Chapter 306 Textile Machine

When Xu Zhenying heard the words "hand-cranked, wheel, and weaving" combined, her face suddenly changed slightly in shock. Xu Yinxi had never seen Xu Zhenying so out of control before, so she immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Zhenying stood up in an instant, ignoring the other merchants in the room. He took Madam Luo's hand and asked anxiously, "Where are the things? Did you bring them?"

"I brought it, I brought it! It's on the carriage outside!" Seeing that Xu Zhenying was very anxious, Xu Yinxi quickly waved the book and signaled his men to get it.

Then I heard a burst of hurried footsteps.

Xu Zhenying was feeling very uneasy. Even several secretaries noticed her mood and became curious about her.

What could be so worrying for His Highness?

Xu Zhenying took Madam Luo's hand again and asked for details, "Does that thing have a shuttle that can be pushed back and forth and thread can be wound on it?"

Old Madam Luo seemed to realize that her nephew might have left behind something truly remarkable, and she became anxious. "Oh, Your Highness, you've really stumped me. I... I really don't understand that thing. It's just a few frames, a few wheels, and some wood, pieced together! My nephew has been a bit of a quirk since he was a child. It's said that he's always loved taking things apart and doing craftsman's work. This really pissed off his parents, and then somehow he got in trouble with the people at the textile factory, and his whole family died. Could this really be the cause of this?"

Xu Zhenying also calmed down. "Let's move the things over here and take a look. If we're lucky enough, we might be able to obtain a magical artifact that can change the world like cement."

"Divine weapon!" Xu Yinxi's expression also changed slightly.

Cement is already amazing enough, and now there’s another one?

How amazing it would be if something could be compared to cement!

Somehow, everyone became a little anxious when Xu Zhenying mentioned cement.

Who knows, everyone in this room might witness another miracle.

Originally, they were not lucky enough to witness the last time cement was produced. They could only often hear Ming Xiaoshuang and others talking about how mysterious the scene was, which made them very excited.

This time, it should be their turn, right?

Therefore, everyone was looking forward to it a little more.

Mrs. Luo, on the other hand, felt a little pressured. Seeing that everyone in the room was worried about Xu Zhenying, she was a little worried about disappointing him.

Soon someone brought the things in. Xu Zhenying immediately stepped forward, and the rest of the people also gathered around.

"Your Highness, these are just some wooden sticks and round wheels. It's hard to tell what kind of divine object they are."

"Does this need to be put up?"

When Xu Zhenying saw the prototypes of those things, he was overjoyed!

Why does this look so much like... a spinning jenny?

sky!

Although she was proficient in chemistry, she also studied biology, physics, and mathematics in high school, so she was quite familiar with chemical engineering. She remembered the approximate raw materials for glass, cement, fertilizer, etc., and it was only a matter of time before she could find out the proportions of the various ingredients from the research institute and make them.

The only composting recipe I learned was from my ex-boyfriend.

However, she had no idea about other industries and agriculture that needed to be developed in a dynasty.

For example, although she always knew that the beginning of the Industrial Revolution was the birth of the spinning Jenny, she had only seen pictures of the spinning Jenny in textbooks. It was impossible for her to create it out of thin air.

If we want to ensure that everyone has enough food to eat and enough clothes to wear, we need a master who is proficient in agriculture and someone who knows how to make a spinning jenny!

And now, change is at hand!

Xu Zhenying's hands were shaking with excitement. As soon as she saw those accessories, she knew that Mrs. Lin's distant nephew was researching the spinning jenny!

No, the wheel of history came to a halt, and the spinning jenny became an object of Jinzhou Prefecture!

Xu Zhenying couldn't hide her excitement. Could she really be the child of destiny?

She immediately shouted, "Quick, quick, go find some carpenters! It's urgent!"

"Qu Min, please help me cancel all my plans for the rest of the day! Oh, and call Dean Luo as well!"

"It seems Dean Luo has asked for leave to go home to visit his family!"

"Then send some people to capture him! Tell them that the institute's budget for next year might be secured! If you're late, it'll be gone! I don't believe he won't rush back in a hurry!"

All right.

Your Highness has only one way to control Dean Luo.

That is the institute's budget.

As we all know, although the research institute makes money, it also burns money! For example, when developing firearms, how much did they invest in the early stage and how much ironware did they buy?

For a moment, everyone in the room was sweating with nervousness.

Although they really couldn't understand what value this pile of wooden shelves had, they also vaguely felt that they were going to see something extraordinary today because His Royal Highness Prince Zhao was squatting on the ground without a care in the world, looking lost in thought at the scattered parts.

Soon, several famous craftsmen in Jinzhou Prefecture were captured by the soldiers.

They ran out of breath, and even one of the craftsmen lost his shoes. As soon as the craftsmen entered the house, they rushed around like headless flies, "Where is it? Where is it? Where is the sacred object?!"

The soldiers who went to catch them were also sweating profusely. They pointed at what was under Xu Zhenying's feet and said, "Quick, quick, there, Your Highness, that pile of wood under your feet is it!"

The craftsmen didn't even bother to greet Xu Zhenying. Instead, they all squatted down like Xu Zhenying, and some even sat down on the ground.

Everyone had to step back and make room.

Xu Zhenying immediately said, "Everyone, if my guess is correct, this should be a loom. This thing, you see how to assemble it, and now put it back together. Madam Luo, are all the parts here?"

Mrs. Luo was sweating. She had been quite certain at first, but after Xu Zhenying asked, she became less confident. She could only say, "I'll have my daughter-in-law check the warehouse from top to bottom right away. If there's anything, send it over right away!"

Xu Zhenying urged: "Hurry!"

The leading carpenter, Wu, pulled out the wooden strips, his brow furrowed. "Your Highness, are you sure this is a loom? It's been disassembled like this, and with all the mortise and tenon joints, it should be able to be assembled into countless shapes. Could you first give us a rough idea of ​​what a loom should look like?"

The attentive Xu Yinxi immediately took out paper and charcoal pencil and handed them to Xu Zhenying, who then began to search for the little things he had learned about the spinning jenny more than ten years ago.

"The looms we use now are still the oldest, with no technological innovations, making them inefficient. The original loom had two warp threads wound at the bottom—one on top, one on the bottom—with the weft thread running horizontally in the middle. By snapping the left reed frame, the upper and lower warp threads swapped positions, and the weft thread was inserted simultaneously, weaving a single sheet of cloth. But the old looms were inefficient because they only had one spindle. Look, this loom has eight! This means the efficiency of this loom is equivalent to that of eight old looms!"

Not only Carpenter Wu, but everyone in the room was extremely shocked!

Textiles were the lifeblood of the Zhou Dynasty, so everyone, young or old, regardless of gender, knew how much manual labor and time were required to weave cloth.

But according to Xu Zhenying's description, and seeing the eight spindles on it, everyone was dumbfounded!

If it succeeds, the efficiency of textile production will be greatly improved!

Besides, people need to rest, but machines don’t!

In this way, increased efficiency means lower prices for cloth, lower prices for clothing, and more people can wear high-quality and affordable clothes!

This is truly a unique technological innovation!

Xu Zhenying only regretted that he was an engineering student, otherwise he would have been able to draw it clearly no matter how high or low it was.

Carpenter Wu nodded, "Your Highness, I think I understand. Let me try to assemble it first."

Xu Yinxi immediately ordered Pang Xiaohua: "Go find some silk thread."

Seeing everyone gathered here, and receiving Xu Zhenying's eye signal, Xu Yinxi immediately said to the other merchants, "Everyone, it seems that it will take a long time. It's almost lunchtime now. Why don't you all go to our government cafeteria for dinner first?"

Seeing that all the craftsmen were gathered around the pile of things, discussing and demonstrating how to put them together, it seemed that it would take some time. Even though everyone was curious, they had to hold back and followed Xu Yinxi to the cafeteria to eat.

As soon as they left, Xu Zhenying immediately sent people to move the raw materials and craftsmen to a safe house, and even sent soldiers to guard it.

Although she trusted her subordinates, those merchants would not do anything without profit. If by chance one of them was smart enough to deduce clues and figure out the spinning jenny before them, she would suffer a great loss!

Luo Qingzhou arrived late at night.

As soon as he arrived at the government office, he was taken to a safe house. He then saw more than a dozen craftsmen walking back and forth in the safe house, pointing and talking loudly from time to time. It was obvious that they were arguing with each other.

Luo Qingzhou walked into the house very quietly, almost with a pious attitude.

As soon as I entered, I found that there were more than 20 people in the room, all of them were craftsmen from the research institute, some of them were students with outstanding physics grades in school, and there were even a few women. They were arguing fiercely around a semi-finished frame.

It would have been fine if I hadn't looked, but when I looked I realized that Xu Zhenying and Xu Yinxi were also in the house.

Luo Qingzhou hurried over, but Xu Zhenying waved him off. "Go and have a look. Everything is there. A semi-finished product has been built. There's a shuttle, a hand-cranked wheel, and a spindle. I guess someone must have improved the loom, but the problem now is that it can't be restored. I've hired a few women who can weave from the cloth shop, as well as some craftsmen. You can go and help."

Luo Qingzhou ignored his tired body and immediately became interested, "Okay."

"Dean Luo, you're finally here. Come take a look. We've been working on it all afternoon, but haven't been able to restore the spinning machine His Highness mentioned. We did manage to piece together a prototype this afternoon, but unfortunately, it's too hard to crank it, and the thread gets stuck easily."

"Yes, and there are these roller spindles, and I don't know where to put them."

The woman skilled in weaving also said, "Yes, that time, this conveyor belt couldn't move the silk thread at all. His Highness said that this machine has been improved and its efficiency has been greatly increased, but we really can't imagine how it works."

Luo Qingzhou was naturally confused as well.

He could only take the drawings and study them carefully.

Seeing everyone arguing and seemingly clueless, Xu Zhenying clapped his hands and said, "Okay, now that everyone is here, I'll explain the working principle of this spinning machine again. To understand the working principle of the spinning jenny, we first need to understand the spinning process. How about this, let's take apart everything one by one and explain its use, and then restore its position one by one according to the blueprint. Where are the blueprints?!"

Xu Yinxi immediately took out the blueprint that had been worn gray and wrinkled by everyone, "Your Highness, it's here."

"Take something and put it on the wall for everyone to see. This blueprint is from my imagination, so it may not be correct. Carpenters do a lot of work and have experience. You can also use this pile of raw materials to try to recreate the blueprint."

Everyone immediately looked at Xu Zhenying, as if they were listening attentively.

If Xu Zhenying had not come up with recipes for cement, soap and other things before, they would really doubt the authenticity of Xu Zhenying's statement that this pile of things were spinning machines.

"It's a square thing, there's no doubt about that. The hand crank should be on the right side, with a conveyor belt in the middle. The spindle is mounted on a small wheel, and the hand-cranked large wheel drives the small wheel through a rope loop."

"When spinning, you pick up a small piece of cotton yarn and hook it on the hook on the spindle. Then you pull a piece of cotton strip to connect it to the cotton yarn and twist it in your hand. In this way, the cotton strip is fixed by the spindle hook and your hand. The large handwheel drives the spindle on the small wheel to rotate, twisting and stretching the yarn by hand. When it is finished, stop the rotation or slightly reverse the large wheel. The yarn will be released from the hook. Turn the large wheel again, and the cotton yarn will be wound onto the cylindrical spindle. In the final analysis, one spindle becomes countless spindles, and coarse yarn can be spun into fine yarn. This method increases textile efficiency."

Luo Qingzhou's eyes widened.

Xu Zhenying looked at him hopefully, "Dean Luo, do you understand?"

Luo Qingzhou smiled awkwardly: "I feel like I understand, but I still need to touch the machine again."

Seeing Xu Zhenying anxious, Xu Yinxi had no choice but to advise him privately, "Your Highness, please don't be too anxious. Everything is here anyway, and restoration is a matter of time. Besides, you've been putting pressure on them, which makes it difficult for them to work freely. You've done everything you can now. Why leave professional matters to professionals? Why don't we go back and wait for news?"

Xu Zhenying suddenly realized and patted his head: "Look at me, I'm so busy that I'm confused. I'm too eager for quick success."

Xu Yinxi smiled and said, "This spinning machine must be extremely important, right?"

Xu Zhenying nodded. "No matter how important it is, we can't be impatient. We can't become fat all at once. Okay, let's withdraw first, so they don't feel uncomfortable with us being here."

Xu Zhenying called out to Pang Xiaohua again, "Secretary Pang, have the logistics staff take good care of them. No matter what I'm doing, report back immediately as soon as there's any news. The progress of the spinning machine is the most important."

Pang Xiaohua responded immediately.

When the craftsmen heard that Xu Zhenying was leaving, they were obviously slightly relieved.

No matter who comes here, they can't stand His Highness watching you work from behind!

A group of people stood up to see Xu Zhenying off. Xu Zhenying and his secretaries finally disappeared into the safe house. On the way back, Xu Yinxi was still thinking about the spinning machine.

Although she had never spun yarn or woven cloth, she had seen a traditional hand-cranked spinning wheel and knew that it took a lot of time and manpower to weave a piece of cloth. According to His Highness, after Mrs. Luo's distant nephew improved the spinning wheel, the efficiency could be increased several times or even dozens of times. What a shocking change would happen to the world then.

Since the promotion of sweet potatoes and composting, the amount of grain in the fields has increased significantly. In addition, the universities that will be promoted next year will have agricultural colleges that specialize in the research of increasing grain production.

It can be imagined that the eleven states of Jinzhou Prefecture would become the place with the least shortage of food in the entire Zhou Dynasty. It took them five years to truly ensure that the people had enough food to eat.

Now, as long as the spinning machine can be restored and then promoted on a large scale, it means that they have achieved the standards of a preliminary harmonious society.

That is, everyone has food to eat and everyone has clothes to wear.

How attractive such a society is to the remaining people who have not yet joined Jinzhou Prefecture!

When the time comes, they will add a smallpox vaccine, making a three-piece combination punch. You can imagine how easy it will be for them to capture cities and territories again.

The only flaw was that Fang Ruyu took away the firearms blueprints.

Although Xu Zhenying has always emphasized that some things are not as simple as stealing a blueprint, it is a test of a country's manufacturing capabilities and there are technical barriers.

But Xu Zhenying's subordinates couldn't help but worry.

Once firearms are produced in Qiongzhou, their efforts to unify the world will be delayed by at least five years.

Damn it, damn Fang Ruyu!

Whenever Xu Yinxi thought of this, she felt so angry that her teeth itched! She even had a grudge against Fang Xun and Fang Ningmo.

Even though she knew in her heart how innocent the other members of the Fang family were, she just couldn't get over it.

Therefore Xu Yinxi also thought of another thing.

Her Highness was able to hold back her anger at the time and didn't implicate the other family members, which shows how tolerant she is.

Although most of the people below were dissatisfied with Xu Zhenying's decision to let the case go lightly, many people even felt that Her Highness was a bit too soft-hearted in this matter, and they kept writing to her asking her to severely punish the other members of the Fang family.

But from another perspective, it makes everyone more loyal to His Highness.

Following such a master, you don't have to worry, and you don't have to worry about your family and clansmen being innocently implicated. At the critical moment, he can be ruthless, yet able to show mercy and not vent his anger on others. This is enough to show his breadth of mind and ability.

Like Xu Zhenying, Xu Yinxi now has great expectations for the spinning machine!

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Thousands of miles away in Qiongzhou, Fang Ruyu's life was not so easy.

Fang Ruyu locked herself in the room all afternoon and refused to come out.

Even Zhou Ying could only stand outside the door.

By the time Prince Ming arrived, Zhou Ying had already learned the whole story. Unable to help but complain, she said to him, "Brother, you're being too careless. Today, that girl called Jiao Niang from your backyard actually dared to come to Sister Ruyu with the latest newspaper. It clearly stated that the Fang family was severing ties with Sister Ruyu. Sister Ruyu cried for a long time."

Prince Ming was exhausted, his cloak soaked by the wind and snow. A maid immediately stepped forward to respectfully take it away. Hearing Zhou Ying's words, he couldn't help but wonder, "Is it the monthly report from Jinzhou Prefecture again? Isn't it banned from circulation in Qiongzhou? How did that beautiful girl get hold of it?"

"How can we ban these books just because we want to? We have so many scholars in Qiongzhou. They all think that the things that have been passed down from Jinzhou are extremely novel. Some people even secretly collect them. How can we ban them just because we want to? Not to mention Qiongzhou, I'm afraid that even in Bianjing, they are still being banned despite repeated bans."

Ming Wang frowned, a murderous look in his eyes, "I have to kill a few people to let the people below know how powerful I am."

"If we could calm them down by killing a few people, that would be great, but now... Heh, that Prince Zhao of Jinzhou is a master at propaganda, and he's infiltrating every corner of our Qiongzhou. People in Qiongzhou are already panicking, and many are considering fleeing to Jinzhou. If we use harsh punishments at this point, I'm afraid morale will only grow even more."

Zhou Heng felt even more annoyed.

Fang Ruyu had been in Qiongzhou for almost three or four months, but now money was spent like water, but there was no sign of firearms.

Not only that, they were completely suppressed by Jiang Yongkang's men on the eastern battlefield. They were advancing step by step. Seeing that they had lost two provincial cities in such a short time, the people under his command naturally became worried.

In many counties, upon seeing the flags of Jinzhou Prefecture, the county magistrates directly ordered the city gates to be opened, and the people happily welcomed the rebels into the city. When Zhou Heng saw the military reports of repeated defeats, he always felt a little uncontrollable.

If this firearm is not invented, Qiongzhou Prefecture will be almost gone!

Although Zhou Heng suppressed his temper and patiently coaxed Fang Ruyu, he had already become impatient in his heart. The people under him followed suit, so naturally they did not value Fang Ruyu as much as before. Even people from the backyard dared to enter the house.

"What about Chen Jiaoniang?"

"She knew she had gotten into trouble, and she was just staying in the backyard." Zhou Ying's smile was a little cold. "She said she saw the news in the newspaper and wanted to come and comfort Sister Ruyu. But Sister Ruyu didn't know anything about it, so she looked like the bad guy. Then she left crying. She also said that she had done something wrong, and she had no complaints if her brother wanted to beat her or punish her."

Zhou Heng thought of the beautiful Chen Jiaoniang, and her seemingly gentle and charming nature, and his heart softened a little. "Jiaoniang is innocent, just a little outspoken. Why should she be beaten or punished? She's really suspicious. It's true that she's been a little disobedient. Didn't I tell her to behave herself these days? Why did she go out today?"

Zhou Ying paused and frowned slightly.

Then he couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Her brother is a young talent, so how come he can't see through a woman's moral character?

How could Chen Jiaoniang be innocent? Or was she outspoken?

This is clearly a case of being arrogant and doing it on purpose!