58: Chapter 58 Fusu must not be allowed to live! Papermaking is not that easy!

The next day.

After a night of fleeing, when Zhang Liang began to gather the remnants, he felt disheartened.

Before the Shadow Guards attacked, they had over a hundred people.

Now, including himself, there were only thirteen left.

Other Yanzhao Righteous Warriors were either killed or had scattered during the flight. Many of them were scared out of their wits and no longer dared to oppose Great Qin.

Although these stubborn remnants of the Yanzhao people gathered again, they had suffered a massive psychological blow, and their hearts could not calm down for a long time.

The Yan man with a leopard-like head and round eyes said with a look of horror, "What kind of weapons do those Qin dogs have? They are so sharp that with just one strike, they chopped my weapon in two."

"With another strike, they chopped my weapon until only the hilt was left!"

"Otherwise, I would have fought that fellow for three hundred rounds and poked ten thousand holes in his body!"

Zhang Fei of Yan was truly furious.

The remaining Yanzhao people all looked incredibly grim.

Originally, they had caught the Shadow Guards off guard and had twice the numbers; the advantage was clearly on their side. Instead, they collapsed at the first touch and fled in panic.

If they hadn't run fast and Zhang Liang hadn't ordered them to break out in different directions, the Shadow Guards, being few in number, wouldn't have been able to hunt them all down. They would have all perished in the battle at the ruined temple.

"Fusu absolutely cannot remain!"

The image of that white-haired middle-aged man appeared in Zhang Liang's mind once more.

He wanted to ask that person to take action and assassinate Zhao Fusu!

"Let's go!"

Zhang Liang led the remaining twelve Yanzhao Righteous Warriors away from the sorrowful land of Xianyang.

...

"Congratulations to the host for signing in and obtaining the Papermaking Technique."

In the new day's sign-in, Zhao Fusu finally obtained the Papermaking Technique he had been longing for.

"I can finally make paper!"

Zhao Fusu was excited.

Without paper, things were inconvenient; whether it was office work or going to the toilet, it was very difficult.

The cleaning tool used for the toilet in Great Qin was the Bamboo Spatula, mostly made of bamboo or wood.

People would shave bamboo or wood into smooth thin slices or strips to scrape and clean themselves after using the toilet.

For the past half month, Zhao Fusu naturally couldn't use such small bamboo strips when he went to the toilet.

As the Eldest Prince of the Great Qin Empire, he certainly used cloth when going to the toilet.

It was just that using cloth was too wasteful.

Reusing it would be too disgusting.

It's better to use paper; it's cheap and easy to use, and you can just throw it away after use.

The emergence of paper could also accelerate the speed of popularizing knowledge.

Zhao Fusu planned to open a bank next; if he had paper, it would be much more convenient to use it to record customer information.

If he still used Bamboo Slips, it would be far too cumbersome.

Zhao Fusu eagerly looked at the book "Industrial Papermaking Technique."

To his surprise, besides the Industrial Papermaking Technique, the system also gave him an "Ancient Papermaking Technique." The content was extremely detailed, with a full seventy-two steps of ancient refining processes.

Zhao Fusu smiled. Was the system afraid he wouldn't be able to use industrial papermaking, so it provided an ancient papermaking method?

He carefully studied the method for industrial papermaking.

"Paper is mainly composed of plant fibers, and wood is rich in fiber, making it a preferred raw material for papermaking."

"First, use steam or hot water to wash the logs to remove dirt, sand, etc."

"Then trim the logs to prevent them from getting stuck during the debarking process."

"Then they enter a debarking drum to remove the bark."

Zhao Fusu looked at the architectural diagrams of the machines used for trimming logs and the debarking drum; the mechanical structures were relatively simple.

With the Steam Engine and Old Mo's group of craftsmen, it wouldn't be complicated to set up these two industrial processes.

Zhao Fusu's confidence surged.

He continued reading.

"The debarked wood segments pass through a conveyor with a metal detector to remove metal fragments."

"Hmm..."

Zhao Fusu frowned slightly, then slowly relaxed his brow.

Wood in this era shouldn't have any metal fragments; if there were, he could just have the workers remove them.

This was also easy to handle.

He continued reading.

"Feed the log segments into a rotating disk with sharp cutting blades to cut the wood into small chips."

Zhao Fusu nodded slightly; this was also easy to do.

"These small wood chips are sent into a digester and boiled in an acid solution to dissolve and separate the lignin, thereby obtaining pulp containing cellulose."

Zhao Fusu frowned; here came the difficulty of industrial papermaking.

Acid solution?

He carefully checked the role of this acid solution in industrial papermaking.

"In the papermaking industry, the role of acid is crucial; it runs through multiple key stages of paper production and has a significant impact on improving paper quality, optimizing production efficiency, and reducing costs."

"First, acid is the key to adjusting the pH of the pulp, ensuring the pulp is in its optimal production state and laying a solid foundation for paper forming and dehydration."

"Secondly, as an auxiliary agent in the bleaching process, acid can effectively remove impurities and pigments from the pulp, enhancing the whiteness and luster of the paper."

"Furthermore, acid can promote the tight interlacing of paper fibers, enhancing the structural strength and durability of the paper, such as reducing water absorption and improving folding and abrasion resistance."

"Finally, by reasonably regulating the types and amounts of acid added, paper mills can not only effectively reduce production costs but also improve overall production efficiency, thereby gaining an advantage in fierce market competition."

"In summary, the reasonable application of acid in the papermaking industry is the key to improving paper quality, optimizing production processes, and achieving cost control, and is of great significance in promoting the sustainable development of the papermaking industry."

After understanding the importance of the acid solution, Zhao Fusu looked into the specific composition of the acid solution.

"Formic Acid and Acetic Acid..."

Zhao Fusu was dumbfounded.

This is Great Qin; there's no industrial foundation.

Where is he going to get large quantities of Formic Acid and Acetic Acid!

He searched through the books again; the system seemed to know he wanted to manufacture Formic Acid and Acetic Acid, as there were notes in small print at the end of the section.

Formic Acid is also known as Formic Acid, the 'ant' in ant acid. It can be obtained by extracting it from ants.

Formic Acid can also be produced through the glyceryl esterification method using Oxalic Acid and Glycerol...

Acetic Acid can be extracted from vinegar...

Zhao Fusu read on with a deep frown, his head spinning.

He was speechless.

He had seen other transmigrators who went to ancient times and made paper easily.

The paper produced was also of high quality.

But with this Formic Acid and Acetic Acid, and extracting them from ants and vinegar—doing it this way, the paper produced is destined to be anything but cheap!

The cost is too high!

This wasn't what Zhao Fusu wanted.

He looked at ancient papermaking again.

There were two types: one was Bark Paper, and the other was Xishan Jade Paper used for writing, one of the Four Treasures of the Study.

This calligraphy paper was quite delicate and involved manual labor, with a total of one hundred and eight steps, taking a very long time.

Zhao Fusu became interested in this.

Besides producing cheap and easy-to-use paper, he also needed to produce this kind of calligraphy paper, set the price very high, and use it to harvest the wealth of the nobles.