After Zhou Jia said that last time, they immediately asked the historian to write their queen’s name into the history books. This time, there will be no such thing as no name!
Girls from all dynasties were both envious and jealous of this most talented woman in history who was recorded in history. Some girls still believed that Li Qingzhao should not be in the limelight and should just stay at home and take care of her husband and children, and there was no point in being the most talented woman.
They gossip behind people's backs and what they say is very unpleasant, but it's just not posted on the screen for everyone to see.
Zhou Jia didn't say much. Everyone made different choices, and she couldn't blame them. She could only do her best to help those who had great ambitions.
That's all.
"Come on, let's talk about China's Four Great Inventions. Before we begin, let's vote as usual. There are eight options. Choosing the right one will increase your merits by ten. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that a small number of you may completely avoid the correct answer."
Zhou Jia couldn't help but laugh. This was just like doing multiple-choice questions in school. There were actually a few times in the past when she didn't guess a single multiple-choice question correctly. She was really unlucky.
She made no secret of her desire to watch the fun, which made everyone under the sky very nervous, worrying whether they were the one who perfectly avoided the correct answer.
"Besides, I've already told you once before. If you don't remember, it's because you didn't listen carefully and didn't take notes. You can't blame me then."
All the emperors had the same feeling as when they were princes and were randomly checked on their academic performance.
Soon, relevant options appeared on the screen. Ying Zheng took a look and clicked on the relevant entries. The key point was that all his choices were correct. Wang Jian and others below were still flipping through their notes.
Zhou Jia took a look at the submitted answers and suddenly understood how the teacher felt when grading the papers.
The answers are varied, some are wrong, and the accuracy rate is ridiculously low.
"Okay, the Four Great Inventions are the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing. Let's talk about papermaking first, and gunpowder for last. You're all going to love it! Especially Your Majesty and Emperor Wu of Han!"
Ying Zheng and Liu Che were both interested and said, "When we get to the gunpowder, record every word in detail!"
Since Zhou Jia has specifically reminded me of this, the importance of this thing is self-evident.
"First, papermaking. In ancient times, our writing was generally recorded on animal bones, which was called oracle bone script. Later, it gradually developed into bamboo slips. Your Majesty's official documents at that time were mainly on bamboo slips, which were very heavy. Although silk books were light, they were very expensive and could not be widely circulated and used.
Around the Western Han Dynasty, the most basic method of papermaking began to emerge, but it was not widely used. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a eunuch named Cai Lun who summarized the experience of his predecessors and improved the papermaking technique. Note that it was an improvement, not an invention. He used tree bark, hemp, rags, and old fishing nets as materials to start making paper. This was shown in the documentary, and you should all be familiar with it.
The raw materials for these things are very common, right? And they are not expensive, so from then on, paper was used more and more frequently, replacing the previous bamboo slips and silk."
Eastern Han Dynasty
Cai Lun already had the idea of improving paper, and he started trying it immediately after Zhou Jia played the video about papermaking. Now when I heard his name, I realized that he actually succeeded and improved the papermaking technology!
Just as he was feeling overjoyed, he heard someone say that someone from the palace had come to ask him to go to the palace to meet the emperor. Cai Lun immediately went into the palace happily.
In the first year of Jianguang (121 AD), Cai Lun, who was about to commit suicide by taking poison, was stunned for a moment when he heard his own name, and then laughed out loud, "I never thought that a eunuch like Cai Lun could leave his name in the history books. It's worth it, it's worth it!"
A tear fell into the poisoned wine and Cai Lun drank it all in one gulp.
Leaving one's name in history is enough for this lifetime.
As for the emperor forgiving him for the sake of his name being recorded in history...
That's wishful thinking.
Cai Lun closed his eyes peacefully.
His only thought at the moment of death was that he would no longer be involved in the struggle for royal power in the next life.
“But actually, there are two views on papermaking.
One view is that Cai Lun invented paper. This view was very popular before the new archaeological discoveries. Another view is that paper already existed in the Western Han Dynasty. In 1933, an ancient paper from the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in XJ. In 1958, hemp paper from the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in Baqiao. However, this kind of paper was relatively rough in texture and inconvenient to use.
In fact, some scholars believe that only the Caihou paper made by Cai Lun is real paper, and the Baqiao paper in 57 AD is not real paper, but more people still believe that Cai Lun improved the papermaking technique.
Subsequently, papermaking technology developed rapidly. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, paper had made significant progress compared to Han paper. Its whiteness increased and its surface became smoother. Basically, there were paper mills in many places, which enabled papermaking using local materials.
By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the emergence of woodblock printing stimulated the further development of the papermaking industry, and large-format high-quality paper appeared to meet the needs of calligraphy and painting. In addition to the unprecedented development of the papermaking industry, many calligraphy and painting works of literati and poets have been passed down to the world, all thanks to the development of paper.
The Song and Yuan dynasties also saw rapid development. During this period, paper was not only used for writing, but also for paper-cutting, paper flowers, fireworks, fuses, etc.
Not to mention the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the update of technology and equipment, the output and quality of paper have been significantly improved. At that time, the raw materials for papermaking included bamboo, hemp, leather and straw, among which bamboo paper ranked first in output, especially in the mountainous areas in the south.
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