The night in Lingnan is as quiet as the Central Plains. In addition to the rustling breeze coming from time to time outside the window, there are also many unknown insects, chirping endlessly, making them more angry.

Xu Ping sat at the table, close to the window, and read the letter from Lin Suniang's home brought by Sun Qilang in the bright candlelight.

The letter tells the changes in the farm, how much rice, how much wheat, how much grass, how many cattle and sheep were planted. In addition to Sun Qilang coming to follow Xu Ping, Manager Tan of Baisha Town Restaurant went to the capital, and Xu Chang and his wife went to pick up the restaurant.

At the end of the letter, Lin Su Niang not only reported the safety of the elderly to Xu Ping, but also told him that his daughter Panpan had learned to speak and would occasionally ask her father where she was.

Xu Ping looked at the letter again and again, holding it in his hand and was reluctant to let it go. The joy of being a father seemed to be filled with honey in his heart, and it was a little regretful. When his two local officials finished their work and returned to the capital, his daughter would run away, and it is very likely that the two would meet for the first time.

In the same year, Xu Ping was not the first to be promoted. The top scholar Wang Yaochen, the Tongzong of Huzhou, served as an official for one year and returned to Beijing to report his duties to the emperor. He was also promoted to the book Zuolang and changed to Jixian Academy. From then on, he followed the emperor and brought the position of the library. Both the Jinshi and the position of the library were transferred. Wang Yaochen also had these two honors and had already left them far behind in the same year. This is the honor of the top scholar. As long as the natural leader of the same Jinshi did not commit suicide like Hu Dan, Wang Yaochen would stand at the forefront of their Jinshi for a long time and lead everyone forward in the career path.

Among the others, even Wen Yanbo, who was once again appointed as the magistrate, was moved to an official position, and Xu Ping was just not pulled down by these people. Only Bao Zheng was old and the judges' court could not meet his requirements. After changing his official position twice, he thought he was too far away from home and did not go to the office to support his parents. Bao Zheng's treatment was so envious that Xu Ping's saliva was almost flowing out, and he didn't want to go thousands of miles to Lingnan to suffer. It would be great to stay at home to keep his parents, wife and children, and his life was very enjoyable. He did not have Bao Zheng's connections.

Xu Ping was born in an ordinary family and had no one to take care of him. He was promoted by real political achievements and could not make any fuss. The promotion speed was enough to catch up with those children of officials, but others were already extremely capable in the eyes of others.

In the courtyard on the other side, Xiuxiu and Liu Xiaomei sat in the yard, blowing the cool breeze, watching various small animals and birds quarreling. Xiuxiu read Suer's letter and told Liu Xiaomei about the prosperity of the capital. Every day, people on the streets flow like big rivers. Where are there people selling sugar, where are there people selling toys, how many tiles are in the city, how big each tiles are, and all kinds of fun, beautiful and pleasant inside.

Liu Xiaomei seemed to be listening to the story of another world. She had never even been to Yongzhou City. The capital that was countless times bigger than Yongzhou City and the most prosperous in the world had completely exceeded her imagination.

Life is plain and looks colorless and transparent, but human eyes are prisms. A colorless life is imprinted into the soul through human eyes, reflecting colorful colors.

Not far from Xuping's base, there are two huge pools built beside the dense bamboo forest, with white pulp inside. One pool is made of hemp poles, while the other pool is made of bagasse.

In the shadow next to the bamboo forest, Sun Qilang and Gao Daquan debugged the paper machine and said, "Official, I just can't understand. The pulp is obviously the same, so why do we have to divide it into two pools?"

Xu Ping bent down and looked at them, saying, "The paper made from different pulp is different. The paper made from each other is different. It is similar to catching medicine. This is the formula. Do you understand the formula?"

Sun Qilang shook his head straight, he always felt that Xu Ping's statement was a bit mysterious, it was obviously the same.

Not far away, Tan Hu and two soldiers were burning a stove. The hot air was directed through the pottery tube to the drying roller of the paper machine, and directly dried the paper. What came out was the finished paper and there was no need to be dried anymore.

"Okay, okay! Tan Jiejiejie, please call a few more people to scoop pulp from the pool. The pulp cannot be broken, and the broken paper will not be bundled!"

Hearing Sun Qilang's words, Tan Hu agreed and turned to shout. Five soldiers turned around from behind the bamboo forest. After listening to Tan Hu's instructions, each of them took a large iron bucket and stood by the pool in one by one.

The iron barrels in their hands are Xu Ping's recent masterpiece. After thinking about it for a long time, I remembered the method of hot-dip tin plating on thin iron plates. It was the so-called tinplate in his previous life, which was used in large quantities to make cans. The melting point of tin is low, and the iron plate can form a stable coating in the molten tin liquid, which is corrosion-resistant, can be soldered with tin, and is shiny and beautiful. With this technology, cheap iron can replace tin copper products in large quantities.

Asking Gao Daquan to hold the shaking handle, Sun Qilang carefully instructed: "Your strength must be even, neither fast nor slow, especially if you can't stop in the middle, remember!"

Gao Daquan agreed one by one, and then Sun Qilang said to the five soldiers standing there: "You scooped pulp, remember to follow one after another, just take your time, follow everything, follow my instructions!"

The soldiers agreed together, and Sun Qilang said the voice began.

The first bucket of pulp was poured into the machine's pool, and Gao Daquan shook the machine slowly. The conveyor belt brought the pulp into the middle of the two rollers, pressed into a thin layer, and then passed through several sets of rollers after being flattened. The paper was formed before passing through the last drying rollers and rolled up to the end.

Xu Ping was behind the machine, touching the slightly hot paper roll to check the quality of the paper. Although it was not perfect, it was much better than the hand-copied paper before, with uniform thickness and white color.

It was not until the five rolls of paper were made that the pulp in the machine was cleaned and replaced with bagasse pulp in another pool. Compared with the two, the pulp made of hemp is stronger because of the length of natural fibers.

After making three rolls of paper, Xu Ping asked the three soldiers to come and carry them back to his residence. He ordered Sun Qilang and Gao Daquan to continue trying here. The two pulps were mixed together and divided into different proportions to see how the effect was.

What is made now is wool paper, with a rough surface and is not suitable for direct printing or writing. It requires another crushing process. In addition to crushing, there is also a process to prevent ink from seeping. The most popular thing in this era was waxing and pressing. Xu Ping used starch and white dye from later generations, such as lime, to complete this process. After the entire process is completed, it is a relatively high-end printing paper, and the printed books will definitely become the finest products of this era.

As for the newsprint that Xu Ping used a large number of ordinary books to print in his previous life, because it was mechanical pulping, the lignin inside was not removed, and the fine grinding technology was something that could not be done in this era. The paper Xu Ping made now was actually high-end paper in his previous life. Although the quality was far inferior, the cost could not be reduced.

When I returned to my residence, there was a room on the east side that had already been empty, with several long cases placed inside, and crushed rollers were placed at one end of the case. Next to the case were large buckets of paste and limestone powder, and several large brown brushes were inserted inside.

Several women who were transferred to do this work were sitting and chatting. When they saw Xu Ping coming in, they hurriedly got up to salute.

He asked the soldiers to put the whole roll of paper on the long table, and Xu Ping dipped it in a paste brush and gently applied it on the paper. He tried it a few times before handing the brush to the women and letting them do it as they did.

The paper was brushed and before it was about to dry, it was led to the roller on the edge of the desk. One soldier shook the handle, and the other soldier then rolled up the paper again.

After making a roll, Xu Ping took it and looked at it. It was applied unevenly and had many flaws, but it was much better than the paper I used before and could be printed. Things were done without a single time. As long as you figure out the steps and improve it a little bit, you don’t need to force perfection.

Leaving two soldiers to press the paper inside, Xu Ping asked the other to carry the paper and followed him out.

The front yard of Xu Ping's residence is now a large factory, with all kinds of novelty things being made here, and next to the papermaking room is the printing place.

Duan Yunjie and a few people were typing in the room, both men and women, and they were all clean and neat. At this time of the Song Dynasty, there was no big defense for men and women, not to mention that the Yi Han and Han people lived here, and no one paid attention to the things that only a very small number of old masters were talking about, and they were not tired of working together.

It’s not that Xu Ping likes to use Duan Yunjie to do such things, but there are really no other candidates. In such a remote county, there are not many people who read and recognize words, and poor people who are both aware of words and are willing to work are even more rare, and there are not even a few in Yongzhou City. Generally, the prefectures and counties have fixed general textbooks, and the plates can be made with the guidance of officials. Printing all kinds of miscellaneous books like Xu Ping is actually far beyond the ability of Yongzhou.

Fortunately, Duan Yunjie is extremely smart, especially with such meticulous tasks. Xu Ping feels troublesome when he talks about many things, but he understands them as soon as he hears them. He can master them twice. He is born to do such things.

Seeing Xu Ping bringing people in, Duan Yunjie got up and saluted, smiling and whispered: "I have never had the chance to thank the officials. Thanks to your praise, my father finally changed the official position in Beijing, and he has also forgotten his long-cherished wish."

Duan Fang was very persistent in changing his official position in Beijing, otherwise he would not have made up his mind to take office in Zhaozhou. Speaking of which, it was a state, the conditions there could be worse than those in Hexian. Duan Fang was self-taught, and he could not take the normal imperial examination and Jinshi as a young official. He also worked hard for several years to take the exam for the subject, and he had to gain a certain degree in any case.

The Song Dynasty's discipline was also called a major subject, which was much more difficult than the regular imperial examination. Especially in terms of the breadth of knowledge, it was almost a pervert. A very smart person had to undergo ten years of special training before he could be expected. Xu Ping was a man in two lifetimes and never dared to make the idea of ​​this subject. In fact, there were only four people who entered the third-class subject in the Northern Song Dynasty. One of them was Wu Yu, the provincial Yuan of his class, and the other was Su Shi, as well as Fan Bailu and Kong Wenzhong. They both passed the Jinshi and then took the imperial subjects. It can also be seen that the status of the discipline subjects. The third-class treatment was equivalent to the top scorer. First-class and second-class were just a name-preparing and never taught people.

Duan Fang dared to make this decision, one was to be self-conceited with his own talents, and the other was the knot in his heart. Juren did not have a formal fame in the Song Dynasty, and he could not have a background, and his promotion was limited everywhere. Even if he was a Jinshi of the last grade, he would not have waited for so many years to be promoted to a Beijing official.

Xu Ping said to Duan Yunjie: "We are colleagues, this is your duty, you don't need to take it to heart."

Some things that people remember will naturally remember, but forgetful people will not mention them every day.

He took the paper from the soldier and handed it to Duan Yunjie: "This is the newly made paper today. You can try it out to see how the printed book is effective and whether there is anything to modify."

Duan Yunjie took it and said, "There is a "Mengqiu" here. The official said this, so use this paper to try it."

Educating the people is Xu Ping's job. Recently, he has printed some books about enlightenment, which can be regarded as his own political achievements.

Inside the room is a printing press, which is still a square full-print. It is just an organization that can complete all the work by one person, and it can only be regarded as the prototype of the printing press. This is what Xu Ping thought of himself, and he has never seen what a real printing press looks like. It is exactly what he thinks. Fortunately, most mechanical things can be understood by analogy and are actually good to use.

Duan Yunjie didn't know the origin of this thing, and she thought that the Central Plains were printing books like this now. While she was amazed, she had more fantasies about the distant Central Plains.

After giving the instructions, Xu Ping left the house and stood in the yard to look around. There were people busy in each room, and there was a prosperous scene. He let out a gentle breath.
Chapter completed!