Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 728: Zelu Zhihu raises his head (Part )
Lu silk is one of the three famous silks in China, along with Hangzhou forging and Shu brocade. In this era, it was paid tribute to the palace every year as a tribute. It can be used as a tribute, and the quality is naturally high. It is famous for its fineness and gorgeousness. "The workmanship of winding, thread training, dyeing and shuttle throwing is quite meticulous." There are many records about Lu silk in the novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Not only the emperor and relatives liked to wear it, but also the common people, rich and powerful, wanted to buy a few pieces if they had money. "All students and common people can be clothed", thus winning the reputation of "Lu silk is everywhere in the world".

The Ze and Lu areas were established as Shangdang County during the Warring States Period, and are famous for their sericulture and silk weaving history. In Taiting Village, Tuwo Township, Qinshui County, there is an old mulberry tree that three people cannot hold. It is said to be more than 2,000 old. Year. "Book of the Sui Dynasty" says: "People in Changping and Shangdang grow mulberry trees." In the early Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, there were 80,000 mulberry trees in the six counties of Luzhou. Forty thousand mulberry trees were planted. "Everyone is busy with sericulture, and Qin girls are busy with new mulberries. Autumn has not yet fulfilled the golden wish, and horses are arrogant and neighing beside the official road." This picture of mulberry farming vividly reflects the grand occasion of mulberry planting and silkworm rearing in the Qinshui River Basin. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, King Shen Zhu Mo established a weaving and dyeing bureau in Lu'an Prefecture, Shanxi, and was in charge of transporting Lu silk to the royal family. He paid an annual tribute of 5,000 to 10,000 pieces, which brought the silk industry in Ze and Lu to its peak. In addition to being used as tribute, Lu silk at that time was also sold at home and abroad. According to records, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 13,000 silk looms in Changzhi and Gaoping. According to the calculation that each loom can "break hundreds of pieces per year", the output was more than one million pieces. Many local farmers "specialized in silk looms". When things happen, there is no need to work hard." Because of the rise of Lu silk, the wealth of Lu merchants in Shanxi was the highest in the world. "Jin Lu" records that "Pingyang, Ze, and Lu have wealthy merchants who are the best in the world, and they cannot be called rich unless they are hundreds of thousands."; "Wuzazu" describes: "Those from wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River are favored by Xin'an, and those in the north of the Yangtze River are favored. Shanyou. Xin'an Dajia, whose business is fish and salt, has up to one million stashed money, and the other two to three hundred thousand are among the Jia'er. Shanyou either sells salt or silk, or resells it, or stores chestnuts, and his wealth is even more than Xin'an"; even when the Ming Dynasty encountered financial difficulties, the Ministry of Revenue often borrowed money from Shanxi Lu silk merchants. "Nansongjiang, Beilu'an, Yitianxia" is really not an empty talk!
Unfortunately, that is all in the past! The wheel of history is rolling forward, and now Lusi has declined.

In the early years of Jiajing, the imperial court divided the Shangdang machine households into six classes and 72 numbers. Each number was a production unit (equivalent to today's factory), consisting of hundreds or thousands of households. The names of the machine households were registered with official status and promised to Official weaving is essentially a government-run handicraft industry. However, the government office did not bring any benefits to the weavers. The scientific collection was far more onerous than imagined. "There is a fee for urging the silk, a fee for inspecting the silk, and a fee for collecting the silk. All the income from this will go into the stock of cunning servants and accumulated books." A small number of households suffered from this, but because "names change randomly, they want to do nothing but can't". Fortunately, in addition to the official business, the Lu silk produced can still be sold to the market as a commodity to make up for the loss of the official business. However, from the 14th year of Wanli to the 18th year of Wanli, severe droughts occurred continuously in Shanxi. Grains in Lu'an and other places were not harvested, and the victims were displaced all over Lu. In the 21st year, the village was still in ruins, the wormwood was as far as the eye could see, and Qilong was sad." . The greedy Emperor Wanli not only did not reduce the amount of Lu silk tribute, but instead sent more Lu silk for weaving four times. In the third year of Wanli, he sent 2,840 pieces of Shanxi yellow silk (Lu silk)... In the tenth year, he sent yellow silk Four thousand seven hundred and thirty pieces... In the fifteenth year, two thousand four hundred and thirty pieces of yellow silk were sent out... In eighteen years, five thousand pieces of yellow silk were sent out...", more and more each time. The emperor himself was so insatiable, and the extortion of corrupt officials below him was even more extreme. "The imperial court had necessities, so people came together to compete for them. Purchases came one after another, and the merchants were overwhelmed. They sent jobs and extorted money, which was a waste of money. As for the We will exhaust the people’s efforts without stopping.” Under such exploitation, the machine owner's blood was sucked away drop by drop. The more he weaved, the more he lost, and who could do it again? Most of the loom households fled. There were once more than 13,000 looms, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, they were reduced to more than 3,000 looms. In the first year of Shunzhi, there were only more than 300 looms.

The wheel of history continues to move forward, the Ming Dynasty died, and the Qing Dynasty entered the country. The young Emperor Shunzhi had both ambition and vision. He saw the benefits of resuming Lu silk production, which could not only meet the daily needs of the palace, but also obtain a large amount of taxes and solve financial difficulties. Therefore, he decided to collect some craftsmen who were registered as craftsmen for weaving, and assembled 13 silk brands, one silk shop and one tooth shop. However, Emperor Shunzhi restored the silk factory, silk shop, and tooth shop not because he wanted the poor Ji households to recuperate, but because he wanted to use the richness of Lu'an and Zezhou areas to solve financial difficulties. At this time, there were only more than 300 silk machines, but the Qing government wanted the machine owners to "use 300 machines to cover the 9,000 campaign, and use the 13th force to support the 72nd trip." Since the fourth year of Shunzhi, the number of silk machines sent out every year Make three thousand pigs. When the weaving order came, the machine owners panicked. At this time, with the decline of Lu silk, there was no silk to buy locally, so they had to travel far away from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to buy Hu silk. , You can't talk nonsense." Countless people have gone bankrupt and lost their families.

Emperor Shunzhi was not unaware of the sufferings of Zelu Ji households. He had also thought of giving tax incentives to Ji households while the imperial court was leading the construction of factories, so as to quickly resume Lu silk production. But at this stage, wars are ongoing, and the warehouses of the Ministry of Revenue are so poor that they can run away from rats. Tax reductions for machine households can only be postponed in the future, after the Qing Dynasty has brought peace to the world.
-
Changzhi County of Lu'an Prefecture is a city famous for its silk production. The streets and alleys in the city are named according to different types of silk. The place where brocade is produced is called "Jinfang Lane", and the place where damask is weaved is called "Lingfang Lane". The place where silk is weaved is called "Silk Fang Lane", thus forming the famous "Eighteen Lanes" in Fucheng.

At this moment, in a small courtyard with two entrances in Silk Fang Lane, Orihu Du Yuan called his five friends: Orihu Gong Qi, Li Man, Wu Xingcai, Zhang Cheng, and his servant Miao Da to drink. Different from Suzhou, Lu silk weavers do not produce in centralized factories, but are distributed in various counties in Luzhou. They do not need to go to Beijing to serve or work in the government, nor do they need to pay "craftsmen's class silver". They were paid locally, and then the government sent people to Beijing to pay the bills to the Ministry of Household Affairs. It seemed that they were freer than shift workers and live-in workers, but they were no less exploited. Gong Qi comes from Changzi County of Lu'an Prefecture, Li Man comes from Huguan County, Wu Xingcai comes from Pingshun County, and Zhang Cheng comes from Lucheng County. Although Miao Da is a servant of Du Yuan's family, he is Du Yuan's close friend in life and death. Yongli helped take care of several looms in the Du family, and none of the servants dared to disobey him.

In recent years, Lu silk has declined, and Orihu's life has been difficult. The Du family in Changzhi was originally a wealthy family in Fucheng, but now they can only live in a small courtyard with two rooms, and treat guests to dinner with only a few ordinary dishes and a pot. Just Xinghua Village (Fenjiu).

"Brother Du, you have summoned us from all over the country, but do you have anything important to discuss?" Gong Qi was thoughtful and asked when he saw Du Yuan frowning.

"Dear brothers, trouble is coming!" Du Yuan sighed longly.

"Disaster? Are you talking about this year's tribute silk issue?" Wu Xingcai looked desolate. "Now there are only more than 300 looms left in Lu'an Mansion, but the government distributes 3,000 looms every year according to the standard of 9,000 looms." , everyone knows that tribute silk is a money-losing business, but even if you are a craftsman, you can't do it even if you don't want to. To tell you the truth, my brother sold the old house at home before he could raise the capital to start work, and barely completed this year's pie making. Quantity. Next year, the whole family will probably have to hang themselves!"

"That's right! The government is so exploitative that it's really hard for people to live!" "It's hard to make a living these days!" "Natural and man-made disasters, we weavers are the ones who suffer the most!" Gong Qi, Li Man, and Zhang Chengjie He sighed deeply, turning this small drink into a meeting of complaints.

(End of this chapter)