Chapter 94: The Papermaking Project
In early February, it was still the dead of winter, with heavy snow blocking the mountains. All the routes from Einweiden to all directions were covered with snow for several months, making trade difficult.
Fortunately, the port is open to traffic, people can rely on water transportation to transport supplies, and merchant ship trade has become more eye-catching.
In early February, the January port tax revenue was counted by the clerk in charge of this department in the Tax Commissioner's Office. Three or four boxes of coins of various sizes were counted, sealed with wax, and sent to the Financial Commissioner's Office.
The work of collecting these taxes is done by the City Defense Department, and after collection, it is handed over to the Tax Department.
Each clerk was responsible for calculating the accounts and giving the merchants a small tax receipt. Finally, the money had to be put into the treasury.
On the south side of the second floor of the fortress, there are a dozen empty storage rooms of varying sizes, which are now temporarily requisitioned by the Ninth Division as offices.
Their yamen is located in the block directly opposite the back gate of the fortress, and the Urban Construction Bureau is currently designing it.
The temporary office of the Financial Secretary is located in the largest storage room.
Jock had just finished breakfast downstairs and pushed open the door with a sign saying "Financial Secretary".
He took two steps inside and entered the house. Wooden partition doors divided the spacious, long house into five small rooms in front and back.
The first compartment is the audit office, which is quite spacious, with several desks and several sets of locked filing cabinets. There are three clerks in the audit office, most of whom are servants who used to work for Jock.
But now there are only two people at their workstations, and one is out on field work in the workshop area.
Before them were piles of wax tablets or parchment scrolls, quill pens, and ink.
It's just past nine o'clock, and the clerks are busy counting accounts and anxiously writing a summary of last month.
After passing the busiest Audit Office, the next one is the Finance Office, where three clerks are also working hard at their desks. Based on the actual expenditure of the previous month, they are adjusting the expenditure plan for the next month and reviewing the expenditure needs of various places.
Jock looked outside the compartment door for a while before walking over to them and taking one of the receipts to look at it.
This page is exactly the internal operating expense budget of the nine departments last month. You can see the salary budget of department employees, the salary budget of each director, and the budget of logistics materials.
The classification said that for the parchment of January, nine departments had used up a quantity worth twenty gold coins.
A piece of sheepskin costs only one silver coin and can be cut into many sheets of paper.
Twenty gold coins' worth of parchment and brick-thick scriptures are enough to make a row.
Jock knew that usually only the most important documents, files, letters, and forms would be made of parchment. Wax boards were generally used for accounting, and clerks were already very frugal with them.
However, there are too many things going on in the territory at the moment. Over a hundred tax receipts have been sent out to merchants alone.
Although, each month's tax receipt is only the size of a palm, and the note in response to merchants' inquiries about business scope is also only a tiny bit big.
However, the number is too large. Last month, there were 34 more tax-paying shops in the city than in December last year. Currently, there are a total of 152 tax-paying shops in the market area.
But within just two days this month, twelve more stores started operating, which is obviously exponential growth.
Although the total amount of tax collected last month was not small, it is not a big deal to earn back this printing fee.
But as the head of the family in charge of expenses, he had to think of ways in advance to save as much money as possible and not spend it on these procedural tasks.
Originally, the purpose of the existence of the nine departments was to make the government activities of the entire town more flexible and efficient.
But if the existence of nine departments in the future brings more procedural troubles to the residents of the city and incurs heavy operating expenses, then the nine departments will become a burden instead. Wouldn't those who do public service become blood-sucking leeches?
So, Jock immediately started thinking deeply because of a piece of paper.
What methods can be used to reduce writing expenses?
Asking the drivers to use less is obviously impossible, so what about using cheaper materials instead?
In the north, the most economical writing method used by ordinary people, besides wax tablets, is birch bark.
Neither of these meets the standards for the durability of official documents.
While thinking, Jock passed the bookkeeping room and the business office and returned to his director's office.
After a while, there was a knock on the door of his office cubicle. Jock came to his senses, looked up at the door, and saw a familiar figure.
"Gosli, why are you here now?"
Gosri walked in from outside.
"I came to report to my wife on the progress of the second ship's launching and outfitting, and I stopped by the office to drop off the files."
Seeing that Jock looked deep in thought, he asked him what he was thinking about.
So, Jock told the story about office supplies.
"Don't underestimate the 10 or 20 gold coins it costs in one place right now. If you add up the parchment used by the entire fortress and all the offices, how much money would that be over the years? It's enough for you to build another large ship."
Jock didn't ask for a completely cheap substitute. He just wanted the material to be a little more durable, and have a level of fineness and toughness similar to sheepskin. It would be best if it was as thin as parchment paper, and a little cheaper than sheepskin.
After Jock finished speaking, he felt that he had asked for so much, as if he was making a wish.
But Gao Sili did not laugh at him. Instead, he stroked his chin and thought for a while:
"Let me go back to Adam and the others and think about this together. There must be a way to solve this problem."
After saying that, Gao Sili went out and returned to the operation room of the Zhi Territory Glass Workshop.
This is where Ethan and Adam live. Gao Sili has been busy with the dock recently and rarely comes to see them.
Ethan and Adam are currently helping the glass workshop research how to improve transparency and better remove impurities.
Gao Sili came to the operating room, found the two of them, and relayed what Jock had said today.
The three of them thought about finding a substitute for parchment.
"Writing on wood is too slow because of the polishing process. Production speed cannot be increased. Excessive quantities also take up space. As for other leathers, they are not even cheaper than sheepskin, and birch bark is difficult to process."
Ethan said, "I do remember that in some places they use thinly shaved grass and tree bark, weaving it into sheets horizontally and vertically like cloth, and use it for writing."
Gao Sili listened and nodded. "Yes, in the south, this thing is called papyrus, but not many people use it. We don't have this kind of grass in the north."
Adam wiped his hands clean and came over: “There’s no grass, should we try it with hemp?
Anyway, all of this requires fine fibers, isn't linen the same? "
The three of them nodded and decided to do this first.
They make paper so that it can be used cheaply on a large scale in the future, so the best material is one that can be grown in the north, which suddenly narrows the range.
In the north, the only materials that meet these requirements are hemp and flax.
The three of them thought about the feasibility and decided to report the matter to the lady first. They would start after the lady agreed.
Meanwhile, it was dinner time in the fortress.
Olivia sat in the small dining room, and Caesar was there too. He now ate three meals at home almost every day and went out only during meal times.
Their lunch today was a three-piece set of Kaifeng dishes that Olivia had asked the kitchen to prepare to satisfy her cravings.
There are fried chicken nuggets, fried chicken legs, ham and pickle burgers, sweet tofu pudding and honey waffles.
Olivia, relying on the fact that her body was made of data, ate the sugar and oil mixture recklessly.
The fried chicken nuggets are made by chopped chicken thighs, adding diced mushrooms and grated radish, and coating them with starch and frying them. The fried chicken thighs are also coated with golden breadcrumbs, and there are four flavors.
One original flavor, one with plum sauce, and one with cheese sauce and honey chili sauce.
Caesar served her food but didn't eat a single bite himself. He was a little worried. Ever since Olivia became pregnant, her appetite had grown bigger and bigger, and he was a little scared watching her.
However, even after a meal of beef, she never complained of stomach discomfort or gained any weight.
Caesar thought about it for a long time, but still felt that she was not a human being at all.
"Madam, Gosley and the others are here. They said they have something to tell you."
Loni walked in from the door and said carefully.
"Let them in. I'm done eating."
Olivia shoved the last of her burger into her mouth.
After only three attempts, this burger kitchen was able to bake a soft, sweet, and buttery crust.
She enjoyed the meal and was in a very happy mood.
Caesar didn't plan to eat either, so he asked his servants to clear away the food.
After a while, Jones brought hot water.
Caesar reached out and wrung out the towel, then wiped Olivia's mouth first, rinsed it again, and then wiped the fingers that had grabbed the food.
Jones, who was standing by, was holding a basin of water, watching leisurely and happily.
In all her life, she had never seen a baron so attentive to his wife. He wanted to be a personal servant around her and even tasted the water before drinking it to see if it was cold. Even the wife's mother probably couldn't do that.
However, this also saves the situation where the servant does a poor job and the baron is unhappy with it, so he has to do it again himself.
After cleaning up, Olivia slowly stood up under Caesar's gaze and walked towards the living room.
She rolled her eyes and strode away secretly where Caesar couldn't see her.
My belly has grown a little recently, but it's not obvious yet, so Caesar has become more and more strict with me. He doesn't even allow me to walk with big steps, for fear that it will hurt my body.
However, he had to go to the barracks to work every day and it was impossible for him to watch her all the time, so Olivia would only pretend to be good for a short while.
She went to the living room and sat down, and summoned Gao Sili and others who came to see her.
The construction trio hasn't come to see her for a long time, and she doesn't know what new skills these little guys have revealed this time.
She cleared her throat and looked up to see the three of them cautiously walk in and stop in a row at the door.
"What do you want from me?"
Gao Sili looked around the room. The small bench was half piled with pillows, which was just enough for the lady to sit comfortably with all the cushions wrapped around her. The floor was wiped cleaner than their bowls, and there was not even a hair in the cat's bed at the foot of the table.
The three of them only dared to stand at the door and answer, telling their story.
After hearing this, Olivia groaned.
"Well, this matter is worth studying."
She suppressed the curve of her lips and said, "You said you wanted to experiment with hemp? I have an idea..."
Half an hour later, the trio disappeared from Olivia's sight.
They returned to the workshop area and went to the largest weaving workshop in the direct territory, which was responsible for processing cloth.
A few people went to find the workshop owner. The workshop owner didn't understand what was going on, so he brought some high-quality flax and hemp according to their request.
This hemp silk is the long fiber that is combed out after the hemp raw materials are dried and passed through a nail bed.
The finer and longer such fibers are combed, the more suitable they are for spinning yarn and weaving.
Gao Sili held up the dried hemp fibers that had been processed. After his wife's suggestion, he already had a complete idea for the experiment.
In mid-February, the three of them produced the first batch of hemp paper.
The idea behind making paper from processed, dried hemp fibers is similar to making tofu and cheese.
Crumble first and then condense.
They first processed the hemp fibers by boiling and pounding them to make a thin paste like porridge.
Finally, put the hemp pulp into a deep trough and stir it thoroughly to make the fibers uniform.
Finally, use a special soft curtain to evenly scoop up a layer of pulp, turn it upside down on the wooden board, and after it dries slightly, peel it off as a whole and bake it dry over fire.
They experimented for several days and adjusted the time ratios of various processes.
The first paper produced was not dense enough and broke easily when touched. The second time, it was too thick, the fibers were not fine enough, and it was bumpy and uneven.
They didn't know how many times they experimented before they finally produced a satisfactory batch of white linen paper.
The experimental proportions for each experiment were recorded in a book. They temporarily suppressed their excitement about success and took the most successful formula to the workshop.
A temporary papermaking site was built for workers to learn and simulate the batch production process to see if there was anything that needed to be improved.
All three knew that once they presented the product, Madam would definitely ask them to mass-produce it. If they continued to try and error bit by bit at that time, their efficiency would be slow.
It would be better to take into account all the problems of mass production during the research and development stage and solve them completely. Once the mass production samples are ready, show them to my wife for inspection.
So, by the time Olivia received the hemp paper, it was the last day of February.
She held up the sample, looked at it through the glass window, and wrote a few lines herself.
This paper is no different from the artistic handmade paper made of plant fibers that she saw in cultural and creative stores in her previous life. It is fully suitable for daily writing with a feather pen.
She immediately ordered several people to build a factory, purchase hemp materials in several surrounding towns, and mass-produce this kind of paper.
However, it must first be supplied to the nine divisions and fortresses, or exported to the southern part of the continent to avoid causing too much impact on the parchment market in the north.
At the same time, her dungeon quest "Gold Master. Intermediate"
The task of earning a cumulative 10,000 gold coins is shown as completed.
Congratulations on unlocking:
+111 Experience Points
+20% cotton and linen production
…
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