Transmigrating into a Turbulent Era as a Soldier, Starting with Marrying a Wife

The next day, Li Yuan sent another batch of wine to Qingyuan County.

This time, it brought in over a hundred strings of cash.

Li Yuan decided to begin the hemp weaving workshop project.

There were four things he needed to do.

The first was to acquire the land needed to build the workshop.

The old village chief directly allocated a piece of residential land on the south side of the village to Li Yuan.

The area was very large, enough to accommodate five or six households if calculated according to the village's earthen houses.

The second thing was the looms needed for the workshop.

In Li Yuan's opinion, the looms used in the Great Liang were very rudimentary.

They were roughly equivalent to the level of the slanted weaving machines of the Han Dynasty in his previous life.

Li Yuan had read some books on ancient textile machinery in his previous life.

Moreover, in the old house in his previous life's rural home, there was an improved loom that Li Yuan's maternal grandmother had used.

Back then, he thought the loom was very interesting and had carefully studied its structure, so he could say he knew it inside and out.

This improved loom was much more advanced than the looms currently used in the Great Liang.

Li Yuan decided to recreate that improved loom from his later life.

But the difficulty lay in the manufacturing of the loom.

This improved loom had a relatively complex structure. Although Li Yuan himself knew some carpentry,

if he were to build it alone, it would probably take him more than ten days to build one loom.

To operate the hemp weaving workshop, Li Yuan felt that at least ten improved looms were needed in the first batch.

Obviously, he alone could not produce so many improved looms in the short term.

The only solution was to find other craftsmen to help.

But Li Yuan didn't want the technology of this improved loom to be spread out now.

Li Yuan pondered for a while and felt that the only way was to break the loom into different parts and give them to different craftsmen to manufacture.

Then Li Yuan would assemble them uniformly. Of course, with the craftsmanship of this era, this method would inevitably lead to some manufacturing errors.

However, to keep the secret, this was the only option.

Li Yuan spent a day disassembling the structure of the improved loom and drawing several blueprints.

He also strictly marked the dimensions of the parts.

As for the craftsmen, Li Yuan decided to go to Xihe Fort. He remembered that there were several carpentry workshops in the fort, and he should be able to find enough craftsmen.

The third thing was to go to the garrison yamen in Xihe Fort to obtain a business license for the hemp weaving workshop.

This could be done together when looking for craftsmen.

The last thing was to send someone to purchase ramie. Once the workshop was up and running, the consumption of raw materials would be astonishing.

He didn't want the workshop to stop working due to a lack of raw materials.

The news that Li Yuan was going to build a hemp weaving workshop quickly spread in Dongxiang Village.

People were spreading the word.

Li Yuan offered a reward of ten copper coins a day for those who helped build the workshop, plus a meal.

Almost all the soldiers in the village who had nothing to do came.

Li Yuan handed over the task of supervising the construction of the workshop to Uncle Fu and Liu Heizi.

Uncle Fu was smooth and good at communication, while Liu Heizi was honest and stuck to principles.

Uncle Fu was responsible for organizing manpower, and Liu Heizi was responsible for project acceptance, which could be said to be making the best use of people's talents.

The workshop house that Li Yuan wanted to build was not complicated.

It was just a long house with a higher frame than ordinary houses.

It also had a thatched roof and rammed earth walls, but used more wood for support.

This kind of long house was not difficult to build.

Many people in the village knew how to do it.

As long as the materials were sufficient and there were enough people, the house could be built in ten days.

When the workshop began to build the long house, Li Yuan took Cui Ping to Xihe Fort.

The workshop's business license was easy to obtain. Li Yuan got the business license after paying 300 copper coins.

Then he found craftsmen to build enough looms and spinning wheels.

He and Cui Ping walked through all the carpentry workshops in Xihe Fort.

Finally, they found enough craftsmen to make various parts.

It was agreed that the parts made by each family would be transported to Dongxiang Village in ten days.

After arranging this, Li Yuan sent Cui Ping to purchase ramie in nearby villages.

The price was agreed upon, and it was also required to be sent to Dongxiang Village.

When Li Yuan returned to the village,

he found a lively scene on the workshop's construction site.

People were shuttling back and forth, transporting wood, earthwork, and stones.

The three long houses that Li Yuan wanted to build were growing at a rate visible to the naked eye every day.

Li Yuan even saw many orphans voluntarily come to help on the construction site.

They knew that this hemp weaving workshop was built for them, these orphans.

Grateful, what they could do was help the construction site transport, do odd jobs, and boil water.

They hoped that the workshop would be completed as soon as possible more than anyone else.

Uncle Fu and Liu Heizi, who were responsible for supervision, did not treat these orphans badly.

As long as they came to help, each person was given a meal of millet rice, plus five copper coins in wages.

Later, the elderly and children in the village heard about it and came to help.

Li Yuan still asked Uncle Fu and Liu Heizi to provide them with meals and five copper coins a day.

In this way, with the help of almost the entire village,

the hemp weaving workshop was completed in less than ten days.

There were three long houses in the workshop, the smallest of which was the ramie retting room.

After the ramie was transported, it would first be retted here and then processed into hemp fiber.

The second, largest long house was the workshop's production room.

Li Yuan specially designed larger windows for easy lighting.

The production room was very large, at least enough to accommodate twenty improved looms designed by Li Yuan.

The third room was the warehouse, used to store ramie materials, hemp thread, and hemp cloth.

In the past few days, ramie materials purchased from various villages had been continuously transported to Dongxiang Village.

The ramie waiting to be processed had already filled the warehouse.

On the tenth day, the wooden parts of the spinning wheels and looms that Li Yuan had ordered in Xihe Fort were also sent to the workshop one after another.

Various wooden parts filled the long house.

Looking at these wooden parts, the female workers were a little curious and at a loss.

Li Yuan smiled and said to everyone.

"These are the parts of the loom. Let's work together to assemble the loom."

So, under Li Yuan's guidance, the female workers began to assemble the loom with these parts.

It took a full two hours to laboriously assemble the first improved loom.

Looking at the complex and exquisite loom, the female workers were full of curiosity.

After that, everyone gained experience, and the assembly speed became faster.

After working for two days, Li Yuan and the female workers assembled a total of fifteen spinning wheels and ten improved looms.

Now the warehouse is full of ramie, hemp silk, and hemp thread. There are enough materials and we can start work at any time.

On the first day of the official opening of the hemp weaving workshop, more than twenty orphans from the village came to the hemp weaving workshop early.

When Li Yuan arrived, he found these orphans standing respectfully in front of the door waiting.

Their expressions were even more uneasy and excited than when they knelt at Li Yuan's door a few days ago.

The gate of the workshop opened.

They walked into the workshop in a very orderly manner.

As soon as he entered the door, Li Yuan saw more than twenty orphans kneeling on the ground with a plop and kowtowing to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan quickly supported them with his hands.

"Quickly get up, why are you doing this?"

The leading female workers said.

"Sisters, thank you, Li Langjun, for giving us a livelihood."

"We have nothing to repay, we can only kneel and thank Li Langjun."

"Alas."

Li Yuan sighed.

"Everyone is my neighbor."

"I can't bear to see you starving."

"As long as you work hard in the workshop, I will definitely not let everyone down."

More than twenty orphans were all tearful.

"We sisters will never forget Li Langjun's kindness."