People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 769 This place teaches not only weaving, but also about the future!

The Hangzhou docks were already packed with people.

Chun Tao stood on tiptoe, peering out, clutching the roster in her hand. In the distance, a cargo boat slowly approached the shore, the words "Songjiang" on the blue flag at its bow standing out prominently in the morning light.

"They're here!" Chun Tao waved to those behind her, and more than a dozen female workers from the Hangzhou workshops immediately lined up. They were wearing matching indigo overalls with brass badges hanging from their waists, making them stand out in the crowd.

As soon as the planks were lowered, the weavers from Songjiang eagerly rushed down. Zhao Si's wife, who was at the head of the group, stared wide-eyed, stunned by the bustling scene at the dock. Foreign merchants, dressed in strange clothes, were gesturing around the stalls; several Persians held silks and marveled at them, the silver coins hanging from their waists jingling.

"This must be Sister Zhao?" Chun Tao stepped forward and bowed. "The Princess instructed me to show you all around the Hangzhou workshops."

Zhao Si's wife hurriedly returned the greeting, but her eyes couldn't help but glance towards the foreign merchants. A foreign merchant with a red beard was taking out a stack of paper coupons and handing them to a cloth merchant, who actually accepted the coupons and even gave him a few copper coins in change.

“Those are order vouchers issued by the Women's Workshop,” Chun Tao explained, following her gaze. “Foreign merchants find it inconvenient to carry them, so they use these vouchers as cash. They can pick up their goods at the workshop anytime with these vouchers; they're even more sought after than real silver.”

The weavers from Songjiang looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never seen paper used as money before, much less so so many foreign merchants huddled together. Little Peach, mustering her courage, asked, "Won't they run away?"

Chuntao laughed out loud: "Run? Last year, a Javanese merchant tried to renege on his debt, but Instructor Lin and his all-female army chased him all the way to Ningbo Port. Now, foreign merchants would rather lose money than break their contracts. Our workshop's credit is more effective than official notices."

Crossing the dock, Chun Tao led the group towards the workshop. The streets along the way were ten times more bustling than those in Songjiang. A silk shop displayed a sign that read "Made in Songjiang and Hangzhou Together," and a shop assistant was loudly hawking: "Newly arrived jacquard fabric, only eight taels of order coupons per bolt!"

"It's already selling for eight taels?" Zhao Si's wife gasped. "It only costs six taels in Songjiang."

"Hangzhou has many foreign merchants, so prices are naturally high," Chun Tao said, pointing to a three-story building in the distance. "That's an exchange shop run by the workshop, specializing in exchanging order vouchers for real gold and silver. Yesterday, a Ryukyu merchant exchanged three thousand taels of silver in one go."

Turning the corner, the gates of the Women's Workshop suddenly opened up. More than twenty foreign merchants crowded at the entrance, gesturing to the manager to place additional orders. Chun Tao led the group in through a side door, where the roar of looms immediately filled the air.

More than three hundred improved looms were neatly arranged, with two female workers sitting in front of each machine. The sound of the shuttles moving back and forth was as dense as raindrops, and the woven cloth flowed out of the other end of the machine like water.

"This is a new type of loom from Hangzhou," Chun Tao raised her voice. "It has two more sets of pedals than the ones from Songjiang, allowing it to weave more complex dark patterns."

The weavers from Songjiang gathered around to observe, and some couldn't resist touching the freshly woven fabric. The cloth was cool to the touch, and when held up to the light, one could see fine, water-like ripples.

"It's a paste made with pearl powder from Taihu Lake," Chun Tao said proudly. "Foreign merchants love this luster, saying it resembles lake water under moonlight."

Passing through the weaving area, the smell of dyeing wafted through the air. A dozen large vats were filled with various dyes, and female workers stirred the fabric with long poles. Most striking was a large vat with gold trim in the corner, beside which stood two Persians pouring some kind of powder.

“That’s gold dust from the Western Regions,” Chun Tao said in a low voice. “It costs five taels of gold to dye a bolt of cloth with gold thread, and we only accept orders from foreign merchants.”

Zhao Si's wife suddenly pointed at the cloth drying rack: "What kind of cloth is that? Why does it look like it changes color?"

Under the sunlight, a bolt of deep blue fabric shifted with the angle of the light, sometimes tinged with purple, sometimes with blue. Chun Tao smiled mysteriously: "This is a secret-color cloth dyed with seaweed, worth twenty taels a bolt. The recipe was bought by Instructor Lin from Fujian, and only three people in the dyehouse know the complete process."

At lunchtime, Chun Tao led everyone to the workshop canteen. The sight of more than two hundred people eating at the same time left the weavers from Songjiang speechless. What surprised them even more was that each person had a palm-sized piece of braised pork in their bowl.

"The rule in the Hangzhou workshops is that those who do heavy work must eat two ounces of meat every day." Chun Tao handed out a wooden tag to everyone, "Use this to get your meals at the window; it's all you can eat."

As they were eating, a commotion suddenly arose outside. A foreign merchant in a brocade robe burst in, waving an order voucher: "Five hundred more bolts! Cash payment!"

Chun Tao frowned and stood up: "I'm sorry, orders need to be scheduled three months in advance."

The merchant suddenly knelt down: "Please, young lady, have mercy! My fleet is setting sail the day after tomorrow!" He pulled a velvet box from his pocket. "These are pearls from the South Seas. Please accept this as a token of my gratitude to the manager."

Everyone in the cafeteria laughed. Chun Tao shook her head helplessly: "It really won't work. Last month, a Siamese merchant said the same thing, and Instructor Lin confiscated all the ivory he brought."

The afternoon tour was even more dazzling. The machines in the jacquard loom room were monstrously complex, the embroidery workshop's female workers could use sixteen different stitches, and even the laundry room was equipped with a waterwheel made of fine copper.

As dusk fell, Chuntao led the weary group to their quarters. The weavers from Songjiang touched the brand-new bedding, and one of them whispered, "Are we really going to live in such fine rooms?"

“Of course.” Chun Tao lit the oil lamp. “It’s the rule in the Hangzhou workshops that craftsmen must have the best food and lodging.” She pointed to the regulations on the wall, “They work four hours a day, with one day off every ten days. The workshop will treat injuries and illnesses, and children over six years old can attend free schools.”

Zhao Si's wife suddenly burst into tears. She wiped her tears with her sleeve, saying, "If only my daughter were here."

Chuntao patted her on the shoulder: "Once you've finished your studies, bring your family over. The Hangzhou workshop is expanding; they'll be hiring three hundred people next year."

Night deepened, and the dormitory gradually quieted down. Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the "Weavers' Rules" on the wall. The bottom line of red annotations stood out prominently: "Craftsmen are the foundation of the workshop; treat them as family."

In the distance came the sound of the night watchman's clapper, and the lights of Hangzhou twinkled like a galaxy.

The next morning, the office courtyard of the Hangzhou Women's Workshop was already bustling with activity. When Chun Tao led the weavers from Songjiang through the bluestone-paved courtyard and pushed open the two vermilion gates, the sight of more than twenty female accountants looking up at the same time caused Zhao Si's wife to drop the bundle in her hands with a thud.

"This is the order processing area." Chun Tao bent down to pick up the bundle and dusted it off. "All business transactions in the workshop have to go through here."

Thirty long mahogany tables were neatly arranged, each occupied by a female accountant. Their left hands rested on the ledgers, while their right hands manipulated the abacuses, their fingers flying across the pages with a crisp, clear sound. Suddenly, the girl in green at the front row raised a copper bell and shook it. Immediately, a servant came running with a wooden box piled high with order slips stamped with vermilion seals.

“This is the third batch of orders from Southeast Asia this morning.” Chun Tao pointed to several foreign merchants under the west corridor. “They came all the way from Quanzhou just to order jacquard fabric for next spring.”

Zhao Si's wife peeked out on tiptoe. A foreign merchant wearing a pearl earring was pouring silver ingots into a large scale, while the female accountant in a blue cloth jacket manipulated the abacus beads, quickly producing an order voucher stamped with a seal across the seam. When the foreign merchant received the voucher, he respectfully bowed with his hands clasped in a gesture of respect.

"Are they so obedient to the rules?" Little Peach tugged at Spring Peach's sleeve.

Chun Tao chuckled: "Now, the workshop's order vouchers are even more valuable than official silver; caravans from Southeast Asia are scrambling to get them."

Passing through the front hall, the scene in the atrium was even more astonishing. Eight women in white dresses sat around a huge sand table, which was covered with small flags of various colors. Upon seeing someone arrive, the woman at the head of the group picked up a long pole and pointed to the model of a winding canal in the sand table.

“This is the dispatch office,” Chun Tao said in a low voice. “They arrange all the transportation of goods for the workshop.” When the pole tip pointed to the “Songjiang” position, a woman immediately opened a booklet and read: “The cargo ship that will depart for Songjiang tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM) will carry five new looms, three boxes of gold thread, and two craftsmen from Hangzhou.” Another person quickly wrote down the numbers on a wooden sign and hung it on the water transport route map on the wall.

The weavers from Songjiang were engrossed in watching. Suddenly, a copper bell rang, and a girl with a red hair tie ran out of a small door next to the sand table, clutching a newly stamped document in her hand: "Urgent report! A foreign ship from Ningbo Port has arrived ahead of schedule and wants to order an additional two hundred bolts of gold-threaded cloth!"

"By land." The woman in the moon-white dress said without hesitation, "We'll send twenty fast horses along the official road to Shaoxing, and then transfer them to a ship there. They must arrive at the port before noon the day after tomorrow."

Seeing everyone's confusion, Chun Tao explained, "Foreign merchants value credit above all else; they would rather lose money than not deliver on time. Last month, the Siamese caravan was delayed due to a typhoon, and the workshop lost double the deposit, which in turn secured all of their orders for the year."

Turning into the corridor, the activity in the backyard was even more intense. More than thirty women dressed in brown short jackets moved between the long tables, which were piled high with various fabric samples. Some were checking orders, some were filling out shipping documents, and others were hanging wooden signs on the huge map on the wall. As soon as a sign was hung, a servant would rush out to relay the order.

“This is the verification office.” Chun Tao pointed to the old woman in front of the table at the east end. “Granny Xu has been in charge of the canal transport for forty years. She can calculate which waterway is the fastest even with her eyes closed.”

Just then, a foreign merchant rushed in, holding up an order voucher and shouting, "Where are my goods? They were supposed to be shipped today!"

Without even lifting her eyelids, Granny Xu pointed her withered finger northward: "Third dock, Yi-class warehouse. The ship that departed at 3:45 AM should be passing Linping by now."

The foreign merchant stood there, stunned. Chun Tao smiled and said, "The workshop's goods are available whenever we say so."

As the sun rose higher, Chun Tao led everyone to a side hall for dinner.

The table was set with four dishes and a soup, which were even more refined than the meals at the Songjiang workshop.

Just as Little Peach picked up her bowl, she heard orderly footsteps outside the window.

Through the carved window lattice, I saw a group of women in blue uniforms carrying shoulder poles, walking in formation. The red silk wrapped around the poles fluttered in the wind.

"Those are for escorting goods to the docks." Chun Tao served soup to everyone. "According to the workshop rules, valuable goods must be escorted by the women's army."

Zhao Si's wife suddenly put down her chopsticks: "Miss Chun Tao, I... can I stay and learn accounting?"

Everyone at the table fell silent.

Chun Tao didn't rush to answer. She took out a blue booklet from her sleeve: "According to the workshop rules, newcomers must work in the weaving room for half a year before they can choose other jobs if their skills are up to standard."

She turned to a certain page, "However, craftsmen from Songjiang can learn abacus without taking an exam; this was specially instructed by the princess."

As the afternoon sun slanted into the order courtyard, the weavers from Songjiang were already sitting at a small table in the corner, learning bookkeeping from the female accountant.
Zhao Si's wife clumsily moved the abacus beads, when she suddenly heard a familiar Songjiang accent coming from the front hall.

Looking up, I saw Old Master Zhou with several Songjiang cloth merchants, holding account books and reconciling accounts with the female accountant.

"Old Zhou?" Zhao Si's wife exclaimed in surprise.

The old man squinted and recognized her, his beard trembling with laughter: "Good girl! Learn well! Go back and teach our Songjiang workshop to make a similar order-based workshop!"

When the evening drum sounded, Chun Tao led everyone to the dormitory.

Moonlight shone through the newly pasted window paper onto the "Workshop Regulations" on the wall.

By the light of the lamp, Zhao Si's wife practiced the bookkeeping formulas she had learned that day over and over again.

……

On the third day, Chuntao led the weavers from Songjiang to the school in the backyard of the workshop. Along the way, Little Tao couldn't help but ask, "Sister Chuntao, is the workshop's school the same as a private school? Do they also teach the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic?"

Chun Tao smiled and shook her head: "It's different. Our school is divided into mathematics and weaving. Mathematics teaches the Four Books and Five Classics and arithmetic, while weaving teaches skills related to weaving, such as identifying fabric types, recognizing raw materials, and learning to read patterns. In short, we have to learn everything related to weaving."

Zhao Si's wife asked in surprise, "Then who will teach us? Are we going to hire a tutor?"

"No need to invite me." Chun Tao pushed open the wooden door of the school, and the sound of reading aloud came from inside. "The teachers are all skilled craftsmen from the workshop. Whoever has the best skills will come to teach."

Inside the school, more than twenty women sat in two rows. On the left, an older female worker was teaching them how to use an abacus, the clinking of the beads producing a clear and pleasant sound. On the right, a large table was set up with various fabrics, and a woman in her early thirties was explaining a piece of silk: "This is Suzhou jacquard silk. The warp and weft threads are 30% denser than ordinary silk, so it feels smoother to the touch."

The weavers from Songjiang stood at the door, watching intently. Little Peach asked softly, "Does the workshop pay them for learning these skills?"

Chun Tao nodded: "Of course. According to the workshop's rules, experienced instructors who come to teach receive an extra half tael of silver per month. Apprentices who have completed their training and are willing to stay to teach newcomers will receive an additional 30% in wages."

Zhao Si's wife stared wide-eyed: "Isn't this a losing proposition?"

“It won’t be a loss.” Chun Tao lowered her voice. “The instructors need to understand their own skills first, so that while teaching others, they can also identify and fill in any gaps in their knowledge. Besides, the workshop is going to open branches in various places, and there will always be people to manage them. Those who have taught will naturally know more, and we can be more at ease sending them out in the future.”

Just then, the woman who taught weaving looked up, saw them, and waved with a smile: "Newcomers? Come in and have a look."

The weavers from Songjiang walked in timidly. The woman picked up a piece of indigo cotton cloth and handed it to Zhao Si's wife: "Feel it and see, how is it different from the cloth from your Songjiang?"

Zhao Si's wife took the cloth, rubbed it between her fingers, and exclaimed in surprise, "This cloth is denser than ours, and the threads are more even."

The woman nodded: "This is woven on a new loom in Hangzhou. It has an extra set of warp threads, so it's tighter. The cotton from Songjiang is good. If it's woven like this, the price of the cloth could increase by at least 20%."

Little Peach mustered her courage and asked, "Can we learn it?"

……

(End of this chapter)