As early as when we were reading, we learned in the history books that Cai Lun, as the improver of papermaking, not only invented "Cai Hou paper", but also made significant contributions to the spread of human culture and the process of world civilization. In the "100 People Who Influenced the Course of Human History", Cai Lun ranked seventh. But few people know what the genius inventor went through in his life, and why he chose to commit suicide in the end is even less known.
Cai Lun
Cai Lun (蔡倫), courtesy name Jingzhong, was a native of Guiyang County, Eastern Han Dynasty. In the last year of Yongping, he was selected to become a eunuch in the palace, and he was only 13 years old. Although Cai Lun was young, he was very precocious, and since the day he entered the palace, he had been careful and attentive to everything, so he was deeply appreciated by the head of the inner court. In the following year, he was promoted to Xiaohuangmen, and soon after he was promoted to Huangmen Waiter, whose important work was to be responsible for the transmission and guidance of various affairs outside the palace, and arranging for people to meet the emperor. The advantage of this work is that he can often contact the princes and ministers and harem concubines, but it is precisely because of this benefit that he is involved in the open and secret struggles of the harem, laying the groundwork for the disaster of killing himself behind him.
It should be known that in the harem of the ancient emperor, if the concubines wanted not to lose favor, the best way was to give the emperor a son, just as the so-called "mother is expensive to the child, and the son is precious to the mother", the two complement each other. At that time, Emperor Zhangdi's empress Dou Shi was unable to have children, so any concubine who gave birth to the imperial seed would be hated by her, and secretly tried to bring these concubines down in order to maintain her position as the lord of her harem. In order to achieve this goal, Empress Dou also cultivated strength in many ways, and the clever and clever Cai Lun was naturally noticed by Empress Dou.
Cai Lun was forced by Empress Dou's obscenity to become her accomplice, and in order to kill a hundred people, she was the first to attack Song Guiren, the mother of crown prince Liu Qing. Empress Dou then instructed Cai Lun to frame the Song nobles for seducing the emperor through some crooked means, and the Song nobles were deposed, and the crown prince Liu Qing was implicated and deposed as the King of Qinghe. Later, Empress Dou coerced Liang Guiren to recognize Liu Zhao, who was still in his infancy, as her son, and asked the emperor to make Liu Zhao the crown prince.
Cai Lun was deeply loved by Empress Dou for a time because he assisted Empress Dou in pulling out her eye nails and thorns in her flesh, and not only gave him the rank of knight, but also entrusted Cai Lun with a heavy responsibility after the death of Emperor Zhang of Han and his own monopoly of power, so that he was responsible for accompanying the little emperor and participating in major state affairs if necessary.
Cai Lun papermaking
However, the good times did not last long, and in the 9th year of Yongyuan, Empress Dou died, and Cai Lun had to attach herself to her new master, Liu Zhao's empress Deng Sui. Since Empress Deng was a talented woman who liked to sing poetry, she needed a piece of paper that was better than paper to write and paint. Cai Lun perceived this, he summed up the past people's papermaking experience and papermaking technology, boldly innovated the papermaking process, improved the papermaking technique, invented the "Cai Hou Paper", Cai Lun became a celebrity for a time, and he was also highly praised by Empress Deng.
Just when Cai Lun was still immersed in the joy of his own invention, a bad news came that the Han and Emperor Liu Zhaoying died prematurely, leaving only Empress Deng and the young emperor under the age of two. Unfortunately, Empress Deng's young emperor died tragically. In the ancient feudal dynasties, it was emphasized that a "country cannot be without a monarch for a day", and since the young emperor died prematurely, it was necessary to choose another person to inherit the throne. After some careful selection, Empress Deng decided to make her own nephew Liu Hu crown prince. This Liu Hu was the son of Liu Qing, the King of Qinghe, who had been framed by Empress Dou and Cai Lun, and the grandson of Song Guiren, and as soon as the news came out, it immediately frightened Cai Lun half to death. Fortunately, at this time, the power of the government was still firmly in the hands of Empress Deng, and Liu Hu was just a decoration.
At that time, Cai Lun was favored for a while because of Empress Deng's appreciation, and although the established fact that Liu Hu was made crown prince frightened him, he still lived a comfortable life above ten thousand people under one person. Later, he was also given the title of "Dragon Pavilion Waiting", which is why his improved papermaking technique was called "Caihou Paper" by later generations. Not only that, Empress Deng also named him "Changle Tai Servant", and when the empress dowager had no time to handle official affairs, Cai Lun had the right to handle it on her behalf.
Just when Cai Lun's life ambition was full, there was a bad news that was comparable to an earthquake for him, and Empress Deng was ill. The first thing Emperor Liu Hu did was to start liquidating and exporting evil for his father and grandmother. The mastermind, Empress Dou, was long gone, so naturally someone had to bear the emperor's wrath, and Cai Lun was just the most suitable candidate. As a result, Cai Lun was dismissed from his post and investigated, and the emperor also ordered him to confess his guilt to the court lieutenant himself. Cai Lun knew that he would not be able to escape the death penalty, and in order to die a dignified death, he chose to take poison and commit suicide.
Throughout Cai Lun's life, as an amazing inventor and one of the founders of the historical process of human civilization, he participated in the political competition in the harem, and finally became a victim of political struggle, ending in a dismal ending. However, it is undeniable that the great historical contributions he made will also be recorded in the annals of history and remembered by future generations.