From Chief to Ball

"When there is more cotton, do we need more weavers? If there are more weavers, there will be more weavers. If there are more weavers, there will be more people who dye cloth, grow dyes, and transport them."

"It can be said that even if nothing else, ten or 20 years from now, if these unemployed cotton ginners live for 20 years, they will still have other jobs."

"Of course, people are not rocks. We can't leave them without eating or drinking for 20 years. We can't look at the world with such cold-blooded eyes."

"But we can use our minds and our organization to make this time shorter. This is the direction we should work for, instead of trying to convince the mill owners of those ginning mills."

"I suggest that the main direction of our party next year should be placed elsewhere besides the safety lights and the coal mine workers' association that have already been set."

"For example, in the villages of some farmers, let them see the cotton gin, so as to strengthen their determination to grow cotton."

"They don't need to buy it, but we will set up cotton ginning workshops and only charge those people for processing. After turning seed cotton into lint, they can sell it to whoever they want, and of course we can also buy some."

"If they can't see the cotton gin, they don't know how to grow cotton. When they see the cotton gin, they will choose to grow cotton. To grow cotton, they need to hire people to pick cotton bolls, which can alleviate the work of a large part of the unemployed cotton gins, And it can be promoted in a short period of time, so that the impact will be minimized."

"In this way, the amount of cotton planted has increased and there is more cotton on the market. Can those who can only afford one suit of common clothes a year buy more? Whether they can afford it is another matter, but At least if you want to buy it, you won’t be unable to buy it.”

"This is to increase the number of steamed buns without stagnating the total wealth and goods of the society. At the same time, it can perfectly solve the survival of cotton ginners after one year."

"This is just one thing, one case, and it is not extensive. Because cotton gins are different from pilers, anyone can do cotton gins. When it comes to other machines, there are naturally other ways."

"Even, is there a reason, an internal law that we haven't discovered that can solve all the problems? This is what we want to explore, but at the same time we can't just talk about it without doing it. Instead. We need to analyze specific things in detail to find solutions that can be solved and that are in line with our philosophy.”

"Before we find the inner truth that we haven't discovered that can solve all problems, what we have to do is to tinker! As a tinkerer, we will solve the specific problems and firmly support new technological advances."

"Isn't it more meaningful to do this than to ask the owners of those ginning workshops? I think it is also easier to achieve."

"That's my fix, I'm done."

After finishing speaking in one breath, the scene was extremely quiet. The host watched for a long time, and no one raised his hand to refute it. He finally asked, "Who supports it? Who opposes it?"

After thinking about it for a while, most of the people present raised their hands in support.

Only a few people stood up and asked: "Then this is just a fix, and it won't work on all machines."

Chen Jian nodded and said: "That's right. But isn't what we're discussing today about the cotton gin? As for the perfect solution, which can be applied to any machine, everyone has been discussing it for several months, and we can continue to discuss it. What is social wealth? What are commodities? How do wealth and commodities increase? What is money? Does wealth come from labor or land? How does wealth increase?"

"Just as we need to know some theorems before we can calculate some geometry problems. We must first discuss these most basic problems before we can come up with a solution to them through logical deduction, isn't it?"

"Before the answers to these questions are obtained, everything is fantasy, everything is speculation, and there is no point in discussing it."

"Under fantasies and speculation, all we can do is tinker and fix. I heard that some people in the capital have spent every day in the library in order to find out where the national wealth comes from. Read books. I also heard that some of us are also doing this, which is very good and meaningful.”

"Only by figuring out the most basic issues can we use careful logic to figure out what we should do."

"At that time, we can say that what we want to do and pursue is science, which can be realized after demonstration, and can be verified by rigorous logic. It is not a fantasy, nor a dream city."

"After all, we live in reality."

This time, Hu Lin took the lead in expressing his support for Chen Jian. Even though Chen Jian finally said what he wrote a long time ago, and said it in a negative manner, Hu Lin didn't care.

Since the topic this time is only about the cotton gin, it's over here.Chen Jian wanted everyone to think for themselves, accept the cotton gin first, and then think about other things.

The remaining question is not to discuss cotton gins and ginners, but to discuss how to promote cotton planting as Chen Jian said, so as to benefit more people.

These people understand the power of the Cotton Spinning Guild. After analysis, most people believe that they should not confront directly but choose to compromise, and the problem is even simpler.

Part of the money produced by the party is used to buy part of the cotton gin and build its own cotton gin workshop.

At the same time, the source of seed cotton is set on those unprofitable farmers because the price of seed cotton is too low, rather than the current cotton growers with a large amount of land.

This requires some off-duty personnel to go to the countryside to work.

Including cutting tools, tools, glass and gadgets retail stores, small loans, cotton planting technology dissemination, etc. as a cover, to quickly start work in Mincheng or the countryside near Nan'an.

United farmers voluntarily organized planting cooperatives, carried out some mutual aid activities, directly contacted cotton growers under the cover of grocery stores, and competed with the actual controllers and large landowners in the rural grassroots.

It's not to make trouble for myself, but to make wedding clothes for others.

It can be said that this plutocratic hidden aristocratic classical puppet republic has come to the present, and it is time to take the next step.

That is, the technical advantage of gunpowder, and there are not too many enemies nearby.

If you don't consider the awareness bonus and technological advantages of the Chinese people, and such a wonderful system is placed between Europe and Asia in the old continent, maybe you don't know how many times you have been hanged and beaten.

Now at this juncture, there is no danger of external enemies destroying the country, accumulation of internal conflicts and transformation under technological progress, there are only two ways to go.

Or, the monarchy, the emperor with supreme power buffers the contradiction between the upper and lower classes, centralizes power, enlightened autocracy, a symbol of parliamentary system with one-vote veto power, and eases the contradiction with the support of the emperor with supreme power and the bottom yeoman.Nowadays, many people support this idea, and they are very powerful, and they are expanding the support of public opinion, including Chen Jian's Mr. Drama group, and even a group of utopians in the party.

Or, improve the republican system and bourgeois government, quickly complete the handicraft revolution and make enough capitalists, ease the contradictions through technological progress and external expansion, increase the voice of capitalists and let the bottom layer make a proper voice.

Of these two, which one is actually progressing at this time, it depends on which one you will transition to.

But for Chen Jian and the vast majority of people around him at this time, they have already chosen which way to go when they have identified temporary allies for cooperation, so they also need to properly win over some large farmers and farmers .

Don't ask for support, just ask for sympathy, approval, friendliness and no opposition.

Chen Jian, on the other hand, will come forward to negotiate a result with those people in the Cotton Textile Guild, gain certain benefits, use lint as raw material, plant the seeds of differentiation and not being controlled by the upper and lower guilds in them, and independently out to a certain degree of free circulation.

After all, some of them will become allies and break with the old guild because of their interests.

1 Chapter Twenty

This group of potential allies in the future were naturally not in a good mood when they were invited by Chen Jian, but they still looked good.

Into the inner room, the seats have been arranged.

It's not a round table or a separate table for sitting and kneeling at a formal banquet, but a long wooden table with seats on both sides.

Chen Jian sat in front of the wooden table, greeted everyone, greeted each other a few times, and someone brought tea.

Invited yesterday, gave these people a night to discuss.

After settling down, someone asked with a smile: "Mr. Chen invited us this time, what's the matter? I can't understand it after thinking about it. Mr. Chen's business has nothing to do with cotton. .”

Naturally, Chen Jian could hear the beating in these words. He took a sip of tea and said slowly: "My business has nothing to do with cotton. This cotton looks light, but it is as heavy as a thousand pounds. How can my small body carry it?"

Everyone in the seat breathed a sigh of relief, saying that it is good that you don't want to get involved in the cotton business, then everyone can talk about anything.

But then everyone became suspicious, if Chen Jian didn't want to touch the cotton, what would he do with people like himself?If you say that you come to drink tea when you have nothing to do, this tea is not a rare tea, and we are not familiar with each other, so drinking this tea will lose a lot of meaning.

In doubt, two hired workers came in carrying a cotton gin from outside. After Chen Jian demonstrated it, everyone present was uneasy.

Looking at Chen Jian with cotton wadding on his head, and looking at the stripped lint, no one could sit still.

"Mr. Chen...how much cotton can this machine peel in a day?"

"Without sleep and rest, fifty or sixty catties a day."