When Zhu Youzhen was talking, he suddenly said in surprise: "Why is that house smoking, is it on fire?" ”

Zhang Xingsheng, who suddenly became nervous in his heart, looked at Chongzhen's gaze, and finally put down his heart and said, "Ao, it's there." Your Majesty may have misunderstood, but it was not a fire, but a newly built flue. ”

"Flue?" Zhu Youzhen looked at him with some puzzlement.

Zhang Xingsheng hurriedly said: "Although honeycomb coal is easy to use, it must be ventilated, otherwise you will be dizzy and out of breath, and in serious cases, you will die."

The room was testing what His Majesty said about the effects of temperature and humidity on spinning and weaving, so the minister built a stove and flue at the edge of the room to regulate the temperature and humidity in the room. ”

"Really? I'm going to go over and see. Zhu Youzhen immediately walked in the direction of the smoke.

After walking into a courtyard, Zhu Youzhen saw the stove outside the west wing. He followed Zhang Xingsheng's instructions and walked into the west wing.

It was a rectangular room with three rooms opened, half of the ground had been dug down more than half a man's depth, and the other half was as usual, but a copper pipe came through the window, leaning against the wall and wrapping around most of the room, and the end of the copper pipe was opened, and water vapor kept coming out.

"Does this really work?" Zhu Youzhen asked curiously.

The head of the craftsman who was in charge here immediately stammered to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it is indeed effective, but I am afraid that this water vapor will smoke the house." ”

Zhang Xingsheng looked at it and said, "I'm not afraid to add a cover to it when the time comes, so that the water vapor doesn't spray directly onto the pillar." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the three-spindle cotton spinning wheel on the flat ground next to him, and then looked at the same spinning wheel in the semi-basement on the other side, and couldn't help asking: "Which of the yarn spun by these two spinning wheels is of better quality?" ”

The craftsman replied respectfully: "The one below is more stable, the quality of this one is not very stable, when it is good, it is much more than the bottom, and when it is bad, it is not as good as the bottom, but compared to before, it is really a world of difference." ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said, "Then you will continue to experiment and see how to master this optimal temperature and humidity." Zhang Xingsheng: You can find a vacant lot, dig up and build this kind of semi-underground room, and prepare for spinning. However, how much yarn can be spun in a day in this spinning wheel? ”

Zhang Xingsheng agreed, and then said: "Skilled craftsmen can spin about thirteen or four taels of yarn a day, and unskilled ones are only about ten taels." ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, this number is too small to be too surprising. "So, wouldn't the 6,270 quintals of lint need more than 627,000 man-days?"

Zhang Xingsheng and the craftsmen around him could only nod silently, and Zhu Youzhen suddenly shouted in surprise: "This is not good, such a little cotton will require most of the people in the capital to work all day, isn't it a joke." Can't this spinning wheel be improved? ”

Looking at Chongzhen, who was staring at the spinning wheel with his eyes, Zhang Xingsheng was also a little helpless. Although Chongzhen's idea is good, this spinning wheel, which no one has been able to change for nearly 300 years, how can it be that the emperor can change it if he thinks about it.

He couldn't help but step forward and whisper to persuade: "This catty of lint is spun into less than a pound of cotton thread, which is basically not profitable, just enough to give the workers the capital." On the contrary, 17-18 taels of cotton thread are woven into a standard coarse cloth, and the market price is between 2 and 3 yuan, and each horse can earn 5 cents to 1 cent and 5 cents of silver. ”

"Why can't you put this spindle up? Driven by a spinning wheel, you can add a few more spindles, won't you increase the efficiency of spinning? Zhu Youzhen finally remembered that the difference between the spinning machine in later generations and the three-spindle cotton spinning wheel in front of him came.

Zhang Xingsheng was certainly overwhelmed by Chongzhen's statement, after all, he was not an expert in the study of machinery. Even the master craftsmen on the side were a little confused, and they didn't know what the emperor meant.

However, a young man who was standing on the edge of the spinning wheel and observing the spinning, after listening to Chongzhen's words, suddenly shouted: "I understand, as long as these spinning ingots are erected, they can be rotated at the same speed and direction." In this way, as long as the power is large enough, the spinning spindle can continue to increase..."

"Shut up, you can also make noise in front of Your Majesty?" The master craftsman, who was about 50 years old, suddenly reprimanded the young man in a loud voice.

Zhu Youzhen stretched out his hand, shook it at the master craftsman and said, "It's nothing, let him talk about it, how to change this spindle to an erected one, I am very interested." ”

The master craftsman had to agree, then turned to the young man and glared at him viciously before saying, "Talk back, don't disturb Your Majesty by saying nothing." ”

The young man stuck out his tongue at his uncle, walked up to Chongzhen, pointed to the spinning wheel beside him, and proposed the changes he had envisioned, and how to use a spinning wheel to drive all the spinning spindles.

Although I am not very proficient in the principle of textile machinery, I am no stranger to the machine, the power part, the transmission part, the working part, any machine is basically composed of these three parts.

After just asking a few questions about the transmission part, Zhu Youzhen thought that this plan was feasible, and he said gently: "What's your name?" If you are given materials and assistants, how long will it take you to complete? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, Xiaomin Zhang Jinhe, as long as you can give a spinning wheel for Xiaomin to modify, Xiaomin can complete it within 3 days." Zhang Jinhe completely ignored his uncle's full eyes, and said in a big way.

"Yes, I promise you. Are the ambassadors of the Academy here? Zhu Youzhen turned around and shouted.

Ambassador Zhao Dechuan immediately stepped forward to salute Chongzhen and bowed down to wait for the emperor's order. "Give him the materials and manpower he needs, let him experiment, and I'll see if I can make a new spinning wheel in 3 days." Zhu Youzhen said without hesitation.

After inspecting the Wensi Academy, when he was about to leave, Zhu Youzhen, who was standing at the gate of the Wensi Academy, said to Zhang Xingsheng: "If you make 19,000 quintals of cotton into cotton cloth and sell it, you can earn a profit of more than 50,000 silver taels, which seems to be a lot of profits."

However, it makes a big difference whether it's done in one month, six months, or longer. The most important thing is to get the maximum profit in the shortest possible time.

Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to pay attention to any technology that promotes the saving of manpower and time.

Food, clothing, shelter and transportation are the most basic needs of people, and this clothing is still in the first place. The border army of the Ming Dynasty was the largest in the north, but the north could grow cotton but could not spin and weave cloth, resulting in tens of millions of cotton cloth being transported north from the south every year.

If we can solve the problem of weaving cloth in the north, not only can the shipping of the canal reduce the pressure, but also the problem of clothing for the people in the north.

What's more, now that Caoyun is in chaos, I can only turn a blind eye, which is nothing more than the food and winter clothing of the Jingshi and Liaodong armies, which need to rely on Caoyun to solve.

The ancients said: The rat trap is the best portrayal of the current Cao Yun problem. Only when the problem of clothing and food is solved, and the problem of clothing and food no longer depends on this canal, can I have the confidence to move the problem of transportation..."

Hearing that Chongzhen was so concerned about himself, Zhang Xingsheng immediately replied respectfully: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the minister will definitely rectify the Wensi Institute and establish this textile industry in the capital."

There is one more matter, and I ask Your Majesty for your permission. Most of the people living in this inner city were eunuchs and merchants. If this textile factory was to be opened, it was necessary to recruit ordinary people who lived in the outer city, which made it very difficult for them to enter and leave the city gates every day.

Therefore, the minister hoped that this textile factory could be opened outside the Chongwen Gate, and the outer city would be open and convenient for the people to work. ”

"Okay, just do as you say. Those palace maids who have been dismissed from the palace and have nowhere to go, you have to give priority to taking care of them into the factory..."

When I returned to the palace, it was already dark. After running around for two days in a row, he didn't have much rest, Zhu Youzhen was about to finish dinner, and when he was going to rest early today, Lu Qi walked in with a bunch of folds.

Wang Chengen looked at the emperor who was already yawning again and again, and couldn't help but subconsciously say: "Your Majesty's dragon body is not safe, it is better to rest early today, let's watch these pieces tomorrow." ”

Zhu Youzhen endured his tiredness and asked Lu Qi, "What kind of music are they, and is there anything more important?" ”

Lu Qi lowered his head and replied: "Nothing else, but there are two pieces of music that Your Majesty should take a look at first." One is Jinyiwei's investigation report on the mutiny, and the other is Wu Fangyuan's report. ”

Zhu Youzhen rubbed his eyes and said to Wang Chengen: "Make a pot of strong tea for me, ask for black tea." I won't read the report, Lu Qi, you read it to me, read Wu Fangyuan's report first. ”

Wu Fangyuan's report is simple: the soldiers of the Beijing camp who went out to loot property at the time of the mutiny, although they were dissatisfied with the forced surrender of these goods. However, because the officers who instigated the mutiny had fled, and the other half of the soldiers of the Beijing camp and the Liaodong army, who had not entered the city, were watching from the sidelines, these soldiers still reluctantly handed over the looted property.

Of course, it is impossible to hand over all the belongings, and some of the soft things that can be hidden are still hidden by them.

After that, according to the emperor's order, the soldiers of the Beijing camp were paid two months' salary in advance, and most of the resentment of these soldiers disappeared.

Wu Fangyuan pointed out, however, that although the resentment of the soldiers in the Beijing camp has basically dissipated, the leaders of the various battalions have not accepted the reality of the dissatisfaction with the reduction of the number of sergeants in the Beijing camp.

These people are all so-called warriors recruited from the streets by the generals of each battalion, or ruffians who have been in the Beijing camp for a long time.

In the past, they were the assistants used by the generals of each battalion to control the soldiers at the bottom, and they were also the backbone sergeants of each battalion that these generals thought could be used as a façade. In addition to not being deducted from their salaries, these people also received some small rewards from time to time, so their lives were much better than those of ordinary sergeants.

These soldiers and ruffians in the army have no skills to serve the fields, and they are not willing to be honest construction workers, so if they really want to let them go to Liaodong to fight with Jiannu, it is estimated that they will have to run.

However, if they are removed from the military and put back to the locality, it is estimated that the local area will also suffer. Therefore, Wu Fangyuan suggested that these people should be set up in another battalion, and then let them stay away from the capital, which could not only eliminate the hidden danger of disturbances in the Beijing camp, but also protect the local peace.