The second thousand and sixty-fifth chapters make persistent efforts
The ready-made clothing market is a new textile market that has risen most rapidly in the Tang Empire in recent years.
In the past, the textile factories in the Tang Empire produced cloth, silk, etc. for sale. Ordinary people bought the cloth and silk and sewed them themselves, or found a tailor to sew them.
Except for specific uniforms, such as military uniforms, work clothes, etc., there are actually very few ready-made clothes on the market.
It’s not that merchants don’t sell, there are actually various ready-made clothing stores. The key point is that early people were not used to buying ready-made clothes. They mostly bought their own cloth and made their own clothes.
However, in recent years, with the further development of industry and commerce, people's income has further increased, especially that of urban people, and there has been a need to directly purchase ready-made clothes.
At this time, merchants were also advancing with the times. Some machinery companies developed special sewing machines, which were much faster than sewing clothes by hand. This also greatly reduced the production cost of ready-made clothes. At the same time, in order to attract customers and reduce costs,
Continuously introduce new styles of clothes.
Over the years, the market has been nurtured and has gradually grown in scale. Many urban families have begun to purchase ready-made clothes directly instead of buying cloth and sewing it themselves.
This new type of market is naturally noticed by those large enterprises. Jiangnan Textile Company established a clothing subsidiary a few years ago to produce and sell various types of ready-made clothing, and the market sales are also quite good.
The development of the garment industry has also further promoted the development of the textile industry.
The further development of the textile industry will have a huge impact.
The Tang Empire had been industrialized for decades. Various industries existed, and ships of tens of thousands of tons could be built. However, the textile industry still occupied a very important position in the economic system of the Datang Empire.
The textile industry is a typical labor-intensive industry. All aspects of cotton spinning, wool spinning, and silk spinning, from planting cotton and mulberry trees, raising sheep and silkworms to spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, and then to garments, provide a huge amount of resources.
of employment positions.
This is also the reason why the Tang Empire gave priority to the textile industry when supporting the development of backward areas, because this industry could provide a large number of employment opportunities.
Similarly, most of the industries that support development in backward areas are labor-intensive industries. On the contrary, if you are an asset-heavy industry with few employees, the Tang Empire will not support it.
The empire supports the development of industry and commerce in backward areas, not for other reasons, but for one purpose, which is to provide a large number of local employment opportunities, so labor-intensive industries are given priority.
And this also has quite an effect.
At the end of the 42nd year of Xuanping, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported that among the new investments nationwide in the past year, new investments in backward areas accounted for about 30% of the total investment.
Last year, this number was only 8%!
Most of the 30% of new investments are investments that can provide a large number of employment opportunities, including various types of factories, as well as some infrastructure construction, etc.
This has brought a large number of new jobs to various places and effectively increased the income of local farmers.
In response to this situation, Li Xuan gave instructions: Keep up the hard work and strive to reach a higher level!
In the spring of the forty-third year of Xuanping, just after the Spring Festival, on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang Xiaodong and several fellow villagers left their hometown in the mountains and headed for Xiangyang Fucheng, carrying a big bag on their backs.
This is the furthest Jiang Xiaodong has ever left his hometown. The furthest he had ever traveled before was when he went to the county to apply for the army, but failed to get selected.
Like many children in rural families, Jiang Xiaodong helped his family with farming when he was very young. Later, even when he went to elementary school, he helped his family with farming while attending school. He knew the hardships of life from an early age.
The land allocated to their family was not much. In the early years, they could support the whole family, but now it is more difficult because he has three brothers.
The eldest brother got married three years ago and has a son and a daughter. His second brother also has a family. Now that he has several more mouths to talk to, life at home is starting to get a little tense.
For this reason, his second brother had already worked for a commercial firm in the county last year, and later took his wife over and became self-reliant.
In fact, when he just graduated from elementary school last year, his father told him to work hard and see if he could join the army.
But later he was not selected, and his father discussed with him again. What were they discussing?
Discuss his future and ask him what he plans to do in the future. Should he go to a big city to make a living, sign up to immigrate, become an apprentice, learn a trade, or do something else?
Among the many options, his father did not give him the option of staying at home!
This is not a unique situation of their family, but a very common phenomenon in Tang Dynasty society, which is the centralized inheritance system of the eldest son.
This is not just true for aristocratic families, it is actually more serious in rural areas.
The land of a farmer's family is limited. It is okay to pass it on to one son, but if the family is divided, the land will not be enough.
Therefore, the second sons in many rural families need to make a living on their own, either by going to big cities, becoming apprentices, immigrating, joining the army, or doing other things.
However, don’t expect to be able to stay at home and wait for the family fortune to be divided!
Jiang Xiaodong's second brother faced the same choice the year before last. Later he chose to work as an apprentice in a trading company. Now he has officially become a full-time employee. Although his income is not high, he can still support his wife and children.
Jiang Xiaodong is a young son. Even if his parents did not treat him badly, the situation at home would not allow him to stay at home even if they did not treat him badly.
We only have so little land at home, what can we do if we don’t have enough food?
During the Spring Festival, his second brother took his wife and children home to visit the old man. He also talked to him and asked him to make plans as soon as possible. No matter what he did, he had to go out and make a living. He couldn't compete with his elder brother who had not even graduated from elementary school.
That bit of land is not.
As a person, you must know how to be grateful. Back then, your eldest brother gave up all the opportunities to go to school. Now you can't compete with your eldest brother for that piece of land.
At that time, the family was poor, and even if the three brothers just went to elementary school, it would cost a lot of money. Later, after his eldest brother only attended school for two years, he voluntarily dropped out of school and worked at home to farm to support his two younger brothers in school.
The eldest brother who doesn't even have a primary school diploma, apart from working at home and doing odd jobs during the off-season, is unlikely to find any formal job outside. Many places require a primary school graduate to recruit jobs.
Therefore, Jiang Xiaodong actually does not blame his father for leaving all the land to his eldest brother!