The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The caning in the court is very particular, not to mention forty or fifty canes.

Twenty canes are enough to kill someone.

Therefore, the first thing is to save Zou Yuanbiao from the caning in the court. The skin injury is not a problem. It is enough to teach him a lesson, as long as he does not break his bones.

Feng Bao nodded after hearing this, but he remained silent.

"Next, find a remote and inferior county and let him not come back."

Wei Guangde laughed again.

Hearing this, Feng Bao understood Wei Guangde's thoughts.

Guarantee the person, and also the skin.

After a long pause, Feng Bao said leisurely: 'Shan Dai, your request is not low. '

"Brother Shuanglin, please be generous. The boy is ignorant and not worth mentioning.

Sending him to a remote place to let him reflect well is not a lighter punishment than directly stripping his official position."

Wei Guangde still maintained a forced smile and said.

As long as it is his responsibility, and it has nothing to do with him, even if you beat him to death on the bench, Wei Guangde will not frown.

But he is from Jiangxi, so he has to show his support.

If he does not help, the morale of the team will be scattered in the future, and it will be difficult to lead.

"Okay, that's it.

But in the future, this person should not think about reinstatement."

Feng Bao stood up and said to Wei Guangde before leaving.

Wei Guangde sat there and did not stand up to see him off, but just nodded slightly.

After Feng Bao left, Wei Guangde took out a note that had been written long ago and called Lu Bu.

"Send it to Lord Wei and ask him to make arrangements."

The note that Wei Guangde gave to Wei Shiliang was naturally to ask him to take care of Zou Yuanbiao.

Although it was a superficial injury, it must be treated in time to bear the pain of running around, and it must be eaten and drunk well.

Wei Guangde did not do these things personally, but also let the people behind him see that he had helped his fellow villagers to settle things.

After Lu Bu left with the note, Wei Guangde also stood up, then left the cabinet and headed straight for the imperial city gate.

He was a little annoyed today, and he wanted to go home and rest as soon as possible.

However, when Wei Guangde returned to the mansion today, he saw his wife and a group of female relatives gathered in the main room in the backyard, with many cloths on the table.

"Where did you send the cloth? Why are there so many? Why don't you put them in the warehouse and pile them all here?"

As Wei Guangde spoke, he strode into the house.

"The master is back."

Wei Guangde returned to the mansion earlier during this period, so Xu Jianglan was used to it. She just said a word, but her hand was still stroking the cloth.

Wei Guangde walked over and reached out to touch it, "Hey, this is not cashmere."

Wei Guangde just touched it and felt that it was different from the cashmere at home. When he pinched it again, he felt that the elasticity was much worse.

"This is something sent by the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia. It is said that the sheep are made of wool collected from Mongolia, which can be used to make clothes. The one over there is a blanket."

Xu Jianglan then explained the origin and name of the things.

"Oh, no wonder, can they produce in large quantities?"

Wei Guangde remembered that a few years ago, Wei Guangde had asked his chamber of commerce to use the results of the Longqing Peace Talks to trade with the Mongolians in the north, purchase a large amount of wool from the grasslands, and try to develop the wool textile industry in Daming.

In ancient times, wool was also used to make various cold-resistant items, such as cloth and blankets, but because of the bad relations between the grassland people and the farming people in the interior, there was a shortage of wool, and it had never developed.

And the poor production industry of the grassland people made it even more impossible to develop a large-scale wool textile industry.

So in modern times, the wool textile industry first became popular in Europe, and then became one of the main commodities in international trade at that time.

These days, people pay attention to "food, clothing, housing and transportation", and it makes sense that clothes are put first.

However, with the Longqing Peace Agreement, the resources on the grasslands were constantly traded with the Ming Dynasty through mutual trade. They could only provide cattle and sheep. Even if they had horses, they would not export them in large quantities to the Ming Dynasty, just as the Ming Dynasty restricted the sale of ironware.

The result of these transactions was that the price of beef and mutton in the north fell, and the people could afford it.

However, how much beef and mutton could they eat simply based on their income?

Therefore, the trade between the two sides actually fell into a bottleneck, and it could no longer expand after reaching a certain scale.

The grasslands had a huge demand for grain, salt, tea, etc. from the Ming Dynasty, as well as ironware, but it had always been strictly controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

However, even if the grassland people could not exchange for ironware from the Ming Dynasty, they also needed several other things, especially tea, which could be regarded as hard currency in the hands of the Mongols.

By trading tea with the Ming Dynasty, they could transport the tea to the west, trade with western countries, and obtain the ironware and other materials they needed.

The wool production on the grasslands was too large, and they simply could not digest it all.

The establishment of the Northern Chamber of Commerce was a new chamber of commerce formed by Wei Guangde and the surrounding chambers of commerce, which was responsible for purchasing wool from the grasslands and developing a large-scale wool textile industry.

Only when the grasslands can solve the problem of survival through economic means can the war between the grassland people and the farming people for survival be avoided.

When the Mongols got used to herding sheep and collecting wool in exchange for daily necessities, they would naturally put down their butcher knives and develop peacefully.

For the Ming Dynasty, the huge military threat from the north could be fundamentally resolved.

Not to mention that the strength of the grasslands in the late Ming Dynasty had been greatly weakened, especially after the friction between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, the military strength was sharply reduced.

The current Jurchens in Liaodong can only be bullied by the grassland people, and they pose no threat to the Mongols.

Wei Guangde looked at the other cloths and woolen blankets sent, nodded and smiled: "This thing is still not as warm as cashmere, that thing is too expensive, but this woolen fabric is cheap and large in quantity."

In fact, for ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty, they probably can't afford woolen products, that is, they buy some cotton to make cotton clothes to get by.

Woolen fabrics can only be enjoyed by people with a little wealth.

But at least, many wealthy families who can't afford cashmere can still buy woolen fabrics for the winter.

Collecting wool is like getting a haircut, shaving it all with scissors, and then taking it off completely, commonly known as shearing wool. Each sheep can produce several kilograms of wool every year.

Cashmere grows at the root of the goat's coarse hair and falls off naturally, so every spring when the hair falls off, herders will use a special iron comb to grab it bit by bit like combing their hair, which is called raw cashmere.

But only a few dozen grams of cashmere can be harvested from each goat every year, so it is not an exaggeration to regard cashmere as a "luxury".

The basic technical principles and standards of cashmere processing and production in the Ming Dynasty are actually not much different from those in later generations. The same method of combing cashmere is used, and then it is processed into thread, and then spun with a special spinning machine.

Wei Guangde put down the wool fabric in his hand and shouted to the outside: "Ask Zhang Ji to come and see me."

"Master, what have you thought of?"

No one knows a husband better than his wife. Wei Guangde looked at these wool fabrics and immediately called Zhang Ji. He must have thought of something.

"Haha, I did think of something.

The Ministry of Revenue also said that it had received a request from the Internal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau for money, saying that it planned to send people to Lanzhou to buy velvet to embroider a dragon robe for your majesty."

"Ah?"

When Wei Guangde finished speaking, Xu Jianglan opened her mouth in surprise.

At this time, velvet was extremely expensive. To purchase and make a dragon robe, hundreds of taels of silver might not be enough, not to mention the labor of the Internal Weaving Bureau.

It takes at least two years to complete a dragon robe from material purchase to finished product, and this is still a relatively simple crown.

If it is a robe that the emperor needs to wear at a grand ceremony, even if it takes ten years, it may not be able to produce one.

There are hundreds of people in the Internal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau who are responsible for making dragon robes alone, which is why the palace has been keeping thousands or even tens of thousands of people for a long time.

The so-called dragon robes we see in later generations, although the styles look similar, are all printed and dyed.

The real dragon robes are all embroidered by the embroiderers.

The shoulders of the black robes are woven with sun, moon and dragon patterns, the back is woven with stars and mountains, the sleeves are woven with fire, Huachong and Zongyi patterns, and the collar, hem, hem and hem are all natural colors.

The skirt is woven with two patterns of algae, pink rice, fu and fu, three in the front and four in the back, with pleats at the waist, and the embroidery and brown are all natural colors. The front and back below the waist are not sewn.

The middle single is made of plain yarn, with a blue collar, hem and hem, and 13 fu patterns on the collar. The knee-covering is the same color as the skirt, with two patterns of algae, pink rice, fu and fu, and natural color edges.

There are also six-color large and small ribbons in yellow, white, red, black, blue and green, jade hooks, jade pendants, gold hooks, jade rings and red socks and shoes.

Although each dragon robe has different styles, the standards are the same, and the above contents must not be missing, only the appearance and color are different.

If there is a special meaning, such as being worn on the emperor's birthday, there will often be countless "longevity" characters as patterns on the dragon rune, or bats or ruyi, etc.

The internal weaving and dyeing bureau asked the Ministry of Revenue for silver to make dragon robes, which is not a small amount. Just a blue velvet dragon robe may cost thousands of taels of silver.

After all, the silk and gold threads embroidered on it are simply "luxurious".

But even this expense, Wei Guangde could not submit a petition to waive.

After all, it is to make dragon robes. It is impossible to let the emperor wear a dirty dragon robe and let someone wash it. There is no such rule.

Dragon robes are not washed. It is not that they cannot be "washed", but "changed".

In fact, the early dragon robes, that is, in the Qin and Han dynasties, were made of silk and linen, and theoretically they could be washed with water.

But on the one hand, it is easy to shrink after washing, and on the other hand, the emperor rarely wears the dragon robe, so he does not wash it and directly replaces it with a new one.

It turns out that the dragon robes of the Qin and Han dynasties were not used for daily wear by the emperor. Only on important occasions such as ancestor worship and other major state affairs, the emperors wore dragon robes to show their status.

Usually, the emperor wore casual clothes.

The dragon robes of the Ming Dynasty reached their peak. Regarding the materials used for dragon robes, "Heavenly Creations" recorded in detail the production process of dragon robes in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor's dragon robe must be made of the best silk in the country.

This time, the internal weaving and dyeing bureau wanted blue velvet for a similar reason. Everything must be made of the best materials.

As for "changing", it is actually to clean the stains on the dragon robe.

This was taken into consideration when the dragon robe was made. The palace people wove the dragon robe in sections at the beginning and then closed it.

When a certain area of ​​the dragon robe was stained, the skilled craftsmen would dismantle the stained area separately and use a brand new part to patch up the old part. This repair technique was so skilled that no trace could be seen. Of course, the effort spent on this was unimaginable.

In this way, the emperor's dragon robe was "washed", so the emperor's dragon robe was definitely not what some people said, that it was not worn once or when it got dirty, and was put aside.

In fact, even if it cannot be repaired, that is, if the spare materials for production are gone, the new one will have color differences, causing it to look unsightly and lose its solemnity. At that time, the dragon robes will be treated separately according to their preciousness and significance. .

The dragon robes worn during special ceremonies will be preserved and later buried in the underground palace as the emperor's funerary objects.

Ordinary dragon robes will be burned with a fire and will not remain in the world.

"Master, you don't think so."

At this time, Xu Jianglan had guessed what Wei Guangde was thinking and said hesitantly.

"Um."

Wei Guangde nodded and said with a smile: "I plan to ask Zhang Ji to inform the Northern Chamber of Commerce and ask them to carefully weave a batch of woolen cloth and send it to the palace for trial.

If the Queen Mother and Your Majesty like it, the palace can naturally buy woolen clothes to make warm clothes.

Of course, I won’t say another word ‘no’ to the purchase of blue velvet. After all, the things in the palace must be the best.

It's ordinary clothing, I think it can be replaced by woolen fabrics. "

Having said this, Wei Guangde looked at his wife and continued: "You can arrange for someone to make a pair of these materials as soon as possible. I will wear them when the weather gets cold.

When the time comes for you to go out to the backyard party, don’t forget that this is a perfect opportunity to promote this product. "

Letting the royal family wear woolen fabrics will definitely have a positive impact on the nobles in the capital.

As for him, he will dress the ministers in the court. It can be said that everything is for the sake of making money.

As long as everyone in the palace and yamen wears woolen fabrics, then even if this thing is completely established in the Ming Dynasty, private businessmen and wealthy people will naturally follow suit.

The price of cashmere is more than ten times that of sheep. It is not common even among noble families, let alone ordinary people.

"This matter has been in operation for several years, and it's finally time to bear fruit. You have to do it well and make back the money you invested in multiples."

Having said this, Wei Guangde felt better.

Just then, Zhang Ji came over.

He had just welcomed Wei Guangde into the house and had just returned to the front, which was not far from the backyard, so he arrived so quickly.

Wei Guangde told Zhang Ji what he meant, and Zhang Ji was responsible for handling these external affairs.

"Yes, sir, I will arrange for Song Hui to contact the Northern Trading Company when I get down to make a batch of refined woolen products."

Zhang Ji immediately agreed.

"Tell me when the things are ready, and I will contact the palace to send them in."

After Zhang Ji left, Wei Guangde picked up the woolen cloth again and said with a smile: "Prepare a batch for my family in Jiangxi. The boss will leave Beijing and go south next month, so I can bring it back."

"I understand, sir."

These wool fabrics are much softer than those made by folk in the past, and they are very comfortable against the skin without feeling rough at all.

"Maybe, this thing can be sold to Mongolia."

Thinking of the gifts Mongolia had sent to his family before, Wei Guangde couldn't help but pondered again. (End of chapter)