Early the next morning, Chen Qing set out for Xianyang. At this time, there was a world of ice and snow outside Jingzhao City, but people were still coming and going on the official road, and the snow on the ground was trampled into mud. Chen Qing left in a carriage, hundreds of people
Three soldiers guarded the three carriages. The senior officials accompanying Chen Qing were Jiang Yanxian and Zhou Chengdong, the chief of the crafts department. Zhou Chengdong was Zhou Kuan's eldest son and was responsible for managing the weapons depot when he was at Ganquan Fort.
The Wei River has been covered with thick ice. The government has laid a temporary pontoon bridge on the ice and spread straw. This makes it easier for pedestrians to walk across the Wei River. The reason for building a temporary pontoon bridge is not to directly spread a layer of straw on the river.
, this is mainly because there is at least six or seven feet between the river surface and the ground. People cannot get down to the river surface, let alone large vehicles. If there is no ferry, then a pontoon bridge must be built.
The team crossed the Wei River and continued westward along Xianyang Avenue. At noon, the team arrived in Xianyang.
Xianyang County has a population of nearly 200,000. Like several other counties in Jingzhao Prefecture, it is mainly based on handicraft industry. Xianyang is mainly famous for its papermaking and textile industries, and its warehousing is also very developed. The main reason is that the rent in Jingzhao is too expensive.
, a large number of Hu businessmen rented houses and built warehouses in Xianyang.
Chen Qing came today to inspect the third government-run spinning workshop. There are hundreds of weaving workshops in Xianyang County, and the three government workshops occupy the top three.
The third weaving workshop that Chen Qing will inspect today is not the largest, but this workshop is testing new products, spinning cotton.
For a long time, the south has spun and weaved silk, while the north has spun and weaved linen. But a month ago, one hundred thousand kilograms of cotton, also known as kapok, was shipped from Bashu.
This is one of the goods shipped from Quanzhou. It was collected by a businessman from the people of Ryukyu Island at a low price in the past two years. However, at the beginning of the year, this businessman was arrested by the Quanzhou government for smuggling pig iron to Nanyang and was sentenced to
After being sentenced to death, all his goods were confiscated by officials, including two ten thousand stone ships and a large amount of tea, porcelain, and 100,000 catties of cotton. These goods were taken away by Chen Qing and were not transported from Chengdu until half a month ago.
Jingzhao.
Cotton is a luxury product in the north. It is mainly used to fill winter clothes. Each official will receive half a pound of cotton as a benefit every winter. During the Xuanhe period, in Bianliang, Tokyo, a pound of cotton cost more than ten guan. It was the same as duck down.
A luxury product like cashmere.
Chen Qing distributed part of the 100,000 jins of cotton to the officials as welfare, stored the rest, and took out another 1,000 jins for trial spinning.
The reason why the spinning cotton is placed in the third weaving workshop is because this workshop not only spins and weaves cloth, but also weaves a special product, white quilted cloth. White quilted cloth is cotton cloth. Cotton comes from the Persian food, etc.
It was introduced from the land and has been cultivated in Gaochang. The locals used cotton to weave cloth, called Baidie cloth, which was presented to the palace as a tribute as early as the Tang Dynasty.
Chen Qing values kapok more than cotton, because cotton competes with food for land, while kapok does not.
The chief steward of the weaving workshop is called Gu Xin, who is very strong and about fifty years old. He is from Bianliang. He once worked as a steward in a government-run weaving workshop and has rich experience.
Gu Xin welcomed Chen Qing in front of the workshop gate. This was the first time for Chen Qing to come to this weaving workshop. He looked at the workshop and asked, "How many people are there here?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, there are 1,200 people, basically all female workers."
Chen Qing was startled, "There are so many people?"
Gu Xin smiled and said: "It is actually divided into two parts: spinning and weaving, each with six hundred people, and each with a thousand spinning wheels and looms. In fact, I have quite a few here, and the largest one is the first."
There are as many as three thousand people weaving."
"It's me who is ignorant!"
Chen Qing walked to a big house and heard the sound of "click! click! click!" coming from inside. He looked out the window and saw at least a hundred looms placed inside.
There was a little lady who was weaving with her head down intently.
"Are they all local ladies?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
Gu Xin shook his head, "Local ladies like to work as maids for wealthy families in Jingzhao and are not willing to come here to weave. Now the female workers in Xianyang Textile Shop basically come from two places. Before, they were Xixia women, but now they are mostly from Xixia."
Most of them are married, or have gone to other places, and are basically invisible. Then there are the millions of refugees from the Central Plains. They are now the mainstream recruitment in all walks of life. They are more than 90% of the female workers here, and they work in a day.
Five hours, one lunch."
"Then how much can they earn?"
"Well, everyone is different. It depends on the level of proficiency. Some female workers can earn three to four hundred cash a day, and some can only earn seventy or eighty cash. I have calculated that the average is one hundred and fifty cash a day. This income is for a small business.
The wife is already very good, and many people have become the backbone of the family. We have a young lady named Yang here, who is from Ruzhou. Her parents are old, and her brother has served in the Song Army. She has a disabled leg, so the family relies on her to earn a living.
She is one of the most skilled female workers here. She spins white cloth. The threads she spins are very even and the cloth she weaves is very dense. She is only sixteen years old and can earn four hundred cash a day.
She can rest, earn twelve guan a month, and support her family well. She is also planning to buy a yard in Xianyang to support her parents."
Chen Qing knows that the lifespan of the people at the bottom of the class is not long, and they usually only live to be over fifty years old. Even if they are in their forties, it is normal to have an older brother and support his parents at the age of sixteen.
"Where is this little lady named Yang? I would like to see her."
"She is in the new spinning hall where His Highness is going. The villain has mobilized a group of the most capable female workers to spin kapok, and she is one of them. Of course, I will still pay her four hundred cash per day."
Chen Qing said happily: "Let's take a look!"
"Can kapok flowers produce cloth now?" Chen Qing asked again.
Gu Xin smiled bitterly, "If possible, I suggest using Kapok flowers to make bedding and cotton clothes. It would be better to consider fine linen for weaving."
"Why?"
"Spinning thread is too difficult. The wadding is relatively short and difficult to form into thread. It must be twisted into thin thread by hand, which is time-consuming and laborious. Weaving it into cloth is very good, but the price will be very expensive, even similar to silk and satin. It cannot be
universal."
The main reason why Chen Qing wanted to use kapok flowers to make cotton cloth was to find a mid-range fabric between satin and linen. Fine linen was a bit thicker. As for burlap, it could only be made into sacks, not at all.
Clothing material.
Cotton cloth, which was widely promoted during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, was the most suitable, but growing cotton required too much cultivated land, so Chen Qing considered kapok. However, Gu Xin said that the production cost was higher than silk, which made Chen Qing a little hard to accept.
"Is there no way to solve the problem of difficult spinning?" Chen Qing asked in a deep voice.
"I'm currently trying to figure it out, but it's difficult."
Chen Qing's heart suddenly became a little heavy. Industry veterans like Gu Xin said it was difficult, so there was probably little hope. There was a reason why kapok never became popular, and it finally became the world of cotton.
"Let's go take a look first!" Chen Qing's tone was no longer as relaxed as before.
The New Spinning Hall was located at the far end, and while still outside, I heard laughter and even cheers coming from inside.
Gu Xin's face suddenly darkened. He was usually quiet, but now he was making noise at the critical moment.
He coughed heavily, but instead of stopping the laughter inside, someone shouted: "The chief steward is here, tell him to collect the reward quickly!"
Jiang Yanxian quietly smiled at Chen Qing and said, "It seems like there is something good going on."