The Australians suddenly want to enter this industry, and it is impossible without a powerful killer move. Just like when the Australians came to Guangzhou to sell paper, they destroyed the local paper products in one year. No matter the quality or price, the market None of our products can compete with similar products from Australian paper.
I wonder what’s unique about this Australian cloth?
"That nephew has made a fool of himself. Let's talk about this cloth first. This cloth is similar to Songjiang fine cloth, but it is not as refined as the fine Songjiang cloth. It looks a bit loose and not thick enough. This cloth is a bit strange. It feels like cotton on the surface and is curved. It feels not as soft as cotton, and looks stiff and linen-like. I guess it is mixed with cotton and spun something. This is ordinary linen, worse than medium linen. There are a lot of hairs here, and the weaving skills seem to be average. It’s almost the same as farm cloth, but it’s a little different from the weaving mills on the market.” Chen Lin evaluated the cloth samples one by one.
Wu Yijun touched the beard on his chin and said with approval: "My nephew is indeed from a textile family. I can't see any of these connections." Chen Lin is a relative of his mother's family and is also a well-known silk shop in the local area. .He pointed to the yarn on the side and said: "Look at these yarns."
Chen Lin picked up the yarn, put it in his hands and twisted it, then tried to separate the fibers one by one, pulled it a few more times, and said: "This yarn is delicate and tough, it is of the highest quality, and ordinary spinners cannot do it." It would take ten years of skilled hands to spin yarn of such quality."
At this time, many textile workshops integrated spinning and weaving, and the cotton yarn trade was relatively small, so Chen Lin could only take a rough look.
Wu Yijun nodded, expressed satisfaction, and said, "Is my nephew interested in making this thing?"
This time, Chen Lin was confused and asked, "Is it possible that there are skilled craftsmen available?"
Hearing this, Wu Yijun smiled and said: "Haha, no, no, this is what the machine did." Then he explained what he meant, that is, he wanted him to go back and reopen the textile workshop and then transform it. Cotton spinning. The Kun people have better machines that can weave better yarn. If Chen Lin is willing, he can pay for a share and ask the Kun people to introduce equipment and technology. Chen Lin and his village are in Nanhai County and Si At the junction of Guangdong and Huizhou, the Beijiang River flows through the area. It is not only rich in water resources, but also can reach Guangzhou directly down the river. Water transportation is convenient.
"...Looking at what the Australians mean, they want to develop cotton spinning in Guangdong - yes, just going to Nanyang requires a lot of clothes, sails and bedding. This is really a great opportunity to make money!"
Chen Lin was not as excited as his cousin. His family has been making silk for generations and has never been involved in cotton spinning. As the old saying goes, there are two different industries. Sericulture and cotton planting are two completely different industries. The merchants who deal with them are different, and the thresholds are also different. Same thing. Craftsmen can't just turn it around.
If you can't do it, you can't deliver the goods, so what's the use of a big business?
My cousin’s idea was somewhat whimsical. But Chen Lin couldn’t say that, so he said:
"This matter is of great importance. My nephew has to go back to his relatives at home to discuss it before making a decision."
"In this case, you go back to your hometown first and take care of the housework. I read in the newspaper that the four villages have been peaceful, and the rebels and bandits in northern Guangdong have retreated, so there should be no serious problems in terms of safety. After you go back, you can put your family business in order. You can come back to Guangzhou in a few days.
The government has discussed with me that after the chaos, I am afraid that there will be a lot of money to spend, so I have asked the accountant to prepare a hundred silver dollars for you to take home and use."
"How does this make..." Although Chen Lin was moved, he also understood that this unreasonable money was not so easy to get. Besides, Wu Yijun was just his cousin, and it was already a great kindness to take him in, but now he suddenly gave him
I paid a hundred yuan, but I had to weigh it carefully before taking it. So I repeatedly declined, saying "it's too much."
"My dear nephew, you don't have to shirk it. My cousin didn't give me this money for nothing. You need to spend some money to reorganize your family business - even if your cousin borrows it from you. If you are willing to partner with your cousin in the future, this money will be considered as your money."
If you don't want your cousin's share capital, you can return it to your cousin when you have more money."
Speaking of this, Chen Lin couldn't refuse. But he still insisted on writing an IOU to his cousin.
Wu Yijun saw the hesitation in his nephew's heart. This nephew had read some books by saints and sages, and he was a little "dumb". But no matter what, although the Founder gentleman is sometimes pedantic in business, he can be trusted.
The next day, Chen Lin boarded the boat at the Lijia Pier under his arrangement. The boat was a Dan family boat hired by the Wu family all year round. The boatman had also been to the Chen family, so he did not need special instructions. He only said: "Go to Chen's house."
The boatman will know about my uncle’s Nansha Village.
The journey on the road was just as my cousin said: the four villages were peaceful. The villages along the way had set up baojia, built watchtowers and checkpoints in accordance with the requirements of the Australians. Every village and village bravely patrolled and posted sentries day and night, and they were more cautious than before. Think about the time when the government
All this was done with great fanfare to "prepare Kun", but now this "kun" has been taken over and used by himself in a majestic way.
There was no conversation all the way, but it took only three days to return to Nansha Village. There are countless places named Nansha in the Pearl River Delta. The Nansha Village where Chen Lin's family lives is located on a piece of sand deposited by the river.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the ancestors of the Chen family migrated here from Shaoguan and settled on this wasteland that was still a river beach. They worked hard for more than 200 years to accumulate wealth, and expanded their influence through the imperial examinations of their children, gradually becoming Nansha.
The most common surname in the village.
He set foot on the land he had not seen for a long time, and looked at the villages, houses and fields in the distance, and couldn't help but feel heavy. He fled in a hurry. It has been more than a year now, and he doesn't know what is happening to his tribe and fellow villagers. He only knows about the village and his family.
Everything was severely damaged.
He only received the letter from home recently, and the letter was written by an old man in his clan. He escaped when Nansha Village was looted by rebels, and finally found an opportunity to send him a letter.
From the letter, he officially learned of his father's death. On the night of his escape, he saw his father was hit by an arrow and fell from the bridge into the river. He had no hope at first, but when he knew that his father was really dead,
Chen Lin is still devastated - he lost his mother when he was a child, and it was his father who single-handedly raised his brothers and sisters.
The Chen family has a big business. There are thirteen clan gatekeepers in this village alone. With so many branches, there are naturally some rich and poor. Fortunately, the clan property has been accumulated for many years and has accumulated to a considerable number. Even the poorest
Families can also get a stable income and avoid cold and hunger.
Chen Lin's branch does not own many fields and fish ponds. However, because there are many silkworm farmers in the surrounding area, starting from his grandfather, he has set up a silk shop in the village to purchase silkworm cocoons from villagers and use the raw silk to weave silk. The products are also considered
It is quite famous and can be sold to Guangzhou.
His family's workshop has begun to take shape. It has a cooking room, a silk reeling room, a silk weaving room, a calendering room, and it can also dye itself. These workshops are shared by his father's cousins and nephews, and his father is in charge of coordinating all the work.
work in between.
The war swept through the whole village. The rebels looted all the stocks and destroyed a lot of raw silk stocks. Even the houses were set on fire when they ran away. Fortunately, the villagers fought hard to put out the fire and were able to save most of the houses and equipment. But my father
If they die, the craftsmen and workers will either die or disperse, and the silk workshop will not be able to continue to operate.
The letter also urged him to come back as soon as possible to "reorganize the family business" and said that the people in the clan were now in a disordered mood.
I wonder what kind of mess is waiting for him to clean up! Thinking of this, Chen Lin felt a little frustrated.
"Uncle Ninth, we're here!" The person who returned to the village with him was Chen Qing. Although he was only two or three years younger than him, he was Chen Lin's nephew in terms of seniority. The branches were different, and Chen Qing's family was very poor, with more than ten
I have followed this second uncle since I was 19 years old. He is said to be uncle and nephew, but in fact he is master and servant.
The village is much better than he imagined. Although many houses have not been rebuilt and there are ruins everywhere, there are already many temporary small houses. It seems that many people have returned, and there are also people working in the fields outside the village.
After walking a short distance, I heard a woman's voice: "Brother A Lin! Ah Qing! You are back!"
This familiar voice didn't need to be looked at to tell that it was Chen Yue, the daughter of Uncle Chen Lin's second uncle.
As for this second uncle, to be honest, Chen Lin despises him very much. Because this uncle has always been engaged in eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling. If he hadn't been a descendant of the Chen family in Nansha, and the clan would have tried to vindicate him, he would have been beaten to death several times.
The second aunt had been married to him for more than ten years, but she couldn't stand his absurdity. She moved out her parents' brothers to arrest the second uncle, and forced him to write a divorce letter. The two parties divorced. The Chen family patriarch and elders also just pretended to be deaf.
He is dumb and unwilling to fight for his second uncle.
Although he was a rotten person, he gave birth to a daughter who was smart, beautiful, and wise. The elders of the clan were afraid that the rotten father would do something that would be disgraceful to the family, such as giving his daughter to a creditor or pawning it off, so he adopted her to his family.
Chen Lin's father - from a patriarchal perspective, Chen Yue is now his biological sister.
Chen Lin was most worried about this girl. He was afraid that this girl would be harmed during the war. The elders who wrote to him only vaguely said that girls from every family were humiliated, some committed suicide, and some disappeared without a trace.
At this moment, seeing Chen Yue's lively and bright expression, he must be safe and sound. He couldn't help but feel reassured.
After all, this is his only relative.
Chen Yue told him that his home had been destroyed by rebels. It was not that it was burned down, but that the rebels heard that this house was the home of the owner of the silk shop and concluded that there must be treasures buried in the house. After taking away Xinruan, they even knocked down the walls and scattered them everywhere.
After digging, even the roof tiles were uncovered, leaving the Chen family's mansion in a state of devastation.
"...I escaped by hiding in Sister Hua's house. Now I live with her, doing some handiwork together in exchange for rice, living half hungry and half full..."
Gui Hua's surname was Zheng, and she was the wife of a machinist in the Chen family's silk shop. After the machinist's death, she also did some odd jobs in the silk shop to make ends meet. She was quite responsible and reliable. This reassured Chen Lin.