Chapter 80

Li Zhen came to the material mixing pit and saw Wang Wei, along with his eleven-year-old eldest son, Dadian, and his ten-year-old second son, Erdian, treading on the material.

Wang Wei's wife, Wang Ju's sister-in-law, was at home taking care of the children. She had two more daughters and a son, and her belly was growing again.

Even Li Zhen was a bit taken aback. "How many children do you plan to have? You're not from a wealthy family, and even in wealthy families, the children are not all born to one wife; some are born to concubines."

Li Zhen couldn't be too hasty.

However, Wang Wei was his brother-in-law's uncle, so he had to take care of him. He said, "Uncle, let Dadian and Erdian come down. They are still young and should be studying."

"Dadian, it's fine. I also let them study. I have them learn a few characters when they have time, with Xiaonian and the others."

Xiaonian and the others were a few young boys Wang Ju had brought from Wangjiazhai. Wang Ju had given up his share of the sword profits to have the village hire a private tutor and buy some books, pens, ink, and paper, so the children in the village had a place to study.

Even in ancient times, people needed to learn to read and write. Just like Wang Wei, who couldn't read, when he came to Hangzhou, Li Zhen couldn't take care of him and had to let him lead everyone in doing rough work.

However, Wang Ju and the others had only studied for a year, and in such an environment, how many characters could they really recognize?

Li Zhen frowned. There was a private school on the other side of the mountain. Don't think this area is remote; Hangzhou's education was well-developed. Besides the state and county schools, private schools were everywhere. It was only after coming to Hangzhou that Li Zhen realized how backward Yanzhou's education was.

However, Dadian and Erdian's age was a bit awkward. They were not too young, but not too old either. Wang Wei had to work, and his wife was pregnant again. Who would take them to and from school on the other side of the mountain?

He thought for a moment and said, "This way, once the work is done in the first half of the year, let Dadian and Erdian come to the city. I'll buy a small house in Fuyang and then send them to a private school."

"Dadian, how can I accept that?"

"It's no problem. Wang Ju is my brother-in-law, and you are Wang Ju's uncle, so you are my uncle too."

After Li Zhen finished speaking, he went to the other side.

That was where the papermakers lived.

Several papermakers had been hired, and they were quite famous in Hangzhou and Yuezhou. They were offered high salaries, with the highest being 500 guan per year and the lowest being 300 guan. Hangzhou was wealthy, and the prices were high, but this annual salary was astonishing. Additionally, there was a promise that once production started, 5% of the shares would be given to these papermakers.

This was a form of technical equity. Otherwise, with the exorbitant breach of contract fees, it might not be enough to keep them. In this era, even the law could be broken, let alone a contract.

Don't underestimate this 5%. If managed well, it would be a substantial income, and combined with the high salary, it would ensure that the talent stayed and the technology remained confidential.

As for ordinary workers, that wasn't a big issue. Wang Ju had pointed out the key steps, but after the papermakers improved them, the process for refined paper became over 40 steps, and for raw paper, nearly 30 steps. As long as each step was separated, the workers wouldn't understand the whole process.

The papermakers were discussing.

Wang Ju had given the main steps, but there were still details to consider.

Seeing Li Zhen come, they all stood up and politely said, "Greetings, Dadian."

"What are you discussing?"

"Dadian, you came just in time. We are discussing the biggest drawback of the new paper, which is its lack of toughness."

The quality of paper depends on several factors.

The first is the ability to absorb ink properly, neither too much nor too little, to facilitate writing, printing, and painting.

The second is the color. The most common color for paper is yellow, followed by white, gray, brown, pink, red, green, and blue. The most famous paper was the letter paper made by the Tang Dynasty courtesan Xue Tao, which came in ten colors: deep red, pink, bright yellow, and others. However, the most important thing is that the color should be bright and not look old and worn.

The third is toughness.

Of course, good paper should also be resistant to aging, not easily change color, and be less prone to insect damage. Because it cannot be made from 100% pulp, there will be fibers on the surface, which is what literati call texture. Good paper should have a beautiful texture.

However, these are secondary factors.

No matter how much the bamboo paper is improved, its toughness will never match that of hemp paper or even wisteria paper, unless Wang Ju could advance the papermaking technology by a thousand years.

Therefore, the papermakers wanted to add some wisteria bark and hemp bark to the new paper.

In the Song Dynasty, white wisteria paper had already appeared, which could be added to the refined bamboo paper. Wang Ju had given it a nice name: Jade Knot Paper. In reality, the Jade Knot Paper of later times was raw paper...

Hemp could be added to the raw paper, which Wang Ju named Golden Yellow Paper.

Theoretically, it was feasible.

For example, the best Xuan paper, whose main ingredients are the bark of the green elm and rice straw, also includes a small amount of mulberry bark, mulberry tree bark, bamboo, and hemp. Even in the Song Dynasty, some famous hemp papers included the bark of the paper mulberry, mulberry tree, and dragon beard grass as ingredients.

Why is paper expensive? One reason is that these fibers are coarse, which makes the paper thick and strong. The second reason is the high cost of raw materials. For example, only the bark of hemp can be used, not the stalks. The same goes for wisteria, which can only use the bark. Consider how inefficient it is to cultivate green wisteria; how much bark can be obtained from one pound of green wisteria?

However, adding a small amount of wisteria bark and hemp bark would not significantly increase the cost.

Improving the toughness would eliminate the biggest drawback of bamboo paper.

However, in practice, many new processes would arise. If the process is not perfected, one plus one might not equal two, and it might even be less than one.

Li Zhen thought for a moment and said, "It's fine, but I must see the mature new paper this year, and it must be ready for sale next year, even if it needs further improvement later."

"Dadian, rest assured."

Li Zhen talked for a while more, then went back and asked Wang Wei, "Do you have any letters to take back?"

"How is Daniu?"

"He's fine. A letter from Yanzhou said that Mr. Zhang went to Weizhou to serve as the Weizhou Signatory."

"Mr. Zhang got a promotion?"

"He is a renowned scholar, so a promotion is inevitable. I heard students in Hangzhou discussing Mr. Zhang."

"What about Daniu?"

"He has been asked by Mr. Cheng to return to Yanzhou to study at the state school and plans to take the autumn examination this year."

"So soon? He's still young."

"He's not that young. I believe the autumn examination won't be too difficult for him."

"Tell him that if he passes, he must visit the ancestral graves. I am far away, so don't let the graves be neglected."

...

The Li family had sent Li Zhen to Hangzhou to be trained. Initially, the main focus was on research and development, which, although costly, was not too difficult to manage. This was a good opportunity for Li Zhen to gain experience. Over the past two years, he had built good relationships with local officials, laying the foundation for future production.

The Zhu family did the same.

The county magistrate Qin, who was a friend of the county magistrate Cai, was making things difficult for the salt workshop, but it wasn't a big problem. Zhu Huan sent Zhu Jun to handle it, which was also a form of training.

Zhu Jun arrived in Huayin and sent people to invite some influential shareholders to send their managers. He could pressure them to give face, or everyone could pressure them together. If they still refused, he could escalate the issue to the Huazhou Prefecture, the Jingzhao Prefecture, the Transport Commissioner Xue Xiang, and the Governor of Yongxing Army, He Tan.

If everyone went to extremes, the fine salt had brought in over 30,000 salt vouchers last year. Would Xue Xiang be anxious? And He Tan was a straightforward and incorruptible old official. However, it would be better to resolve the issue internally in Huayin.

At this moment, a young man from the Lu family sent an invitation, saying he had bought a house in Huayin and wanted to invite Zhu Jun to visit.

If Wang Ju were here, he wouldn't even bother. The fine salt brought in nearly 200,000 guan in revenue for the court each year, which, although not a large amount compared to the nearly 10 million guan from the entire Song Dynasty's salt policy, was still a significant sum. The combined profit from production and sales was almost 300,000 guan, which was pure profit, and the gross profit was even more astonishing. This profit chain was something even the governor of Huazhou wouldn't dare to touch. Why should he give face to this young man from the Lu family?

If he didn't know his place, Wang Ju had the means to make the county magistrate Lu and the county magistrate Cai retire immediately.

But Zhu Jun was not Wang Ju.

He knew that the county magistrate Cai's difficulties were orchestrated by the county magistrate Qin, and behind Qin was this young man from the Lu family. However, he still had the bookishness of a scholar and decided to go.

He wanted to see what the young man from the Lu family had to say.

He was also curious why the Lu family, who were from Xiagui and were fellow townspeople with Kou Zhun, had bought a house in Huayin.

It was strange. Why would they come to Huayin now, with such a strong presence? Could it be anything good?