People throughout Tianxiang County joined in cotton picking, and cotton picking quickly became a nationwide sport in Tianxiang County.
Song Ning was worried that she wouldn't be able to finish picking her cotton, but now the whole county is coming to pick cotton, so what is there to worry about?
A few days later, someone came to our door.
Fourth and fifth brothers, burly men, stood in front of her. They were all tall and strong, and looked like they came from the military.
"What are you doing...?"
One of them spoke up, "Miss Song, I am the deputy general of the Qingzhou army. I have come here to discuss the purchase of cotton with you."
"I am the Sima of Shangyang City, and I would also like to discuss the cotton matter with Miss Song."
“I am the military commander of Suiyang Army, Miss Song, please be sure to sell the cotton to me.”
......
There were four or five people in front of her, all from the surrounding areas, who had come to buy her cotton.
She had just finished picking cotton; who spread the word?
Turning to look at the smiling magistrate beside him, he thought, "The case is solved."
Song Ning quickly led the group home; they needed to have a proper talk about this.
These people were all martial artists, and their auras were all different, exuding a strong sense of pressure. However, after entering the Song family's courtyard, the people there only nodded in greeting and did not react much.
The men, however, were stunned for a moment.
The people working at home were used to it; people often came to see Song Ning, and they were already used to it.
As soon as they sat down, the men said anxiously, "Miss Song, we are willing to pay a high price for your cotton. We hope you can leave more cotton for us. Our Qingzhou army has 50,000 men. With this cotton, we can get through the winter well."
“Miss Song, I heard that you are acquainted with our General Xie. Shangyang City is under General Xie’s jurisdiction, so you must sell it to us first.”
The remaining people frowned and started arguing.
Song Ning, as one of the parties involved, couldn't get a word in edgewise.
I'm just asking if I can hear her say something?
"Um... gentlemen, would you mind listening to me for a moment?"
The courtyard finally quieted down.
"I just finished picking this cotton, and it needs to be processed before it can be used. It will take some time in between. Why don't you gentlemen go back first and come back after the cotton has been processed?"
The group exchanged glances, their eyes revealing a determination to win, as if they feared they wouldn't be able to buy it later.
In fact, Song Ning had already thought about this when she planted cotton. This year, she was just trying it out. If it succeeds, cotton can be planted on a large scale in Tianxiang County in the future. At that time, the cotton from Tianxiang County will be able to supply the entire Jin Dynasty, and there will naturally be no shortage in the future.
The cotton she planted this year was originally intended to be prioritized for supplying military camps.
When Xie Linzhou came to see her last winter, she had this idea: Tianxiang County is close to the border, and if the border falls, Tianxiang County will also be doomed. Therefore, in the future, any good things should be given to the soldiers in the military camp first.
The men were reluctant to budge, but Song Ning smiled and said, "My lords, there's no need to rush. This cotton is meant to supply the military camps. Rest assured, I won't sell it to anyone else until the soldiers at the border have enough."
Their eyes lit up, and they immediately stopped arguing, their faces filled with excitement: "Really?"
"Really, so please rest assured, gentlemen, everything will be provided. However, besides these, we can also discuss other business."
She had already written to Lady Yu, asking her to recruit more people to be in charge of weaving. With the cotton she already had, they could do business with the military camp for a long time.
The military camp needs cotton quilts and cotton clothes every year. If they could make finished products and sell them, wouldn't they be able to earn an extra penny?
Anyway, the imperial court allocated military pay, and the rest was left to the local military camps to handle themselves.
Since they're buying things anyway, why can't they do this business?
The cloth from Yu Niangzi's place is transported here, and we can hire people here to sew cotton clothes, which saves us the trouble of buying cotton from elsewhere.
"My lords, next year Tianxiang County will plant even more cotton. If we make all the cotton-padded clothes for the soldiers, it will be convenient, easy, and cost-effective."
The group exchanged glances. "That's right, since cotton is produced here, why not just buy cotton-padded clothes here?"
Previously, they bought cotton and gave it to tailors because they did not grow cotton in the Jin Dynasty. Now that they have cotton, they will never have to worry about not having enough to wear in winter again.
Then, Song Ning received a big order.
After seeing the man off, I quickly informed Lord Zheng of the matter, explaining whether it was for the military camp and whether the magistrate's help was necessary.
Nowadays, they are mostly handmade. Even if it's just one set per person, it would take 50,000 soldiers for just one Qingzhou army, which requires a lot of manpower.
For the people of Tianxiang County today, this is clearly not enough.
Song Ning patted the county magistrate on the shoulder: "Lord Zheng, for the future of our Tianxiang County, this matter depends on you."
As long as the county magistrate can help her find enough people, her cotton-padded clothing workshop will be able to start operations soon.
However, it is a business that makes money. As long as wages are paid, people will do it. Perhaps, it will attract another group of people from other places.
Everyone wants to live a good life. As long as there is money to be made, people will go to even the most remote places, so there shouldn't be a big problem.
Clothes on the market vary in price, but there are basically no cotton-padded coats for sale. Cotton is expensive to begin with, so most people buy cotton and make their own.
The cheapest cotton on the market costs 500 wen per jin, while the most expensive costs 1 tael of silver or even more.
The cotton she grows now is different from the cotton in her previous space. The cotton in her previous space required almost no cost, but the cotton she grows now has labor costs. She has hired quite a few people, and the labor costs alone are a large sum of money.
Therefore, the price is naturally higher.
However, she had already agreed on the price. Since it was for supplying military camps, she didn't ask for more. For now, she would charge the lowest market price of 500 wen per jin. Generally speaking, two jin of cotton is enough for a complete set of cotton-padded clothes.
Including the cost of fabric and labor, a set of cotton-padded clothes would cost at least two taels of silver.
If each of the 50,000 people has one set, that's 100,000 taels of silver.
No wonder when I watched TV before, those corrupt officials who embezzled military funds had so many clothes alone, plus other things, that's hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
If you keep this for yourself, you'll never have to worry about the rest of your life.
With so many people in the army, no wonder I heard Lord Zheng say that the Jin Dynasty has not been doing well in recent years, and it's hard to support these troops.
Even two taels of silver is cheaper than buying cotton and processing it outside.
Moreover, with more cotton available in Tianxiang County in the future, the price will naturally come down, which will save some money when making these cotton-padded clothes.
Zheng Gaoyi took on the task of recruiting people, and Song Ning went to the cotton field to take a look at the row of cotton that had been built earlier.
She had this plan when she first planted cotton, which is why she had a row of houses built not far from the cotton fields to be used as a sewing workshop.
I was busy with this all day, and it was already late when I got home in the evening. I was finally able to rest for a while.
Who would have thought that I would be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of banging on the door?
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