"Of course it's not just cotton." Han Du quickly explained, "High-quality cotton will become collodion after some manufacturing processes."
This is why Han Du said that even if the secret recipe was placed in front of Bei Yuan, they would not be able to make it in large quantities.
Even though cotton seems to be nothing new, cotton was already being cultivated in Gaochang during the Tang Dynasty. But those were only a very small amount of planting, and there was no scale at all.
Even today, cotton cultivation in the Ming Dynasty is still small. This is also the reason why it was very inconvenient for Han Du to purchase cotton before.
Although it seems that cotton is grown in many places in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, these cottons are planted in corners such as wasteland or field edges. They all grow cotton with the mentality that it's a pity to waste it, and they can harvest a little bit. In real fertile fields, food is grown. After all, food is the most important thing for the people. Without cotton, you may not freeze to death, but without food, you will definitely starve to death.
Whether it is light or serious, the people can still figure it out.
Many times everyone thinks that in ancient times, agricultural civilization was not as powerful as nomadic civilization. But on the contrary, most of the time, agricultural civilization suppressed nomadic civilization.
The reason is simple. Throughout the ages, wars have been fought for money and resources. The accumulation rate of resource wealth of nomadic civilization is definitely not as fast as that of agricultural civilization. Some people may use the Southern Song Dynasty as an example, but in fact, if you think about it seriously, if the Southern Song Dynasty could use part of its money for military purposes, the Yuan Dynasty might not necessarily be able to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, agricultural civilization is also the basis for the birth of industrial civilization, because only agricultural civilization can provide the raw material basis required by industrial civilization. Some people may think that industry is high-tech, and industrial raw materials are various minerals. In fact, this is not the case. Minerals can only provide part of the industrial raw materials, and a large part of the rest is actually provided by agriculture.
For example, rubber, even in modern civilization. Isn't rubber also produced by planting rubber trees and then cutting them out bit by bit manually? There is also cotton. Cotton is also a very important industrial raw material. Isn’t it also grown?
"It's cotton again..." There was a hint of complaint in Lao Zhu's tone.
Indeed, Han Du told him the first time that cotton could be used to make treasure banknotes. As a result, the treasure banknotes were made, and he was indeed very satisfied. The addition of cotton made the treasure banknotes impervious to water.
Now Han Du told him that the main raw material for making this kind of fire gun is also cotton. This gave Lao Zhu a feeling that cotton must be used in everything.
However, although there was not a lot of cotton grown in the Ming Dynasty, there was some cotton after all, right? If we think of ways to encourage people to plant, we should still be able to solve the problem.
"Since cotton is so important, I will issue an order to encourage people to plant it. What do you think?"
In fact, Lao Zhu had already made up his mind, and asking Han Du was just a casual question.
Han Du thought for a moment and said, "I wonder how the emperor is going to encourage you?"
Lao Zhu pondered for a while and said: "People who have five to ten acres of land must plant half an acre of cotton, and those who have more than ten acres of land must plant double that. They will also be exempted from taxes for three years. What do you think?"
There is encouragement here and there, but this is simply enforcement. However, Lao Zhu still had some conscience and at least exempted the people from taxes for three years.
Han Du hesitated for a moment, glanced at Lao Zhu a few times, and sighed: "Wei Chen did not explain clearly to the emperor that the requirements for making collodion cotton are extremely high. Ordinary cotton has too many impurities, and the collodion produced is very powerful. If it is not enough, it is not suitable for use at all. It must be made of high-quality cotton and made of collodion, which can be used to put it inside."
When Lao Zhu heard this, he couldn't help but frown. Being familiar with farming, he naturally knows that cotton can be divided into high, middle and low grades, and that high-quality cotton is actually rare.
After all, farming now depends on the weather and is greatly affected by climate and rain. Until harvest time, no one can be sure whether the cotton produced in that land is of the highest quality.
If you want high-quality cotton, you can only rely on people to plant it in large quantities and then select the best from the best.
"Furthermore, Wei Chen believes that if taxes are only exempted, people may not be very enthusiastic about planting cotton. After all, growing cotton is still somewhat risky. The emperor should know that the carefully planted crops and sown seeds will not be ignored. The difference that comes out is huge.”
Han Du looked at Lao Zhu tentatively.
Lao Zhu asked in a deep voice: "Then what do you think should be done?"
"Your Majesty, everything in the world is for profit. If you want people to grow cotton in large quantities, you must give them enough profits. As long as the profits are sufficient, there is no need to worry about the Ming Dynasty not having enough high-quality cotton to use."
Han Du was confident.
But Lao Zhu was silent after hearing this. Although he became the emperor, it can be seen from his actions that what Lao Zhu fears most is spending money. But Han Du is the one who can spend the most money, so as soon as Lao Zhu listened to Han Du's words, he kept thinking about whether the money was worth it.
After hesitating for a moment, Lao Zhu asked: "You mean, just like grain, the palace also purchases cotton according to the price?"
Han Du nodded.
"Then at what price do you think we should buy cotton?" Lao Zhu's eyes wandered a little, and he was worried that Han Du would spit out a number that would make him feel distressed.
Han Du noticed that Lao Zhu's expression was a little uncomfortable, and said flatteringly: "This will naturally be decided by the emperor. However, if I have to let the minister say it, Wei Chen thinks that one hundred cents per pound is a way to encourage the people to actively grow cotton. s price."
Hearing this, Lao Zhu's face trembled involuntarily, and he said in a harsh voice: "Now the price of cotton at harvest time is only forty or fifty cents per catty, but you opened your mouth and asked for a hundred cents. You are really... willing !”
There is a saying that Lao Zhu didn't scold, "Relationships don't cost you money, right?" '
"And this is just a low price. It would be best if we could offer different prices according to the grade of cotton. For example, the best ones can be given 150 cents per catty..."
Lao Zhu's angry nose suddenly came out with thick breath. The price just now made Lao Zhu feel that it was too expensive. He didn't expect that Han Du was not satisfied yet.
"Nonsense, how much does cotton cost per pound now? You raised the price so high all at once, aren't you crazy?" Lao Zhu couldn't bear it any longer and shouted.
Han Du touched his nose and thought, what is this? Have I bought more expensive ones?
Han Du had purchased cotton at a high price of 200 cents per pound. Although cotton was scarce at that time, part of the profits needed to be given to merchants. Now it can be purchased at a price of one hundred and fifty coins, which is worth it in Han Du's opinion.
