Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 173 The First Half of the First Year of the Chuigong Era (A Large Chapter Broken in Half)
Li Xian didn't ask Liu Jianjun how he planned to use Lai Junchen to annoy Empress Wu.

When it comes to these things, Liu Jianjun won't be at a disadvantage.

……

Within a few days, news came from Luoyang that, in mourning for Liu Rengui's death, Empress Wu suspended court for three days, ordered the officials who remained in Chang'an to visit his home in turn to offer condolences, and posthumously awarded him the titles of Grand General of the Three Departments and Grand Governor of Bingzhou.

However, no news of punishment came from Luoyang.

Liu Jianjun is right. In his mother's eyes, he is one of the few "good children" of the Li Tang imperial family, and he will never be punished for a few words of criticism from someone like Lai Junchen.

In order to maintain the "blood feud" between him and Liu Rengui, Li Xian never went to Liu Rengui's residence to pay his respects again. Instead, he focused more on the cotton ecological park with Liu Jianjun.

The cotton ecological park is progressing smoothly; the foundation has been solidified, and the walls have begun to be erected.

High dikes have been built on both sides of Dayi Valley, and Liu Jianjun's "water-powered spinning wheel" is no longer just a fantastic idea on paper, but is gradually revealing its massive framework.

The massive waterwheel has been installed. Liu Jianjun said that this thing can drive dozens or even hundreds of spindles at the same time, and the entire cotton ecological park relies on it for work.

Li Xian found it unbelievable.

The woman manually cranked it, and spinning one spindle at a time was already hard work. No wonder Liu Jianjun said that this thing could increase the speed of spinning cotton cloth by three or even thirty times.

Before we knew it, it was early summer.

This time of year should normally be the summer flood season, but the heavens have only sent a few drizzles, as if bestowing a favor. Liu Jianjun was right; this year will still be a severe drought, perhaps even worse than last year.

Several months have passed, and the effects of Liu Rengui's death have subsided. No outsiders come to mourn him at his residence anymore, and the entire court seems to have forgotten about this old minister.

News kept coming from Luoyang, mostly minor transfers of officials. The Empress Dowager was focused on building her own court. Liu Jianjun was right, though; there was no news of Lai Junchen being promoted again. It seemed that the Empress Dowager had grown disgusted with him after his previous "false accusation."

Li Xian chuckled at this.

The protection that I had never felt since childhood was now being enjoyed under these circumstances.

Li Xian felt no gratitude, only sorrow.

Over the past few months, the main buildings and functional areas of the cotton ecological park have finally been completed. Only some small water diversion and drainage ditches and walls are still under construction, which should be completed in a few days.

The entire cotton ecological park covers a vast area, approximately a thousand acres. According to Liu Jianjun, in addition to the eight textile workshops surrounding Dayi Valley, there are also employee dormitories, canteens, rest and entertainment areas, and even dedicated livestock areas and greenhouse planting areas.

Li Xian was beginning to believe that Liu Jianjun's place was a good place to train troops.

Because the barracks are nothing special.

After the cotton ecological park was nearly completed, another thing Liu Jianjun did was recruit workers.

Logically, since the goal was to spin cotton cloth, Li Xian believed that they should recruit women skilled in needlework. However, Liu Jianjun continued to recruit from among the laborers who were digging irrigation canals.

He said that these people had participated in the construction of the cotton ecological park, and although Su Liangsi was shielding him from the truth, it would be better to keep them in the cotton ecological park.

Li Xian didn't believe it.

He was clearly amassing troops for a rebellion.

But Liu Jianjun really got to work with great enthusiasm.

He led a large group of men to learn how to operate the spinning wheels. The men were resistant to Liu Jianjun's arrangement, since in everyone's mind, spinning was something that women did.

However, Liu Jianjun's method of learning textiles was different.

He did not require every craftsman to become an all-around spinner capable of independently completing everything from cotton to cloth. Instead, he broke down the entire textile process into a dozen or so extremely simple steps.

Some people are specifically responsible for operating the huge water-powered cotton gin to remove the seeds from the cotton and obtain fluffy clean cotton; some people are specifically responsible for fluffing the clean cotton with a sling or simple machinery; and some people are specifically responsible for rolling the fluffed cotton into uniform cotton strips.

Once inside the textile workshop, the situation became even stranger.

The huge water-powered spinning wheel drives dozens of spindles to rotate rapidly through an underground drive shaft, emitting a continuous and even hum.

The workers only need to stand in their fixed positions and perform extremely simple actions. Some are responsible for feeding the slivers into the drafting device, some for splicing, some for checking whether the spindles are fully spun, and some for taking the spun yarn off and sending it to the winding machine...

Each movement is simple and repetitive, requiring almost no complex skills, only practice and focus. Because of the use of water power, the spinning speed far exceeds that of human power, and workers even need to jog to keep up with the machine's pace.

"Did you see that?"

Liu Jianjun explained to Li Xian with a smug look, "This is what we call an assembly line! Everyone only does their own small part of the work. It's simple, fast, and less prone to errors! Even a novice can be trained in a day or two and then start working. It's much faster and cheaper than training a skilled spinner who knows everything!"

Looking at the bustling yet orderly scene in the workshop, and watching the men who were initially resistant gradually become involved due to the novelty, the incentive of wages, and the atmosphere of competition among peers, and even start to compete to see who can supervise more spindles and have fewer broken ends, Li Xian had to admit that Liu Jianjun's method, although unconventional, was surprisingly efficient.

This is no longer "textiles" in the traditional sense, but more like a water-powered, unprecedented form of "production".

“But,” Li Xian still had a lingering doubt, “can the quality of the spun yarn be guaranteed? And what about the weaving? Will it also be done in this way?”

"You can rest assured about the quality," Liu Jianjun patted his chest. "Machine-spun yarn is much more uniform in thickness than hand-spun yarn! As for the weaving..."

He led Li Xian to another workshop.

Instead of traditional waist looms or oblique looms, rows of more complex "flying shuttle looms" are displayed here. These looms are also powered by water through connecting rods, with the shuttles moving back and forth between the warp threads at lightning speed, several times faster than a human hand can throw a shuttle!
“Weaving is the same!” Liu Jianjun pointed to the workers who were only responsible for changing weft bobbins and checking the fabric for defects. “Continuing the weft, checking the fabric, adjusting the warp tension… all are done separately! This way we can weave faster! Our water-powered spinning wheels can spin a lot of yarn day and night. If we were still using the old method to weave, we simply couldn’t keep up!”

Li Xian silently observed everything before him.

The power of the water flow, through precise mechanical transformation, drives the spindles to spin and the shuttles to move. The workers, like gears on a giant machine, efficiently and attentively complete the decomposed processes.

This scene gave him a sense of immense productivity, but also a vague feeling of unfamiliarity and unease.

This completely overturned his understanding of "men plowing and women weaving".

"Speaking of which, Aisha is the smartest. I originally only thought of using water power to complete the simple operation of rotating the spindle, but Aisha said that the spinning process is just a repetitive operation, so I asked her to demonstrate the spinning process to me in detail, and asked her how to lay the threads and how to interweave them in those places..."

"Of course, in the end, I was the smartest one, and I came up with a way to replace all these processes with machines!" Liu Jianjun boasted proudly, and nodded seriously: "Yes, I also picked Aisha. In the end, I was the smartest one."

Listening to Liu Jianjun's shameless boasting, Li Xian shook his head helplessly, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

This guy always has a way of making serious things seem a bit playful and teasing, making people feel relaxed without even realizing it.

As the two were talking, Li Xian hurried over with an account book in hand, his face showing excitement and urgency: "Second brother, Jianjun! The weaving workshop just reported that in just half a day, they have already woven more than five bolts of wide cotton cloth!"
"At this rate, one workshop can easily produce ten bolts of cotton cloth a day! If all eight weaving workshops were to operate at full capacity..."

He flipped through the ledgers rapidly, calculating: "...Even if we only consider the six workshops working at full capacity, that's sixty bolts a day! That's eighteen hundred bolts a month! This...this is simply..."

He couldn't find the right words to describe this terrifying productivity.

Li Xian smiled as he looked at Li Xian.

He paid no attention to the data that Li Xian reported.

What he cared more about was that Li Xian was enjoying life at the cotton ecological park.

Originally, Li Xian agreed to Liu Jianjun's arrangement for Li Xian to work as an accountant in the cotton ecological park because he was worried that Li Xian would get bored staying in the Prince of Pei's mansion all day. After all, only the people in the mansion knew about bringing Li Xian from Fangzhou, and he had to be careful even when leaving the mansion.

But who would have thought that Li Xian would actually enjoy this job? Li Xian said: "Being an accountant is much more interesting than being an emperor. Calculating those accounts makes me feel like there's a constant stream of money flowing into my pocket. But when I was emperor, all I saw were constant disasters in various places and memorials requesting disaster relief. I always felt like someone was trying to drain the Tang Dynasty's coffers."

Seeing the long-lost gleam and heartfelt joy in Li Xian's eyes, Li Xian felt even more gratified.

In his heart, Li Xian was able to emerge from the shadows and find something that made him feel fulfilled, which made him happier than a thousand or ten thousand bolts of cloth.

"I'm glad you like it, Brother Xian," Li Xian said with a gentle smile.

Liu Jianjun chimed in from the side, putting his arm around Li Xian's shoulder: "That's right! Xianzi is our god of wealth now! Managing such a huge amount of money and grain is much better than being a miserable emperor! When our cotton cloth is sold all over the world, and the money flows in like water, that will be truly wonderful!"

Li Xian blushed slightly at what he said, but did not refute it. Instead, he nodded vigorously, clearly full of anticipation for the abundant wealth described by Liu Jianjun.

Then, with a hopeful look in her eyes, she asked, "Are we having hot pot again after work tonight?"

Li Xian sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Although he was initially amazed by the hot pot, Li Xian felt a headache coming on just looking at the yin-yang fish basin after eating it every day.

……

The drought arrived as expected.

After a few light drizzles in early summer, the Guanzhong Plain seemed to have been abandoned on a scorching grill. The sky was always a clear, deep blue without a single cloud, and the sun rose precisely on time every day, scorching the earth and evaporating the last bit of moisture.

At this time of year, the Wei River, Jing River, and other rivers are abundant, irrigation canals crisscross the landscape, and rice seedlings are lush and green in the fields.

But now, the river level is visibly dropping day by day, revealing the dry and cracked riverbed and white pebbles. Most of the channels, large and small, have dried up, and the few remaining streams have become the lifeline that the villages along the way are fighting over, often resulting in armed conflicts.

The soil had long since lost its moisture, becoming hard and grayish-white. The rice seedlings in the fields were drooping, their leaves curled and withered, and many had died before they even had a chance to sprout ears.

The wind blew, but instead of waves of wheat, it stirred up a cloud of yellow dust that stung our faces.

An atmosphere of anxiety and oppression permeated Chang'an City.

The water level in the wells kept dropping, and many shallow wells had dried up. People had to queue up at deeper wells further away to fetch water, often waiting for most of the day, only to get a small half-bucket of murky water.

Although the government organized some local rain-making ceremonies, the heavens did not respond, and the sun remained blazing after the ceremonies, which only added to the sense of despair.

Due to the drought, grain prices began to soar uncontrollably.

Despite repeated orders from the government to stabilize grain prices, the measures were insufficient. Hoarding grain merchants and the anxious public together drove up the price of rice and millet every day.

More and more people with malnourished faces were seen on the streets and alleys. Theft and robbery of grain were frequent occurrences. Occasionally, a grain transport convoy would enter the city, only to be immediately surrounded by hungry crowds.

Outside the city gates, groups of refugees began to appear, dragging their families along, their faces gaunt and their eyes vacant, staggering toward places where they might find water or a way to survive.

But with the entire Guanzhong Plain ravaged by drought demons, where could they possibly escape to?
The imperial court issued several decrees from Luoyang to appease and urge the people to fight the drought, but in the face of such a massive natural disaster, words seemed pale and powerless. The limited relief grain was stripped away at each level, and by the time it reached the disaster victims, there was hardly any left.

……

Inside the Prince of Pei's residence, Li Xian stood by the window, looking at the courtyard outside, which was bleached white by the scorching sun, his brows furrowed.

Although he was in the palace, news of the tragic situation outside kept coming through various channels.

"The situation is worse than last year," Li Xian said, his voice hoarse. "I've heard that some prefectures and counties have seen grain prices surge tenfold..."

Liu Jianjun sat to the side, unusually abandoning his nonchalant expression, and said with a serious look: "Well, we have a lot of food stored up, but if the disaster continues, it probably won't last long. The key thing now is water."

He walked to Li Xian's side and whispered, "Although the stream over Dayi Valley is much shallower, fortunately we built a dam beforehand and stored some water, which can still support the operation of the workshop and the irrigation of the garden."

"But outside... there are already quite a few people watching our stream."

Li Xian felt a chill run down his spine; he understood what Liu Jianjun meant.

In this year of severe drought, water is the lifeline. The cotton ecological park has a relatively stable water source, which is both an advantage and a potential target, attracting greedy and predatory attention.

"We must strengthen our defenses," Li Xian said in a deep voice, "especially at night. We cannot allow refugees or those with ulterior motives to disrupt the workshops."

"It's already been arranged." Liu Jianjun nodded. "Xue Da is leading the Imperial Guards on patrols day and night, and I've also told Xianzi to go to the valley as little as possible recently, to avoid any trouble."

When Li Xian was mentioned, Li Xian sighed: "My brother Xian... asked me today if the manor could spare some grain to help the children who had fled famine outside the manor."

Liu Jianjun paused for a moment, then shook his head: "Your intentions are good, but we can't open this door now. Once we do, the influx of people will overwhelm us, and no one will survive."

"Disaster relief requires other methods."

Li Xian knew what method Liu Jianjun was talking about.

He had previously asked Wang Bo to pay attention to water transport and local transportation so that he could use cotton cloth to transport to surrounding areas where the harvest had not yet completely failed, or to exchange it for grain from more distant places through merchants from the Central Asian regions, in order to alleviate the food shortage in Chang'an.

"Any news from Wang Bo?" Li Xian asked.

In this time of widespread famine, every glimmer of hope is of paramount importance.

Liu Jianjun replied, "The situation isn't great, but it's not the worst either."

"The Yellow River is shallow and difficult to navigate due to drought, making it difficult for large ships to pass, but small and medium-sized boats can still manage to pass."

"Although the harvest in some areas of Henan and Huainan has also decreased this year, it has not been a complete crop failure. Huainan, in particular, is in a slightly better situation due to its reliance on the Yangtze River. Grain prices there are also rising, but if we exchange our cotton cloth, especially thick and durable cotton cloth, we can still make a good profit. The key is that we can get grain in return."

He paused, then said, "Wang Bo also learned that the prefectures and counties along the way are extremely strict in checking grain leaving the country, especially towards Guanzhong. We need to find a reliable and trustworthy caravan, break it down into smaller units, and disguise it as ordinary goods in order to transport the grain back. This will take time and require some bribing."

"In any case, once the cotton in Chang'an is harvested and woven into cotton cloth, it will be enough to barely cope with the current situation."

Li Xian nodded.

But then, with some concern, he asked, "I remember you told Wang Bo before that this was just a temporary measure, and if the drought continues..."

Liu Jianjun chuckled: "Didn't I say that one of our people will be going to Jiangnan soon? The water towns of Jiangnan haven't been affected by the drought in Guanzhong, so these problems will be easily solved then."

Li Xian was puzzled and asked, "Who? I don't remember ever trying to win over someone like that. Wang Bo has been missing for some time now, and you've sent him out again?"

"Of course, Wang Bo is too useful. He doesn't ask why he does things, he just works hard without thinking. A hundred or a thousand Lai Junchens can't compare to him." Liu Jianjun kept it a secret and didn't explain who he was referring to.

Li Xian looked at him helplessly and said, "So you just bury yourself in your work and won't tell me anything when I ask you?"

"Of course, so I can be worth a thousand Wang Bos... Well, never mind, that's a bit of an exaggeration, let's say three." Liu Jianjun was unusually embarrassed.

Ignoring Liu Jianjun's self-praise, Li Xian asked, "So, what about us now?"

"Wait for the cotton harvest in Chang'an, then we'll collect cotton cloth, and then the cotton mill will officially start operations."

……

(End of this chapter)