Fenghou

Chapter 917 Weaving

Early the next morning, Chen Qing set off for Xianyang. At this time, there was a world of ice and snow outside Jingzhao City, but there were still people coming and going on the official road, and the snow on the ground was trampled into mud. Three soldiers escorted the three carriages, and the high-ranking officials who accompanied Chen Qing were Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Chengdong, the commander of the Craftsmanship Department. Zhou Chengdong was Zhou Kuan's eldest son, and he was in charge of managing the armory when he was in Ganquanbao.

The Weihe River is already covered with thick ice. The government built a temporary pontoon bridge on the ice surface and sprinkled straw, so that pedestrians can easily walk across the Weihe River. The reason why the temporary pontoon bridge was built instead of directly spreading a layer of straw on the river surface , This is mainly because the river surface and the ground are still at least six or seven feet high. People cannot go down the river surface, let alone carts. If there is no ferry, then a pontoon bridge must be built.

The team drove across the Weihe River and continued westward along Xianyang Avenue. At noon, the team arrived in Xianyang.

Xianyang County has a population of nearly [-]. Like other counties in Jingzhao Prefecture, they are mainly handicraft industries. Xianyang is mainly famous for papermaking and textile industries, and its storage is also very developed. The main reason is that Jingzhao’s rent is too expensive. At that time, a large number of Hu merchants rented houses in Xianyang as warehouses.

Chen Qing came to inspect the third government-run spinning workshop today. There are hundreds of weaving workshops in Xianyang County, and the three government workshops occupy the top three in terms of scale.

The third weaving workshop that Chen Qing is going to inspect today is not the largest, but this workshop is experimenting with new products, spinning cotton.

For a long time, the south spun silk and weaved silk, and the north spun thread and weaved hemp, but a month ago, [-] catties of cotton, or kapok, was shipped from Bashu.

This is one of the goods shipped from Quanzhou. It was received by a businessman from the people of Ryukyu Island at a low price in the past two years. But at the beginning of the year, the businessman was arrested by the Quanzhou government for smuggling pig iron to Nanyang and sentenced He was sentenced to death, and all his goods were confiscated by the officials, including two Wanshi sea ships, a large amount of tea, porcelain, and [-] catties of cotton. These goods were taken away by Chen Qing, and they were not transported from Chengdu until half a month ago. Jingzhao.

Cotton is a luxury in the north, and it is mainly used to fill winter clothes. Each official will receive half a catty of cotton as a welfare every winter. A luxury like cashmere.

Chen Qing distributed part of the [-] catties of wood cotton to the officials as welfare, stored the rest, and took out another [-] catties for trial spinning.

The reason why spinning cotton is placed in the third weaving workshop is that this workshop also weaves a special product while spinning and weaving. It was introduced from the ground and has been planted in Gaochang. The local people used cotton to weave cloth, which was called white folded cloth. As early as the Tang Dynasty, it was presented to the imperial palace as a tribute.

Compared with cotton, Chen Qing values ​​kapok more, because cotton will compete with grain, but kapok will not.

The chief steward of the weaving workshop is Gu Xin, who is very strong, about fifty years old, and a native of Bianliang. He once worked as a steward in a government-run weaving workshop and has very rich experience.

Gu Xin greeted Chen Qing in front of the gate of the workshop. It was the first time for Chen Qing to come to this weaving workshop. He looked at the workshop and asked, "How many people are there?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, there are [-] people, basically all female workers."

Chen Qing was taken aback, "There are so many people?"

Gu Xin said with a smile: "In fact, it is divided into two parts: spinning and weaving, with six hundred people each, and one thousand spinning wheels and one thousand looms each. There are as many as [-] people weaving."

"It's because I'm ignorant!"

Chen Qing walked to a big house and heard 'Ka!Click!Click! 'The sound of the machine shaft, he looked out of the window with his head, there were at least a hundred looms inside, and in front of each loom was a little lady who was weaving with her head down.

"They are all local ladies?" Chen Qing asked with a smile.

Gu Xin shook his head, "The local young lady likes to work as a maid for a big family in Jingzhao, and they don't want to come here to weave. Now the female workers of Xianyang Textile Co., Ltd. basically come from two places. They used to be Xixia girls, but now they are big Some of them are married, or have been diverted to other places, basically invisible, and then there are millions of refugees from the Central Plains. They are the mainstream of recruitment in all walks of life. More than [-]% of our female workers here are them. Five hours, one lunch."

"Then how much do they earn?"

"This... everyone is different, depending on the level of proficiency, some female workers can earn three to four hundred yuan a day, and some female workers can only earn seventy or eighty yuan. I have calculated that the average is one hundred and fifty yuan a day. The lady is already very good, and many of them have become the pillars of the family. Here we have a young lady named Yang, from Ruzhou, her parents are old, her elder brother was a Song soldier, and her legs are disabled. Money to support her, she is one of the most skilled female workers here, weaving white folded cloth, the spun thread is very even, and the woven cloth is also very dense. She is only sixteen years old and can earn four hundred cash a day. Rest, earn twelve guan a month, and support the whole family well, and she is planning to buy a yard in Xianyang to support her parents."

Chen Qing knew that the people at the bottom didn't live long, and they usually lived to be in their fifties. Even if they were in their forties, they were old. It was normal for them to have an elder brother and take care of their parents at the age of sixteen.

"Where is this little lady surnamed Yang? I want to see her."

"She is in the Xinfangtang where His Highness is going. The villain has transferred a batch of the most capable female workers to weave kapok, and she is one of them. Of course, I will still pay her a wage of [-] Wen per day."

Chen Qing said happily: "Go and see!"

"Can the cotton cotton flower be produced now?" Chen Qing asked again.

Gu Xin smiled wryly, "If possible, I suggest using cotton wool for bedding and padded clothes, and it is better to consider fine linen for weaving."

"why?"

"It is too difficult to spin thread. Its wadding is relatively short, so it is difficult to form a thread. It must be twisted into a thin thread by hand, which is time-consuming and laborious. It is very good to weave it into cloth, but the price will be very expensive, even similar to silk and satin. universal."

The main reason why Chen Qing wants to use wood cotton to make cotton cloth is to find a middle-grade cloth between silk and linen. Fine linen is still a bit coarse. Clothing.

Cotton cloth, which was popularized on a large scale during the Song and Yuan dynasties, was the most suitable, but growing cotton required too much arable land, so Chen Qing considered wood cotton, but Gu Xin said that the production cost was higher than silk, which made Chen Qing a little unacceptable.

"Is there no way to solve the problem of spinning yarn?" Chen Qing asked in a deep voice.

"I'm trying to figure it out, but it's difficult."

Chen Qing's heart suddenly became a little heavy. Gu Xin, a veteran of the industry, said that it was difficult, and he probably had little hope.

"Let's go and have a look first!" Chen Qing's tone was not as relaxed as before.

The Xinfang Hall was located at the very edge, and when it was still outside, laughter and even cheers could be heard from inside.

Gu Xin's face suddenly darkened, he was usually quiet, why did he become noisy at the critical moment.

He coughed heavily, but instead of the laughter inside not stopping, someone shouted: "The chief manager is here, tell him to receive the reward!"

Jiang Yanxian smiled quietly at Chen Qing: "It seems to be something good."

Chen Qing nodded, he also felt it.

(End of this chapter)