"Your Highness, I will serve you to bathe and change clothes."
"Start!"
"Your Highness, it's all the minor officials' fault for calming down."
"Dirty! Dirty!"
"The humble minister is guilty, please punish him."
"...Don't say this!"
"The sins of humble ministers are serious, and only by committing themselves to each other can they atone for their sins."
"...I was wrong, you are not guilty."
"No, no, no, Wei Chen is guilty..."
"Go away!"
……
By the time the two of them took a shower and changed clothes and sat in the monastery again, it was already afternoon. Princess Changle had put on a loose Taoist robe. Her hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, revealing her long and fair neck. She had a jade-like face, radiant face, and a complexion. Very good.
A pair of beautiful eyes were shining with water, glaring hatefully at a shameless person, her lips parted slightly, and she softly scolded: "Scoundrel!"
Fang Jun was wearing a green cloth straight jacket, his hair was tied up, his eyebrows were handsome and his expression was cheerful. He took a slow sip of tea and nodded with a bad smile on his face: "Your Highness is right to scold me, I am guilty."
"..."
Princess Changle's face turned red, and she was filled with shame and anger: "Shut up, I! Don't say this again!"
Fang Jun followed the good advice: "Yes, yes, your highness, forgive me."
Princess Changle had no choice but to boil water and make tea, ignoring the scoundrel. This whole tossing made her very tired, she lost a lot of water, and now she was very thirsty...
There was a soft sound of footsteps outside the door, and not long after, a maid pushed the door open and said after being rude: "To the Duke of Yue, there is someone outside the mountain gate who calls himself Liu Shi, a doctor in the Ministry of War. He said that he has made progress in research and development of paper and is eager to report to you. ”
Fang Jun hesitated for a moment, nodded and said: "Bring him here."
"Here."
The maid lowered her eyebrows and turned around to exit.
Princess Changle was taking the kettle off the stove. When she heard this, she asked curiously: "Why does Mr. Lang pay so much attention to this person?"
The Taoist temple here is equivalent to the "love nest" of the two people. It is not only the birthplace, but also the place where the two have daily trysts. It is not difficult for outsiders to know this, but if Fang Jun can be called in directly and met in front of her, he must be a confidant among his confidants.
Fang Jun said: "Although Liu Shi doesn't know how to study things to gain knowledge, he has excellent management skills. The foundry bureau is what I pay most attention to. The various researches are complicated and complex, but he has taken care of them in an orderly manner without any chaos. It is worth my while." Give him a high look.”
Princess Changle said no more.
She was just curious, but didn't care about the fantastic ideas and tricks Fang Jun was tinkering with. After all, countless censors had already written letters of impeachment, so she didn't need to say more to avoid annoying people...
Not long after, Liu Shi came quickly, changed his shoes at the door, stepped on the broken floor and walked in. He held a wooden box in his hand and bowed to the ground: "Wei Chen has met His Highness Chang Le and the Duke of Yue."< br>
Although this place was Princess Changle's territory, Fang Jun stepped over and said, "Excuse me, come and sit down and drink tea."
"Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Duke Yue."
Fang Jun can act as the master, but Liu Shi cannot be ignorant. Princess Changle must be placed in front of Fang Jun...
He sat down at the coffee table, placed the wooden box in his hand on the coffee table, and took the tea cup filled by Princess Changle herself. She was quite flattered: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
Then he took a sip, put the tea cup on the coffee table, sat upright, and looked away.
He knew that this was Princess Changle's Taoist temple. This house was almost equivalent to Princess Changle's palace. It was an honor for him, a foreign minister, to be able to enter the palace, and he would never dare to be rude and rude.
Seeing his reserved look, Princess Changle couldn't help laughing and said softly: "You are Erlang's confidant, so there is no need to be too formal here, just relax."
Liu Shi said hurriedly: "Here."
The admiration for Fang Jun from the bottom of my heart is like the water of the Yellow River flowing endlessly. This is the eldest princess of Emperor Taizong and the current eldest princess. She has a noble status and great honor, but she follows Fang Jun without fame or status. What's more, he gave birth to Lin's son without any regrets. If a man does this, he will die without regrets.
Princess Changle curiously pointed to the wooden box on the coffee table and asked, "Is this the so-called new papermaking technology?"
Liu Shi shook his head quickly: "The minister came in a hurry and was not prepared. He only had time to prepare a small gift for the young master. I hope that your highness and the Duke of Yue will not be too shabby."
As he spoke, he opened the wooden box, revealing a beautiful white jade unicorn inside. The carving was exquisite and lifelike, and the jade quality was warm, delicate, and shiny white.
This thing is worth no less than ten thousand yuan, but its meaning is even better.
Princess Changle said in surprise: "Liu Langzhong has a heart."
Liu Shi breathed a sigh of relief: "As long as His Highness likes it."
Put the lid on and hand it to the maid aside to put it away.
Then he took out a few pieces of paper from his arms and handed them to Fang Jun respectfully: "This is the latest formula developed by the master craftsmen and craftsmen of the Papermaking Workshop of the Foundry Bureau. It is made of green sandalwood bark, reed stalks and a kind of banana from Nanyang." The stems are developed through a series of complex processes.”
Fang Jun took the pieces of paper, felt the texture of the paper, and rubbed it gently to check the toughness. It was smooth but not slippery, white and dense, with pure texture and no damage when folded. It had the charm of rice paper.
He also asked the maid to get pen and ink, and after soaking it in ink, she wrote the words "Zhongnanlingxiu" on one of the papers. The writing was dark and light, the texture was visible, the ink rhyme was clear, and the layers were distinct. The ink was thick but not muddy, light and Not gray, excellent paper quality.
Princess Changle praised: "Good paper!"
Fang Jun also nodded in approval. The current anti-counterfeiting technology is extremely inferior. It is not difficult to imitate. We can only work hard on the paper. The formula of this paper is already top secret. Coupled with the complex and unique production process, it is difficult to completely imitate it. Like ascending to heaven.
He looked at the paper again and again, whirling, and asked: "How much does it cost?"
Liu Shi said: "The cost is not much, because the raw materials are cheap. Only the Nanyang banana stems are more troublesome, but the process is complicated and time-consuming."
Fang Jun pondered slightly and said: "Add more expensive spices to it. In short, without affecting the paper quality, add whatever is expensive to increase the cost of the paper."
Liu Shi was confused and confused, and Princess Changle was also curious: "Why bother?"
Fang Jun explained: "This kind of paper is used to print 'coins' and must be inspected by His Majesty. If His Majesty feels that the paper quality is good and wants to use it as a tribute for palace expenses, then there is a risk of paper leakage. If the paper is leaked, it may be used to counterfeit 'coins', which must be eliminated from the source. ”
Princess Changle and Liu Shi suddenly understood.
Your Majesty is the king of a country. If you want this kind of paper as a tribute, others cannot refuse it. You can only ask your Majesty to give up this possible idea.
What can be done?
That is to make the paper very expensive, so expensive that even if Li Chengqian couldn't put it down, he would be afraid that the imperial censor would write a letter to impeach him for being "extravagant and corrupt" and "not caring about the people's power"...
Liu Shi was impressed in his heart. The Duke of Yue State was indeed an ordinary person. He could detect and reject all possible troubles in advance if he took one step or three steps. How many such thoughtful and extraordinary talents are there in the world?
Princess Changle's eyes were filled with resentment, and she said dissatisfiedly: "Your Majesty is devoted to the public service, diligent and simple, why are you so slandering and defensive?"
Fang Jun smiled and refused to argue: "It is a humble minister who is judging a gentleman's belly with a villain's heart, but he is just prepared."
The current His Majesty is no longer the His Majesty before, especially the change in mentality is so different that we have to guard against it.
"This is easy. When I return home, I will summon the craftsmen to find a solution."
Liu Shi quickly agreed. It is very difficult to reduce the cost of something, but if you want to increase the cost, it would be much easier. Just add good things that are useless but will not affect the quality. In theory, the cost can be increased infinitely...
Fang Jun nodded and ordered: "When I get back, print the four denominations of 'Wan Guan', 'Thousand Guan', 'Hundred Guan' and 'Fifty Guan'. Then I will take it to your Majesty for review. If there are no mistakes, I will print a large number and deliver it to those who urgently need it." In addition, all the craftsmen who participated in the development of the new paper were rewarded with hundreds of dollars.”
Throughout the ages, this land has never lacked talents with quick thinking and extraordinary wisdom. The only difference is that various systems have suppressed the talents of these people, making them useless as heroes.
The so-called "the outline is always fixed, and the superiors and inferiors are respected" is the basis for controlling and governing the country in the past dynasties. The core lies in "unchanged". As long as the status of the world is determined, those who serve as officials, those who serve as soldiers will become soldiers, and those who serve as farmers will cultivate the land. Then you can have long-term peace and stability.
And all "changes" mean that the "order" that has been worked hard to establish may collapse, so it is extremely resistant, and "invention and creation" is also a kind of change, from nothing to something, from what exists to something better, and every impact Huge "inventions and creations" will cause certain social changes, which cannot be tolerated.
This is also the reason why the past dynasties did not pay attention to "inventions and creations" and even labeled them as "wonderful skills and tricks" and severely criticized them.
Classes are bound, minds are bound, everything is bound.
It is actually not difficult to loosen the constraints and improve the subjective initiative of craftsmen. It is nothing more than official titles, money and silk, which means that the court has liberated the mind. Naturally, everyone is striving to be the first and inventing everywhere.
It is more difficult to obtain an official title, and it requires an epoch-making invention that surpasses the past, but Fang Jun is not stingy when it comes to money and silk.
"Here."
Liu Shi accepted the order, saluted and left.
Princess Changle curiously picked up the pieces of paper, turned them over and looked at them, and then asked: "It's enough to use this as a substitute for money and silk to lend to the noble families. Why bother to spend more time printing different denominations?"
Fang Jun said: "This is a matter of economic planning. There are many tricks."
……
One day later, Fang Jun entered the palace and presented Li Chengqian with paper for printing "banknotes". Li Chengqian also asked the same question.
There were also British Duke Li Ji, Zhongshu Ling Liu Jie, Zhongshu Ma Zhou, Ministry of Civil Affairs Shangshu Tang Jian and others, all looking at Fang Jun with puzzled faces. Then Fang Jun asked a question that seemed simple but was actually profound: "What do you think is the essence of money?"