Chapter 352: The Wisdom of the Working People

"What has the Acting Assistant Director of the Privy Treasury, Heifu, been doing lately?"

In the Sweet Spring Mountain's Forest Light Palace, Li Si raised his head and looked at his middle son Li Tong, who had just arrived from Xianyang. He did not ask whether the household had been well over the past half month, nor did he ask what his eldest son Li You's letter from Changsha Commandery had said, yet he showed an inexplicable concern for Heifu, whom he had rarely mentioned in the past.

Though Li Tong found it strange, he still cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to Father: after Heifu became Assistant Director of the Privy Treasury, he first toured the areas near water around Xianyang with Zhang Shaorong and set up a workshop near Hao Pool. Afterward, he also demanded timber from the five parks from the Privy Treasury's Park Warden."

Li Si nodded. "So, the thing he boasted before His Majesty that he wanted to make is, like bamboo and wooden slips, made from trees?"

Li Tong said, "I also heard that all those trees have been soaked in Hao Pool. But afterward, Heifu actually sent over a thousand craftsmen and convict laborers home, saying they should come back after planting the wheat, leaving only a little over a hundred men at hand."

He could not help but add, "His Majesty only gave Heifu three months, yet this fellow is not anxious at all? I think he has had things too smooth in the palace these past months and has become a bit conceited! Otherwise, why would he visit the residence of Neishi Teng repeatedly, yet not once come to pay a visit to our family? This commoner has probably long forgotten who it was that promoted him to where he is today!"

"Foolish."

Li Si rebuked his middle son. As he saw it, although Li Tong had been personally taught by him after arriving in Xianyang, his political acumen was far inferior to that of his eldest son Li You. Heifu's deliberate avoidance of visiting the Li household was clearly done at Li You's instruction.

And it was not just Heifu; people like Zhang Han and Zhang Cang, whom Li Si sheltered and promoted, also rarely visited the Li residence in private.

To befriend the multitude, to form cliques inside and out—even if one commits grave errors, the cover provided is extensive!

Li Si needed to maintain his image of being "non-factional," not that of a "praised minister" with a house full of guests and a wide network of partisans.

Unlike his muddled middle son, he saw that although Heifu had not sent him a single gift, he was deliberately pulling people deeply stamped with Li Si's mark, like Zhang Cang and Zhang Han, into his endeavors.

This suited Li Si's intent perfectly. Setting aside Zhang Cang, who was indifferent to fame and fortune, as for Zhang Han, though Li Si admired him, he had no grounds to promote him beyond his authority. If Zhang Han could ride on Heifu's achievements, it would not be a bad thing at all.

"But with Heifu so leisurely and carefree, can he really accomplish this?" Li Tong was somewhat skeptical.

"Your elder brother once said that although this man is of humble origin, he is extremely knowledgeable and utterly reliable in his work, never shooting at random targets."

Li Si had a vague feeling that Heifu was the same kind of person as himself—unwilling to remain in a lowly position, unwilling to live every day like a rat cowering in fear in a latrine pit, desperately eager to escape his original class and climb the mountain of power.

Now, the latrine rat had placed itself in a granary. Whether it could shine depended entirely on whether it could seize the opportunity.

"If it is truly as he says, and he successfully produces 'paper'—thin as silk yet cheap as wooden tablets—it would indeed be a deed of great merit for Qin!"

As Commandant of Justice, Li Si was keenly aware that a major difference between the Qin system and those of the Six States was its insistence on "written administration."

The "Miscellaneous Statutes for the Interior" that Li Si personally supplemented pointed out: "When there is a matter to request, it must be done in writing; do not request orally, and do not request through an intermediary." No matter how small the matter, subordinates were required to report their work to superiors in the form of written official documents and were not permitted to report orally and be done with it.

Furthermore, the "Statutes on Currency and Finance" stipulated: "When officials transfer goods between them, they shall notify the year of the outgoing account in writing, and the recipient shall enter it into the accounts by the time of receipt." In this way, not only could accounting be precise, but responsibility could also be traced.

This "written administration" was widely implemented across all commanderies and counties, so every year, a vast quantity of bamboo and wooden slips was needed. Yet these slips were heavy and cumbersome. Not to mention the men who transported them, even Li Si, reviewing the legal investigation reports and appeals for retrial sent daily from the commanderies and counties, was exhausted to the point of weakness. Storage and transport were also inconvenient; scroll after scroll of bamboo books took up too much space. What was called "learning worth five cartloads" amounted to only a few hundred thousand words.

With the unification of the realm, the administrative affairs handled by the central government and the commanderies and counties were increasing daily, making the inconvenience of bamboo and wooden slips ever more apparent. From the Emperor above down to the petty clerks below, the Qin dynasty urgently needed a new writing medium to improve administrative efficiency...

"This is also the reason His Majesty attaches such importance to this matter. Heifu, it seems, has made the right bet!"

Li Si greatly appreciated intelligent people and was not worried that Heifu, after achieving merit and gaining favor, would slip out of his control.

Unlike Han Fei, who, if employed by Qin, would inevitably become Chancellor, Heifu's origin was too low and he was too young. In the next ten years, he would at most become a Commandery Governor, insufficient to pose a threat to Li Si, and could instead become an ally for his descendants...

"After you return to Xianyang, you must pay attention to Heifu's every move and report to me frequently."

Li Si thus instructed Li Tong, and only then did he open the letter Li You had sent from thousands of li away...

His brows immediately furrowed, because this letter was written while on the march and revealed some details not described in the official dispatches from Dongting Commandery.

"The Yue people of Dongting Commandery, incited by the Western Yue and Chu remnants, are rebelling against Qin with their walled towns!"

After reading it, Li Si sneered, "A major incident requiring full alert in Dongting and Changsha Commanderies, and the Governor of Dongting Commandery merely called it a minor tribal disturbance? It seems the south is not at peace!"

Hao Pool was located near the old capital of the Zhou dynasty, Haojing. Now, one could no longer see the cities of the illustrious Zhou, only foxes roaming among the crumbling walls and stretches of golden millet.

Heifu had set the main base for papermaking here as well, because this place not only had the advantage of flowing water to build several water-powered trip-hammer houses, but also had ponds and marshes to soak the transported timber.

It was the seventh month, and the nearby women had harvested the kudzu and hemp planted in the fields and were retting them in the pool to prepare for weaving winter clothes. As they worked, they pointed at the logs in the water and chattered away.

"For building houses and ships, you have to dry the timber in the sun. These officials are strange, actually soaking it in water!"

After soaking the trees, Heifu paid them no more mind. He even sent over a thousand craftsmen and relocated convicts conscripted from nearby areas home, telling them to come back after planting their wheat, leaving only a little over a hundred convict laborers on standby.

At this, Zhang Han was so anxious he was nearly beside himself, but Heifu was unhurried. Instead, he had Zhang Han send someone to visit the Eastern and Western Weaving Chambers under the Privy Treasury. These two weaving chambers were responsible for collecting silkworm cocoons and weaving the patterned silk garments for suburban temple ceremonies. There, they indeed found what Heifu was looking for...

Displayed before Zhang Han and Cheng Shang was a light, thin sheet. It felt like silk fabric, yet it was not a whole piece of cloth.

Zhang Han did not recognize it, but Cheng Shang said, "In Guanzhong, this is called heti."

"Indeed, in Nan Commandery it is called fangxu."

Heifu laughed. "It seems that in Brother Cheng's home, every summer, the sound of looms never ceases!"

Cheng Shang sighed. "My mother raised me through the trade of silkworms, mulberry, and weaving. How could I not recognize it?"

Heifu nodded. "The same for me. My father died early; my mother and elder sister-in-law toiled from dawn to dusk raising silkworms and weaving silk gauze. But those light, soft silks were all sold to the county town; they never wore them themselves..."

And the "fangxu" that Heifu had procured from the weaving chamber was precisely a product of silkworm and mulberry cultivation. Superior cocoons could be reeled directly into silk, but the defective and diseased cocoons were also too precious to discard. They were placed in boiling water, and the silk was extracted using the floss-spreading method.

After the floss-spreading was complete, some residual floss would often be left on the bamboo mat. After several times, this accumulated into a thin layer of fiber. Dried in the sun and peeled off, this was the heti, or fangxu, before their eyes.

Zhang Han came from a wealthy and noble family, having been clothed and fed without worry since childhood, with ready-made silk and patterned garments to wear. Of course, he had never had the chance to know this thing, nor did he understand what it had to do with papermaking.

To answer his question, Heifu fetched brush and ink and meticulously began to write characters on the fangxu.

Cheng Shang explained, "In the homes of weaving women, heti is used as an offering to worship Leizu, the Sericulture Goddess. Before the sacrifice, they often ask someone literate to write some eulogies on it. Actually, it is because they are reluctant to burn cloth and silk, so they use this as a substitute."

He also had a sudden realization. "Heifu said he wanted to make 'paper' that is lighter and more convenient than bamboo slips and cheaper than cloth and silk—could it be that he means heti?"

Immediately, Cheng Shang shook his head in self-negation. "I'm afraid not. Heti is too scarce; you only get one sheet after spreading floss dozens of times."

"It is only the principle that is similar. This is precisely where I got my inspiration."

Heifu picked up the heti with writing on it, exerted force with his hands, and slowly tore it apart.

The heti split from the center, the silk floss fibers pulled loose. Heifu placed it on the table and asked Cheng Shang to observe it closely.

"A closer look and you will understand. So-called silk fabric, and this heti as well, are actually nothing more than countless fine floss interwoven. It can also be called silk fiber."

He then pointed outside the door to the women retting hemp in the pond and marsh. "After the farming women harvest the kudzu and hemp stalks, they strip the hemp bark and soak it in water. After retting for half a month, the hemp bark finally loosens, and they can pull out strand after strand of fine floss. These fine strands are hemp fiber."

"To put it plainly, whether silk, kudzu, hemp, or the common mulberry bark and paper mulberry bark, they are all composed of countless fibers."

"Therefore, since the fine floss of silk can be pressed flat and dried into heti, which can be used for writing, then tree bark, hemp heads, old cloth, and fish nets—which are also composed of fine floss—if chopped and pounded into a pulp, collected on a bamboo mat, then pressed flat and dried, might also be writable! This is my plan!"

Zhang Han suddenly saw the light. "So when you had us cut trees and ret them, what you wanted was the bark, not the timber!"

Although wood-pulp paper would become the mainstream in later ages, Heifu felt that, given the current level of iron tool technology in Qin, pulping would still be somewhat difficult. Moreover, three months' time was probably not enough to ret wood into pulp, not to mention the many subsequent steps. It was better to start with the simpler bark paper and hemp paper first...

Cheng Shang understood as well. He slapped his thigh: "Master Mozi already said in the Mo Jing: 'A body is divided into parts.' All things can be divided, yet there are times when they cannot be divided further — this is called the 'endpoint.' It seems these fine floss fibers are the endpoints of silk, hemp, mulberry bark, and tree skin, are they not?"

Heifu listened, stunned. He thought to himself: Mozi was that formidable, proposing over two hundred years ago that matter is composed of tiny particles?

However, just as Cheng Shang was marveling that Heifu actually knew of the profound knowledge Master Mozi had comprehended, Heifu shook his head and said: "This is no profound learning, nor is it Heifu's own merit."

He pointed outside the house to the women by Hao Pool, who were working and chatting as they laughed. Smiling, he said: "It is merely a simple notion gleaned from weaving women and washerwomen — a plain matter that even the commoners' children in the weaving chambers understand."

Whether in ancient times or later ages, many inventions are attributed to sages and great worthies — as if without the Fire-Driller, there would be no fire in the world, and mankind would live forever in darkness; without Houji, no one under heaven would know how to grow crops, and they would forever eat raw meat and drink blood; without Meng Tian, the people of China would never use a writing brush; without Cai Lun, paper would never have appeared.

But Heifu thought it was not so. They merely happened to be born at the right time, standing on the shoulders of giants. To put it in a clichéd phrase...

"All of this comes from the wisdom of the laboring people!"

(End of chapter)