Working Prophet

Another new business Li Yu planned to start was papermaking.

Today, animal skins (mainly sheepskins) and papyrus are still used on the Bratis continent to record text.

Let’s not talk about animal skins. Although they are strong and wear-resistant, can be stored for a long time, and are even waterproof, the production cost is expensive.

A sheep or cow can usually only make one piece of paper, and the skills of the skinners are very high. They must peel off the skin completely without any damage in the middle. At the same time, the hide itself must not be damaged. flaw.

After that, specialized craftsmen need to clean, remove hair, scrape, and air-dry... After a set of tedious processes, a piece of parchment can be produced.

Taking the "Silver Moon Sacred Book" of the Silver Moon Church as an example, the entire book uses a total of 469 pieces of parchment. The paper alone is a large expense.

In addition, the weight of the entire book is also amazing.

In comparison, papyrus is much cheaper. Papyrus is made from the stems of papyrus. The production process is relatively simple. You only need to peel the papyrus, cut it into similar lengths, and then flatten and soak it.

Then take them out of the water, squeeze out the water, arrange them horizontally and vertically, press them tightly, use the sugar mucus inside to connect them to each other, dry them in the sun, and then smooth the surface to complete the production.

However, papyrus also has many shortcomings. First of all, it is relatively brittle and easily damaged. It cannot be folded and can only be rolled up. In addition, transportation is also troublesome and must be carried by water.

Furthermore, it is not easy to store, especially in a humid environment, it will quickly become moldy. Don't believe the papyrus unearthed in ancient Egypt. Papyrus cannot be preserved for thousands of years.

In addition, like cotton, the raw material papyrus also has requirements for the environment.

It generally grows on the edge of swampy lakes in tropical and subtropical regions. Due to the low temperature in the west, it cannot be planted.

Li Yu had conducted market research in Yanxue City before. The price of a piece of papyrus was almost the same as a loaf of bread, and the price of animal skin paper was twenty times that of papyrus.

For example, Miss Rabbit usually writes letters and handles government affairs with papyrus, which is much cheaper than animal skins.

But Li Yu is still not satisfied with the price. It is obvious that Shuangxuejiao cannot achieve paperless office at this stage, and the upgrade system he established needs to retain a lot of files, and the consumption of paper will be very alarming.

In addition, he also opened a school, and it is impossible to let students just write on the ground.

To sum up, Li Yu felt that it was time to make his own paper.

Like weaving, papermaking is also a traditional art of Chinese descendants, and tutorials on ancient papermaking abound on the Internet.

The principle of modern papermaking technology is no different from that in ancient times. It is essentially the decomposition and reshaping of plant fibers. It is just that the intermediate links are mechanized, and there are also some adjustments to the formula.

Plant fiber is easy to understand. Tree bark is the most common plant fiber. In addition, Li Yu also has flax, rattan, and even wheat straw that can be reused to make paper.

As long as these raw materials are soaked and beaten, and lime is added, the fiber decomposition process can be completed. After that, the fibers are collected from the pulp with a screen, pressed and bonded, and then dried in the sun to obtain paper in the modern sense.

Of course, this sounds simple, but it is quite troublesome to actually do it, but the final product will prove that all the hard work is worth it.

The manpower required to produce modern paper is similar to that of papyrus, or even a little more, which does not have much advantage in production cost.

However, the bulk of papyrus is not produced in the first place, but in the transportation link, and the transportation cost is ten times the production cost.

The toughness of modern paper can greatly reduce its transportation cost, whether it can be transported by land or water, and the quality of paper is far higher than that of papyrus.

In short, a paper that combines many advantages such as lightness, cheapness, toughness, and ease of transportation, there is no reason why it cannot beat other competing products.

In addition, with the help of the massive reputation brought by slaying the dragon and the identity of the only female knight in the empire, the Arias family and the Shuangxiujiao have initially gained the ability to retain the huge benefits brought by the new products.

This is why Li Yu decided to launch several new products. When the first batch of linen and paper are produced, he will invite the largest chambers of commerce in the western region to discuss distribution.

And just when Li Yu and Ilea were pursuing development behind closed doors, the Silver Moon Church on the other side broke out a major event that made everyone in the Western Region pay attention.

Herodotus, who was also the high priest, accused Martina and her accomplices of colluding with the double break religion, which eventually caused the church to lose several times in the green field.

As soon as the news came out, the entire Western Territory was shocked.

High Priest Martina is quite respected both inside and outside the church, and can even be said to be the most prestigious among the seven high priests.

The vast majority of Silver Moon Church believers could not believe that she would betray the church and Picia.

However, Herodotus later came up with a series of "irrefutable evidence", including that the high priest Martina ordered his disciple Adele to deliberately lose to Li Yu in a medical competition, and also brought a fake holy coffin to damage the reputation of the church. .

Then High Priest Martina met with Ilea in private and further plotted to betray the church.

Before the female lord held the initiation ceremony, a group of extremely devout believers in the goddess spontaneously gathered together and wanted to assassinate Merlin, the prophet of the two-year-old religion. For this reason, they were willing to be martyred.

In order to avoid leaking the news, they even hid it from their wives and children, and only told the high priest Martina their plan before taking action.

Unexpectedly, the latter revealed their plan to the Arias family and Shuangxiujiao.

This led to the defeat of those martyrs, causing them to be ruthlessly slaughtered by the Shuangxiu Church who had been well prepared, and also brought shame to the church again.

Herodotus later led people to raid the residence of High Priest Martina, and found several secret letters written by Li Yu to her. In the secret letters, the two reached an agreement that High Priest Martina would stop it at all costs. The Silver Moon Church formed its own army to resist the Shuangxiu Church.

Just when everyone was still doubting the authenticity of these news, a big man stood up and confirmed the statement of the high priest Herodotus. He was Kokoon, the eldest high priest in the church.

Moreover, the High Priest Kirkeon not only testified against the High Priest Martina, but also exposed her accomplice, the High Priest Hesiod. This was not over yet. The High Priest Kirkeon then broke the news. .

It is said that the late High Priest Reeves probably did not die of suicide. He had been investigating the crimes of High Priest Martina and High Priest Hesiod before his death.