Liu Bei thought for a while and nodded. He understood. He actually understood. It has the same meaning as what Li Mengxi once said about the "pest bugs" that caused the plague. Plague bugs are also invisible to the human eye, but they do exist.

s things.

The conversation ended after a long time. After a long time, he saw the craftsmen starting to scoop pulp out of the pot with wooden buckets. Liu Bei suddenly asked out of curiosity, "Someone is confused... Then if hemp is said to be a major change in papermaking technology,

Where has it been changed?

The craftsmen made the paper to sink in the pond, but we don’t sink in the pond? Where has it changed?”

Guan Yu nodded, "The key lies here."

Guan Yu asked, "Brother, you know that after the hemp is grown and sinks into the pond, the microscopic insects eat away the contents of the hemp. Then, the hemp can be twisted and softened, and then the hemp can be pulped when it is boiled."

That person asked again, what is the thing in this hemp? With it, paper pulp cannot be boiled, but without him, paper pulp can be made.

So what kind of thing is this thing?”

Liu Bei began to think deeply after hearing this. After a while, Liu Bei was still thinking deeply.

Seeing that Liu Bei couldn't figure out what it was, Guan Yu thought for a while and decided to ask in a different way. He asked, "In other words, no matter what the thing in this hemp is, how can I get rid of it?"

, Brother, do you have any countermeasures?"

After recovering from his thoughts, Liu Bei replied doubtfully, "Isn't sinking the pond a method? Let the insects eat it..."

"Hmm." Guan Yu nodded and asked again, "Whether it's the method of sinking the pond or the method of sinking the mud, they both take a long time and are not suitable for large-scale paper making.

Apart from the method of sinking the pond, what other method is there?"

Seeing Liu Bei's confused look, Guan Yu guided him carefully, "In other words, what kind of thing does this have to do with the art of papermaking?"

As he said that, seeing the craftsmen in front of him cooking the pulp, Guan Yu stretched out his hand and motioned for Liu Bei to take a look.

When we arrived, the paper pulp was placed in a large barrel. The paper liquid was scalding hot and the steam was billowing.

Guan Yu pointed at the pulp in the bucket and said to Liu Bei, "Brother, look, what is in this pulp?"

When Liu Bei heard the words, he came over and leaned down to look. Liu Bei squinted his eyes and observed carefully. He saw many short and slender hair-like threads in the pulp. He stood up and Liu Bei said, "There seemed to be hair-like threads in the pulp."

There are many silk things."

"Yes." Guan Yu nodded, "This thing is the key to making paper. Xi'er calls it [Plant Fiber]. This thing is like hair. Use a net to copy it, cover it with a thin layer, and when it dries, it will condense into paper."

"

"Based on this, whether it is hemp or bark, if fibers can be boiled, pulp can be made, and paper can be made; conversely, if fibers cannot be produced, paper cannot be made.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Then, I have a question, what is the method of sinking the pond, the thing swallowed by the microorganisms, so that the fibers like silk and thread cannot come out? What is this thing?

What is it that makes such a thread-like fiber become a lump and cannot be boiled?"

Guan Yu's continuous questions made Liu Bei frown and fell into deep thought again.

After a while, Guan Yu gave a hint, "Or, conversely, if I ask, what method can I use to make short-term wires and the like stick together so that they can be cooked for a long time without falling apart? Is there a method that I can use?"

Liu Bei didn't think long about condensing many threads into one piece. He only thought, "use good glue, stick the threads into a ball, compact it, and let it dry. It will not melt after being boiled." Looking at Guan Yu, Liu Bei's tone was very unfirm.

, "Someone...only thought of this method."

"Haha!" Guan Yu laughed happily, stroking his beard.

Guan Yu did not answer whether what Liu Bei said was right or not, but he said something else, "Brother should know that poplar trees have gum, peach trees have gum, pine, cypress, Tuo, wax, all trees, and many kinds of grass and trees all have gum.

There is so much knowledge and experience, so it can be deduced from this that it is very likely that all plants and trees have glue in them.”

"Then I asked, if there is really glue in the bark of the hemp tree that has locked the plant fibers so that they cannot be boiled out, then I asked the elder brother, is there any way to remove the glue?"

Liu Bei still wanted to answer using the sinking pond method.

Guan Yu added, "If we don't use the sinking method, what other method can we use?"

Liu Bei thought for a while and thought, "I don't know how to deglue? As the saying goes, one thing reduces one thing, and it can be deglued without living things, insects, or dead things..." Liu Bei said very unconfidently.

"Yes, that's it!" Guan Yu smiled, "Xi'er thought so too at the beginning."

Liu Bei was surprised and stunned, and he guessed correctly.

Of course, there is no need for living creatures to eat the glue, but other non-biological methods are left.

Liu Bei hurriedly asked what method was used to untie the glue.

Guan Yu looked up at the sky, thought about it for a while, and said, "At that time, I and Xi'er didn't know whether the thing was glue or not, and they didn't know what kind of thing could be used to remove glue.

Xi'er then said, no matter what it is, you can try it all with acid, alkali, and various things, and you will always be able to find out."

Seeing Liu Bei's confusion, Guan Yu hurriedly explained, "Oh, the so-called acid and alkali are the methods of analogies, such as gold, wood, water, and fire. We use such things, but Xi'er is different. Xi'er uses acid, alkali, salt, grease, etc.

Inorganic things.”

Liu Bei roughly understood something, nodded slightly, looked at Guan Yu, and waited for Guan Yu to continue.

Guan Yu continued, "At that time, the two of us boiled the sesame seeds in oil and boiled them for a long time, but they did not turn into pulp.

It can be seen that grease is not a degumming substance.”

"If oil doesn't work, then use sour. Oh...for the sour, Xi'er said vinegar will do. So he took a jar of vinegar, put sesame in it, and boiled it for a long time."

Liu Bei asked, "Have you ever been right?"

"No." Guan Yu shook his head, "It's not acid either, but I'm going to use alkali.

Alkali is a substance. Quicklime can become an alkali when put into water. Ashes from plants can also become alkali when put into water and boiled.

At that time, I didn't know which of the two bases was better, so I tried them both.

The result, after half a day of cooking." Guan Yu smiled as he spoke.

Liu Bei couldn't help but ask, "Is it done?"

"It's done!" Thinking of that time, Guan Yu smiled with a smile on his face, "After boiling in alkaline water, a pot of ground hemp that has not been retting in the pond is added with alkali and boiled, all the fibers will come out, and the pulp will be made!"

"Xi'er was overjoyed when he saw that it could indeed be done. He shouted that if there was such a method, he would no longer need to sink it into a pond to retose hemp, and it would not take years. It could be boiled directly with plant ashes, and the efficiency would be a hundred times greater.

This is where the great changes in papermaking technology took place.”

Liu Bei understood and nodded secretly, so it turns out that the key to making paper lies in degluing. Then Liu Bei smiled and said to himself, Xi'er is indeed smart and can try out the glue removal thing.

When they got here, Guan Yu smiled and said, "By now, brother should know why we arrived in Julu and had no time to retting hemp, and we had no time to wait for a year and a half, but why did it take less than a month to wait for you to come back?

We have made hundreds of pieces of good paper.

The key lies here. The process has been greatly improved. It no longer requires the long waiting period of sinking and ponding. Papermaking can be completed in a few days."

Liu Bei praised, "Our Xi'er is extremely talented and intelligent!"

Looking at the happy and proud look on Liu Bei's face, it seemed as if he was praising his promising child, not to mention how proud he was.

Guan Yu smiled happily, "The alkali boiling method is just like the sinking pond method. Although it can deglue and deglue better, it can only make poor straw paper, but it is far from making good paper.

Brother, do you still want to see me again?"

Liu Bei smiled and said, "I just wanted to meet you!"

After that, Guan Yu talked about other more details of papermaking.

…

"Because it was winter at that time, there was a shortage of firewood. My eldest brother also knew that it would take half a day or even more than a day to cook the pulp. It would take such a long time and the firewood would be wasted."

As he spoke, Guan Yu suddenly asked, "Brother, have you ever been to a high altitude place, such as a hundred-foot high mountain?"

Liu Bei shook his head, "No, why do you ask?"

Guan Yu said, "Xi'er said that meat cooked in high mountains will not be cooked for a long time.

But if you cook meat at the foot of the mountain, it will be cooked.

How wonderful!

When someone asked what was going on, Xi'er said that it is Qi, which is thin at high places but thick at the bottom of the mountain.

And where the Qi is thin, the boiling point of water is low... Oh, this boiling point is, for example, water. Even if the water is boiled again, when it is heated to boiling, it will no longer be hot.

And if the oil is boiled, it will boil. When the oil reaches boiling point, it will no longer get any hotter.

Comparing the two, boiling oil is much hotter than boiling water. This means that different liquids have different boiling points."

“Therefore, things that can be cooked by boiling oil may not be cooked by boiling water.

But on high mountains, the air is thin and the boiling point is low, so the water will not be hot even if it boils. Brother, do you think that if the water is not hot enough to boil, can the meat still be cooked?" Guan Yu looked at Liu Bei.

Liu Bei thought about it and said, "It can't be cooked."

"That's it." Guan Yu nodded, "And the method of saving firewood is also here.

If the Qi is thin, the water will be cool. On the contrary, the Qi will be thick and the water will be hot.

Therefore, if we try to make the Qi thick, the water will be extremely hot and the pulp will be boiled very quickly, thus saving a lot of firewood."

As he said this, Guan Yu suddenly remembered something and said to Liu Bei, "Brother, come with me."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Liu Bei and Guan Yu left the military medical camp and walked for a while to a remote place in the city.

It was an abandoned yard. In the middle of the yard, there were several ugly iron tripod-like things propped up there. A few craftsmen hid far away and stood guard.
To be continued...