Liu Tan has almost gotten used to the fact that every time he wants to do something, he always has to take care of the prerequisites.
So when he found that the paper was rough and not suitable for drawing, he had already started thinking about Cai Lun's method of improving papermaking.
Although he also wanted to get it done in one go, things like kraft paper required a lot of chemical reagents, which were even more difficult to make. It would probably be impossible for Liu Tan to make it alone. Even if he could find talented people in this area, it would be unlikely that he would not lose several of them.
Or... find the simplest one.
In fact, he didn't know whether the paper improved by Cai Lun was really smooth, but cost saving was certain. By then, he might be able to open a shop selling the four treasures of the study, specializing in selling paper. The price would not have to be too low, and if it was half the price of the current paper, he would probably make a fortune!
Liu Tan came to his senses and felt quite ashamed. He had already thought about making money before he even started. The main reason was that he had to make money.
He could see from Wei Guan that there must be many talents in the Han Dynasty who were buried. The specialties of these talents were not very impressive in this era, and were even useless, making it difficult for them to support themselves and their families. If Liu Tan wanted to recruit such people in the future, he would definitely have to support them, and even their families.
It’s okay if there are one or two people, but what if there are more people?
What's more, he will have to leave the country sooner or later, and his parents will no longer give him subsidies. At that time, he will simply have to eat himself!
What if he can’t support so many people if he doesn’t find some profitable business?
While thinking about this, Liu Tan ordered Miao Rui: "Go find me something."
Miao Rui asked, "What does Your Highness want?"
Liu Tan thought about what was written in the history book, and then said, "Let's find some tree bark, a broken fishing net, rags, and hemp rope."
Miao Rui was confused: "What?"
Liu Tan recalled it again to make sure it was correct, then nodded and said, "Well, that's it. Let's go find it."
Miao Rui was also a little confused for a moment. Not to mention Liu Tan, even he didn't know where to find these things.
But he saw that Liu Tan didn't seem to be joking, so he asked again: "Then...how much do you want?"
Liu Tan was also stuck. After thinking for a while, he said, "Let's just... each bring a cart first."
Miao Rui choked, but still obeyed the order.
In fact, Liu Tan didn’t know the appropriate amount, but based on his experience in making things, it was basically impossible to succeed in one go.
When he was doing distillation before, he had a very good understanding of the distiller and the principles, and he had been working on it for so long. This time... he should be prepared to take a long time.
Anyway, Wei Guan still has to learn cartography during this period of time. By the time Wei Guan finishes learning, it should be about the same... right?
Before Wei Guan's family arrived, Liu Tan had to prepare the lesson plan by himself, which was also very difficult.
In fact, Wei Guan was a little uneasy during this period. It seemed that he had nothing to do every day except eating and sleeping. He wanted to see the Fifth Prince, but he couldn't see him whenever he wanted. The Fifth Prince seemed to have forgotten him and never said he wanted to see him. This made Wei Guan worried every day, fearing that he would be kicked out tomorrow.
If he knew that Liu Tan was struggling with a pile of junk, he might be disappointed.
The people under Liu Tan are all very capable at work. He gave the order the day before, and the junk was brought to him the next day.
Of course, although it was rags, Miao Rui didn't dare to let the rags really come in front of Liu Tan. The bark was carefully peeled off and then cut into pieces of equal sizes bit by bit. The fishing net was also newly woven, and the linen was naturally also new linen.
When Liu Tan saw these raw materials that could be called exquisite, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
But he did not blame Miao Rui. Perhaps not letting those junks enter Liu Tan's sight was Miao Rui's last stubbornness.
Anyway, they are used in the same way. When it is promoted in the future, people will naturally learn to recycle waste in order to reduce costs.
Now all he needs to do is process these raw materials first.
To be honest, it is hard to imagine that these raw materials can be made into paper when put together. First of all, the colors are all different. The hemp rope is one color, the linen cloth is another color, the bark is another color, not to mention the fishing net.
The first step to getting these things to blend together is to fade them.
Liu Tan had many ways of fading in his mind, but none of them were applicable. In the end, he had to choose the one that would take the longest time - lime.
Before using lime to fade the color, he had everyone chop everything into pieces. It must be said that if he had done it alone, the papermaking time would have been extremely long because it was difficult to chop these things into pieces.
But he had people available, and in order to chop these things into pieces, he even set up an assembly line, with one group of people doing the rough chopping and another group doing the fine chopping.
When Miao Rui saw that those things were chopped into pieces, he understood why Liu Tan specifically said that they had to be worn out. There was no use in keeping them intact.
After chopping it up, if you use the oldest method of soaking it, it will take at least a month to get out of the water. By that time, he will have to go to send his bride off and won't be able to use it in time.
So he chose steaming to speed it up. The first time it was steamed, the effect was not very good. Liu Tan asked someone to rinse it with clean water and continue steaming.
The second time it still didn't work. The final result of this step is the gradual decomposition of wood fibers, cloth and other various fibers, so the fibers must be completely decomposed before proceeding to the next step.
Liu Tan originally thought that continuous steaming would be able to accelerate the decomposition of fiber, but he never expected that this step would take more than ten days.
In fact, he didn't know to what extent the fiber had to be decomposed, but he knew what paper would look like when soaked in water, so he simply used that standard to require the raw material.
In the end, Liu Tan had a psychological trauma about the steaming room where raw materials were steamed. The smell there was really too inhumane. Liu Tan guessed that anyone who could really work here for a long time must have an underdeveloped sense of smell.
Later on, he simply stopped going and only asked his subordinates to bring him samples. In order to compensate these people for suffering there all the time, Liu Tan even gave them many rewards. As a result, not only did no one complain, but many people were eager to go in and take shifts.
By the thirteenth day, the raw materials were finally almost ready, and Liu Tan quickly asked people to prepare for the next step. If they kept delaying like this, they would really be useless.
In later generations there would be special machines for refining, but Liu Tan didn't have one now, so he could only choose the oldest method - pounding.
Pound the steamed materials into a paste, then soak them in water. The materials will be suspended in the water and become a paper fiber suspension, which is then poured into the paper trough.
The paper trough is prepared in advance and is made of wood. There is a mesh made of fine silk underneath. The purpose is to let the water leak out when the pulp is poured in, leaving only paper fibers on top. After forming, the papers are stacked together little by little, and the water is pressed out with heavy objects.
At this point, you can basically tell that it is a piece of paper, but it cannot be used because there is still moisture in it.
But at this point it is very simple, just roast it over fire.
Originally, Liu Tan had people put the paper on a rack and roast it around the fire, but he was always worried about the safety. What if the fire burned everything without paying attention?
But after thinking it over, he couldn't come up with any particularly good ideas. Finally, Bigo said carefully: "Your Highness, why not build a wall, stick these wet items on it, and then bake the wall from behind? Wouldn't that dry them out while preventing fire?"
After hearing this, Liu Tan couldn't help but slap his thigh: "Yeah, why didn't I think of it, Lao Bi, you can do it."
Liu Tan said this with a smile as he threw over a silver bead.
He then ordered people to build a house about one person tall and named it a baking house. No one was allowed in the baking house, which was used only for making fire. It was surrounded by walls, so the cement came in handy.
All the papers that have not yet dried are pasted on the wall one by one. Because of the water, it is basically effortless. When they are almost dry, they are peeled off and put aside to dry in the shade.
It takes about twenty days from the beginning to the completion of a piece of paper.
In the end, when Liu Tan got the finished product, he found that it was far from the white paper he had imagined, and it still looked a bit rough. It can be seen that removing the soaking step and rushing the work also have disadvantages.
But it is much better than what he is using now. If this paper cannot be made, he will probably have to let Wei Guan draw on cowhide. As for silk fabrics... they are too expensive and difficult to preserve. What's more, even the Han Dynasty cannot draw maps on silk fabrics. How much money would that cost!
Although the wait was long, he was not idle during these twenty days. Wei Guan was a blank slate in map-making now, and he still needed to be taught the basic knowledge.
When Wei Guan received Liu Tan's summons and was asked to study, he was very excited.
Even though he was twelve years older than Liu Tan, he didn't think there was anything shameful about studying with Liu Tan.
Just think of it as this gentleman's addiction, and he might as well play along. Besides, the royal family always has more books than the common people, and maybe he will be able to see books he has never seen before.
After Wei Guan had prepared himself mentally, he went to the room that Liu Tan had specially designated as his classroom. As soon as he entered, he saw a huge wooden board placed upright inside. The board was painted with a layer of black paint, and it looked as if it was being prepared for some witchcraft.
When Liu Tan saw him coming, he raised his chin and said, "Sit down."
Wei Guan trembled as he sat down and asked, "Your Highness... What does Your Highness want me to learn?"
Liu Tan stood up and wrote down twelve words with a newly made lime marker: rate, accumulative view, distance, height, square, crooked and straight.
After Liu Tan finished writing, he nodded with satisfaction. He was indeed more accustomed to hard pen writing. This Han Li script looked much better than the one he wrote with a brush.
Wei Guan, who was sitting below, was confused at this time: What is this?
The author has something to say: Liu Tan: I didn’t expect that I would become a role model before I even did anything.
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