Song Dynasty Iron Armored Army

Chapter 315 Super Cotton Mill

"I've eaten it, it's really delicious, thank you Lao Liang for the sweet potatoes." Old Fifth Uncle said.

"This was issued by the owner of the estate. I just followed suit. This year it will be only a few dozen acres, and next year it will be fine. It can grow to several thousand acres. At that time, everyone will eat whatever they want. If they can't finish it, they will use it to feed pigs, horses, and cows." Sheep will not only be able to eat grain, but also meat, and good times are coming." Lao Liang said happily.

"The good days are coming this year. In the past, there were dozens of mules and dozens of horses in our village. Now there are hundreds of cows, horses and mules in a village. Which family still employs people to plow the land? All of them use livestock. The roads outside the village With the endless cow and horse manure collected every day, there is no need to worry about running out of fertilizer. Besides, the irrigation of the land in our village is really convenient, most of the plots can be irrigated, and the harvest is guaranteed in drought and flood.” The old fifth uncle said happily.

Not only Chaijiazhuang, but also the villages near Chaijiazhuang have undergone tremendous changes. There are nearly [-] donkeys handed out as rural soldiers alone, and there are also foster horses and donkeys.Large animals are an important labor force. In terms of farming alone, one animal can equal the efficiency of five people.

The sweet potato, corn, and potato harvests were bumper, and a lot of publicity was carried out, and the common people knew about it.However, the three crops of cotton, peanuts, and peppers are very low-key and rarely publicized.In the spring, [-] mu of cotton were sown, and the yield per mu was [-] catties of seed cotton.The cotton on the [-]-acre field was piled up like a mountain, filling several warehouses.

In the evening, the large living room of Chailin's house in Chaijiazhuang was very brightly lit with large candles.

Chai An, Zhou Fu, Lao Liang, and Zhuangshang's several cocoon weaving craftsmen and supervisors were all there.

Chai Lin was very happy and said: "The cotton harvest is bumper. In the first year of planting, the yield of seed cotton is 300 catties per mu. After processing, we can get about [-] catties of lint cotton and more than [-] catties of cotton seeds. This is the lint cotton processed by Tiangong Second Camp. Everyone have a look."

Chai Lin asked Xie Bao to show everyone a few catties of lint cotton. The cotton was as white as snow and very soft to the touch.

Chai An and Lao Liang have seen it before, and Zhou Fu was surprised when he started it: "It's so soft and clean. Is it like this after processing?"

"Yes, the cotton is picked before it hits the ground, so it is naturally clean." Lao Liang said.

"Although this stuff is not as good as duck down and cashmere, it has a high yield and is easy to obtain. About a catty and a half of cotton can be made into a cotton coat. It will be a good thing for keeping warm. It is no worse than a sheepskin jacket. Sheepskin jackets are too prone to lice. It's gone." Zhou Fu said.

The director of the Chaijiazhuang Silk Workshop said: "This stuff is very good for making padded jackets, but it is not good for spinning into cloth. The cost of cotton cloth is much lower than that of silk, but the feel is much better than linen. This stuff is grown in large quantities. Cloth is just perfect for fabric.”

Zhou Fu said: "Spinning is too slow, it's better to use it directly to make clothes and quilt fillings, which is more cost-effective. I think we should first expand our quilt workshop to recruit some manpower to process finished cotton clothes and silk quilts. How about trying the market."

Chai Lin said: "No, let's not sell it yet. Let's make [-] sets of cotton coats for the township soldiers first. The military green coats are lengthened and need to be below the knees. The cotton coats are filled with more than two catties of cotton, and the collar can be made of rabbit skin. Wait. After the military coat is finished, we are making ordinary coarse quilts to supply winter quilts for the strong men and township soldiers in our own workshops and salt farms, and we have to donate some quilts to the needy households in the surrounding area.”

As he spoke, Chai Lin took out a general design drawing. The two-breasted military coat looked majestic.

Zhou Fu said: "No problem, I will arrange to start making it tomorrow, and it will take two months to finish it, which will delay the sale of silk quilts."

Chai Lin said: "Don't worry, shopkeeper Zhou, the business will not be delayed, because this year's output is only about 1000 catties of cotton. This kind of stuff is based on quantity, and without quantity, you can't make money at all, so don't do it this winter." It has been launched, and we will start preparing to build factories and train female workers. Next autumn, we will need [-] cotton spinners and [-] weavers. We must have the ability to process [-] million catties of cotton a year. By then, cotton cloth will replace linen and become the mainstream of making clothes.”

Zhou Fu shook his hand and almost dropped the teacup on the ground.

"For 1000 million catties of cotton, [-] catties per mu is [-] mu. Can it be promoted so much?" Zhou Fu asked worriedly.

"Don't say 50 mu, even [-] mu can be promoted, but don't worry, you have to take your time. There is a process of development. Next year, tens of thousands of mu will be developed in Cangzhou, and other areas will be discussed one after another. As I said just now, light It is a huge waste to make cotton clothes and quilts, and there is no problem with sales. The factory building is starting to be planned near Dinghai Port. Tomorrow, Zhou Fu will bring the team to finalize the plan. Let us build an unprecedented huge factory, which is more than a handicraft workshop. It must be dozens of times larger." Chailin said.

"Okay, I'll be there tomorrow morning." Zhou Fu said.

Cotton is a cash crop, but it is also one of the most important crops for basic necessities of life.Especially in the north, if you don't have a cotton coat in winter, you will freeze to death, and you can't sleep without a cotton quilt.

Chailin has already calculated the industrial chain of this cotton. He will earn a fortune when he sells the seeds, and another fortune when he harvests the seed cotton. Processing the leather surface of the seed cotton will produce a large amount of cotton seeds. Except for a small amount of seeds, most of them are All cottonseed must be oiled. Cottonseed oil is the basic raw material for making soap and soap. With cottonseed oil, it can replace vegetable oil to process soap. Even cottonseed cake is also a good fertilizer.

There are two development directions for lint cotton. One is to carry out simple processing, that is, to make cotton-padded jackets, trousers, and quilts for sale.Deep processing is to weave into cotton cloth and then sell it.

Chai An sighed and said: "With this thing, the number of people who will freeze to death in winter will be much less."

This year, the [-] catties of cotton will be used by Chaijiazhuang itself. After making quilts and cotton clothes for the soldiers, craftsmen, etc., there may not be much left.

The supervisor in charge of spinning said: "It's not right, the output of cotton is much larger than that of silkworm cocoons. Although cotton yarn is easier to weave, it is still the same trouble to process. Tens of millions of catties of cotton can't be processed by 1 people. Come on, it’s better to sell the lint directly to make money.”

Chai Lin said: "Don't worry about the problem of spinning. Don't forget that we have machines that can easily increase the efficiency by ten or eight times. Ten thousand spinners, an eight-fold increase, is equivalent to 16 spinners with traditional technology. The yarn problem is solved, we are solving weaving and improving the efficiency of weaving, [-] workers are equivalent to [-] workers. I dare not say that the whole Song Dynasty can wear our cotton cloth, at least in the northern region. OK."

The spinning supervisor slapped his head and forgot about this.The grinder driven by the pot camel machine has completely replaced the donkey, and it can crush flour quickly and well.There must be ways to improve the spinning machine, and it is only a small problem to increase it by ten or eight times.

"Well, we will start preparations this year, and we will work hard next autumn to bring cotton cloth to the market." Everyone said.

It is very difficult for one person to do things, but it is quite simple for a huge team to do things.

In the township barracks, Lin Chong led the heavy cavalry just for training in the morning. After such a long training, the heavy cavalry battalion has developed rapidly, and basically achieved the situation of the unity of man and horse. Every cavalry is familiar with the horses. The timing is right.

Lieutenants Ou Peng and Feng Jie have also made considerable progress, and have gradually become proficient at leading troops. As generals, charging into battle is secondary, and commanding operations is the most important task.

Lin Chong had just tied up his piebald leopard when an orderly came over and said, "Battle Commander Bao, Mr. Tuan Lian invites you to come over."

"Okay, I'll go right away, you go back first."

Lin washed his face and rushed to Baihutang.

Chai Lin was drinking tea there, Lin Chong cupped his fists and said, "Brother, I'm here."

(End of this chapter)