Jagged Warlord

Wang Shihu's resignation from the braided army turned him into a provincial governor. Li Mohan's eclectic reputation for employing people has spread all over the world. Some older people even compared him to Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms. Of course, it refers to the aspect of employing people.

Wang Shihu is also a traditional subordinate, and he deeply felt Li Mohan's kindness. He started to show his hands and feet in Anhui as soon as he took office, resolutely, thoroughly, and uncompromisingly obeying every order in this line.

Anhui's development plan starts with sericulture.

The silk industry used to be an important pillar of social and economic development in Chinese history, but it has long been a sideline of farmers' families, with outdated technology, equipment, and management.The raw silk produced by the local method in China has uneven thickness and hard colloid. After being shipped to Europe and the United States, it needs to be processed again before it can be suitable for the machine weaving silk industry.With the continuous expansion of raw silk foreign trade, this serious problem has become increasingly noticeable in the international market.

Just when China's silk industry remained stagnant and stagnant, and even the quality of products declined, some countries in the world with underdeveloped silk industries began to pay attention to improvement.As early as the Middle Ages, Italy invented the process of "twisting silk", that is, twisting silk into strands so that it can withstand the pulling force of the spinning machine. At the beginning of the 18th century, this technology was introduced to England and was widely used. In 1828, France "invented the common silk-making equipment, which made the silk industry in Lyon brilliant".

Although Italian and French raw silk have never shaken the dominance of Chinese silk in the international market, the series of technical improvements they have carried out are far ahead of China and have had a certain impact on China's silk industry.If the improvement of the Italian silk industry shows that the Chinese silk industry has lagged behind the world's advanced level in production technology, then the rapid rise of the Japanese silk industry shows that the dominance of the Chinese silk industry in the international market has begun to shake.

Japan's silk industry has always been inferior to China's. Before the Meiji Restoration, only a small amount of silkworm eggs and silk were exported. The Japanese government did not pay attention to this. Realizing the status of the silk industry in the national economy, Risi took a series of improvement measures to make Risi start to stand out in the international market. In 1870, the output of Japanese silk was 7000 tons, which was only one-seventh of the output of Chinese silk.Since then, it has grown rapidly. By 1909, the output of Japanese silk reached 135000 tons, surpassing the output of Chinese silk, and leapt to the dominant position in the international raw silk market.This unseen change in thousands of years is a great stimulus to the ancient Chinese silk industry.

Therefore, when Li Mohan came to power in Shandong, he used vigorous development of Shandong's silk industry as a secret wrestling with Japan.But the silk in Shandong is tussah silk, and its texture is far inferior to that of mulberry silk.The south of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which mainly produce mulberry silk, are not under Li Mohan's control. Therefore, although Shandong's silk industry is catching up, it still cannot pose a danger to Japan's raw silk industry.Now, Li Mohan has acquired Anhui Province, which has a solid and good silk foundation, and is determined to turn Anhui's silk industry into a weapon for China to fight back against Japanese economic aggression.

In response to this situation, the State Council brainstormed and made further in-depth plans based on some improvement experience that had already been obtained in the late Qing Dynasty.

The first is to set up a number of sericulture schools or agricultural schools with sericulture, and initially form a sericulture education system. In 1917, the Anhui Provincial Department of Education opened the "Anhui Provincial Women's Sericulture Workshop" on the site of the former Anhui Army Primary School outside the North Gate, setting up two majors of sericulture and silk. This is the first vocational school for women in the history of education in Anhui Province. .After the National Party took over Anhui, it merged the original women's handicraft training institute in Anqing and the Anhui Provincial Women's Sericulture Institute to form the Anhui Provincial Women's Vocational School. The main subject is sericulture.

The second is to optimize silkworm eggs. Silkworm egg production is the first link in the whole silk industry. The quality of silkworm eggs not only determines the harvest of cocoons, but also affects the quality of reeled silk and even the sales of Chinese silk in the international market.For a long time, farmers all over the world have used soil seeds, which often contain more than 90.00% of the viruses.The poor quality of silkworm eggs constitutes a fatal injury to the development of the silk industry.In view of this, the improvement of silkworm eggs became the central issue of the improvement of the early silk industry.In this regard, the State Council specially set up a national silkworm egg research institution, introduced the method invented by the French microbiologist Pasteur, checked the virus with a microscope, and developed more than a thousand improved silkworm eggs, which were quickly obtained after popularization and trial breeding. Obvious effect has been achieved.

The third is large-scale operation. Planting mulberry and sericulture is an ancient industry in China. Due to the scattered management of farmers one by one, sticking to the old law, the production technology has not been improved for a long time. The State Council ordered governments at all levels in Anhui Province to use advanced production methods. Replace backward production methods, even if it is forced to promote.It seems outrageous to promote the progress of social production technology in this way, but the effect is better on the contrary.First, the Chinese people are used to being obedient citizens, and will not rise up unless they have to. Second, technological progress has indeed brought benefits to the local people.

After Anhui has been arranged, Li Mohan still needs to arrange for Henan Province.Henan is located in the Central Plains, and it has been a land of abundance since ancient times. However, the land in the Central Plains has been barren after thousands of years of cultivation, especially the severe damage to the mountains and forests, and the land has obvious signs of desertification. The reason why Henan can become a large grain province in the country in later generations is due to the use of chemical fertilizers. Use, but currently he does not have so many fertilizer resources.Even if there are so many chemical fertilizers, using too much chemical fertilizer will cause problems such as soil compaction.

Therefore, he still had to work hard on crop improvement and mechanized farming. Fortunately, he had already figured out the general countermeasures.Through Rui Enshi's relationship, Li Mohan contacted the Cleveland Consortium in the United States, and planned to promote mechanized cotton planting in Henan.After the Antitrust Act, the Cleveland Consortium was dismembered into several companies. Although there are still internal connections, it is difficult to restore the prosperity in the United States, so they have always wanted to expand overseas markets.Li Mohan's idea is to take the lead of the government and establish a joint venture with Henan Cotton Land Reclamation Company.If such a project can be carried out, Henan can grow the latest drought-resistant cotton in the United States, and the required water source can also be brought in from the canal. Moreover, the terrain there is flat and the wasteland is continuous. Mechanical farming can be promoted, not to mention improving planting efficiency, and it can also drive domestic tractors. and the development of machinery plants.As a result, the domestic cotton and textile industry will reach a new level. The three-factory project in one place alone will add at least [-] jobs to Henan, and it will also drive a series of downstream industries including tractors, garment manufacturing, and medical veils. .It not only solves the problem of employment, but also develops the economy and stimulates the progress of science and technology. It can be said to kill three birds with one stone.

It's just that American capitalists are not so belligerent. The Cleveland consortium means that they will provide drought-resistant cotton seeds and management, while China will provide fields, workers and machinery.In addition, the Cleveland Consortium can also assist in the construction of a cotton spinning mill and a printing and dyeing factory with at least 50 spindles. The additional condition is that the Cleveland Consortium will obtain the priority of the Shandong raw silk transaction.

Li Mohan weighed the pros and cons, and felt that this deal could be done.Domestic raw silk is mainly raw material export, with little additional profit. What’s more, if this agreement is reached, the huge sales network of the Cleveland Consortium can be used to completely occupy the raw silk market in Europe and the United States, thereby suppressing the most important raw silk industry in Japan and further deepening Sino-US relations. Links weaken Japan's power in the Asia-Pacific.Isn't the purpose of vigorously developing the silk industry by myself just to hold back the Japanese?