This person is too strong but insists on eating the empress' soft rice

Chapter 103 Soaring Paper Prices
Ye Chen said to himself what a coincidence, he just mentioned the price of paper, and this happened.

So he asked beside Luo Hongyan: "Hongyan, what is the origin of the Cai family?"

Ye Chen also vaguely remembered the incident of paper price hike four years ago.

At that time, the price of paper once rose to six times the usual price.

This made the scholars at that time miserable, and they even marched to express their dissatisfaction.

You must know that before Luo Hongyan became the empress, although the price of paper would increase every time before the imperial examination, at most it would only increase by [-]% to [-]%.

So this incident was used by many caring people to attack Luo Hongyan. They claimed that the reason why this happened was because of the empress' incompetence.

After listening to Ye Chen's question, Luo Hongyan answered in a deep voice: "Ye Chen, it has been more than [-] years since the establishment of the Great Moat Dynasty, and there are still many big families who were born in the early days of the Great Moat Dynasty. It exists, and the Cai family is such a behemoth."

"Families like theirs that have existed for a long time often have the ability to monopolize a certain aspect of the Dacha Dynasty. The Cai family has monopolized the papermaking industry."

"One-third of all the paper supply of the Dacha Dynasty comes from foreign imports, one-third comes from the Cai family, and the rest are from major paper-making families headed by the Cai family."

Ye Chen couldn't help frowning after hearing Luo Hongyan's words.

Because according to Luo Hongyan's words, the Dacha God Dynasty has no influence on papermaking.

Ye Chen even learned that during the turmoil four years ago, Luo Hongyan had already reduced the tax by half for the Cai family.

This is already a great concession for the Dacha God Dynasty.

Ye Chen said in a deep voice: "Hongyan, the Cai family did this on purpose, and it is completely against the principle of market pricing. Do you have the means to impose sanctions on the Cai family?"

Luo Hongyan shook her head: "It's not that the ancestors never thought about it. They tried to punish the Cai family, but they forced the other party to stop production directly. As a result, the price of paper once rose to sky-high prices. Later, they had to cancel the sanctions."

Although paper is not as important as food, for readers, paper books are indispensable.

Especially with the upcoming scientific research, there will definitely be a lot of paper consumption.

Ye Chen continued to ask: "Then in the royal family, is there a papermaking place?"

Luo Hongyan showed bitterness: "Yes, there is, but the paper made by the imperial paper mill is not only yellow, but also easily broken, and there is no way to mass-produce it."

It can be seen that members of the royal family in the past have also thought about breaking the monopoly of the Cai family in the paper industry.

But because the technology is not good enough, they can only give up.

When Ye Chen learned that the royal family had a paper mill, his expression improved a lot.

What the royal family lacks is nothing more than technology.

Ye Chen has such things as papermaking technology.

So he quickly wrote a list on paper, and then said to her with a stunned face on Luo Hongyan's face.

"Hong Yan, hurry up and arrange for someone to buy all the items on the list in large quantities."

Luo Hongyan was a little puzzled: "Ye Chen, what are you doing?"

"I have more advanced papermaking technology here, and the paper produced will be better than Cai's, but you need to arrange people to purchase these raw materials."

Ye Chen has seen many papers on the market today, which is why he dares to be so sure.

Luo Hongyan was shocked when she heard the words: "Ye Chen, are you kidding me?"

Ye Chen said seriously: "Hong Yan, why don't you believe me?"

"The paper I make is not only of good quality, but the cost should be only one-third of Cai's."

Ye Chen's confident appearance made Luo Hongyan feel extremely happy while being shocked.

Luo Hongyan actually felt a sense of powerlessness after listening to Nangong Ning's report just now.

Now Ye Chen's statement gave her inexplicable confidence, although she knew very well that making paper was not an easy task.

At this time, Ye Chen was recalling the papermaking skills package given to him by the system in his mind.

The first step in making paper requires soaking bamboo in clean water for [-] days.

Only in this way can the green skin on the bamboo be removed.

This time is quite long, but with the assistance of the formation, it should be able to be shortened to hours.

After Luo Hongyan took a rough look at the list Ye Chen gave her, she became more and more emotional.

"The items on the list are relatively common, and I'm going to get people to buy them now."

After Luo Hongyan issued the order, a lot of materials had been purchased in about an hour.

During this period of time, Ye Chen has also written down the steps of papermaking in detail.

"Hongyan, ordinary people only need to follow these steps to complete papermaking, but it takes some manpower and material resources to arrange the array."

According to the method he gave, as long as the formation is in place, paper should be able to be made tomorrow.

Luo Hongyan was in a good mood, she said, "Ye Chen, I'll go out first."

Ye Chen replied: "Success, Hongyan, you remember that papermaking skills should not be disclosed to outsiders at will."

Luo Hongyan: "I know about this!"

After about half an hour, Luo Hongyan had already returned.

Her movements were extremely fast, and the Royal Papermaking Workshop had already been arranged in such a short period of time.

With the papermaking technology given by Ye Chen, new paper will appear tomorrow.

Seeing Luo Hongyan's return, Ye Chen said: "Hongyan, just now Nangong Ning came to report, and the Patriarch of the Cai family came to ask for an interview. If you are not here, I will push you away first."

Luo Hongyan heard the words, her face was not very good-looking.

The other party, Cai's family, just announced the price increase of paper, and now they can't wait to come to ask for an interview. They must want to take the opportunity to raise conditions.

"Ye Chen, you go to the back room to take shelter first."

Ye Chen immediately stepped back, and then Luo Hongyan called Nangong Ning and asked her to bring the head of the Cai family over.

Soon, the head of the Cai family, Cai Yongxin, came to Zilong Palace.

This Cai Yongxin is more than 100 years old, and he can be said to be the best of the best.

It's just that because his cultivation has reached the realm of the god king, he looks like he is only 50 years old.

"Meet Your Majesty!"

Cai Yongxin cupped his hands and saluted.

He didn't kneel down, this is the privilege of their Cai family as an ancient family.

Luo Hongyan couldn't see sadness or joy on her face, she was the first to ask, "Patriarch Cai, I heard that you have raised the price of paper again?"

"Four years ago, I already exempted you from half of the tax. Besides, I haven't heard of the price increase of the raw materials needed for paper, have I?"

If he was an ordinary person, he would have panicked when he heard Luo Hongyan's questioning.

But Cai Yongxin did not.

(End of this chapter)