood as raw materials and the quality was good.
If Qin Feng were to rely on himself, it would probably be very difficult to achieve such a large scale. However, it was different if he cooperated with Li Er. The manpower and material resources that the ruler of a country could mobilize were far from what he, Uncle Lan Tian, could compare to.
After settling the toilet paper business this time, Li Er asked again,"Your toilet is really different. Can you make a few for me in the palace?”
The new toilet in Qin Feng's residence could flush after going out. Moreover, it was very clean, making people feel comfortable.
"Of course, there's no problem." Qin Feng agreed.”
The principle of the water pumping squat was actually very simple. Other aspects were similar. The main thing was to build a large water storage tank and use the water level difference caused by gravity to flush it. The cost was not high. Qin Feng would treat it as a gift to celebrate the success of the cooperation.
They had just made a big deal and should have been happy, but Li Er sighed for some reason.
"Why is Your Majesty sighing?" Qin Feng asked in confusion.”
"You might not know this, but although the art of making paper has a long history and was improved by the Great Han Cai Lun, it has always been monopolized by the gentry, restricting the poor students. The high officials in the court are also mostly hindered by the gentry, and the implementation of the reform method has also been obstructed layer by layer.”
Li Er's words were true. The art of making paper was one of the four great inventions of ancient times. Before the invention of the art of making paper, people still used bamboo slips to record things. It was not easy to collect, use, and preserve them.
It wasn't until Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty created the first paper. Due to the cheap raw materials and convenience, Cai Hou paper was quickly popularized in various places in the following decades. In the 7th century of the Tang Dynasty, it began to spread to Korea.
In the 8th century, it entered the Arabian countries, and then quickly entered Mongolia, India, Italy, and Russia. In the 17th century, it was accepted by the Ying countries and was reformed in these Western countries. They gradually used mechanical equipment to replace handmade paper, which also allowed Western culture to develop and spread rapidly.
In short, the emergence of the art of paper making had greatly improved the education industry, allowing more people to receive education and walk the path of official career.
However, what followed was the monopoly of education by the aristocratic families.
The aristocratic families were a political group formed by bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats with special status in society. They originated in the Han Dynasty, developed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and weakened in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. After that, there was a brief rise in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but Wu Zetian was unable to recover and died.
According to historical records, at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong had different reactions to the aristocratic families.
Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, once bragged to his subordinate Pei Ji about how noble the ancestors of the Li family were. Pei Ji belonged to the Pei family, which was one of the most prominent families in the Middle Ages.
Tang Gaozu showed off and said: "When our Li family was in Longxi, we were rich in turtle jade. When it came to raising troops, the four seas gathered. In just a few days, we were promoted to the emperor. Our two families are both great families."
Turtle jade was a tortoise shell and a precious jade. It was a very important ritual vessel in ancient times. Later, it was extended to the symbol of the country's fate. It was not something that ordinary families could have.
Li Yuan was very proud of this, but he still did not dare to say that his family status was the first to surpass the Pei family. He only said that they were on the same level. It could be seen that the influence of family status was so great that even the emperor would tacitly agree.
From the Western Jin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the powerful families occupied an important position and became the hindrance of the Central Plains. The powerful families also developed to the peak.
As for Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who had political ideals and great ambitions, it was absolutely intolerable for many of his decisions to be contradicted by the aristocratic families.
For example, the Li family of Longxi, the Li family of Zhao Jun, the Cui family of Zhuanling, the Cui family of Qinghe, the Lu family of Fanyang, the Zheng family of Xingyang, and the Wang family of Taiyuan in the early Tang Dynasty.
Among them, Li and Cui each had two prefectures, so they were called five surnames and seven surnames, or five surnames and seven families.
These seven families had a status in front of all the aristocratic families in the world, and they had the power to respond with a single call.
Although the imperial examination system that appeared in the Sui Dynasty was a huge blow to the aristocratic families, and Li Er became the emperor and resolutely followed this system, it was still far from enough.
The aristocratic families still played a pivotal role, and Li Er had always been thinking about how to completely destroy the aristocratic families so that truly talented students from the poor families could also enter the court as officials.
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