Ming Zuo

Chapter 292 Technology Monopoly

The cloth merchants in Songjiang Mansion were not too keen on Zuo Menggeng's request to raise the status of craftsmen.

But facing Zuo Menggeng's monopoly on cotton supply, everyone hesitated.

For several days, they were discussing this matter.

Until the day when Linqing's fleet arrived at the wharf of Songjiang Prefecture, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture were completely convinced.

This time Linqing's fleet followed Zuo Menggeng's order to transport the first batch of cotton.

A full [-] catties of cotton greatly boosted the morale of Songjiang's cotton spinning industry.

Cloth merchants gathered in Xu Mansion one after another, wanting to get a share of it.

Zuo Menggeng was not polite, and gave priority to the families who were close to Xu's mansion.And publicly stated that from now on, those who do not join the chamber of commerce will be excluded from the Shandong cotton supply list.

For a while, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Mansion were happy and sad.

Those who were close to Xu's mansion and decided to join the Chamber of Commerce all got a lot of cotton raw materials.

And those who think they have background and strength can only watch.

These people didn't bother to watch, and immediately sent people north to find the source of goods.

In their minds, Shandong is so big that there are many people who grow cotton.As long as the money is sufficient, there is no need to worry about no cotton.

Not to mention, it really allowed them to buy cotton.

Unfortunately, what happened next left them dumbfounded.

When the cotton was loaded and ready to be shipped, it all got stuck in the canal.

The new army directly set up a barrage on the river to intercept all the boats carrying cotton, and not a single boat was allowed to pass.

No one's background is good, even the boat of the Kong family can be detained.

The reason is that the bandits are investigating the remnants of the White Lotus Sect.

The Kong family was furious, and Kong Yinzhu went to the governor of Shandong in person, but Yu Dacheng's handwritten letter was not easy to use.

Huang Sanhu, who was in charge of blocking the river, pretended to be stupid, and just said that Zuo Menggeng went to Jiangnan to get married, and he was not allowed to pass without Zuo Menggeng's order.

The Kong family wanted to force their way through the barrier, but the new army opened fire on the spot, killing more than a dozen.

The matter became a complete mess, and Yu Dacheng and the Kong family went to the capital one after another to impeach Zuo Menggeng for being arrogant and domineering.

The new army was also welcome, and the impeachment memorials of Huang Daozhou and Zhang Jimeng were also sent to the capital.

It is suspected that Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong Province, colluded with the Kong family illegally, had an affair with the White Lotus Sect, and smuggled embargoed materials.

There was another spat of words, and the quarreling Chongzhen became dizzy and reprimanded both sides.

As a result, it was useless. The new army just blocked the canal, and the ships carrying cotton were not allowed to pass through.The rest of the time, the canal is unimpeded.

Once the army starts to be unreasonable, there is no solution.

Not only that, the Bailian Sect thieves who had disappeared from Yanzhou Mansion ran back again and looted the countryside of Qufu.

The Kong family was so frightened that they closed the door and guarded it tremblingly, ignoring the lawsuit with the new army.

At this point, the cloth merchants in Songjiang Mansion fully understood that if they disobeyed Zuo Menggeng, they would lose their business.

For a time, people who chose to join the Chamber of Commerce were like crucian carp crossing the river, occupying the vast majority of Songjiang's cotton spinning industry.

If it's just these, it's not enough for Zuo Menggeng to do whatever he wants.

In the fleet that came this time, Wang Xiuqin actually came in person.

"Sensei, look, this is a new cloth from our garment factory, what's the difference?"

What she took out was a piece of red cotton cloth. As soon as she showed it, all the cloth merchants exclaimed.

Those present are all experts, who have been dealing with weaving and printing and dyeing all their lives, so they are particularly sensitive to matters related to fabrics and printing and dyeing.

The piece of red cotton cloth that Wang Xiuqin took out looked ordinary, but the red color was extremely bright, even full of luster.

This is something that most printing and dyeing methods cannot do today.

"This dyeing is really ingenious!"

"As long as this kind of fabric is sold, it will definitely be snapped up."

The eyes of the cloth merchants were all red, like bloodthirsty sharks.

For this color effect, let them kill, they can do it.

And looking at Wang Xiuqin beside Zuo Menggeng, many people even felt the urge to snatch someone.

Well, they thought that the dyeing was done by Wang Xiuqin.

Wang Xiuqin didn't know the psychology of cloth merchants, even if she knew, she would just sneer.

With these weak guys, she can hit ten by herself.

"Garment factories make military flags for the army, but the red color they make is very ugly, and everyone is very anxious. Later, Chen Shuangjin told me that using soda ash can improve the color of the fabric. We tried it, and the result is that the red color is so red. nice."

Zuo Menggeng couldn't help smiling when he thought of the lunatic who wanted to light an open fire in the mercury fulminate factory.

"Then Chen Shuangjin has made great contributions. After returning home, I will reward him well."

What Zuo Menggeng didn't know was whether he was able to discover the use of soda ash to improve the vividness of dyeing, or it was due to his daily teachings.

He didn't know much about weaving, printing and dyeing at first, but after the mercury fulminate factory produced soda ash, he casually said: This thing is very useful.

But the big guys are extremely convinced of him.

He said that soda ash is of great use, so it must be of great use.

As for what is the use, slowly test it.

Zuo Menggeng has always held an encouraging attitude towards craftsmanship and scientific research, and he is generous with rewards.

Seeing that others have the opportunity to be promoted and make a fortune because of improving their craftsmanship or inventing or discovering something, the people in Zuozhuang became active and followed suit.

Zuo Menggeng said that soda ash has great uses, so many people have nothing to do to test the use of soda ash.

It turned out that Chen Shuangjin discovered that pure gold can help dyeing, so the garment factory made such a gorgeous red.

The biggest impact on printing and dyeing is water quality.

Only soft water can be used for printing and dyeing, and hard water can only be used for dyeing medium and dark varieties with reactive dyes, and the effect is not great.

However, if cotton products are dyed with acid dyes, hard water will not only lead to poor color brightness, but also decolorization.

In China, the water in the north is mostly hard, while the water in the south is less hard.

This is why the printing and dyeing industry is mostly in the south.

However, even with the water quality in the south and today's printing and dyeing technology, it is impossible to dye bright and light-colored effects.

It is because of the lack of the help of soda ash.

Soda ash is not only an effective water softener, but also a high-quality scouring agent, cotton dyeing auxiliaries, color paste alkali agent, cleaning agent, color fixing agent, cleaning agent, etc., almost running through every link in the printing and dyeing field.

Garment factories tried to add soda ash to printing and dyeing, and the result was a blockbuster, even the cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture were conquered.

"Zhongheng, whether these magical arts can be transferred, I, the Qu family, ask for it."

Qu Yin couldn't hold back at all, and began to seek technology on the spot, and even offered a price of ten thousand gold.

The Qu family is one of the largest printing and dyeing merchants in Songjiang Prefecture, and they know very well what kind of wealth they will bring once they get this technology.

"The old man offered fifty thousand gold."

He is ruthless, and someone is more ruthless.

Shen Youtian from Zhujie Pavilion directly increased the price by five times.

Qu Yin was furious.

"Hmph, Zhongheng is my close relative of the Qu family, Shen Youtian, don't try to seduce people with money."

Shen Youtian refused to budge.

"Open the door to do business, and the one with the highest price will get it. If you threaten family affection like you, you are not a son of man."

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Zuo Menggeng hurriedly stopped them.

"Two, it's not like this."

After finally persuading him, Zuo Menggeng asked Wang Xiuqin, "Did you bring the soda ash?"

Wang Xiuqin is really careful.

"I guess it will be used, so I brought a bucket."

Zuo Menggeng said to Qu Yin: "I tried it in Shandong before, and it was really good. But how effective it will be in Songjiang Mansion, we need to test it on the spot. I wonder if I can use Qu's place to try printing and dyeing cloth myself?"

Qu Yin was overjoyed.

"That's right, let's go, I'll take you there."

Seeing that Zuo Menggeng was going to use Qu's printing and dyeing factory to test new things, the others were envious but helpless.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Menggeng looked over and said, "Don't you seniors want to take a look?"

Shen Youtian trembled on the spot.

"I'll wait...can I just watch?"

Zuo Menggeng laughed.

"You are all members of the Songjiang Cotton Textile Chamber of Commerce. Now that there is any new technology, of course everyone must be exposed to the rain and dew, so as not to violate the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce, right?"

Everyone was as comfortable as if they had eaten a fairy fruit. They didn't expect to feel the benefits of joining the chamber of commerce so quickly.

Is Zuo Menggeng really so generous that he is not afraid of these people stealing new technologies?

Just because he knew that even if he put soda ash in front of these people, they would be helpless.

Soda ash is a complete industrial product. I don't know anything about chemistry and synthesis procedures, so I have no way to steal it.

But if soda ash is really useful for printing and dyeing, it means finding another stable and rich source of income.

This is technopoly.

He originally thought about gaining the right to speak in the cotton spinning industry by controlling cotton and transportation, but now it seems that he has more technical advantages.

In the future, Songjiang cotton spinning industry will be completely brought into his hands.

(End of this chapter)