Chapter 632 Cotton Revolution
From Huang Dao Po's three-spindle spinning wheel to the roar of steam in Manchester, half of the history of human civilization is hidden in a cotton ball.
Gu Nanxi doesn’t understand technology, but she understands human history!
Historically, from the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, the popularization of cotton reduced the winter mortality rate, and the population increased from 100 million at the end of the Song Dynasty to 200 million at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
A pattern of "cotton produced in the north and cloth weaving in the south" was formed. For example, the daily sales of cotton cloth in Songjiang Prefecture reached 10,000 pieces.
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, cotton cloth replaced silk as a substitute for in-kind taxes, forming a "silver-cotton cloth" dual currency system.
By the 18th century, the West had greatly increased cotton production through colonial expansion and capital expulsion, the use of machinery to replace manpower, and the promotion of slave plantations.
At the end of the 19th century, Western machine-made cotton cloth was dumped on China, causing China to "stop weaving".
Gu Nanxi himself was standing on the shoulders of giants. The customs and productivity development level of the Great Zhou were too similar to those of the Song Dynasty in history.
If the cotton revolution had been carried out in the Zhou Dynasty a few hundred years earlier, would it have been possible to take a different path at the crossroads of history?
Let this land take the lead in technological revolution and be far ahead of the world?
Thinking of this, Gu Nanxi could no longer sit still. He did not go to find Wang Ziting and Pu Chang anymore, but took Xiong Anniang directly back to the governor's mansion. In addition, he also called Xu Lao, Wen Yu and others over.
The parent-teacher meeting for the Military Workshop kindergarten class was successfully completed. Wang Ziting carried his little daughter home and showed her off to Pu Chang.
"Look at the picture my daughter drew. It will have to be framed later."
Pu Chang rolled his eyes, holding his little grandson's hand, and walked quickly along the way, secretly complaining in his heart, what's so great about having a daughter? !
Wang Ziting finally had a chance to show off, so how could he let Pu Chang go?
"Mother An is still in the academy. My daughter said she missed her mother. Why don't we go pick her up together? Can you come to our house for a simple meal tonight?"
Pu Chang glanced at the fair, chubby, sweet and soft little girl in Wang Ziting's arms, then looked down at his little grandson who was holding his hand and was sniffing his nose. His heart suddenly turned sour and he gritted his teeth.
"Look, I can't make you poor!"
Wang Ziting laughed triumphantly. He liked to see Park Chang angry and helpless.
Pu Chang relied on the fact that he was the descendant of Mozi and often showed off his inventions in front of him.
I have learned a lot and am indeed not as specialized as Pu Chang in terms of skills, so I have been fooled by him a lot!
Having finally caught an opportunity, one naturally wants to show off.
The two of them each brought their children to the Department of Hundred Works. Before they went in, they saw a row of students standing at the door of the department. Each of them stood there like a wooden stake, motionless, with silly smiles on their faces, which was really disgusting.
"Why are you standing here like an idiot?" Wang Ziting frowned.
Everyone woke up in shock and stammered, "Just now, Duke Yun came."
Wang Ziting was overjoyed. He heard yesterday that Duke Yun had returned to Yunzhou, and he came to the military workshop today. He must have come to find him and Pu Chang.
It just so happened that during the time when Duke Yun was away, Pu Chang and he had improved a lot of things, and he could take this opportunity to report to Duke Yun.
Wang Ziting glanced at the group of silly children and found it funny, but he also understood their feelings.
Even though she met Duke Yun many times, she missed him terribly during the months when he was away. She felt empty inside, as if she had lost her backbone.
Not to mention this group of teenagers. In their hearts, Duke Yun is a god-like existence.
Their lifelong wish is to serve Duke Yun. If they can meet Duke Yun in person, it will probably be a major event that can be recorded in the family tree!
Wang Ziting put down the girl in his arms, straightened his clothes, and asked, "Where is Duke Yun? I'll go see her."
"Duke Yun has left."
Wang Ziting and Pu Chang both showed disappointment on their faces: "We came too late. By the way, where is my wife?"
"I left with Duke Yun."
"Ah?" Wang Ziting looked at Pu Chang and grinned, "It seems that you don't have a good meal today. Wait until my wife comes back and we will get together again."
Wang Ziting thought that his wife would stay in Fuming Town for three to five days and then come back. Unexpectedly, half a month passed and not only did she not come back, she didn't even send a letter home!
If the lord was not a woman, Wang Ziting would really suspect that his lady had been abducted.
He only got the news about his wife from the latest issue of Yunzhou Weekly.
Pu Chang really envied Wang Ziting's good luck: "It's incredible, your wife is an official now."
Yunzhou Weekly spent a full five pages introducing this reform.
[Listed cotton as the third staple food, alongside rice and wheat, issued the "Edict to Encourage the Planting of Kapok", established the Kapok Promotion Office, and coordinated the cotton industry.]
Duke Yun, Gu Nanxi, is concurrently the director of the Kapok Administration Bureau. This shows how much Duke Yun values this matter!
A Cotton Affairs Bureau was set up under the Kapok Promotion Office, and Xiong Anniang was transferred to the Cotton Affairs Bureau. Even Mr. Xu held a position in the Cotton Affairs Bureau.
In addition, "Yunzhou Weekly" also talked about the establishment of the Glass Bureau. This was also the first time that Fang Yinnian and Su Yunyan officially stepped onto the political stage.
This issue of "Yunzhou Weekly" was like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake. The ripples it created affected all counties in the Great Zhou and even overseas.
At that time, no one had ever imagined that these two reform measures would bloom so brilliantly in history!
Even Gu Nanxi could not have imagined that she had only given a small push to the course of history, and the wheel of history would run forward happily.
The people of Yunzhou think very simply.
"They are definitely going to build a glass factory! I heard from my neighbor's brother-in-law that he saw Mr. Fang looking for a location everywhere. It would be great if they built the glass factory in our Woye Town."
"Huaishuo Town has a brewery and a canning factory, and Wuchuan Town has a military workshop. We have nothing in Woye Town, and we can't even hold our heads up when we go out."
The people of Huaishuo Town who were in the same car were not convinced and said, "Don't think we don't know. Your saline-alkali land has a bumper harvest this year! I heard that all the granaries in your town are full!"
"Hehe, stop arguing. The glass factory will be built in our Rouxuan Town. The night before yesterday, the head of the village started selecting people to join the factory."
Others were dissatisfied: "Why should we choose your Rouxuan Town?"
The townspeople of Rouxuan Town puffed out their chests and smiled until their faces almost broke: "Thank God, the open-pit coal mine on the grassland is closer to us!"
Oh my god!
I'm so envious and jealous!
This is a glass factory, right? Glass!
As the grassland was incorporated into Yunzhou, more and more foreign merchants came to Da Zhou to do business, and the goods they brought became more and more exquisite.
A perfume bottle from the Arab world was sold at a price of ten strings of coins by the Maritime Customs, and then resold in Kyoto for thirty strings of coins!
A goblet with intricate patterns could cost as much as a hundred strings of cash, and only the royal family and the wealthy could afford it.
This glass factory is a golden goose that lays eggs! You can imagine the welfare benefits of the factory employees.
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