People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 714: The shock brought by the new textile machine!!
Chen Han was well prepared. He took out a neatly bound volume of "Work Remuneration Rules" from his bosom: "The quality of the woven cloth is divided into three grades: the best quality cloth is rewarded with three coins per piece, the middle quality cloth is rewarded with two coins, and the poor quality cloth needs to be reworked. Those who get the best quality cloth for three consecutive months can be promoted to 'weaver' and can teach apprentices and receive additional allowances."

Zhu Yuanzhang was so excited that he pounded his bamboo stick on the ground and said, "One more rule! Every month, we will select a 'skillful lady' and award her with a 'heroine badge'. With the badge, her children can enter the charity school without paying tuition!"

"Grandfather is wise!" Zhu Youwei's eyes lit up, "A woman like this will definitely be more dedicated to her children."

Zhu Biao hesitated for a moment and said, "But the loom is expensive. Where will the money come from?"

Chen Han and Zhu Youwei exchanged a glance, and suddenly smiled and said, "Your Highness, do you remember the 'Huimin Ticket'? When the land was surveyed last year, the Xu family in Songjiang donated 200 looms to pay the fine. Now they are piled up in the warehouse of the Ministry of Works and are rusting. Why not..."

"What a sly trick!" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed. "If that old fox from the Xu family knew that the loom was used by the widow, she would be so angry that she would bang her head against the wall!"

The plan became clearer. Zhu Biao dipped his tea in water and sketched on the stone table: "After the looms in the warehouse are repaired, they will be allocated to the workshop. The widow will repay them in installments in the form of 'work loans'. After three years, the looms will be owned by the individual. The court will advance the silver for the raw materials in the first month, and the cloth will be used to pay the silver from the second month..."

As he was speaking, hurried footsteps were heard outside the pavilion. An official from the Eastern Palace came hurriedly with a stack of documents in his hand: "Your Highness, urgent news from the Ministry of War! Seventeen widows from the Northern Frontier Guard have jointly written a petition, asking the court to give them a chance to live!"

Zhu Biao took the document, glanced at the names of people with red handprints, and suddenly slammed the book shut. "No need to wait until tomorrow - Youwei, you should publish a recruitment notice in three days! The first batch will be 100 widows from Northern Xinjiang. The workshop will be set up by the Xuanwu Lake, and we will write the plaque ourselves!"

"Wait a minute." Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stopped him with his bamboo stick, "Since we are going to use military dependents, we have to be on guard against people doing bad things." He narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Han, "What about your 'joint guarantee system'? Ten people in a group, guarantee each other, and if one person makes a mistake, the whole group will be punished - it's perfect for here!"

Chen Han understood: "Appoint a 'supervisory lady' to investigate matters such as withholding wages and passing inferior goods off as good ones. As for the selection of the person..." He smiled and looked at Zhu Youwei.

"My daughter recommends Li Zhen, the daughter of Duke Cao!" Zhu Youwei blurted out, "She has practiced martial arts since she was young, and she hates those who bully the weak and fear the strong."

"Li Zhen?" Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard and recalled, "But the girl from Li Wenzhong's family who wielded a mace? Good! Pretty fierce!"

The plan was like the warp on a shuttle, gradually becoming clear. Zhu Biao suddenly remembered something, took off a jade card from his waist and handed it to Zhu Youwei: "With this card, you can call on the Five Cities Army to maintain order. If there are hooligans causing trouble, they will be arrested on the spot!"

The moonlight climbed up the eaves, stretching the shadows of the people on the bluestone slabs. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his children who were full of interest, and suddenly knocked on the stone table with his bamboo stick: "Chen boy, you missed the most crucial link."

Chen Han was startled: "Please give me your instructions, old man."

"Market!" The old man pointed his bamboo stick in the direction of the imperial palace. "The Guanglu Temple purchases 100,000 rolls of silk and satin every year. From now on, 30% of it will come from Youwei's workshop! Send an order to all princes' palaces that they must use 'Women's Satin' as tribute during the annual festivals - let's see who dares to say that the cloth woven by women is not up to standard!"

The night wind blew hard, making the copper bells on the corners of the pavilion jingle. Zhu Youwei looked at the big net woven for her by her ancestors, and her eyes were slightly hot. She suddenly lifted her skirt and bowed solemnly: "My granddaughter will let the world see that women can also weave beautiful mountains and rivers with their own hands!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and helped her up, but he saw Chen Han quietly slipping a note into Zhu Biao's hand.

The prince unfolded it and saw that it was a "Female Worker Literacy Course Schedule" with a note in small print on the side: "Every day at 5 pm, female students will be taught the Thousand Character Classic."

Zhu Biao smiled knowingly and put the note into his sleeve.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, but a long line had already formed in front of the recruitment shed on the shore of Xuanwu Lake.

Zhu Youwei looked at the widows from northern Xinjiang whose coarse clothes were patched. Their chapped fingers tightly grasped the recommendation letters with the red seal of the garrison, as if they were holding on to their last straw.

"Ladies, don't worry, drink some hot soup to warm your body first." Zhu Youwei personally carried a copper pot to serve porridge to the people in line, and the heat blurred her gold-painted cloud-patterned cuffs. The thin woman at the end of the line suddenly knelt down: "Your Highness, I... I can't read..."

"It's okay." When Zhu Youwei helped her up, she saw an arrow scar on the back of the woman's neck. "Let's start from the beginning." She pointed to the six-spindle spinning wheel being demonstrated in the shed. "Look, when you step on the pedal, your wrist should turn like this--"

Before he finished speaking, the crowd burst into laughter. The grain merchant in silk shirt waved his folding fan and said, "What good cloth can a woman weave? It's better for her to go home and nurse her children!" Several hangers-on behind him immediately started to make a noise, frightening the widows in line and making them shrink back.

Chen Han looked up from the pile of account books and winked at the captain of the Wucheng Bingma Division. When the grain merchant was still talking about "women's virtues", the captain suddenly showed his badge: "If you disrupt the order of recruitment, you will be fined three days of hard labor in accordance with the "City Appearance Order"!" Then he dragged the man to the construction site of the drainage canal.

"Everyone, take a look." Chen Han raised his voice and shook out a piece of glittering brocade from his sleeves. "This is the sample that Madam Li Zhen tried to weave yesterday." Under the sunlight, the twined branches on the brocade actually had a hidden meaning. As the angle changed, the four characters "Serve the country with loyalty" appeared. The crowd was immediately shocked - this was clearly the craftsmanship of the military flags!

Zhu Youwei took the opportunity to strike the gong: "There will be literacy classes every day at twilight hour. Those who can write 500 words will have their wages increased by 30%!" The female students behind her immediately unfolded the "Thousand Character Classic of Weaving". "Golden Shuttle Piercing the Clouds" corresponded to the diagram of the threading of the warp threads. Even the shyest young wife couldn't help but poke her head out.

Zhu Youwei ordered people to line up the improved six-spindle spinning wheels in a row and hang colorful silks all around, attracting many people to stop and watch.

"I heard that the county lord wants women to compete with cloth merchants in weaving?" A peddler craned his neck to look, "Isn't this nonsense? No matter how fast women are, how can they compare to those old craftsmen who have been weaving for decades?"

A cloth merchant wearing a silk shirt nearby sneered and waved his folding fan, saying, "Your Highness, I'm afraid you have never seen the real weaving craftsmanship. The looms in our Jiangnan area are treasures passed down from our ancestors. How can you compare to them by just making some random changes?"

Zhu Youwei stood on the stage, listening to these discussions, with a slight smile on her lips. She did not refute, but ordered people to strike the gong and said loudly: "Today's competition is fair and just! Each cloth merchant can send the best weavers and use the best looms to compete with the female workers in my workshop. The winner will have the court underwrite the cloth for three years and be awarded the plaque of 'Weaving Champion'!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the audience.

"Three-year sales? This is a business that is guaranteed to make money!" Several cloth merchants looked at each other with greed in their eyes, and immediately ordered their employees: "Go! Bring our best looms here and let these women see them!"

Soon, more than a dozen finely crafted old-fashioned looms were moved onto the platform. The cloth merchants sent out strong men with thick waists and rough fingers, who were veterans of years of weaving. On the other hand, Zhu Youwei selected more than a dozen skinny military widows, some of whom even had cracked fingers, and it was obvious that they had been doing rough work for years.

"Is there any need to compare?" A bystander shook his head. "Those women workers can't even operate the looms, right?"

The competition started, and as soon as the gong sounded, the cloth merchants' men immediately operated the looms skillfully, the shuttles shuttled back and forth, and the cloth grew inch by inch. The women workers sat on the improved six-spindle spinning wheel with a little unfamiliarity, first feeling the position of the pedals and the shuttle, and then -

"Shh! Shh! Shh!"

The shuttle flies rapidly between the six spindles like a butterfly. When the female worker steps lightly, the loom starts to operate automatically. The six strands of thread are interwoven at the same time, and the cloth grows at a speed visible to the naked eye!

"This... How is this possible?!" The cloth merchants widened their eyes and the teacups in their hands fell to the ground with a "clatter".

The people were also in an uproar——

"Oh my God! How can the loom move by itself?"

"Look! The woman didn't even move her hands, and the cloth was woven!"

"This is much faster than those strong men can weave!"

The people who were not optimistic about the women workers changed sides one after another, and some even crowded to the front of the stage, wanting to get a closer look at the magical loom. The cloth merchants' buddies, who were originally full of confidence, were now sweating on their foreheads and scrambling to catch up, but no matter how fast they accelerated, their cloth production rate was still far behind.

Half an hour later, the gong sounded again, and the game ended.

Zhu Youwei ordered people to unfold the cloth on both sides at the same time - the cloth woven by the female workers was not only longer, but also had fine warp and weft, and was smooth to the touch, far better than the cloth produced by the old-fashioned looms of the cloth merchants.

"This... this is impossible!" A cloth merchant's face turned pale. He rushed to the stage, grabbed the loom, and looked it up and down. "There must be something wrong with this loom!" Zhu Youwei sneered: "What? Can't afford to lose?"

The cloth merchant gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, this loom must be using some kind of magic! Otherwise, how could a woman with little strength weave so fast?"

"Magic?" Zhu Youwei sneered and turned to look at the people. "Fellow villagers, is there anyone willing to come up and give it a try?"

A thin girl raised her hand timidly: "Can I...can I try?"

Zhu Youwei nodded, let her sit on the loom, and taught her how to pedal and thread. The girl was a little clumsy at first, but she soon got the hang of it, and the shuttle flew quickly in her hands!

There was a sudden burst of exclamations from the audience.

“Even a child can knit so fast?!”

“This loom is amazing!”

The cloth merchants' faces turned pale and they had nothing to say.

Zhu Youwei looked around at everyone and said loudly, "From today on, the Women's Workshop is officially recruiting workers! All military widows and poor women can sign up. We will teach you until you learn how to weave. Wages are calculated based on the amount of cloth you weave, and the more you work, the more you get!"

The people cheered, and the cloth merchants looked at each other, finally realizing that the world was about to change!

"Give way! Give way!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion behind the crowd. People turned around and saw a group of young students in the uniform of Daming Engineering College walking towards them, led by the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunhuan.

"It's His Royal Highness the Grandson!" someone exclaimed.

Zhu Yunhuan walked to the loom with a smile on his face and said loudly: "My fellow villagers, this loom was improved by our Daming Engineering College. It adopts the 'linked gear' design. Just a light step can drive six spindles to operate at the same time, which is labor-saving and efficient!"

As he spoke, he motioned to the students beside him to remove the baffle on the side of the loom to reveal the ingenious gear structure inside.

"Please look, everyone. The meshing angle of this set of gears has been precisely calculated, so that the power transmission loss is extremely small. Even a woman can operate it easily!"

The people were stunned when they heard this. Some people couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, is this... this loom really that powerful?"

Zhu Yunhuan laughed, walked forward and gently stepped on the pedal. The loom started running immediately, and the shuttle shuttled back and forth like a butterfly flying through flowers.

"If you don't believe it, why not try it yourself!"

A few brave people stepped forward and carefully stepped on the pedal, only to find that it was really effortless!
"My God! This loom is amazing!" a thin woman exclaimed, "I can even operate it with my strength!"

Zhu Yunhuan continued to explain: "Not only that, this loom can also adjust the density of the cloth. Just by adjusting this knob, you can weave cloth of different thicknesses, suitable for clothes in all seasons!"

The people were amazed when they heard this, and they came forward and touched the woven cloth. It felt smooth and delicate, and was in no way inferior to the best silk on the market.

At this time, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaoxu and other princes also came over. Zhu Gaochi said with a smile: "My fellow villagers, this loom is just one of the many improved equipment of Daming Engineering College. We also have more powerful 'water-powered spinning machines' and 'automatic jacquard machines', which will be gradually promoted in the future!"

Zhu Gaoxu picked up a wooden stick and drew a simple mechanical schematic diagram on the ground, explaining in a rough voice: "Look, this is how the power of the loom is transmitted..."

Although the common people did not quite understand, when they saw the princes explaining it in person, they felt even more respect for the Daming Institute of Engineering.

"So these weird things were all developed in the academy?" an old man muttered to himself.

"That's right!" the person next to him said excitedly, "I heard that the college also teaches people how to build water wheels and improve farm tools, which can even save a lot of effort when farming!"

Zhu Youwei stood on the temporary high platform, looking at the crowd of people below, with sweat on her palms. She turned her head to look at Chen Han beside her and whispered, "Husband, will this method really work?"

Chen Han raised the corners of his lips and gently squeezed her hand: "Don't worry, the people seeing it with their own eyes is more effective than the government posting a hundred notices."

Zhu Youwei took a deep breath and raised her hand to signal the female workers to start the demonstration.

“Click—click—”

As the women workers stepped on the pedals, the improved six-spindle spinning wheel slowly started to work. The shuttle quickly shuttled between the warps, and the cloth grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Huh? This...how come it's so fast?!" There was a burst of exclamations from the crowd.

"Look! The woman didn't even move her hands, and the cloth was woven!"

"This is much faster than those strong men can weave!"

The people who were originally not optimistic about the female workers changed their minds one after another, and some even crowded to the front of the stage, wanting to take a closer look at this magical loom.

Seeing the lively atmosphere, Zhu Yunhuan announced loudly: "Fellow villagers, if there are girls in your family who are willing to learn weaving, they can sign up for the workshop. We will teach you until you learn it. The wages will be calculated according to the amount of weaving. The more you work, the more you earn!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd suddenly became excited.

"I want to sign up!"

"My daughter is very handy, she will definitely be able to do it!"

"Your Highness, my wife is a military widow. Can she be given priority for employment?"

Zhu Youwei looked at the women who signed up enthusiastically, and her eyes were slightly hot. She turned to look at Chen Han and said softly, "Husband, your method... is better than I thought."

Chen Han smiled without saying anything, just held her hand tightly.

In the distance, several Jinyiwei were mixed in the crowd, silently noting the people's reactions...

(End of this chapter)