The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 152: Emphasis on Military Affairs over Literature
Old Zhao really couldn't understand why so many nails were nailed on the spinning wheel.

How big a strand of wool is needed for spinning?

That doesn't even require a strand half a finger wide.

How densely should the nails be nailed?

He was stunned for a moment, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, how long are the nails?"

Wanli stretched out two fingers and gestured: "About an inch long will do."

Oh, One Inch Nails.

This one is not difficult to nail down.

Several craftsmen took nails and hammered them together, and soon they had finished the job.

Wanli put the wool close to the spinning wheel with one hand and turned the spinning wheel with the other hand. Soon most of the wool was scraped off by the nails.

At this time, small wisps of wool have appeared between the nails.

When Old Zhao saw this, his eyes bulged, and he couldn't help but reach out and take out a small strand from the middle of the nail. He gently twisted it and pulled it, and it really pulled out several feet long without breaking!
He seemed to understand that as long as he found a log as thick as his waist, cut it into a length of about ten feet, and then nailed rows of nails on it. Then, he could put the wool against it and rotate it, and then he could pull out dozens of small strands of such coarse yarn.

However, there is still a problem.

He actually asked, "Your Majesty, it seems that we can't hold the wool by hand. The spinning wheel we need to make must be at least ten feet long in order to spin thirty-two spindles at the same time. It would take more than ten people holding the wool to do it."

This one is simple.

Wanli gestured and said, "You can make two wheels that rotate opposite each other, with the nails on them staggered. Then, make a groove directly above the two wheels, and make a slit in the middle of the groove so that the wool can fall onto the rollers by itself. In this way, all you need to do is pour the wool in."

Two large offset rollers?

Old Zhao pondered for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, it's difficult to modify the feeder like this. The belt can't connect to drive the two large rollers. One is fine, and the two large rollers spew out dozens of small strands of wool in opposite directions. We can only use one direction; someone else has to clean up the other."

This one.

Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then an idea struck him: "You could build a waterwheel in the middle to drive the two large rollers for scraping wool, and then build a large spinning machine on each side, wouldn't that be enough?"

Yup!

Old Zhao nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I'll get some people to make it and give it a try. It should be fine."

That's good.

Wanli asked again: "How many people are needed to work in such a workshop? How many people are equivalent to spinning by hand?"

Old Zhao estimated: "This machine only needs one person to watch over the loading and changing of spindles. Three people should be enough for a workshop.

As for how many people are equivalent to manual spinning, it is hard to say, because this spinning machine spins non-stop, and the speed is much faster than human spinning, and it also produces 32 spindles at a time."

This needs to be roughly calculated.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "How much faster is this spinning machine than hand spinning?"

Old Zhao estimated, "At least twice as fast, because hand-spinning spins and stops, while this spins non-stop."

This is twice as fast, and can produce 32 spindles at a time, and it can rotate non-stop day and night. If it is done manually, one person would probably not be able to bear it after rotating for three or four hours a day.

In other words, these two spinning machines rotate continuously for twelve hours a day, which is roughly equivalent to two hundred people spinning at the same time. If six people are arranged to work in two shifts, the efficiency will be about thirty times that of manual spinning.

This efficiency is already very good.

Spinning and weaving, in fact, spinning takes more time.

Because a piece of cloth requires not just one or two pieces of yarn, but hundreds of them. If the yarn is thin, even thousands of them are needed.

Therefore, most of the time spent on spinning and weaving is wasted on spinning.

Nowadays, if a person wants to weave a piece of cloth, it will take more than ten days just to spin the yarn, and the actual weaving process only takes three or four days.

In other words, it would take a skilled worker about twenty days to weave one piece of cloth, and two months to weave three pieces of cloth.

Now, the efficiency of spinning has increased thirty times, so weaving seven or eight pieces of cloth a month is no problem, and at least fifteen pieces in two months.

The efficiency of weaving has also increased by at least five times.

This is already quite good, because three pieces of cloth can only be sold for one tael of silver. Even if the labor and materials are half and half, you can only earn half a tael of silver after two months of hard work in weaving cloth.

Now it was different. Yarn could be bought directly, and it was easy to weave seven or eight bolts of cloth a month. The labor and materials were split 50/50, and one could earn at least one or two taels of silver. In this way, if a family had two women weaving, they could almost make ends meet.

Wanli was very concerned about this, because after distributing grasslands and cattle and sheep to meritorious soldiers, they had to make money to support so many elderly, children, women and children. If they could not make money, distributing it to them would be like asking for their lives.

He didn't even return to the capital because of this. In order to try his best to modify the water-powered spinning machine, he lived in the Miyun Palace.

However, now that he has regained more power and has more things to do, it seems that he cannot stay in the summer resort all the time.

Before noon the next day, Li Tingji came running over trembling.

It was obvious that this guy came here on horseback.

When he saw Wanli standing in front of a strange machine and gesturing at someone, he was stunned.

What is this thing used for?
Wanli was also quite surprised and asked, "Er Zhang, what's wrong? Is there something urgent?"

Li Tingji quickly bowed and saluted, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, this matter of yours is not urgent. I came here because I had nothing to do.

Your Majesty, the third issue of the official gazette has already been printed, but you haven't said what to write in the fourth issue yet. I don't even know what to write."

Oh, so you don’t know what to write.

This question is actually very simple. Just list the rewards given to the meritorious soldiers and then introduce a few important generals.

However, considering that the New Year is approaching, he cannot let Li Tingji not rest for the whole New Year and just make trouble there.

The third issue is on the first few days of the twelfth lunar month, the fourth issue is on the 10th day of the twelfth lunar month, the fifth issue is on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the sixth issue is on the first few days of the first lunar month, and the seventh issue is on the 10th day of the first lunar month.

In other words, a total of five issues will be published from now until the end of the New Year, but Li Tingji has only prepared one issue.

What should I write in the next four issues?
Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "Er Zhang, do you find it difficult to write a biography?"

How difficult is this?

Li Tingji explained, "Your Majesty, biographies are the easiest to write because the content is pretty much set. You don't have to think about it at all. All you have to think about is how to write it."

Then let's see how well you write your biography.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, then, let's write about the Ming Dynasty's God of War, Qi Jiguang, in the fourth issue. Write a good biography for him, and pick out ten or so of his great victories from the hundreds of battles he fought in his life."

what?
With this written, where is Qi Jiguang's fame?
Li Tingji was stunned for a moment, then said carefully, "Your Majesty, isn't this a bit of a pretense of usurpation?"

This is just an excuse for civil officials to suppress military generals.

Will loyal ministers and generals rebel?
Civil officials can't do it, and military generals can't do it either.

If military generals can do it, then so can civil officials.

Why do all military generals need to be suppressed, but civil officials do not need to be suppressed?
Isn’t this typical double standard?

Wanli said meaningfully: "There are so many famous civil officials, can they mobilize troops to seize power?

The same is true for the fame of military generals. Scholars have so many role models, and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also need role models. Otherwise, what is the point of them fighting for the country and the people?

This time, I intend to promote Yuan Jing to the rank of Duke, which can also be regarded as an incentive for the soldiers to make great achievements. Please write well and set an example of loyalty and patriotism for the soldiers."

Okay, since you said to write, then I’ll write.

Li Tingji quickly bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Wanli then explained in detail, "The fifth and sixth issues will be about the Nine Frontier Generals and the Twelve Generals of the Beijing Camp. They are purely personal biographies. You can write as you see fit."

If written this way, the military generals of the Ming Dynasty would become famous.

It seems that His Majesty truly values ​​military power over culture.

Li Tingji repeatedly bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Wanli then gave detailed instructions, "For the seventh phase, please write about the titles and fiefdoms awarded. I'll give you a detailed list when the time comes. Remember, the focus of the seventh phase is to encourage all garrison troops to actively go to the border towns and make achievements."

After reading this, all the garrison guards will probably scramble to go to the border.

Because the rewards included not only titles and fiefdoms, but also cattle, sheep, horses and captured slaves!

Li Tingji continued to bow and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

(End of this chapter)