"Your Majesty, I wonder if we can open some weaving and spinning workshops in addition to dyeing cloth?"
After everyone discussed for a while, a distinguished nobleman boldly stood up and asked.
This question obviously touched everyone's heart. Almost everyone looked at the high platform and pricked up their ears.
How much money can you make by dyeing cloth? Moreover, the required cloth is still in the hands of the emperor. How much you sell and how much you charge is not the emperor's final say?
At that time, those eunuchs will try their best to do something, and they may lose money in the end, so almost everyone wants to go it alone, spin, weave, and dye together, and spend some money to buy a new spinning machine with His Majesty.
But they have all heard that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River run workshops, spin yarn and weave cloth, and earn as much money every year as those who farm.
"No, I will not sell the new spinning machine, lest the cotton merchants in Jiangnan know about it and imitate it. I advise you and others not to think about weaving for the time being. Opening a dyeing workshop honestly is the right way.
Of course, I will never force this matter, it will be entirely voluntary. If you don’t want to, you can leave now and go back and continue to have nothing.”
Zhu Cixiang refused decisively and sneered in his heart.
These guys are not stupid, and they are good at calculating, but they will not open up weaving and spinning for at least a few years. Firstly, it is indeed to keep it secret, and secondly, they are afraid that they will exploit those military households.
Everyone looked disappointed after hearing this, but no one wanted to get up and leave.
Zhu Cixiang didn't bother them anymore. No matter what he said now, they would definitely have scruples in their hearts and not believe in the royal family. When they taste the benefits in the future, they would naturally follow him wholeheartedly.
So I directly told them the wholesale price and recycling price of the original cloth.
There are two types of cotton cloth, one is coarse cotton, which is thicker and rougher, and the other is fine cotton, which is thinner. That kind of fine cotton cloth is not yet available. It’s not that it can’t be woven, but that it can’t be spun that is fine and even.
Cotton thread.
Each piece of cotton cloth is about four feet long and four feet wide, which means it is more than thirteen meters long and about one meter two wide, which is about the same as a piece of cloth of this era.
A piece of coarse cloth weighs about five kilograms and requires five kilograms and three ounces of pure cotton. Fine cloth weighs about three kilograms and requires more than three kilograms of cotton.
Today, cotton on the market costs about one stone and five taels of silver, which is more expensive than one stone of grain.
But this is the market price. The price purchased from Shandong Uni-President is only three liang and one stone, plus freight, it is only three liang and five yuan.
After all, a pound of cotton is only less than thirty cents, and a piece of cheesecloth is six pounds, and the price of cotton is only one hundred and eighty cents.
A piece of fine cotton cloth only costs about 100 yuan.
Nowadays, a piece of cheesecloth on the market costs four taels of silver, and a piece of fine cotton costs three taels of silver.
In addition, the labor force in this era is not valuable. Even if the spinning, weaving, dyeing and transportation are excluded, the profit is probably more than ten times. This shows how huge profits, how profitable and how crazy those cotton merchants in Jiangnan are.
And these are just the two most common types of cotton, silk and fine quality cotton. The profit may be as high as dozens or even hundreds of times.
This can also explain why most of the fertile fields in Jiangnan have been turned into mulberry fields, and grain must be purchased from Huguang and Jiangxi every year.
After careful consideration, Zhu Cihong gave them the wholesale price of cotton cloth, which was one tael of silver for coarse cloth and nine taels for fine cloth. The recycling price was one tael of silver for coarse cloth and one tael for fine cloth.
They could earn two denarii from dyeing a piece of coarse cloth, and one denarius from dyeing a piece of fine cloth.
The final retail price of coarse cloth in the northern provinces ranges from 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 yuan to 1,000,000,000,000,000 yuan per piece, and in the south, it ranges from 2,000,000 yuan to 2,000,000 yuan per piece.
Fine cloth costs from 1, 23 to 1, 25 qian in the northern provinces, and from 1, 28 to 2 liang per piece in the southern provinces.
Counting the costs of transportation and the royal store, Zhu Cihong actually didn't make much money from dyeing and retailing, and he didn't want to make much money.
Even with spinning and weaving, he didn't plan to make much money. He was satisfied if he could earn just twenty or three cents from a piece of cloth.
In the future, when the efficiency of spinning and weaving improves and people have money, then they will consider making money.
The wholesale price of coarse cloth is one or two 1,000 Wen, and the cost of cotton is 180 Wen. It takes about four days for each person to spin a piece of cloth, which used to take nearly half a month. Zhu Cixiang plans to give 200 Wen to the female spinning workers for one piece of cloth.
The salary is 50 cents per day, one to two or five cents per month.
Giving those weavers a processing fee of 500 Wen for a piece of cloth will only leave 120 Wen. Excluding management and transportation costs, it is really not profitable.
However, the price of cotton is a bit high now. The normal price should be one tael of silver and one stone, and the price of grain is five taels of silver and one stone.
After Zhu Cixiang told the price, everyone was overjoyed after thinking about it.
Almost no one plans to sell the cloth to the royal shop, but prepares to sell it himself.
However, their illusions were soon broken again by Zhu Cixiang, because the royal family would also open a large-scale dyeing and weaving workshop, so it would be impossible for everyone to sell them at high prices.
Although everyone was extremely disappointed, they signed cooperation contracts one after another and planned to open a dyeing and weaving workshop for a while.
After all, I have a relationship with the emperor, and it will be convenient to do other business in the future, and no one will refuse.
The workshops in the industrial zones outside the city will definitely not be sold, but will only be rented. Zhu Cixiang can provide the raw material formulas of the dyeing workshops for free, and they can even send workers to the dyeing workshops to study for a period of time.
After everyone left, Princess Kunxing had been waiting at the entrance of the palace for a long time. She even built a shed and brought dozens of shopkeepers and a large amount of Yuanbao banknotes with her.
Seeing the princess's attitude, everyone did not dare to pretend to be dumbfounded, and obediently lined up to prepare the loan.
"Dong Guo, you are also the Duke of Ming Dynasty after all. With only five hundred taels of silver, how big a dyeing workshop do you plan to open?"
"Then I wonder how much your Highness the Princess thinks the veteran should borrow?" Duke Ding asked cautiously.
"It must be at least tens of thousands taels, which is consistent with the status of a prince!"
"Your Highness the Princess is right. Then I can lend you 50,000 taels."
Duke Ding's face twitched. The money in his family was almost moldy. Where could he need a loan?
But the princess said so, how could he dare not to borrow it?
Your Majesty is very fond of Princess Kunxing, the royal sister, but it is a known fact that if she offends her, how can she go back and say a few bad words in front of His Majesty?
Princess Kunxing was immediately overjoyed. The monthly interest of fifty thousand taels was one thousand five hundred taels, which was like a robbery.
Thinking of this, Princess Kunxing also sighed in her heart. If her father had asked her to open a bank like his brother, why would she have to worry about money all day long?
With the official announcement of the Ding Kingdom, other nobles, landlords, and gentry were reluctant to borrow too little, so they were perfunctory, and in the end they lent out a million taels in total.
After cleaning up, Princess Kunxing did not go to tell Zhu Cixiang the good news, but immediately went to Xiyuan to see Chongzhen.
"My son, I pay my respects to my father."
"No need to be polite, Nao'er, come sit down and see how happy you are. Have you made money again today?" Chongzhen was in a good mood when his daughter came to see him again. Now he can get out of bed and walk, and his complexion looks much better.
"Father, I lent another one million taels today and earned a total of thirty thousand taels of interest."
Princess Kunxing helped him sit down and said with a smile.
"What? Borrowed another one million taels? Who were they borrowed from? You're not forcing me, right?"
Chongzhen was also surprised. At first, he felt that his daughter's public appearance was detrimental to the royal family's reputation, and he scolded her several times. However, Princess Kunxing not only did not get angry, but came to tell him the good news every day.
As time went by, Chongzhen was affected by the fact that his daughter was happy every day. His mood gradually improved, he became relieved, and his condition also improved.
"Father, borrowing money from the bank is a matter of love and my will. How can I force you to do so?" After Princess Kunxing finished speaking, she explained to him the matter of borrowing money today.
Hearing that his son was setting up some kind of weaving and dyeing workshop and attracting a large number of distinguished gentlemen, Chongzhen frowned slightly and asked hastily: "Nao'er, they all lent the money to those military attachés last time.
Have you paid it back?"
"Back to my father, I have paid it back a long time ago. I wish they would not pay it back. It is best to wait for a year or two." Princess Kunxing said with a regretful look on her last face.
Chongzhen's face twitched when he saw his daughter looking like a profiteer. He felt that his previously well-behaved and sensible daughter had been corrupted by that beast. It was really hateful.
However, he still couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked again: "Nao'er, how much money is left in the bank now? How much money have you made in total in the past six months?"
"Back to my father, it's hard to calculate the exact amount. Last month, we calculated that the principal of the bank is still about 10 million taels, which has hardly decreased."
"So for more than half a year, you haven't made a penny?" Chongzhen was a little disappointed, and he was afraid that this would hurt his daughter. He was about to say a few words of comfort, but Princess Kunxing quickly waved her hand and explained.
"Father, you can't calculate like this. Nowadays, banks have spread throughout the north, and at least hundreds of branches have been opened. The monthly salary of the shopkeeper, plus the cost of ink, paper, transportation fees, etc., are very expensive.
So being able to keep your principal without losing much is considered very good.
As for making the bank profitable, the emperor said that we have to wait for another year or two, but I can't wait anymore. Next, the bank plans to provide loans to ordinary people. Although the emperor said that ordinary people should not set too high interest rates,
But there are so many people.”
"Father, please don't be angry if I say something that shouldn't be said. I think you did it the other way around. Instead of borrowing money from those distinguished civil servants, my father should open a bank and lend money to them."
Princess Kunxing said weakly.
Although Chongzhen's face looked a little ugly when he heard this, he was not angry, but fell into deep thought.
He naturally understood the meaning of his daughter's words, that is, he should not have directly asked them to borrow money, but should have extorted high interest rates under the guise of lending them money, turning ten thousand taels into fifteen thousand.