After the new glass is made, the defective rate is extremely high, but Xu Wei has no good way in this regard. He can only increase his experience by doing more. Fortunately, the broken glass can be remade from the furnace, so there is not much waste. many!
Xu Wei could only ask these new glass workers to make some simple glass products, such as glass beads, glass cups, and flat glass!
As for complex and sophisticated glass items such as telescopes, primitive microscopes, prisms, test tubes, glass bottles, etc., it will take several years of experience to develop them!
In order to take care of the business of the glass factory, Xu Wei himself became the first big customer of the glass factory. He customized a batch of flat glass to go to Jixian. It is already November and winter is coming. He plans to build a glass glass factory in Jixian. The greenhouse allows everyone to eat vegetables in winter! Of course, in order not to affect Zhang Baiqi’s business, Xu Wei plans to build a glass greenhouse after Zhang Baiqi finishes selling glass beads!
In November of the fourth year of Chuping of the Han Dynasty (AD 193)
The autumn harvest in Daqian has completely ended, and the temperature in the northernmost desert and Liaodong has plummeted to the point of freezing!
However, the results of the autumn harvest were not very good. Although Bingzhou, the main grain-producing area of Daqian, had a large number of water canals, its grain production was still reduced by 20%. Only Youzhou was not greatly affected. On the contrary, due to immigration and the development of Liaodong, grain production increased. 50%. Unfortunately, Youzhou's population is less than 30% of Bingzhou's, and the increase in production is far less than the gap.
On the other hand, although the drought in Jizhou is the most severe, in addition to ensuring the feeding of the people in Jizhou, it can also provide 30 million shi of grain to Daqian. Therefore, the food shortage situation in Daqian has been improved.
The annual National Congress of Daqian was convened again. Xiangkai and other members also came to Jixian for a meeting again.
As the prime minister of Daqian, Niu Gui reported to all the members the achievements of Daqian in agriculture, industry, commerce, education and other aspects this year. The financial revenue and expenditure of Daqian were also better than last time. To be more formal, every council member has a copy of Niu Gui's report in front of him, so that he can understand the current situation of Daqian more clearly!
Unlike last time, when they were ignorant, the last time the congressmen returned to their hometown, they immediately became the envy of everyone. Even the county magistrate and the governor treated them with courtesy, and the congressmen's social status was greatly improved. In addition to being greatly satisfied, these congressmen also have a sense of ownership. They also have the idea of fighting for some benefits for their hometown!
Especially for a celebrity like Xiangkai, he saw the importance of parliament to Daqian. Now that his official career has been cut off, he has regarded parliament as the battlefield for his future struggle!
After listening to Niu Gui's report, Xiangkai immediately said: "Prime Minister Niu, our textile industry has collected more than 12 billion in taxes this year. The textile industry has become my largest industry, but you They have collected so much tax, but they don't care about the difficulties of the textile industry. From what I know, 31 textile factories have collapsed this year in Mayi alone. These are large textile factories with more than 100 people, and family-style workshops. Textile factories, even more, cannot be counted. The surviving textile factories are also struggling. If no one comes to save them, I am afraid that there will be even more textile factories closing down!"
But Xiangkai's words immediately aroused the approval of the Yanmen County Councilor: "Master Xiangkai is right, the textile factory business is very difficult this year! Everyone's life in Mayi has become difficult! I don't know why, we The woolen cloth we woven can’t be sold at all!”
Niu Guidao: "If there are too many textile factories, they will naturally not make money. According to what I know, there are more than one million people related to the textile industry in Bingzhou. With so many people weaving woolen cloth, the number of cloths has already exceeded the market. The demand has increased. In addition, due to the drought this year, the general income of the tribe has dropped, so it is naturally difficult to sell woolen cloth!"
"My opinion is that those textile factories that cannot sustain themselves should switch to other industries. Now we are short of food. Catching fish from the sea is not only more profitable, but it can also supplement our food shortage. This year because of Youzhou, Jizhou’s fishing industry has greatly supplemented our Dagan’s food shortage problem. If you also set up a fishing fleet, no matter how much sea fish you catch, our Dagan will buy them all, and you will definitely make more than the textile industry!”
"As long as some textile factories withdraw from the textile industry, the demand for woolen cloth will be balanced, and business will be easier by this time next year!"
Niu Gui understands this situation, but has no way to solve it. The textile industry makes money and a lot of money flows into the textile industry. These people push up the purchase price of wool and lower the price of wool cloth, making wool cloth every three or four years. It is growing at a rate of doubling every year. There is not much wool left, but the market has been reduced due to war and drought. Naturally, today's situation has emerged. In Niu Gui's opinion, as long as the three-story textile factory is closed, all the funds will be lost. Invest in the fishing industry and the problem will be solved.
Xiangkai said: "There are tens of thousands of female workers in these textile factories. Businessmen can reopen factories in Youzhou, but what will happen to these female workers? They will have no jobs! My opinion is that 30% of the tax is too high. In the Han merchants The tax is only 1 in 30. I would rather not imitate the great Han people, but it is still appropriate to reduce or reduce some taxes!"
Everyone gets excited when they hear that taxes are going to be lowered. Paying less money is a common idea among everyone!
The Taiyuan County assemblyman also said: "This year there is a drought in Bingzhou, everyone's income is not good, and even the grain production in the fields has been reduced by more than 20%. The government in Jizhou has reduced land taxes, and we in Bingzhou can't just favor one over the other!"
The legislators from Shangdang County, Xihe County, Yunzhong County and other merged states all asked Niu Gui to reduce or reduce land taxes. However, the legislators from Youzhou and Jizhou did not join in. The reason for Jizhou was because they had already reduced or exempted taxes. It would be a bit awkward for them to say so. Greed is not enough, and in Youzhou, Daqian has invested more than tens of billions in infrastructure this year, and this does not include the funds for Liaodong development. Although they collect taxes, what they get is more of a beneficiary. In this case Next, it will be even harder to ask for tax exemptions and reductions.
It was also the first time that Niu Gui encountered such a situation. He thought for a long time and said: "The issue of tax reduction is of great importance. Let's go back and discuss it before explaining it to everyone!"
But at this time Xiangkai said again: "It's okay not to reduce taxes, but Da Qian must find a way to conquer Liangzhou and open up the road to the Western Regions!"
Niu Gui asked curiously: "Why attack Liangzhou? What does this have to do with the plight of the textile industry?"
Xiangkai said: "There are also textile factories in Liangzhou. Although they are not as big as ours in Bingzhou, they can still sell millions of woolen cloths every year. It is their competition that makes it difficult for us to start the textile industry. We only need to overcome Once we reach Xiliang, we can annex the textile factories in Liangzhou, and if we capture Xiliang, we can sell woolen cloth to Xiliang. During the Pre-Han Dynasty, millions of pieces of silk entered the Western Regions every year, and as long as we captured Liangzhou, our woolen cloth from Bingzhou can naturally occupy the market in the Western Regions!"
In fact, the reason why Xiangkai is so concerned about Bingzhou's textile industry this time is because Zhen An and the others asked Xiangkai to propose it!
The textile industry in Bingzhou reached its peak last year, and it was difficult for everyone to do business. However, Dagan captured Jizhou at that time, which gave Dagan an additional market of 4 million people, and everyone could barely survive.
But this year, not only did the market not expand, but because of the drought, the entire Dagan tribe began to cut back on food and clothing, so woolen cloth was naturally hard to sell. Zhen'an and their other big market, the big men, were even more severely hit, and the market shrank sharply. The woolen cloth produced is not half as good as last year!
Under this situation, the textile industry not only stagnated, but even began to shrink. Not only did big businessmen like Zhen An not make any money, but they lost money. So they began to think of ways to save themselves. There were two ways they thought of. One was to reduce sales. Taxes! It’s hard for them to explain clearly to Da Gan. Although Da Gan does not discriminate against their merchants, the taxes are really too heavy. A big man would choose one out of thirty, while a Da Gan would take three out of ten. The business tax is 10 times heavier than that of a big man. It's their least favorite place!