Chapter 56

Yes!

Money!

Although selling paper is very profitable now!

But... expenses are also very high!

Han Xin's side is just a money pit!

The food, drink, and supplies for over fifty thousand people cost nearly five hundred thousand cash a month.

This amount of money, though Li Si can still afford it!

But... he cannot withstand the army continuing to expand!

Nor can he withstand the paper sales beginning to slump!

Even more crucially, money must be saved!

You must know, Facing Ying Su's great amnesty of the world, letting the common people pay no taxes for three years, means all future food, clothing, and supplies of the imperial court must be maintained by selling paper!

If another drought or flood disaster strikes, the imperial court must still allocate disaster relief grain!

The Great Wall, Dujiangyan, the Qin Emperor's Mausoleum, and the Epang Palace are all under construction in full swing.

Money is needed!

All are places requiring money!

Therefore, Li Si constantly feels a sense of tension.

And seeing any opportunity to make money, he will not let it slip!

However, Facing Ying Su looked at Li Si and smiled:

"Prime Minister my lord, papermaking still has some production threshold, but this movable type printing technique, do you say there is any production threshold to speak of?"

"Ah?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Li Si froze!

He Xixiguan these templates, and it seemed... truly there was no production threshold to speak of; it was simply making small squares out of mud, then carving characters onto the small squares!

This thing, anyone could make it; there was absolutely no production threshold to speak of.

He could even guarantee that if used to sell money, the moment one was sold, the next day people would begin studying and making it!

"Then... then what should be done?"

"How can it be turned into money!"

Li Si's eyebrows furrowed deeply!

Facing Ying Su smiled: "Sell books!"

"Make this thing into paper books, then, sell books!"

"How much can a copy of the Analects sell for now? If we price it double that, what do you say?"

"What?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Li Si was stunned, but at the same time, almost instantly, his eyes lit up!

"It will sell massively!"

"Absolutely it will sell massively!"

"Why do those people buy paper?"

"Is it not to copy and write?"

"Most people, however, use it to copy books!"

"But... how can their speed of copying books compare to the speed of movable type printing?"

"And their copied quality, how can it compare to the neatness of printing?"

"Now a copy of the Analects sells for fifty cash; let us simply sell it for one hundred cash!"

"Even so, people will absolutely buy it!"

"You must know, the price of paper is not low, and moreover, it saves them the trouble of copying!"

"One hundred cash is absolutely not expensive!"

"Similarly, one hundred cash, for those noble families, is absolutely affordable!"

"The key is, it saves more money than bamboo slips!"

"Take me for example; my home holds a complete set of Lu Lu Shi Chunqiu, a full thirty-five scrolls, and these fifteen scrolls cost me three thousand cash!"

"But if printed using movable type, Lu Shi Chunqiu would only need three books, and these three books would cost only three hundred cash!"

"This lets them get a huge bargain!"

"Your Majesty, one hundred cash is not enough; it must be five hundred cash!"

"No, no, five hundred cash is too expensive; Lu Shi Chunqiu has many characters, so it costs three thousand cash; the Tao Te Ching has only three thousand characters; selling it for five hundred cash is too expensive; no one would be willing to be such a fool!"

"Then how should the price be set?"

Li Si was still lamenting when Facing Ying Su smiled:

"Divide by the quantity of paper used and the characters on it; sell each volume at the price of that volume!"

"For example, Lu Lu Shi Chunqiu has two hundred thousand characters in total; it can be divided into ten volumes, two thousand characters per volume, using two large sheets of paper, selling for one hundred cash!"

"And the Tao Te Ching has too few characters; it can only be one volume, selling for fifty cash!"

Facing Ying Su spoke with a smile!

Li Si was stunned again and praised Facing Ying Su: "Brilliant, but... Your Majesty, it is sold too cheaply; according to your selling method, a complete set of Lu Lu Shi Chunqiu sells for only one thousand cash, three times cheaper than bamboo slips!"

"A volume of twenty thousand characters must sell for at least four hundred cash; it must be more expensive than bamboo slips!"

Li Si shouted.

Hearing this, Facing Ying Su could not help but laugh!

This Li Si, after all, was someone who served Lu Buwei; damn it, he's even more ruthless than I am at slaughtering these noble families!

However, in this matter, Facing Ying Su did not argue with Li Si, directly letting him set the prices; this matter would still be under his full authority!

Li Si was extremely excited: "Your subject is willing to serve as a hound or a horse!"

"Very well, Cai Lun, continue recruiting people; increase the movable type printing templates and prepare to sell books!"

He smiled.

Li Si was also smiling.

He was overjoyed!

Selling books!

At this moment, he seemed to already see the scene of books selling in huge quantities!

He even saw countless Qian Cai flowing endlessly towards the Great Qin treasury!

The Great Qin treasury grew ever fuller!

And under Li Si's hard work, the Great Qin became ever more powerful and prosperous!

"Your Majesty!"

Following behind Facing Ying Su, Li Si at this moment felt as if tears were welling up in his eyes!

At this moment, he even felt somewhat fortunate, fortunate that he had joined Facing Ying Su so early; otherwise, how could such a major undertaking as selling paper and selling books have fallen to him, Li Si!

Li Si at this moment was truly excited!

But very soon, Li Si became unhappy!

Because Facing Ying Su was going to take him to meet Zhang Liang.

To let Zhang Liang point out a clear direction for the Great Qin's path to strength!

"He? Does he deserve it?"

Li Si was extremely disdainful.

He also looked down on Zhang Liang!

Someone of Zhang Liang's caliber is not worth a hundred thousand gold anywhere!

He also felt that Facing Ying Su took Zhang Liang too seriously.

Therefore, Li Si really disliked Zhang Liang!

However, a few words Facing Ying Su said to him made Li Si feel very gratified!

"Li Si, you are the Chancellor of our Great Qin, a controller with actual power!"

"What about Zhang Liang? No matter how much strategy he has, it is merely empty talk on paper!"

"Moreover, he is a deeply rooted anti-Qin force; I, the Sovereign, will never allow him to ride over your head!"