On the edge of the hedge next to the mansion, a 17 or 8-year-old maid with a slightly freckleled face and a braided back of her head, looking very pretty was humming the most popular song of the day while tidying up the lawn on the ground—————— of course this is impossible, after all, it is only the middle of January, and the winter in Beijing cannot pass now, no matter how early it is.

In fact, now the pretty-looking maid was wrapped tightly there to clear the snow from the hedge, and her little face was even more cold and a little red.

"Whew, there's still a little bit left, after cleaning all this, you can go back to the house and drink some hot soup to warm up."

Thinking so in her heart, she took off her gloves and rubbed her hands, and when her fingers became a little more flexible, the maid put them back on and continued her work.

Although it is not easy to work in such a cold day, she is very careful and serious, and has no intention of complaining. Because she also knows that it is really difficult to find a job that is easier and more rewarding than here.

Especially working here, there is no need to worry about being bullied by the master's family, which also makes the maid and her family very reassured—————— although the latter may prefer that this little daughter in his family can be accepted as a concubine by Yan Shao, after all, in that case, the benefits are real...

It's a pity that Yan Shao's vision is higher now, although the little maid is pretty, it is still a big gap compared to Yan Shao's requirements.

However, although Yan Shao was not interested in her, she was very grateful to Yan Shao. It's not just because Yan Shao has never harassed her. It's not because Yan Shao gave her a very generous reward, but because she already has a sweetheart, and Yan Shao agreed. If the family doesn't agree in the future, he can come forward to help...

It's really small, at most, if her family doesn't agree, he can send someone to persuade her. And with Yan Shao's face, even if the family doesn't like her sweetheart, it's no big problem...

As for Yan Shao's reason, it is also very simple, is marriage free? Of course, it seems a little early to bring it up in this era, but since it is working for him. That's more or less his person, and he has to give some help.

Isn't there such a saying, the seven-rank official in front of the prime minister. Naturally, it is impossible for Yan Shao to protect things that are wrong. But there's nothing wrong with that sort of thing...

And for this little maid. There are still some old-fashioned thoughts in her head, Yan Shao is like the emperor in her eyes, she doesn't think that her family will disobey the emperor's orders, and even Yan Shao has become her benefactor.

It's just that she probably couldn't have imagined that at this time, the benefactor in her heart and the 'emperor' of this country were now eager to hit the wall with his head, because not long ago, Bertrand, who was far away in Algeria, had just replied to his invitation by telegram...

To put it simply, he will leave Algiers for China to attend their wedding two months before Yan Shao's wedding to Elano and others.

The original China had such a status in the eyes of the French. Now that three more dreadnoughts have been purchased from South America, it has naturally become a country worth wooing in the eyes of the French.

but also as the center of the French colony in North Africa. The situation in Algeria is still very stable, and it is unlikely that the situation will be turned upside down just because Bertrand has been away for three or four months.

Therefore, when Yan Shao wrote an invitation letter and sent it to Algeria by clipper, and at the same time sent an invitation letter to Bertrand by telegram (mainly because he was worried that if it was sent by boat, in case the instructions of the Paris side were too long, the departure time would not be rushed), Bertrand, who received the telegram, quickly applied to the Paris side, and in consideration of wooing, the Paris side also agreed to Bertrand's application and appointed Bertrand as the special envoy of the French government to congratulate Yan Shao's wedding—————— Although there is still a long time before the wedding, the traffic in this era is also troublesome, so after proposing to the three of them, Yan Shao has already sent invitations to the countries of the world.

Of course, with China's current status, there is basically no need to expect any country to send dignitaries to the wedding, but as a matter of etiquette, it is a necessary thing to do...

Also out of courtesy, the countries that received the invitation also sent out blessings, but the envoy or something......... Hehe, the weather is so nice today, what do you think?

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Yan Shao and Bertrand didn't like each other since a long time ago, so Yan Shao didn't think of sending an invitation to Bertrand—————— even though he was Elaline's father.

But there was no way, who told him to marry someone else's daughter, so at Elaline's insistence, he could only send an invitation to Bertrand. But he didn't think that Bertrand would go to China to attend the wedding, after all, the distance between them was too far, and he was the highest-ranking French general in Algeria, almost no different from the Turkish emperor, even if he wanted to get out, it was not so easy, so he sent it, although he was very unhappy...

Who would have thought...

"Ahh I would have insisted on it a little longer..."As long as he thought of seeing Bertrand's old face at the wedding, Yan Shao felt a sense of pain.

Thinking that the invitation was sent by him personally, he regretted that he wanted to bang his head against the wall...

Seeing Yan Shao like this, the corners of Otsuki Kaoru, Lu Ying, and Caterina almost showed a hint of a smile on their mouths, while Elanon's face was full of helplessness and ......... Shame...

After all, it was her biological father who Yan Shao was complaining about there, and although she and Bertrand hadn't seen each other for many years, Elaline still felt a little annoyed when she saw that Yan Shao had been slandering her father there...

Raising the stack of materials in his hand, Elaline slapped Yan Shao the back of his head, and then said viciously.

"Stop complaining there, get down to business..."

"Yes, yes, my wife...", Yan Shao raised his head as if he didn't have anything to do, and said nonchalantly.

Seeing that Yan Shao finally put on a correct posture (?) Elaline also straightened up.

"Let's talk about the group first.......... at the moment the group plans to build four cotton textile mills every year. Among them, two in the south and two in the north, the sites of the two in the south were initially selected in Hunan and Hubei, and the two in the north were all concentrated in Tianjin. In addition, as in the past when I was in Anhui, the number of spindles in each cotton textile factory will reach 80,000, and at the same time, each cotton textile factory will be able to provide jobs for 10,000 people, which means that these four cotton textile factories can provide at least 40,000 jobs..."

“……… The equipment needed for the cotton mill has already begun to be ordered from the British, and it is expected to be delivered in March, but the demand for cotton textile is high at the moment, and there are many cotton textile mills being built in the country. If the equipment needed for the cotton mill had been purchased from the UK, it would have been somewhat constrained in this regard, so the group suggested that we set up our own machine factory. Specializing in the manufacture of textile machinery, so that when we import similar machines in the future, we do not need to rely completely on foreign countries..."

At present, the number of spindles in China has reached 2 million, which is a breakthrough. But for China, with a population of 40,000. This number of spindles is still a bit insufficient.

In other words, the number of cotton mills in China will continue to increase in the future, and if it is not possible to produce its own textile machines, then it will have to be imported from foreign countries all the time.

Therefore, there has always been a call in Yushi Group and even in China, that is, to produce its own textile equipment. In this way, it will also be possible to get rid of the great powers in this vital industry.

The problem is that the profitability of this industry is not strong at the moment, and almost all the private capitalists who take loans from banks go to the profitable industry, and no one cares about it at all...

In order to take care of the development of the domestic light industry, Yushi Group is still expanding rapidly in the light industry, except for the cotton textile industry. Others, such as ash or flour, have basically been abandoned, but they have remained at their current size. Or just a little bit bigger, rather than a few more every year, as in the cotton textile industry.

Of course, this does not mean that Yushi Group has given up business, it should be said that Yushi Group has turned its attention to more high-end industries at this time.

Such as shipbuilding, steel, automobile and machine building, such as parts and components for automobiles.

In addition, there are emerging industries such as aircraft, and textile machinery manufacturing is a new target of Yushi Group. As long as the textile machines can be produced in-house, not only will the textile equipment required by the group itself not need to be imported from abroad in the future, but it will even be able to meet domestic demand.

Generally speaking, if you invest in this industry, it will definitely not do any harm to the group, it will only be beneficial.

But...

Yan Shao had already made it very clear that he would not compete with domestic industries in light industry. And the manufacture of textile equipment, there must always be a Yan Shao to open his mouth...

That's why Elaline would come and ask.

As long as Yan Shao nods and agrees, millions of funds will be invested in this industry in the next moment to fill a gap between China and Yushi Group. But if he doesn't agree, then everything will naturally blow.

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The idea may be different from what Ilenor thinks, who wants to fill a gap through this incident and take advantage of the fact that there are no domestic competitors at this time, to preemptively occupy the area.

Consider that China has a population of 40,000,000, and at least 10 or 20 million spindles and supporting equipment are needed to meet domestic demand. At present, the number of spindles in China is not even two million, which is a huge gap, and if Yushi Group can fill this gap, it can undoubtedly obtain great profits.

And while satisfying domestic demand, you also meet exports, right?

Again, that's a huge number...

In fact, in later generations, the number of spindles in China is said to have exceeded 100 million, of course, it is also related to the increase in the global population at that time...

After all, there were seven billion people in the world at that time, and what about this era? It's not that much, but even then one or two million is due.

Elano only thinks about making a profit, which is not wrong, after all, she is French, her family is the most important thing to her, and it is impossible to demand her by the standards of a Chinese.

And for Yan Shao...

Elaine's idea seems like a good idea...

Textiles...

Before the First World War, the strongest textile industry in the world was the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Among them, because the per capita wage in the United States is higher than that in Europe, and it travels across the ocean, the competitiveness of the cotton textile industry is not particularly strong.

And after the outbreak of the First World War. The whole of Europe is in shambles, so Britain and Germany don't have to think about it. As for the United States, the originally huge textile industry should be in response to the needs of the war industrial transformation, have thrown away the original business, began to purchase a large number of alternative textiles from China, bringing the prosperity of China's textile industry.

In other words, this is definitely a rare period for China's textile industry. And this prosperity also lasted for a long time after the end of the war, if Yan Shao could seize this opportunity, the domestic textile industry would expand exponentially—————— the number of spindles owned by Chinese enterprises in 1913 was only 490,000. By 1919 it was 650,000, by 1920 it was more than 800,000, in 1921 it was more than 1.2 million, in 1922 it was 1.5 million...

The problem is after the outbreak of war. It is impossible to import textile equipment from Europe. The United States is also busy making arms for Europe, and it will be very troublesome to buy them, if there is a textile machinery factory in the country at this time...

That's right, as a labor-intensive industry, the textile industry has actually been less valued in later generations, after all, the profits are too small, such as high-end industries.

But in this era, the cotton textile industry was one of the few industries that could provide a large number of jobs. For a country with a large population like China. This type of industry is particularly important. What's more, with the current industrial base of China, there is no qualification to pick and choose...

(Japan in the 20s.) The output value of the entire textile accounts for half of the total industry. The textile industry is the mainstream industry in the industrialization and post-industrial era, and it is also the pillar industry of the economy and employment. ）

And at present, the domestic labor cost is very low, and the tariff is gradually getting back into hand. If Yan Shao can get the tariffs back after the war, he may be able to seize the textile market with lower labor costs and further accelerate domestic industrialization...

"Okay..."Thinking of this, Yan Shao said. But let's not make a small fuss, let's go straight to the big one..."

"Big?" Hearing Yan Shao say this, Ileno and Caterina were slightly stunned.

"That's right, an investment of a few million or something, at most it is enough to get a small factory with a little scale, since we are coming, let's have a big one..."

Touching his chin, Yan Shao said.

Compared with many equipment, the machinery and equipment required for cotton weaving are not complicated, and Li Yin can research similar product categories in a short time. Therefore, in addition to imports, this equipment can also meet part of the domestic requirements.

However, it is mainly imported, after all, it is difficult to meet Yan Shao's needs with the current domestic industrial level. Fortunately, there is still almost half a year before the outbreak of World War I, and in addition to importing from the United States, Yan Shao can also import some from Europe until the outbreak of World War I.

"The exact amount of investment......... It's set at two million pounds, either you don't come, or you come to a big one..."

"Two million pounds," Elaline frowned slightly.

She really wants to take advantage of this opportunity to fill the gap in the country, the question is...

"On such a large scale, will the domestic profits keep up in a short period of time?"

It's no wonder she asks this, at present, the 300 million yuan of Yushi Bank's private loans have been loaned out, and more than 200 million yuan has been loaned, and only 70 or 80 million are still in the bank. And these people are now taking the loan from the bank to buy the equipment they need abroad, if Yan Shao decides to start a textile machinery factory, even if he makes a decision now, it will be impossible to build the factory in a year and a half...

In other words, these 300 million loans will definitely not be able to catch up.

China has a population of 40,000 people, which is a huge market. The problem is that after the end of this loan, the domestic market will probably be saturated in the short term, even if there is still a little bit left...

It is important to know that the competition in the domestic textile industry is very fierce, not only domestic, but also from abroad. If it weren't for the fact that some time ago, the government of the People's Republic of China exempted all the centijin, as well as a number of miscellaneous taxes established during the former Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and at the same time raised the tariff to 10%, I am afraid that the situation of domestic enterprises would be more difficult.

If Yan Shao really founded such a large-scale cotton textile factory, I am afraid that he may not be able to earn back the invested funds in ten or eight years...

Seeing Elanon's worried look, Yan Shao smiled slightly.

Of course, he couldn't tell Elaline that in half a year it was likely that the worst war in the world would break out, and then the external competition that China faced would completely disappear, and the domestic cotton textiles could also take this opportunity to go abroad and get the best development period of at least 4 years and at most 10 years...

This opportunity is something Yan Shao must not miss...

Of course, this war may not happen, but if it doesn't happen, it won't happen.

After being by Yan Shao's side for so many years, Elano still knows Yan Shao very well, and she knows very well that what Yan Shao is showing at the moment is the expression that he has made a decision. At this point, it was useless even if she objected, so she sighed helplessly, and Elano didn't say much.

"Anyway, two million is not a big amount, so let him come..."

Wiping the long hair on his shoulders, Elaline said helplessly.

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In addition to the problem of the machinery factory, Elaline also had one more thing to discuss with Yan Shao, and from a certain point of view, this matter was probably more important than the previous one.

After all...

Now the automobile factory is one of the most profitable industries of Yushi Group... (To be continued......)