At the beginning, there was a street in Tianjin, and it was the Jin Kingdom that set up a military village here, called "Zhigu Village". During the Yuan Dynasty, it developed into Haijin Town and became one of the grain transshipment centers.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he built an acropolis here, and since then there has been Tianjin Wei.

It is a military town, with Tianjin Wei, Tianjin Left Guard, Tianjin Right Guard three Davids. At the same time, it is also the center of Cao Yun and salt transportation, not to mention the transshipment of grain, Tianjin's Changlu Salt Farm, until the Republic of China, is still the economic lifeline of the Beiyang government.

Military towns, Cao Yun, salt transportation, and commerce made Tianjin prosper rapidly in the Ming Dynasty.

To what extent?

A special permanent deputy envoy of the Department of Justice, commanding the soldiers of the Tianjin Three Guards. He also set up a Jinka in Tianjin, and even moved the banknotes in Tongzhou. There are also some county yamen, who also specially work in Tianjin, and by the way, govern the people of Tianjin, just because it is difficult to arrange civil affairs officials in the Weijun city.

The hereditary military generals of Tianjin Sanwei are similar to the civil officials of Guizhou City, and their rights have been hollowed out so that only a few things are left.

Xu Jin is a business spy sent by the Xu family, and his first feeling when he came to Tianjin was that the price was really damn high! It is higher than Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and if you open a medium room in an ordinary hotel, the room rate for one night is actually five cents of silver, and you have to use one or two silver for 20 days.

No way, Tianjin is heavily taxed.

Not to mention opening a shop, even setting up a stall on the side of the road is subject to heavy taxes. Warehouses and warehouses built elsewhere are not taxed and are heavily taxed here. Overall, Tianjin's store tax is more than five times the national average.

The commercial tax collected by Tianjin Banknote Customs every year is more than all the taxes collected in the whole of Guizhou Province. The toll fees for merchant ships alone can collect more than 2 million yuan a year, and this is only the part that is handed over to the imperial court, and it is difficult to count the greed of officials in private.

This is the most prosperous trading city in the north of the Ming Dynasty!

It is a pity that only commerce and trade are developed, and the handicraft industry is particularly bad, and capitalism cannot sprout.

Although Hebei and Shandong are rich in cotton, they don't even have large-scale textile workshops, and several northern provinces still need to buy Jiangnan cotton cloth.

Jiangnan wielded industrial scissors and frantically harvested northern peasants. That is, cotton is purchased at a low price in the north, made into cotton cloth and sold back at a high price, forming a commercial phenomenon of "cotton is the ark in the south, and cloth is in the north".

Whether it is the Jiangnan merchants who produce cotton cloth or resell cotton cloth, they are not allowed to have a textile base in the north!

Now that the chamber of commerce has appeared in the south, once Wang Yuan makes things bigger, it is likely to give birth to the Jianghuai Textile Guild. Most of the Jianghuai cloth merchants will unite and use the strategy of dumping at low prices to kill Wang Yuan's northern textile base.

Why JAC?

Jiangnan merchants were responsible for cloth production, and Lianghuai merchants were responsible for sales. The purchase of cotton by merchants in the south of the Yangtze River also relied on the purchase and transportation of merchants from the two Huai merchants, which was a community of interests.

It was already November when Xu came to Tianjin, and it was freezing cold. He took a tour of the Tianjin Acropolis, then took a boat to the east, and came to a river beach in half a day.

A simple wharf has been built on the river beach, and there are warehouses on the wharf, but there are no inns to stay in.

There were coolies carrying goods, Xu Jin walked over and asked, "Isn't there a hotel here?" ”

The coolie was carrying a large bag of cotton cloth and could not look up, so he only buried his head in his head and said: "The construction site over there is an inn, and it may be repaired before the Chinese New Year." ”

The inn is really not Wang Yuan's industry, but a well-informed Tianjin businessman who took the initiative to come here to build a building and do business. Of course, Wang Yuan needed to be given a land lease fee, because the nearby land had already been bought, and after deciding to spin cloth, Wang Yuan bought several hundred acres of wasteland.

Xu Jin walked around the dock for a while, and suddenly saw a lot of people, carrying wooden barrels and walking towards the river.

Xu Jin asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

The man replied, "Fetch water!" ”

Xu Jin was surprised: "Why did you come out to fetch water together?" ”

The man explained: "The water from the well here smells so bad that people and animals can't eat it. The river water cannot be eaten indiscriminately, and it is only two and a half hours a day that the river water that comes from this time can be eaten. ”

The more Xu Jin listened, the more confused he became, and the man couldn't speak clearly, only knowing that he could get water by ringing the bell in the factory.

In fact, the river water is mixed with seawater, and it is not drinkable at low tide or when it is calm. Only when the tide is high, when the salty sea water holds up the fresh water, can the river water be brought in to drink.

At first, neither the factory managers nor the displaced people knew about it, and they almost died by drinking. I still consulted the local villagers, only to learn the mystery, and specially arranged a group of water workers for this purpose.

Xu Jin left the dock and continued to move forward, and soon saw a row of fences, enclosing the entire factory area.

Outside the factory, white alkali can be seen everywhere, white as snow, the salinization here is too powerful, and it has not been treated since ancient times!

"Stop!"

As soon as Xu Jin wanted to enter the factory, he was stopped by the factory guards.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "I am a merchant who came to buy cotton cloth and want to negotiate business with your shopkeeper." ”

The guard said: "Go to the warehouse to discuss business, there is an office on the other side of the wharf, and idle people are not allowed to enter the factory." ”

Xu Jin took out two pieces of broken silver, quietly stuffed them into the hands of the two guards, and said with a smile: "Brother, it's convenient." ”

These factory guards are all male homeless people, and they were still planting crops half a year ago, so they can't be as obedient as the soldiers trained by Wang Yuan.

Xu Jin dared to give silver, and the guards dared to accept it.

It's a pity that he didn't do anything after receiving it, and a guard said with a smile: "I really can't let you in, once the factory finds out, my whole family will be driven away." It's a good place to live, and I don't want to change places. If you have anything you want to ask, there are many people like you these days. ”

Another guard reminded: "Don't think about climbing over the fence to sneak in, this is the cotton spinning factory of the king of the Hanlin Academy." There is also a guard patrol in the factory area, and you can kill those who catch them! ”

Xu Jin was startled, he really wanted to sneak in. At this moment, I can only ask, "How many weavers are there in your workshop?" ”

With a proud tone, the guard corrected: "It's not a workshop, it's a factory!" The armor factory and forage factory in the capital are called workshops only when you make a small fuss. ”

"Yes, yes, yes, it's a factory, it's all because I don't have knowledge," Xu Jinyu said with a smile, "How many weavers are there in your factory?" ”

"There are more than 300 male workers and more than 400 female workers in the factory," the guard said, patting his chest, "Don't look at me as a doorkeeper, I am also a male worker in the factory." The coolies on the docks are also male workers in the factory, and they earn more every day. ”

Xu Jin asked, "Male workers can also weave?" ”

The guard laughed, "Some men do how to weave, but most of them are women. ”

Xu Jin asked again: "How many looms do you have in your factory?" ”

The guard replied: "There are more than 300 spinning wheels, and now the cotton is almost exhausted, and only about 100 spinning wheels are still working." The rest are looms, and there are more than 300 of them, and they are very busy every day. Mr. Wang fought a war and was also very good at running a factory. He personally set a lot of rules, making the factory like a military camp, peeing and spitting everywhere and deducting wages. But we're all happy to give a lot of silver. Weavers also have a basic salary plus commission, as long as they don't make mistakes, they can earn two taels of silver a month! ”

Xu Jin laughed in his heart, only to feel that the person in front of him was a bun.

Over there in the south of the Yangtze River, the most powerful skilled weavers can even earn three taels a month, what is two taels of silver?

Xu Jin asked again: "How much cloth can you produce every month?" ”

The guard shook his head and said, "I don't know about this, anyway, it's a lot of shipped out." Moreover, the cotton cloth in our factory is cheaper than the Jiangnan cotton cloth, and many merchants come to order every month. ”

Xu Jin couldn't ask for more details, so he could only go back to the dock and walk around.

I stayed for several days in a row, and I spent my food and lodging on the boat. It's a pity that the female worker has not been out of the factory area, and she has no chance to ask the inside story, until she decides to leave, and no one takes the initiative to come to him.

"Are you a spy sent by some firm?" The man asked.

"No," Xu Jin flatly denied, "I'm a merchant who came to buy goods!" ”

The man smiled: "Since it's not a spy, then I won't bother, I originally wanted to sell you the news." ”

"Wait!"

Xu Jin looked around and said in a low voice, "Take a step to speak." ”

When they came to the secret place, the man said, "My news is of great value, and it costs three taels of silver." ”

Xu Jin shook his head and said, "What if it's worthless?" ”

The man spread his hands and said, "Give a fixed amount of money first, and if you don't give it after hearing the news, I will have someone arrest you and beat you to death!" ”

Xu Jin thought carefully, gritted his teeth and gave a tael of silver: "Say it." ”

The man smiled: "The spinning wheel of our factory can spin five spindles of cotton yarn at the same time, and each spindle of cotton yarn is very regular. The loom is even more powerful, and the cotton cloth spun is so wide that one person can weave the cloth of three people! ”

"Why is this happening?" Xu Jin asked.

The man said, "The gauze spun by the machine improved by Master Wang is called Bachelor's yarn and Bachelor's cloth. ”

Xu Jin asked: "How to improve it?" ”

The man spread his hands: "This news has to be added." At least ten taels! ”

Xu Jin didn't bring much entanglement, gritted his teeth and gave enough silver, and couldn't wait to say, "Say it quickly." ”

The man grinned happily, put away the money, and said, "A stake has been made under the tread of the spinning wheel." In this way, there is no need to worry about the strength when spinning, and novices can learn to ...... quickly."

"Zhang Lequan, sure enough, you betrayed the factory!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, but it was the factory guards who came after them.

"Run!"

Xu Jin was frightened, ran frantically towards the dock, climbed onto the boat and said, "Hurry up and go back to Tianjin!" ”

The secret of the spinning wheel has been revealed, because the improvement is too simple, just add a small stake. At the beginning, only a few people who came to inquire about the news knew, but gradually it spread more and more, and it was popularized in Jiangnan in just a few months.

The loom was even more troublesome, and the workers who betrayed the secrets only said a wheel (pulley) and pulled the shuttle with a rope.

The major cotton spinners are confused, and they don't know what they are doing with the wheels when they break their heads, isn't this thing used to carry water in the well? And what the hell is a shuttle? Do you want the shuttle to fly and weave?

The wiser businessmen began to ask people to study physics, because they heard that Master Wang used physics to transform looms.

"Mathematics", "Geometry", and "Physics" gradually spread to Jiangnan, and later became known as the "Three Volumes of Gongshu", and became the "Three Volumes of Divine Books" when they went to the storyteller.

Jianghuai merchants wanted to dump at a low price and united to force Wang Yuan's factory to death.

The result was speechless, the "bachelor's cloth" was too cheap, and they couldn't find the north in the northern market. If it weren't for the increased cost of long-distance transportation and the lack of factory output, I am afraid that the southern market would have been dumped by Wang Yuan.

This spring, "bachelor's cloth" suddenly became popular in Hebei, Shandong and Henan.

The impact on the market is not small, but it is not too big, after all, the output is there, and it is just eating a small piece of the market. The price of cloth does not fluctuate much, and the cheap sale of "bachelor's cloth" is only relative, because the cotton production has been reduced in a large area for two consecutive years, and the price of cotton cloth this year is actually higher than in previous years!

Only the Jianghuai cloth merchants, who did business in the north, were made as uncomfortable as flies by Wang Yuan. In the first year, if you continue to develop and the number of looms continues to increase, you won't swallow up all their market share?

As a result, some Lianghuai businessmen took the initiative to abandon their Jiangnan partners and signed long-term underwriting contracts with Wang Yuan's factory.

Anyway, it's all about business, so why can't you switch camps?

Buying cloth and selling it in Wang Yuan's factory, as long as it faces the northern market, it can also save countless transportation costs, and it will only earn more than before!

Science and technology is productivity, Wang Yuan's loom efficiency has increased several times, and the cost advantage is crushing for Jiangnan businessmen, and it is not too easy to seize market share.

In just one winter, Wang Yuan not only recovered the cost of building the factory (including buying land), but also made a net profit of more than 2,000 taels.

More than 2,000 taels of pure profits, compared with selling telescopes, it doesn't seem to be a lot. But this is only a quarterly profit, and the income is far more stable than selling telescopes.

The management of the factory is also very motivated, and although they do not have shares, they can sit on dividends every year. The more the factory earns, the more they will share, and it will be a hundred times more nourishing than the previous officials in the household department and the industrial department!

In addition, Wang Yuan sent people to check the accounts once every three months, and they wanted to be greedy and eat some small kickbacks at most.

Everything is going well, and Wang Yuan is moving towards the path of capitalists.