Chapter 158 Recruiting Female Workers

Li Mu originally thought that all this was a trap set by the King of Qin, but he never imagined that it was actually the plan of the Queen Mother Zhao.

"So the rumors in Handan City are related to you?"

Qu Ji scratched his head and turned away guiltily, "Don't be angry, weren't we enemies in the past? But don't worry, what King Zhao can give you, our king can also give you, and what King Zhao can't give you, our king can also give you! You will never suffer any loss."

Li Mu's face was indifferent. If he could be moved by these material things, he would have left Zhao State long ago to find his own place. Why would he stick to Zhao State!

However, it is useless to say these things now. He is just a surrendered general. The fact that he is still alive is already a kindness from the King of Qin.

Before entering the city, Li Mu saw many plants he had never seen before planted neatly on both sides of the road.

It is the autumn harvest season, and farmers are working in the fields, their faces full of joy at the good harvest.

Li Mu reined in his horse and looked out at the field in front of him, his eyes filled with confusion. "What is this?"

Qu Ji also pulled the reins, dismounted, and grinned, "This is the new food that the Queen Mother has created. I hadn't seen it bear fruit when I left Yongcheng. I never thought the corn would grow like this!"

When the old farmer heard the word "Empress Dowager", he came out of the cornfield and saw several soldiers standing by the roadside. "Are you here to check on the harvest on behalf of the Empress Dowager?"

Nearly half of the fields in Yongcheng were converted to corn planting. Zhao Yuanxi was worried that the farmers didn't know how to plant it, so he sent people to provide guidance and supervision. The farmers have become accustomed to it, and now they have a good harvest, and they are full of gratitude to the empress dowager.

Qu Ji shook his head and said with a smile, "We are not, but I used to be a guard beside the Queen Mother. I saw her planting these things, but unfortunately I left Yongcheng without seeing them grow. Now that I have come back and seen them bear fruit, I can't help but take a second look."

The old farmer smiled and broke off a few corn cobs. "Thanks to the Queen Mother's blessing, we all have a good harvest this year. These are for you to take with you on your journey. If you can see the Queen Mother, please tell her that we, the Qin people, are very grateful to her."

It was the first time that Qu Ji was fed like this. He was both happy and surprised. Looking at the bag of corn cobs, he didn't know what to do, so he simply gave some to everyone.

Li Mu also got one. Although the fresh corn tasted ordinary, it had a light sweetness and a fresh fragrance of corn.

Qu Ji chewed and exclaimed, "My parents must have planted a lot this year. I'm going to have a big feast when I get home."

Li Mu thought more than Qu Ji. The food problem has always been the biggest problem facing the Qin State in launching foreign military campaigns.

He looked down at the small corn in his hand. It was obvious that Qin had found a new crop that could meet Qin's food needs.

Even if he had not surrendered to Qin, given time, Qin would have invaded Zhao again. With sufficient food and grass supplies, Zhao would not have been able to hold out for long, and failure was inevitable.

Li Mu sighed deeply.

Queen Mother Zhao? Perhaps he should go meet this old friend.

Zhao Yuanxi didn't know that her troubles were about to come. Since Zhao Gao was promoted to the position of Minister of the Imperial Chariots, she had to handle many things personally.

When the time came to ask about everything, Zhao Yuanxi was shocked to realize that he had arranged so many things for Zhao Gao!

She originally had some grudges against Zhao Gao, but now she has to admire his work ability. Some things are really not something that ordinary people can do.

She rubbed her brows and finished dealing with the account books. She seemed to have lost all her light and collapsed on the couch, motionless.

Jang Geum poured her a cup of tea, sorted out the things scattered on the table, and suggested, "Your Majesty, why don't you go out for a walk?"

Zhao Yuanxi sat up cross-legged, lost in thought. He had been so busy these days that he didn't even have time to walk around.

We must recruit people quickly!

She doesn't want to do this job at all!

Unfortunately, the children at Yuanxi College are still too young to use it now, otherwise it wouldn’t be so troublesome.

Before anyone is recruited, there are new things that need to be dealt with urgently.

The cotton harvest has begun, which means the weaving mills are getting up and running.

Zhao Yuanxi saw the letter sent by Chen He and took a deep breath. "Let's go! We have to go to the weaving workshop."

The weaving workshop was built not far from the Mohist Research Institute so that Li could send the loom there after it was completed.

There are now more than a hundred looms and dozens of spinning wheels in the weaving workshop. According to the weaving speed of these machines, it is not difficult to weave the fabrics needed for more than 500,000 ready-made garments. It is estimated that it can be completed in one month.

However, it is a bit troublesome to make these cloths into ready-made clothes. Each piece of clothing needs to be sewn by female workers, which requires a large number of female workers.

Nowadays, most women work at home and live a traditional life of men farming and women weaving. It is very difficult to recruit enough female workers.

If these cloths were distributed to the female workers and asked to sew them at home, they would still face various problems. Both the distribution of cloth and the recycling of clothes would be a huge workload and the efficiency would be extremely low.

Zhao Yuanxi felt that only the assembly line production model could meet her current needs, so she asked all the female workers to come here and work together.

Of course, for those female workers who really cannot go out, such as those with mobility problems or those who have someone to take care of at home, we can consider letting them take the work home to sew, but this obviously cannot become the main force of production.

The only problem that needs to be solved now is to help female workers get out of the family production model.

Zhao Yuanxi told Li about the difficulties involved. Although Li could not understand why the Queen Mother was so eager to make so many clothes, he still proposed his solution.

"If the Empress Dowager doesn't mind, I can discuss this with Chu. Although there aren't many people in Lugewu, they all trust Chu's words now. If Chu were to communicate with them, I think those women would be willing to come here to work."

"It's just that although Lugewu is not far from here, it's really inconvenient to leave early and come back late every day."

Lugewu is at least two hours away from here. Even if there is an ox cart, it will only take half an hour. It takes at least three hours on the road every day, which is really too hard.

In ancient times, transportation was not well developed, and it was unrealistic to gather more than half of the women in Yongcheng here to make clothes.

"Then how about setting up a small garment workshop in each pavilion, so that the women can work there directly?"

Apart from being a little more troublesome to manage, it is more convenient for the women. They can earn extra income without having to go too far from home, and the efficiency and quality of clothing making can also be guaranteed.

"Of course, it is possible, but it still requires the cooperation of the pavilion masters."