Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Xiyuan, Tingchao Pavilion.

The waves in the afternoon are sparkling, and sometimes small fish jump out of the water, and the blue sky and white clouds are reflected on the lake.

Chen Zheng, who was wearing a third-grade official uniform, was standing next to the royal 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 General Liu Jin brought the people over, he 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 are puzzled and don't understand why His Majesty hasn't taken action yet.

One moment, one moment, one moment!

As far as the eye can see, the buoy is just pulling slightly, pulling on the heartstrings of the four people.

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

Zhu Youtang was addicted to this game of battle of wits and courage with the fish. He saw that the fish was just teasing the bait, but he was not in a hurry to take action.

Since he is increasingly dissatisfied with "small fish and shrimps", the lines he chooses are obviously longer.

"coming!"

When Zhu Youtang saw the buoy sink suddenly, he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. The fish finally caught the fish, so he grabbed the fishing rod with both hands and prepared to lift it.

But the fishing line stretched straight in an instant, and the fish suddenly fled towards the center of the lake. A strong force was transmitted through the fishing line, causing Zhu Youtang's adrenaline to surge.

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

"Big fish?" Chen Zheng said with a burst of joy when he saw such a straight line.

"Your Majesty, be careful!" Although Liu Jin knew that a big fish was coming, he always kept his sacred mission firmly in mind and reminded him worriedly.

Han Niu, the eunuch in charge of the Weiyang camp, and Feng Ma, the eunuch in charge of the Weizhen camp, saw Zhu Youtang struggling with Yu'er. At this moment, they wanted to step forward to help, but they were afraid that they would be punished by Zhu Youtang. For a moment, they dilemma.

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

Boom!

Zhu Youtang tightly held the golden nanmu fishing rod in his hand and wrestled with the big fish in the water. However, after 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 rebounded straight, 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 situation. He just felt as if he had caught a cow. He felt a sense of intimacy that he had not seen for a long time, but also felt a deep regret.

If he could catch the big fish just now, he would not only refresh his record, but he would probably be one of the few fishermen in the Ming Dynasty who could catch such a big fish.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?" Liu Jin asked very worriedly when he saw that Zhu Youtang almost fell back.

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

Even if you have 700 acres of water to yourself, even if there are countless big fish in these 700 acres of water, the endurance of the fishing line has already determined the upper limit of the fisherman.

If he wants to catch a big fish with a pulling force of 200 kilograms with a fishing line that can only bear a pulling force of 100 kilograms, even if he is a high-ranking emperor, it is undoubtedly still a fantasy.

Zhu Youtang put down the fishing rod with a look of disappointment, and said calmly: "I'm fine! I'm not happy, I won't be fishing today, just put everything away!"

Liu Jin was afraid that Zhu Youtang would vent his anger on himself, so he hurriedly stepped forward to take the broken fishing rod, and then moved to remove all the fishing gear.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!" Zhang Zheng immediately knelt down and admitted his mistake when he saw Zhu Youtang turning around.

Zhu Youtang was in a depressed mood, and couldn't help being slightly stunned and said: "Chen Qing, what are you guilty of?"

"The broken fishing line must have been caused by the ineffective supervision of the Ministry of Industry. I am willing to rebuild a fishing line that will not be broken for your majesty!" Chen Zheng, with loyalty in his bones, said immediately.

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

"I... I don't know how to fish, but I understand that 'I feed the emperor's salary and share his worries'. Therefore, I am willing to personally supervise the construction of a good line for Your Majesty. I will never allow the craftsmen to cut corners and prevent today's disappointing incident from happening again!" Chen Zheng shook his head gently and still expressed his stance loyally.

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

This is actually a very real problem. If Jiuqing Tingtui, the civil servant group, is still in power, whoever dares to challenge the emperor will get more applause, and naturally more officials will dare to speak out.

Why did officials such as Xu Pu and Ma Wensheng strongly recommend Wang Shu earlier? Wang Nu actually had no outstanding political achievements in the decades he served as an official. His biggest characteristic was that he repeatedly gave advice, which finally annoyed the Emperor Chenghua and ordered him to retire. .

Zhu Youtang didn't know whether the left minister of the Ministry of Industry in front of him was sincere or fake, but he still reached out and patted Chen Zheng on the shoulder and said: "Your Majesty, you have worked so hard!"

"It's an honor for me to serve your Majesty!" Chen Zheng said with no idea that he had taken on an almost impossible job, and seemed flattered.

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

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

There was a new loom placed in the open space over there, and the two craftsmen had checked that it was not damaged. When they saw Zhu Youtang, they knelt down to welcome it.

Since the loom built by the Ministry of Industry uses better wood, the loom is heavier, but the overall shape is not much different from an ordinary loom. The biggest difference is that there is an extra shuttle that jumps. .

As a skilled female weaver demonstrated, the new loom began to operate, and the beating shuttle was particularly eye-catching.

"She knits so fast!"

"It's not that she weaves fast, it's that this loom doesn't require pounding the thread!"

"The width of the loom is doubled, so that the length of cloth can be made shorter!"

…

Many of the palace maids who were watching knew how to weave. Now that they saw the female weaver in front of them demonstrating here, they couldn't help but marvel.

Zhu Youtang came to the shuttle loom and focused on the beating shuttle. When he saw the results driven by himself, the corners of his mouth could not help but raise slightly.

After his personal design, Chen, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, was responsible for supervising the production. The technical difficulties of the special spring were overcome, and the flying shuttle loom was finally born.

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

Originally, the interlacing of longitude and latitude required stopping, but now the shuttle can complete the crossing extremely quickly. Since one manpower is saved and there is no need to interrupt fiddling with the yarn, the production efficiency is greatly improved.

In addition to raw materials, the biggest cost of a piece of cotton cloth is actually the weaver's time cost.

The price of cotton cloth in the Ming Dynasty remained high, largely due not to the high cost of cotton, but to the high labor cost of a female weaver. High-quality cotton cloth was even more expensive.

If a Jiangnan female weaver's salary is one tael of silver, but she can only weave two pieces of cloth a month, even if the raw material cotton does not cost money, the selling price of each piece of cloth must be at least five yuan to recover the cost.

If there is a loom that can increase the efficiency of this Jiangnan female weaver tenfold and allow her to weave twenty pieces of cloth a month, then the price of each piece of cloth can be recovered for five cents, and it can be sold for five cents. You can get considerable profits.

Don't underestimate the innovation of loom technology. The reason why Songjiang Prefecture has become the largest cotton weaving center in the Ming Dynasty is actually due to one person - Huang Daopo.

Huang Daopo was born into a poor family and lived in Yazhou, Qiongzhou Prefecture, Guangdong when he was young. He learned the technique of using tools to weave Yazhou quilts from the Li people. He returned to his hometown during the Yuanzhen period of the Yuan Dynasty and lived in Wunijing Town, east of Songjiang Prefecture.

She began to teach people how to make cotton in Wunijing Town, teaching and promoting textile technologies such as cotton gin, cotton slingshot, 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 flying shuttle loom is naturally superior to the looms promoted by Huang Daopo and the traditional looms. The production efficiency is increased several times. It can be said that it is completely crushed.

As long as shuttle looms are promoted nationwide, the production efficiency of cotton cloth will be greatly improved, and the production cost of cotton cloth will be greatly reduced.

Of course, this technology is not limited to cotton, but can be directly applied to silk textiles, which can also reduce the cost of silk textiles.

It's just that it's easier to get cotton into people's homes, but it's harder to get silk into people's homes. This is actually determined by the raw materials of silk.

Since a person's energy is limited, raising silkworms and spinning silk is a very delicate and labor-intensive job. It may be within your ability to ask a silkworm farmer to raise a hundred pounds of raw silk, but if you ask a silkworm farmer to increase the output tenfold, you are simply trying to force her to death.

On the other hand, in cotton cloth cultivation, the yield of one acre of cotton is several hundred kilograms; if one hundred acres of cotton is planted, the yield is tens of thousands of kilograms; and if one acre of cotton is planted, the yield is hundreds of thousands of kilograms.

Because raw silk requires expensive labor costs, and the production of raw silk cannot be increased at will, 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 understood economics better than anyone else. Out of consideration for the interests of the entire country, cotton is the best way to revitalize China.

Seeing the smooth launch of the shuttle loom, Zhu Youtang planned to take the first step in building a world textile center: "The Ministry of Industry immediately added a loom factory, and each shuttle loom will be equipped with two or two shuttle looms." It is sold to the outside world, but the shuttle is not allowed to be pried open, and the shuttle loom is not allowed to be sold abroad. If it breaks down, it will be repaired by specialized personnel!"

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

"Your Majesty, I have produced two thousand looms in advance according to your instructions. They only need to be equipped with shuttles for use!" Chen Zheng received the order and then reported.

Huh?

When Liu Jin learned that there was such a weird thing, he couldn't help but cast a strange look at Zhu Youtang.

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

"I accept the decree!" Chen Zheng did not expect that a royal textile factory would suddenly appear, but he did not dare to ask more questions and immediately said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the shuttle loom with satisfaction and rewarded the craftsmen and the weaver girl.

The so-called art of controlling others is actually to make rewards and punishments clear. If you want more people to do things for you, you undoubtedly need to be more generous.

The craftsman and the Weaver Girl never expected to receive the reward, so they looked flattered and knelt down to receive the reward.

Zhu Youtang chose to keep this shuttle loom as a warning to himself.

His original plan was for Wu Xun to enjoy the dividends of the cotton industry, but this group of Wu Xun had no business acumen at all, and they were a bunch of adou who couldn't afford to support him.

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

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

As a place of residence, the city of Beijing is actually sufficient. At least the house I live in is comfortable, but if you want to develop industrial land, you really can only develop outside the city.

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

As for the issue of security, not to mention that his Beijing army is no longer a decoration. Now that Princess Ixi is in his hands, the security of the capital is undoubtedly greatly guaranteed.

The next day, the Royal Textile Factory began recruiting, and the salary offered was one tael of silver.

In this era, a woman's livelihood is not easy, and perhaps there will be no adopted daughter from Yangzhou to teach Qu. Nowadays, female employees of the Royal Textile Factory are paid one tael a month for food and accommodation. This kind of benefit is also rare in the capital.

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

"Don't ask too much, the ones in charge are eunuchs and a female official who has just left the palace!"

"Anyway, being able to apply for the job is just a matter of ancestors, so just perform well!"

…

As the news of the recruitment of the Royal Textile Factory spread, women from all over the capital came in droves, hoping to seize this good job that fell from the sky.

Although there are several workshops in the capital that recruit female workers, they usually only recruit their own workers, and the treatment is naturally different.

Of course, due to this time limit, only the royal family dared to build a weaving workshop of this scale. Ordinary businessmen simply did not have the courage.

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

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

Just to produce 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth before the official opening of the market on Sanzhi Island, the workload was actually a bit heavy, so the Royal Textile Factory went into a rush state as soon as it was established.

Although Zhu Youtang attached great importance to the development of the cotton industry, he was still the Ming emperor who controlled the two capitals and thirteen provinces. As a result, matters in the north had not been properly handled, and problems occurred frequently in the south.