The carpenters and weavers stood quietly aside. Huang E, Yan Song, Du Jin, Bao Chaozhen, Zhong An and others, as well as a few scholars who skipped classes and ran over, also stood there to watch the new invention.
Although it is said to be a new invention, it is actually just a simple device added to the original foot-operated loom.
In the past, weaving required throwing the shuttle by hand. With the addition of this device, the weaver's hands no longer need to toss back and forth, but only need to pull the rope in front of him.
Yes, this is a flying shuttle loom.
The "Shuttle" can't even be said to be a machine, it's just an additional device that can be made by elementary school students with strong hands-on skills!
Two looms work at the same time, one with a shuttle and one without a shuttle.
After a quarter of an hour, check the results.
The area of cotton cloth woven by flying shuttle is directly doubled, because it eliminates the tedious shuttle throwing process.
"Small improvements can benefit the world!" Huang E clapped his hands and praised.
Yan Song smiled and nodded, stroking his beard and said: "Today we know why Bachelor Wang admires physics because it is for people's livelihood!"
Wang Yuan was not too happy. The loom he wanted was one that was ten times more efficient, not just twice as efficient.
But, invention and creation all come step by step.
Wang Yuan said to the craftsman: "Double the length and width of the loom and make a new machine."
Traditional looms need to throw the shuttle by hand, so the length and width must be controlled within the reach of both hands. However, the shuttle is pulled by a rope through a pulley, and the machine can be greatly widened, just by making the rope longer.
A few days later, a brand-new machine was placed in front of everyone, which was about four times the size of a traditional loom.
The weaver sat down and started working. He was a little uncomfortable at first, but he soon became proficient.
According to calculations, this large-scale flying shuttle loom is more than three times more efficient than a traditional loom. Moreover, the width of the cloth woven is doubled. If the machine is made wider, it will not be used to make bed sheets and quilt tops.
Needs to be sewn again.
There are also large traditional looms that can weave such wide cloth, but they require at least three people to operate them, and two people need to cooperate just for the shuttle throwing step.
…
The richest man in Jiangyin is the Xu family.
As early as the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Xu family was promoted to be the head of grain, and the family's fortune began from then on.
By the early years of Hongzhi, the Xu family was already as wealthy as the south of the Yangtze River. Although the family was divided several times, the wealth became more and more divided. Even the capable concubine's son could have a fortune of tens of millions.
The current head of the Xu family is a widow named Yang, Xu Xiake’s great-great-grandmother!
The Xu family in the hands of the Yang family has reached its peak, and it is time to decline.
The Yang family has been in charge of the family for five years as a widow, but she is only in her early thirties. She has three sons and two daughters, all underage. The family brothers bullied their orphans and widowed mothers, and they have already divided the family once.
You can't tell them apart, each room is very fierce.
After the separation, the wealth of the head of the Xu family dropped sharply, leaving only these properties: more than 370 acres of fertile land, 10 acres of official hills, 50 acres of civilian hills, 86 acres of tidal flats, and 40 acres of reed farms.
Three acres, thirty-two acres of pasture, and six fish ponds. Some are left for my daughter as a future dowry, totaling twelve acres of fertile land. In addition, there are three acres of farmland for family sacrifices.
Workshops, shops, etc. are not included in the calculation because these are floating property.
"Madam, the third master is here again." The housekeeper came in to report.
Yang frowned and said, "What's he doing here again?"
The housekeeper sighed: "The third master insisted that the pawnshop in the east of the city was left to him by the old man during his lifetime. At this moment, there were more than ten scoundrels who had blocked the door of the pawnshop. The third master came to the house to cause trouble himself, saying that he would not give the pawnshop to
He, our pawn shop will not even be able to open."
"asshole!"
Yang slammed the table and cursed: "He divided the family's property and lost it all within a few years, and now he comes to take advantage of the main sect!"
"Isn't that right," the housekeeper cried bitterly, "Today it will be the third master, tomorrow it will be the second master, and the day after tomorrow it will be the fifth master. If this continues, the family's shop will be robbed. When will it be over?
"
Yang was sulking in her heart: "Gather them all together, ask the county magistrate to be a witness, and give them a shop each. They need to sign and sign. After getting the shop, they are not allowed to cause trouble in the future, otherwise I will go to the capital.
Beat the drum and report to the imperial court!"
"Yes!" The butler shook his head and stepped back.
The housekeeper is the scholar of the family head Xu Jing. He is like a brother and is loyal to the family. After Xu Jing's death, he has been assisting the Yang family. Although he can manage the inner house, he is unable to manage the outside property.
Yang sat alone in her room and cried. After crying, she went to the private school to observe.
The three sons and two daughters are all studying hard, which makes Mr. Yang feel a little relieved.
When school was over, Mrs. Yang thanked the teacher and called her three sons and said, "Please remember that you must work hard to learn. Qia'er and Zhan'er, the teacher said that you two are good at reading. If you can pass the exam in the future,
With one official position and one half job, we, mother and son, will no longer be bullied."
Although Xu Qia and Xu Zhan were young, they were very sensible and kowtowed one after another, saying that they would study hard. Among them, Xu Qia was Xu Xiake's great-grandfather.
Yang then said to the eldest son: "Zhi'er, you are the elder brother. You have no talent in the imperial examination. You should study arithmetic. In another year, when you reach the age of fifteen, you can learn business from the shopkeepers. From now on, you will be a good student."
The younger brothers manage the family business."
Xu Zhi kowtowed and said: "Mom, I will definitely work hard. My husband gave me the sacred book "Mathematics". My son has made rapid progress. In the future, he will definitely be able to manage the industry for his younger brothers, so that they can have a smoother career!"
Since the death of their father, these three children have been bullied by their family brothers since childhood. They did not even go to school and hired teachers to teach them at home, just so that they could concentrate on their studies.
Historically, by the time the three of them reached adulthood, more than half of the family property had been swallowed up. Fortunately among the misfortunes, the three brothers worked together and finally did not cause a scandal over the family property.
The Xu family was quite unlucky in their official careers.
Xu Xiake's great-great-grandfather Xu Jing was Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming's close friend. Together with Tang Bohu, he was involved in the imperial examination fraud case and died in depression after being deprived of his civil rights.
Xu Xiake's great-grandfather, Xu Qia, easily passed the examination, but failed seven times. The most ridiculous one was that he had already passed the examination, but because the number of supervisors who took the examination exceeded the proportion, Xu Qia was inexplicably rejected, and finally relied on
Only after donating the official title did he gradually become the chief registrar of Honglu Temple.
The three sons were so well-behaved and filial, which made Ms. Yang feel much better. After another lecture, she asked her sons to review their lessons.
After a while, the shopkeeper of the textile workshop came to see him and reported: "Madam, the cotton yarn on the market has been exhausted. We can't receive cotton yarn for spinning. We will have to stop production in the next year."
"Why can't I receive cotton yarn?" Yang asked puzzledly.
The shopkeeper explained in detail: "Huguang is the cotton-producing place in the world with the best cotton quality. Beizhili and Shandong have the largest cotton output, followed by Jiangnan. There are too many weavers in Jiangnan and there is not enough local cotton, so they often go to Beizhili.
, Shandong and Huguang buy cotton. There are also many weavers in Huguang, and they sell to Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, where there is not much cotton left every year. Therefore, merchants from the south of the Yangtze River go to the north to buy cotton, but the north has repeatedly suffered from military disasters. Last year and this year
Cotton production plummeted."
"It's not like you can't buy cotton yarn, right?" Yang couldn't understand.
The shopkeeper complained: "I don't know when a wealthy businessman appeared in Zhigu (Tianjin) and came to our Jiangnan to collect cotton yarn at a high price. At that time, the price was too high and there were many buyers. I thought it was maliciously raised.
Let’s talk about it slowly for the time being. Unexpectedly, after a month of delay, the cotton yarn was actually collected! Until now, the only way to collect yarn is from the weavers from small households, but it is too troublesome to collect it. When it cannot be collected, it can only
Discontinued."
Yang thought about it carefully and said: "Next year, I will devote a thousand acres of land to grow cotton. At that time, we will open another spinning workshop. We will produce our own cotton, spin our own yarn, and spin our own cloth!"
The shopkeeper reminded: "Madam, this year is a special case. Cotton production will definitely increase greatly next year. If we also increase production, I am afraid the sales will not be good and the price will not go up."
"People always need to wear clothes, so why are you worried about producing too much cotton?" Yang ordered, "Send someone to Tianjin to find out why there is a wealthy textile businessman suddenly appearing there."
"Yes!" The shopkeeper bowed and excused himself.
Not only did the Xu family send people to Tianjin to investigate, but many large textile companies in the south of the Yangtze River also sent people to Tianjin because the situation there was too abnormal.