Fan Prefecture was a bit farther away, so it was only on the third day after setting out that Ian Song returned, bringing back the money and grain he’d looted from Fan Prefecture’s treasury.
With the money and grain from two prefectures, there was no need to worry about food or military pay for at least three months.
Meanwhile, the merchant caravan organized by Sean Song on Ian’s orders had already set out two days earlier, mainly selling books printed and bound using the movable-type press, as well as paper for writing and painting.
Ordinary paper sold for one cash per sheet, while premium inkstone paper was priced at one hundred cash per sheet.
After eight days of long travel, the caravan arrived in Shangdang Prefecture, part of the Chu Kingdom.
Of the five powers—Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, and Qin—Qi’s territory was the largest before its fall, Chu was the most cultured, Yan boasted the strongest cavalry, Zhao produced the best weapons and armor, and Qin was famous for having a reformist female prime minister.
The caravan leader, Colin Jiang, was a very sharp-minded person.
After entering Shangdang Prefecture, instead of selling books and paper at the market, he planned to first visit Professor Maurice Mo, the dean of Jixia Academy.
Jixia Academy was not only the most prestigious place for scholarship in Chu, but in all of Shenzhou.
Its dean, Professor Maurice Mo, was hailed as the greatest poet on the continent; even the Chu king treated him with utmost respect.
It wasn’t easy to meet Maurice Mo; Colin Jiang spent a full gold coin to make the connections needed to see him.
“What’s this?”
Seeing the brocade box that Colin Jiang presented, Maurice Mo was clearly displeased; he valued his reputation and disliked accepting gifts from others.
Colin quickly said, “Please don’t misunderstand, Professor Mo. This brocade box contains a copy of the Classic of Poetry, which includes over two hundred poems.”
Maurice Mo looked puzzled. How could such a small brocade box hold more than two hundred poems?
Curious, Maurice Mo accepted the box and opened it.
He was stunned to see a slim book with a pale yellow cover, the words “Classic of Poetry” written in small-seal script.
He picked up the thin Classic of Poetry and flipped it open. The neat black characters on white pages caught his eye, and his previously calm demeanor became visibly excited.
He kept turning the pages; all were the same—neat black characters on white paper, and the content was indeed the Classic of Poetry.
“What is this made of?” Maurice Mo asked, his voice trembling.
Colin Jiang said proudly, “Professor, this paper was invented by our general!” As he spoke, he presented another item with both hands.
“What’s this, then?”
Holding the snowy white, smooth sheet of paper, Maurice Mo asked again.
“This is called inkstone paper, made especially for great scholars like you to leave your masterpieces.”
Colin Jiang explained.
“Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!” Maurice Mo couldn’t help but loudly praise after a brief inspection. “How is this made?”
“Professor, it was made by our general’s craftsmen. I don’t know what it’s made from!”
Maurice Mo looked a little disappointed, but then asked, “Is there much of it?”
“Professor, this time I’ve brought two million sheets of white paper, one hundred thousand sheets of inkstone paper, and a thousand bound volumes of various classics.”
“How much does it cost?” Maurice Mo’s eyes brightened, his tone urgent.
Colin Jiang replied respectfully, “Before I set out, our general instructed me that for a great scholar like you, ordinary white paper is one cash per sheet, inkstone paper is one hundred cash per sheet, and bound classics are one thousand cash per volume.”
“Good! Very good! I’ll buy all this paper and these classics for Jixia Academy!”
Two million sheets of white paper at one cash each totaled two million cash; one hundred thousand sheets of inkstone paper at one hundred cash each totaled ten million cash; one thousand bound classics at one thousand cash each totaled one million cash.
In other words, this transaction brought in a total of four million cash.
All students at Jixia Academy are sons of princes and high ministers, so the academy is very wealthy; a few million cash is nothing to them.
After delivering the paper and books to Jixia Academy and completing the handover, Colin Jiang received four million cash.
With the four million cash in hand, he immediately ordered his men to buy grain.
With war raging everywhere, food prices rose year by year; millet now cost about four cash per sheng. Four million cash could buy about one million sheng of millet.
One million sheng of millet is no small amount; it couldn’t be bought all at once.
It took nearly ten days to buy up the full million sheng, and during those ten days, paper itself caused a sensation throughout Shangdang Prefecture in Chu.
Before paper appeared, the cheapest medium for recording writing was bamboo slips—one set cost about five cash. The more expensive option was white silk, which only nobles could afford.
So when this cheap and portable medium appeared, in just ten days it had taken Shangdang Prefecture by storm.
Colin Jiang, the paper merchant, became famous as a result, receiving countless visitors every day.
He signed orders for tens of millions of sheets of white paper and hundreds of thousands of sheets of inkstone paper.
While Colin signed huge orders in Shangdang, Lingshui Prefecture was ramping up production of ordinary white paper and inkstone paper.
Meanwhile, General Gu Min led thirty thousand regular troops, plus auxiliaries and laborers—a total of fifty thousand men—to Yian Prefecture.
Upon reaching Yian Prefecture, Gu Min found that his army’s supplies would only last three days. When he asked Governor Hart He for more grain, Hart simply opened the granary.
Staring at the empty granary, Gu Min was dumbfounded.
No grain—how could there be no grain?
Gu Min was furious and immediately ordered Hart’s arrest. He interrogated Hart about the grain’s whereabouts and sent men to Fan Prefecture for supplies.
That night, it was easy to uncover that Hart and General Jason Ye had personally escorted hundreds of wagons of money and grain out of the city.
So in just one day, Gu Min got to the bottom of the matter: Hart had sent the grain to Qi.
Upon hearing this, Gu Min was furious. Just as he was about to order the execution of Hart and Jason Ye, Ian Song appeared.
Ian then used Puppet Mastery Divine Art to enslave Gu Min and nine senior officers.
Then, just like Victor Zhao before him, Gu Min conducted a ruthless purge in the army, executing all stubborn Zhao loyalists and leading his troops to defect to Qi.
As a result, Qi’s army grew from twenty-six thousand to fifty-six thousand soldiers.
Without shedding blood, they gained another thirty thousand troops. Sean Song and Shen Du were more awed by Ian Song than ever, and Bruce Meng’s attitude became even more respectful.
Ian Song also took advantage of the situation to seize all of Yian Prefecture and Fan Prefecture.
With this, the three prefectures could form a triangle to defend against enemies together.
For ordinary Qi civilians, having three prefectures was something to celebrate, but for Ian Song, it was a headache—more territory meant more mouths to feed.
Fortunately, not long after gaining thirty thousand troops, Colin Jiang returned successfully with a million sheng of grain.
He was accompanied by several merchants from Shangdang Prefecture.
Colin’s return made Ian Song very happy; he rewarded everyone in the caravan.
What excited him even more was that the merchants who came back all wanted to buy paper.
Ian personally met with these merchants, selling each two million sheets of ordinary white paper and one hundred thousand sheets of inkstone paper. In total, he sold twenty-two million sheets of ordinary white paper and 1.1 million sheets of inkstone paper.
The total revenue reached thirty-three million cash.
However, after satisfying these merchants, Ian stipulated that future trades would require payment in grain—specifically, five sheets of ordinary white paper for each sheng of millet.
After opening up the market for paper in Chu, Ian ordered Colin Jiang to lead the caravan to Qin, and dispatched two more caravans to Yan and Zhao.
With the caravans on the road, Ian expanded the paper factory; the current facility could only meet Chu’s demand, and if the Yan and Zhao markets were opened, production would fall short.