As soon as the merchant finished speaking, another merchant sitting not far from him replied with some hesitation: "Aren't these fathers-in-law in the palace fighting with the people for profit when they act like this?" Couldn't we find those officials and put some pressure on the inner government to limit the scale of the textile workshop a little? ”

Sun Zuobo looked at the merchant and shook his head and said, "This is the capital, not Susong, the north has always been stronger than cotton planting, and shorter than weaving. Cotton has always been transported from the north to the south, and then the cloth is trafficked back to the north for sale.

In the past, many senior businessmen tried to open a textile workshop near the north, but they could not solve the problem of spinning yarn in the north, so they had to give up this idea.

That is to say, before the Inner Government solved the spinning problem in the north, there were no weavers in the north except for cotton farmers.

Therefore, the so-called competition with the people for profit is only for the benefit of the southern weavers. Would the imperial court smash the jobs of the weavers in the capital for the sake of the weavers who were far away in Susong to make trouble?

If the weavers in the capital also made a fuss, they demanded that the imperial court prohibit the transportation of cloth from the south to the north for sale in the future. Do you think that if you continue to tear each other off, who will benefit in the end? ”

Sun Zuobo's words suddenly calmed down some businessmen with other thoughts, and seeing that everyone fell silent, Huang Renfan, who was recruited by these cloth merchants, coughed and attracted everyone's attention and said.

"We are all serious businessmen, and it is better to solve business problems in business. Why bother to find those officials to come forward, whether they can solve the problem or not, they have to spend a lot of money?

Besides, the popularity of the new standard cloth in the capital is not only our civilian businessmen who have suffered. Everyone knows that in the past, half of the cloth supply in the capital came from the businesses under the names of the Jiangnan clans.

Those businesses rely on the support of high-ranking officials in the clan, and they have always liked to bully and dominate the market when doing business. Either they are in arrears, or they are lending usury to weavers, and if they don't swallow their belts and bones, they won't be finished.

But all weavers who have good craftsmanship and some savings are not willing to deal with them. Therefore, although they boast that their cloth is Songjiang cloth, we in the industry know that they are just counterfeits collected from around Songjiang.

Therefore, as soon as the new standard cloth in the capital came out, the first thing to occupy was these counterfeit products and the market for non-standard fabrics produced in other small places.

These Jiangnan clans have always been in the same spirit, and they are friendly with the Donglin Party, and now they have been occupied by the father-in-law in the palace in vain, they will always find a way to retaliate, we don't have to take the initiative to provoke the father-in-law, so as not to end up becoming a punching bag in the palace. ”

After the merchants in the hall deliberated for a while, someone stood up and asked Huang Renfan: "Since the Huang Dongjia has summoned us to the capital, there must always be an idea, you might as well say it for everyone to refer to one or two, or come up with a resolution,"

The merchants standing next to him nodded their heads, while the others watched, wanting to see what the proprietor of Feiyun Buzhuang had to say.

Huang Renfan was silent for a moment, and then spoke: "According to the data I saw from the Daming Times, as of mid-November, the textile workshops that had been built in the capital contained 500,000 spindles and 15,000 weaving machines.

This year, the textile workshops in Beijing spun a total of 36 million catties of cotton yarn and weaved about 2.89 million horses. About two-thirds of the cotton yarn was sold to Korea, Japan and the Susong region.

Next year, it is said that there will be another 1 million spindles and 50,000 weaving machines in the capital. Now the yarn price in Jiangnan is 023 yuan per catty, but the cotton yarn produced in Beijing has fallen from the original 02 yuan to 018 yuan.

Each spindle can spin a bag of 240 catties of cotton yarn a year, and now the latest pedal spinning machine in Beijing has 18 spindles. In other words, 1 million spindles is about 55,000 pedal spinning machines.

This pedal spinning machine is made of iron and wood, and it is said that the structure is not complicated, and Bunsiin can produce more than 120 spindles a day, so it is not an empty phrase to add 1 million spindles to the capital next year.

But if the Beijing Textile Workshop really develops to 1.5 million spindles, then the cotton of the whole Ming Dynasty will not be enough for it to consume in a year.

The price of cotton yarn produced by the Beijing textile workshop, within three years, whether it is Su Song or other places in the south of the Yangtze River, will become employees who process cloth for the Beijing textile workshop. We, the cloth merchants, have no way to get involved in this industry anymore.

I also heard that all cotton textile factories opened in the capital within three years would receive tax exemption, but this treatment was only given to the directors of the Inner Government, Xungui, and a few companies from all over the world. ”

In addition to Huang Renfan's words, the hall was so quiet that you could almost hear the breathing of the people present. The words of the owner of Feiyun Cloth Village finally made the cloth merchants present realize that this was not something they could back down.

If they can't band together to find a solution to the problem, then they can only go back and think about ending the cloth business and find another way to do it. However, the businessmen here are all veterans of this industry for many years, and no one will plan to take such a risk unless they have to.

Seeing that the businessmen in the hall finally became cautious, Huang Renfan continued: "I arrived a month earlier than you, so I walked around with the shopkeeper these days, trying to find out if there was any way to recover.

Finally, I came up with an idea, and I would like to invite you to discuss it together. As far as I know, the machines of these textile workshops in the capital are all made by the Wensi Academy.

Moreover, the Wensi Institute does not prohibit the sale of these machines to the outside world, although these textile workshops in the capital occupy the geographical advantage of the capital, but in the south they are beyond the reach of the whip.

If we can move these machines to the Susong area in the south to set up factories, relying on the craftsmanship of the southern weavers and the local advantages of everyone in the south, we may not be able to compete with the textile workshops in the capital. In that case, we still have a chance to live. ”

The merchant in the hall suddenly asked with some suspicion: "Now the cotton cultivation of the Ming Dynasty, six or seven tenths of it is in the north, even if we set up a workshop in Susong, but we can't get cotton from the north, won't we still have to be controlled by others."

Moreover, as you just said, the Beijing Textile Workshop has a three-year tax holiday, how can we compete with them? Besides, how much does it cost to invest in such a workshop? Do you want me to contribute together? ”

Sun Zuobo looked at Huang Renfan thoughtfully, he felt that the owner of Feiyun Cloth Village must have heard some news, so he hurriedly summoned them cloth merchants to the capital.

Sure enough, Huang Renfan lowered his voice a little and said in the next moment: "Without cotton, we can buy land and plant it ourselves." ”

A businessman was immediately disappointed, and some people complained dissatisfiedly: "Now the land prices in the Susong area are high, and the taxes are high.

The cost of buying land to grow cotton is too high, how can it be compared with cotton in Shandong and Henan.

What's more, if you want to reduce the cost of growing cotton, you need a large area of flat land next to it, and how can such good land be sold now? ”

Sun Zuobo looked at Huang Renfan, whose face did not change, and his heart became even more suspicious, he couldn't help but get up and stop the others, and then said to Huang Renfan: "What are the plans of Brother Renfan, let's say it openly and honestly, everyone here is a good friend, why hide it so much." ”

Seeing Sun Zuobo's speech, Huang Renfan finally said sincerely: "Actually, I heard a news from a fellow villager and friend that the imperial court decided to control the Yishu River, which originates in Lushan and Yishan.

These two rivers pass through the plains of southern and northern Jiangsu, and because of the annual flooding, the plains of southern and northern Jiangsu have become a wilderness.

If these two rivers can be managed, at least 7 to 8 million acres of arable land can be opened up.

It is said that the imperial court was going to nationalize the wasteland on both sides of the river, and then lease 20 units of 100,000 mu of land as a unit. The rent per mu for 30 years is 3 yuan, the deposit is 5 yuan, and each unit pays 800,000 yuan.

As far as I know, not many people know about this news now. However, my friend told me that the gentry of Beizhili, Shandong, and the nobles of the capital had already planned to eat all these rental units, if no outsiders had made a move. ”

An acre of land in the north rarely exceeds 03 yuan a year, but if cotton is planted at the current price of seed cotton, it will not be less than 06 yuan per year. For a 30-year lease, as long as half of the time is profitable, then the income will reach 9 yuan.

As long as the imperial court can really complete this blueprint for water control, these wastelands near the water's edge can be turned into watered land immediately, and it is obvious that there is no problem in making a profit. And the cotton grown will become the raw material of the textile factory, and they can obviously make a double profit.

The merchants in the hall were obviously aware of this, but some of them still said with some hesitation: "Why don't you sell it directly?" I've been working hard for 30 years, but is it possible that in the end, it will be cheaper than others? ”

Someone immediately chimed in: "Exactly, exactly, these wastelands can't all be watered, and we will inevitably repair the ditches after I take over, and who will pay for these investments at that time?" And the deposit has to be deposited for 30 years, isn't it no different from buying land? ”

Sun Zuobo stood up again and said: "Don't think about this kind of beautiful thing, didn't you hear what Brother Renfan said, people don't want to announce it at all, they want to divide these lands by themselves."

Think for yourself, if these lands fall into their hands, and now there are a large number of Shaanxi refugees who can cultivate, in less than 3 or 5 years, the water conservancy facilities of the imperial court will be completed, and it will not become a new land of fish and rice?

Brother Renfan, you go on, let me declare first, what kind of company is this, you have to count me as a share. ”

The discussion of everyone in the hall suddenly became quieter, and after Huang Renfan nodded at Sun Zuobo, he continued to say: "I haven't finished talking just now, for the 20 land units that are leased, the imperial court does not levy taxes in the first ten years, half taxes are levied in the middle ten years, and full taxes are collected in the last ten years.

I also inquired that a textile workshop with 10,000 spindles and 500 weaving machines has an investment of about 100,000 yuan for all the machines, and about 200,000 yuan for the factory and recruitment.

I mean, we might as well raise 2.5 million yuan, set up a textile workshop with 20,000 spindles and 1,000 loom machines, and invest in another 1-2 land units..."