When Situ Cen returned to the capital, he had to wander around to see how the streets and alleys looked like before. Compared with when he left the capital, there were visible differences, such as a platform holding red and green flags at the intersection, and new oil-filled street lamps and buses.
The carriage platform. The most eye-catching thing is the pedestrians on the road. The younger ones are wearing some simple and strange clothes, and their feet are also strange-style shoes. The older ones are still wearing ordinary clothes. Situ Cen looks around and sees the young people walking
Soon, there were a lot of people jumping around.
He then entered a ready-made clothing shop on the roadside, where all the new clothes were hung. There were more than a dozen large mirrors in the shop, and there were many customers. Most of the clothes hanging in the shop had no buttons, and there was a bright and unknown object on the front.
Situ Cen hurriedly asked the clerk to inquire. The clerk said: "This is a zipper. It is made of steel. Just zip it up. It is the most convenient. It is not as troublesome and time-consuming as buttons." He then demonstrated it to Situ Cen in front of a wooden man wearing clothes.
Look. "Nowadays, young people your age are becoming more and more fond of this kind of coat."
Situ Cen found it interesting, so he pulled the zipper back and forth on the wooden man several times, and said with a smile: "It's really cheap, where did you get it from?"
The waiter said: "I learned it from the West." Situ Cen's mouth twitched: he could use his toes to figure out who did it.
From the corner of his eye, he saw two young men of seventeen or eighteen years old nearby, both wearing this kind of coat. One of them took off the coat he was wearing and threw it to his companion. He picked up the clothes in the store and walked to the large glass mirror to take a look.
The companion laughed and said: "You have gained weight again."
The man took it off with a smile: "I'm really fat. Get a larger size."
A waiter handed him an identical piece of clothing and said with a smile: "I told you that junior officials must wear large sizes. Large sizes are great, they are strong and majestic."
The man put on the new one and turned around in front of the mirror: "It fits well." He looked at it a few more times and said, "The collar is too big."
The waiter said: "Young official, would you like to try that crow-blue one? The collar is smaller."
"That's fine." The man took off his clothes and threw them to the waiter, then turned around and went to the clothes rack to get new ones.
Situ Cen had noticed that there were many customers trying on clothes in the shop, and asked curiously: "Aren't you afraid of being tried on?"
The guy next to him said: "It's inevitable that some may fail, but it's generally fine."
Situ Cen looked at the clothes on the wooden man. They were very simple, with only a small camellia embroidered on the chest. Only then did he remember that the name of the shop seemed to be called Camellia Fashion Shop. The clothes in the shop were all of the same style and hung with five flowers.
There were six pieces, and they were exactly the same. After thinking for a moment, he asked casually: "The tailor in your shop is very capable, how can he make so many identical clothes?"
The clerk said: "These are goods purchased from the Dajiala Second Garment Factory. Our boss has opened the Yanjing First Garment Factory in the suburbs of Beijing and is training sewing girls."
"A seamstress...is a clothes maker?"
"The garment factory is an assembly line operation." The clerk said, "They also use sewing machines."
Situ Cen became interested: "When did another sewing machine come out? I have never heard of it."
The clerk smiled and said: "The output has not been expanded yet, so it is not easy to buy. But I heard that a sewing machine factory is about to start building."
Another clerk interjected: "How can a sewing machine factory be so fast? Didn't the boss say that a parts processing factory should be built first?"
This one said: "Build it at the same time, just start work on the front and rear. There are many women in the Yan Kingdom who live in the backyard and don't go out. Sewing machines are designated for sale."
Situ Cen unconsciously took a breath and looked up into the store - from the waiters to the customers, they were all young people, and all of them had smiles on their faces. Jia Cong once said that young people are the easiest to accept new things.
From fresh clothes and shoes to sewing machines and bicycles, and then to the imperial court, Yan Guo will definitely become his within ten years, and no one can take it away. He sighed softly and said to the waiter: "Will you pick something suitable for me?"
The clerk hurriedly pointed to the wooden figure and said: "In my opinion, this will look good on a high-ranking official, but the color on our model is a bit darker. Look, there is the same style in light silver gray over there, worn by a high-ranking official.
Livelier."
Situ Cen looked where he pointed and smiled bitterly: The light silver-gray coat had bright yellow edges. Bright yellow is not something just anyone can wear. So he walked over and picked one without taking off his clothes.
After putting on a suit outside, Situ Cen stood in front of the mirror and was a little surprised: it really made him look more alive. He lowered his head, buttoned the zipper and pulled it up, then grabbed the zipper and pulled it up and down a few times. It was better than trying it on a wooden man.
It was a lot more interesting. He then smiled and asked, "How much do these clothes cost?"
The waiter said: "Six hundred dollars." Situ Cen had never worn such cheap clothes. Looking down, he saw that the material was made of fine cotton, but the stitching was very neat. For some reason, Situ Cen had the feeling that the store had made a lot of money. It's just that
He wanted to go back and think about the zipper, so he ordered the boy who followed him to pay the bill.
The waiter smiled and said, "It's not convenient to wear a robe under your coat. Do you want me to go over there and wear a pair of jeans?"
Situ Cen bought the clothes without intending to wear them, so he said, "No need." He took off his clothes and threw them to the boy, then strode out of the shop.
After a while, the boy who paid the bill came out with some clothes and called "Master". Situ Cen looked back at the clothes in his hand and said, "Go buy a pair of jeans they mentioned."
The boy agreed and went in. Not long after, he bought a pair of jeans and came out and said, "Their guy said it should be paired with a pair of rubber-soled sneakers. You can buy them in the shoe store next door."
Situ Cen said "Yeah", picked up his feet and walked into the shoe store next door to buy a pair of sports shoes. When he came out and looked at these three things, he felt uncomfortable for some reason.
At dusk that day, Jia Cong had just returned to the house and had not had time to see Jia She. Someone sent a message from outside, saying that Situ Cen invited him to have a drink. So he went to the appointed address without changing his clothes.
The tavern is right next to Jian'an Institute of Technology. The people sitting inside are all students, all wearing new clothes. Jia Cong's duck egg green arrow sleeves are very abrupt. When I asked the waiter, I found that Situ Cending's table was not
Private room, in the corner of the hall on the second floor. Jia Cong went upstairs and looked around for a moment, and saw Situ Cen sitting at a square table in a coat and jeans. The two tables next to him were filled with people in green clothes and hats, obviously his servants.
, didn’t find it funny, so he walked over.
Situ Cen was pouring himself a drink. He glanced up at him and gestured to the table next door. A waiter waved to the waiter to come over and let him serve the food. Jia Cong sat directly opposite him and looked at him: "This dress is wearing
Not bad, quite pretty.”
Situ Cen said: "The clothes cost 600 yuan. I went to the shops near the school and found that they are expensive."
Jia Cong said: "The clothes on the assembly line are not expensive. It won't be long before everyone under the age of forty in Yan State will accept this kind of clothes - except for rich families. After all, there are very few rich families, and most of their slaves have escaped.
.When they hire servants, they either have to provide clothes for the servants, or they have to watch all the servants in the house wear these clothes."
Situ Cen asked: "What do you want to do with such weird clothes?"
"It's easy to put on," Jia Cong said. "Zippers are not going to be retailed for the time being, which means they can't be bought. But this is really convenient, right?"
"Yes. Much more convenient than buttons and straps."
"The fabrics in the garment factory are purchased directly from the cloth factory, which is much cheaper than retailing on the street. The factory has workers working on an assembly line, so the cost is very low, and the price of ready-made clothes is also very low, and everyone can afford it. Acen, what do you think?
Think about it, if buying clothes outside is so cheap, cheaper than buying fabrics yourself, how many ordinary families will still make clothes? Not to mention that convenient and fashionable zippers are not available."
Situ Cen didn't understand: "You want the people to buy clothes and wear them? Isn't it good to make clothes?"
"Making clothes at home requires too much energy and effort." Jia Cong said, "Women don't have to make clothes, so they can have a lot of time left to do odd jobs to earn money. What Yan State lacks most now is labor, and there is simply not enough male labor.
"
Situ Cen opened his eyes wide and said after a while: "You...are you doing this?"
Jia Cong spread his hands: "Otherwise, what else can I do? I am the regent of the Yan Kingdom, so I naturally have to solve the problem." He took a sip of wine and said, "At first, I thought about buying some African slaves to work here. Then I thought about it, black people
My physical fitness is very strong, and the emancipation of slaves is a matter of time. I don’t want to introduce foreigners into the country yet. In this case, I can only improve the utilization rate of labor and speed up industrialization. Fortunately, my students are really smart. In the past few years
Improved chimney filtration systems can already reduce a lot of soot pollution, which can speed up heavy industry."
Situ Cen frowned: "What is heavy industry?"
"Uh...how do you explain it?" Jia Cong scratched his head.
"Made into ready-to-wear?"
"No. That's considered light industry." Jia Cong said, "Do you know about sewing machines?"
"I just heard about it today."
"Making sewing machines is a heavy industry. The machinery industry." Jia Cong said, "Also, the railway from Beijing to Tianjin will start construction in a few days."
"railway?"
"You probably don't know. In the third month after my Miaomiao was born, Taiwan built the world's first railway. Although it was difficult, we also accumulated a lot of experience." Jia Cong smiled and said, "Acen, the industrial revolution has really begun.
Already."
Situ Cen thought for a while: "The Industrial Revolution, I saw it in your bookstore in Dajiala. It was the transformation of all kinds of manual work into machines. Didn't it start a long time ago?"
"In the past, it wasn't even counted. It was all small-scale industries. Railways are the symbol of industrialization. Only with railways can we have fast bulk transportation." Jia Cong smiled and made a "v", "You can come to Yan State again in a few years.
, that’s called a big change.”
Situ Cen suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, I haven't been to Taiwan for a while. Has it become more powerful there?"
"Yes! That's our scientific research base. All new things are tested first before being moved to Yan Country."
Situ Cen stared at him and said, "You asked my eldest niece to study there on purpose, right?"
Jia Cong innocently said: "Of course it was intentional. Not only your eldest niece, but also the eighth child of Prince Wu's family is also here."
"My eldest niece also wears clothes like this?"
Jia Cong looked at him again and said, "No. The school uniforms their children wear are not like yours." He pointed at a few female students at the next table wearing Jian'an Polytechnic uniforms and said, "Well, it's probably like that."
Situ Cen turned around and looked: "Isn't this different?"
"What's the matter? Look down and see for yourself!"
"Anyway, these are not ordinary clothes."
"Of course not Hanfu." Jia Cong said confidently, "Students wear Hanfu to class every day, but what about physical education classes? Hanfu is only worn in specific classes."
Situ Cen looked at the students at the next table again: "Do students from Yan State also have to dress like this?"
"That's right!" Jia Cong said, "Starting from the start of school this spring, all schools in Yan State, regardless of large, medium or small, have been issued uniforms. Students must wear school uniforms to go to school and are not allowed to wear other clothes. Anyway, school uniforms do not cost them money.
Bought."
Situ Cen hummed: "It's cheap anyway. It's easy for you to make money. A one-day trip to the Forbidden City costs 8,000 silver."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "It's none of that. The money has other uses."
Situ Cen immediately said: "My eldest niece's school is like this too? You can only wear school uniforms and nothing else?"
"Of course! Didn't I tell you just now? Taiwan is a testing ground. All national policies of the Yan State have been tested there first, and only after they are effective and have gained experience are they implemented here. After all, it is a small place, and we need to
Much bigger.”
Situ Cen thought for a moment: "What about Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi? And Yunnan and Guizhou."
Jia Cong excused himself and said: "If conditions permit, we will promote them all at the same time. There is also the Japanese Yan genus. Although the population is smaller, we will still use the policies of the Yan country. In ten years, young people in these places will be used to wearing these clothes on your body.
, they will also get used to having classmates and colleagues of both genders, and there are many subtle things. They will be regular troops promoting industrialization."
Situ Cen was silent for a cup of tea this time, and then said: "What does your railway look like? I'll go and see."
Jia Cong smiled and said: "I have photos, I would have brought them to you if I had known them."
Situ Cen took a sip of wine and said, "No rush." After a while, he asked again, "What new items are you hiding that I don't know about?"
Jia Cong thought for a while and said: "The tungsten filament vacuum light bulb that has been studied for so many years finally made a breakthrough last year. It is bright enough and has been on for more than nine consecutive days. It will not be long before it can be mass-produced. There is also a phone, and this project is also ten
The principle existed a few years ago, and it was just developed in the past two years, and there are still some improvements."
"Do you have any photos?"
"have."
Situ Cen put down his chopsticks: "Let's go and have a look at your house."
"Hey! The hot food has just arrived! We have been talking and I haven't even eaten a few bites!" Jia Cong said, "And the restaurants near the school are not allowed to waste food. If you don't believe it, you dare to go and try it? Believe it or not, students and waiters are coming up to talk about you.
." Situ Cen had no choice but to look at him for a while and then picked up the chopsticks. Jia Cong smiled and said, "But you can pack it up and take it away."
"No need." Situ Cen said angrily, "Let's finish eating before leaving."
"That's right! Photos can't fly away!" Jia Cong said happily, "When you eat, you should eat!"
Later, Situ Cen immersed himself in eating. Jia Cong teased him and didn't answer, which was very boring. After eating, they went to Rongguo Mansion.
Standing at the entrance of Lixiangyuan, Situ Cen suddenly said: "You, the regent, don't even have a palace?"
Jia Cong said: "We want to do it! But not now, we have to wait." He winked, "We are not robbers, we can't rob, right?" The soldiers opened the door, and Jia Cong said as he walked away, "
It’s not like we don’t have money, can’t we buy it openly?”