When Wu Huaiyu heard the results,

Still in Miyuan.

Taking advantage of the fine weather, thousands of acres of cotton in Wujia Sanyuan are busy picking. The newly picked cotton has to be dried in the weather. Bags of cotton are spread out to ventilate and dissipate moisture.

The ground was covered with white cotton, as if heavy snow had fallen from the sky.

The Wu family's cotton processing workshop has started work.

The first process is to remove cotton seeds. At this time, Gaochang people still picked cotton seeds by hand, which was laborious, time-consuming and inefficient.

Fan Yanglu's cotton cultivation in Hebei Province has developed a rolling method, which uses an iron rod and a pallet. During operation, the seed cotton is placed on the pallet, and the iron rod is used to gin and roll the cotton. Compared with pure manual labor, this method

Picking seeds is more efficient.

The Wu family has previously developed the hand-crank type, which is actually an upgraded version of the rushing rubbing method. It mainly consists of two rotating rods with different thicknesses, which are connected to the rockers respectively. During operation, two people rock the rockers and one feeds the seed cotton, which greatly improves the efficiency.

But in Wu Huaiyu's view, the efficiency was still low. With a heavy reward, the craftsmen first improved it to a pedal-operated truck, and then developed a truck mixer.

And upgrade to the Jurong style and Taicang style. One person in the Jurong style can serve as three people, and two people in the Taicang style can serve as eight people. The efficiency is doubled.

The first problem in cotton spinning processing has been solved.

At this time, in the Wujia Yuanbao,

There are rows of newly manufactured mixers. These are all foot-operated mixers, which are extremely efficient compared to hand-operated mixers or hand-operated rollers.

The cotton of the Gaochang people is only seven cents per catty for the best quality cotton, while the top quality cotton cloth costs one thousand eight hundred cents per piece. Cotton worth twenty-one cents can be woven into a piece of cloth worth one thousand eight hundred cents.

The most important thing is that all aspects of processing are costly and slow, especially seed removal, which requires manual peeling of cotton seeds. Not much can be peeled out in one day. This process severely limits the textile processing of cotton cloth.

But after several years of investment by Wu Huaiyu, the Wu family went from the basic iron rod rubbing method to the hand-operated roller, then to the foot-operated roller, to the hand-operated mixer, then to the foot-operated mixer, and even upgraded to the Taicang style.

,

Efficiency improved by dozens of times.

Huaiyu led a group of women from the Wu family in the seed-removal truck mixer workshop of Xingongfang. He watched the hired villagers nearby bring in packages of freshly dried seed cotton, each with a mixer truck, and sat there.

While pedaling the car, put the seed cotton evenly into it.

When the truck is used to gin cotton, the cotton seeds in the cotton are stripped out.

“The peel was so clean,”

The foreman of the workshop is very fond of these new mixers. This mixer looks very simple. It seems to be made of just a few pieces of wood and iron. It is not very big, but when the pedal is moved, it can move many things.

Pause for ginning and deseeding.

Workers can operate it after simple training.

Turn the crank with your right hand, step on the pedal with your left foot, add seed cotton with your left hand, and press the lower shaft against each other. The cotton is brought to the front of the car and the cotton seeds fall behind the car.

"Collect these cotton seeds, don't waste them."

Cottonseed is also a good thing. It can be used to extract cottonseed oil. The extracted oil is edible, but it is said that long-term consumption may cause infertility, so Wu Huaiyu plans to extract the oil from the cottonseed and use it to make soap.

In fact, if you are really evil, you can sell it as cooking oil, just use the sludge to make soap, or make lamp oil.

However, Wu Huaiyu felt that this kind of shady money should not be made. Eating too much can make people infertile. This is really an immoral thing that will lead to a son without skin.

It is also very useful for making soap.

"Alang, after the dried seed cotton is deseeded in this ginning workshop, the cotton will be sent to the next ginning workshop, and the cotton seeds will be sent to the oil pressing workshop."

The women of the Wu family are very curious about the cotton and the villagers ginning the cotton.

Women in this era were basically good at weaving and tailoring, but most people had never seen cotton fabrics. The women of the Wu family were familiar with the luxury cotton fabrics from Chang'an, and they were quite comfortable to wear.

But I have never seen this process before.

Compared with silk and linen, which also need to be degummed, cotton does not need this process, but the seeds are removed.

The cotton that has just been seeded is not soft enough yet, so it needs to be loosened with a big bow.

The slingshots in the Wu family's slingshot workshop are also newly developed by the Wu family. They are four-foot-long large wooden bows with ropes attached. They are much faster than those small slingshots.

The deseeded cotton was spread out, and men hired from nearby villages fixed a four-foot-long bow on their backs and a wooden hammer in each hand.

Holding the mallet in the right hand and the bow in the left hand,

The vibration of the big bow string is used to make the cotton looser and softer. Compared with the previous ginning and seeding workshop, which was mostly filled with women, this flower playing workshop is only filled with men.

Because this is a very laborious job, with a big bow tied to the body and beating constantly.

The cotton that has been fluffed can enter the next workshop and enter the spinning process. Of course, some cotton will enter another quilt workshop and be directly made into quilts after being fluffed here.

Spread the loose cotton, and then use gauze on both sides of the cotton batting to form a mesh and fix it vertically and horizontally. After the gauze is in place, use a wooden disc to grind it to make it flat and firm.

At this time, it becomes a good bed of cotton wool. When you sew a quilt cover on it, it becomes a soft and soft quilt.

Fan Xuanfu and the others were astonished as they watched the cotton change from seed cotton with seeds, to lint, then to cotton wool, and then to quilts.

“It feels so soft and warm,”

"This quilt is also beautiful. It's red and has mandarin ducks printed on it. It's really festive."

"This quilt uses ten pounds of cotton, so of course it's warm."

One pound of cotton costs seventy cents, and ten pounds of cotton costs seventy cents. It has also been ginned, quilted, and quilted.

Then this quilt is not cheap.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said, "This is a quilt. It is as high-end as fur. It is even a luxury product."

The nobles had firewalls, heaters, and even furs for the winter. Some of their quilts were stuffed with silk batting, some were stuffed with wool, or even down. They didn't have to worry about being cold or too cold. Young maids could also be arranged to warm the beds and feet.

But the poor have a hard time in winter, and even the fuel expenses are more difficult. As for the quilt, there is straw to stuff it with, and there is no straw to stuff it with reed flowers. It can be stuffed with whatever rags can be used, and several people can hug each other to keep warm.

It is common for people to freeze to death in winter.

At this stage, the Wu family's quilts are bound to be high-end or even luxury goods like cotton. Because the quantity has not yet increased, the price will naturally not go down.

This newly spun quilt is so fluffy and warm, it's really no worse than any other wool quilt.

In Gao Yanzhi's words, it feels like being in the clouds.

"I asked you to play several beds here for each of you. One mattress and two bed covers. One thin and one thick quilt. You can change it in autumn and winter. This quilt is warm and comfortable. It can be used again after a few years."

"I didn't expect this cotton to be so good. Hemp and kudzu are not so magical. They can be spun and made into quilts."

"But that's not all. You can also make cotton-padded clothes and cotton-padded shoes. You can fill the fabric with these cotton battings to make them as thick or as thin as you want. You can wear them in spring and winter, and you won't be afraid of the cold."

In addition to spinning cotton cloth, the cotton harvested by the Wu family this year will also be used to make quilts, cotton shoes, cotton jackets, etc. This is a huge new market.

Although the Lu family, Li family and others have now expanded a lot of cotton planting area, they do not have the advanced textile, jacquard, printing and dyeing technologies of the Wu family, and they have not mastered the first ginning and stretch pattern technology.

I walked around various workshops, and they were all busy producing.

The cotton fields on the plateau were still busy picking, and at the rear Wubao started busy processing. From the fields to the workshops, there were nearby villagers hired by the Wu family, including men, women, old and young.

Wu Huaiyu asked the stewards about their wages.

Mainly based on piecework, picking cotton is based on acres, ginning is based on kilograms, cotton bombing is also based on kilograms, textile jacquard printing and dyeing are based on pieces, and the later processes are more complicated and the wages are higher.

The Wu family has more advanced spinning wheels and looms, and will hire some girls and women to work in textile factories, with food and accommodation provided, and piece-rate wages. This kind of production is more efficient and the quality is more guaranteed. Especially in the fields of jacquard, printing and dyeing.

On high-end fabrics.

The other model is outsourcing, giving materials to nearby women, and they weave at home. This efficiency is definitely much slower. After all, home textile machines are inevitably backward, and it is difficult to guarantee better quality.

But many women have to take care of their families after all, so they use their free time to do textile processing and do more or less to supplement their family income.

For many families who have lost their land, they have no conditions to grow mulberry or hemp. They can only use the little land to grow mulberry and hemp to raise silkworms, or directly buy other people's mulberry leaves to raise silkworms, or directly replace them.

Others process textiles.

The Wu family has planted a lot of cotton this year, so picking cotton, ginning cotton, stretching cotton, spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing and many other processes require a lot of labor, which can provide many opportunities to make money at once.

"For the female workers trained in our textile workshop, skilled workers can earn four to five taels per day of spinning and one horse for each day of weaving. If they are skilled and diligent and take early night rest, they can earn forty-five taels per month."

The manager reported on the efficiency of the female textile workers in the Wu family's workshop.

The outstanding ones are indeed very powerful,

However, if you take an early night rest, it may be a blessing, which is the maximum limit.

"Basic wages are calculated based on four taels of spinning per day and one bolt of weaving per day. If you can spin four taels per day or weave one bolt of fabric per day, you will be guaranteed to have good wages in one month. The more you can weave, the more you will be rewarded.

However, it is best not to work for more than five hours a day.

We are not allowed to deduct wages at will. Everyone is working very hard, so we must ensure at least three meals a day."

Whether it is ginning or elastic, or weaving, printing and dyeing, etc., it is all very hard work. Wu Huaiyu hires his neighbors and is willing to let everyone get the corresponding hard-earned money.

What's more, the current cotton textile industry is a high-end and huge profit industry. The Wu family has made a lot of money, so it is also appropriate for the neighbors who follow the work to have some soup.

"It's going to get cold soon. I'll save half of the first batch of cotton cloths, cotton clothes, quilts, and cotton shoes. I want to give them away."

The Wu family has added a new specialty, sugar, loose tea, white wine, fire salt, soap, etc. This cotton quilt will also be very popular.

The emperor, queen, and prince must be sent first,

Then Qin Qiong, Li Jing, Warrior Xun, Warrior Leng, Cheng Yaojin, Fan Xing, Qiu He, Duan Decao, Niu Jinda, Yang Gongren and others are naturally indispensable.
To be continued...