Guo Song reacted immediately, "Are you talking about Bai Diezi?"
Baidiezi is cotton. During the Mid-Tang Dynasty, Chang'an began to sell cotton cloth. It was called Baidiebu. It was sold by the Sogdians from the West. It was very expensive and only the rich and powerful could afford it. Of course, the word 'cotton'
The word did not appear until the Song Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Baidiezi. It was a kind of exotic flower and plant planted by the powerful in their courtyards.
"I saw with my own eyes a family in Gaochang spinning white folding cloth. They planted a lot of white folding cloth outside the city. It was very interesting!"
Guo Song suddenly became interested and said with a smile: "I just want to go to Gaochang for inspection, let's go and see it together!"
.........
Early the next morning, Guo Song led a group of cavalry to Xizhou. This was his second trip to Xizhou. After reaching an agreement with the four major tribes, he made a special trip to Gaochang and was warmly welcomed by the people of Gaochang.
This time he went to Xizhou for inspection, mainly considering Xizhou's next plan.
Xizhou and Tingzhou are both Tang Army reserves. There are not many pastures and they are mainly agricultural. The north of Tingzhou is a large desert. Only the middle area has formed several rivers with abundant water due to the melted water from the mountains. The land on both sides is fertile and is the best.
agricultural areas.
Xizhou is also good. The Gaochang Valley has always been an important agricultural area, but it was invaded by Shatuo and suffered great damage. It will take a long time to recover.
It was not far from Jinman County to Xizhou, just over a hundred miles away. The next morning, Guo Song led the cavalry into the boundary of Xizhou.
The terrain of Xizhou is very unique. There are many mountains and canyons with large differences. The weather in summer is extremely hot, just like being in a furnace. Agricultural irrigation here mainly relies on melted water from the mountains. Due to the low-lying terrain, a large amount of fresh water is stored underground. In order to utilize groundwater,
Karez came into being. There are a large number of underground canals here, forming an underground kingdom extending in all directions.
The weather is not very hot now, and the group of people are running southward on the official road. People have begun to appear in the farmland on both sides. Without the oppression of the Shatuo people, life is bursting out in this land again.
At dusk, Guo Song and his party entered Gaochang County. Gaochang County is not too bad, with a population of more than 7,000 households and more than 30,000 people, of which 70% are Han people. Currently, there are a thousand Tang troops stationed in Gaochang City. Guo Song appointed
The new county magistrate, named Cheng Ruxiao, was also a scholar who came to Hexi with Meng Jiao. He served in the army and joined the army. This time Guo Song did not have many civilian soldiers with him, so he took advantage of this and became the county magistrate of Gaochang.
The most lacking thing in Guo and Song Dynasties now is civil servants. There are still four counties in Xizhou, Puchang County, Liuzhong County, Jiaohe County, and Tianshan County. Currently, there are no officials. Because the population is not large, military control can only be temporarily implemented.
A group of people arrived at the Gaochang County Government Office. Cheng Ruxiao heard that the Jiedushi had arrived and hurriedly came out to greet him. Guo Song got off his horse and asked, "What happened in Gaochang City recently?"
"Reporting to the envoy, there are no major changes. However, many people have come back recently. They all came back from the mines. There are thousands of people who came back with their families. We have to increase the porridge relief, and we have to cook more than 30 people every day.
A big pot is enough."
"Are they all Han? Or other barbarians?"
Cheng Ruxiao nodded, "They are all Han people, no Hu people!"
Guo Song suddenly felt angry. Shatuo had promised to return all the Han miners to Hexi, so why were there still thousands of them?
Sima Zhao Wei, who was next to him, knew the situation better and said to Guo Song: "Your Majesty, they are not miners, but smelters. All the ore mined is handed over to them for smelting. The agreement we reached with Shatuo at that time referred to miners and did not include
This group of smelters has been taken advantage of by the Shatuo people."
Only then did Guo Song understand. He nodded and asked, "How many smelting workers are there in total?"
Cheng Ruxiao said quickly: "Reporting to the envoy, there are more than 700 people in total. Including their family members, there are more than 3,300 people in total."
Guo Song pondered for a moment and then asked Zhao Wei: "How much ore is still unsmelted in the mine?"
Zhao Wei smiled bitterly and said: "It's impossible to weigh it. The quantity is too big and piled up like a mountain. Do you want them to continue to engage in smelting?"
Guo Song nodded, "It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them how to fish. Instead of providing relief, it is better to let them work to earn money to support their families. The wages can be higher. Three guans per month is enough for them to support their families."
"Will the ore be shipped?" County Magistrate Cheng Ruxiao asked.
Guo Song shook his head, "Let them go back to the mines. Everything is ready-made there. They used to be slaves, but not now. You can advance three months' wages to them and let them support their families, and then the mines will provide food and clothing.
If conditions improve, I believe they will all be willing to go back and make money."
"The humble duty will be mobilized tomorrow!"
Guo Song immediately stayed in the post house. Early the next morning, he followed Zhao Wei to the west of Gaochang City.
"Your Majesty, that's that family!" Zhao Wei pointed at a family on the street.
The black door is tightly closed, there is a drum stone at the door, and the door head is also quite elegant. It can be seen that this family has a good family background, at least it used to be good.
Zhao Wei patted the door knocker. After a while, a middle-aged man opened the door a crack, looked at the people outside and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"Dr. Lin, have you forgotten me? I just came here some time ago."
"You are Zhao Sima, look at my memory, hey! Come in quickly."
Everyone walked into the gate, and there was a large courtyard inside. Guo Song saw several large wooden shelves, and there were several pieces of white folded cloth hanging on the shelves that were drying. He stepped forward to take a closer look with interest.
Zhao Wei said a few words in Dongzhu Lin's ear. Dongzhu Lin was so frightened that his face changed. This young man turned out to be Guo Shijun, the governor of Hexi Province who destroyed Shatuo. He was actually interested in Bai Diebu.
Guo Song touched the white cloth and found that it felt good. It was thinner than linen and thicker than silk. It was right between silk and linen.
"Is there any more Bai Diezi?" Guo Song turned around and asked.
"And more! And more! Please follow me."
Dongzhu Lin took Guo Song to the warehouse and saw dozens of baskets placed in the warehouse, all filled with cotton, including lint cotton with seeds removed and raw cotton without seeds removed.
Guo Song picked up a piece of cotton and looked at it carefully, shaking his head secretly. It was still short-staple cotton. This kind of cotton had short fibers and was difficult to weave. Even if the cloth was woven, it would be very thick, similar to fine linen, and had little use value. He felt disappointed.
"It's troublesome to peel the seeds inside!"
"Yes! The most troublesome thing is peeling the seeds. In the past, after the harvest season, we hired someone to peel the seeds. Now we can't hire anyone, so we have to peel them ourselves. My son and I couldn't sleep all night. Look at my hands."
He raised his palm and saw that all ten of his fingers were covered with calluses.
"Then, how do you spin the thread?" Guo Song asked again.
"Please come with me!"
Guo Song followed him into the middle courtyard and saw that the room that was supposed to be the lobby and the room next door were filled with machines. There were spinning machines on the left and looms on the right, each with twenty machines. There was no one there now.
It's empty there.
The sound of the weaving machine came from next door, but I saw three women busy in the next room. One woman was in her forties, and the other two young ladies were only in their teens.
"This is my wife and two daughters. The younger daughter is responsible for twisting the thread, the older daughter is spinning, and my wife is weaving."
"Can't we recruit people now?" Guo Song asked puzzledly.
Mr. Lin sighed and said: "I can definitely recruit people, but I can't sell the white folded cloth. As soon as I get it on the market, it will be snatched away by the Shatuo people. In fact, even if it is not snatched away, no one will care about it, so I have to
Disband all the guys."
Zhao Wei explained from the side: "A piece of white folded cloth costs two guan in Gaochang, five guan in Zhangye, and ten guan in Chang'an. However, a piece of fine linen only costs 500 guan in Gaochang, while white folded cloth only costs 500 guan.
It will be marketable only if it is sent to Chang'an. No one in Gaochang will buy it, and no one will buy it even in Zhangye. You must know that high-quality silk and satin only cost five guan a piece."
In fact, Guo Song also understood that scarcity is more valuable, because there are few white folded cloths, so all of them are expensive. If it is planted on a large scale and woven on a large scale, its price will not be so expensive. But this is short-staple cotton. If
It's different if it's long-staple cotton.
Guo Song stepped forward and knelt down to look at the little lady twisting the cotton thread. This was the flaw of short-staple cotton. The fiber was not long enough. It had to be rubbed and glued by hand before it could be spun on the machine. However, the yarn spun in this way was thicker.
The cloth weaved is also coarse,
Guo Song stood up and asked Lin Dongzhu: "Where was this grown?"
"Outside the city, I have 300 acres of land, all of which are planted with Baidiezi."
Guo Song took a cotton peach from the basket next to him and said, "This velvet is too short, don't you think?"
Dongzhu Lin nodded, "If the velvet is long, just spin the yarn directly and it won't break easily. But I have never seen white velvet with long velvet. I have seen white velvet from Tianzhu, but it's actually about the same."
This is indeed a big problem. High-quality long-staple cotton is still in America!
But everything has two sides. If one road doesn't work, another road may work.