Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 87 Didn't you like it?

The emperor has really come!

Ying'er was overjoyed, and hurriedly took Shiniang to the spinning room in the east corridor, knelt down and waited for her.

He whispered to Wei Shiniang: "Be sure to be smarter later, if Your Majesty comes here..."

"If His Majesty punishes you, then..."

"Miss Xin?"

"letter!"

"Then do what you say!"

Ying'er remembered the "cotton" sent by Jiang Yeting's orders a few days ago, nine times out of ten, His Majesty the Emperor came for it.

Cotton is not like silk. Compared with silk, cotton silk is shorter and thicker. Compared with wool, it is longer, thinner and softer.

If you want to spin cotton into yarn, you must not use the method of spinning silkworm yarn, but it is similar to spinning wool.

Ying'er's original master's family had a blanket business, spinning wool into thick wool and then weaving thick blankets. Although she was the eldest lady's maidservant, she had the opportunity to see the workshop.

Wool can only be spun into roving because it is too hard, but this cotton can be spun into fine yarn.

This can be woven into cloth and worn on the body.

After thinking about it carefully, Ying'er guessed a rough idea.

With a creak, the middle door opened wide, and the guards came in first, guarding every corner.

Li Ye then stepped into the silk making workshop.

"Your Majesty, the silk fabric workshop can be divided into two places. The silk fabric workshop here is dedicated to spinning. After the yarn is finished, it will be sent to the cloth workshop next door. There are weaver girls weaving silk cloth."

Li Ye nodded. At this time, Datang's productivity is probably second to none in the world. It is very good to start division of labor and cooperation in this era.

"Jiang Ye Tingling, is the cotton yarn spun here?"

"It's here."

Li Ye was overjoyed, Yeting Palace sent a piece of cotton fabric yesterday, the cotton yarn was quite thick and had nodules, but he finally took the first step, although the texture of cotton fabric was not as good as silk, it was much better than linen.

Moreover, cotton cloth can be used as underwear. If you use the linen cloth woven in this era to make underwear, it will keep you from itching and panicking.

You know, in this era, cloth can be used as money, and a piece of silk costs several pennies.

Cloth has always been a scarce commodity, as long as it is produced, it can be sold.

The Industrial Revolution of the British Empire also started with the textile industry.

If Datang can start the cotton spinning industry, there will be no need to worry about money in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Ye felt even more excited, and smiled at Jing Xiang: "This thing can be worth [-] soldiers!"

Jing Xiang also smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I just don't know how much cotton is produced? How much does it cost to weave it into cloth?"

Li Ye could hear that Jingxiang was admonishing, after all, no one in Tang Dynasty knew the characteristics of cotton.

But the emperor knows!

Cotton processing does not require boiling water to cook. The place where cotton yarn is processed is placed in the house next to the east corridor. Jiang Yeting led Li Ye into it.

The room is quite big, more than 100 square meters, with two spinning wheels and five yarn girls kneeling on the ground.

Li Ye glanced over, and a person immediately caught Li Ye's attention.

The others were kneeling on the ground with their heads lowered, but she glanced at Li Ye quietly, then hurriedly lowered her head again.

The face is delicate and the neck is like the moon, and the little girl is really handsome!

Li Ye said: "Get up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Ye ordered Jiang Yeting: "Tell me, how is this cotton spun into yarn?"

"This..." Jiang Ji was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He didn't know how to do it. As the chief official of Yeting Palace, he never paid attention to such trivial matters.

"Your Majesty, I don't know if I can let Fangniang speak for herself."

Li Ye walked up to the little lady and said, "What's your name?"

"Slave Wei Shiniang!"

Seeing this and hearing this, Ying'er's heart almost dropped, God is sorry to see, His Majesty has noticed Shi Niang.

Li Ye said: "You know how this cotton yarn is spun."

Wei Shiniang said: "Your Majesty, to make cotton yarn, you need to comb it into slivers to remove impurities, and then go to the spinning wheel to twist it into yarn."

What he said was generous and clear.

"Can you demonstrate it for me?"

Wei Shiniang saluted and said, "Your Majesty, Sister Ying'er figured out this technique of spinning cotton. The slaves just follow along and do some rough work. If you want to demonstrate, you need Sister Ying'er to do it."

Ying'er's heart melted, the ladder was right in front of her eyes, and she climbed up and went up. At this time, Shi Niang didn't rely on her merits and let him show her face in front of the emperor, which showed her heart.I sigh that the efforts of the past five years have not been in vain.

"Who is Miss Ying'er?"

"The servant is here!"

"Demonstrate it for me!"

"promise!"

Seeing Yinger's operation, Li Ye frowned subconsciously.

The first step in spinning is to loosen the cotton balls. First, comb the cotton balls with a hair comb, then comb them with a lice comb, and comb them into cotton slivers. Large sliver.

Thinking of the mountains of cotton, how many people would be needed to comb it like this.

Besides spinning, one person rotates the spinning wheel, one person twists the yarn, and one person pulls the sliver into a similar fineness. This also takes three people, and the spinning is still very slow. Li Ye estimated that it would take 10 minutes to spin the yarn. Less than ten meters.

How long did it take for the piece of cloth in my hand?I'm afraid it's not so troublesome to use silk.

Li Ye shook his head.

The craft has to be improved, he thought of the Jenny spinning machine, why didn't he take a good look at the spinning machine at that time, one person can spin eight spindles, and Huang Daopo's cotton gin, spinning and loom.

If this technology cannot be improved, no matter how much cotton there is, it can only be used to make quilts or stuffing for cotton clothes.

Li Ye's plan to make a fortune was poured with cold water, and he instantly sobered up.

"Miss Ying'er, is there a way to make the spinning speed faster?"

Ying'er shook her head and said, "Your Majesty, this is the fastest speed for a servant!"

Li Ye was not discouraged either. Datang did not lack skilled craftsmen. As long as he was willing to invest, the technology would definitely improve continuously.

"Take me to the cloth shop to have a look!"

"promise!"

Ying'er watched the emperor's figure go away, and then looked at Wei Shiniang.

This is not fancy?
In the cloth shop next door

The loom looks very simple. There are already some mechanical devices, and the pedals are used to support the vertical threads.

First pull dozens of longitudinal threads, and use a shuttle to thread and compact the horizontal threads, repeating back and forth.

However, two people are needed to operate the loom, one shuttles back and forth, and the other steps on the pedal to compact the horizontal thread.

There is a lot of room for improvement, and the shuttle can be a shuttle, made of iron or made of wood.

Compression springs are also needed. Although it is a bit troublesome to make iron wires and copper wires, they can always be made. As for forming, quenching and stress relief, it should be possible to make them after fumbling.

With the shuttle, at least one person can be saved, and the cloth can be woven wider.

As for driving the loom with water power, it was just Li Ye's good idea, and he had no idea.

(End of this chapter)