Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Auntie Zhu looked at the steam loom that seemed to never stop, and the female workers who were working seriously and swiftly in front of the loom, but smiled.

She didn't go in to take a closer look, disturbing the work of the female workers, she looked at the outermost corridor for a while, and then said: "Come on, let's go to the spinning workshop to have a look."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The director of the cotton spinning factory who was in charge of leading the way responded, and led the way in front, leading Zhu Yuxi and others to the spinning workshop.

Cotton spinning is mainly divided into four steps: rolling, playing, spinning and weaving.

Therefore, this steam cotton spinning factory is also divided into four major workshops, and all of them use steam machinery.

This time, the director of the cotton spinning factory took Zhu Yuxi and others to visit from the last process.

After being shocked by the weaving workshop, Yuan Jixian was already prepared for what he would see later, but when he came to the spinning workshop, he was still shocked.

I saw rows of steam spinning wheels in the workshop, and each spinning wheel has hundreds of spindles that are constantly getting bigger and thicker under the care and operation of female workers.

In such a situation, Xie Xuelong couldn't help but compare it with the spinning process of ordinary people he knew.

'Nowadays folks mostly use pedal spinning wheels, which can spin three spindles at a time, and a few can spin four or five spindles at a time.

However, in some places where pedal spinning wheels have not yet been extended, hand-operated single spinning wheels are still used, and only one spindle can be spun at a time.

In such a comparison, the hand spinning wheel is completely defeated in front of the steam spinning wheel!

Even the large water-powered spinning wheel, which is rare in the folk, can spin more than [-] spindles at a time, which is far inferior to the steam spinning wheel.

It is mentioned that the spinning speed of this steam spinning wheel is obviously faster, and if the operation is replaced, it will not stop day after day! '

On the other hand, Lu Zhenfei thought and looked at this matter from a different angle.

'At the end of the Song Dynasty, there was a large hydraulic spinning wheel that could spin more than [-] spindles, which was not much worse than this steam spinning wheel.

However, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the hydraulic spinning wheel almost disappeared, and it was not used until the Wanli period.

The reason for this is that the daily weaving of the shuttle loom is limited, and there is too much spinning to use it. Naturally, not many people bother to build the large water-powered spinning wheel.

I just watched the weaving speed of the steam loom is so terrifying, I was worried whether the production of spindles by the spinning wheel could keep up with the consumption.Seeing this scene now, I know that the steam engine can also make spinning faster and more.

In this way, presumably the two steps of cotton ginning and cotton picking after that must also use machinery to improve efficiency. '

After visiting the spinning workshop, Aimee Zhu and all the ministers visited the cotton plucking workshop and the cotton ginning workshop, and they saw many wonderful machines.

Although not every kind of machinery is driven by a steam engine, but these machinery form a whole production line, but the speed of female workers turning cotton into cotton cloth is dozens of times faster than manual production!
Seeing the high production efficiency of the government-run Nanjing Cotton Mill is logically a joy for the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

However, after coming out of the cotton mill, many ministers frowned tightly, with worried expressions on their faces.

Just as Auntie Zhu got into the imperial carriage, Yuan Jixian couldn't resist going out of the window to speak.

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report!"

Aimee Zhu probably knew what Yuan Jixian was going to say, so she said, "Let's talk about it when we get back to the Forbidden City."

Yuan Jixian had no choice but to back down.

However, not long after returning to the Forbidden City in Nanjing, Yuan Jixian, Huang Daozhou, Xie Xuelong and other cabinet ministers all came to the Wuying Hall to ask for an audience.

After the ministers entered the Hall of Martial Arts, Zhu Wei took the initiative and said, "You want to discuss the matter of the cotton spinning factory?"

"But this is the case." Yuan Jixian said, "Your Majesty, today we are watching the Nanjing Cotton Mill. A female worker uses a steam machine to produce more cotton cloth in one day than a skilled weaver girl earns in a month's work.

At first glance, this matter is beneficial to the imperial court, but if it is promoted, it will inevitably make it unprofitable for the common people to weave cloth by hand, and even cannot sell it.

Women in ordinary families in my Ming Dynasty all weaved cloth to subsidize their households, and even made a living from it. If this road is blocked, wouldn’t many people lose a piece of income?
The old minister implores His Majesty to issue an order to prohibit cotton spinning, silk spinning and other textile factories and workshops from using steam engines and other machinery that hinder people's livelihood! "

After listening to Yuan Jixian's speech, Zhu Wei's expression did not change at all, and there was no sign of happiness or anger at all.

She was not in a hurry to express her opinion, but asked: "Do all the ministers have the same thoughts as Yuanfu?"

Li Yan and others did not come, but the seven cabinet ministers were there at this time.

After hearing Aimee Zhu's question, Xie Xuelong and He Yingrui stood up one after another, expressing their agreement with Yuan Jixian's proposal.

Then, Ma Shiying said: "The development of science and technology, the use of science and technology to improve the productivity of our Ming Dynasty, and even the prosperity of the country through science and technology, are the national policies agreed upon by His Majesty and us.

Nowadays, Nanjing Cotton Mill uses machinery such as steam looms, and the daily production of cotton cloth is dozens of times that of hand spinning.

These cloths are sold overseas, and the profits will be huge, but the chief minister proposes to ban them because they are detrimental to the income of the people. Isn't it too extreme? "

He Yingrui, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, stood up and said: "I also think that the high efficiency of weaving in official factories is a good thing, and it should not be banned."

After that, Aunt Zhu, Yuan Jixian and the others turned their attention to Huang Daozhou and Lu Zhenfei.

Huang Daozhou closed his eyes, as if he was not ready to speak on this matter.

Under the gaze of everyone, Lu Zhenfei got up and said: "Your Majesty, if the machinery of the Nanjing Cotton Mill becomes popular, it will indeed be as Shoufu said, and it will damage the livelihood of ordinary people.

However, now I have to wait in line to use steam engines for warships and trains of the Ming Dynasty. If I want to build more steam looms and spinning wheels, it may take a lot of ten days, right? "

After hearing this, Auntie Zhu finally smiled and said, "That's right, the machinery of Nanjing Cotton Mill was made by Nanjing Machinery Bureau in four or five months."

Having said this, Zhu Yuxi paused for a moment before continuing: "When I was in charge of the country in the middle of Shu, I made a vow to let the people of Ming Dynasty live a good life after the civil strife in Jingping.

What is a good day?First of all, the people must have something to eat, something to wear, and even enough to eat and wear warmly.

Therefore, although I have dispatched troops to fight north and south in recent years, I have always paid attention to people's livelihood.So, how can the imperial court compete with the ordinary people for profit?
Therefore, there is no need for Zhu Qing to worry that the Nanjing Cotton Mill will destroy the livelihood of ordinary people.

Firstly, I currently have no intention of forcibly promoting this set of machinery; secondly, with the current industrial foundation of my Ming Dynasty, it may take many years to promote it.

However, the industrialization of the textile industry is the trend in the future. Today, I took you to inspect and visit, hoping that you can be mentally prepared to face the advantages and disadvantages of industrialization together with me.

Now in the Ming Dynasty, there are many families who need women to weave cloth to subsidize their households and even make a living from it, but is it going to be like this all the time?Can't something be changed?
You should know that the world is always changing. If we are afraid of trouble and are unwilling to change and fail to make progress, we will be bullied or even beaten when other countries make progress.

Take the textile industry as an example. Today, my Ming Dynasty can produce a lot of good cloth and sell it to overseas countries, making huge profits for the court and the people.

But if we remain the same, when other countries can produce better, cheaper and more cloth than us in the future, will they dump it to us in Daming?
At that time, both the court and the people will be damaged.If such a thing really happened, the sufferings suffered by the people would be much more severe, right? "

After hearing what Aimee Zhu said, Yuan Jixian, Xie Xuelong and others all frowned and began to think.

Auntie Zhu saw that it was almost six o'clock in the afternoon, and it was getting dark, so she said, "You can go back and think about this matter, and we will discuss it tomorrow."

After speaking, he got up and went to the apse.

Yuan Jixian, Ma Shiying and others immediately stood up and bowed, "Respectfully send off Your Majesty!"

Second more.

At the end of the last chapter, the efficiency of the steam loom was changed. The data was still a bit large before, but now it has been changed to [-] to [-] times.

That is, the amount of cloth that a female worker weaves with a steam loom in one day is the amount of cloth that a skilled weaver girl weaves in more than a month.

Good night~