Li Ke quickly followed Tian Meng out of Zhuangzi and arrived at a yard next door. This place was vacated by Tian Meng and specially used to produce the things Li Ke gave him.
When Li Ke came over, the assembled things were already neatly placed in a place in the yard.
Even the prepared silk and spun yarn are ready for production.
A spinner and a weaver were waiting in front of the machine.
"I've met His Highness." Seeing Li Ke coming over, everyone's faces were filled with enthusiasm! They had already experimented with this thing, and they called Li Ke after it was successful. They didn't know how to describe it, they could only say, it was shocking! His Highness is indeed a man of great distinction!
"You're welcome, let's get started. Test the spinning machine first." Li Ke waved his hand.
"Yes!" Tian Meng waved his hand, and the spinner immediately started to take action. He directly turned the big flywheel next to him. The flywheel directly drove the sixteen small flywheels to start rotating. As they rotated, the silk that had already been prepared began to entangle with each other. , quickly turns into a yarn.
This speed increase is more than sixteen times faster.
In the later stages, if there are breakthroughs in bearings and balls, the big flywheel will be driven directly by the steam engine, and then there will be not just sixteen yarns, but one hundred and sixty yarns.
"Okay!" Li Ke clapped his hands excitedly, "Well done, Tian Meng rewarded you!"
"Yes!" Tian Meng immediately bent down and said.
As for the amount of the reward, Li Ke need not say clearly. Yuelai Trading Company has a complete reward and punishment system. Li Ke has attached great importance to these craftsmen from the beginning, so the rewards they receive must be far more than those in other houses. Much.
Silk, cloth and silk played the role of currency in the Tang Dynasty itself. Note that silk is different from silk. Although it is spun from the same thing, the clothes made from silk are lower in value than silk. Most of them are used by ordinary people. Of course, there are also cheaper linen.
Those who can use silk are often considered to be middle class in the Tang Dynasty. Most of the people at the lowest level wear common clothes. They may have one or two silk clothes that they are reluctant to wear.
Silk can be used as currency in the Tang Dynasty. The most important reason for this is that the Tang Dynasty was first established. At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty did not issue currency, and the currency of the Sui Dynasty was very inferior. Coupled with the war, There was not enough trade in bulk goods, so silk served as part of the currency.
The Tang Dynasty only began to mint and issue Kaiyuan Tongbao in the fourth year of Wude, but the minted coins were not enough for market circulation.
In fact, throughout the Tang Dynasty until the end of the Anshi Rebellion, the coins minted by the Tang Dynasty were not enough.
Therefore, producing silk now means making money! This is the money printing machine!
However, because silk plays a monetary role, the profit of silk is actually not high. Raw materials account for 30% of the cost, manpower and material resources are about 40%, and profit is about 30%.
From this, we can understand why the wealthy families are rich, because everyone can make money! And if you make 7 cents, which can be used as a flower, how can you not make money?
However, the loss of silk must be considered, after all, it is still easy to break.
"Try weaving too." Li Ke pointed to the shuttle loom next to him and said.
"Yes!" The weaver over there also started working directly. As he operated, it could be seen that the shuttle shuttled back and forth in the loom, and the weaving efficiency increased faster.
In the past, these were all artificial.
"Your Highness, we have made a simple calculation and found that the weaving efficiency of the loom can be increased by about eight times!" Tian Meng took a deep breath and said. "And our final cost from buying silk to spinning and weaving is only about one-twentieth of others, and logistics and transportation costs already account for the vast majority."
"In other words, based on the market price, the labor and material cost of a piece of silk was originally 120 cents, but now we only need 6 cents?"
"Yes, our cost to produce a piece of silk is about 96 Wen, while others' cost is 210 Wen. The current market price is 300 Wen per piece." Tian Meng gave the final answer.
"Very good, how long does it take to produce a complete set of machines?" Li Ke looked at Lu Daqiang.
"Back to Your Highness, we have enough manpower. If we use the assembly line production you mentioned, I estimate that when we have more than 300 people, we can produce a spinning machine and a spinning machine in an average of two days. A loom." Lu Daqiang said quickly.
"Tian Meng transferred people! Six hundred people, produce at the fastest speed, and also told Yuelai Trading Company to purchase silk from the entire Luozhou area and within the radiation range of the Zheng family in Xingyang, at a price of 100 Wen per piece of silk." Li Ke sneered, "The Zheng family in Xingyang, right?" He wants to dig up their roots!
As for whether Li Ke has that much money? This has to be said about the products produced under the special circumstances of the Tang Dynasty, because silk can be used as money! In other words, the raw materials Li Ke bought and processed to produce the finished silk silk did not even need to be sold! You can directly use it as money to buy silk from people's hands!
This is much more efficient than selling!
The Jiangnan region of the Tang Dynasty was not the main producing area of silk and silk. That would have to wait until later generations. Now the main producing area of silk and silk is in the vast northern region of the Tang Dynasty.
"Your Highness, most mulberry farmers have contracts, and the trading houses that control silk often also have contracts. The Zheng family still has great influence." Tian Meng hesitated.
It is not impossible for them to acquire directly from the people, but there are contracts during this period, and the people will never dare to tear up the contracts with some families. No matter whether the family is big or small, it is not something that ordinary people can fight against.
"Wait." Li Ke thought for a moment and stopped immediately.
He suddenly had an idea, but it was relatively vague in his mind. "Immediately ask someone to go to my study and bring over the box I brought back from the city and the books wrapped in silk." Li Ke said. road.
"Yes!" Tian Meng didn't know why and immediately called for people to do it.
"Master Lu, you continue to work. In addition, Master Lu, after the production of spinning machines and looms has gone smoothly, you will hurry up and start building the jacquard machine. After the initial stage, you and several masters will complete these tasks. Leave it to the people below to keep an eye on it, your main task is to see if I can improve these spinning machines and looms!"
"If you can improve, I'll go find my father and knight you!" Li Ke waved his hand.
"Yes! Your Highness!" Lu Daqiang and the others immediately knelt down! In the Tang Dynasty, there was no need to kneel down in daily life. When meeting Li Shimin, it was enough to bend down and salute. But this time they knelt down sincerely. Can they be knighted? ! Not to mention them, many of those aristocratic families have extravagant hopes. Do craftsmen like them still have a chance to be knighted?
But His Highness said yes, then yes!
Li Ke has never underestimated the wisdom of the ancients. Although he has subsequent books, most of the improvements in these machines in the subsequent books are directly related to steam engines and the like, which are thorough improvements in power and technology.
What Li Ke asked them to do was to see if they could make it more efficient, less labor-intensive, and more worry-free while maintaining the existing manpower.
These master carpenters in ancient times were equivalent to the eighth-level fitters in later generations after the founding of the People's Republic of China. They were really awesome.
