Speaking of Cai Lun, the first thing that comes to mind is papermaking, one of the four major inventions. In fact, papermaking already existed before Cai Lun. Big Brother Cai Lun just stood on the shoulders of giants and improved this technology through his own wit, making paper that was not only better used but also less costly. The paper produced through this papermaking technique is also known as "Caihou paper" by the world. Looking at this title, we know that Cai Lun's status in the imperial court of the Eastern Han Dynasty is not low.
So how did Cai Lun get to the center of power in the Eastern Han Dynasty?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > childhood: children who play iron love to play</h1>
Cai Lun's birth was extremely mediocre, his ancestors made a living from striking iron, and in the South China region of that era, he was considered a well-off family. Young Cai Lun looked up and saw that Grandpa was playing iron, His father was playing iron, and his relatives in the family were either playing iron or striking iron. Although blacksmithing is very boring to us modern people, more than two thousand years ago, blacksmith was definitely a reliable profession.
In such a family environment, the childhood Cai Lun was able to have the opportunity to enter the township school to study. In ancient times, there were very few people who could carry their school bags into school. The Cai family has the ability to provide Cai Lun with education, and naturally hopes that Cai Lun can learn a skill and seek a better future in the future.
And Cai Lun also lived up to expectations, showing an outstanding side in learning, and the Four Books and Five Classics were clear in his chest. At a young age, he read a lot of books and became a local talent in his teens.
Cai Lun's cleverness is not only used in reading, carefree life and vast knowledge, so that he is full of curiosity about the world. As a result, Cai Lun began to play smelting and forging, silk reeling and weaving, etc., and often played his own new tricks. At this point, Cai Lun seems to have the characteristics of a technical man in his natural bones and blood.
But in general, from childhood to youth, Cai Lun lived very happily.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="116" > Youth: Sudden change in family road forced into the palace</h1>
In the blink of an eye, Cai Lun was already thirteen years old, and he had transformed from a childish little doll into a dancing boy. When he woke up in the morning, Cai Lun was still thinking about whether to play iron today or memorize the Analects? This is the youth that belongs to Cai Lun, seriously seeking knowledge, playing wantonly, and dreaming arrogantly.
However, the heavens did not go according to people's wishes, and the Cai family suffered a huge change in this year. Cai Lun could no longer be a carefree young man. At this time, life gave him the first problem: how to survive?
Although Cai Lun is talented and knows many crafts to make a living, he has lived a comfortable life for many years, how can he continue to follow the footsteps of his father to make a living by striking iron. Cai Lun chose a different path, and he was ready to enter the palace as a eunuch.
Speaking of which, don't look down on eunuchs, eunuchs are also officials! In the Eastern Han Dynasty court, eunuchs were the emperor's balance on courtiers and foreign relatives, and if they were well mixed, they did not have to have the low status of the three dukes and nine secretaries and the imperial relatives. According to the analysis of historical materials, Cai Lun should be the first mixed palace in south China.
Of course, Cai Lun in his youth had not yet thought so far, for him, what high-ranking official Houlu was the moon in the water, and eating mixed food was the most important!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="115" >: climb up by any means</h1>
After entering the palace, Cai Lun's job was to do miscellaneous work everywhere, and wherever he was dirty and messy, there was him. But after all, Cai Lun was full of poetry and books, and there were still dry goods in his stomach, and he didn't want to be called like this for a lifetime. Coupled with years of low-level life, Cai Lun quickly learned the rules of survival and climbing skills. In less than a year, Cai Lun mixed up the position of a small yellow door, which was equivalent to the squad leader of a small eunuch class.
For a place like the imperial palace, where the pressure to survive is huge, there are indeed very few people like Cai Lun who can do a good job in the eunuch industry. Cai Lun cherishes the hard-won opportunity for promotion and salary increase, and he is certainly not satisfied with the status quo. Because he knows that if he wants to do what he likes, he must have power.
Cai Lun had no choice but to join the harem concubines in the open and secret struggle. But the resourceful Cai Lun also understands that the tree is good for cool, and it is important to stand in line. After some analysis, he finally set his sights on Empress Dou. Although Empress Dou was an empress, she had never been able to conceive a dragon species.
On the contrary, Song Guiren, whose status was much lower than Empress Dou,gave birth to his first baby boy. Emperor Liu Qi of Han, who was pleased to have his son, named the child Liu Qing (劉庆) and made him crown prince. This made Empress Dou uneasy, and she worried all day that her position as empress would be deposed.
At this time, Cai Lun had already gained the trust of Empress Dou. Moreover, Empress Dou was deeply favored by Liu Zhao, the Emperor of HanZhang, in order to ensure her future. Cai Lun concocted a good play and falsely accused Song Guiren of practicing "witchcraft". "Wu Jiao" is a big taboo of the Han Dynasty royal family, during the period of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty, Wei Zifu was involved in "Wu Jiao", Wei Zifu and the crown prince and Wei Zifu's mother's family were all served in a pot.
Emperor Zhang of Han learned of this incident, and regardless of the truth, he attacked his heart in anger and issued an edict to give Song Guiren poison to commit suicide. In order to ensure that nothing was lost, Empress Dou sent Cai Lun to personally supervise the suicide of Song Guiren. As a result, the crown prince Liu Qing was deposed as the King of Qinghe.
Cai Lun continued to frame Liang Guiren under empress Dowager Dou's command and took Liang Guiren's son Liu Zhao. In this way, Liu Zhao became the son of Empress Dou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="117" > turn: Yin and Yang mistakenly control the manufacturing industry of Dahan</h1>
In the second year of Zhang He (88 AD), I don't know whether the years are unforgiving, or excessive indulgence? Emperor Zhangdi of Han, 32, died. Empress Dou became Empress Dowager Dou, and Liu Zhao, who was less than ten years old, became emperor of the Han Dynasty. At this moment, Cai Lun followed Empress Dou and rose the ship. Of course, Empress Dowager Dou was also quite optimistic about Cai Lun, a confidant, so she made Cai Lun a constant attendant. Promotion and salary increase, Cai Lun is not happy!
Four years later, in 92 AD, the Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, with the support of his ministers and eunuch Zheng Zhong, took the throne. Empress Dowager Dou's brother Dou Xian couldn't bear it anymore and plotted a rebellion. Hearing this news, Cai Lun did not hesitate to defect to The Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, who waved the flag and actively assisted the emperor in eradicating the chaotic party.
This decision was undoubtedly very wise. Sure enough, after the thief was pacified, as Empress Dowager Dou's former horse boy, Cai Lun washed white. It was praised and affirmed by Emperor Liu Zhao. Moreover, the emperor also made Cai Lun work part-time as Shang Fang Ling. Not only was there no punishment but also a reward, and Cai Lun was overjoyed.
Of course, what makes Cai Lun even happier is his part-time position. What is shangfangling's official position? This is the department in charge of the manufacturing industry of the palace, which is equivalent to the modern three-in-one place of the academy of sciences, laboratories, and production plants. It can not only engage in theoretical research, but also experiment immediately, and even produce finished products immediately. It brings together the best craftsmen in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, and it can also be said that it was the most cattle place in the global manufacturing industry in that era.
In TV dramas, we often see Minister Chincha holding the "Sword of Shangfang", which is produced by Shangfangling. For the descendants of the blacksmith family, Cai Lun, who has been curious about smelting and forging, silk reeling and weaving and other processes since childhood, this is simply his paradise. Cai Lun's outstanding talent in technology will surely get an unprecedented explosion in this job.
The "Later Han Shu Cai Lun Biography" records cai lun's work attitude in this period, "every time he rests in Mu, he closes the door and closes the door, and the violent field". The vernacular translation is: whenever it comes to the holidays, Cai Lun closes the door to thank guests, and does not brag about relations with other ministers. He often wandered around the countryside alone, thinking about technical difficulties.
Sure enough, after five years, in 97 AD (the ninth year of Yongyuan), Cai Lun led Shang Fangling's production standards to a new height in history. Cui Yu, who was thirty or forty years younger than Cai Lun, commented in the "Political Treatise": "There is the crossbow of Cai Tai's servant and the sword of the nine years of the Dragon Pavilion, and he is still famous in the world. "The meaning here is that Cai Lun has become the spokesperson for weapons, Cai Lun brand weapons."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="118" > peak: the great inventor of power</h1>
While making great scientific and technological inventions, Cai Lun has not forgotten his future. Ever since Empress Dowager Dou lost power, Cai Lun had been looking for a closer patron. Of course, Emperor Liu Zhao was the best patron. But this made Cai Lun always not very reassured.
In 102 AD, Emperor Liu Zhaoli of Han made Deng Sui empress of the Han Dynasty. Cai Lun's eyes lit up, and without saying a word, he immediately defected to the newly promoted Empress Deng. Empress Deng was of course very happy, especially Cai Lun's Shang Fang Ling often engaged in some novelty things, so how could a girl not like it. In particular, Deng Sui likes to dance and ink, and Cai Lun has always remembered it in his heart. I like to write, draw and draw, so I have to use better paper.
Others pat the horse's ass all by the mouth up and down the two skins, Cai Lun is definitely a practical school. Plunging into the laboratory, which lasted three years, he summarized the papermaking technology since the Western Han Dynasty, and after a large number of analysis and demonstration and experimental adjustments, he continuously improved the papermaking process, and used bark, linen, fishing nets, etc. to create extremely high-quality paper.
In 105 AD, Cai Lun presented the new paper he had made to the imperial court. At that time, there was no "explanation" of the term, and for making new things, it was generally said that "intentions" were made. The Han and Emperor Liu Zhaocailun's "intentions" were naturally greatly praised, and Empress Deng also gave a high degree of affirmation to Cai Lun's work achievements. In this way, Cai Lun's papermaking technique was quickly promoted nationwide.
And it was in this year that Han and Emperor Liu Zhao died. Everything starts to cycle again. Empress Deng became Empress Deng, and Empress Deng and Liu Long, the son of Emperor Liu Zhao of Han and Emperor Liu Zhao, were born less than a hundred days ago. The young emperor took the throne, and Empress Deng bowed to the government. This world has become the queen's world, and Cai Lun will wake up laughing in his dreams.
If the empress dowager is strong, then Cai Lunqiang. Cai Lun took advantage of this period to vigorously promote his own papermaking. However, the young emperor Liu Long did not survive the toss of fate and died before he was two years old.
Before Empress Deng could grieve, she made her 13-year-old nephew Liu Hu emperor, the sixth emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor An of Han. As we said earlier, Cai Lun once killed Song Guiren, and even made Liu Qing (the son of Song Guiren), who was once the crown prince, become the King of Qinghe. And Liu Hu was the son of Liu Qing, the King of Qinghe, which laid the foundation for the fate of Cai Lun later.
However, because Empress Deng had always controlled the government, Cai Lun was infinitely rich and wealthy, and was also named the "Marquis of Longting", which can be described as a real power tilted to the opposition, and since then she has become a high-ranking nobleman after getting rid of her status as a dalit. It is also in this way that the paper produced by its papermaking is also known as "Caihou paper".
Around 118-119 AD, Cai Lun was promoted by Empress Deng to the rank of Changle Tai servant and became Empress Deng's chief attendant. At this moment, The Manchu Dynasty Wenwu was extremely flattering to Cai Lun. At this point, the power of Cai Lun, the great inventor of a generation of eunuchs, reached the peak of his life.
However, things must be reversed, and in 121 AD, Empress Deng died. Emperor Liu Hu of Han'an pro-government began to liquidate Cai Lun's past cause and effect. Cai Lun knew in his heart that when he was young, he only knew how to climb up, and for the sake of his future, he was instructed by Empress Dowager Dou to kill Emperor An's imperial grandmother Song Guiren, causing Liu Qing to lose the crown prince's throne. Emperor An would not let him go, so Cai Lun committed suicide and died.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="119" > Evaluation: Cai Lun and his papermaking</h1>
Cai Lun worked hard in the imperial palace all his life, serving four emperors successively, defecting to two empresses (or empresses), promoting and raising salaries, serving as a marquis, honoring jiuqing, and finally ending his Duoqi life by suicide. In general, Cai Lun enjoyed the supremacy of power, but also enjoyed the pleasure of craftsmanship, in addition to physical mutilation, can leave a history in the name of papermaking, his life is enough.
Liu Guangyu, a famous editor in China (former director of the editorial department of Wenshi zhe), commented: "Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty of China was the inventor of paper. As a result of his invention of paper, it caused the first revolutionary major change in the media technology of communication in China and the world. With his inventions, Cai Lun became the first great inventor of China to change the face of the world, especially the cultural landscape of the world. ”
Although Cai Lun has fallen in the long river of history, his papermaking has been spreading and has been influencing mankind.
At the end of the 4th century AD, papermaking spread to Korea.
In 610 AD, the Korean monk Tan Zheng traveled east to Japan and brought papermaking with him
In 751 AD, papermaking was introduced to Arabia, and Samarkand became the center of papermaking throughout the Arab world
In 1150 AD, the Arabs established the first paper mill in Europe in Spain.
Nowadays, although we have more and more computer offices, paper is still the medium for us to spread culture and civilization.
In Mike Hart's "List of 100 Celebrities Who Influenced the Course of Human History," Cai Lun ranked seventh, and one of the top ten Chinese, Confucius, ranked fourth. In 2007, the "Best Inventors ever" published by Time Magazine in the United States, Cai Lun was on the list.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="120" > Finally: about patents for inventions</h1>
The state has put forward an intellectual property power, and patents must be one of the factors for the strength of our national intellectual property rights. Inventions such as Cai Lun's papermaking are invention patents. At present, the term of protection for invention patents in China is 20 years, the term of protection for appearance patents is 15 years, and the term of protection for utility model patents is 10 years.
In the future, I hope that Chinese have more and more inventions, and of course, I hope that we have some key invention patents.