Inside the room, Kong Jia sat at his desk, intently studying a scroll of bamboo slips.

His eyes were closed, and wisps of energy emanated from his body, flowing towards the bamboo slips on the table and then beginning to circulate.

As the energy flowed through the bamboo slip, the bamboo slip seemed to sense the power and began to respond, releasing wisps of divine power that surged towards Kong Jia's body.

Kong Jia frowned and muttered to himself, "The Great Roc rises with the wind in a single day!"

As his voice rang out, Kong Jia's aura surged, and a terrifying force stirred up a gust of wind.

But as his aura surged, Kong Jia's expression grew increasingly grave. "Behind...behind..."

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, he mobilized all his power to try and glimpse the words that followed, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not break through the wall in front of those words.

It's like a veil is hanging there; you seem to be able to see it soon, but no matter how hard you try, you can't see it.

Even though he tried his best to break through, he was ultimately bounced back by that force, and his aura instantly dissipated.

Everything returned to calm. Kong Jia slowly opened his eyes, his expression dejected. "If only I could comprehend just one more word, my strength would reach an even higher level."

He dared not hope to comprehend an entire sentence in a short time, given the immense power of heaven and earth contained in these characters.

Just then, a Confucian disciple walked in and said, "Reporting to you, Master, His Majesty has arrived."

Kong Jia put away the bamboo slips and said, "Please."

Ying Zheng entered the hall, and Kong Jia stood up, bowed, and said, "This old man greets Your Majesty!"

Ying Zheng replied calmly, "No need for formalities, please sit down."

After speaking, he sat down at the desk.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Kong Jia replied, and then sat down at the desk.

He looked at Ying Zheng and said directly, "If it is about cooperation, Your Majesty need not say more. My mind is made up, and Your Majesty need not waste any more time."

Ying Zheng's eyes were indifferent. "I'm not here today to discuss cooperation."

Kong Jia was quite surprised. "Oh?"

Ying Zheng was clear about his purpose this time: to cooperate with the Confucian school.

But now, his sudden visit, claiming that his purpose was not to persuade him, truly surprised Kong Jia.

Ying Zheng took out a piece of paper, and Zhao Gao, understanding his meaning, handed him a brush. Ying Zheng then began to draw on the paper. "This is something I recently acquired, called 'paper.' What do you think?"

As he spoke, he put down his brush and moved the paper in front of Kong Jia.

Kong Jia picked up the paper and examined it closely, then couldn't help but ask, "Can you still read the characters clearly?"

Ying Zheng replied, "If it is not damaged, it can be preserved for more than ten years without any problem."

Kong Jia was slightly surprised, "More than ten years?"

He touched the smooth paper and couldn't resist reaching out to touch the words on it.

The writing was clear and completely dry; even touching it with your hand would not affect it at all.

Ying Zheng said calmly, "This sheet can hold more than six hundred characters."

Kong Jia was surprised again, "How can such a thin bamboo slip contain more than six hundred characters? If we had this, wouldn't we be able to hold all the characters on that table of bamboo slips in our hands?"

Ying Zheng replied, "Not to mention a whole table of food, even the contents of a carriage can be held in my hands now."

Kong Jia's eyes widened, his gaze burning as he stared at the paper in his hand. "There are such wondrous things in the world?"

As Confucianism deals with written texts all day long, the amount of material that needs to be learned and mastered is enormous, making transportation a very troublesome issue.

But if we had paper, things would be much more convenient. We could carry any amount of information with us and look it up whenever we wanted.

After pondering for a moment, Kong Jia asked again, "How much does this thing cost?"

As the head of Confucianism, he was still quite concerned about the price.

Confucian scholars were not particularly wealthy, and bamboo slips were expensive to produce and required in large quantities, so Confucian disciples were generally quite frugal.

The high price of bamboo slips deterred many people from pursuing Confucianism and Taoism, except for those from prominent families.

This is one of the reasons why there aren't many Confucian disciples. If this problem could be solved, the strength of Confucianism would be further enhanced.

Ying Zheng replied, "It's very cheap; one tael of silver can make more than two hundred sheets."

Kong Jia's hand holding the paper trembled slightly. "So cheap?"

Compared to its practicality, this counterfeit is undoubtedly a treasure.

Seeing his excited expression, Ying Zheng looked at him and said, "I don't need to tell you how beneficial it would be for Confucianism if you were allowed to use paper, do I?"

Kong Jia fell silent, tacitly agreeing to the matter.

It goes without saying how beneficial this paper would be to Confucianism if it could be used by them.

He frowned, as if he was thinking about this.

After a long pause, Kong Jia looked at Ying Zheng and said, "Even if the paper is very good, it still cannot change my old man's mind."

The problems that this paper can solve can ultimately be solved with money.

If the Confucianists were after money, then they would have agreed to Ying Zheng's offer earlier, given the immeasurable wealth of the Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng was taken aback. "Why are you suddenly making such a decision? I've already said I'm not here to discuss cooperation with you."

Kong Jia was quite puzzled, "Weren't we here to discuss cooperation?"

Ying Zheng brought out such a treasure right away, so Kong Jia naturally thought that Ying Zheng wanted to attract Confucian scholars. But now that Ying Zheng had made another statement, Kong Jia was starting to feel a little insecure.

Ying Zheng didn't explain much, and took out another piece of paper, which was slightly more yellow than the previous one.

Kong Jia looked at the paper, his eyes suddenly changing slightly. He could clearly sense the rich spiritual energy contained within it. "Spiritual energy?"

Ying Zheng handed over the paper, saying, "Try using this paper to exert the power of Confucianism and Taoism."

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