Zhai Rujing said at this time: "It would be great if someone knows what kind of spinning wheel this is. Then, do any of you know how to spin this?"
All the great Confucian scholars looked at each other in astonishment.
"I can!"
Liu Quexian responded, sat behind the spinning wheel, and began to operate.
Seeing this, Tan Yangzi also sat next to him, smiled and asked: "Can you please teach me?"
Liu Quexian nodded and said, "I've learned this before, it's not difficult."
"Why do you want to learn this?"
Tan Yangzi asked.
Wang Shizhen and He Xinyin also looked over, ready to hear what Liu Quexian had to say.
He Xinyin asked directly: "Is it to understand the daily life of the people?"
Liu Quexian laughed and said, "It's just to spin more yarn and weave more cotton."
"You are also my husband. Don't you have enough cotton? Do you want you to spin the yarn yourself?"
Wang Shizhen asked.
Liu Quexian said: "No, the demand for cotton cloth is huge now, especially after the expansion of Jiubian and Southeast Navy. The army alone will use a lot of cotton cloth. In order to make more money, why not weave more cotton cloth?"
After hearing this, Wang Shizhen looked contemptuous: "It's just a few taels of silver."
He Xinyin was also a little disappointed.
Li Zhi also sat over and sat next to Tan Yangzi, saying: "The truth is simple, and true knowledge can increase profits. I feel that what my friend Liu said is so reasonable that he can be called my confidant!"
"Li Zhuowu, you are sitting in my seat."
Wang Shizhen reminded Li Zhi at this time and said: "I still have a few new poems that I got in my dream, but I haven't asked Tan Yangzi for advice."
Li Zhi looked at Zhai Rujing and asked, "Tishuai, does the edict stipulate who must sit where?"
"That's not true."
"Besides, you don't have to worry about no one to teach you. We have invited old women here who are familiar with spinning, and they can also teach you."
Zhai Rujing replied.
After hearing this, Li Zhi looked at Wang Shizhen: "Wang Fengzhou, did you hear that? The Emperor has not stipulated this. Are you still greater than the Emperor?"
Wang Shizhen walked over angrily and muttered: "How can an old woman be so beautiful? You Li Zhuowu, I will write all your scandals in my notes!"
“In addition to foot-operated spinning wheels, there are also hand-operated spinning wheels.”
"Later I read the "Agricultural Book" written by Yin Wangzhen of Yuanshi County and discovered that there was also a large spinning wheel that could be driven by water power."
"This large water-powered spinning wheel can spin thirty-two spindles at the same time. Today's spinning wheels all spin with one spindle. If such a large spinning wheel were to be reproduced, it would be equivalent to the amount of spinning on one large spinning wheel. That’s enough to spin thirty-two spinning wheels at the same time.”
Because Tan Yangzi was a young and beautiful woman, Liu Quexian was not as reticent as before and started talking in front of Tan Yangzi.
Wang Changgeng, a classmate who was with him here, looked at Liu Quexian with envy: "In the past, when we were sleeping together, I never saw him talk so much! He also smiled so brightly!"
Wang Shizhen, who was sitting next to Wang Changgeng, was also learning spinning from the old woman on a treadmill and said: "How can you learn from reading these miscellaneous books? How come Tan Yangzi still listens to them with gusto? Does she like to listen? Do you think?" Isn’t it too vulgar to talk about poetry and songs?”
After hearing this, Wang Changgeng kept nodding his head: "Good views, Mr. Fengzhou!"
"Why do you read these books?"
Tan Yangzi also asked Liu Quexian this question at this time.
"It must be to make more money! Using this big spinning wheel is equivalent to using one employee to replace the 32 employees in other yarn mills. The money saved can be used to open another yarn mill!"
Li Zhi then answered for Liu Quexian.
Tan Yangzi couldn't help but asked Liu Quexian curiously: "Is this really the case?"
Liu Quexian nodded: "He is right, it is indeed to make more money."
Tan Yangzi nodded and frowned slightly.
At this time, Li Zhi stood up excitedly, walked to Liu Quexian and bowed his hands: "I will say that you can be a true scholar if you can be my confidant and study for utilitarianism! Please accept my bow!"
Liu Quexian was confused.
However, other famous Confucian scholars disagreed, and Jiao Hong even looked disdainful: "What kind of true knowledge is this? It's just a way that smells like copper."
Tan Yangzi was a little surprised, so he asked Liu Quexian: "So, your family now uses large water-powered spinning wheels?"
Li Zhi was also very curious and asked: "Is Liu Zhiji surely already rich?"
"He didn't!"
"Now when he goes on a boat or a car, he basically stays with my family. Even when he goes to school, he doesn't hire a teacher himself!"
Wang Changgeng retorted loudly at this time.
Zhai Rujing was awakened by this and quickly put down his script.
Because he was interrupted when he saw Ximen Qing discovering Pan Jinlian under the grape trellis and was about to declare the wonderful part of his sovereignty in the daytime, he came over with an unhappy look on his face and shouted:
"What are you doing? Go back to your spinning wheel, learn to spin honestly, and improve your knowledge through practice, otherwise you will never be able to go out for the rest of your life!"
Seeing the harsh tone of Zhai Rujing, the official of Jinyiweitang, Li Zhi had no choice but to return to his spinning wheel. He clumsily pedaled the spinning wheel and began to imitate Liu Quexian's spinning. At the same time, he said:
"This place is so interesting, who wants to go out! I would rather stay here for the rest of my life, talking about the knowledge of meritorious service with my close friend Liu!"
Hu Shiwen nodded: "It's really interesting here."
He Xinyin asked Hu Shiwen: "You really don't want to go out?"
Hu Shiwen said lightly "Yeah".
He Xinyin asked again: "So you don't blame me anymore?"
Hu Shiwen's face darkened and he ignored He Xinyin.
Here, Liu Quexian started spinning seriously.
Tan Yangzi saw that he was spinning too fast, so he said, "You'd better slow down so that we can learn from you."
Liu Quexian had to slow down.
Tan Yangzi continued to ask: "By the way, you really didn't become rich because of reading "Nongshu"?"
"No! I just took a look and didn't ask anyone to build a large hydraulic spinning wheel for use."
Liu Quexian said.
Tan Yangzi asked: "Why?"
Li Zhi also looked over and said with a serious face: "There must be a big mystery here, please ask your confidant to enlighten me!"
Liu Quexian replied: "Because I want to support my people and the villagers!"
"How to explain?"
Li Zhi asked.
Liu Quexian replied: "With the big water-powered spinning wheel, although one person can do the work of thirty-two people, doesn't it mean that I can only use one tribesman and villager to work for me?"
"What about the other tribesmen and villagers? Wouldn't they be unable to increase their income and have resentments because of this?"
"Do I still have to worry about who to use?"
"Besides, the tribesmen and villagers are already short of work. Even if each person is given only a hundred cents, there are still people willing to work."
"This big spinning wheel was able to be used in the Yuan Dynasty because a large number of people were massacred at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, and there was a shortage of people. Now there is no shortage of people in the Ming Dynasty. There are people everywhere who want to work and make money. So, there is no need!"
"What's more important is that with ordinary spinning wheels, my tribe and villagers respect me and are willing to let my yarn mill exist. When officials come to the yarn mill to extort money, they can work together to help me drive away the officials, and the water-powered spinning wheel looks economical. It requires manpower, but the manufacturing and maintenance costs are also a lot, so compared to building a large water-powered spinning wheel, it is more cost-effective to use the people of the tribe and the villagers."
Tan Yangzi and Li Zhi both nodded solemnly.
Liu Quexian's words really opened up a world for them.
Li Zhi couldn't help but said: "This is the so-called way of the people!"
Li Zhi continued: "It turns out that doing business is not that simple. It is not only the improvement of skills that must be considered, but also a lot of planning. It is no wonder that such a good big spinning wheel is not available in the market now. It can be seen that miraculous skills Sex and cleverness really don’t necessarily benefit the people!”
"In addition, after the self-taught examination became law and the land was cleared, the rich and powerful families had to pay a lot of back taxes, and they also had to pay more land taxes than in previous years, and these can only be passed on to the tenant farmers."
"It just so happens that my people and villagers have rented more land from large households, so the rent is higher than in previous years. If you don't make more money by spinning for me, life will only be worse than before. Tighter. So, I can’t ignore this favor.”
Liu Quexian also continued here.
Not only Tan Yangzi and Li Zhi listened to Liu Quexian's words, but other great Confucian scholars also listened.
Even Chen Yizheng, a member of the Jinyiwei family who was preparing to urge Li Zhi to conscientiously spin, listened at this time and couldn't help asking: "So after the implementation of the New Deal, it only increased the burden on the people?"
"That's how it is!"
"If you think about it carefully, have every reform and new policy in the past dynasties increased the burden on the people?"
Jiao Hong, who was opposed to the New Deal, became excited at this time, said something, and asked other people.
Although he did not know Huang Zongxi's law, as someone who later inspired the thoughts of Huang Zongxi and others, he was obviously aware of the laws in this regard.
(End of chapter)
