When these government officials saw Xu Shixing, their attitude became more respectful and their work became more efficient.
Those key members of the Xiongjie Gang, as long as they were not seriously injured, were driven to their feet by the government officials, put on nooses and brought back to the county government office.
Xu Shixing also looked at the pier. Seeing that the pier was not damaged, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Su Ze and said:
"Brother Rulin, after this battle, the Xiongjie Gang should not come to the dock to cause trouble again."
Su Ze nodded. The Xiongjie Gang was just a minor trouble, and Su Ze didn't take it to heart at all.
No longer discussing the dock, Xu Shixing naturally talked about the academy.
"Brother Rulin, do you really want to run an academy like this? With your reputation, running a normal academy will definitely make you famous in Jiangnan. I'm afraid running an academy like this will be criticized."
Xu Shixing hesitated to speak. When he heard that Su Ze was going to open Tiangong Academy, he thought Su Ze wanted to open a school in Jiangnan.
Xu Shixing was happy to hear the news. The Jiangnan area had a strong academic tradition. With Su Ze's talents and abilities, this academy would definitely become a famous academy in Jiangnan.
But the next news is that Su Ze's Tiangong Academy is not going to teach the Four Books and Five Classics, nor is it a place like Zhejiang Academy where scholars gather to discuss politics, but a vocational school for short-term training of craftsmen?
Such a result was unacceptable even to Xu Shixing and others who supported Su Ze the most.
Although I agree with Su Ze's "Dao is what the common people use every day", which scholar doesn't feel that he is superior to ordinary people?
Su Ze actually wants to teach these common people the art of craftsmanship, which always sounds insulting and polite.
These days Xu Shixing has been writing letters to dissuade Su Ze. Once such a Tiangong Academy is opened, it will not only have no benefit to Su Ze's reputation among Jiangnan scholars, but may even be harmful.
Scholars who are obsessed with poetry, calligraphy and painting will be said to be not doing their jobs properly, not to mention that Su Ze hangs out with these citizen craftsmen.
Su Ze said nonchalantly: "Brother Rumo, don't try to persuade me any more. I have already made up my mind. Tiangong Academy is to train craftsmen in skills. It will be held every two months. Is there any children or servants in Brother Xu's family who are willing to come to school?" of?"
Xu Shixing originally wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it he said, "I'll also send a few guys from home to listen."
Su Ze said happily: "This is naturally the best."
Xu Shixing looked at Su Ze, could this guy be from the Mo family?
Value craftsmen and promote association?
But Su Ze usually teaches Confucian content.
It's so weird.
"The cotton has arrived!"
I don't know who shouted, and I saw several ships docked at the edge of the pier.
Several laborers immediately stepped forward and crowded on the dock to prepare for the job.
Bag after bag of cotton was unloaded from the ship and quickly loaded onto a horse-drawn carriage parked nearby.
Su Ze suddenly asked Xu Shixing: "Brother Rumo, do you know how a piece of cotton cloth is made?"
Xu Shixing shook his head. His family had a silk business and he didn't know much about the cotton production process.
Su Ze said: "Cotton has existed in ancient times, but it was only vigorously promoted in the previous dynasties. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the rich wore silk and the poor wore linen."
Xu Shixing nodded. From reading history books, he could draw the conclusion that cotton was indeed a legacy vigorously promoted by the Yuan Dynasty.
The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty also brought better cotton seeds from the conquered Central Asia. They also established cotton lifting departments across the country and officially operated the cotton cloth trade.
Su Ze said: "As for our cotton in Jiangnan, most of it is not grown locally in Jiangnan. A large part of it is transported through canals. The two lakes and northern regions are the main cotton producing areas."
"The cotton shipped from the north was turned into cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River and then sold to the north. The distance traveled by these cottons in the territory of the Ming Dynasty was more than the distance many people traveled in their lifetimes. Brother Rumo, you know this Does it mean anything?"
Xu Shixing was stunned for a moment and shook his head.
"It means that Jiangnan has made money from all over the country through an industry like cotton processing. Jiangnan is prosperous not only because it is a land of plenty, but cotton trade is also an important part."
Su Ze said: "Why is this cotton not spun and weaved locally, but why does it cost so much money to transport it to Jiangnan?"
Xu Shixing still shook his head.
Su Ze said: "Businessmen are all profit-seeking and will not engage in loss-making transactions. The reason for this is naturally that even if it takes such a long time to transport, it still makes money."
"The reason for making money is naturally because Jiangnan's textile efficiency is high and Jiangnan's textile technology is advanced."
Su Ze said to Xu Shixing: "Brother Rumo, Jiangnan's ability to extract profits from cotton-producing areas relies on this little advancement in technology."
"This little bit of technological progress can lead to rapid development. This is the reason why I established Tiangong Academy. This is a way to enrich the country and the people."
Xu Shixing was stunned for a moment. What Su Ze said was from an angle that he had never considered before.
Su Ze said to Xu Shixing: "Tomorrow I will send a copy of "Tiangong Kaiwu" to your house. Brother Rumo can take a look. The Xu family can convert some shops into workshops, and maybe they can earn more. of silver."
Su Ze saw that Xu Shixing was a little moved, and knew that half of his plan was realized.
In fact, contrary to the stereotype, there is a strong atmosphere in the Jiangnan area for relatives of officials to engage in business.
Most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty worked in other places, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty also stipulated that they could not purchase land locally.
The strictness of enforcement of this rule varies from place to place, but most motivated officials will not violate it.
Therefore, most officials are like Fang Wanghai. After taking office, they will buy local shops and let their families engage in some business activities.
This is especially true in the Jiangnan area. For example, Xu Shixing's father was the prefect of Suzhou. The Xu family did not buy land in Suzhou, but bought several shops in Suzhou City to make money.
If they can be encouraged to open a few new workshops, it can be considered as a contribution to promoting productivity changes.
However, Su Ze does not expect that all the shops in Xu Zhifu's family will be converted into workshops. As long as the shops of the dignified Suzhou Prefecture are open, they can make money selling anything. The development momentum of these shops is not strong. Su Ze is still interested in There are a large number of small businessmen and small workshop owners in the Jiangnan area.
Among all industries, the industry Su Ze is most concerned about is cotton.
This is not because Su Ze and the Xu family can't get along, but because the cotton industry is so critical.
Textbooks link the Industrial Revolution with "sheep eating people", and many people think that the woolen industry is the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
In fact, it was the cotton industry that initiated the entire industrial revolution.
Cotton is the undisputed king of commodities.
The three separations of raw material origin, processing base and consumption area have already shown that today's cotton trade in the Ming Dynasty has shown the characteristics of commodity trade.
When Su Ze founded Tiangong Academy, the first breakthrough industry was the cotton industry.
Su Ze stayed in the editorial office of "Tongyan Shuo" for one night and called Xiong Wu over.
"How did you go about the things you were asked to do?"
"Ms. sir, everything you asked me to do has been done."
Although Xiong Wu was literate, he could only understand common words. He said to Su Ze, "Let Peng An come in and talk to Mr. Xiang in detail."
Su Ze nodded. Peng An, who had grown much taller, came in with a ledger, saluted to Su Ze and said:
"Master Wu took me to visit all the small and medium-sized cotton spinning workshops in Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture. Thirty percent of these cotton spinning workshops are willing to send apprentices to Tiangong Academy to learn how to use new spinning machines and weaving. machine."
"Thirty percent?"
Xiong Wu said: "Mr. sir, 30% is quite a lot. Many workshops are said to be workshops, but in fact they are family workshops. They still use hand-operated spinning wheels that have been passed down for countless generations. They are not willing to buy new spinning machines and sewing machine."
The wharf in Jiangnan is the center for shipping raw cotton. Cotton transported to Suzhou through canals and waterways will be unloaded at the Suzhou wharf and transported to various cotton textile workshops.
Although there is land to grow cotton in the Jiangnan area, it is basically a small-scale mixed crop, that is, it is planted on the ridges of rice fields or on the edges of the fields.
Although the Xu family has specialized cotton fields, the cotton output in Jiangnan cannot support a large workshop like the Xu family that employs thousands of workers.
In addition to large workshops like the Xu family, Songjiang Prefecture also has a large number of small and medium-sized workshops, and they all transport cotton through the docks.
Su Ze relied on the important channel of controlling the dock to establish contact with the cotton spinning workshops in Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture.
This time, in the first training session of Tiangong Academy, the course offered by Su Ze was cotton-related industrial training.
So some time ago, Su Ze asked Xiong Wuhao and Peng An to visit the cotton spinning workshops in Suzhou and Songjiang Prefecture one by one, inviting them to send people to Tiangong Academy to study and replace new spinning machines and looms.
Peng An quickly handed over the list of visitors. Su Ze looked at the dense list and said, "Thank you for your hard work. You can pay five taels of silver later."
Su Ze looked at Peng An, who had grown taller, and realized that the talent he had cultivated was still useful.
"From now on, Xiong Wu will concentrate on taking care of the dock, and leave everything in the cotton spinning workshop to Peng An."
"Also, next time I go to Nanping, I will ask if anyone is willing to come to Jiangnan to help me."
When Xiong Wu heard Su Ze's arrangement, not only was he not unhappy, but he felt relieved and said:
"Thank you Mr. Su! This work is not done by humans! My feet are worn out every day when I visit these workshops!"
For Xiong Wu, dealing with these workshop owners one by one is really a tiring job.
Peng An looked happy. This was because Su Ze had entrusted him with an important task and was responsible for one thing alone. He was naturally full of fighting spirit.
Su Ze ordered:
"Peng An, please visit again in the next few days. If there is a workshop that is willing to use new machines but really does not have the financial resources to pay for new machines, we can provide leasing."
"Leasing? They can't afford to rent."
Su Ze said: "It's not the kind of leasing where they pay rent. Instead, we rent the equipment to them first. After they make money, we will take a commission from the profit."
"If they are willing to spend money to buy it directly, we can also let them buy it in installments."
Peng An nodded and said: "There are indeed a few that are interested. I will visit them tomorrow."
Peng An handed over another list and said: "This is the list of the first batch of students. There are 127 people in total. The academy will pay for the travel expenses. They will arrive one after another in the next few days."
Su Ze nodded with satisfaction. He did not expect that all workshops would use new spinning machines and looms at once.
In fact, when it comes to replacing production equipment, workshop owners and factory owners actually resist.
The reason is also very simple. As long as profits can be maintained, few people will invest in replacement. After all, replacing equipment is a big investment. The investment may not necessarily pay off, and investment is also risky.
Just like restaurants with good business in later generations, they rarely undergo large-scale renovations. And many restaurants that upgrade and renovate when business is good will see their business plummet after the renovation is completed.
Any businessman is inherently risk-averse.
But in industrial development, most participants are pushed forward.
The reason why the cotton industry has become the king of commodities is because new machinery is terrible for the improvement of this industry.
How terrible is the new machine for the improvement of the cotton textile industry?
According to Su Ze's investigation, among the spinning machines used in Jiangnan today, some workshops have already used pedal spinning wheels. This is the three-spindle pedal spinning machine invented by Huang Daopo.
Using this spinning machine, it takes a spinner 600 hours to turn one pound of raw cotton into cotton yarn.
With the 8-spindle spinning machine currently used by Changning Wei, the same spinner only needs 200 hours to complete.
The 100-spindle mule machine written by Su Ze in "Tiangong Kaiwu" can be operated by a spinner in only 10 hours to complete the same workload.
The water-powered spinning machine that Su Ze plans to promote in Tiangong Academy only takes 3 hours to complete the same work.
When the test results came out, Su Ze himself didn't believe it.
The real situation is even more exaggerated than this result. In Su Ze's historical timeline, England in the 18th century improved the spinning efficiency by 370 times in just 30 years.
What is this concept? A machine can increase a worker's work efficiency by 200 times! This improvement in production efficiency is enough to drive any workshop owner crazy.
This means that even if only one percent of the workshop owners are willing to use the latest hydraulic spinning machines, all cotton spinning work can be completed, and the supply of cotton raw materials on the market will exceed demand!
What a terrifying productivity explosion this is!
Su Ze believed that what he threw into Jiangnan was not just a fire, but a huge bomb, which was enough to blow up everything old in Jiangnan and give birth to a new class.
On April 20th, Jinyiwei spy Lu Erye finally returned to Nanjing with his exhausted body.
The first batch of students from Tiangong Academy also arrived at the academy, and the 500 copies of the first edition of "Tiangong Kaiwu" were also shipped to various bookstores in Jiangnan.
(End of chapter)
