People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 768 Cooperation between Hangzhou and Songjiang!

Just then, a commotion erupted from the front yard. Manager Shen stormed in with a dozen or so workers, pointing at the newly erected awning and shouting, "Old Zhou, are you trying to drive the Shen family to its death?! The workers all went on strike this morning, insisting that we meet your standards!"

The old man stroked his beard and smiled: "If Manager Shen thinks it's too expensive, he can always withdraw from the franchise."

"Withdraw?" Manager Shen jumped up and down. "If I withdraw now, what will happen to all my newly bought looms?" He suddenly lowered his voice. "Tell me honestly, can you really make back what you've spent all this money on?"

Wenniang appeared on the steps at some point, holding a piece of freshly dyed cloth in her hands: "Manager Shen, please take a look. This is the new cloth from Zhou's Dyehouse this morning."

Under the sunlight, the indigo cloth shimmered with a pearly luster, and faint cloud patterns flowed between its weaves. Manager Shen's expression changed the moment he touched it; the texture was even finer than the finest silk from Suzhou.

"It's only been three days since we joined, and the price of Zhou's cloth has already increased by 30%." Wen Niang gently unfolded the cloth. "Manager Shen, do the math: is it a loss from giving out eggs, or a loss from not being able to sell the cloth?"

Manager Shen's Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly turned to his attendant and roared, "Go back and tell the kitchen to add braised pork tonight! Also, send someone to the Women's Workshop to ask if their teacher can teach a few more students!"

The news spread like wildfire, reaching both banks of the canal before noon. Wu Lao Er, a dockworker, dropped his sack and ran home, shouting, "Wife! Quickly take our daughter to the Zhou family's dye shop! They offer her education there!"

The storyteller at Taibai Tower slammed his gavel so loudly it shook the heavens: "Ladies and gentlemen, Old Master Zhou's move is truly brilliant! The workers eat well, the children go to school, and the dyed cloth is more expensive than silk!"

In a private room on the second floor, Li Chongyi clutched his newly purchased Zhou family cloth, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty. Suddenly, he grabbed a teacup and hurled it at Manager Shen: "What are you still sitting there for? Hurry up and go to the Women's Workshop to get a tutor! The children in our Li family workshop need to go to school too!"

As dusk settled, Zhu Youwei stood under the drying racks of the Zhou family's dye shop. The newly dyed fabrics swayed gently in the evening breeze, like patches of indigo clouds. Behind her stood more than twenty dyers, each holding a contract issued by the Women's Dyeing Workshop.

"From today onwards, you will all renew your contracts with the Zhou family dyehouse." Zhu Youwei's voice was soft, yet everyone heard it clearly. "You will work four hours a day, with one day off every ten days. Your monthly wage will be three taels of silver, and the workshop will arrange medical care for any injuries or illnesses."

Old dyer Zhao Si suddenly knelt down, holding the contract above his head: "Princess, could this old man please grant me a favor? Once my granddaughter learns to write, let her work as an apprentice in the workshop for ten years to pay off the debt!"

Zhu Youwei bent down to help the old man up: "There's no need to settle the debt. After the child finishes his studies, the workshop will pay him according to his skills." She turned to Old Master Zhou, "Don't you agree?"

The old man's cane sank deep into the soil: "Princess, rest assured, from now on, the workers at the Zhou family dyehouse will be family."

The firelight shone on the newly changed cotton-padded jackets, making them appear even brighter than silk and satin.

As night deepened, the lights in Zhou's dyehouse burned brighter than usual. The workers gathered in the courtyard, clutching their newly signed contracts, their faces illuminated by the flickering firelight from the stoves.

Old dyer Zhao Si carefully folded the contract and tucked it into his inner pocket. He looked up at Zhu Youwei standing under the drying rack, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he ultimately remained silent. It was Xiao Zhu behind him who couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Princess, will we really be able to finish work in four hours from now on?"

Before Zhu Youwei could answer, Old Master Zhou tapped his cane on the bluestone slab: "It's written in black and white, how could it be false? From today onwards, our dyeing workshop's rules will follow those of the Women's Workshop!"

The aroma of stewing meat suddenly wafted from the kitchen. The cook emerged carrying a wooden basin piled high with braised pork. "The master asked for more vegetables, plenty to go around!"

The workers swarmed around. Wang Er's wife held her bowl, hesitant to touch her chopsticks, until she saw Wen Niang also pick up a piece of meat, then she dared to shovel some into her husband's bowl. As she shoveled, she muttered, "Husband, this meat smells like it's been sweetened..."

"It contains honey." Wenniang wiped her hands. "It's a specialty of Songjiang. Dye workers' hands are prone to chapping, so eating it helps soothe their lungs."

A commotion suddenly erupted outside the courtyard wall. Manager Shen burst in with five or six cloth merchants, their shoes still covered in mud. He was about to speak when he was dazzled by the new cloth on the drying rack. The fabric, illuminated by the torchlight, shimmered with flowing patterns, appearing even more exquisite than it had in daylight.

"Old Zhou, this cloth of yours..." Manager Shen's throat was dry.

The old man stroked his beard and smiled: "It was dyed according to the new recipe from the Women's Workshop. One bolt is worth the price of three bolts in the past."

The cloth merchants exchanged glances. Finally, someone couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, could our workshops, which aren't affiliated with the group, also hire a female tutor to teach our children?"

Zhu Youwei looked at Wen Niang. Wen Niang understood and took out a roster from her sleeve: "The Women's Free School accepts students regardless of their workshop, but there is one condition—parents must sign a contract guaranteeing that their children will not drop out of school to work."

Manager Shen stamped his foot in frustration: "But we haven't joined the franchise, so where did we get a contract?"

“It’s not too late to sign now.” Chen Han’s voice came from outside the door. Behind him were two clerks, holding a thick stack of documents. “The advance payment for the franchise workshop can be used to renovate the dormitories.”

The cloth merchants swarmed forward. Some grabbed the documents and pressed their fingerprints on them, while others pulled the clerk aside to ask all sorts of questions. The dyers, holding their rice bowls, watched the spectacle, and someone chuckled, "If only it had been this straightforward from the beginning!"

When the night watchman struck the second watch, people were still running around spreading the news along the canal. Granny Zhang, who sold steamed buns, was awakened by the noise, opened her window, and cursed, "What are you wailing about in the middle of the night?"

"Aunt Zhang!" Wu Lao Er, a dockworker, shouted from downstairs, "The Women's Workshop is opening a textile school so girls can learn a trade too!"

Granny Zhang's curse caught in her throat. She glanced back at her sleeping granddaughter, then suddenly grabbed her clothes and ran downstairs: "Wait! My granddaughter is eight years old..."

Before the morning mist had dissipated, a new notice was posted on the bulletin board in front of the Songjiang Prefectural Government Office. A scholar in a long gown read aloud, swaying his head: "All workshops under the jurisdiction of the Women's Workshop shall implement the 'New Regulations for Craftsmen' effective immediately. All employees shall work no more than four hours a day, with one day off every ten days. Injuries and illnesses shall be treated by the workshop's own doctors, and children aged six shall be enrolled in free schools..."

The crowd grew larger and larger. Suddenly, a shopkeeper dressed in a silk robe shrieked, "These aren't hired laborers! They're clearly offering sacrifices to our ancestors!"

"Sign it or not, it's up to you." The laborer carrying the sacks spat. "The Zhou family's dye shop posted a job opening notice yesterday, and all twenty positions were filled in the blink of an eye. My cousin went, and the work clothes he got this morning were made of fine cotton!"

The storyteller at Taibai Tower slammed his gavel so loudly it shook the heavens: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is what they call 'spending a fortune to buy bones'! The Princess treats her workers like human beings, so the workers naturally treat their work like their lives depend on it. This morning, everyone unloading cargo at the dock said that a bolt of new cloth from the Zhou family's dye shop can be exchanged for three bushels of rice!"

In a private room on the second floor, Li Chongyi crushed a teacup in his hand. Across from him sat a man wearing a bamboo hat, his voice hushed: "Rest assured, sir, everything has been arranged in Hangzhou. As long as the cloth shipments from Songjiang don't get out..."

"Idiot!" Li Chongyi kicked over the coffee table. "All the workers in Songjiang are watching the Women's Workshop. You try touching their fabric!"

The man in the straw hat shrank his neck. Suddenly, the sound of orderly footsteps came from outside the window, and a group of women in blue uniforms carried carrying poles wrapped with red silk across the long street. The leader, Lin San Niang, looked up at Taibai Tower, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.

That night, all sixteen workshops in Songjiang Prefecture lit up simultaneously. Shade sheds were erected beside the dyeing vats, meat simmered in the kitchens, and even the notoriously frugal Shen family gritted their teeth and bought new bedding. The accountant muttered to himself as he worked on his abacus, "Master, these expenses..." "Shut up!" Manager Shen stared at the freshly dyed fabric. "Feel this material, is it worth it!"

Moonlight shone on the canal as the cargo boats, laden with new cloth, slowly sailed away. The blue flags planted at the bows fluttered in the wind, the characters "Songjiang" on them gleaming brightly under the starlight.

……

Before the morning mist had completely dissipated, the sounds of looms from the Songjiang workshops mingled with the shouts of the canal boats.

Zhu Youwei stood in front of the drying yard, her fingertips twirling the new sample fabric that had just been delivered from Hangzhou.

Sunlight filters through the fine cotton yarn, casting dappled shadows on the bluestone slabs.

"Is the jacquard loom in Hangzhou finally fixed?" she asked without turning her head.

Chen Han unfolded a roll of blueprints and laid it on the stone table: "Lin San Niang and three master craftsmen spent seven days working on it, and finally they were able to use the Zhou family's ancestral copper mold." He pointed to the improvement in the center of the blueprints, "A movable buckle has been added here, which will save half the effort when changing the thread."

Wenniang trotted over, holding a sample of the freshly dyed cloth in her hands: "Your Highness, look, the indigo mixed according to the Hangzhou recipe is 30% brighter than our original color."

The fabric shimmered with a pearly luster in the morning light. Zhu Youwei suddenly folded the fabric sample in half, tore open the cross-section, and carefully examined the warp and weft threads.

“Songjiang cotton has an advantage in fiber length, but Hangzhou’s looms are more precise.” She looked up at Chen Han, “Let the craftsmen from both places meet.”

Just past noon, the second floor of Taibai Tower was booked out. The copper mold brought by Old Master Zhou was placed in the center, next to which were jacquard loom parts disassembled by Hangzhou craftsmen. Dyemaker Zhao Si squatted on the ground, drawing improved patterns on the blue bricks with a charcoal pencil.

“Our cotton yarn is tougher, so we can add an extra yarn-separation process during weaving.” Old Zhao’s charcoal pencil drew deep marks on the brick surface. “But we have to narrow the copper shuttles from Hangzhou by three-tenths of an inch.”

Master Lin from Hangzhou grabbed a handful of Songjiang cotton and rubbed it together: "If we use your cotton yarn with our dyeing method, we might be able to weave a fine cloth with a subtle pattern."

The room full of craftsmen suddenly fell silent. Old Master Zhou tapped his cane lightly on the ground: "I remember that the ancestral recipe mentioned that Songjiang cloth could be woven with cloud patterns in the third year of Hongwu."

"Soak the yarn in soy milk!" Wen Niang blurted out. "This morning when we tried dyeing it, the cotton yarn soaked in soy milk absorbed the dye particularly well."

Amid the rustling of the ledgers, Chen Han had already calculated the new costs: "Songjiang provides the cotton, Hangzhou provides the technology, and the new cloth produced jointly by the two places will have a premium of at least 50%."

As dusk settled, the craftsmen were still engaged in a heated discussion. Downstairs, the storyteller struck his gavel, recounting the exciting events of the previous day at the Zhou family's dyehouse.

"Speaking of the newly dyed Songjiang cloth, when held up to the sun, the patterns seem to flow like living water! I heard that this morning, the Suzhou cloth merchants offered ten taels a bolt, but Old Master Zhou simply couldn't bear to sell it..."

A loud crash suddenly came from the second floor. Everyone looked up in surprise and saw Master Lin excitedly kicking over the coffee table: "It's done! Use Songjiang cotton for the warp, Hangzhou fine yarn for the weft, soy milk for the base color, and mulberry leaf juice for color fixation!"

Zhu Youwei picked up the fabric sample she had just tried weaving. Moonlight shone through the window lattice onto the fabric, faintly revealing the pine and crane pattern. She suddenly handed the sample to Old Master Zhou: "Please take a look at it, sir."

The old man's fingers trembled as he traced the patterns, and suddenly tears streamed down his face: "This is what our ancestors called 'living water pattern'! After the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, no one in Songjiang has ever woven it again..."

As the night watchman struck the first watch gong, the craftsmen from both places had already agreed on their division of labor. Songjiang was responsible for improving cotton varieties and spinning, while Hangzhou specialized in improving jacquard looms. Wenniang held up the contract and had everyone put their fingerprints on it. When it was Master Lin's turn, this man from Hangzhou suddenly knelt down.

“Princess, I have a request.” He pointed to the “technology exchange” section on the contract, “Could the craftsmen from both places be allowed to rotate monthly? I am willing to bring my apprentices to Songjiang to learn cotton spinning.”

Zhu Youwei looked at Chen Han. The young Duke was carving mathematical formulas on the blue bricks with a dagger when he heard this. He looked up and said, "That suits me perfectly. Tomorrow, I will send a ship to send the first batch of craftsmen to Hangzhou."

Old Master Zhou suddenly coughed and said, "Wait a minute." He took out a yellowed booklet from his pocket. "These are the dyeing recipes passed down through generations of the Zhou family. Today, I present them to the workshop. I only ask for one thing—that the young people of Songjiang can also learn the weaving skills of Hangzhou."

The candlelight crackled and popped. When Zhu Youwei took the booklet, the words "Imperial Gift of the Third Year of Hongwu" were clearly visible on the cover.

At dawn the next day, the canal wharf was ten times busier than usual. Twenty craftsmen from Songjiang boarded the boat with their bundles on their backs, and Master Lin from Hangzhou hoisted a blue cloth flag at the bow. The four large characters on the flag, "Made in Songjiang and Hangzhou Together," fluttered in the morning breeze.

Squeezed among the crowd seeing them off, Manager Shen suddenly grabbed a young craftsman: "A-Quan, did your father agree to let you go to Hangzhou?"

The young man named A-Quan raised the contract in his hand: "Uncle Shen, it says in the contract that I must come back after completing my studies and teach ten apprentices. My father said this is a matter of bringing honor to the family!"

As the cargo boat slowly departed from the shore, Zhu Youwei was testing a new loom in the workshop's backyard. The improved jacquard loom emitted a pleasant clicking sound, and the woven fabric already showed faint dark patterns.

"It's still a bit lacking." Chen Han shook his head, touching the cloth.

Wenniang rushed over: "Princess, a message from Hangzhou by carrier pigeon! Lin Sanniang says she wants to try weaving a new kind of gauze using Songjiang cotton, and asks if we can supply it exclusively to the seven-seed cotton bolls?"

"Approved." Zhu Youwei turned to Chen Han, "Go to the cotton field yourself and select the best cotton seeds to send there."

As dusk settled, the lights in the Songjiang workshop remained bright. Zhu Youwei was working on new loom designs when she suddenly heard children singing outside the window. She looked out and saw the children from the free school walking hand in hand along the stone path, singing newly learned Hangzhou weaving rhymes.

"Hangzhou Bridge, Songjiang Tide, craftsmen from both places become brothers..."

As the song drifted into the accounting room, Chen Han had just stamped the "Songhang Workers' Alliance" seal with red ink. He looked up at the moonlight outside the window and suddenly chuckled, "Shen Wansan won't be able to sleep now."

The night watchman's clapper echoed through the streets and alleys, startling a few sparrows roosting at night. On the canal, a cargo boat carrying cotton seeds cut through the waves. Blue flags fluttered at the bows, and faintly visible in the corners were embroidered images of Songjiang cotton bolls and Hangzhou mulberry branches, intertwined tightly in the moonlight…

(End of this chapter)