The rebellious grandson of Emperor Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty: Please, Your Majesty, be called Cro

Chapter 110 The dragon, that is the symbol of emperors!

"I'm not embarrassed about anything, I was just wiping my bottom with tissue."

"It's all the fault of the corrupt feudal dynasty!"

"All they know is how to exploit the people. Their productivity is so backward that ordinary people can't even afford to wipe their bottoms with paper. They don't even know how to innovate. How could a foolish ruler like Li Er, who only sought stability and didn't strive for progress in his later years, become one of the greatest emperors in history?"

"Rotten, utterly rotten!"

Li Xiang quickly shifted the blame to the corrupt feudal emperor Li Er, and comfortably convinced himself to continue wiping his buttocks with paper.

"Chang'an is a city where merchants from all directions gather, and as far as I know, the materials for papermaking are not expensive."

"This mere piece of paper is actually so valuable."

Wang Xuance and Song Shenzhi exchanged glances. Only then did they realize that the young man before them was a pampered prince who never lifted a finger.

"Your Highness," Wang Xuance explained carefully.

"Paper is divided into hemp paper and rattan paper. Although hemp is not expensive, it still needs to be grown by hand. Moreover, hemp is used for clothing, and weaving cloth to make clothes is the main industry. Papermaking mostly uses leftover broken hemp and waste hemp. Although it is not expensive, the quantity is small."

Song Shenzhi added, "The ancient rattan needed for making rattan paper is mostly found in deep mountains and shady places, which are inconvenient to collect. I have heard people say that ancient rattan in places like Xixi and Yuhang is being harvested year-round and is becoming increasingly rare."

"Therefore, paper is scarce and expensive."

"Why not use bamboo to make paper?" Li Xiang blurted out.

"Bamboo paper?" Song Shenzhi stood there stunned, completely unaccustomed to such a thing. "Bamboo—can be used to make paper?"

Wang Xuance was a bit older and had more experience. He pondered and said, "Bamboo is hard and its fibers are coarse and tough. I suppose it would be very difficult to soak and pulp it into paper pulp."

He paused, then added, "However, bamboo grows all over the mountains and fields, and it grows extremely fast, unlike hemp, which can only be harvested once a year—"

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly snapped back to reality, turned to look at Li Xiang in disbelief, his eyes filled with astonishment and doubt: "Could it be—Your Highness has a method for making paper from bamboo?"

"If it's just because bamboo is tough, then I really have a way to fix it." Li Xiang picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, but it was indeed not tasty, so he put down his chopsticks in disgust.

"The reason bamboo doesn't rot is because of its fibers. You can hydrolyze it by steaming, soaking, and then pounding it more after soaking, and it will eventually rot," he said casually.

"Strong—alkaline water?" Wang Xuance looked completely bewildered.

"Hmm. Lime water should do." Li Xiang tried hard to recall his junior high school chemistry knowledge. Quicklime is calcium oxide, and calcium hydroxide formed by adding water should be a strong alkali, right?

It should be fine to use it to dissolve and degrade bamboo fibers.

Seeing that Li Xiang spoke casually yet matter-of-factly and without hesitation, Wang Xuance and the others exchanged surprised and uncertain glances.

"But I wonder how Your Highness deduced this method of refining bamboo paper?" Wang Xuance asked cautiously.

He didn't ask Li Xiang where he got the method of rehydrating bamboo; he figured it out from the words "fiber" and "strong alkali," which clearly indicated that it was a discipline.

The method of rehydrating bamboo is unprecedented. If it can truly be accomplished, it will benefit the country and its people!

The fact that one can directly "deduce" the method of making bamboo paper indicates that this is a field of study. Moreover, it must be a rather profound field of study that no one knows about.

"Well, this method—is a practical skill you are unaware of. To be honest, it's a long story—"

"Your Highness, we are all ears!"

A gleam shone in the eyes of Song Shenzhi and the others. These scholars from humble backgrounds had always had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

How could he explain physical and chemical phenomena to these people from the Tang Dynasty? Li Xiang scratched his head.

"This method is completely different from Confucianism, and it is difficult to explain in just a few words."

"In short, this is a discipline that explores the principles of all things."

"The ultimate truth of all things?" Song Shenzhi and the others looked at each other in bewilderment.

In their view, Confucianism contains the "Great Way" and encompasses the "ultimate principles of all things".

How could a discipline that explores the principles of all things be so different from Confucianism?

"Ugh————"

As Li Xiang was pondering how to explain further, he looked around and suddenly noticed that the sudden rain outside had stopped sometime earlier.

A rainbow arches across the sky above Pingkangfang, just after the rain has cleared.

"I've got it!" Li Xiang's eyes lit up; he had an idea.

"It really is that brat!"

Up in the private room on the second floor, Li Xin and the others inside looked down following the direction pointed out by the Zhang family manager. Sure enough, they saw that brat chatting and laughing with several scholars in the hall on the first floor.

Actually, no guidance was needed. It was early morning, and there were no other guests in the hall. Li Xiang and his group were quite conspicuous.

"That brat actually dares to come out of Longqingfang and show off his power."

Prince Wei, Li Tai, was single-mindedly trying to seize Li Chengqian's position, and Li Xin had always regarded Li Xiang as his hypothetical enemy.

When Li Chengqian was the Crown Prince, he was extremely jealous of Li Xiang, who was able to live in the Eastern Palace.

Times have changed. Now the crown prince has been deposed and the King of Wei is about to ascend the throne. When Li Xin encounters Li Xiang here again, he instinctively wants to humiliate Li Xiang.

He had even rehearsed the dialogue and plot in his head. First, he would summon Li Xiang and say, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, how have you been?"

Then, he'd make Li Xiang pour wine for him, the heir apparent of the Prince of Wei, in front of everyone, and then he'd pretend to drink it, but then feign a trembling hand and spill the wine in Li Xiang's face—

This slap-in-the-face plot made Li Xin feel so good that her pores opened up.

He leaned on the railing with both hands, looking down at Li Xiang chatting and laughing below. A playful yet mocking smile appeared on his lips. After thinking for a moment, he said to Fang Yi'ai, "Uncle, would you please go downstairs and call my cousin up?"

"Just tell him, I want to see him."

"—Huh? Shall I go and call him?" Fang Yi'ai was staring blankly at the ceiling, lost in thought. Hearing Li Xin's order, he paused in surprise.

"Your Highness, this—"

Fang Yi'ai may lack IQ, but he does lack EQ.

Fang Yi'ai had personally witnessed how Li Xiang confronted Li Shimin at Furong Garden that day.

Invite this little devil upstairs? What's the difference between that and forcibly crawling into your wife's bed?

These are all high-risk professions that are bound to get you scolded!

"Your Highness, the Imperial Grandson Xiang is, after all, the Imperial Grandson, this—"

Li Xin frowned and gave Fang Yi'ai a disapproving look.

"He is a grandson of the emperor, and so am I. Why should I be afraid of him?"

"----only."

Fang Yi'ai, used to being a coward, dared not say anything when he saw Li Xin's attitude, and could only hesitantly go downstairs. Li Xin glanced at his back with considerable disdain.

Such a person is actually my uncle-in-law—it's a disgrace to the royal family.

No wonder even her aunt, Princess Gaoyang, despised her husband for being uneducated and incompetent.

"Come on, drink!" Li Xin ignored Fang Yi'ai and called out to Zhang Shenji and the others.

Fang Yi'ai arrived on the first floor and walked to the vicinity of Li Xiang and the others, but hesitated, unsure of how to speak.

Li Xiang and the others just thought he was a new customer and didn't notice him at all.

Li Xiang pondered how to explain the physical and chemical changes. Pointing to the rainbow in the sky, he said to Wang Xuance and the others, "Let me put it this way: how do you think this rainbow in the sky is formed?"

Upon hearing this, the group looked up at the rainbow bridge in the sky. Chen Zijian thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and replied, "People say that a rainbow after the rain is the result of a dragon drinking water and its body reflecting the sky; it is a rare phenomenon of a true dragon appearing in the world after the rain, gathering moisture and energy."

"Oh?" Li Xiang raised an eyebrow and gave a provocative smile.

"The dragon, that's the symbol of emperors."

"If I could also unleash a rainbow, wouldn't that mean that, compared to the one in the Taiji Palace, I am the true dragon of this Tang Dynasty?"