It's not easy to negotiate on the road, Wang Yan doesn't have a habit of this aspect of the three-inch golden lotus, so if it is beneficial to Daming, he will definitely support it.

It's just that this foot has been wrapped for hundreds of years, and it doesn't mean that if you want to put it, you have to create the momentum first and change the atmosphere, otherwise even if the court has an order, it can't be banned.

Wang Yan decided to discuss this matter later, and now he and everyone went to check the textile workshops outside Suzhou, after all, this is the purpose of their trip.

Xue Zongzhou led Wang Yan to an area outside the city, where there were rows and rows of houses, all of which looked similar, but there was no beauty, and it was estimated that the workshop and warehouse were located.

Between these houses, there are hundreds of columns of smoke rising from the roofs, where hired workers are boiling cocoons.

The whole scene will be a little uncomfortable, aesthetically devoid of aesthetics, and somewhat out of place in traditional society.

The group came to a workshop and looked at the courtyard from the outside, where there were many silk threads and cloth, which were very messy.

On an arched sign at the door, "Shen Ji Buzhuang" is written, and a merchant dressed in brocade stands in front of the door to wait.

Shen Ji Cloth Village, the owner is naturally surnamed Shen, named Yuan Sheng, originally sold cloth, and later opened a workshop, from production to sales one-stop, and is not afraid of running out of goods.

After saluting Wang Yan, he led everyone into the workshop.

The whole workshop is very huge, there are seventy or eighty rooms, and more than ten warehouses, the area is about to catch up with half of the Chu Palace, and this is not the largest workshop, it is said that there are more than 3,000 employees in the cotton spinning workshop on the tight side.

"Chitose Jianguo, this is a cocoon room!" Shen Yuansheng led Wang Yan into a room, bowed down and said.

When Wang Yan and his entourage entered it, they saw that the wooden shelves in the entire workshop were filled with silkworm cocoons packed in dustpans, and the house was piled up.

"How many cocoons are there like this, are the silkworm cocoons in Suzhou Mansion enough for you?" The whole room was ten zhang long, three zhang wide, and two zhang high, all full of silkworm cocoons, Wang Yan asked with some shock.

"Back to the prison country, there are ten cocoon houses like this." Shen Yuansheng saluted and replied: "Suzhou's Su weaving family is not only a small family, Su Song's silkworm cocoons and even Nanzhili's are not enough. Most of the silkworm cocoons here are bought by villains from Zhejiang, where there is a kind of mulberry big household and the villain signed a contract to provide silkworm cocoons for the villain! ”

This is equivalent to cross-regional collaboration, Wang Yan nodded, continued to follow him, and came out of the cocoon house to a steaming room.

There were many cauldrons in this room, lined up in a row, and there were two people in each pot, one burning the fire, and the other stirring the cauldron with a stick.

Shen Yuansheng immediately pointed to the cauldron and said, "Jian Guo, this is a cocoon room." The main thing that is burned is the harvested rice stalks, as well as charcoal, and some charcoal, but the charcoal has to be transported from Zhejiang, and the price is too high, so it is generally not burned. ”

Carboniferous Wang Yan knew that like gold, silver, copper and iron ore, it was not easy to mine, but it could be used after mining and did not need to be smelted, so the value was much cheaper, but it was more expensive than charcoal.

At this time, Wang Yan walked to the cauldron and stopped the hired workers from saluting, and saw that they had put the cocoons they had taken from the cocoon house into the water to boil.

Shen Yuansheng then introduced: "Jian Guo, this cocoon is very particular, first of all, the time must be mastered, the cooking is too rotten and not firm, too raw will affect the processing, there will be raw blocks on the finished product, and the ingredients added must also be quantitative." ”

"After these cocoons are boiled and softened, they can be softened. Xiaomin's side uses the cold reeling method, instead of boiling the cocoon while reeling the silk, but first boiling the cocoon, and then putting the boiled cocoon in a basin with a small amount of warm water, and then reeling the silk. The silk reeled by this method is more energetic and tougher than the hot kettle reeling silk, and can also prevent the cocoon from being too cooked, the sericin is deactivated, and the silk fiber is weak and weak. ”

Next, Wang Yan and his entourage entered the silk reeling workshop, they heard the sound of squeaking from a long distance, and when they entered the room, they saw hundreds of people stepping on the silk reeling machine, busy non-stop.

According to Shen Yuansheng, the silk reeler can put the silk of eight silkworm cocoons together, and according to different needs, produce raw silk of different lengths, some of which are even thousands of feet long, but there are no traces of splicing.

Wang Yan and the others observed how to reel silk, but he didn't know much about it, but he found that the silk reelers were indeed ninety percent of male workers, but there were also several female workers.

Looking at their heavenly feet, you know that most of them are women from poor families, otherwise they would not show their heads.

Wang Yan saw that they were moving much faster than male workers, so he asked them how much they were paid, but the result was only seventy percent that of male workers.

Wang Yan frowned when he heard this, but he didn't say anything, after all, it is a patriarchal society, and seventy percent is already a conscience.

After the silk is drawn, the silk is dried, then spun, and finally dyed and printed with a stencil.

The last few processes are carried out by hundreds of people, and there are 500 looms in the workshop, working day and night to complete the government's orders.

After Wang Yan took a turn, he felt very deeply, in addition to the army fighting, he had never seen so many people work together to complete a thing.

"What is the biggest difficulty in your production now?" After turning around, Wang Yan asked.

"Back to the prison country, the main reason is that the speed of silk reeling and looms can't keep up." Shen Yuansheng replied.

Wang Yan originally thought that the silkworm cocoon couldn't keep up, after all, he just saw that in the mulberry field, the labor seemed to be a little insufficient, but he didn't want to be unable to keep up with the silk reeling and loom.

Wang Yan pondered for a moment, "Gu Fang just looked at it once, and I think that your silk reeling can be separated from textile and dyeing." Isn't your silkworm chrysalis purchased from Zhejiang, why not open a silk reeling workshop in Zhejiang, where the price of charcoal and charcoal is also cheaper, and you smoke raw silk and then transport it, it is more convenient than transporting silkworm pupa. ”

The Jiangnan area has been developed for a long time, and it is a plain, and the price of charcoal and charcoal is indeed much higher.

Wang Yan paused and continued: "Also, if you separate the silk reeling, there can be at least half more space here, and there is no problem with putting another five hundred looms." ”

Shen Yuansheng smiled and saluted: "The prison country is wise, and Xiaomin does have this plan. ”

Wang Yan bowed slightly, and walked out between the various cloths to dry, and soon he left the workshop, he stopped and said: "In the silk reeling machine and the loom, you should also find a way to improve the loom, and don't stick to the rules." In addition, employees should not work day and night in this way, and they need to have time to rest. You must remember that there is a way to make money, take righteousness as profit, not profit as profit, and you can't lose our courtesy, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom and faith! ”

To solve the problem of the two links of silk reeling and loom, in addition to expanding the scale, the only way to seek technological breakthroughs is to seek technological breakthroughs. After all, the expansion of scale will also increase the cost, and only technological progress can substantially improve the production capacity.

However, this technological progress is not something that can come by saying it, so it is better to expand the scale first, but the profit-seeking characteristics of businessmen will inevitably make them think about reducing costs, and the technology will break through sooner or later.

"Xiaomin remembers the teachings of the prison country Chitose!" Shen Yuansheng bowed.

After inspecting the workshop, it was already noon, and Wang Yan, accompanied by Xue Zongzhou and others, entered Suzhou with the shipwreck.

The waterways of Suzhou City are extremely developed, and there are many houses on both sides of the riverbank, with all kinds of shops and restaurants, and from time to time there are the sound of commenting and Kun dialect, which is full of vitality, but there is no busy and fast pace outside the city.

After arriving at the prefect's yamen, everyone had some food first, and then found a lobby to drink tea and discuss at the same time.

Wang Yan spoke first: "I took a look at it today, and my eyes were opened. Wan Chun said, encourage the things that are sufficient, and it is feasible to look at it alone. It is said that silk reeling and weaving are both delicate work, and it is indeed more effective to use female workers than male workers. ”

"Prison country, having said that, the trend of foot binding has been around for a long time, and I am afraid that it will not be able to change the atmosphere for a while." Du Yinxi frowned and said.

Wang Yan nodded, "I know this, so I want the government to guide me." Lone is not forbidden by order, the eunuchs want to entangle, just entangle, but ordinary people have no need for this at all, after binding their feet, many jobs can not be done, even walking is not fast, there is really no need to follow the trend, and the lone king really does not know, what is the beauty of the three-inch golden lotus. ”

Many of the officials in this hall have wives with small feet, and they can't help but blush when they hear Wang Yan say this.

Wang Yan saw that no one spoke, so he immediately clapped his hand and said: "Then this matter is settled, the Ministry of Rites will do more guidance, and Lone will also issue a decree to persuade the people to let go, and slowly change this atmosphere." ”

After saying this, Wang Yan said: "Since the opening of the sea, our dynasty has obtained a large amount of silver, and also obtained a lot of materials from Nanyang and other places, but at the same time, the merchants who trade with our dynasty have also made a lot of profits, and it is precisely because of the great profits that overseas countries have competed to trade with our dynasty. ”

In order to trade with the Ming Dynasty, Ningbo even had a battle for tribute, whether it was Japan or Xiyi countries, as long as they could get the things of the Ming Dynasty, they would not lose money if they pulled it back, and even had several times the benefits, and they made it too easy to make this money.

Wang Yan paused and said: "Not long ago, the big shopkeeper of the Wude discussed a matter with Gu, saying that when all countries come to our dynasty to trade, there are silver taels, silver coins, and gold coins, and our dynasty is calculated according to the catties and taels, which is really not cost-effective. Chen Yonghua suggested that in the future, all countries should exchange gold and silver items for trade with our DPRK in the DPRK worth one tael, and those in China should gradually use silver coins and silver bills for trade. ”

After obtaining the right to settle domestic commerce, the Wude was not satisfied, and turned its attention to overseas trade, demanding that all countries also settle with the money minted by the Wude.

The silver coins minted in the Ming Dynasty contain seventy percent of silver, and if the settlement is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the money of the Ming Dynasty can become the common currency of world trade, and the exchange rate alone can make a lot of money.

Everyone is not a professional, and they don't know much about this, but Chen Youlong, who took over the household department, probably understood what Wang Yan meant, and nodded: "The minister agrees......"

While he was talking, Lu Shikui suddenly came in with a copy of the recital, and saluted: "Qi Yu Jian Guo, Beijing good news!" ”