A mouthful of fried rice at a sky-high price, Old Tang apprenticed on the spot

Chapter 641 Food Crisis
Because he was worried about being flushed, Li Yi postponed the research and development of looms.

It was not until the King of the Communist Party of Chu married Qin Jinggong's sister that he was over 30 years old that he began to restart the plan for the Industrial Revolution.

But in the intervening years, his life was not peaceful.

Because Zheng State rebelled against Chu and attached itself to Jin, Chu State and Jin State fought a war.

Due to the needs of the war, the weavers produced cloth and silk day and night for front-line armaments.

However, although the efficiency of the textile machine has been improved, the weavers are even more tired.

Li Yi made a hand-operated jenny spinning machine, which greatly increased the efficiency of spinning.

The speed of spinning has been increased, but the efficiency of weaving has not been improved much.

The loom made by Li Yi still relies on manual operation, and because it is made of wooden frame, only experienced people can operate it, resulting in an increasing shortage of weavers.

The piles of yarn cannot be turned into cloth, and the pressure from the front line is transmitted to the rear, which also causes the weavers to be tortured by the supervisor every day.

Li Yi was the instigator of all this, so the weavers transferred their hatred to her.

Although they didn't dare to do anything to Li Yi because of the king of Chu, they still gossip behind their backs.

Although Li Yi didn't care about this kind of behind-the-scenes complaints, it was inevitable that he would become upset after listening to it too much.

But he knew that there was a reason for the weavers' resentment against him, and the crux of the problem was also because he didn't make a matching loom.

In order to greatly improve the efficiency of the loom, it is necessary to design a loom that uses external force to drive and weave itself, such as a fully mechanized loom.

However, there was no information about mechanized looms in the woodworking books that Li Yi read.

Therefore, Li Yi could only design it himself.

Based on basic mechanical knowledge and related principles of textiles, Li Yi started from scratch and worked backwards step by step. It took more than a year to design a machine.

But according to the design drawings, he took a carpenter to work for two years before he made a loom.

During the war, metals such as bronze and iron were very precious, and any metal had to be made into weapons and arrowheads and sent to the front line.

Therefore, it is impossible for Chu State to provide metal to make machines for Li Yi.

Moreover, the blacksmiths in middle school were not at the level to make the parts Li Yi wanted.

As a result, the first generation of looms Li Yi produced were all made of wood.

However, the strength of wooden materials is limited after all, and the wear and tear is also large.

Therefore, in order to ensure strength, the loom was very large. When assembled, it was almost as big as a small house.

But even at this size, the machine can only weave one bolt of cloth at a time.

And every time we weave a piece of cloth, it takes nearly ten catties of oil to lubricate it.

The most important thing is that in order to control this machine, at least eight skilled workers must work together.

However, eight skilled workers can weave half a piece of cloth in the same time using ordinary looms, and the combined efficiency is much higher than that of looms.

Therefore, after verifying the efficiency of the machine, the King of the Communist Party of Chu stopped the research and development of this machine.

Wood isn't cheap, after all.

With the wood used in this machine, a siege engine can be built.

Without the support of King Chu, Li Yi's research and development became more difficult.

Without funds, the cost of research and development has become a big problem.

He could only exchange time for space, use his free time to make brocades, sell them to noble ladies in the country, earn money, and accumulate funds.

But this business was soon stopped.

During the war, he, a skilled weaver, did not do his best to provide armaments for the front line, but instead engaged in business as a merchant, which was naturally disliked by others.

Even the king of the Communist Party of Chu was disappointed in him because of this, and his attitude became much colder.

Coupled with the fact that as a woman, he is getting older and older, and the resistance he encounters is even greater, and it can be said that he is struggling.And this situation also made the weavers who were already unhappy with him even more gloating.

Without the protection of the King of Chu, the weavers were unscrupulous, and they didn't even avoid him by gossiping.

In the long run, Li Yi's mentality was also affected, and he almost broke out several times.

But fortunately, he still remembered his true intentions and did not lose control of his emotions.

The situation only improved after the death of King Chu Cong and King Chu Kang's accession to the throne.

Because under Li Yi's contact, Chu Kangwang had a good impression of him.

And because he demonstrated some scientific principles to King Chukang, King Chukang also has a certain curiosity about science.

So after he ascended the throne, he restarted funding Li Yi to help him develop a new generation of looms.

After the failure of the first generation, Li Yi already knew that the success of the loom lies in the strength of the key components and the abundant power source.

Therefore, he took advantage of the opportunity to find craftsmen, poured a batch of bronze parts, reduced the volume of the loom by half, and made a second-generation loom.

At the same time, Li Yi also asked craftsmen to pour a bronze water tank with water inlet and outlet holes, intending to make a steam engine.

However, during the test run, the bronze water tank exploded, and the craftsman was almost killed. Li Yi was also burned with blisters on half of his body, which was equivalent to disfigurement.

After this incident, no craftsman was willing to help him make looms anymore.

King Kang also stopped his R&D fund again.

With only the last bit of funds left in his hand, Li Yi decided to put all his eggs in one basket and transported the loom to the river.

Realizing that his steps were too big, he gave up the manufacture of steam engines and designed an external waterwheel powered by water power.

The waterwheel could be made with only wood. After he hired a carpenter to finish the work, the loom finally started running.

The test run of the third generation loom was successful.

Soon, this machine that can weave cloth by itself caused a sensation in Chu State.

Chu people themselves believed in witches and ghosts, and they were obsessed with prostitution, so Li Yi was quickly regarded as a fairy descended from the sky.

With the loom, Chu's textile industry flourished soon.

With the support of King Chukang, the third-generation looms were produced one after another, and within two years, the number of looms reached [-].

However, in the third year, a large-scale famine occurred in Chu State.

This famine not only swept across the territory of Chu State, but even spread to Chu State's affiliated countries.

However, after investigating the cause from top to bottom in Chu State, it was discovered that the famine was not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster.

Because the booming textile industry in the state of Chu needs a large amount of mulberry to provide raw materials, the whole state of Chu is encouraging farmers to plant mulberry and increasing the purchase price.

As a result, a large number of farmers have changed their farmland into mulberry fields, abandoned the original grain cultivation, and planted mulberry instead.

This situation not only happened within the territory of Chu State, but also in several subordinate countries surrounding Chu State, farmers also switched to mulberry and hemp, and then sold the raw materials to Chu State.

The payment paid by Chu State was cloth that was equivalent to money.

Ever since, Chu State and its affiliated states got a lot of precious cloth, and they were very happy.

But no one expected that a famine would follow.

A large number of farmers gave up growing grain, resulting in a sharp decrease in grain production in Chu State and a rise in grain prices.

After discovering this, Chu State began to purchase food from the dependent countries, but found that the dependent countries had no food.

Grain, which was originally the hardest currency between Chu and its affiliated countries, has been turned into cloth. All parties are very happy and have a sense of superiority.

But when the food crisis broke out, everyone discovered that although cloth is valuable, it cannot be eaten.

So, everyone was dumbfounded.

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(End of this chapter)