Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 190
Xiyuan, Tingchao Pavilion.

In the afternoon sparkling, small fish jump out of the water from time to time, and the blue sky and white clouds are reflected on the lake.

Chen Zheng, who was wearing a third-rank official uniform, was standing next to the imperial couch, staring closely at the moving buoy on the lake. At this moment, he didn't dare to breathe heavily, and looked very nervous.

After Liu Jin brought them over, he also respectfully stood beside Han Niu, the eunuch in charge of the Weiyang camp, and Feng Ma, the eunuch in charge of the Weizhen camp, staring nervously at the buoy that had been pulled by the fish.

It's just that the four of them were puzzled, and they didn't understand why His Majesty didn't take action for so long.

One click, one click, one click!
From the point of view, the buoy only kept pulling slightly, pulling the heartstrings of the four people.

The signal of the fish is mainly fed back through the buoy, and different degrees of pulling prove the entrance of the fish in different ways. This kind of thing is actually the so-called understanding of fishing.

Zhu Youtang was obsessed with this kind of game of wits and courage with the fish, seeing that the fish was just playing with the bait, but he was not eager to draw the rod.

Since he is increasingly dissatisfied with "little fish and shrimp", the thread he chooses is obviously longer now.

"coming!"

Seeing the buoy sinking suddenly, Zhu Youtang couldn't help being secretly happy. The fish was finally hooked, so he grabbed the fishing rod with both hands and prepared to lift it up.

It's just that the fishing line was stretched straight instantly, and the fish fled frantically towards the center of the lake. A brute force was transmitted through the fishing line, causing Zhu Youtang's adrenaline to soar.

Zhu Youtang has always been sitting cross-legged on a soft couch to fish leisurely. When he felt this pulling force, he knew that the big fish he was expecting was coming. He immediately stabilized his body and tightened his fishing rod, trying to contain the big fish The first wave of escape.

"Big fish?" Chen Zheng said in secret joy when he saw such a straight line.

"Your Majesty, be careful!" Although Liu Jin knew that it was a big fish coming, she always kept her sacred mission firmly in mind, so she reminded worriedly.

Han Niu, the eunuch in charge of the Weiyang camp, and Feng Ma, the eunuch in charge of the army in the Weizhen camp, saw Zhu Youtang arguing with Yu'er, and wanted to step forward to help, but they were afraid of being punished by Zhu Youtang. dilemma.

Just when everyone was moved by this big fish, an accident happened suddenly.

Boom!
Zhu Youtang tightly held the golden nanmu fishing rod in his hand to wrestle with the big fish in the water, but when the fishing rod was bent to the limit, the fishing line suddenly broke.

At the moment when the fishing line broke, due to the reaction force of inertia, the fishing rod returned to straight and bounced back, almost preventing Zhu Youtang from falling backwards.

Zhu Youtang has been fishing here for a while, but this is the first time he has encountered this kind of situation. It was as if he had caught a cow just now.

If he can catch the big fish just now, it will not only refresh his own record, but also become one of the few fishermen in Ming Dynasty who can catch such a big fish.

"Your Majesty, are you all right?" Liu Jin asked worriedly when she saw that Zhu Youtang almost fell backwards just now.

Zhu Youtang saw that his golden nanmu fishing rod was safe, but the fishing line had been broken, and he felt a sense of loss.

Even if he monopolizes the [-]-acre water area, and even if there are countless big fish in the [-]-mu water area, the fishing line's bearing capacity already determines the upper limit of fishermen.

Wanting to catch a big fish with a pulling force of [-] catties with a fishing line that can only withstand a pulling force of [-] catties, even if he is a high-ranking emperor, is undoubtedly still a dream.

Zhu Youtang looked disappointed and put down the fishing rod, then said lightly: "I'm all right! Disappointing, I won't be fishing today, put everything away!"

Liu Jin was afraid that Zhu Youtang would take his anger out on him, so he hurried forward to take the fishing rod with the broken line, and then frantically removed all the fishing tackle.

"Your Majesty, I'm guilty!" Zhang Zheng knelt down and admitted his mistake when he saw Zhu Youtang turn around.

Zhu Youtang was in a depressed mood, so he couldn't help being slightly taken aback and said: "Chen Qing, what is your crime?"

"The breaking of the fishing line must be caused by the ineffective supervision of the Ministry of Industry. I am willing to rebuild a fishing line that will not be broken for His Majesty!" Chen Zheng expressed his loyalty with loyalty in his bones.

Zhu Youtang looked at the little old man kneeling on the ground strangely, and asked seriously: "Chen Qing, do you know how to fish?"

"I... I don't know how to fish, but I understand that 'eating the king's reward, sharing the king's worries', so I am willing to personally supervise the creation of a good line for your majesty, never allow craftsmen to cut corners, and prevent today's disappointing things from happening again!" Chen Zheng shook his head lightly, still expressing his position loyally.

Since Zhu Youtang took power completely, the loyalty he gained has obviously increased.

This is actually a very real problem. If the Jiuqing court, which is still in power by the civil official group, will get more applause who dares to challenge the emperor, and naturally more officials will dare to sing the opposite.

Why did officials such as Xu Pu and Ma Wensheng push Wang Shu earlier? In fact, Wang Nu has not had any outstanding achievements in his official career for decades. .

Zhu Youtang didn't know whether the loyalty of the left servant of the Ministry of Industry in front of him was sincere or false, but he reached out and patted Chen Zheng on the shoulder and said, "Your Majesty, it's hard work like this!"

"It's my honor to be able to serve His Majesty!" Chen Zheng was completely unaware that he had taken on an almost impossible job, and expressed his opinion flattered.

Zhu Youtang had already noticed the big guy in front of him, so he couldn't help but smiled and said: "Chen Qing, let's go over and have a look at what you brought?"

"Your Majesty, please!" Chen Zheng hurriedly stood up from the ground, and immediately made a gesture of please.

In the open space over there, there was a new type of loom, and two craftsmen had checked that it was not damaged. When they saw Zhu Youtang, they knelt down to greet Zhu Youtang honestly.

Because the loom made by the Ministry of Industry uses better wood, this loom is heavier, but the overall shape is not much different from ordinary looms. The biggest difference is that there is an extra jumping shuttle .

As a skilled female weaver demonstrates, the new loom starts to operate, and the jumping shuttle is particularly eye-catching.

"She knits so fast!"

"It's not that she can weave fast, it's that the loom doesn't need to pound the silk thread!"

"The width of the loom is doubled, so that a piece of cloth can be woven even shorter!"

……

Many of the court ladies onlookers knew how to weave, and now seeing this female weaver demonstrating here, they couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

When Zhu Youtang came to the flying shuttle loom, he focused his attention on the jumping shuttle, seeing the result of his own promotion, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise slightly.

Designed by himself and supervised by Chen, the left servant of the Ministry of Industry, the technical difficulty of the special spring was overcome, and the shuttle loom was finally born.

The shuttle is not very complicated. In fact, there is an extra chute in the shuttle, and springs are installed at both ends of the chute.

Originally, the warp and weft interlacing needed to be stopped to complete, but now the shuttle can complete the travel very quickly.Since one hand is saved and there is no need to interrupt the handling of the yarn, the production efficiency is greatly improved.

A piece of cotton, in addition to raw materials, the biggest cost is actually the time cost of the weaver.

The price of cotton cloth in Daming remains high. To a large extent, it is not because of the high cost of cotton, but because the labor cost of a female weaver is too high. High-quality cotton cloth is even more expensive.

If a female weaver in the south of the Yangtze River is paid one tael of silver, but can only weave two bolts of cloth a month, even if the raw material cotton does not require money, the price of each cloth must be at least five dollars to recover the cost.

If there is a kind of loom that can increase the efficiency of this female weaver in Jiangnan by ten times, and she can weave twenty bolts of cloth in a month, then the cost of each loom can be recovered at five cents silver, and it can be sold at five cents. considerable profits can be obtained.

Don't underestimate the innovation of loom technology. The reason why Songjiang Mansion has become the largest cotton weaving center in Daming is actually thanks to one person—Huang Daopo.

Huang Daopo was born in a poor family and lived in Yazhou, Qiongzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province when she was young. She learned the technique of using tools to weave Yazhou quilts from the Li people.

She began to teach people how to make cotton in Wunijing Town, and taught and promoted textile technologies such as cotton gin, cotton bow, spinning wheel and loom, which made Wunijing famous all over the world.

It's just that the times will eventually develop, and new technologies will eventually replace old technologies.

The shuttle loom is naturally superior to the loom promoted by Huang Daopo and the traditional loom, and its production efficiency has been increased several times. It can be said that it is completely crushed.

As long as the flying shuttle loom is popularized throughout the country, the production efficiency of cotton cloth will be greatly improved, and the production cost of cotton cloth will be greatly reduced by then.

Of course, this technology will not be limited to cotton cloth, it can be directly applied to silk weaving, which can also reduce the cost of silk weaving.

It’s just that it’s easier to get cotton cloth into people’s homes, but it’s more difficult to get silk into people’s homes. This is actually determined by the raw material of silk.

Due to the limited energy of a person, raising silkworms and weaving silk is a very delicate and labor-intensive task.It may be possible for you to ask the silkworm raiser to raise a hundred catties of raw silk, but if you ask the silkworm raiser to increase the production tenfold, you are simply trying to force her to death.

In contrast to cotton planting, the output of one mu of cotton is several hundred catties, tens of thousands of catties for one mu of cotton cloth, and hundreds of thousands of catties for ten thousand mu of cotton cloth.

It is precisely because raw silk requires expensive labor costs, and the production of raw silk cannot be increased at will. It is destined that the cost of silk cannot be too low, and the production of silk will also be limited by raw materials.

Zhu Youtang was an industry researcher in his previous life, but he knows economics better than anyone else.Out of the consideration of the interests of the entire country, cotton cloth is the best way to revitalize China.

Seeing the smooth launch of the flying shuttle loom, Zhu Youtang planned to take the first step to build a world textile center: "The Ministry of Industry will immediately set up a loom factory, and each flying shuttle loom will cost two or two. It is sold to the outside world, but the shuttle is not allowed to be opened, and the shuttle loom is not allowed to be sold abroad, and if there is a breakdown, it will be repaired by specialized personnel!"

Although the technical barriers of Feishuo are very high, in order to prevent this technology from leaking to North Korea, Annan and other places, it is still necessary to set a certain technical protection period.

"Your Majesty, I produced [-] looms in advance according to your instructions, and you only need to install the shuttle to use them!" Chen Zheng led the order, and then reported.

Huh?
Knowing that there was such a weird thing, Liu Jin couldn't help but cast a weird look at Zhu Youtang.

The corners of Zhu Youtang's mouth rose slightly, and he responded, "In three days, you will send the shuttle loom to the Royal Textile Factory next to Xiannongtan in the southern outskirts of the city!"

"The minister leads the decree!" Chen Zheng didn't expect a royal textile factory to appear suddenly, but he didn't dare to ask too much, and immediately said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the shuttle loom with satisfaction, and rewarded the craftsmen and Weaver Girl.

The so-called art of controlling people is actually to distinguish rewards and punishments, and if I want more people to do things for me, I will undoubtedly need to be more generous.

The craftsman and Weaver Girl never expected to be rewarded, and they knelt down to receive the reward as if flattered.

Zhu Youtang chose to keep this shuttle loom as a wake-up call for himself.

He originally planned for Wu Xun to enjoy the dividends of the cotton cloth industry, but this group of Wu Xun has no business acumen at all, and they are a bunch of idiots who can't afford it.

Since the cotton is grown by oneself, it is natural to spin and weave it by oneself to produce this kind of high-quality and cheap cotton cloth, and then send it there before the opening of the market on Canzhi Island.

As for why they chose to build the factory in the southern suburbs instead of outside the city, one reason is that the cost in the suburbs is low, and the other is to promote the future development of the industry outside the city.

As a place of residence, the city of Beijing is actually enough, at least I live in this house very comfortably, but if I want to develop industrial land, I really can only develop outside the city.

The Royal Weaving Factory was located outside Xiaowai in the south of the city to serve as a leading industry and attract other legally established spinning mills, weaving factories or dyeing houses.

As for the issue of safety, not to mention that his own Beijing army is no longer a display, and now that Princess Ikexi is in his hands, the safety of the capital has undoubtedly been greatly guaranteed.

The next day the Royal Textile Factory started recruiting, and the wages offered were actually one tael of silver.

In this era, women's livelihood is not easy, and perhaps there will be no adopted daughter in Yangzhou to teach music first, and now the female workers of the Royal Textile Factory pay one tael a month to outsource food and housing. This kind of welfare is also rare in the capital.

"Royal? What's the origin of this?"

"Don't ask too much, the eunuch is in charge and there is a female official who just left the palace!"

"Anyway, to be able to apply for the job is to be smoked by the ancestors, just perform well!"

……

Following the news of the recruitment of the Royal Textile Factory, women from all over the capital flocked here, but they all wanted to take advantage of this good job that fell from the sky.

Although there are a few workshops in the capital that recruit female workers, they usually only recruit their own people, so the treatment is naturally not the same.

Of course, limited by this time, only the royal family dared to build such a large-scale weaving workshop, and ordinary businessmen did not have the courage at all.

Two days later, the loom factory under the Ministry of Industry sent two thousand flying shuttle looms.

As for management, the eunuchs and female officials in the palace actually have experience in this area. Now it is not difficult to arrange two thousand female weavers to produce in an orderly manner.

Just to produce [-] bolts of cotton cloth before the official opening of Canzhi Island, the workload is actually a bit heavy, so the Royal Textile Factory entered the state of rush work immediately after its establishment.

Although Zhu Youtang attached great importance to the development of the cotton cloth industry, he was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who controlled the two capitals and thirteen provinces. As a result, the affairs in the north had not been properly handled, and the situation in the south was frequent.

(End of this chapter)