Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

In the midsummer of June, the countryside is full of life. The millet seedlings in the farmland have begun to ear, and all kinds of crops are growing vigorously.

In the ditch at the edge of the field, several villagers who were working hard at hoeing were soaking in the running water, discussing whether there would be delicious cold locust leaves to eat in the evening.

Several carriages pulling bundles of linen materials came from a distance, crossed the fields, and entered the manor.

In the manor in front of the hillside, the original fence has been replaced by a wall made of rammed earth boards, and most of the houses in the manor have been replaced with half-earth and half-brick tiled houses. Compared with more than a month ago, they are completely different. Two images.

In the southwest corner of the manor, there are several pools for retting hemp. More than a dozen villagers are busy working here, and the retting hemp materials are drying on wooden racks.

In the southeast corner of the manor, there is a large schoolhouse, where the sound of schoolchildren reading can be heard constantly.

Behind the school is a small square, where many women are rummaging through drying dried foods. A woman listened to the sound of reading for a long time, then suddenly put down her dustpan and shouted towards the school: "Dog, why can't I hear you reading? ! If you don’t take it seriously, I’ll spank you until you get home!”

"The leopard's head falls, the rabbit falls, and the two cranes..."

The high-pitched sound of a child reading suddenly rang out in the big room. The voice was shouting at the top of its lungs, which made people sad to hear. However, the woman who had just yelled laughed happily after hearing it.

"Go work elsewhere, don't disturb the schoolchildren's study here!"

Li Zhusheng, who was on duty at the school today, walked out of the big room and waved at the women.

Seeing this, all the women dispersed holding their utensils, but there was also a cheerful and aggressive woman pointing at a pretty girl among them and said with a smile: "I can't let go of those naughty and disgusting things, so I came here, but Madam Su has nothing to do." Come out, come closer just to take a look at the boss!"

After hearing this, Li Zhusheng's face darkened and he stamped his feet in annoyance, but the women laughed even more wildly. Mrs. Su was not shy either, and came over and whispered: "I have a duck simmering on the stove, will you come at night?" "

"snort!"

Li Zhusheng snorted with a straight face, turned around and walked back to the school. After a while, his teaching voice sounded in the room again: "Shu Fu, today's duck..."

The countryside is full of interesting things, and although the people in the village are busy, they are also in a happy and peaceful mood.

But people's joys and sorrows are not the same. The county manager Zheng Manjiu looked sad as he watched Li Tai walking back and forth on the horse while drawing his bow and shooting at the straw men on both sides.

"Mr. Sir, it's almost the end of June, and there are only three months left before the return deadline. Where can I find thousands of stones of grain?"

After finally waiting for Li Tai to stop and rest, Zheng Man quickly moved forward and sighed.

Things had developed to this point, and he couldn't help but feel sad. The county had high hopes for this cooperation. Every time Zheng Man returned to the city, the county magistrate Du Yun would summon him to inquire about the details of the manor management.

In addition, Li Tai's previous use of eye drops also inspired Zheng Man's idea of ​​​​improving his official career. In May, a large family in the county came to the county government office to borrow statues of staff to pray for blessings. Zheng Man was worried that it would affect the manor's employment, so he argued against it.

However, nearly two months had passed. He only saw the five hectares of millet and some miscellaneous grains sown in the manor, plus some mulberry seedlings planted in the mulberry fields on the hillside. Other than that, there was no more farming.

The construction of the manor houses is updated day by day, but no matter how good the manor is, it cannot produce food out of thin air. Those cattle and horses were sometimes lent to the people of Zuojin Village. Could it be that they planned to borrow food from the people of Zuojin Village when the time came? What a joke!

"Don't worry, Mr. Zheng. I regard this place as my long-term career and will never betray anyone's trust!"

Li Tai glanced at Zheng Man, who had a grimace on his face, smiled and comforted him, saying that of course he couldn't say that he had already made preparations in his heart. He practiced bow and horse diligently just to prepare for the day when he could run away.

"But……"

Zheng Man was about to say anything, but Li Tai patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I'll talk to Zheng again at dinner. I have to go to Nanpo to supervise production now."

The green brick courtyard located on the south slope has a higher wall and a larger enclosed area. It covers an area of ​​more than an acre. From the outside, you can't see what is busy inside.

When Li Tai walked into the yard, he saw five mills working continuously under the power of oxen. Next to the mills were five tall spinning wheels, spinning twine.

Because a furnace needs to be melted to melt copper and new gears to be cast, the spinning wheel has only been officially put into production recently after constant debugging and running-in.

Setting up a grinding mill can make the output of cattle power more stable. The crops such as coriander and hemp seeds processed by the grinding are also a side harvest. The oil and moisture of the pressed crops can also protect the wooden structures.

The disadvantage is that it requires more cattle power, which is not as constant and non-consuming as water power, and cannot produce continuous output day and night. Especially at night, because the materials and products are flammable, fireworks are strictly prohibited, and you must not work by light.

Li Tai also had to lament that the ancients were full of wisdom in every detail of business management, and it was not like him, a modern man, who could think everything through just by tapping his forehead.

Although there were twists and turns in the process, it finally achieved staged success.

Although the copper-cast bevel gears are not as good as those made of fine steel in later generations, they are sufficient for driving simple processing machinery such as spinning wheels. The melting and casting of copper is also relatively simple, and there is no need to invest huge amounts of artificial materials to create a new gear. The steel industry can maintain production at this stage.

"Alang, we spun more than 600 kilograms of twine yesterday. If we are more skilled, we can produce 800 kilograms per day!"

Li Quji, who was supervising the work here, came up and reported to Li Tai the production status of these spinning wheels.

Five spinning wheels can spin 800 kilograms of flax per day. If converted into large kilograms, the output of hemp thread is more than 300 kilograms per day, which is nearly twice the efficiency of a large water-spun spinning wheel. But compared with traditional spinning, it is more than ten times better than traditional spinning, which is acceptable.

"Very good, keep up the good work!"

Li Tai was quite satisfied with the result, and then asked: "Is the linen material purchased recently sufficient?"

After Li Quji heard this, he shook his head: "We only collected more than 700 kilograms today, and all the villagers in Zuojin have already bought them all. After all, the villagers themselves also need to store hemp for work."

When Li Tai heard this, he couldn't help but frown again. Although the price of linen was relatively low, it was also a necessity for the villagers' production and daily life. It was used for both home clothing and rent transfer and collection.

Although Shangyuan is a fertile township, it is also a narrow township. The acres of land received by most households with equal land are far less than the number of acres stipulated in the land equalization order. The limited cultivated land naturally needs to be used according to the amount of land. Even if he grows hemp, it is only a small amount, and his own savings are not much.

After the spinning wheel was put into operation, Li Tai exchanged gold for cloth and sent people to buy linen materials nearby. After collecting more than three thousand kilograms, the savings in Zuojin Township were exhausted. More than three thousand kilograms of linen material can only be processed by a large spinning wheel in a few days.

The production capacity here has increased, but the production raw materials are insufficient. If you go further afield to purchase, the transportation costs will increase again.

The trouble Li Tai is facing right now is not just the insufficient supply of linen. After standing in the courtyard for a moment, he went to inspect the weaving field nearby.

In the past nearly two months, in addition to other types of work, the tribesmen have built dozens of looms. Twine is only a semi-finished product and needs to be spun into cloth before it can be put into trade.

Although Li Tai knew how to make a large spinning wheel, he was not omniscient and omnipotent, and was relatively unfamiliar with weaving. Therefore, these dozens of looms are only a current form of craftsmanship, and weavers still need to weave cloth one by one.

"Master Sir, the ladies woven more than sixty pieces of cloth yesterday."

Mrs. Xu, who was in charge of managing the weaving field, came forward to report. After hearing this, Li Tai smiled and encouraged her.

"The new silk is artificially woven, so the silk is artificially woven. One piece of silk is woven every day, and the silk is more than five feet long."

This is the content of the weaving efficiency described in the Han Yuefu poem "Going Up the Mountain to Gather Weeds". In another Yuefu poem "Peacock Flying to the Southeast", in addition to the stem "hanging oneself on the southeastern branch", there is also a description of the heroine. Liu Lanzhi's famous sentence "Breaks five horses in three days".

It can be seen that under the ancient technological environment, it was relatively normal for a weaver to weave one piece of silk a day. Even the heroine of an eternal love story cannot weave two pieces a day.

The weaving process of cloth is lower than that of silk, and the hemp thread is thicker. A skilled weaver can weave two to three pieces a day. A piece of cloth is two feet two wide and forty feet long. About seven or eight pounds of twine can be woven into one piece.

Today, there are more than thirty weavers working in the weaving field, which is already the number of people in the book who know how to weave.

As for the female soldiers sent by the county government, most of them are Hu women and do not know the weaving skills. After all, weaving is printing money, and there is no difference between whether you are idle or busy. Naturally, the county government will not give the fine weaver to Li Tai for use.

"The situation is very bad. Do we really need to pack up and prepare to run away?"

After leaving the weaving field, Li Tai squatted in the field, using branches to write calculations on the ground.

The season has entered midsummer, and the fields are gradually producing more. Prices in Guanzhong have also dropped. They are no longer as exaggerated as when Li Taichu came when one piece of cloth could only buy one bushel. However, the price of one stone of coarse millet is still stable at about five pieces of cloth.

Now the weaving field weaves sixty pieces of cloth a day, which is twelve dan in terms of food, or 360 dan in a month. This kind of output is actually quite considerable. It is more than enough to support a family. All other output in the manor is a net profit.

But the problem is that Li Tai still carries a huge debt of 10,000 shi of food, which can only be reached by one-tenth in three months. The huge gap is a serious problem.

Although he looked calm on the surface, Li Tai was also panicking in his heart. If the food gap in Wuxiang County is just to maintain administrative consumption, he can also try to postpone the debt. But this batch of supplies is for the rural military parade after the fall, so the impact will be huge!

If there is a shortage of these ten thousand shi of food, Yu Wentai may not be able to hold the Grand Parade, he will not be able to build his army, the Eight Pillar Kingdom's twelve generals will not be able to talk about it, Yang Jian will not be able to take the throne, and the Sui and Tang empires of later generations will disappear. ah!

King Gao, I am our loyal minister of Wei! I've helped you handle things that hundreds of thousands of people couldn't handle. Is it too much to be granted the title of king?