1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 377 Wool Textile Industry
On August 1640, 8, Beikoubao (now the small town of Bamaga, Australia).

A medium-sized transport ship of about [-] tons sailed quietly from the west, and then slowly leaned against the wharf of Beikoubao (now the small town of Newlandby in northern Australia). The natives of Zhou came to the side of the ship, ready to unload the ship.

This is a transport ship from Jianye Port, carrying grain from Xinxiangbao and metal tools from Heishan City. Their final destination is Guanglingbao (now Townsville, Australia) in the south, because there is still no self-sufficiency there. migrants transporting rations.

"Hey, there are still sheep!" The port staff at the pier couldn't help being a little surprised when they saw a dozen sheep and goats driven off the boat by the natives.

"In order to send these sheep to you, we have taken a lot of risks. The Dutchman came here again a few days ago. It's really bad luck. Hey, be gentle and take care of it! Don't underestimate this sheep. It’s big!” A sailor who got off the boat said, “There are already thousands of sheep and goats in the north of Hanzhou, and their wool can be woven into all kinds of woolen cloth, which can be sold for a lot of money. In the future, wool spinning in the north and cotton spinning in Weihai (now Cairns, Australia) in the east are big industries in Hanzhou, and they are given priority by various policies and resources of the civil government. In the future, the open pasture area here will also Sheep and goats are bred in large numbers."

With the development of the past five years, the local Hanzhou, especially in the counties and towns of Jianye Prefecture in the north of Hanzhou, has expanded to more than 1 heads (only) of various livestock populations.Not only can it provide all kinds of meat food for the people of Hanzhou, but it can also harvest a lot of fur.

Kaiyuan City (now Humpty Doo, Australia), Yongxing Fort (now Adelaide River Town, Northern Australia), Beiliangbao (now Pine Creek Town, Northern Australia), Song Castle (now Northern Australia Catherine City) and other areas have opened up several vast pastures, where a large number of livestock such as horses, cattle and sheep are raised.

As for ordinary people in various regions, they will also buy three to five sheep or goats from the pastures controlled by the civil government through borrowing, and raise them in their own pens. They can increase their family income by selling fur.

According to the classification of wool, what comes from sheep is called wool, and in the industry it is called sheep wool. Even if sheep wool is very fine, it is also called wool professionally, not cashmere. Of course, it can also be called fine wool.

Only cashmere from goats is called cashmere, that is, cashmere.There is also a foreign name called cashmere.Cashmere is a thin layer of fine wool that grows on the outer skin of goats and covers the roots of goats' rough hair. It is a rare special animal fiber.

Because goats like to eat grass roots and bark, which is harmful to pastures, officials from the Agricultural Affairs Office of the civil government advocate government-run pastures and private goat farmers to raise them in captivity as much as possible, and cut pastures for feed.

After years of fur savings in Hanzhou, coupled with the expansion of the number of sheep, in June this year, Hanzhou built a wool spinning factory in Kaiyuan City to process self-produced wool and cashmere, and supported the primary production of Hanzhou with the cotton spinning industry in the east. light industrial system.

To develop the textile industry, there is basically no need for additional research and development investment. As long as Daming's existing production machinery is copied and improved, it can be put into production soon.On the whole, the textile industry is still a labor-intensive industry. As long as you have certain technical conditions, you can organize a lot of manpower and material resources, and at the same time drive the development of multiple industries such as finance, trade, and logistics in a country and region.

Compared with other industrial categories, it is easier for the textile industry to generate economies of scale.With economies of scale, a country or region can participate in the global trade system in the future, whether as a raw material supplier or a manufacturer, it can gain a place in the world economy.Therefore, the textile industry has become an "admission ticket" for all countries in the world to move towards modernization. The rise of Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries followed this development path.

During the period from the 14th to the 16th century, although the textile industry flourished in various places, it was always difficult to form a large-scale market.Restricted by geographical environment and transportation, textiles from various places mainly serve the local market.Cotton cloth exported from India or China had to go through several middlemen before it entered the hands of Europeans, which made the textiles expensive.However, the production mode based on family workshops is too small, which inhibits innovation, and people do not have much enthusiasm to improve technology.

Later, until an Englishman named John Kay invented the flying shuttle.Doubling the production efficiency of workers will bring the textile industry and even human industry into a new era.

The birth of the flying shuttle started a series of technological changes. In the following decades, human textile technology made rapid breakthroughs.Interestingly, this great technological revolution is not driven by scientists or engineers, but its protagonists are young craftsmen.

In less than 100 years, the technological revolution detonated by the textile industry started the modernization of Britain and gave birth to Manchester, the first modern industrial city of mankind. At the end of the 18th century, Manchester was full of textile factories from the countryside to the city.Traditional family workshops were replaced by large-scale factory operations.

Then, the British monopolized the cotton trade in India by virtue of their military hegemony; and then blocked their competitors at sea through a powerful fleet;

In this way, the British controlled the raw material supply chain of the textile industry and obtained a large amount of cheap cotton and cloth from India.As raw material prices fell, merchants expanded production, thus driving a new round of technological innovation.The scale dividend brought about by technological innovation has further strengthened Britain's control over overseas trade networks, thereby consolidating its own military strength.

In this vigorous industrial upgrading, technology, power and interests complement each other.Technological innovation has increased production capacity, and increased production capacity has expanded the market size, which is maintained by power.The prosperity of the market led to the continuous enhancement and refinement of social division of labor and technological innovation, which finally started the engine of the British Industrial Revolution.

Based on the principle of path dependence, Qitian naturally wants to copy the model of the successful rise of great powers.Cotton textiles in the east of Hanzhou and wool textiles in the north are intended to detonate the technological revolution in Hanzhou and finally open the path of modernization of Chinese civilization.

It is true that the consumption of woolen products produced by Kaiyuan Wool Mill in Hanzhou is limited by the climate and environment, and the market space is not large.The only way to sell is to transport the produced woolen products to Daming, Japan, North Korea and other places through the annual immigrant fleet, and sell them to the dignitaries and wealthy families there.

After two years, no matter how much more people accumulate in Hanzhou, the textile industry technology and industrial workers will also be improved and increased accordingly.By that time, Hanzhou will be able to monopolize the cotton and woolen products in the entire Nanyang region by virtue of large-scale machine industrial production.

When the Great Ming Jiashen changed, the Chinese civilization would be devastated unprecedentedly. Similarly, the production and living order of the entire continent would be completely destroyed.As the world's most important cotton textile center, the mainland's textile industry will stagnate for decades, whether it is production technology or product output.This will inevitably lead to great development of the textile industry in India, Ottoman, and even Europe.

As a member of the Chinese civilization, Hanzhou not only has to try its best to save more Chinese people and the civilization of the Han family, but also naturally undertakes its entire textile technology and underwriting market.

For India and their cotton cloth market, Hanzhou's current strength naturally dare not compete with the Dutch, British, Portuguese and other European colonial forces for food.But with the growth of national power, relying on the advantage of distance, Qi Tian is confident that Hanzhou will intervene in India sooner or later, and get a share of that fat body.

Compared with those big figures in Hanzhou who conspired to covet other people's land and interests before their own strength became stronger, as a small citizen, he always cared about what benefits he could get.Sometimes even for some small interests, they will give full play to the usual cunning of little people.

In Shiba Township, New Huai’an (now Palmerston, Australia), at the woolen mill purchase point, a wool purchaser picked up the wool placed on the ground, and then shook it vigorously with his hands, and the sand mixed in it It fell straight down.

"You put a lot of sand and soil on your wool, and you probably added a lot of water!" Pei Donghe said dissatisfiedly: "Looking at the appearance, it can only be regarded as a class C."

"I didn't add any sand, that's because the sheep were dishonest when shearing the sheep, they burrowed into the mound and got a little sand." Zhu Yougen argued strongly, "My wool looks so fluffy, how can I be rated as B. . . . ...The lowest is B class."

"Sheep are dishonest. I think some people are dishonest." Pei Donghe said unceremoniously: "Take this wool back and clean it up, and then bring it to me. It is mixed with so much sand and soil, it almost has the wool itself weight!"

"I... I didn't participate in the sand." Zhu Yougen said with some guilt: "It's just that I accidentally let the sheep get into the soil."

"All right, all right, your sheep got stuck in the dirt." Pei Donghe said impatiently, "You must clean up your wool first, otherwise you won't be able to collect it. The grade is still C. Hurry up, there's still a queue at the back." !"

In the end, Zhu Yougen cleaned up the wool mixed with a lot of sand, and got four yuan and sixty cents from the purchaser.

"Unexpectedly, this wool is quite valuable. If I knew it, I would have borrowed a few more sheep!" Zhu Yougen held a few silver dollars tightly, with a satisfied smile on his face.

According to the wool purchaser, the scale of the wool spinning mill located in Kaiyuan City will gradually expand with the increase in wool production in Hanzhou, and eventually form a large industry.

As for what kind of big industry wool can become, Zhu Yougen, as a small citizen, doesn't quite understand, but he knows that in the future, he can not only rely on his own land to grow food and other crops to meet his family's needs, but he can also use his own land to grow food and other crops to meet his own needs. Raise more sheep in time to increase cash income for a slightly basic family.

Then, his future in Hanzhou seems to be more and more hopeful.

(End of this chapter)