Chapter 404 Silk Cotton (Please vote and subscribe)
"Raising insects, making cotton balls, and making clothes?!!" Luo Chong said in surprise.
"Yes, they also eat insects. By the way, they want to join our Han tribe, but they are still hesitating. I don't know whether to agree." Da Shu replied.
"Why?" Luo Chong asked puzzled.
"Their female leader said that they can join the Han tribe, but they cannot be prohibited from continuing to raise insects. Moreover, our tribe has chickens, which will eat their insects. If these two problems cannot be solved, they cannot join the Han tribe." Da Shu recalled.
"Insects are originally used to feed chickens, but it's okay to eat them occasionally. By the way, what do the men in their tribe usually do? It's impossible for the entire tribe to rely on eating insects. How many insects are needed to feed people?" Luo Chong thought for a while and said.
"Their men also hunt, use bows and arrows, and make traps, but they are all very ordinary weapons, which can't be compared with ours." Da Shu introduced.
"Men hunt with bows and arrows, so the harvest should be good, right? How can a woman be the leader?"
Luo Chong frowned and thought. This is not normal in primitive times. Whether men and women are hunting or gathering, the one with a more stable harvest must be dominant. This has nothing to do with strength. So what is the reason? They can neither plant nor raise large livestock. How can they live on insects?
"Well, I heard that they seem to believe in insect gods. This is the god left by their ancestors. So this is why they say that even if they join the Han tribe, they can't help raising insects. They also say that insects can bless their people." Da Shu thought about it and explained.
Oh? What do you believe in? Pantheism is really popular. Luo Chong sighed in his heart.
"Are they still there now? If they are, bring them to see me. I will find a way to keep them. I think their insects should be very important to us." Luo Chong asked Da Shu.
"Oh, then I'll go and see. If they're still here, I'll bring them to see the leader."
Dashu scratched his head and left, seemingly unable to figure out what use some insects could have for the tribe.
Luo Chong was now reflecting on himself. Silkworms, why hadn't he thought of it earlier? This was a technology that had existed since the Yellow Emperor's time. According to legend, silkworms came after animal skin clothing during the Yellow Emperor's time, even earlier than linen.
After all, silk is originally in the form of a mesh, which makes it easier for humans to associate it with how to use it than hemp fibers that need to be retting to obtain.
In addition, silkworms are not the only kind of silkworms. There should also be chestnut silkworms that like to eat walnuts and chestnut leaves. There was a natural forest in the chestnut tribe before, so there might be a lot of chestnut silkworms. However, the chestnut tribe only knew how to eat chestnuts, but didn't light up the technology tree for raising silkworms and making clothes. It was a pity.
However, Luo Chong himself was also responsible. When he took over the Li tribe, he did not think about this matter for a while. It was not until the tribe that raised silkworms came to him that he thought about silk.
But it cannot be said that this is wrong. After all, silk is not very practical in this era. It is far less practical than animal skins and linen. Even in modern times, it is still a luxury. From ancient times to the present, it is not affordable for the lower-class people. In other words, people can only buy a few silk clothes to wear when modern life is better. This is why Luo Chong subconsciously did not think about it.
However, although it is expensive, there are many benefits to raising silkworms. First of all, it adds a fiber that can be used for textiles. Moreover, silk can not only be used to weave silk fabrics, but also to make fishing lines, surgical sutures, and facial masks, etc.
In addition, silkworm breeding can also form a supporting co-breeding model with other poultry and livestock breeding. For example, after the silkworms have made cocoons, the remaining silkworm pupae can be fed to chickens, or simply eaten by humans. The silkworm pupae that have not yet transformed into silkworm moths are like the unshelled larvae of cicadas. They have extremely high nutritional value and rich protein content. Not to mention eating them for humans, if they are used to feed chickens, they can also improve the resistance of chickens and reduce the possibility of fowl plague, that is, avian influenza.
In addition to silkworm pupae, the silkworm feces produced during the silkworm breeding process, that is, the leftover leaf residue, the excrement of silkworm babies, and the layers of skin shed by silkworm babies, the mixture of these three things is the so-called silkworm feces, which is an excellent feed for livestock, whether it is fed to chickens, pigs, or fish, or even used as fertilizer.
Therefore, there are many benefits to raising silkworms. The fact that it can keep poultry away from diseases alone is worth promoting.
As for the method of raising silkworms, Luo Chong had never done it in his previous life, but he had seen his female teacher raise silkworms. He still remembered that year, it seemed that raising silkworms as pets became popular. During that period of time, the teacher carried a paper box of large white silkworms every day, which scared the female students in the class away. However, Luo Chong was naturally not afraid of insects. He also heard the teacher talk about the history of Chinese silkworm raising. Although he had never actually raised silkworms, he still understood the theoretical knowledge of several steps.
In this way, while recalling the method of raising silkworms, Luo Chong returned to the yard that was used as a papermaking workshop before. At this time, the artificial equipment inside had been dismantled, and the original papermaking workers had also gone to the new papermaking workshop. Luo Chong came to the cleaned main house again, waiting to meet the pioneers of silkworm raising in this era.
After a while, footsteps were heard outside the door, and then Dashu walked in with a few women.
"Chief, this is the leader of the Sang tribe, and the others are her people." Dashu led a few people into the main house and introduced them to Luo Chong.
At this moment, the scene seemed a little depressing. Both sides were looking at each other. Several women stared at Luo Chong with wide eyes, and Luo Chong was also looking at them.
These women were wearing the same silk clothes, but just like what they saw when they first went to the tribe, their leader was also wearing a long robe, while the remaining three women were wearing short skirts and bras.
However, when Luo Chong saw their silk clothes for the first time, he was stunned for a moment. He couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or relieved, because their clothes were not made of silk fabrics, but silk cotton products directly stretched from silk cocoons. To put it bluntly, they had not yet lit up the technology tree of silk fabrics.
Luo Chong had heard from his teacher that this kind of thing was not made of complete silk cocoons, but the pocket-shaped waste cocoons left after the silkworm pupa degenerated into silk moths. After soaking in water and manually stretched, the silk pieces were made, which were also a raw material for making silk quilts.
(End of this chapter)
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