Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 118 Pirates and Treacherous Officials Collude (Part 7)

One of the foundations for industrial development is the supply of raw materials.

If even raw materials cannot be supplied, then there is no way to talk about developing industry.

For example, without enough copper, a steam engine cannot be built; without rubber seals, it becomes very troublesome; and even without raw silk, silk cannot be woven.

They've even built large spinning machines, but since they still don't have a supply of raw silk, they can only leave them there to look at.

Zhu Jue was still considering whether to build the spinning mill and even the weaving mill first.

This investment is enormous. Leaving aside the cost of acquiring the land, just building the factory, spinning machines, and weaving machines will require an unknown amount of manpower and materials.

If the factory buildings are all built, and the spinning and weaving machines are all installed, but enough raw silk cannot be collected, then not only will you not make money, but you will also lose money.

To be honest, he had never encountered anything so absurd and bizarre when he ran a company in his previous life. He had to rob people to get goods. He, as the emperor, had such great power, yet he couldn't even find a trace of raw silk!
The vested interest groups in the Ming Dynasty are now like a dark hand that blots out the sky, wielding immense power and secretly controlling countless interests.

He didn't know if Xiong Wencan and Xu Guangqi, with their limited strength, could snatch the raw silk back from this enormous black hand, or rather, he couldn't be sure how long it would take Xiong Wencan and Xu Guangqi to find the raw silk in this overwhelming black hand.

This problem is really a headache.

He's been thinking about it for two or three days and still can't make a decision.

Around 9 a.m. that day, he had already finished reviewing the memorials, but he was still sitting there without moving.

He pondered for a moment before announcing loudly, "Summon Shi Gao to come and pay his respects."

A moment later, Bi Maoliang strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and asked directly, "Shi Gao, I plan to build factories in the capital and add spinning and weaving machines. We will first weave silk and then cotton cloth. What do you think?"

How do you say this?

Bi Maoliang thought about it carefully before solemnly saying, "Your Majesty is wise. It is really difficult to control the weaving bureau in Jiangnan because silk is too valuable. If you just haul a cartload and sell it to pirates, you can earn at least a thousand taels of silver."

Your humble servant has also investigated carefully. At the beginning of the Wanli reign, when the regulations were most stringent, the Jiangnan Textile Bureau was indeed able to deliver more than 100,000 to 200,000 bolts of silk every year. However, once the regulations were relaxed slightly, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of bolts of silk disappeared.

The officials and eunuchs in charge of the textile industry were corrupt at every level, and it was not uncommon for them to embezzle at least half of the textiles, and even 70%, 80%, or 90% of the textiles.

If we were to engage in overseas trade, such an unstable supply of goods would certainly not work. Therefore, establishing a weaving factory in the capital is the best option. No one should dare to be so greedy right under our noses.”

What you're saying isn't the same issue I'm thinking about.

I'm thinking about the raw materials, while you're thinking about embezzlement.

However, this problem of corruption does need to be considered; simply killing people is probably not enough to stop it.

People die for wealth, birds die for food. Even knowing they will die, some people will still be greedy for momentary pleasure. Corrupt officials can never be completely eradicated.

Moreover, the tentacles of vested interest groups are everywhere. Corrupt officials can be said to be the suckers for them to seize profits. Some officials may not be corrupt at first, but under the inducement of vested interest groups, they will eventually become suckers like leeches, frantically sucking and embezzling.

If we consider the silk that might be embezzled and future overseas trade, then the money spent on building factories and manufacturing spinning and weaving machines is nothing.

If someone embezzles 100,000 bolts of silk, it's a loss of over a million taels of silver. In recent years, the amount of silk embezzled by the Jiangnan Textile Bureau has exceeded 100,000 bolts annually. Moreover, in the future, they will be producing millions of bolts of silk. If someone embezzles a million bolts, who knows how many factories and machines could be built.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "Well, then we'll build a factory in the capital and manufacture spinning machines and weaving machines."

We'll build it to produce one million bolts a month. We don't need to worry about spinning anymore; we already have large steam-powered spinning machines, which are more than a hundred times faster than manual spinning.

However, Chang Geng doesn't have time to develop a loom yet, so we'll have to rely on manual labor for now. Do the math: how many looms would we need to weave one million bolts of silk a month?

This is easy to calculate.

Bi Maoliang estimated: "If we don't have to worry about spinning, a skilled worker can definitely weave a bolt of silk in four days, and a manual worker can weave about seven or eight bolts of silk in a month."

If we want to save on looms, we can work in two shifts, day and night. Although that would consume more lamp oil, it would save a lot of space and machines.

Based on this calculation, one loom can produce approximately fifteen bolts of silk per month, so one million bolts would require roughly seventy thousand looms.

what?
Seventy thousand units!
Zhu Jue was taken aback when he heard these exaggerated numbers. At that time, a piece of cloth was only about 40 feet long. The most common high-speed looms in later generations could weave several meters per minute. The most exaggerated high-speed looms were rumored to be able to weave thousands of meters of cloth per minute. Although he had never seen a loom that could weave thousands of meters per minute, he had seen looms that could weave several meters per minute.

It's astonishing how much cloth can be woven by hand in a single day!

This speed is really too slow.

He couldn't help but ask, "Shi Gao, does weaving cloth require so many looms? The cotton cloth woven by ordinary people is at least several times that of silk. Ordinary people can weave at least several million bolts of cotton cloth a month. Wouldn't that require hundreds of thousands of looms?"

That's not the case.

Bi Maoliang nodded slightly and said, "Yes, there are many looms in the countryside. For example, I have been to Songjiang Prefecture, which is the most famous for weaving in Jiangnan. Almost every household there has a loom."

There were also weaving workshops scattered throughout the countryside. The Xu family alone owned dozens of weaving workshops and thousands of looms. The total number of looms in the entire Songjiang Prefecture was estimated to be more than 100,000.

Did Xu Jie still have so many workshops and looms in his home?
It's terrifying to have thousands or even tens of thousands of looms all the time.

If possible, he would like to develop a steam loom right now.

The problem is that Song Yingxing's time is limited, and they don't have enough copper yet. They also need to ensure they have enough machine tools to make muskets, cannons, and ships. It's too early to make steam looms. For civilian use, it's better to use manpower if possible.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Alright, I order Chang Geng to arrange for the construction of large spinning machines and looms. Let's start with a quantity of one hundred large spinning machines and ten thousand looms per month. Let's build six hundred large spinning machines and sixty thousand looms first."

Bi Maoliang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

So many large spinning and weaving machines need to be housed in factories, and a large number of workers are required. Not to mention the large spinning machines, in order to keep it a secret, those machines can only be operated by craftsmen. Just the weaving machines alone would require at least tens of thousands of workers.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully again, and then asked, "Shi Gao, how much space does a loom typically take up, and how big are the weaving workshops in the countryside?"

Bi Maoliang replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, an ordinary loom is about one zhang long, half a zhang wide, and eight chi high. Smaller workshops in the countryside have more than ten or twenty looms, which can be placed in a tiled house that is about three or four zhang wide, five or six zhang long, and about one zhang high."

Large workshops typically have hundreds of looms. Some are housed in two separate tiled houses, each three or four zhang wide, over ten zhang long, and about ten zhang high, housing fifty looms. Others are housed in a single tiled house, over ten zhang long, ten zhang wide, and about ten zhang high, housing hundreds of looms.

This means that one hundred machines would require a factory building that is about thirty meters long and thirty meters wide, which is roughly one thousand square meters. One acre of land would be more than six hundred square meters, and two acres of land would be enough to house one hundred looms. As for the height, it would be about the height of an ordinary farmhouse, so that's not a problem.

There are also places to put large spinning machines, which must be built on high ground, and the factory buildings, which are more than 30 meters long and 30 meters wide, can only accommodate about 50 machines.

Zhu Jue did a quick calculation, then announced loudly, "Summon Wei Zhongxian to come and pay his respects."

Wei Zhongxian was waiting to be summoned in the palace, and he arrived quite quickly.

A moment later, he strode in, respectfully cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then said solemnly, "Zhongxian, I'll have to trouble you to acquire some more land. Acquire all the land within two miles west of the artisan residences in the eastern city. Is it alright to finish acquiring it within three days?"

That's probably less than 10,000 mu of land, and spring plowing has only just begun; the rice seedlings haven't been planted yet, so the harvest will be quick.

Wei Zhongxian nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem."

Yes, I'm at ease letting you take over the land.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then carefully instructed, "Have the village heads and chiefs tell the common people in your jurisdiction that you plan to build a weaving workshop there. Anyone who knows how to weave should practice, and anyone who doesn't should learn as soon as possible. You need to recruit a lot of people to weave."

I run a cloth weaving workshop?

Oh, it was you who opened it.

I don't need to worry about that.

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "This servant understands."

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Wang Yingchao has returned."

This guy is finally back.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue replied without hesitation, "Summon."

(End of this chapter)