When Guo Song turned around, he saw his father-in-law, Du Lingqiu, behind him. Several of the guards beside him looked embarrassed. Apparently Du Lingqiu didn't want them to make a sound.
Du Lingqiu asked with a smile: "Why is the good son-in-law here?"
Guo Song quickly saluted and said with a smile: "Come out for a walk and learn about the market. The cotton gin in this store is interesting, so take a closer look."
"This is the shop of the Hou Mochen family. Their family now specializes in making cotton gins. This one is just for display. Their family also has a hydraulic cotton gin in Xinfeng County."
"What does hydraulic cotton ginning look like?" Guo Song asked puzzledly.
"Just like an irrigation waterwheel, river water is used to push the waterwheel. The waterwheel's rotation drives the iron shaft to rotate, and at the same time drives two large cotton gins, which can gin hundreds of kilograms of cotton a day."
Guo Song suddenly became interested and asked quickly: "Is it in Xinfeng County?"
Du Lingqiu nodded, "They are planning to build twenty water-powered cotton gins, which can gin thousands of kilograms of cotton a day. In the future, we will no longer see such small manual cotton gins on the market, but it is winter now and the rivers are frozen."
, if you are interested, you can go and have a look after spring."
Guo Song was very interested, and there was a cotton gin driven by water power. He really wanted to see it when he had time.
The two came to the largest cotton store, which was owned by the Dugu family. The store's name was Yunmian. It covered an area of four acres and built a large warehouse.
Du Guqiu asked Guo Song to sit down in the guest room on the second floor. Guo Song took a sip of tea and asked with a smile: "Are you satisfied with your father-in-law's inspection of Anxi?"
"It's not bad. The land is fertile, the sun is abundant, and there are water sources for irrigation. The only drawback is that the population is too small. The lack of labor is a big problem!"
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "The problem of labor shortage cannot be solved for a while, but there are ways, such as recruiting people to work part-time in Anxi, planting cotton for a year or two, and providing food and accommodation, and earning forty or fifty thousand dollars a year.
, someone should be willing to go. Another way is to move criminals, but the number of criminals is not large after all. The next way is to move the family to the military household, and with various favorable conditions, I think there are still many military family members who are willing to go.
.”
Du Lingqiu quickly asked: "Is there any implementation plan?"
Guo Song nodded, "We are going to recruit in Hebei next summer. We have experience in Fengzhou, tax treatment, land distribution, population resettlement, etc. Once we start to implement it, it will be relatively easy."
After a pause, Guo Song smiled again and said: "But this kind of population migration is a long-term process, taking more than ten years or even decades, and they all have their own land, so it is unlikely that they will do things for you. I think for you right now
, it would be more appropriate to recruit short-term workers.”
Du Lingqiu sighed, "We have also considered this. In fact, we have begun to recruit short-term workers. Forty-year wages include food and accommodation. It is not easy to find people in Guanzhong, but it is easy to recruit people in Bashu."
At this time, Du Lingqiu said again: "Xian son-in-law, do you think the Guanlong family really has no hope?"
This is what Guo Liqiu has been holding in his heart for a long time, and it is also the voice of all the Long family members. It was rare that he met Guo Song today, so he simply summoned up the courage to ask.
Guo Song smiled faintly and said: "What kind of hope is not what my father-in-law is referring to? If you want to control the army as before, there is indeed no hope, but if you just want to join the army or politics, I think there is nothing wrong with it.
If you perform meritorious service, you can be promoted to an official position, and if you pass the imperial examination, you can enter politics. There are never any restrictions. If I remember correctly, one of the children of Hou Mo and Chen's family passed the Jinshi examination this year!"
"Yes, number 91, Zen Master Hou Mochen, is currently the chief registrar of Jiaocheng County, Taiyuan Prefecture."
"That's right! The imperial examination is fair and there is no discrimination against anyone. Even if Zhu Si's nephew can pass the examination, we will still admit him, let alone the Guanlong family."
"I understand what my good husband means, and I will tell everyone."
Guo Song smiled again and said: "But I have a suggestion that my father-in-law and other Guanlong families can consider."
"Wonderful son-in-law, please speak!"
Guo Song said calmly: "Actually, I hope that the Guanlong family will use its abundant resources to build large-scale factories, such as the Changsun family's papermaking, which is very impressive, and the Hou Mochen family's cotton gin.
It is driven by water power. After spring, I will organize officials to visit it."
"Your Highness is right. I also advise everyone to develop into large-scale workshops. I wonder if your Highness has any good industrial suggestions?"
"Isn't textiles great? Cotton cloth will become the mainstream in the future, and Persian beet has begun to be grown in Beiting. This can be used to squeeze juice and boil sugar, which will greatly enrich the variety of food. Then it can also build ships and large ships.
No matter how much is built and how much is purchased by the military, in fact, as long as it is developed around the four words of basic necessities, food, clothing, housing and transportation, it can basically become a big industry."
Dugu Qiu nodded, "Speaking of weaving, I would like to talk to Xian Xian. In fact, the Dugu family has a large textile factory in Taiyuan, with a thousand looms and five hundred spinning wheels. It mainly weaves fine linen.
Originally I wanted to spin cotton, but the manager of the factory told me that it is difficult to spin cotton. It has short fibers and is easy to break. The spun cloth is relatively thick. If it has a long velvet like kapok, it will be difficult to spin cotton.
The thread will be thin and strong.”
"What my father-in-law said is absolutely correct. The biggest problem with cotton now is that the fibers are short and difficult to form into threads. The main reason is that the varieties are not very good."
"This is one of the main reasons why I went to Anxi, which is to look for long-staple cotton."
Guo Song shook his head, "You can't find it. There is no such long-staple cotton in Anxi."
Du Lingqiu smiled and said: "Don't be so sure, I really found you."
Guo Song was startled, "What kind of long-staple cotton?"
Du Guqiu pulled the rope, and the bell rang outside. After a moment, the steward came in, bowed and said, "Master, do you have anything to say?"
"Go to the warehouse and get that black box. It's the black box I brought back from Anxi."
The steward hurried away, and after a while, he came in with a black box, put it on the table, bowed and left.
Du Lingqiu opened the black box, and Guo Song stepped forward to take a closer look. It was full of cotton bolls, most of which were blooming. They were obviously much larger than the current cotton bolls. Guo Song was shocked and quickly took out one to observe carefully.
The variety has not changed, it is still the same, but the cotton bolls have grown larger, and the cotton is as white as clouds. He slowly pulls the cotton wadding outward, and the fiber length is at least twice as long as the current cotton.
Guo Song was immediately surprised and delighted. This was long-staple cotton! How could it be possible?
"Where did my father-in-law find this kind of long-staple cotton peach?" Guo Song asked anxiously.
"In Yanji Town, it was planted by a local Wusun man. He planted hundreds of acres of cotton fields, and then only one piece of cotton grew big. He said it was a different species, so I bought it all. Here is only a part of it.
.”
"Are there any cotton seeds?" Guo Song asked again.
"There must be some. I have specially reserved them for trial planting next year. If your husband-in-law wants it, I can give him part of it."
"This is great. If long-staple cotton can be grown, I will promote it on a large scale in the Central Plains to replace hemp."
Guo Song didn't know why long-staple cotton appeared. It should be a mutation, and it was probably only one generation. If this kind of long-staple cotton could be passed down from generation to generation, it would be a great promotion for the development of textiles.
.........
The two chatted for half an hour, then Guo Song stood up and left, and Du Lingqiu also returned home.
Guo Song then came to the central part of Dongshi, which Guo Song called the Financial Street of Chang'an. The head offices of four cabinet shops are here. Baoyuan Cabinet Shop, which he visited last time, and Poly Cabinet Shop of the Dugu family,
Xiao's Fuli Cabinet Shop, and Baoju Cabinet Shop jointly opened by Li An, Zhang Lei and Guo Ping.
In Baoju Cabinet Shop, Li An and Zhang Lei each accounted for 40%, and Guo Ping accounted for 20%. She had never been involved in the management of the cabinet shop. However, Li An was older and his energy was not as good as before.
The cabinet shop usually doesn't ask many questions, but now Zhang Lei is mainly responsible for running it.
Zhang Lei went to Hebei some time ago. I wonder if he has come back? Guo Song wanted to talk to him and ask about the situation in Youzhou.
When Guo Song walked to the door of Baoju Cabinet Shop, he saw a tall man grooming a horse. Guo Song couldn't help but look at him a few more times, feeling slightly surprised.
This man was wearing the black and red robe of Baoju Cabinet and carrying a sword on his waist. He should be a clerk or a guard, but his intuition told Guo Song that this man was by no means an ordinary person. He had a cold murderous intention in his body, and there was something in every move and every move he made.
This kind of unique temperament should have been cultivated during a long military career, and the murderous intention in him was accumulated on the battlefield.
It happened that this man raised his head and glanced at Guo Song. His sharp eyes seemed to see through Guo Song. There was also a trace of surprise in his eyes. He obviously understood Guo Song's temperament developed through many battles.
‘There are actually people like this in Baoju Cabinet, what’s going on?’ Guo Song thought to himself.
Guo Song walked into the lobby, and Zhang Lei and the big shopkeeper just walked out from behind. Zhang Lei also saw Guo Song, and his eyes lit up.
"Junior brother, why are you here?" he asked in surprise and joy.
"I came to Dongshi for a walk, and I wanted to see if you're back?"
"You came by chance. I just arrived in Chang'an at midnight last night, and I was still thinking about having a drink with you."
Guo Song smiled slightly, "It's almost noon now, I want to treat you!"
"You're welcome. I just ordered wine and food, which will be delivered right away. Let's go to the backyard to have a drink. I also hid a bottle of old wine, but you can't drink it outside."
Guo Song nodded happily and followed Zhang Lei to the backyard.