The cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture were not very enthusiastic about Zuo Menggeng's request to improve the status of craftsmen.
But facing Zuo Mengeng's monopoly on cotton supply, everyone was hesitant.
This matter has been discussed for several days.
Until the Linqing fleet arrived at the Songjiang Prefecture pier, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture were completely convinced.
This time, Linqing's fleet followed Zuo Menggeng's order to transport the first batch of cotton.
A total of 300,000 kilograms of cotton greatly boosted the morale of Songjiang's cotton spinning industry.
Cloth merchants gathered in Xu Mansion one after another, all wanting to get a piece of the pie.
Zuo Mengeng was not polite and gave priority to families close to the Xu Mansion. He also made it clear in public that from now on, those who do not join the Chamber of Commerce will be excluded from the supply list of Shandong cotton.
For a time, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture felt mixed feelings.
Those who were close to the Xu family and decided to join the Chamber of Commerce all received a large amount of cotton raw materials.
And those who think they have the background and strength can only watch.
These people didn't just watch, and immediately sent people north to find the source of the goods.
When they thought about it, Shandong was so big that there were many people growing cotton. As long as they had enough money, they didn't have to worry about not having cotton.
Not to mention, they actually bought cotton.
Unfortunately, what happened next made them dumbfounded.
When the cotton was loaded onto ships and ready to be shipped away, it all got stuck in the canal.
The New Army directly set up blockades on the river to intercept all ships carrying cotton, and no ship was allowed to pass.
No one's background is good, even the Kong family's boat is intact.
The reason is that they are bandits, and they are searching for the remnants of the White Lotus Sect.
The Kong family was furious, and Kong Yinzhu personally went to the governor of Shandong, but Yu Dacheng's handwriting did not work.
Huang Sanhu, who was in charge of blocking the river, pretended to be stupid and said that Zuo Mengeng was going to Jiangnan to get married, and he was not allowed to pass without Zuo Mengeng's order.
The Kong family also wanted to force their way through, but the New Army opened fire on the spot, killing a dozen of them.
The matter became so serious that Yu Dacheng and the Kong family went to the capital one after another to impeach Zuo Menggeng for being arrogant and domineering and ignoring the laws of the country.
The New Army was not polite either. The impeachment memorials of Huang Daozhou and Zhang Jimeng were also sent to the capital.
It was suspected that Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong, was colluding with the Kong family, liaising with the White Lotus Sect, and smuggling embargoed materials.
Another quarrel of words made Chongzhen dizzy and scolded both sides.
It turned out to be useless. The New Army blocked the canal and refused to allow ships carrying cotton to pass through. The rest of the time, the canal was open unimpeded.
Once the army starts to be unreasonable, there will be no solution.
Not only that, the White Lotus Sect rebels who had disappeared from Yanzhou Prefecture came back again and plundered the countryside of Qufu.
The Kong family was so frightened that they closed their doors and guarded the area with great fear, not even bothering to file a lawsuit with the New Army.
At this point, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture fully understood that if they disobeyed Zuo Mengeng, they would lose their business.
For a time, people who chose to join the Chamber of Commerce were like crucian carp crossing the river, accounting for the vast majority of Songjiang's cotton textile industry.
If it's just these, it's not enough to let Zuo Mengeng do whatever he wants.
Among the fleet that came this time, Wang Xiuqin actually came in person.
"Take a look, look, this is new fabric from our garment factory, what's the difference?"
What she took out was a piece of red cotton, which caused all the cloth merchants to exclaim as soon as it appeared.
The people present are all experts. They have been dealing with weaving, printing and dyeing all their lives, so they are particularly sensitive to matters related to fabrics, printing and dyeing.
The red cotton cloth that Wang Xiuqin took out looked ordinary, but the red color was extremely bright, even full of luster.
This is something that most printing and dyeing methods cannot do today.
“This dyeing is truly a work of art!”
"As long as this kind of fabric is sold, it will definitely be snapped up."
The cloth merchants' eyes were all red, like bloodthirsty sharks.
For this color effect, let them kill people, and they can do it.
Looking at Wang Xiuqin next to Zuo Mengeng, many people even had the urge to rob him.
Well, they thought the staining was caused by Wang Xiuqin.
Wang Xiuqin didn't know the psychology of cloth merchants, and even if she knew, she would just sneer at them.
With all these weak guys, she can beat ten of them alone.
"The clothing factory made military flags for the army, but the red color they produced was very ugly, and everyone was very anxious. Later, Chen Shuangjin told me that using soda ash can improve the color of the fabric. We tried it, and the red color turned out was so...
nice."
Thinking of the lunatic who wanted to light a fire in the mercury fulminate factory, Zuo Mengeng couldn't help but smile.
"Then Chen Shuangjin has made great contributions. After he returns, I will praise him well."
What Zuo Menggeng didn't know was that his discovery of using soda ash to enhance the brightness of dyeing came from his daily teachings.
He originally didn't know much about weaving, printing and dyeing, but after the mercury fulminate factory produced soda ash, he casually said: This thing is of great use.
But everyone is extremely convinced of him.
He said that soda ash is of great use, so it must be of great use.
As for its use, just experiment slowly.
Zuo Menggeng has always been encouraging of craftsmanship and scientific research, and he is generous with rewards.
Seeing others getting promotions and making fortunes because of their improved craftsmanship or inventions or discoveries, the people in Zuozhuang became active and imitated them.
Zuo Mengeng said that soda ash is very useful, so many people have nothing to do to experiment with the uses of soda ash.
In the end, Chen Shuangjin discovered that pure gold could help with dyeing, so he asked the clothing factory to produce such a bright red.
The biggest impact on printing and dyeing is water quality.
Only soft water can be used for printing and dyeing, while hard water can only be used for dyeing with reactive dyes, and has little effect on dark colors.
When dyeing cotton products with acid dyes, hard water will not only cause poor color brightness, but also cause discoloration.
In China, the water in the north is mostly hard, while the water in the south has lower hardness.
This is also the reason why most of the printing and dyeing industry is located in the south.
But even with the water quality in the south and today's printing and dyeing technology, it is impossible to dye bright and light colors.
It’s because it lacks the help of soda ash.
Soda ash is not only an effective water softener, but also a high-quality scouring agent, cotton dyeing auxiliary, color paste alkali agent, cleaning agent, color fixing agent, cleaning agent, etc., which runs through almost every link in the printing and dyeing field.
The garment factory tried adding soda ash to printing and dyeing, and the result was a blockbuster, even the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture were conquered.
"Zhongheng, if this magical power can be transferred, I, the Qu family, will ask for it with thousands of dollars."
Qu Yin couldn't hold back at all, so he started looking for technology on the spot and even offered a price of ten thousand gold.
The Qu family is one of the largest printing and dyeing merchants in Songjiang Prefecture, and they know full well what kind of wealth it will bring once they obtain this technology.
"I'll offer you fifty thousand gold."
He is ruthless, and some people are even more ruthless.
Shen Youtian of Zhujie Pavilion directly increased the price five times.
Qu Yin was furious.
"Huh, Zhongheng is my closest relative from the Qu family. Shen Youtian, you can't even think of trying to seduce me with benefits."
Shen Youtian refused to give in.
"When you open the door for business, the one with the highest price gets it. If you threaten family affection, you are not a son of a man."
Seeing that the two of them were about to fight, Zuo Mengeng quickly stopped him.
"You two, it's not like this."
After finally persuading him, Zuo Mengeng asked Wang Xiuqin: "Did you bring the soda ash?"
Wang Xiuqin is indeed attentive.
"I figured it would be needed, so I brought a bucket."
Zuo Mengeng then said to Qu Yin: "I tried it in Shandong before, and it was really good. But how effective it is in Songjiang Prefecture will only be known by on-site testing. I wonder if I can use the Qu family's venue to try printing and dyeing fabrics myself?"
Qu Yin was overjoyed.
"That's it. Let's go, I'll take you there."
Seeing that Zuo Mengeng wanted to use the Qu family's printing and dyeing factory to test new things, everyone else was jealous, but they were helpless.
Unexpectedly, Zuo Mengeng looked over and said, "Seniors, don't you want to take a look?"
Shen Youtian trembled on the spot.
"I'll wait...can I just watch?"
Zuo Mengeng laughed loudly.
"You are all members of the Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce. What new technology is available now? Of course, everyone must be exposed to the rain and dew, so that it does not violate the purpose of the chamber of commerce, right?"
Everyone felt as if they had eaten a fairy fruit and felt comfortable. They did not expect to feel the benefits of joining the Chamber of Commerce so quickly.
Is Zuo Mengeng really so generous that he is not afraid of these people stealing new technologies?
It's just because he knows that even if soda ash is placed in front of these people, there is nothing they can do.
Soda ash is a completely industrial product. If you don't know anything about chemistry and synthesis processes, there is no way to learn it secretly.
But if soda ash is really useful for printing and dyeing, it will be equivalent to finding another stable and rich source of income.
This is a technological monopoly.
He originally wanted to gain a say in the cotton spinning industry by controlling cotton and transportation, but now it seems that he has more technical advantages.
From now on, the Songjiang cotton spinning industry will be completely in his hands.