Ma Su's gatekeeper had already stepped down from his post. The original gatekeeper returned before the New Year, saying he had brought his parents and his wife to settle in Gong'an County.
"Thanks to Governor Liu's protection, my humble wife has given birth to a chubby boy."
The man's face was dark from years under the sun, yet when he spoke of it, his joy could not be hidden at all.
To Ma Su, the phrasing felt a little strange, but receiving a red egg with decent flavor made everything acceptable.
He took small bites as he walked, only to look up and meet Zhuge Liang's smiling gaze.
Ma Su immediately flushed red, eating while walking was hardly proper conduct.
Zhuge Liang waved him over with a gentle smile and assigned him a new task.
"Chopping firewood?" Ma Su looked confused, with a trace of grievance.
"It is not merely chopping firewood." Zhuge Liang explained patiently. "Take ten strong men with you. Cut the vegetation around Gong'an County. Separate them by type, thirty jin of each kind, and bring them to the county office. I have use for them."
What use could this possibly have? Was the county office planning to stew pork for a grand feast after the New Year?
Filled with doubts, Ma Su accepted the order and left.
Behind the county office of Gong'an, Sun Qian once again summoned craftsmen.
Since Zhuge Liang had moved his working place into the side hall, the other offices were temporarily unused. Liu Bei waved his hand decisively. Now that they knew the method, they would make paper themselves.
After Zhuge Liang carefully calculated the cost and selling price of Zuo Bo paper for Liu Bei, not a single person present remained unmoved.
A roll of Zuo Bo bark paper was nearly equal in value to a bolt of silk, priced at twelve hundred coins.
Yet the cost was only a slight increase over hemp paper, which sold for barely over a hundred coins, merely by adding mulberry bark into the process.
The selling price increased more than tenfold. It could only be described as astonishing.
"If I had this skill, why would I still be a butcher?" Zhang Fei sighed.
Thinking of General Zhang's words, Sun Qian could not help but smile.
He had followed his lord for over ten years, wandering from place to place. Gaining a foothold in Jing Province already felt like a dream, and now with the blessing of this mysterious screen descending from the heavens, his conviction only grew stronger.
His lord truly was a hero of the Han.
"What is this being done for?"
Sun Qian turned and bowed. "You have just returned, Sir Liu?"
"This year our lord has newly taken Jing Province, so naturally we must celebrate the New Year properly." Liu Yan smiled. "Gongyou, we have known each other for ten years, you can call me Weishuo."
Seeing the craftsmen leveling the ground and preparing to tear down the low houses nearby, Liu Yan grew curious.
"Is our lord planning to rebuild this place as the administrative seat?"
"No." Sun Qian shook his head. "Our lord saw that this place has ample space, so he plans to use it for papermaking."
"Papermaking?" Liu Yan raised his head in thought. "For what purpose?"
"To sell."
Unable to make sense of it, Liu Yan simply changed the topic. "Where is our lord? I brought back several jars of fine wine from the Zhang clan of Jiangdong. He will surely like it."
"Our lord has gone to seek the divine physician Zhang Zhongjing." Sun Qian answered honestly.
"Zhang Zhongjing?" Liu Yan was stunned. "A divine physician?"
"A divine physician." Sun Qian nodded firmly.
Liu Yan scratched his head. He had only been away from Gong'an County for three months, yet it felt as if three years had passed.
That night, at the Zhuge residence, after dinner, the servants took Zhuge Qiao and Zhuge Guo away to play as usual, while Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying sat by the brazier, speaking quietly.
"Our lord has spoken with me. In a few days, the county will establish a Ministry of Craft, still under my charge. I intend to recruit you as an official within it."
Zhuge Liang smiled. "Did you not lament how expensive Zuo Bo paper is? Our first step will be to produce it ourselves."
"Where did our lord obtain such a formula?" Huang Yueying asked curiously.
"That is a long story." Zhuge Liang thought for a moment, then brought out the bamboo tube he always kept close. He took out several of the copied scrolls and carefully explained everything to her.
Before leaving yesterday, Liu Bei had spoken with him in private. Considering how much the later generations valued technology and craftsmanship, they decided to establish a Ministry of Craft in Gong'an County. The first tasks would be to reproduce Zuo Bo paper and the printing techniques mentioned by the screen.
A medical and engineering office was also being prepared. Everything was ready except for Zhang Zhongjing. The mention of Shu Han officials dying one after another had left a shadow in Liu Bei's heart.
Hearing of such mysterious matters, Huang Yueying's eyes shone with fascination. Yet when she heard that Zhuge Liang himself might ultimately die from overwork on campaign at the age of fifty-four, her eyes filled with tears.
"If my husband meets such an end, how could I go on living?"
Zhuge Liang sighed softly and drew her into his arms. "That will not happen to us."
After comforting her for some time, Huang Yueying gradually calmed down, then suddenly understood something.
"Then the curved plow and the rotary cart from last month…"
"Exactly."
"So that is how it is." Huang Yueying's face brightened again. "But husband, the Ministry of Craft should not be established in the county office. Let me show you something."
She stood and led Zhuge Liang through the hall into a small room in the backyard.
Lighting a bronze lamp carefully, Zhuge Liang saw what lay before him.
On the table sat a small rotary wheel no larger than a palm, placed within a carved wooden channel. The wheel was connected through a crank to a miniature millstone and pestle.
Before Zhuge Liang could fully grasp it, Huang Yueying lifted half a bucket of water and slowly poured it into the wooden channel.
The water drove the wheel to turn. The wheel drove the crank. The crank drove the millstone and pestle.
Zhuge Liang, well-versed in all fields, quickly understood after circling it twice.
"It requires no human labor to operate?"
"More than that…" Zhuge Liang murmured. "If the wheel were enlarged fivefold, and the millstone and pestle likewise enlarged, then with only three such devices, it would be enough to serve the entire county. We could charge per use. Even at seventy percent of the market rate… no, even at fifty percent, all the common people of Gong'an would come here to process their grain."
"No… what if we charged only ten or twenty percent, or even nothing at all?" Zhuge Liang began pacing anxiously.
He could feel it. In his mind, a door seemed to have opened a crack, and through that crack shone a captivating golden light.
Huang Yueying understood her husband's agitation and followed his line of thought.
"If the fee were so low, the burden on the widowed and orphaned would be greatly reduced."
"They could sustain themselves with ease," Zhuge Liang continued. "The labor required would be greatly decreased."
"If similar devices could be used in the fields, driven by water…"
"The common people would no longer need to toil all year round." Huang Yueying seemed to grasp it as well. "When food and clothing are sufficient, propriety and morality follow. An age of great peace would not be far."
Yet soon, she poured cold water on the idea.
"To spread this across all under heaven, how much timber would be required? How many craftsmen?"
"And the water flows endlessly. The joints of the wheel would wear down extremely quickly. If enlarged as you said… no, even at three times the size, the wooden joints might only last half a day."
"All of this would require immense wealth. And such wheels can only operate where the water flows rapidly. Across the realm, how many places meet such conditions?"