The height of the entire spinning wheel is close to three meters, which is roughly the height of a floor in later generations. Some buildings are even shorter, and a floor is not as high as this one.
Its length reaches about nine meters, which can be said to be a real behemoth.
Next to the water-powered spinning wheel is a hand-cranked spinning wheel for reference. At this moment, the hand-cranked spinning wheel looks like a child's toy against the water-powered spinning wheel.
After Liu Tan circled the water spinning wheel, he asked, "How is it? Have you tried it?"
Gongshu Can said proudly, "Your Highness, I've tried it, and it can carry up to thirty spindles at a time!"
Liu Tan calculated that the current hand-cranked spinning wheels can only have three or four spindles at most. At the same time, the efficiency of a large water-powered spinning wheel is almost ten times that of a hand-cranked spinning wheel!
At the same time, another thing that needs to be noted is that when manpower is limited, people will always get tired, and generally women do not weave all day long. They need to take care of their families, eat and sleep.
But the water-powered spinning wheel can work non-stop for twelve hours a day, which means the efficiency is more than ten times!
While Liu Tan was calculating these, Gongshu Can had someone turn on the water-powered switch, and the water-driven spinning wheel started moving instantly.
Liu Tan watched as this huge machine slowly turned, and the thirty-two spindles began to rotate back and forth to weave. His face flushed with excitement.
With this, he is almost free from human constraints. As long as he has enough wool, he can weave without stopping!
Liu Tan turned to Gongshu Can and said, "Well done! But even if you've finished this, the task isn't complete yet. You should also try to change the hand-cranked spinning wheel to a foot-operated one."
Compared to converting a hand-cranked spinning wheel into a water-powered spinning wheel, converting it into a foot-operated spinning wheel is relatively easy. For Gongshu Can, it was probably just a piece of cake.
Gongshu Can was stunned for a moment after hearing this: "Your Highness, do you think the water-powered spinning wheel is too expensive and therefore do not intend to promote it to the people?"
Liu Tan shook his head. "No, don't worry. Even if I allowed the public to use water-powered spinning wheels, they wouldn't be able to afford them. And I really don't intend to allow the public to use them either."
A water-powered spinning wheel requires a lot of things. The first thing to consider is the hydraulic problem. Without hydraulic drive, the spinning wheel cannot be started at all.
Of course there are definitely suitable places, but if that is the case, manual weaving will inevitably have no advantages.
Liu Tan built the water-powered spinning wheel because the Northern Border Country lacked manpower, but it was different in other places. If it had a huge impact on the manual textile market, the most direct consequence would be that people's families would lose a source of income, or women would work hard for a long time but still not be able to compete with the products made by the water-powered spinning wheel.
That would have a huge impact on people's livelihood, unless other places are like the Northern Border, where there is a real lack of manpower, or women have other things to do and do not need to rely on weaving to bring income to the family.
Therefore, Liu Tan did not plan to promote the water-powered spinning wheel in the short term. He only needed to build a workshop in the Northern Border Kingdom that could supply wool products to the entire Han Dynasty.
This is a bit difficult, so Liu Tan decided that he couldn't get rich alone.
He turned to Miao Rui and said, "Go, invite Prime Minister Huo and the others. Oh, has Sang Qian also come to deliver the case files these two days? Have him come as well."
The second quarter just ended, and Sang Qian needed to come over to submit various summaries. Not only him, but basically all the county governors of the Northern Border Kingdom had gathered in Shuofang City at this time.
However, the other county magistrates were just obedient and had no special abilities. Liu Tan didn't like them very much, so he only called Sang Qian.
Not long after, Huo Guang and others arrived at Gongshu Can's experimental site. When they arrived, they were all wondering what their prince had come up with this time.
Huo Guang guessed something: "It must be related to wool."
Recently, Liu Tan has been asking people to buy wool like crazy. It seems that big moves are coming.
Huo Guang and others thought of Liu Tan's previous research on the spinning wheel, and they all had an idea in their minds.
But when they got there, they found that their previous mental preparation was too conservative - they originally thought that Liu Tan had at most improved the spinning wheel, and he had said before that he disliked the low efficiency of the spinning wheel.
But no one expected that their prince would create such a huge monster!
The huge machine is rotating little by little with the sound of running water. With almost no manpower required, this spinning wheel is continuously weaving linen.
Even Huo Guang was speechless for a moment.
For Sang Qian, watching the water-turned spinning wheel was no different from watching a magic trick.
Liu Tan looked at their stunned expressions, and his vanity was instantly satisfied. He walked over with his hands behind his back and asked, "How is it? Is this spinning wheel powerful?"
Huo Guang came back to his senses and looked at Liu Tan deeply, then said sincerely, "Extremely impressive."
Although he had never actually spun cloth, Huo Guang knew a lot about it. He even had records of how much linen a person could weave in a day.
Even if he didn't remember those numbers, he knew that manpower was far less than the speed of weaving that this huge machine in front of him could produce after it started to operate.
Wei Deng, the silly boy, looked up for a long moment before he sighed deeply in admiration, "I was foolish. How could His Highness possibly weave the fabric himself? Of course His Highness can summon the wind and rain and use other powers to weave."
Liu Tan: You are not smart now!
Seeing that Liu Tan's expression was not very good, Wei Buyi quickly kicked Wei Deng and kicked him aside, saying, "Your Highness, calm down. This kid has been training stupidly recently. Don't bother with him."
Liu Tan looked at Wei Deng solemnly and said, "This matter...is actually my fault. After all, I've been emphasizing the elite regiment's individual combat capabilities and physical strength, but I forgot that we also need to cultivate their thinking patterns. People who don't read will become stupid, and I don't accept fools under my command. It seems...it's time to give you some more cultural courses."
Li Ling, who was caught off guard and innocent, couldn't help but kick Wei Deng: It's all your fault, why did you act so stupidly in front of His Highness!
Wei Deng was also very regretful. He had clearly wanted to flatter Liu Tan, but somehow he ended up flattering him in the wrong way.
In fact, Liu Tan's decision was not a whim. He had not forgotten what he had said to Huo Guang. The elite regiment would be trained according to the standards of military officers. After they were trained and entered the army, they would be able to directly lead a team of fifty, one hundred or even one thousand people.
This way, even if the army is expanded, there will be more confidence. Before, Liu Che had questioned Liu Tan why he did not submit a memorial to increase the troops.
Liu Tan is trying to avoid the limelight now, but he will have to send more troops sooner or later.
Wei Buyi glanced at his silly brother and said nothing. There is nothing wrong with reading more books.
Huo Guang ignored their farce and simply asked, "Your Highness has called us all here. Surely there is something you want to discuss?"
Although Liu Tan likes to show off after he finishes something, it depends on the situation. He usually shows off only after he has completed it.
According to the situation of this water-powered spinning wheel, he should have just built the workshop and placed ten or eight water-powered spinning wheels in it. When the operation started, he would invite them to come and see it to shock them. He would not let them come to see it right after it was completed.
Liu Tan nodded, reached out and patted the spinning wheel and asked, "How is it? Are you interested in investing in the wool workshop?"
Everyone was a little surprised and looked at each other. Jiang Chong asked, "What do you mean, Your Highness?"
Liu Tan said, "It's nothing special. I just want to supply wool products to the entire Han Dynasty. I definitely can't do it alone. Even if I have money, I can't put it all here. So after thinking about it, I have no choice but to drag you all into this."
Sang Qian had been having a good time recently, sensing a shift in the Central Government's attitude towards him, and now he dared to speak up. He couldn't help but ask, "Even if we all opened a restaurant, we might not be able to supply enough. Your Highness, why don't you expand it to the general public?"
After he finished speaking, he felt Huo Guang's gaze and immediately began to wonder if he had said something wrong.
Liu Tan smiled and said, "It's not the right time yet, and other places may not have the same favorable geographical location as our Northern Border. Most importantly, although we are supplying the entire Han Dynasty, not many people can actually afford wool products. Most people still prefer other means of keeping warm."
The people present were a little confused as to why Liu Tan wanted to get them to buy shares without promoting the business, but when they saw that Huo Guang did not object, they knew there must be a reason.
As someone who had worked his way up from the grassroots, Jiang Chong knew a thing or two, so he simply replied, "Okay, it just so happens that I don't have any other property in the Northern Border Country besides the farmland, so this is perfect."
Seeing that Huo Guang had no objection, Wei Buyi simply said, "I will come too."
The Wei and Huo families have reached a consensus that the wisdom of all of them combined may not be as good as that of Huo Guang, so apart from the orders of the King of the Northern Territory, other less important matters will be subject to Huo Guang's leadership.
Huo Guang looked at Liu Tan deeply and asked, "With the water-powered spinning wheel, wool weaving has become a great success. But has Your Highness ever considered what would happen if not many people bought it?"
Liu Tan said, "No, my plan is to tailor the production of woolen clothing to different regions. For example, in a cold place like Yan State, we naturally need to make it thicker, while in the warmer places south of Chang'an, we need to make it thinner. If that doesn't work... we can always sell it to the Western Regions and the Xiongnu."
After hearing this, Huo Guang couldn't help but deeply admire Liu Tan's imagination. Buying wool from others and then selling wool products to them may not be very harmful, but it is extremely insulting.
Liu Tan had obviously thought of this as well. He smiled and said, "Science and technology are the primary productive forces. So what if they produce wool over there? They don't have the corresponding technology."
Huo Guang glanced at the water-powered spinning wheel and said, "Now that this is the case, the next step is to start construction. Your Highness can think about other things."
Liu Tan was slightly stunned: "Ah? What else?"
Huo Guang looked at Liu Tan and said, "Since Your Highness knows that we are short of manpower, you should also be able to guess that as the autumn harvest approaches, there will not be enough people to harvest the crops quickly. By then, many crops may miss the best harvest period."
Liu Tan was shocked when he heard this: "What's going on? How come there aren't enough people for the autumn harvest? Where have all the people gone?"
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