The so-called sheep eating people refers to the phenomenon that after the opening of the new sea route, the textile industry developed rapidly and the demand for wool increased sharply. Some nobles and capitalists began to occupy the farmers' land, leaving many farmers homeless and becoming vagrants.
The reason why the rulers and ministers of the Great Qi were stunned was that in this era, the utilization rate of wool was not high, and people had not yet realized that wool was a good thing.
Even nomadic people raise sheep only for meat.
As far as the technology of this era is concerned, nomadic people can only carry out rough processing of wool. They cannot make sweaters, woolen coats, and cashmere sweaters.
That's why the rulers and ministers of Da Qi thought Lu Chen was crazy. It was like trying to trade for wool, which was definitely a losing deal.
Lu Chen actually wanted to make this matter permanent. Cui Shanzhan suddenly felt that Lu Chen was no longer one of his own. Once this evil Taoist assisted the enemy, he would be much more ruthless than those rubbish in the Ministry of Rites.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Master Lu, do you think Xixia isn't strong enough? If we allow them to have access to large quantities of food, they will surely become a grave threat to our dynasty. Lord Wei, please speak up! Lord Wei, why are you playing the game of silence at this moment?"
The corner of Wei Yong's mouth twitched. He also felt that Lu Chen's method was unreliable.
However, his recent battles with Lu Chen had given him a lot of experience. He felt that Lu Chen would not do such a straightforward and foolish thing, so his words were not harsh. He simply cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I think that Master Lu's methods are inappropriate. Food is very important to us and Xixia. Also, why did Master Lu specifically ask for wool? What can you do with it?"
"Lord Wei is indeed astute. He immediately grasped the key point of the whole matter. The reason I want wool is because wool is a good thing."
As he spoke, Lu Chen took out a palm-sized piece of cloth from his arms.
Everyone looked at the piece of cloth in Lu Chen's hand, their eyes shining.
In the eyes of the rulers and ministers of Da Qi, Lu Chen has now become like Doraemon.
His pocket is the legendary space dimension bag, and you can always get some unimaginable good things from him.
Li Zhuo's eyes lit up as he asked, "Master Lu, what is this?"
Lu Chen handed the item to the eunuch and said, "Your Majesty, this is a brand new piece of cloth I made out of wool some time ago out of boredom. It has excellent thermal insulation properties. If it can be widely used, the people of the Great Qi Dynasty will no longer have to suffer from the severe cold in winter."
Li Zhuo took the cloth in his hands and looked at it carefully, his eyes full of greed.
Nowadays, there are only a few types of fabrics such as silk, cotton and linen. If there could be a new type of fabric, it would indeed be a good thing for the entire Da Qi.
All the civil and military officials in the court stretched their necks, and there were very few fools in the court.
Who can't see the importance of this thing? If they thought Lu Chen's moves were all stupid just now, now with this new fabric, all of Lu Chen's actions can be explained.
The six ministers looked eagerly at the material in the emperor's hand. They also wanted to see if this thing was really as good as Lu Chen said.
Especially for the ministers of the Ministry of War, Ministry of Works and Ministry of Revenue, the emergence of a new material was a big deal for their departments.
Li Zhuo looked at it for a long time before reluctantly handing the cloth to the young eunuch and saying, "Show it to the ministers to have a look."
Soon the raw materials were passed down. First, the heads of the six ministries gathered together to study them carefully, and later it was their deputies. As for officials below the fifth rank, they were not even qualified to get their hands on them!
After everyone finished watching it, everyone became excited.
The emergence of new materials means that many new trades will emerge, and all of them are businesses.
Now, whoever knows the news first will be able to seize the initiative.
This is a large national market. If they can participate in it, even if they only have a sip of soup, they will have no worries about food and drink for three generations.
"Master Lu, is the craftsmanship complicated?" Li Zhuo asked excitedly but also worriedly.
He was excited because he saw the huge benefits involved, but he was worried because the technical cost was too high and it would be difficult to promote.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. We only need to use the machines developed by our Chinese Academy of Sciences to process it. There will be no technical difficulties."
At first, Lu Chen wanted to monopolize the wool business, but later he thought that the technical barriers to this business were indeed not high.
Besides, he can't handle such a big business by himself and will die of overeating.
He might as well be more generous and help everyone get rich together.
When these people look for someone to weave wool, he will mainly provide equipment and detergents.
Countless facts have proved that miners who dig for gold may not necessarily get rich, but those who sell jeans next to the mine will definitely get rich.
Speaking of which, wool is really a good thing. The short wool can be spun into coarse wool and sold to the people at a low price, ensuring that the people will not easily freeze to death in winter.
The long wool can be spun into finer and softer wool, which can be made into high-end clothes. The wool was collected from the wealthy people in Da Qi and neighboring countries.
Even the lanolin washed from wool is an indispensable raw material for various cosmetics.
That's cosmetics, it's simply a tool for making money!
Thinking of this, Lu Chen was immediately stunned. What a good business this is! The money in this world is not enough for him to earn!
"Your Majesty, I think this deal can be done. If we can make the entire grassland our wool supplier, we will no longer have border troubles in the future!" Liang Licang stepped forward decisively. As the Minister of Revenue, he should say something at this time. He had a hunch that the wool business would bring a lot of tax revenue to his Ministry of Revenue in the future.
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