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Chapter 87 Xiaowan Spinning Machine

On the day of the Lantern Festival, after seeing off all the visitors, the Shen family finally had some time to say goodbye to their own family.

Shen Shuren also used his last night in Suzhou to accompany Dong Xiaowan who was about to leave, the kind of pure family affection without any affection between men and women.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't come to pester him, anyway, Chen Yuanyuan wanted to follow, and the future would be long.

Previously, Shen Shuren hadn't seen Dong Xiaowan much for seven or eight days. On the one hand, she wanted to raise a baby; Only one day back to Taicang.

After all, Dong Xiaowan has made a lot of contributions to the Shen family's business. Back then, she and Fang Yizhi invented the flying shuttle loom. Even though it was originally bought by Shen Shuren after bankruptcy, the Shen family no longer treats her as a maid.

So the Dong Family Embroidery Village in Kunshan, after changing the signboard of the Shen family for more than a year in the middle, has now changed back, which can be considered as a reminder for Dong Xiaowan and for her deceased parents.She wants to revisit the old place to nostalgia, and the Shen family also let her.

At this moment, sitting in the study, opening the window and leaning on the desk, enjoying the moonlight of the Lantern Festival.Shen Shuren hugged Dong Xiaowan quietly without any desire, let the girl sit quietly in his arms, and recited a few lines "Last year in the first month of last year, the flower market lights were like day".

A year has passed, and I can still continue the appointment.

"Tomorrow, I will take Yuanyuan away. I remember that last year we set off on the day after the Lantern Festival. This year, you have to take care of yourself. It's really hard for you. If you have any difficulties, just tell your mother and don't see outsiders."

Shen Shuren comforted him tenderly, and felt that he had worked so hard for this family.

In fact, he is not a person who is full of desire for power. He can live a life of wealth and wealth for the rest of his life, so why not.

But if he didn't do anything, the original fate of the entire Shen family was that they would be wiped out by Dorgon in 1647, only six years from now.

"What is the hardship of the slave family? Being able to conceive this child first for the son is a blessing that the slave family has cultivated in many lifetimes. The son is a dragon and phoenix among people, capable of writing and martial arts, with outstanding achievements and outstanding talents. In the future, he will definitely be a great minister , 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 thoughts.Shen Shuren had nothing to do, so he flipped through Dong Xiaowan's desk a few times, and suddenly saw some blueprints, he was a little curious.

"What are you painting again? Didn't you take good care of it these days back in Kunshan? Don't do anything this year." Shen Shuren asked while watching, and seemed to recognize it, and tentatively said,
"This... seems to be another kind of machine related to weaving. I haven't finished the painting yet, so I can't tell it."

Dong Xiaowan changed her posture to make herself more comfortable sitting in the son's arms, and explained with a smile:

"I can't just do nothing to raise a baby. I read, write and paint for no more than one and a half hours a day, so I just take it easy. Besides, I'm not allowed to do anything else. This is my family's business after all. Old business, interest since childhood, don't bother.

I was wondering if it is possible to make some machines that spin yarn faster.The year before last, I listened to you, young master, and let people see the sun through the clouds. I suddenly discovered that the art of craftsmanship can save so much labor for the Weaver Girls all over the world.

After returning to Kunshan on the sixth day of the lunar new year, I also went out for a few times, and I also stopped by my weaving workshop to have a look, and asked the female workshop owner over there.I learned that the price of cotton yarn has increased by [-]-[-]% compared with two years ago, and the price of reeled raw silk has also increased by [-]%.

It is said that after the number of shuttle looms increased, the weaving speed of Susong Workshop was two or three times faster. As a result, cotton yarn and raw silk were not enough, and the raw materials of the upper ring were all increased.

On the contrary, the output of sericulture is not low recently. My son has been engaged in mulberry-based fish ponds for a year and a half. I heard that the local mulberry farms have produced several more cocoons. The cocoons are cheaper than usual for silk reelers, but the raw silk is more expensive. Lido is piled up on spinning and reeling.

I thought, it would not be a good thing if I fiddled with the machines in this link.When I was working on a flying shuttle loom last year, I read "Tiangong Kaiwu", and I remembered that it also talked about spinning and reeling, so I first used it to restore it. "

Dong Xiaowan's words also coincide with the logic of economic development——

Historically, before the industrial death of the Yin Kingdom, it was indeed in 1733 that John Kay invented the flying shuttle. In the following 30 years, the cost of weaving dropped, the demand for cotton yarn soared, and the price of cotton yarn increased two or three times.

Under the collapse of costs, Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in 1764.

Historically, it took the West 30 years to transfer from weaving automation to spinning automation.But that's because John Kay was just a watchmaker. After he invented the flying shuttle, he didn't have enough capital to quickly expand production investment, and there weren't many financing channels at that time.

The current situation in Suzhou is completely different.The Shen family who invented the flying shuttle loom was originally the richest man in Suzhou and the hub of the textile industry in the Ming Dynasty.Together with Xuge's hometown in Songjiang, a silk giant and a cotton cloth giant, they have invested in and promoted new machines. In just two years, Susong's weaving market has already felt the pressure of rising raw material costs.

Not to mention two years to complete the 30-year road in the history of the West, but at least it is equivalent to more than ten years.

Shen Shuren looked carefully for a while, and found that Dong Xiaowan's current thinking was quite clear. Although the things hadn't been made yet, the general idea of ​​"one spinner/silk reeler dragging multiple spindles/reeler wheels" The idea can already be seen.

The rest are mainly two difficulties.

The first is the optimization of the mechanical structure, how to integrate more spindles and spin more cotton yarns on a limited and complex machine.

Secondly, and most importantly, it is the driving force. Traditional spindle spinning is directly twisting and winding. If you want to drag more than one, you must find a way to convert the force of the mechanical runner into the force of dragging the twisted yarn. .

Finally, the force that drives the mechanical wheel is whether it is pedaled like a person pedaling a bicycle, or directly dragged by a windmill or a waterwheel, or even a steam engine, all of which can be replaced and compatible.It is nothing more than greater power, which requires stronger and stronger transmission structure raw materials.

Shen Shuren read the drawings carefully, thought for a long time, and asked: "So, I see your drawing is planning to draw a machine with each spinning wheel pulling eight spindles? 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 Shen Shuren's eyes again: "I remember that a few months ago, the son of "Tiangong Kaiwu" was also torn apart, why didn't I read this part carefully? I was too busy looking at the blacksmith What about those chapters?

I haven't changed the eight spindles at all.I have only studied it for a few days, and I just copied it. There was a big spinning wheel that pulled more spindles in this dynasty.According to the book, it already existed in Dujiangyan, Sichuan at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was driven by water trucks.

It's a pity that the water in the land of Susong is gentle, not as mountainous as in Sichuan, and the rivers are steep. It is impossible to build a water conservancy such as Dujiangyan that allows the water to flow at a uniform speed throughout the year.Therefore, it is difficult to popularize this kind of spinning wheel that needs to be dragged by a huge force.

What I'm thinking now is to make it smaller and make it a human-powered wheel. It is estimated that if the new machine can be built, Su Song's spinning workers will also be replaced by strong men with strong bodies in the future. Spinning with weak maids. "

Shen Shuren listened carefully, and couldn't help feeling a little bit "threesome must have my teacher".Dong Xiaowan was born in a family that ran an embroidery village. He has been familiar with it for more than ten years, and has read books. His understanding of these businesses is indeed far deeper than that of a man who is a traveler.As long as she is given directions, there are really infinite possibilities.

Originally, Shen Shuren was limited by the stereotype of industrial life, and always felt that something similar to the spinning jenny was difficult to obtain in ancient China.Now after listening to the analysis and splitting the problem, I realize that it is only the power source that is difficult to solve.

In areas with complete hydropower and water conservancy facilities, the Chinese have long built machines that pull many spindles.

In contrast, the Jenny machine only dragged eight in the early stage, which is not much better than ancient China, and no amount of manpower can turn it.

The key to making Western textiles really explode beyond the East was the later creation of the steam engine, which further evolved the Jenny machine to 32 spindles per spindle, or even [-] spindles per spindle.

After thoroughly thinking about it, Shen Shuren felt relieved and encouraged him warmly:

"Then you should work hard and pay attention to rest. You can't read books and draw pictures for more than one and a half hours a day, and remember to take a walk every day for half an hour, and rest quietly for the remaining ten hours.

Let’s not be in a hurry, just let the prices of cotton yarn and reeled silk go up again, delay it for a year or two, when those small businessmen can’t stand the purchase price of raw materials, we will come up with new machines, and they will catch up snap up. "

It took Westerners 30 years to go from shuttle weaving to jenny spinning, but Shen Shuren decided to use it for three or four years.At that time, each of the looms and spinning machines alone is estimated to bring nearly one million taels of financial resources to the Shen family every year, adding up to at least 70 million taels a year.

The goal Shen Shuren set for Dong Xiaowan is to study and play, and it will not be too late to start production after the child has been raised for a hundred days and Dong Xiaowan has finished confinement.

……

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Shen Shuren accompanied Dong Xiaowan and Qiu slept together without any offense, the two of them chatted and fell asleep without knowing it.

When she got up the next day, Dong Xiaowan's eyes were still a little red, which is also normal for parting people.

Before leaving, Dong Xiaowan still held Chen Yuanyuan, and said: "Sister Yuanyuan, I have to rely on you to take care of the young master when I am away. You should also take care of your health, and don't put the young master in danger." .If you have a minor illness, there will be no one to serve you. I wish you a better stomach, and we can all get a name in the future."

These words were not malicious at first, but hearing Chen Yuanyuan's ears together made Chen Yuanyuan feel a little uneasy.

She is the only one serving the young master, how can she live up to her expectations?If you are up to date, who will serve the young master and go back to those house maids? I hope you can get through this year and then get up.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't show it, but just said some blessings to raise the baby with peace of mind, put on the veiled hat, and followed Shen Shuren to board the boat and set sail.

Four days later, the group finally arrived in Nanjing smoothly.

Shen Shuren can be regarded as the end of the New Year and has entered the state of work.As soon as he arrived in Nanjing, his purpose was very clear, and he directly sent a call letter to Zhang Guowei of the Nanjing Ministry of Households, asking for a meeting.

(End of this chapter)