Today, the Queen listened to the work reports of the general manager, factory supervisor, financial manager, and ten workshop directors of the Woolen Textile Factory in the Jiaotai Hall.
Aunt Tao, the female officer next to the queen, also serves as the general supervisor. Aunt Tao usually serves the Queen. If anything happens in the woolen mill, she will be reported to her.
Aunt Tao is equivalent to the secretary-general of the Queen's Office. Assist the queen in managing a series of things such as the harem, royal palace, and royal workshops. His authority is equivalent to that of the Chief Superintendent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Qing Dynasty.
Jiaotai Hall was the Queen's office in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the lintel of this main hall has a dragon coat of arms and a phoenix coat of arms.
In the Ming Dynasty, Jiaotai Hall was the place where birthday celebrations were held for the queen, and where the queen of the main palace received congratulations on major festivals. On major festivals such as New Year's Day and Qianqiu (the Queen's birthday), the Queen receives congratulations here.
He usually handles the internal affairs of the royal family and handles the affairs of the harem. The queen also sits here to govern.
When she and the Yang family jointly set up this wool spinning factory, she never expected that wool spinning could be so profitable. .net
In the first half of this year, the net income has been 450,000 taels. The wool now used is a new breed of fine-wool sheep transported by water from Duolun City.
The reason why Yang Fan disposed of all the Mongolian cattle, sheep and horses. Only the best part of the source remains. The purpose is to concentrate on raising fine-wool sheep and produce more wool, so as to develop the wool textile industry.
The original wool was too thick and the wool grew slowly. The fabric is scratchy and uncomfortable. Only felt can be made. However, the market demand for felt is not small. Therefore, a few pieces of pasture land were retained unchanged.
The cattle that are used for other than meat consumption are mainly Helstein Friesian cows from the Netherlands. This kind of cow produces milk for more than 300 days a year. It produces more than fifty kilograms of milk a day.
Duolun wool is sheared and pressed into large bales, transported by water to the capital, and transported from the moat to the woolen mill on the bank of the Gaoliang River outside Xizhimen. Cleaning, sorting and processing are done here.
One of the most popular wool materials at present is cotton-wool blended clothing. One is wool. Cotton wool blending is to reduce costs. Woolen coats are mainly high-end.
A set of fine woolen coats costs hundreds of taels of silver. Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty’s royal family, nobles, officials, and wealthy businessmen most like coats with woolen outside and mink fur inside, with hoods.
The woolen fabric is crisp and luxurious. Lined with mink and turned out with a fur collar, it perfectly complements the noble temperament.
In recent years, the Ming Dynasty winter has been extremely cold because of the Little Glacier. Warm clothing is most popular. Therefore, fur was expensive and easy to sell in this era. This is also the reason why Tsarist Russia explored Siberia. At this time, fur was known as soft gold in Europe. Tsarist Russia rose to prominence because it hunted furs from Siberia and sold them to Europe.
Yang Fan originally wanted to make down jackets. After all, this has the best thermal insulation effect. Light and warm. But not the fabric.
In this era, there were no very fine chemical fiber materials like later generations. The gaps in the fabrics of this era are large, and duck down can easily come out.
So, I finally started spinning wool, cotton and linen.
The factory director Zhou Xingwang was a domestic slave of the Queen's natal family. He was familiar with the silk weaving industry because he had been responsible for the silk business for the Zhou family for a long time. So he was appointed by the queen.
"My dear, the market is very good at the moment. In the past year, more and more people have recognized our woolen fabrics and woolen fabrics. The reason why our income has increased so much in the first half of this year is mainly because the market in Jiangnan has opened up."
"The winter in Jiangnan is not as cold as in the north. They wear woolen coats for the winter. Woolen coats are light, warm, and show class. Nowadays, the gentry in Jiangnan are too embarrassed to go out."
Empress Zhou was overjoyed when she heard this. Since she took charge of the harem, her investments in Xinghe Supermarket and Woolen Mills have been successful. Xinghe Supermarket currently has branches all over Daming. Business is booming.
The royal family can earn five hundred thousand taels a year. Now the woolen mill has made a net profit of 450,000 taels in half a year, which makes her extremely happy.
Looking at this development momentum, the second half of the year will be even more prosperous, because winter is about to begin. Entering the peak sales season.
The royal family owns 40% of the woolen mill, the Yang family owns 30%, and the remaining 30% is owned by nobles. If we make a profit of one million taels this year, we will have an income of another 400,000 yuan.
Empress Zhou said happily: "Since the market is so big, I think we can expand production. Mid- to low-end products
Blending wool can double production. "
She has business talent and understands that high-end fabrics need to be sold quickly. Can't produce too much. So as not to turn luxury goods into cabbage. There will be no excess profits.
On the other hand, middle-class families in the Ming Dynasty could afford blended woolen materials, so they could expand production. Get more profits.
Director Zhou was hesitant because he wanted to talk about the current difficulties but was afraid of upsetting the queen.
When the queen was still the eldest lady of the Zhou family, she began to take charge of some business matters. His style is that of a domineering president.
Queen Zhou looked at him but hesitated to speak. Asked: "Director Zhou, what's the problem?"
Factory Director Zhou hurriedly said: "Ms. Qi, there is nothing else to say. The supply of wool is sufficient. There is still surplus production capacity in the dyeing workshop. The garment workshop can add more female workers. The textile workshop can add equipment. But..."
Empress Zhou's beautiful eyes narrowed and she asked: "But what? Aren't we all ready? But there are insufficient self-owned funds. If we proceed in this way, we will not pay dividends to shareholders this year and directly convert the profits into shares. It is equivalent to a rights issue."
"That's not true. The main reason is that the cotton output is not high due to the severe drought in the past two years. Furthermore, the cotton yarn output is also insufficient. The blended cotton yarn is not enough. At present, we have bought all the cotton yarn available in the North Zhili market."
"For this reason, there have been complaints in the market. Many weaving workshops cannot buy cotton yarn. Therefore, we cannot expand production without solving the cotton yarn problem."
This is a big problem. A clever woman cannot make a meal without straw.
Queen Zhou thought for a moment and said, "Shandong's cotton yield is high. Can't we use Shandong's cotton?"
Director Zhou said: "It is best not to transport cotton over long distances. It is too bulky and the freight is not cost-effective. It is best to purchase cotton yarn from a long distance. The output of cotton yarn in Shandong is not high. There is not much cotton yarn for sale on the market, and most of them are self-sufficient. There are many family workshops that are self-sufficient and spin and weave their own cloth.”
"Then is there any way to increase the production of cotton yarn?" Queen Zhou asked.
"There are two ways. One is to increase the purchase price, so as to buy up as much cotton yarn as possible on the market, and also encourage the private sector to increase the output of cotton yarn in order to make money. The other is to improve the spinning wheels and increase the output of cotton yarn."
Queen Zhou nodded and said: "I know, you first increase the purchase price of cotton yarn and collect as much as possible. Aunt Tao, please find Bingchan. I heard that Uncle Dingyuan has an efficient spinning machine. Go and have a look. Condition."
