Chapter 32

This is beneficial for continuing to sell paper at high prices, so he merely smiled and said nothing, then continued to wait for more people to offer higher prices!

And with thirty cash set as the high price, the level of competition immediately dropped.

Indeed, most people are relatively rational; how much does a foot of cloth cost? Only about twenty cash.

A sheet of paper is far less substantial than a foot of cloth; although it is softer and more convenient to carry, the uses of paper are too singular, and if it exceeds the price of cloth, no one will be willing to buy it.

But there were still some people who wanted to use this opportunity to curry favor with Li Si.

Thus... the price of a single sheet of paper was directly raised to fifty cash!

In the end, fifty sheets of paper were sold for fifty cash!

At that moment, two thousand five hundred cash was handed into Li Si's hands, and this paper-selling event finally concluded.

But even though it was over, the crowd did not disperse!

Many people could see the uses of the paper.

Moreover, the price of fifty cash absolutely exceeded Li Si's expectations.

So, many people were chasing after Li Si asking him various questions!

And these questions, in the final analysis, came down to only two!

One, exactly how many sheets of paper are there in total!

Two, exactly how is the price of the paper set; they desperately wanted to know how the paper is priced!

And regarding these questions, Li Si had only three words: I don't know!

As for the quantity of paper, he truly did not know how much there was!

Facing Ying Su only told him that the production cost of the paper was very low, but never told him how much paper there was.

Regarding the price, although he already had a psychological price point in mind, he still needed to discuss it with Facing Ying Su!

If he set the price himself, what if Facing Ying Su became unhappy?

So, he answered neither of the two questions.

After the crowd dispersed, he directly brought the two thousand five hundred cash to the Imperial Palace to pay respects to the new Emperor!

"Fifty cash per sheet? A total of two thousand five hundred cash?"

Inside the Imperial Palace, when Facing Ying Su learned that Li Si had sold it at this price, he was instantly shocked!

You must know, the price of a foot of cloth is only twenty cash!

And yet the price of this linen paper can actually reach fifty cash?

"There is something wrong here, this isn't the final price, is it!"

Facing Ying Su asked a question; he instinctively felt there was something wrong here!

No matter how expensive the paper gets, it cannot possibly be more expensive than silk or cloth!

This is unreasonable, far too unreasonable!

And upon hearing these words, Li Si could not help but sigh that Facing Ying Su was not easy to fool, and immediately recounted the matter of selling the paper.

After listening to all of this, Facing Ying Su nodded; he could not help but sigh that using Li Si was truly the right choice.

With just this method of selling paper, who would not shout out that it was brilliant?

But Facing Ying Su still asked Li Si:

"Then, Prime Minister, what do you think the final price of this paper should be?"

Li Si pondered and said: "Eighteen cash; this is the chokehold price, two cash less than silk or cloth, which is the limit price that nobles and merchants can accept!"

He spoke these words, fully understanding this point!

Facing Ying Su pondered for a moment and said:

"Fifteen cash; set the price at fifteen cash. After all... this item still needs to circulate through merchants; a profit of two cash is too low and will not sell easily. Give them five cash as profit margin; only then will more nobles purchase it!"

"This..."

Li Si was convinced and bowed deeply to Facing Ying Su.

But at the same time, he was also curious about one question: exactly how much paper is there.

After all... Facing Ying Su mentioned circulation, which means this item is definitely not only sold in Xianyang City!

But is to be sold to the entire nation!

Facing Li Si's inquiry, Facing Ying Su smiled, did not stand on ceremony, and directly led him to a place!

The Great Qin Shaofu's Examination and Craft Office!

Under Cai Lun's lead, in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the paper storage room!

"This... this... is all paper?"

At that moment, Li Si was astonished!

Looking at a room full of linen paper, he was truly dumbfounded!

He could not help but sigh, just how many sheets of paper are there!

Cai Lun walked in holding a small notebook and said to Li Si: "There are a total of one hundred eighty thousand sheets of linen paper, fifty thousand sheets of grass paper, and thirty thousand sheets of Xuan paper!"

"One hundred eighty thousand sheets of linen paper, that... that is... twenty-seven million cash!"

Li Si was shocked!

But very quickly, he showed confusion: "Linen paper? Grass paper? Xuan paper?"

He was puzzled and did not understand.

Facing Ying Su directly pulled him aside and placed the three types of paper before him.

He introduced them separately: "Linen paper, grass paper, Xuan paper!"

"Linen paper? Grass paper? Xuan paper?"

He was shocked, gazing at the three types of paper.

Of these three types of paper, linen paper was the roughest, straw paper came next, but as for Xuan paper, one simply could not believe it was even paper.

It was too smooth, too pristine white!

"How... how were all these made!"

Li Si was utterly shocked.

But the very next second, he wanted to slap himself; was this a question he should be asking?

One must know that in this world, paper did not yet exist at all; only Facing Ying Su could make paper.

Shouldn't this object be Facing Ying Su's core secret? Would he allow himself to know it?

Li Si deeply regretted asking.

However, Facing Ying Su did not hesitate in the slightest; he directly grabbed Li Si's hand and headed toward the papermaking workshop!

Right before Li Si's eyes, Facing Ying Su ordered people to filter residues of tree bark, weeds, and other materials, then dry them into sheets of paper.

Even in areas Li Si could not understand, he personally explained them to him.

Furthermore, he told Li Si why the differences between Xuan paper, straw paper, and linen paper were so great, and so on!

All of this nearly moved Li Si to tears!

Yes!

He truly cried!

What was this?

This was trust!

One must realize, this was paper!

Something that did not exist at all in this era, yet he dared to show it to him like this?

Was he not afraid that he would watch, learn, and replicate it?

Yes, although paper seemed miraculous, to speak the truth, it actually had almost no technical barriers!

Anyone who wished to make it could essentially imitate it after watching just once!

Even for the finest Xuan paper, as long as one watched a few more times and practiced a few more times, it could completely be produced!

Li Si was truly moved to tears; right there in the craftsmanship office, before so many people, he dropped to his knees with a thud before Facing Ying Su: "Your Majesty!"

Facing Ying Su smiled, said nothing, and helped him up!

After rising, Li Si immediately offered a suggestion to Facing Ying Su: "Your Majesty, straw paper and Xuan paper should not appear now!"

"Oh?"

"Why is that?"

Facing Ying Su asked with a smile.

Li Si said: "Although the price of linen paper is set at fifteen coins, as a consumable item, and moreover, a long-term consumable item, to speak the truth, the price is set too high; initially, people will buy it out of novelty, but within a year at most, people will be deterred by this price, and at that time, if we wish to continue selling paper, we will have no choice but to lower the price!"