Chapter 71 Cotton War
Zhu Xiongying said: "I wonder where my uncle is going to start?"
He Xi said: "The news from Huang Zicheng is that Ding Xian is planning to invite those nobles in Nanjing to go back and set up a factory. But what kind of factory can they set up? After thinking about it, the only option is cotton spinning."
Zhu Xiongying was stunned and said, "Why?"
He Xi said: "Because these people want to make money. They want to make money by running a factory. It is best to run light industry with relatively low costs. The scale is too small, and these people are not willing to do it. The most profitable thing is cotton spinning." .”
If there is a trend in this era.
That must be cotton spinning.
Without him, there are limits to heavy industry.
With so much steel, do people want to eat it? He Xi even felt that Liaodong and Zunhua Steel Plants already had some overproduction. If it were not for the overseas market, the Western Region market, and the battlefield to consume excess products. Now I can’t tell what it looks like.
Cotton is the first commodity in world economic history for a reason. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin with the textile industry? Rather than other industries, without other things, food, clothing, housing and transportation are the most important things for people. Among them, only clothes are the most convenient goods.
Appetites vary from place to place and are prone to spoilage. Those who live there cannot circulate. You can't just ship the house and ship it to all parts of the world. The last thing is clothes. There is a huge market, so people should wear clothes. When you meet tribes in Southeast Asia who don’t know how to wear clothes, you can teach them to wear clothes.
It is precisely because of such strong demand.
Weaving machines gradually became the most profitable industry, so much so that cotton was insufficient and even cotton was shipped from India.
Everyone wants to participate. But it’s not easy to get involved here in Beijing. The most important thing is the raw materials.
As long as we can get raw materials in Nanjing and transport them to Beijing, we can make a lot of money, not to mention building textile factories in Nanjing. It is also a profitable business.
Zhu Xiongying was still a little confused and said, "What's wrong with this cotton spinning?"
He Xi said: "There is no problem. The problem is doing this in Jiangnan. I have thought about this problem a long time ago. To be honest, the place with the most cotton now should be Jiangnan. The cloth industry in Jiangnan itself is very prosperous, and every household has Weaving."
Only then did Zhu Xiongying grasp the key point. Said: "Every household weaves cloth."
He Xi said: "Yes, every household weaves cloth. To be honest, I admire Ding Xian a little. I had this idea at first, but in the end I left it alone. I was just worried that it would be easy to light a fire and the things that would happen would be difficult to deal with. . Now that Ding Xian dares to do it, in the future, I don’t even know how it will end?”
Zhu Xiongying said: "What are you going to do, uncle?"
He Xi's original intention was that he was not prepared to participate in this matter. After all, He Xi himself wanted to use this war to carry out social revolution. The most developed place for feudal handicrafts in the entire Ming Dynasty was Jiangnan. Historically, even until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, homespun cloth was still being produced in some places. This shows their tenacity.
As far as social reform is concerned, Ding Xian is in the same trench as He Xi. As far as He Xi's original intention was concerned, he actually wanted to see what Ding Xian could do, so that he could continue to do what Ding Xian did in the future.
It's not like he's interfering.
But Zhu Xiongying is obviously different.
For Zhu Xiongying, winning the first place is always the first, and everything else comes second. How could I not get involved in the great opportunity I heard from He Xi? Destroy Nanjing from the inside, but he knew that Yao Guangxiao was in Nanjing now.
He Xi said: "I am going to do two things. The first thing is to strongly support these nobles to set up factories in Nanjing and find ways to guide them into the textile industry. The second thing is to plan to invade Shandong."
Zhu Xiongying was stunned. He simply didn't understand He Xi's train of thought. This is obviously about textiles, so why are we talking about war?
Zhu Xiongying said: "What does uncle mean?"
He Xi said: "Shandong has the most cotton in the whole north. I need Shandong cotton not to enter the south of the Yangtze River."
Zhu Xiongying suddenly understood and said: "
This is a cotton war. "
He Xi said: "You can also say it like this."
Indeed, the importance of this battle is not to capture Shandong, but to seize Shandong's cotton, or it is okay to say that Shandong does not produce cotton. Thus hitting the textile industry in Jiangnan. When foreign raw materials cannot satisfy production, these people naturally focus on local cotton.
In this way, these people will compete for raw materials from local textile households in Jiangnan.
Cotton is the foundation of the textile industry. Men farm and women weave, which is also an indispensable part of the small-scale peasant economy.
In the end, a civil uprising broke out, and He Xi was not surprised at all.
He Xi's idea was not just because of Zhu Xiongying's needs.
And not even just because of the cotton.
He Xi never paid attention to the factories run by Ding Xian, and even vaguely had some more evil ideas. For example, after a few years, after Ding Xian was successful in running the business, the Northern Army came to the city and captured all these factories. It was a blood repayment for the imperial court.
But no matter what, Zhu Xiongying couldn't keep his temper.
On the other hand, He Xi had to admit that it was because of the Battle of Huaiqing.
He Xi must admit the outcome of the Qinyang Battle. Fu Youde, a famous Ming Dynasty general, was not a vegetarian.
Even though He Xi's intelligence agency told him that the number of troops completed by the Southern Army was no more than 100,000, or even more, there were many problems and restrictions, such as restrictions on rear ordnance production and restrictions on military expenditures. Even the limitations of Fu Youde's power and so on.
In other words, even if all the new troops of the Southern Army were deployed in Huaiqing, they would only be able to defeat two armies of the Northern Army.
A piece of cake.
But Fu Youde came from scratch, from being beaten in a very embarrassed state, to now forming a new army. Even if he is trying to cross the river by touching the Northern Army, this speed is terrifying. It's so easy to get pregnant just by looking at her.
Fu Youde is a very human being. Can these restrictions really limit Fu Youde?
He Xi doesn’t know.
Although He Xi told Zhu Xiongying that the loss of strategic advantage was inevitable. But He Xi wants to take advantage of the current strategic advantage to do one thing if he can. When the Shaanxi strategy was delayed, He Xi was already thinking about the battle of Shandong.
Otherwise, although Shandong is also in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the channel of the Yellow River in Shandong is the channel of the Daqing River, and the terrain is relatively low. That is to say, if the levee breaks downstream, it is more likely to break open for several miles and roll eastward along both sides of the river, rather than the southern section of the Yellow River. Once it breaks open, it will break hundreds of miles and open a new river in a mighty manner.
And He Xi was also wondering if he could avoid the Yellow River.
For the Yellow River defense line, even if we don't mention the danger of the Yellow River itself, just talking about the castles along the Yellow River, Fu Youde and Sheng Yong have put in a lot of effort. If they really want to fight, it is impossible not to hit their heads and cause bloodshed.
In fact, the Huaiqing Campaign was launched to cut off Shanxi. In essence, it also avoids the flooded reaches of the Yellow River. But there's not just one way to avoid the Yellow River. There is another way, which is to directly cross the sea and attack Denglai.
That’s it for other places.
The Liaodong Navy and Tianjin Navy are familiar with this area of Denglai.
Otherwise, most ships go along the coastline. The most connected place between the two places is Denglai Water Port.
Many people have been to Denglai.
From the water, it is also very smooth. The Denglai Navy, also known as the Shandong Navy, has been fighting against each other for such a long time. He knows his roots well. Now after taking Denglai, logistics supplies can be transported directly from Liaodong. It would even be more convenient to not have to go through the canal.
It is also a good idea to take Denglai as the core, bypass the Yellow River, go south along the coast, and directly hit the Huaihe and Huaihe regions. ..
Why didn't I pay attention to this before?
On the one hand, the main force of the former Southern Army was in Jinan, which was too close to Denglai. Very easy to support. On the other hand, the Northern Army's navy has something to do, and its numbers are limited.
Now both things have changed.
First, because of the Battle of Huaiqing, the main force of the Southern Army was transferred westward.
The elite of the Southern Army are all in Huaiqing, so
The Huaiqing Campaign is likely to be protracted. When the time comes, no one will be able to evacuate, and the other southern armies can still defend the city, but He Xi will not take them seriously when doing other things. As for the 600,000-strong Northern Army, their training levels are all about the same.
