The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 338 Textile Technology in the Song Dynasty

May, 1131 AD.

The merchant ships of the Jiang family of Xixi arrived in Chuzhou once again.

Jiang Shaohui has come again, and this time he brought not only a group of guards, but also the old manager who has served the Jiang family for many years, as well as several old craftsmen skilled in textiles, tailors... Including his guards, it was quite a large group of people.

After disembarking, the group headed straight for Chuzhou City, intending to find a suitable place to build a textile workshop.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the city gate, the gatekeepers came up to them, bowed and said, "Master Jiang, Young Master Yue sent us to see you so that we can take you to a good place."

Jiang Shaohui: "???"

Although he wasn't quite sure what was going on, he still followed the gatekeeper. The group of people wandered through the streets of Chuzhou, which were under construction, and soon they arrived at an open area in the north of the city, where a row of empty prefabricated houses had been erected.

"There used to be a cluster of dilapidated houses here, but they were burned down during the war against the Jin dynasty," the gatekeeper explained. "After our Northern Song dynasty invaded, Young Master Yue had all the ruins cleared away and these prefab houses were built. They are made of large wooden planks, and there is nothing inside except for a few wooden pillars. They are very empty."

Jiang Shaohui walked into a prefabricated house. Sure enough, the house was empty and very square.

Overjoyed, he realized that this kind of house was perfect for a textile workshop.

"Young Master Yue has long planned to use this area as a workshop," the gatekeeper said. "It just so happens that Minister Jiang is interested in setting up a textile factory here, so Young Master Yue asked me to bring you over to take a look. If Minister Jiang is interested, this area can be rented to you at a low price."

Jiang Shaohui was a little worried. Cooperating with the government was the easiest way to get ripped off, as the government often did things recklessly and haphazardly.

I'm a little hesitant to ask how much the rent is.

But the gatekeeper said, "The rent is only 10% higher than that of an ordinary house of the same size."

Jiang Shaohui was still a little cautious: "Are there any other fees?"

Gatekeeper: "No more! You can go to the government office to make a written agreement."

Jiang Shaohui was overjoyed: "The Northern Song Dynasty is really taking care of us merchants! Can I move my goods in first and then sign the contract?"

Goalkeeper: "Of course."

Jiang Shaohui quickly waved his hand, signaling his men to go to the riverbank and move the things over.

The main items he brought were a dozen or so textile machines.

This quantity is definitely not enough; it's just a starting point. More will need to be transported from Jiangnan later.

He didn't know...

While he was doing all this, Yue Wenxuan himself was looking down at him from outside the sand table, and was even filming his spinning machine with a camera.

He wasn't in a hurry to contact Jiang Shaohui; he wanted to first see what kind of textile technology Jiang Shaohui's people were using in order to understand the level of the textile industry in the Jiangnan region at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.

At this time, Jiang Shaohui went to the yamen to sign a contract with Yan Chengping, while his men moved the machines into the factory. After setting them up and securing them, they began testing whether the machines had been damaged during the long-distance transport. Yue Wenxuan just watched for a bit of fun.

Then, the craftsmen from the Jiang family took out some cotton that had been prepared in advance and began their performance.

They used the "rolling and rubbing" method, which involved using an iron rod to rotate on a pear-wood board to expel cotton seeds. This method was very outdated.

As for the "fluffing" part of "fluffing cotton," the Jiang family craftsmen used a small bamboo bow to pluck the string. Compared with the large cotton-fluffing slingshot that Yue Wenxuan saw when he was a child, the Jiang family's small slingshot was very primitive and obviously not efficient enough.

Looking at their spinning wheels, they were even more advanced, being hand-cranked single-spindle spinning wheels. Only one yarn spindle rotated on the wheel, turning only that one cotton thread at a time, a very primitive technique.

It is said that three-spindle foot-operated spinning wheels appeared in the late Southern Song Dynasty, but this was still the time when the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties were in transition, and three-spindle foot-operated spinning wheels were not yet widely used.

After watching for only a short while, Yue Wenxuan was certain that Jiang's technique was extremely poor.

With his skills, even if he filled his workshop with workers, working 24-hour shifts, he still couldn't handle the huge cotton yield he would get from growing high-quality cotton using modern agricultural methods. His small workshop would be so busy that a lot of cotton would rot in the fields.

The words "steam textile machine" immediately popped into Yue Wenxuan's mind.

However, he immediately dismissed the idea. At present, the steam engine technology of the Northern Song Dynasty has just begun to take off. The Ministry of Works is working hard to manufacture steam engines, but there are only a few. They are not even enough for military use, let alone for popularization among the people.
Let's just give them some basic, traditional Chinese medicine stuff!
Okay, let's first advance to the technology of the Ming Dynasty, and then gradually transition.

Yue Wenxuan then took out a set from Qiuzhishenguang Sculpture Company, a complete set of miniature figures depicting the entire process of Ming Dynasty textile technology, and placed it in the box...
-
In the evening, Jiang Shaohui arrived at his workshop with a stack of contracts, looking very excited.

The efficiency of the local government far exceeded his expectations.

Under Yan Chengping's personal supervision, the clerks in the yamen were not careless at all. They were not only quick in their work, but also had a very good attitude. They were not like the fierce and ruthless officials in other places who did not treat merchants like human beings.

He felt a comfortable sense of "businessmen being respected" here.

A whole bunch of contracts were completed in just over an hour.

Moreover, the contract was written in great detail and clarity, even specifying the tax rate. The verbal promise made by Young Master Yue last time that one cent of tax would be waived for every three hundred workers recruited was also included...

With such a clear contract, he felt more confident.

Back in the workshop, he saw his old manager and several veteran craftsmen had already set up the spinning machines and even tested the process to ensure each machine was functioning properly. He was pleased and said, "This batch of machines is just a sample. To recruit nine hundred workers and achieve tax exemption, we'll need even more machines. Old manager, could you please hire a few carpenters to build several hundred more spinning machines, just like ours, so we can hire more workers in the future? I've already sent someone to check the cotton fields outside the city; the cotton yield here is probably enormous. We won't be able to finish spinning it all without more machines."

The old shopkeeper responded and was about to go prepare.

Just then, a figure flashed by at the workshop entrance, and Yue Wenxuan arrived: "Hello, Brother Jiang!"

Jiang Shaohui dared not be negligent and quickly bowed, saying, "Young Master Yue has arrived! Oh, please come in, please come in."

As Yue Wenxuan walked in with a grin, he reached out to block the old shopkeeper from going out to find the carpenter, and said with a smile, "Old shopkeeper, don't leave yet. I'm here to show Brother Jiang some things. Old shopkeeper, please take a look too."

(End of this chapter)