Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2616
"Auntie, is there a market nearby to buy silkworm paper?"

"Yes, there is one in the Jiujiang Daxu. Silkworm paper shops generally rent a shop in the market, and some seed producers carry their shoulders on their shoulders, or go on a small boat alone, shuttle between the small markets in the village, and sell them on the spot. .”

"Oh, how much silkworm paper is suitable for each production?"

"It depends on how many mulberry leaves you have in your mulberry field, but usually more silkworm paper will be ordered. Earlier, silkworm ants did not spend much mulberry leaves. If there is no profit, the extra silkworms can be discarded. If they are looking for raw silk If there are many, you can go to the mulberry market to buy mulberry leaves, and you don’t have to stick to your own mulberry fields. Moreover, if you encounter floods or diseases, you can use more silkworm paper to avoid failure.”

After asking about the silkworms, Zhao Hening got up and said, "Auntie, is it convenient to see your silkworms?"

Mrs. Huang also got up quickly, and said: "It's okay, it's just that the humble house is humble, and I'm afraid it will hinder my sister's eyes."

"Where is my aunt, I am also from a poor family."

Lifting the door curtain, Zhao Hening found that the layout of the silkworm room was very different from that in the south of the Yangtze River. There were small windows on the mud walls and small holes in the corners, which seemed to be for ventilation, but they were covered with thick paper and linen, which should be to prevent flies. insect.High temperature and humidity are the most taboo in silkworm rooms. The thatched roof helps ventilation, and the mud walls can block moisture, but the floor is directly in contact with the mulberry soil. During the rainy season, moisture is easy to invade.

"Auntie, why don't you build a silkworm room alone?" Zhao Hening couldn't help asking.

Huang's face showed embarrassment, and said: "My sister is joking, the family is struggling, and I really can't afford to build another silkworm room."

Zhao Hening shook his head. Human silkworms live in the same room. The noisy environment, excessive popularity, and dirty space are not conducive to the growth of silkworms. Then he said: "Auntie, don't think I am talkative. I have seen other people's silkworms. The silkworms who live in the same room are prone to get sick, so it is better to find a way to build a separate silkworm room."

"What the girl said is that I also have a plan. After raising a few houses and saving some money, I will hire someone to build a thatched cottage."

"Auntie, when will this silkworm-making 'go up the mountain'?"

"What does the girl mean by 'up the mountain'?"

"It's just cocooning." In the Jiangnan area, the cocooning of silkworms on foil is called "Shangshan", but obviously Huang didn't know it.

"Oh, tomorrow will be three sleeps, only one day, and three days later there will be another sleep, which is called 'Da Mian', which is also a day. Four or five days after the big sleep, the silkworms will cocoon, which is called 'Shang Foil' locally. '."

Zhao Hening was more interested in the differences between the two places, and asked, "Can I have a look at your silkworm foil?"

Huang took Zhao Hening to another room, where there was a pile of rectangular bamboo products in the corner, which were silkworm foils.The silkworm foil is about three feet two inches long, and the bamboo slices form a skeleton like a swimming pool lane. On the skeleton, the thinned bamboo slices are bent into oval shapes one inch long and half an inch wide, forming cocoons that are convenient for silkworms to weave silk and form cocoons. The small space is obviously different from the "grass dragon" commonly used in the Jiangnan area.

Zhao Hening asked: "Your silkworm foil is very different from that of Jiangnan, so what's the point?"

"It turns out that the girl is from the south of the Yangtze River. No wonder..." Huang said, "The climate in Jiujiang is humid and hot, and this kind of silkworm foil is easy to ventilate and dehumidify. Before putting on the foil, the silkworm foil should be roasted with fire, and the remaining cocoons from the previous production should be burned. Silkworm silk. After one or two days of foiling, it will be "baked cocoon". Breathe out. Put a brazier in the middle of every eight silkworm foils, and bake for about an hour and a half. Turn the silkworm foil upside down and bake it again. Only when the silkworm chrysalis are baked to death can you safely remove the cocoons."

Zhao Hening said: "It must be because the local climate is humid, and roasting the cocoons can prevent the cocoons from mildew." Of course, in addition, roasting the cocoons can also kill parasites such as silkworm chrysalis and fly flies attached to the silkworm chrysalis, making the cocoons The state when it is fixed on the foil is beneficial to silk reeling.

"Young lady is smart, she can understand a little bit." Huang boasted, "It's just that baking cocoons will cost more money."

"Oh, how much money do you want?"

"Each foil has six sheets, and consumes three catties of charcoal and about two cents of silver."

This amount of money is nothing to Zhao Hening, but for poor farmers, an extra cent is money.Zhao Hening didn't dwell on this matter, and asked again: "Did you reel the silk yourself after collecting the cocoons?"

The reason for asking this question is because when Zhao Yingong was running a silk reeling factory in Hangzhou, he encountered the problem of purchasing silkworm cocoons. The silkworm farmers worked so hard to raise silkworms, but most of them were unwilling to sell the silkworm cocoons. Low.In the agricultural society of the Middle Ages, the value of labor was very low, and it was very common to exchange a large amount of labor for negligible cash gains.Sericulture farmers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang generally make their own silk for sale, forming a large-scale rural sideline labor.

In addition, there is a "Silk Cocoon Guild" in the middle that monopolizes a small amount of silk cocoons that are directly sold. Zhao Yingong can't directly buy silk cocoons from farmers, but can only buy from silk cocoons.After thinking twice, Zhao Yingong decided to start from scratch.Control the production of cocoons directly from the place of origin.To be precise, it is a model of small producer cooperatives similar to Leizhou Rural Cooperatives.

"It's true that you reel the silk yourself," Huang asked a little curiously, "Is there anyone in the south of the Yangtze River who directly sells the cocoons?

The cocoon market is a product of the machine silk reeling industry. Without the massive demand from silk reeling factories, there would be no cocoon market.The revolutionary significance of the cocoon market is the separation of the silk reeling industry from the sericulture industry. Zhao Hening thought to himself, it seems that the local sericulture industry is not as developed as that in the south of the Yangtze River, and no one collects the scattered cocoons. This is due to the insufficient division of labor in society. which performed.

"How about selling raw silk?" Zhao Hening asked again.

"It's not bad, it's all bought by local silk workshops and traders."

Zhao Hening was quite surprised, and said: "Since the Australians came, there have been more Frangji merchants, and foreign trade has been more than a year, and the sales of raw silk have not increased significantly?"

"Not really, as usual."

Zhao Hening asked: "Didn't you say that 'Guangzhi thread yarn and cowherd silk, five silk, eight silk, cloud satin, and light satin are all expensive in Jinghua outside the Lingling Mountains, and in the east and west?" Officials and merchants, the cross gate opens to Eryang. The five silk and eight silk satin are good, and the money is piled up in Haopanfang."

The Huang family is a peasant woman from the countryside. The farthest place she went was Jiujiang Daba Market. Naturally, she didn't know what happened, but she just didn't know.

Zhao Hening changed the subject and asked, "Is the raw silk traded in the silk market?"

Huang said: "This is natural."

Then Huang introduced the situation of the silk market. Jiujiang has not yet formed a professional silk market. Similar to Sang City, the silk market may be as small as one or two shops, and most of them are established in existing markets.The silk market generally only provides a place for buyers and sellers to meet and negotiate prices. It also sets up public scales and charges a certain percentage of commissions to buyers and sellers.

The local mulberry market and silk market both provide loans with a monthly interest of about 2%.Once small farmers encounter natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the cash is not enough to maintain reproduction, they have to invest in usury.

Seeing Huang's mother and son living in poverty, Zhao Hening couldn't help asking: "It is said that the family has ten acres of land, and they can feed eight people with mulberry and silkworms. Why do you live in such poverty?"

Mrs. Huang let out a long sigh, with a sad face, but said nothing.

Seeing that his mother was silent, Guan Zongbao explained: "I still have a medicine pot at home. I take medicine all the year round. I don't work all day long, and I drink and smoke too much. I have squandered my savings for many years. If I were not frugal, my mother and son would have been reduced to slaves."

Le Ziren on the side is familiar with the local situation, and explained to Zhao Hening: "Jiujiang is dominated by fish, mulberry and silk, and even the country gentry will not give up their business. From spring to winter, don't worry about having nothing to do. If you have capital, The profits of fish and silkworms turn grain like a wheel, and people without capital can still mow grass and pick mulberries, and live. The only thing to worry about is extravagance and waste. Worrying about the toughness of the mulberry branches and tails, if you don’t save frugally on the day of sericulture, you won’t be able to survive the winter. Widows are self-sufficient, but have surplus funds. This is the reason for living frugally. Therefore, the proverb says: "Widows have grains."

Different from other rice farmers, farmers who use mulberry fishponds as their industry produce not grain, but commodities such as fish, raw silk, and mulberry leaves. They cannot achieve self-sufficiency like rice farmers and need to exchange grain from the market In order to survive, their living conditions are subject to income. The factors that affect income are firstly that this model requires a large amount of capital investment, and secondly that the products need to be put on the market directly, so the life of farmers is at a relatively high risk.When floods come, the fish will escape, the mulberry will lose its harvest, and the silkworm will have no mulberry leaves or have no harvest if it is infected with disease.The turmoil in the market also makes the life of farmers difficult to stabilize.Farmers in mulberry fishponds sell their products and hold money, and they have to face temptations such as gambling and drinking.Worrying about the hard tail of the mulberry branches means that I am afraid that if I invest a lot of capital on weekdays and I am not frugal enough, it will be difficult to save enough to buy rice for the winter.

Zhao Hening was a little puzzled, and asked Guan Zongbao: "Who is the medicine jar you are talking about? Is your wife or a child?"

Guan Zongbao said, "It's my father."

"Why don't you see anyone else?"

Huang said: "I just went here to make a fuss last night and forced a tael of silver, saying that I am going to Guangzhou for business."

After hearing this, Zhao Hening showed a rather sympathetic expression, sighed, and said, "It's so pitiful, how can there be such a father in the world?"

Guan Zongbao said: "Sister, if possible, I would like to ask Chief Le to uphold justice for my aunt."

Facing the sudden request, Le Ziren looked dazed. He had no foundation in the local area as a small policeman, and he might not be able to manage the short-term affairs of his parents, so he looked at Zhao Hening.

Zhao Hening said without hesitation: "I don't see any injustice in the world the most. If my aunt has been wronged, just ask. We will help if we can." After speaking, he looked at Le Ziren and Zhang Jiayu.

(End of this chapter)