The workshop in Linjiazhuang has been extremely busy these days, and all the cotton harvested by Lin Village and Lu Village has been brought into the workshop.
The people in Lujiazhuang were so happy that every household received twelve guan of money from selling cotton. If these lands were used to grow hemp, how could they get such rich returns?
You must know that in the Tang Dynasty, a farm family with an annual income of fifteen guan could basically achieve self-sufficiency, maybe with a slight surplus.
The income of these fifteen guan includes not only the grain in the fields, mulberry and hemp, but also all the family income from agricultural and sideline products.
But now just for growing cotton, each household in the two villages can get ten thousand dollars! It is more than enough to buy millet and linen and pay "rent" and "transfer" with this money.
In addition to cotton, Lujiazhuang also grows a lot of sweet potatoes. Although they don’t know how to make vermicelli, sweet potatoes are also a good food.
It is foreseeable that both Linjiazhuang and Lujiazhuang will have a good year this year, and there will be no problem with basic food and clothing.
However, all the money in Lujiazhuang has been distributed to each household, but the money in Linjiazhuang has been withheld by Patriarch Lin.
Forty-two families had a total of 504 yuan, which was invested in the workshop as original capital.
The Linjiazhuang workshop belongs to the clan's communist party, of which Lin Wanwan is the absolute majority shareholder.
Lin Wanwan paid for the labor and materials used to build the workshop. This was a large investment, costing Lin Wanwan one hundred and twenty gold in total.
Later, the ladies from the clan were invited to work, and Lin Wanwan needed to pay for the wages.
Therefore, Lin Wanwan owned 70% of this building, which was officially named Lin's Workshop after its completion, and the remaining 30% was owned by the Lin family.
The money from selling cotton this time was the first capital invested by the Lin family in the workshop, which was used to purchase cotton from other villages in Luan County.
Although the money was not distributed, people in Linjiazhuang were still very enthusiastic.
Everyone was excited when they thought that the majestic workshop and warehouse built on the gravel at the entrance of the village could be a part of their own home.
Naturally, there are people in the clan who are opposed to investing money in the workshop. But their words don't count and they can't make any decisions.
Such general direction matters are all decided by Clan Chief Lin, elders of various clans, and the next generation of selected backbones.
Now Linjiazhuang's workshop is divided into two parts. The front part is mainly responsible for the five people selected by Lin Wanwan, including Sun Chueyao, He Ada, Lin Mengbo, Lin Mengjin, and Lin Mengxing, who specialize in collecting cotton from outside.
The back of the workshop is composed of the women's army of Linjiazhuang - anyone who is willing to come can come and learn. Each person also gets a basic salary of 200 yuan per month, plus piecework bonuses and lunch subsidies.
This year, there is no mulberry or linen planting in the entire village of Lin, so there is less need to weave cloth.
Women are busy weaving fishing nets and taking care of housework every day. The labor intensity is not high, so when they hear that the workshop is looking for weaver girls, they don't want to go.
Except for a few families who are particularly stubborn and don't want their wives to leave the house to work, and old ladies who are too old to weave, almost all the ladies over the age of fifteen in Linjiazhuang come to the Lin family.
Workshop work.
Lin Wanwan started with the pedal-operated cotton gin and taught everyone how to pick out cotton seeds from cotton easily and quickly.
The deseeded cotton is naturally of great use. It can be further spun on a spinning machine, stretched, dyed, and then used to weave cloth on a loom.
The separated cotton seeds will not be wasted. Some of them will be used in Lin Wanwan's medicine store to be used as traditional Chinese medicine, and some will be used to extract oil - but extracting oil is a big project, and Lin Wanwan doesn't have the energy to do it yet, so she will leave it aside for now.
Regarding cotton ginning, cotton stretching, and spinning, Lin Wanwan actually didn't need to teach you step by step. She just demonstrated the use of a few tools for everyone. The hard-working rural ladies of the Tang Dynasty who were used to this kind of work all understood it.
.
The most important thing to learn is the step of dyeing. Regarding this, Lin Wanwan did not completely "borrow" from modern times, but used local materials from the Tang Dynasty, using fake indigo, Wenchang Aconus bark, black ink, turmeric, and hematoxylin.
Natural raw materials such as madder and corn are used to dye the spun cotton thread.
The dyed cotton threads are then woven into various brightly colored cotton fabrics.
The weaving process is not just about weaving, the weaving technology also requires a lot of effort.
Although Lin Wanwan can bring in advanced tools such as Huang Daopo's textile machine, she doesn't know much about how to "stagger yarn color matching, pull out heddle threads" in weaving technology, and so far she has only taught the simplest ones.
There are really too many things she has to learn every day, and medicine cannot be slacked off for a day. Guqin and konghou are played less now, but she still has to spend a lot of time practicing every day.
In addition, she had to study hard in modern farming and weaving technology for this cotton business.
Hand-weaving technology has become an intangible cultural heritage item in modern times, and it is not easy for Lin Wanwan to learn it. Fortunately, there is a good place in modern times. As long as you want to learn, you can always find a place where you can learn it by spending money.
The Internet and live broadcasts are also a good thing. There are many meaningful live teaching courses that you can watch over and over again after buying them.
Lin Wanwan's learning of weaving technology was just a matter of trying to catch up. Just like studying medicine, she was forced to do so. It was not her real interest. She was not as happy as learning the guqin or konghou.
Every time she studies, she encourages herself with the words "the boundless sea of learning and hard work". For the happy life of the people of the Tang Dynasty, it is really not easy for Lin Wanwan!
Compared to how busy she was, Xiao Chong's life made Lin Wanwan envious.
He has 500 acres of farmland, half of which is rented to the common people and half of which is cultivated by his own farmers.
In this half of the farmland, a lot of cotton was planted again. This time, Xiao Chong made a lot of money just from selling cotton.
You must know that when ordinary people make money from growing cotton, they still have to set aside part of it to pay taxes, but officials do not have to pay taxes. This job field is an additional subsidy for them.
Xiao Chong himself didn't need to learn farming or weaving, he could just sit back and enjoy the benefits. Lin Wanwan was so envious of him.
When he followed the banker to Linjiazhuang to sell cotton (actually to make money), Lin Wanwan said a lot of mean things.
What kind of person is Xiao Chong? He knows the elegant meaning after listening to Xiange. He feels a little funny about the thoughts revealed by Lin Wanwan. I really want to tell her whether she knows that the county magistrate has a mountain of official duties every day!
If he hadn't known people well and assigned them well, it would have been easy for him to die from exhaustion.
It is not easy to be a good official, and it is even more difficult to be a good official who can do practical things.
"Cousin, do you know what is a poem that someone likes recently?"
"How could I know this?" Lin Wanwan, who was tired and full recently, was too lazy to think about it. She was not a roundworm in his stomach.
Xiao Chong smiled solemnly and said: "The road is long and long, and I will search up and down."
"I didn't expect that my cousin also liked the phrase "Li Sao". You stole my motto!"