However, the Shen family's bankruptcy was not due to the bad raw silk market, but to the disease of silkworms.
"Last year, the little ones didn't get along with the silkworm breeding and got infected by silkworm disease, so there was no harvest for the whole year." The man frowned, "So we lost everything. I want to ask the master to take him in."
Most silkworm diseases are caused by viruses. The environment where silkworms are raised is closed and the density of silkworms is very high. If cleaning and disinfection are not done well, it is easy for various silkworm diseases to break out. Traditional silkworm farming also has a way to deal with silkworm diseases.
However, there was still a lack of disinfection concepts at that time, so it was not uncommon for outbreaks of silkworm diseases to cause harvest reductions or even no harvests.
Once a large-scale disease occurs, silkworm farmers are in danger of losing all their money.
It seems that sericulture is also a "high risk and high reward" for farmers, and it is not as simple as he thought. Zhao Yingong was interested. Since he wants to do this business, of course he must first inquire as clearly as possible.
Now I asked him to talk about the specific process of raising sericulture, but raising sericulture in rural areas is a women's patent. Girls start learning to raise sericulture from the age of twelve or thirteen. It starts with "protecting the seeds" in the twelfth lunar month and ends with "incubating the seeds" in the spring.
"Standing birds", all the way to the silkworm's "three sleeps", "coming out of the fire", "going up the mountain" and even drying the cocoons and reeling the silk, are all handled by women. Although he knew it, he was afraid that he would not understand what he said or even say it wrong, so he asked his wife to do it.
Let’s talk.
"I have seen you, sir." The woman was pretty and spoke Hangzhou dialect with both northern and southern accents - not very different from modern Hangzhou dialect. Zhao Yingong heard what he heard and immediately said with a smile, "Get up, you
what is it call?"
"Country women don't have names. My maiden name is Wang, Xingsi. Everyone originally called me Wang Siniang. I can call my slave whatever I want." The woman spoke very smartly - the peasant women in Jiangnan not only farmed and raised silkworms, but also often called me slaves.
He has to "go out on the street" to sell food, so his speaking skills are pretty good.
Wang Siniang first talked about the process of raising silkworms. It takes twenty-eight to forty days from the hatching of silkworms to the cocoon. There is a timetable for feeding silkworms, and mulberry must be added in time. It seems that every step can be involved...
He shook his head and allowed himself to be quiet for a while. He briefly figured out a clue before picking up the topic where he left off.
"Where will you sell the silk you reeled out?"
"There are silk shops that specialize in collecting silk. As soon as raw silk comes out, the 'silk customers' who buy raw silk come to the town." Wang Siniang said that the market price of raw silk fluctuates, but ordinary raw silk sells for thirty or forty taels of silver per load all year round.
Above. Since the Wanli Year, raw silk and silk fabrics have been exported in large quantities, and the market for raw silk has continued to rise. Although some years are sluggish, operating the silk industry is still a profitable industry in most years.
"Oh," Zhao Yingong nodded, "you want to talk about the silk industry, you also need to get toothpaste, and there is also a trade office?"
"I heard it's the same. But I usually only meet 'silk guests' who come to the countryside, so I don't know the specific situation."
Wang Siniang said: Some silk shops' "silk customers" also handle money lending. Silkworm farmers can borrow money from them and use raw silk to repay the debt after new silk comes out. The procedure seems simple, but in fact the raw silk valuation is very low when the debt is repaid, and the silkworm farmers suffer a great loss.
When it comes to exploiting silkworm farmers, "silk customers" are no more kind or trustworthy than cocoons. However, once silkworm cocoons are reeled into new silk, there is a time limit. Raw silk will easily turn yellow if left for a long time. If the silk customers deliberately delay the time, they can certainly kill the silkworm farmers.
price, but the selling time left for him after receiving the raw silk is also short. Therefore, it is rare to deliberately delay the price bargaining. Silkworm farmers can get some benefits.
“Where is the raw silk sold by the silk shop finally sold?”
"Most of them are sold to various weaving workshops, and some are also sold to customers from out of town."
“Are there many silks woven locally?”
"Why don't you report back to the master?" Wang Siniang said with a smile, "Not to mention, the Dongfu and Xifu in this city alone, plus the two weaving and dyeing bureaus, produce thousands of pieces of robe material every year. That's not all.
Not counting other items. Taken together, the annual tribute of silk alone is tens of thousands."
The name "East and West" caught his attention. Cai Shi saw the confusion on his face and quickly explained: "It is the Weaving House set up by the imperial court in Hangzhou. It is just east of Puji Bridge. The silks and satins woven there are all for internal use.
." The two dyeing and weaving bureaus are also large government-run workshops with large scales.
Zhao Yingong asked: "Can you weave silk?"
"A slave can't do it. There are only craftsmen who can weave silk and satin. They are not only father and son, but also masters and apprentices. It is not possible for a countryman like a slave to master it."
"You go down first. You will be useful in a few days." Zhao Yingong said and then said to Sun Wangcai: "These children will be sent to Yisi to study together."