Xu Erjue had already been mentally prepared. He felt that Zuo Menggeng was a warrior and had a vulgar temperament as expected.
Despite this, he was still shocked by Zuo Mengeng's frankness.
"Cough cough cough... cough cough cough..."
Xu Erjue's face turned red, and it took him a long time to recover, but his expression was quite unswerving.
"Why do you say this, my dear brother? What's the point of doing a little favor? Since you respect our family, you shouldn't cause trouble to my dear brother, right?"
Have you forgotten my sister?
Zuo Mengeng understood, but didn't care at all.
"My little brother is short of money."
Xu Erjue covered his chest in pain, and his eyes were filled with stars.
I remember that when Mr. Xu was in the south of the Yangtze River, he had many famous scholars talking and laughing, but no white people came and went. In addition to the silk and bamboo mellowing the feelings, the songs and poems are harmonious. Although it is occasionally necessary, it is still elegant.
It was the only time in his life that he talked about money so directly and so directly.
"Haha, dear brother, you are joking. If dear brother is short of money, I can help you a little."
Zuo Mengeng immediately became energetic.
"Brother Xu is very righteous. If you can help me with three to five hundred thousand taels of silver, I will be really grateful."
"Cough cough cough... cough cough cough..."
Xu Erjue wanted to take action and smash the wine glass directly into that annoying face.
If he hadn't seen that the other party was young and weak in victory, he really couldn't help it.
It’s definitely not impossible to beat!
You opened your mouth and asked for three to five hundred thousand taels of silver. Do you think the Xu family's money was blown by the strong wind?
"Haha, dear brother, you are joking. Don't you know that such a huge sum of money has a big stake?"
Zuo Mengeng was very happy.
"Why don't you know? With so much money, it won't be a problem for me to raise an army here. Can Brother Xu really help me?"
Can you please stop mentioning this?
Xu Erjue, who failed to show off and was scolded, quickly changed the subject.
"Brother Xian seems to be very concerned about this water-driven technique."
Zuo Mengeng was very serious, but he didn't hide it.
"The technology of water power drive has a wide range of applications. Just take weaving as an example. Once implemented, the output can be increased three times, and the cost can be saved by 30%. Brother Xu, do you know the benefits?"
Xu Erjue couldn't sit still.
Damn your elegance, damn your poetry and etiquette, they are not important in front of the white money.
"If this is the case, my brother is bound to acquire this water-driven technique."
Zuo Mengeng knew that he could not refuse such a temptation.
"I have two plans here. One is to set a price and sell it to Brother Xu. If you have a good relationship with our two families, I will give you a reasonable price, which is 200,000 taels of silver."
"This is impossible."
Xu Erjue's eyes were red.
Stealing money?
The Xu family can't afford so much money.
Zuo Mengeng was calm and calm, as if he had known what he said for a long time.
"Another way is for me to use this technology to invest in the Xu family weaving industry, accounting for 10% of the shares."
Zuo Mengeng didn't know how big the Xu family's weaving industry was, but as long as he took the shares, the benefits of transferring the water power drive would eventually be recovered over time.
Xu Erjue laughed angrily. It was the first time he saw such a big-mouthed person.
"My dear brother, does he know the situation of Jiangnan's weaving industry?"
He had already thought about it, and when Zuo Mengeng asked, he would give this money-minded man a good education so that he could understand the Xu family's position in Jiangnan's weaving industry.
Is Zuo Mengeng a person who plays his cards according to common sense?
"I don't need to know this. I only know that the Xu family needs this technology very much. And if this technology is given to any weaving merchant, they will be happy to pay for it."
"you……"
The continuous failure made Xu Erjue go crazy.
This was the first time he was so frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.
Because Zuo Mengeng is right. If water-driven technology can really bring more than three times the production capacity of the weaving industry, all businessmen will flock to it.
Increased output and reduced costs have brought about price advantages, which will definitely allow any weaving merchant to occupy the largest market.
This was not unexpected by the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty.
Zuo Mengeng's advantages don't stop there.
"Although Songjiang cotton spinning is the best in the world, it is subject to geographical restrictions. Once new technologies are adopted, the supply of raw materials will become a big problem. The quality of cotton currently grown in Jiangnan is worrying, which is not conducive to the development of the weaving industry. In the future, if we want to develop the cotton spinning industry on a larger scale , Shandong is the best choice. If the Xu family agrees to my conditions and the cotton spinning industry goes north in the future, I will give priority to the Xu family."
Xu Erjue instinctively felt that Zuo Menggen didn't know the heights of the world.
As the saying goes, you can’t buy enough Songjiang cloth and you can’t collect all Weitang gauze.
Doesn’t this kid know how much Songjiang cotton is produced?
"My dear brother has never been to the south of the Yangtze River. I don't know how prosperous the south of the Yangtze River is. Just talking about cotton spinning..."
"It only produces 10,000 horses a day."
How it feels to be interrupted when you are about to succeed when you are pretending...
Xu Erjue almost wanted to vomit blood, and glared at Zuo Mengeng angrily, with murder in mind.
Not a son of man!
Then when he heard Zuo Mengeng's words, he was stunned.
"In the land south of the Yangtze River, there are many people and limited space, so land is expensive. Such a large workshop can only have a hundred weavers at best. How much cloth can it produce? Brother Xu saw this glass factory today. What is its scale? If a cotton spinning factory is built on this scale, What about hundreds of water-powered drives lining the river and tens of thousands of workers?”
Xu Erjue's mind was filled with thunder.
When he saw the construction site of the glass factory today, he had only one idea in his mind.
Really magnificent!
Zuo Mengeng is right. Since the glass factory can be built on such a scale, it is definitely feasible to build a cotton spinning factory on such a scale in Shandong.
Only in Jiangnan does it not work.
Xu Erjue could no longer imagine that if such a factory really appeared in Shandong, and it was supplemented by a hydraulic drive system, would the textile industry in Jiangnan still have a way to survive?
Zuo Mengeng would not stop at all on his way to attack him.
"How much labor is there in Jiangnan? Brother Xu, does he know how much labor is there here?"
Xu Erjue said in a daze: "It takes one or two silver tattoos every month."
When Jiangnan is prosperous, labor costs are naturally high. Even the most ordinary textile worker's monthly salary is one or two silver.
Zuo Mengeng chuckled and said proudly: "Brother Xu, do you know that the daily wages of workers here are only ten coppers."
"What?"
Xu Erjue actually jumped up, with a look of horror on his face.
The daily wage is ten cents, which is only three hundred cents a month, which is equivalent to 0.3 taels of silver.
The income of workers in Shandong is only one-third of that in Jiangnan.
This alone will directly reduce the textile industry in Jiangnan to rubble.
Originally, the technical gap between the textile workers in the two places could be used to find a balance, but when he thought of the hydraulic drive Zuo Mengeng had developed, Xu Erjue knew that this gap was meaningless.
Switching to mechanical production, the skills of textile workers are no longer important.
He swallowed dryly and tried to make up for it.
"The land south of the Yangtze River has abundant water conservancy..."
“Is there a shortage of water in Shandong?”
Well, the last reason was wiped out by Zuo Mengeng.
Although Shandong is located in the north, there is really no shortage of water. Even though there was a severe drought last year, the water power was still intact.
Not only does the Yellow River flow through Shandong, but the most important thing is the canal that runs through the north and south, and there are also many other rivers.
In fact, the hydraulic conditions in Shandong will be better than those in Jiangnan.
There are too many water systems in Jiangnan.
A big disadvantage of the vertical and horizontal water network is that it divides the land into countless fragments, resulting in low utilization rate.
If you want to build a large factory, it is not easy to find a piece of land large enough to accommodate it, not to mention the labor and land price issues.
The water system in Shandong is very reasonable.
A lot, but not a lot.
There is cheap land, and you can build the factory as big as you want.
Finally, Zuo Mengeng completely destroyed Xu Erjue's pride in two aspects.
"Nowadays, there are continuous natural disasters in the north, and there are countless refugees. Under the oppression of hunger and cold, there are countless people who want to exchange labor for money and food."
The British used the method of sheep eating people to drive farmers off the land and transform them into industrial workers.
Zuo Menggeng always felt that this natural disaster that lasted throughout the late Ming Dynasty was actually a God-given opportunity.
After all, farmers have been forced to leave their land, so why can't they be absorbed into industrial production?
Their demands for work and remuneration are almost negligible, which solves the biggest labor cost problem in industrial production.
The second question Zuo Mengeng mentioned is more realistic.
"The land south of the Yangtze River is rainy and humid, which is actually not conducive to the growth of cotton, and the yield is always low. Moreover, the quality of cotton seeds is insufficient, which limits production capacity. Only the vast land and suitable climate in the North are good places for growing cotton. .”
At this time, the cotton grown in various parts of the Ming Dynasty belonged to the Asian cotton species and lasted until the 1950s.
Later, it was replaced by upland cotton.
Upland cotton is the most widely planted cotton species in the world, accounting for 90% of global cotton production.
Under the current conditions, this kind of cotton cannot be grown in Jiangnan.
But Shandong can, once put into production, rely on more advanced production technology and lower costs, it is not a problem to destroy the existing textile industry of Ming Dynasty.
Xu Erjue sat in silence, already imagining in his mind the horrific scene of a massive amount of low-priced cotton appearing on the market and the cotton spinning workshops in Jiangnan closing down one after another.
Where should the Xu family go?
