Shi Ming has been in Xinzhou for nearly a year.

He also witnessed the rise of Shijia Village.

Well, the original deserted village is now named Shijia Village, which can be regarded as a nostalgia for Chang'an.

"Aye, I guess I'll be living in the county tonight, don't wait for me to come home for dinner."

Early in the morning, Shi Ming got up and stuffed some food into his mouth, and then grabbed a big steamed bun (steamed buns in the Tang Dynasty are also a kind of steamed cakes, and this book will be called steamed buns in the future) and walked out the door.

"You are busy with your own going, I can handle the cotton at home with your aunt."

Shi Yang's face was full of pride.

This son is really angry with himself.

Before graduating from Guanshishan Academy, he is already a lieutenant governor in Xinzhou, and there have been rumors recently that after this year's cotton picking is completed, Shi Ming will be transferred to the county as a county leader, which can be described as a promising future.

"After the cotton is picked, there will be a carriage from the cotton workshop to buy it at noon every day, and you don't have to be so entangled, the purchase price of each family is basically the same, and it is sold directly. If there is no deseeding cotton house, it will be easy to mold after a long time, and it will not be able to sell at a price when the time comes. ”

Shi Ming admonished.

During this time, there were significantly more horse-drawn carts coming to various places to buy cotton.

Some farmers feel that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it and want to be able to sell it higher.

Shi Ming felt that it was completely unnecessary.

The current price of cotton itself is not low, and the output of one acre of cotton field is much higher than that of growing corn and rice.

If you are greedy and accidentally smash it in your hand, it will be painful.

"I know, pick a basket, I will sell a basket, it's better not to take a basket home, just sell it in the field!"

Although Shiyang feels that the price of cotton in Xinzhou this year is not as high as that in Chang'an City last year.

But after all, there is more planting area now, and the price is cheaper, and he can figure it out.

……

The northern part of Shuozhou has now turned into a sea of white.

Blooming cotton, dotted with stars, is distributed on this land.

"Lang Jun, judging from the situation of the hundreds of acres of cotton fields picked now, this year's cotton is an ironclad harvest. We can earn almost all the money we invested in this year, and we will be able to make a lot of money from next year. ”

Li Shuguo followed behind Du and inspected the Du family's cotton fields.

I saw cotton fields, dotted with slaves picking cotton.

They are called slaves, but they are exalted.

Because these people were basically captives of Xue Yantuo's various departments, they were captured by Xiao Tian Che or tens of thousands of soldiers under the general manager of the Hedong Road march led by Li Keshi and Qibi He Li.

Originally, Li Kuan hoped that these Hu people could be resettled in Jiangnan Province or Lingnan Province.

However, the cotton fields of Shuozhou are really short of people, especially the lack of such low-cost strong laborers.

Therefore, in the end, there were seventy or eighty thousand Xue Yantuo captives left in the cotton fields of the nobles.

"Well, His Royal Highness the King of Chu still doesn't dare to deceive everyone in this kind of big thing. With such a good start, it is estimated that everyone's enthusiasm for planting cotton will be even higher next year. ”

Du Gou is glad that he made a desperate effort to develop the cotton fields in Shuozhou.

Obviously, the cotton fields in Shuozhou alone have added at least tens of thousands of dollars to the Du family's wealth.

This is only the first year.

If there is a tens of thousands of yuan every year, the status of the Du family in Chang'an City will definitely be able to go to a higher level.

"That's true. Take the cotton deseeding machine, before only the mechanical workshop under the Chu Wangfu could produce it, and other workshops couldn't do it at all, and if they kept it secret, others wouldn't even know what the equipment was. Nowadays, in order to encourage everyone to develop cotton fields, the machinery workshop actually sells cotton deseeding machines, although the price is a little more expensive, but it can be regarded as solving the worries of many people. ”

Li Shuguo has a thorough understanding of the thoughts of the noble family who came to Shuozhou from Chang'an City to cultivate cotton fields.

Including the Du family, everyone had a concern before, that is, the deseeding technology of cotton was completely in the hands of the Chu Wangfu.

What does this mean?

That is, the cotton of each family can only be sold to the workshop of the Chu Wangfu, otherwise it can only rot in the hands.

Who likes this feeling of being pinched in someone's hands?

Today's situation is different, there are at least more than 10 cotton deseeding workshops in Shuozhou alone, and there are many more cotton cloth workshops, and there are even more merchants who are responsible for threading needles and threads and going to the fields to buy cotton.

It can be said that for the promotion of cotton, the Chu Wangfu personally gave up the opportunity to monopolize the cotton industry.

"Yes, after this year, His Royal Highness the King of Chu will be more stable in Chang'an City."

……

"Wen Langjun, if you go back to Chang'an this time, will you come back?"

In the Shuozhou Horse Station, a group of beekeepers reluctantly went to bid farewell to Wenguang.

This year, under the leadership of Wen Guang, the number of professional beekeepers in Shuozhou has rapidly expanded to dozens, and the number is still increasing.

These beekeepers who made a fortune relying on cotton honey naturally need not mention Wenguang's gratitude.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before the beginning of spring. According to my understanding, the area of cotton planted in Shuozhou will increase by at least 30% next year, and it will become the cotton planting center of Datang at that time, and the prospect of beekeeping is very broad. After I go back this time, I will suggest that the academy set up a cotton research institute in Shuozhou, which will be responsible for the research of all things related to cotton, including our cotton honey. ”

Wen Guang is also a person with ideas.

Obviously, cotton will occupy a very special position in Datang's daily life in the future.

Whether it is cotton breeding, cotton yield improvement, cotton disease prevention measures, or cotton processing technology, or beekeeping relying on cotton, there are broad prospects.

As the proposer of the Cotton Research Institute, he was naturally able to occupy a place in this new institution.

"Wen Langjun, if you can let the Agricultural College of Guanshishan Academy build a honey workshop here, you will definitely be able to make a lot of money for the academy. After our honey was taken out, it was shipped directly to Chang'an for sale without any treatment. If you can add some other things reasonably to the honey workshop and use beautiful packaging to pack honey, the profits will definitely rise. ”

A business-minded beekeeper is giving Wen Guang an idea.

"Yes, there is a honey workshop there, and we are more practical in beekeeping, so we don't have to worry about the honey that will be produced one day and no one will buy it."

The crowd was talking there.

"Don't worry, I'll go back and report to Xu Senjun, just wait for my good news. The carriage is leaving, and we'll see you next year! ”

Wen Guang saw that the coachman had been urging him several times, so he stopped procrastinating and stepped directly into the carriage.