On the day of the Lantern Festival, after seeing off all the visitors, the Shen family was finally able to take some time to say farewell to their own family.
Shen Shuren also spent his last night in Suzhou accompanying Dong Xiaowan, who was about to leave, with pure family affection that was completely devoid of any affection between men and women.
Chen Yuanyuan didn't come to pester him. Anyway, Chen Yuanyuan wanted to follow him, and the future would be long.
Previously, Shen Shuren had not seen Dong Xiaowan for seven or eight days. On the one hand, she had to raise a baby. On the other hand, since the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Dong Xiaowan requested to go back to Kunshan's ancestral home to relax and live alone for rest. I just returned to Taicang the day before Lantern Festival.
After all, Dong Xiaowan has made a lot of contributions to the Shen family's business. She and Fang Yizhi invented the flying shuttle loom. Even though it was originally bought by Chen Shuren after bankruptcy, the Shen family no longer treats her as a maid. .
Therefore, the Dongjia Embroidery Shop in Kunshan, after having hung the Shenjia sign for more than a year, has now changed it back to leave some memories for Dong Xiaowan and save some face for her deceased parents. She wanted to return to her old place. You nostalgic, the Shen family also let her go.
At this moment, he was sitting in the study room, opening the window and leaning on the desk, admiring the moonlight of the Lantern Festival. Shen Shuren hugged Dong Xiaowan quietly without any desire, letting the girl sit quietly in his arms, and recited a few sentences according to the occasion. "Last year in January, the lights in the flower market were like daylight."
A year has passed, and we can still continue to meet each other after dusk, when the flowers are blooming and the moon is full, what more can I ask for.
"I will take Yuanyuan away tomorrow. I remember that we set off on the second day of the Lantern Festival last year. This year, you have to take care of yourself, which is really hard on you. If you have any difficulties, just tell mother and stay away."
Shen Shuren comforted her tenderly and lamented that she had really worked hard for this family.
In fact, he is not a power-hungry person. He can live a life of peace and wealth, so why not?
But if he had not taken action, the original fate of the entire Shen family would have been to be exterminated by Dorgon in 1647, only six years from now. This was because the Tatars did not allow him to live a stable life and were forced by the Tatars.
"What hardships are there for the slave family? Being the first to conceive this child for the master is a blessing that the slave family has cultivated for many lifetimes. The master is a dragon or a phoenix among people, capable of both literary and military skills, outstanding achievements, and unparalleled talents. He will definitely be a very popular minister in the future. , I don’t know how many women will envy the slave family in the future.”
Dong Xiaowan is also very self-aware, and she feels at ease in his arms.
The two sat quietly for a long time without saying anything, just feeling each other's feelings. Shen Shuren had nothing to do and casually flipped through Dong Xiaowan's desk a few times. Suddenly he saw a few drawings and became a little curious.
"What are you drawing here? Didn't you take good care of yourself these days back in Kunshan? Don't do anything during this year." Shen Shuren asked while looking at it. He seemed to recognize it a little bit, and then said tentatively. ,
"This... seems to be another kind of machine related to textiles. I haven't finished the painting yet, so I can't tell."
Dong Xiaowan changed her posture to make herself more comfortable in the arms of the young master, and explained with a smile:
"You can't just do nothing when raising a baby. I read, write and draw for no more than an hour and a half every day, just to relax. Besides, I'm not allowed to do anything else. This is my family's business after all. I'm old in my profession, I've been interested in it since I was young, and it doesn't take much effort.
I was wondering if I could make some machines that could spin yarn faster. The year before last, I listened to your advice and let people clear the clouds and see the sun. I suddenly discovered that the skill of craftsmanship can actually save so much labor for the weavers in the world.
After returning to Kunshan on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, I went out for a few walks. I also stopped by my own weaving workshop and asked the female workshop owner there. I learned that the price of cotton yarn has increased by 20 to 30% compared to two years ago.
, the reeled raw silk also increased by 10%.
It is said that after more flying shuttle looms were added, the Susong workshop weaved two or three times faster. As a result, the cotton yarn and raw silk were not enough, and the raw materials for the previous cycle increased.
On the contrary, the sericulture production has not been low recently. My son has built a mulberry-based fish pond in the past year and a half. I heard that the local mulberry gardens have produced several percent more silkworm cocoons. It is slightly cheaper than usual for silk reelers to buy silkworm cocoons, but raw silk is more expensive.
The profits were piled on the spinning and reeling machines.
I was thinking that it would not be a good thing if I tinkered with this part of the machine again. When I was making shuttle looms last year, I read "Tiangong Kaiwu" and I remembered that it also talked about spinning and reeling.
Let’s learn from it and restore it first.”
Dong Xiaowan’s words also coincide with the logic of economic development——
Historically, before the Yin Kingdom's industrial revolution, it was indeed the flying shuttle invented by John Kay in 1733. In the following thirty years, the cost of weaving dropped, the demand for cotton yarn increased sharply, and the price of cotton yarn increased two or three times.
Due to financial difficulties, Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in 1764.
Historically, it took thirty years for the West to move from weaving automation to spinning automation. But that was because John Kaye was just a watchmaker. After he invented the flying shuttle, he did not have enough capital to quickly expand production investment. At that time,
There are not many financing channels.
The current situation in Suzhou is completely different. The Shen family who invented the shuttle loom was originally the richest man in Suzhou and was the hub of the textile industry in the Ming Dynasty. Together with Xuge's hometown in Songjiang, a silk giant and a cotton giant, they worked hard to
In just two years, the investment and promotion of new machines has already made the Susong weaving market feel the pressure of rising raw material costs in the upstream.
Not to mention that it takes two years to complete a journey that took thirty years in Western history, but it is at least equivalent to more than ten years.
Chen Shuren looked carefully for a while and found that Dong Xiaowan's thinking was quite clear now. Although the things had not been made yet, the overall idea of "a spinner/reeler dragging multiple spindles/reeling wheels"
The train of thought can already be seen.
The rest are mainly difficulties in two aspects.
The first is some optimization of the mechanical structure, how to integrate more spindles on a machine with limited complexity and spin more cotton yarns at the same time.
Secondly, and the most critical thing, is the power of the drive. Traditional spindle spinning involves directly twisting and winding the yarn. If you want to drag more than one drag, you must find a way to convert the force of the mechanical wheel into the force of dragging the twisted yarn.
.
In the end, the force that drives this mechanical wheel can be replaced and compatible, whether it is driven by a person pedaling like a bicycle, or directly dragged by a windmill, water wheel, or even a steam engine. It is just that the power is greater, and it needs to be stronger and stronger.
transmission structure raw materials.
Chen Shuren read the drawing carefully, thought for a long time, and asked: "So, when I look at your drawing, are you planning to draw a machine with eight spindles on each spinning wheel? In "Tiangong Kaiwu", this part
I haven’t had time to take a closer look, how many spindles can I drag towards the original spinning wheel at most?”
Unexpectedly, Dong Xiaowan's next sentence opened Chen Shuren's eyes again: "I remember that a few months ago, I had read "Tiangong Kaiwu" to death, so why didn't I read this part carefully? They were all too busy watching The Blacksmith.
What about those chapters?
I have not changed these eight spindles at all. I have only studied them for a few days and just copied them. This dynasty already had large spinning wheels with more spindles. According to the book, it was already done in Dujiangyan, Sichuan in the late Yuan Dynasty. Yes, it is driven by a water tanker.
Unfortunately, the water in the land of Susong is gentle, no more mountainous than Sichuan, and the rivers are steep. It is impossible to build a water conservancy project like Dujiangyan that can make the water flow at a constant speed throughout the year. Therefore, this kind of spinning wheel that requires huge power to be dragged is difficult to spread.
What I am thinking about now is to make the wheel smaller and make it look like a human pedaling wheel. I estimate that if the new machine can be built, the spinners in Su Song will have to be replaced by strong and powerful men in the future. Use weak female workers to spin yarn.”
Shen Shuren listened very carefully and couldn't help but sigh a little bit, "When three people are walking together, I must be my master." Dong Xiaowan was born in a family that runs an embroidery shop. He has been exposed to it for more than ten years and has read books. As expected, his understanding of these trades is much better than before. He is a man who is a deep time traveler. As long as he gives her some direction, there are really endless possibilities.
Shen Shuren was originally limited by the stereotype of industrialism and always felt that something like a spinning jenny was difficult to make in ancient China. Now after listening to the detailed analysis and breaking down the problem, he realized that it was only the power source that was difficult to solve.
In areas with complete water energy and water conservancy facilities, the Chinese have already built machines that can pull many spindles.
In comparison, the Jenny machine could only drag eight in the early stages, which was not much better than ancient China. No matter how much manpower was put into it, it could not turn it.
The key to Western textiles truly explosively surpassing the East was the later creation of the steam engine, which further evolved the Jenny machine to one with thirty-two spindles, or even one with eighty spindles.
After thinking it over thoroughly, Shen Shuren was relieved and gave gentle encouragement:
"Then you work hard and pay attention to rest. You can't read and draw pictures for more than one and a half hours a day. Also remember to take a walk every day for half an hour. The remaining ten hours should be quiet and restful.
We are not in a hurry. We can just let the prices of cotton yarn and silk reeling rise again. If we wait for another year or two, those small businessmen can no longer bear the price of raw materials. Then we will come up with new machines and they will catch up. Rush to buy.”
It took Westerners thirty years to move from flying shuttle weaving to jenny spinning, but Shen Shuren decided to use it for three or four years. By then, each of the looms and spinning machines alone was estimated to be enough for the Shen family every year. Bringing nearly one million taels of financial resources, adding up to at least 16.7 million taels per year.
The goal that Shen Shuren set for Dong Xiaowan was to study and play. When the child has been raised for a hundred days and Dong Xiaowan has completed confinement, it will not be too late to rush into production.
…
On the Lantern Festival night, Shen Shuren accompanied Dong Xiaowan, and Qiu slept together without any offense. The two chatted and fell asleep unconsciously.
When she got up the next day, Dong Xiaowan's eyes were still a little red, which is also human nature after parting.
Before leaving, Dong Xiaowan still held Chen Yuanyuan's hand and urged her: "Sister Yuanyuan, it's up to you to take good care of the young master while I'm away. You should also take care of yourself and be careful not to put the young master in danger." .If you have a minor illness, no one will be able to take care of the young master. I hope your stomach will be better, and we can all be successful in the future."
These words were originally not malicious, but hearing them together in Chen Yuanyuan's ears also made Chen Yuanyuan a little uneasy.
She is the only one serving the young master, so how can she try to live up to his expectations? If he succeeds, who will serve the young master? Why not go back to find those maids who are married to him? I hope I can survive this year and try my best.
Chen Yuanyuan didn't show it, she just said some blessings for a peaceful pregnancy, put on her curtain hat, and followed Shen Shuren on board the ship and set sail.
Four days later, the group finally arrived in Nanjing successfully.
Shen Shuren had finished celebrating the New Year and had entered a working state. As soon as he arrived in Nanjing, his purpose was very clear. He directly sent a greeting note to Zhang Guowei of the Nanjing Household Department, asking to see him if he had anything to do.
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