Su Changqing, who has studied the history of the industrial revolution, knows very well that the essence of the industrial revolution is first of all energy change, and the driving force to promote the energy revolution comes from the development of the cotton textile industry.

Food, clothing, shelter and transportation are the basic needs of human life, and why it is the cotton textile industry rather than other industries that has promoted the development of the industrial revolution is naturally an inevitable reason.

Compared to the other three basic needs, in the age of agriculture, the demand for clothing was almost insatiable.

And in this era of the Xiaoice River, clothing as a cold has greatly increased the demand. The first industrialized industry that Zhu Youzhen wanted to promote was naturally the cotton textile industry.

For the current situation of the textile industry in the Ming Dynasty, the only thing Zhu Youzhen knows is that the cotton planting in Shandong and Henan in the north is more famous, while the Susong area is famous for the textile industry.

Xu Guangqi, who was born in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili, has a deeper understanding of silk textiles and cotton textiles in the Songjiang area.

Under Xu Guangqi's explanation, Zhu Youzhen finally understood a rough idea. In the area around Susong, although there have been weavers who have left agriculture and specialized textiles, there have not yet been real factory owners, but the three specialties of ginning, spinning, and textile have been separated.

There are the most weaving households specializing in weaving, which are roughly divided into three grades, the highest one is called collar weaving, which has a certain capital or has a large cotton field itself, and there are one or twenty looms at home. In addition to his own textiles, he also doubles as a weaver and a businessman.

Second-class weavers have only small cotton fields, and they usually buy cotton from the market after weaving their own cotton.

The textile households at the bottom were almost the same as the workers of later generations, living by selling their labor. They either go to work at the collar weavers, or they collect cotton from the collar weavers and take it home to weave and carry out the work of processing with supplied materials.

Unlike later generations of workers, these low-level weavers who sold their labor not only did not have any security, but also did not have a fixed employment time. Xu Guangqi described: "... These weavers are the most pitiful, and they have no savings in their families, and if they do not go to work for three or two days, the whole family will starve. ”

And Songjiang cloth is divided into coarse cloth and fine cloth, coarse cloth is the so-called wide white cotton cloth that is, standard cloth, with the width of the cloth as the standard to measure the price, the imperial court tax each standard cloth folded three dollars of silver.

The fine cloth is a wide white three-shuttle cloth, and the fineness of the production process is the standard to measure the price. When the imperial court levied taxes, each horse was converted into six cents of silver.

Because of the developed textile industry, the two prefectures of Suzhou and Song have to transport a certain amount of official cloth to the Beijing treasury every year, of which Suzhou Prefecture has to hand over 190,000 pieces of cloth a year. Therefore, the two prefectures of Susong appeared, which was no less than the battle of white grain.

The liberation campaign of the two prefectures in Susong was originally a democratic liberation movement, but because of the greater power of the gentry, Suzhou Prefecture was finally changed to an official movement. However, Songjiang Prefecture did not have such a good luck change, and still maintained the democratic movement.

From the time the account was released to receive the treasury silver to the purchase of cloth to go to Beijing, the cost of packing and transporting the cloth was about one dollar per horse. In the process of transportation, it is necessary to accept the exploitation of the small officials along the way, plus the bribes of the officials when entering the warehouse, these expenses are called common, and they must be borne by themselves, and each horse costs more than 2 or 3 yuan.

If the cloth is returned, repeatedly released, and cannot be completed for several years, then each cloth will be released to pay as much as 5 or 6 yuan. Therefore, the battle of liberation is the heaviest of the conscriptions, and once it is apportioned, it will be the end of the ruined family.

Like the Battle of White Grain, the Battle of Bujie was also regarded as a battle by the people of Songjiang. It's just that because the scope of the Battle of Bujie was limited to Songjiang Prefecture, the impact was not as great as that of the Battle of White Grain.

The reason why Xu Guangqi wanted to tell Chongzhen in such detail was that he hoped to persuade Chongzhen to change the battle of Songjiang Mansion from a democratic movement to an official movement, so as to reduce the burden on the elders in his hometown.

After listening to Xu Guangqi's introduction to the cotton textile industry, Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said: "How do I think that whether it is a democratic movement or an official movement, there are drawbacks? The disadvantage of this battle is that although it can ensure that the cloth is not polluted during transportation, the burden borne by the people is too heavy.

The disadvantage of official transportation is that the cloth is often lost due to pollution during transportation, and officials often forcibly buy cloth from merchants at prices lower than the market price, which undermines the normal operation of the market. ”

Xu Guangqi was silent for a while, and then replied to Chongzhen: "But Your Majesty, even if this is the case, this official solution is lighter than the people's understanding, and the exploitation of the small people is lighter." ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly raised another question, "What is the main place where this Jingku collects 190,000 pieces of cloth a year?" ”

Xu Guangqi replied without thinking: "Every year, the clothes of the Beijing camp and the border army, the use of the palace, and the rewards of the officials in the capital are for the big sect. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately asked tentatively: "In that case, why don't you change it to a business solution?" And if the sergeant is given a horse directly, the sergeant has to cut the clothes again. Economically, it's not really cost-effective.

First, the cloth issued to each sergeant may not be just right, either insufficient or excessive. Second, the cloth is difficult to supervise and is easy to be harshly withheld by the person who handles it.

Moreover, except for the Beijing camp, the place where the border army is located is sparsely populated, and the labor cost of making clothes is not only high, but also difficult to complete in time.

The Susong area is prosperous and there are many people with excellent tailoring skills, why didn't the imperial court directly order clothes from the local area to save cloth and transportation costs? ”

Xu Guangqi quickly raised questions, "But Your Majesty, there is a saying in the minister's hometown: tailor your clothes, watch the food and eat." This person is different from each other, tall, short, fat and thin, and if the clothes are customized in Jiangnan and transported to Biansai and the capital, if the size does not match and the sergeant cannot wear it, wouldn't it be more wasteful? ”

Zhu Youzhen just smiled and said: "To make clothes suitable for the border army, as long as you let a skilled tailor go to the army to measure it, divide the clothes into three models: large, medium and small, and then check whether the clothes delivered by the merchant meet the standards." It also reduces the risk of being deducted by the person who handles it, doesn't it? ”

Xu Guangqi calculated for a while, no matter how you look at it, this discussion is lighter than the democracy movement, and the burden of the battle of liberation on the small people. Therefore, he also felt that it was necessary to experiment and change the democracy movement into a way of negotiation.

After talking about the current situation of the cotton textile industry, Zhu Youzhen naturally talked about the supply of raw materials in the cotton textile industry.

Although Susong is known as the world of clothing and quilts, only the cotton production of Songjiang Prefecture can meet the local textile needs. The rest of the Yangtze River needs to import cotton from the north or the south.

There are two kinds of cotton grown in the Ming Dynasty, one is woody cotton called Jibei cotton, which has a low yield but excellent quality; One is herbaceous cotton called small cotton, which produces about 250-270 kg of raw cotton per mu, and about 65-70 kg after rolling into lint.

Although Zhu Youzhen did not know much about farming, he also knew that the yield per mu was lower than that of the low-yield fields in later generations. However, before the American upland cotton was introduced to China, this short fiber cotton from Africa was still the main raw material of the Daming cotton textile industry for the time being.

However, although African cotton has a low yield and poor quality, it has a short planting period and good resistance, and can be grown in barren and arid land.

When Chongzhen was talking to Xu Guangqi and entering the alley, Lu Jiude hurriedly walked in. Something whispered in his ear.

After Zhu Youjian listened, his face did not change, but continued to ask: "I don't know how a few people have done with the determination of weights and measures?" ”

Deng Yuhan replied: "Your Majesty, we intend to calculate the latitude and longitude between Beijing and Baoding, and then measure the distance between the two places on the spot, so that a basic length can be determined.

Father Luo Yagu has already taken a team to Baoding to measure the latitude and longitude of the area. However, the winter in the north is really not suitable for field measurements, so I am afraid that we will have to wait until the beginning of spring to continue the next step. ”

"So what's going on with that pendulum?" Zhu Youzhen immediately cared about the process of Foucault's pendulum.

For this experiment to prove the rotation of the earth, Deng Yuhan was obviously more interested in measuring weights and measures.

He said with a little excitement: "Your Majesty, after a few weeks of research, the blacksmith and I sent by Your Majesty have finally solved the problem of how to forge a tough wire. But now there is a problem, we need a building with sufficient height as a place for experimentation. ”

"So what do you think is the right building in the capital... Or find a place in the three major halls? Zhu Youzhen thought carefully.

Jinni Pavilion was a little more politically wise than Deng Yuhan, and of course he knew what the three major halls meant in this country, so he immediately said: "Compared with the three major halls, I think the height of the bell tower is more appropriate, as long as it is slightly rebuilt." ”

After talking with a few people for a while, Zhu Youzhen got up and said goodbye and left.

After walking out of the Xuanwumen Chapel, Zhu Youzhen slowly digested the news that Lu Jiude brought him.

Protestant and Catholic war? There were too many wars of religion in Europe, but the Dutch war of independence against Spain, and the 30 years of religious wars that followed, were quite famous.

He remembered the Napoleonic Wars because of Napoleon, and the French Revolution because of Marat and Robespierre.

The reason for remembering the 30 years of the War of Religion is that King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden was the commander of the Holy Roman Empire, Wallenstein, who was the hero of the Thirty Years' War of Religion.

Of course, the most memorable thing is not the outstanding commanding skills of the two, but the tragic ending of the two. The former died in battle before he could fulfill his ideals, while the latter, although he won the victory, was forced to flee from the army because of the emperor's suspicion, and finally died at the hands of his own men.

Zhu Youzhen sighed, looked up at the gloomy sky, turned to Lu Jiude and said, "Find a room over here where you can talk, I want to meet this Dutchman." ”