1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 243 Textile Industry Planning
What troubled the executive committee was not only the supply of canvas, but in fact all kinds of textile products were the materials needed by the crossing group.The gauze used by the medical department, the cotton cloth used by the public to make clothes, the silk cloth used to wrap gunpowder bags, and the canvas that is most urgently needed but has not found a suitable source, these textiles are actually required in a considerable amount, but On Qiongzhou Island, there is not a single merchant that can stably supply the time travel group.

The reason for this is actually very simple, because the number of textiles produced locally in Qiongzhou Island is very small. Fabrics made of kapok, such as Yazhou Jibei cloth, have always been local specialties that are in short supply because of their low output.And the time-traveling group uses a huge amount of fabrics, and relying solely on local production can no longer meet the needs.

It's not like no one has questioned the Ministry of Agriculture about this situation—why don't we grow our own cotton?Some insiders even pointed out that there were high-quality cotton seeds among the materials prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture before the crossing. Since self-development needs a lot of textiles and cotton seeds are prepared, why has there been no plan to cultivate cotton fields?

Regarding these questions, Mr. Yuan Ruoxiu, the person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, personally came forward to explain.Cotton is a heat-loving crop. The sunshine time and average temperature in Hainan allow cotton to be grown, but cotton is not water-resistant during the flowering and harvesting periods. Hainan is located in a tropical monsoon climate with a lot of rain and high air humidity. From this point of view It is not suitable for cotton cultivation.The most terrible thing is that the cotton harvest season almost coincides with the rainy season in Hainan. This alone almost blocks the way to grow cotton.The reason why the Ministry of Agriculture prepared cotton seeds before the crossing was not to grow cotton on Hainan Island—after the crossing group occupied an area suitable for cotton cultivation, it would use this good thing to play a role.

Mr. Yuan's major is the study of cash crops. Since the old experts have said that Hainan Island is not suitable for growing cotton, everyone can only look outside the island.It seems that the various textiles needed by the Transit Group can only rely on imports at this stage.But at this time, Mr. Yuan gave the discouraged executive committee members a small surprise: Although Hainan Island is not suitable for growing cotton, according to the agricultural development experience of later generations, the environment in some areas of Hainan Island is suitable for growing mulberry silkworm.

Some people also expressed doubts about Mr. Yuan's statement—why hadn't he heard of silk produced in Hainan before time travel?

Yuan Ruoxiu explained that the temperature difference between the four seasons in Hainan is small, and the annual silkworm rearing time is almost twice as long as that in the inland areas, which is very suitable for large-scale sericulture industry.In fact, the large-scale planting of mulberry and sericulture in Hainan only started in the early 21st century, and it was less than ten years before crossing. Although the feasibility has been verified, the scale of promotion in Hainan’s rural areas is not very large. So not too famous yet.However, according to the Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan formulated by the country before the crossing, by 2020, the mulberry plantation area in Hainan Province will reach 60 mu, and the population engaged in this industry will also exceed one million. It will become the national sericulture silk industry. One of the origins with the most complete industrial chain.Since the country has such a big plan for the sericulture industry in Hainan, it means that it is feasible to grow mulberry and raise sericulture here.

This completely aroused the interest of the Executive Committee. Raw silk is completely soft gold in this era. Businessmen from Western countries travel across the oceans with real gold and silver every year to come to China and queue up to buy it.According to the information provided by non-professional historian Ning Qi, the price of raw silk sold by Fujian maritime merchant Xu Xinsu to the Dutch East India Company during the same period was as high as 140 taels of silver per load.According to the production data of later generations provided by Yuan Ruoxiu, in 2006, the mulberry planting area in Qiongzhong, Hainan Province reached more than [-] mu, with an annual output of [-] tons of fresh cocoons, which is about [-] tons of raw silk. According to the current foreign trade of raw silk The price is huge!If it is woven into silk and sold, the price can be doubled at least. If it is operated well, the money earned from this business will not be less than that of the arms trade.

Yuan Ruoxiu further pointed out that the benefits of developing the sericulture industry are not only the production of silk, but also can drive the development of a series of industries such as fruit mulberry, tea mulberry, vegetable mulberry, bamboo weaving, textile, import and export trade, etc., which will promote the economic development of the region will have a very positive impact.Even in the future, as long as a product like silk can be scaled up, it will be enough to transfer the trade center of the entire East Asian region to Hainan Island.

Of course, with so many benefits, it is not without difficulty to develop this project.Before the executive committee members were about to clamor to immediately promote mulberry planting, Yuan Ruoxiu explained to everyone the main difficulties in developing this industry.

The first one is the rainy season in Hainan. It is the rainy season in Hainan Island from July to October every year. The high temperature and high humidity environment will accelerate the reproduction of bacteria and fungi. If there are no reasonable measures, it is easy to cause a large-scale outbreak of silkworms. The second problem is that there are many local wild insects in Hainan. Some species also use mulberry leaves as food and spread silkworm diseases, which is also one of the hidden dangers. The third is that the local people have no experience in raising silkworms. There is also a serious lack of relevant technical personnel in the department, and it is almost impossible to do large-scale promotion in a short period of time; the last reason is that there are no good silkworm eggs in the local area, because this thing cannot be preserved for a long time, so the pre-travel agricultural The Ministry did not bring silkworm eggs, but only brought a few mulberry trees that are suitable for Hainan's climate and geographical conditions. To develop this industry, it is necessary to try to introduce silkworm eggs from other places, and it takes time to re-cultivate locally. Only new silkworm species in the environment will do.

When Yuan Ruoxiu explained the details clearly, most of the initial enthusiasm of the executive committee members had dissipated.Whether it is the introduction of silkworm eggs from the mainland, local scientific research and breeding, training of technical personnel, or large-scale promotion in rural areas, none of the links can be completed in a short period of time. From planning to production, the entire industry takes only two or three years. I'm afraid it won't work.This industry is good, but it can only be included in the development plan of the Ministry of Agriculture first, and it can be done step by step.

All these situations in the base camp have been informed to the Guangzhou Office through telegrams and letters.The Guangzhou Office does not think it will be too difficult to introduce silkworm eggs, because Fujian, which is adjacent to Guangdong, has been an important sericulture production area since ancient times.The local area has had a certain scale of sericulture industry since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, the scale of the silk weaving industry had been named after Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and became one of the three major silk textile centers in the country. Developed, Europeans who didn't know the truth directly used "Erythrina" as a synonym for "satin" in the Middle Ages. Marco Polo also compared the prosperity of Quanzhou Port with Alexandria Port in his travel notes.

It can be said that Fujian is rich in resources, whether it is excellent silkworm eggs, skilled workers in the silk weaving industry, or even every link in the sericulture industry chain.And this era also follows the law that money is easy to do. As long as the Guangzhou Office is willing to pay, it is not a difficult task to complete this task for the base camp. What is lacking is just the right timing and channels.

And the emergence of this "Yongfeng cloth line" just caters to the current actual needs of the Guangzhou Office.Schneider immediately asked He Xi to write a reply post about the appointment, and then called Yu Xiaobao in and asked him to send the reply post to the other party.

In the evening of the next day, the shopkeeper in Guangzhou of "Yongfeng Cloth Shop" really came to visit the Guangzhou Office located outside the city of Guangzhou in a sedan chair.Schneider and others also considered the reason why they chose the Guangzhou Office instead of a restaurant in the city of Guangzhou. This is based on the principle of promoting the "advanced lifestyle of Haihan" and making customers feel as comfortable as possible. Direct access to various products that the Guangzhou Office wants to promote in the mainland, such as glass tableware, stationery, bathroom equipment, chemical products, and even various spices that are special products of Shengli Port in dishes, etc., all of which are outstanding The Haihan way of life is different from that of Ming Dynasty, and the superiority of Haihan reflected in these differences is enough to attract the gentry of Ming Dynasty to imitate, and then achieve the purpose of exporting goods and culture.

Second, meeting guests in the Guangzhou Office can also avoid the suspicion that the partition wall has ears.After the big show of opening the bookstore yesterday, the name "Haihan" became popular in Guangzhou almost overnight. People discovered that there were all kinds of novel Haihan that had been sold out of print in the Guangzhou market a few months ago. The goods come from "Haihan", a new firm that has never been heard of—yes, most people in Guangzhou just regard the appearance of Haihan people as a new firm entering the local area. Apart from many Apart from the sale of novel and expensive gadgets, there seems to be no essential difference from other firms.As a result, merchants from all walks of life came out one after another, hoping to get in touch with Haihan, so that they could also join the sales channels of Haihan products.

Thirdly, this is also done for safety reasons, with reference to the opinions of Xiao Liang and Yu Yao, two members of the military and police department.Although there are more than a dozen armed personnel stationed in the Guangzhou Office, including the militia, if members need to enter the city, they must be followed by military and police personnel—even though Schneider and He Xi disagreed about this, they were on the second day. Before the arrival of the echelons, they often ran around in Guangzhou alone.However, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao still insisted on following the rules and regulations, especially if they wanted to stay overnight in Guangzhou, they must be accompanied by at least two security personnel, and Schneider and He Xi, who were the first and second in command, could not be in Guangzhou at the same time. Overnight, at least one person must stay in the Guangzhou Office in case of emergency.

So out of various considerations, the Guangxi Office finally took on the main task of receiving foreign guests.Fortunately, the renovation project of the Guangzhou Office has been completed at this time, and the visitors will not see any mess.

After receiving the notification, Schneider and He Xi went to the gate of the courtyard to welcome the shopkeeper of "Yongfeng Cloth".Apart from the people from "Furuifeng", this is also the first businessman to visit after the establishment of the Guangzhou Office.

Although it was only a day before he received the greeting card from the other party, He Xi still managed to find out some information about the cloth shop and the shopkeeper through some channels.

The foundation of "Yongfeng Cloth Shop" is in Hangzhou, and it is said to be one of the top five local cloth merchants. Of course, the business scope of cloth merchants in this era also includes other textiles, not just limited to cotton cloth.In fact, according to the gossip He Xi received, these big cloth merchants all own a considerable area of ​​mulberry fields and hired silkworm farmers in the local area, which means that what they have in their hands is not just sales channels, but a one-stop process from production to sales. A complete industrial chain, and this is what the Guangzhou Office is interested in.

The shopkeeper surnamed Ma was over [-] years old. Although he was not from the boss's family, it was said that he was also related to the big boss, so he was somewhat related.Chain businesses in this era will basically not get rid of the family-run model, especially for shopkeepers who are sent to other places. If they have no blood relationship with the big boss, it is difficult to gain enough trust to sit in this position. .

"Yongfeng Cloth Shop" opened a large shop in Guangzhou City, mainly selling Songjiang cloth and silk products produced in Hangzhou and Quanzhou, and its customers were basically the middle and upper classes of society.Prior to this, among the bulk goods purchased by "Furuifeng" for the time-traveling group, a considerable part of the textiles, especially silk and satin products, came from "Yongfeng Cloth"—after these silks and satins were shipped back to Shengli Port , are basically used in the production of fixed gunpowder packs used in artillery.

The business negotiation method pursued by the executive committee has always been carried out at the wine table-the executive committee members in charge of external affairs are all well-tested wine field veterans, and they all like to get their opponents half drunk before negotiating. This can get twice the result with half the effort.Schneider is also one of them. When Li Nai first came to Victory Port, Schneider was one of the main players on the wine table, and this indirectly caused a lot of dissatisfaction with "Fu Ruifeng" in the cooperation agreement signed by the two parties afterwards. "Unfavorable terms.

After the establishment of the Guangzhou Office, the executive committee also specially approved dozens of catties of liquor from the inventory for them.But when they came to Guangzhou, they found that there were also several good tasting wines in the local area, even better than those blended wines they specially brought from later generations.

Distilled alcohol is not a rare thing in this era. Shochu has already been invented in the Tang Dynasty. There are records of distilled alcohol and stills in the documents of the Yuan Dynasty, and there are even more in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" of the Ming Dynasty. The production method and medical value of shochu are explained in detail.Therefore, strong alcohol has always been sold in Daming's wine shops.

Of course, the wine produced by the Guangzhou Office is much more upscale than ordinary restaurants and restaurants in terms of appearance, because they use glass wine bottles that are hard to find in the Ming Dynasty market.And this is one of the new industries that the Guangzhou Office has declared to Shengli Port. The glass wine bottles are produced by Shengli Port and shipped to Guangzhou. Then sell it for more than ten times the original price.The feasibility of this business is extremely high, and it is difficult for merchants in Ming Dynasty to imitate due to the limited packaging, but this plan was temporarily put aside by the Executive Committee after it was reported to Victory Harbor - the existing production capacity of glass products is really limited, It is still difficult to even complete the order at hand, let alone the glass bottle with a relatively complicated manufacturing process. It is difficult to talk about the output of this stuff only by hand blowing at present, at least we have to wait for the Ministry of Industry Let's talk about a simple production line for extrusion molding.

But even the ordinary baijiu bottles brought by later generations are now enough to calm the horse shopkeeper who thought he was well-informed—not only the wine bottles, but also the bowls, saucers, cups, and cups on the table, except for chopsticks. Everything outside, even the small holder for the chopsticks is made of crystal clear glass. This kind of luxury is something that the shopkeeper has never seen in his past life.Even if it was the family banquet of a magistrate that he had the honor to attend before, he just took out two single-handle melon-shaped glass bottles to hold the wine, and the table glass in front of him was in the shape of the market. The ones I have never seen before must be high-end products for Haihan people's own use. Shopkeeper Ma quickly estimated the price in his heart, which should be at least 500 taels.

Of course, these things are not for sale, because they are all industrial products from later generations, with regular size and advanced technology, rather than rough products made by hand in the glass workshop in Victory Port.After a small amount of these items were sold to the outside world in the early days of time travel, they were listed as prohibited items by the executive committee. Currently, they are only used as exhibits on social occasions or other special occasions, and they will not be easily sold in large quantities.

Seeing these things, shopkeeper Ma can basically believe that the rumors on the market are true. The glass products that have been hotly hyped in Guangzhou a few days ago are indeed supplied by Haihan people, and this also makes him more convinced that he will It was a worthwhile trip - the Haihan people who have mastered this advanced technology undoubtedly have mastered a huge amount of wealth, and the rest depends on how capable they are to get money from the Haihan people's pockets.

After drinking for three rounds, shopkeeper Ma began to inquire about the roots of the Haihan people intentionally or unintentionally, and Schneider did not hide this, claiming that his property was located in a certain seaport in Yazhou, and invited shopkeeper Ma to come to him at his convenience. To be able to go on a personal tour.Of course, the focus of Schneider's promotion is not how beautiful the local natural scenery is, but the rich variety of Haihan products and the free tax-free policy of Victory Port.

The shopkeeper of the horse is obviously also a person who has been walking around for a long time, and his eyes lit up when he heard "tax-free": "Mr. Shi said that the goods are traded in Shengli Port, and the goods do not need to pay taxes?"

Schneider laughed and said, "You don't even have to pay a copper coin!"

The shopkeeper turned his eyes and asked again: "Will the fee be charged according to the size of the ship or the size of the cargo hold?" Collection, as long as you want to collect money, the competent unit can always think of a way.

Schneider explained: "There is no tax in any name on foreign merchant ships in Victory Port. Of course, if your firm wants to open a store in Victory Port, it will be another matter."

(End of this chapter)