8. Cai Lun Invented Paper and Assassinated an Old Lady
Cai Lun was an aristocrat and eunuch who lived in the royal court of the Han Dynasty. For a very long time, writing in ancient China was done on strips of bamboo or sheets of silk. This was very expensive, and it prevented a lot of things from being written down, because people simply could not afford it. He recycled old trees, hemp, fish nets, and cloth rags together to form paper. Because of this invention, he changed the world forever, and he is considered to be one of the most innovative and influential people in all of history. He was rewarded with taxes from 300 houses, and he became very wealthy.
Aside from being a brilliant inventor, Cai Lun was very close friends with the Empress Dou, and she had a bitter rivalry with Consort Song, also known in death as Empress Jingyin. Consort Song was 82 years old, and yet she still held a lot of power with the Emperor, so there was a lot of jealousy and resentment. Both Cai Lun and Empress Dou felt that it was far past the time that granny Song should be out of the picture, so Cai Lu poisoned her, hoping that everyone would assume that she died of natural causes. However, the Emperor found out about this assassination. Before they could torture and kill him, Cai Lun poisoned himself, committing suicide.