To build a paper mill, there are many things that need to be done.
Both Bai Shan and Zhou Man were too busy to take time off, and Yin probably couldn't be too distracted, so the matter was finally handed over to Bai Erlang, and the rest of them would help him with ideas, see for details.
Zhou Man told him, "First of all, you need to find some craftsmen, preferably with experience in papermaking. It doesn't matter if you don't have one, and you can do it with ingenuity, and then let them study and study according to the recipe."
Bai Shan nodded: "Here we are thinking about craftsmanship, and we can find a suitable place to build workshops over there."
Bai Erlang: "Where can I find such a person?"
Yin Ju thought for a while and said: "You have to find someone you can trust, so if you are not a domestic servant, you have to sign a contract of sale after you find someone."
Otherwise, it would not be good if the things were researched with the front foot and the secrets were leaked with the back foot.
Bai Shan: "You can look for it from the servants, and let people go out to find out if there is such a craftsman, and if there is, buy it."
Zhou Man: "It's not easy. As far as I know, even if a craftsman with such a skill leaves his original master's house for various reasons, the court will confiscate it and won't sell it out again."
In other words, even if they sell food, it is not their turn to buy it.
Mingda, who had been silent all this time, said, "Let me figure out a way."
Everyone looked at her together.
Ming Da said: "Father and I can get some slaves and craftsmen from the bookstore." The ready-made manpower, even the recipes are ready-made, so there is no need to think about it.
So she said: "After deciding on a place, we can build a paper mill."
Bai Shan and Zhou Man thought of their previous plan, and praised: "Then I will trouble Princess Mingda, but we should wait for Fang Zi to research it before building a workshop."
Mingda heard something, and asked curiously: "Do you have a prescription? How is it compared to the existing paper?"
Bai Shandao: "There are two prescriptions, one of which is said to be slightly worse than the current rough paper, and the other is about the same as the current fine paper, maybe a little better."
Mingda hesitated for a while and said: "I can ask my father to have a few more craftsmen who are good at making paper, so that we can make paper of the same quality as the bookstore."
Bai Shan shook his head and said, "Princess, our goal is to make the paper cheaper, so we don't use the original recipes from the bookstore, and the recipes that Man Bao and I have are cheaper."
Mingda finally understood, and after pondering for a while, he said: "Then it will be inconvenient to ask for someone with my father."
But Bai Shan said with a smile: "Your Majesty is willing to give someone, that is His Majesty's kindness to the princess. As for the prescription from the paper mill, it is nothing to pass on to Your Majesty."
At this stage, they only plan to make these two kinds of paper, which are cheap and easy to promote. He and Man Bao originally planned to give this prescription to His Majesty and the Crown Prince.
Of course, that's for later.
When this recipe is sent out in the future, the paper workshop will also be able to cultivate their own craftsmen, and then choose a few better, precious paper recipes and start over.
For them, the difficulty in building a paper mill has never been money and raw materials, but craftsmen and recipes.
But now they don't lack prescriptions, they just lack people.
Mingda immediately wrote a letter to the emperor.
When the emperor received the letter, he ordered Gu Zhong without thinking, "Select some craftsmen and servants who can make paper from the bookstore in the palace and send them to Qingzhou."
He thought for a while, and felt that this was not enough, so he simply said: "I remember that there is a bookstore in the capital? Write the Xishu office under Mingda's name."
The former is fine, but the latter...
Gu Zhong couldn't help but said: "Does Your Majesty want to discuss this matter with Your Majesty?"
In fact, what Gu Zhong wanted to say was whether he should discuss it with the courtiers, but he temporarily changed it to the queen.
The emperor thought about it, and went into the harem to find the queen during his lunch break.
The queen asked for Mingda's letter as soon as she heard it, and after reading it, she refused for Mingda, saying: "If your majesty loves Mingda, give her some people and let her make paper by herself. Although the bookstore belongs to the royal family, it has always been for the world. How can students print books and hand them over to a princess?"
"What's the point of just making paper? The most precious thing in a bookstore is engraving. If a new store wants to accumulate this kind of accumulation, it will take decades." The emperor said: "I have a ready-made bookstore, what's the matter with giving her one? Prince." I wouldn't mind either."
Queen: "... But Mingda didn't want to run a bookstore, what she wanted to do was a paper mill."
"How much money does a piece of paper make?" the emperor said, "The most profitable thing is printing books."
The queen looked at Mingda's letter again, and said to the emperor, "Although I don't know why Mingda built a paper workshop, I know that this move is definitely not for making money."
Known daughter Mo Ruomu, Mingda lived a wealthy life since she was a child, but she was not extravagant. She is open-minded and not a money lover, so she would never build a paper workshop just for money.
And what she wants more money is the way, why bother to build a paper mill
After receiving the letter, the Queen said: "Your Majesty might as well write to her first and ask her why she wanted to build a paper workshop. If she doesn't prefer the bookstore, His Majesty sending her is just throwing a burden on her."
She knew where the emperor's Qicun was, and said directly: "If it's for money, what if we give her money directly? Is our daughter still short of money?"
The emperor felt that what the queen said was reasonable, so he said: "Okay, I will write to her to ask her. But since she asked for someone, let's send her some people first."
The queen did not object to this.
bookstore...
It is said to be the property of the royal family, but it is not really considered.
Because the books printed by the bookstore are sent to the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Chongwen Museum, and even local bookstores and prefectural schools, so the relationship is very important;
The reason why the emperor said so boldly that the bookstore is the property of the royal family is because the money earned by the bookstore goes to the emperor's private treasury.
The queen can be sure that if the emperor says to put Xishuju under Mingda's name, the court ministers will definitely tear up the bookstore and put it under the imperial court's name.
This must not be a good thing for the royal family, the queen does not want to cause such disputes.
But she also loves her daughter. Bookstores can't give it away, but people can give it away. At worst, she just builds one herself.
Even if she doesn't just want to build a paper mill, but also wants to print and sell books, it's not impossible to send some engraving craftsmen there, or even send her some engraving blocks.
This kind of thing can be done in private, but it would be too eye-catching to send an entire bookstore in one go.
The queen persuaded the emperor, and the emperor temporarily ignored the matter, but couldn't help but wonder, "Strange, isn't Mingda raising a baby at this time? Why did he think of building a paper workshop?"
He frowned again, "Has the person I sent haven't arrived in Qingzhou yet?"
Gu Zhong hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, they have a lot of people and luggage, so the journey is naturally slow. It's not like sending a letter. They can reach the capital in a few days at a fast pace."